ABC News(CHICAGO) -- The manhunt is over for the fugitive wanted in connection to a shootout that critically wounded a Chicago-based ATF agent after an undercover firearms sting operation.



Bernard Graham, of Calumet City, surrendered himself over to authorities at about noon on Saturday.



The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives posted on its Twitter page a tweet was posted afterward confirming that the 25-year-old wanted man "is now in custody."



The federal agency was offering $25,000 for information leading to Graham's capture.



Federal prosecutors say Leondrey Smith, 29, met Thursday with an ATF undercover in Lansing, Illinois and accompanied other undercover ATF agents to Gary, Indiana with the intent to buy illicit firearms, according to U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch.



The agents were introduced to Raymond Truitt, 28, who allegedly demanded money in exchange for the firearms, Kirsch said.



An informant went outside to retrieve the money from the undercover agents and 19-year-old Blake King handed the informant a bag that he said contained the guns, the prosecutor said.



But when the informant opened the bag, he discovered there were no guns; the bag was loaded with kitchen pots and pans instead, said Kirsch.



King allegedly lifted a shirt over the informant's head and then Truitt and Graham allegedly started to fire bullets at two undercover agents, striking one in the chest and arm, Kirsch said.



Truitt II was killed in the ensuing shootout with the ATF agents, Kirsch said.



Smith, of Dalton, Illinois, was being held but so far hasn't been charged, Kirsch added.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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Theresa May has come under heavy fire for her handling of the Brexit negotiations this week. However, almost alone among political commentators, I salute her.

Courteously, carefully and cautiously, the Prime Minister is, I believe, pushing her way forward to a pragmatic Brexit which, while by no means perfect, will be in the best interests of Britain.

Even Mrs Mays enemies, surely, cannot deny that she is taking her responsibilities very seriously.

She is determined not to take unnecessary risks because she fears that if mishandled, Brexit has the potential to do profound damage to Britains economic interests for generations to come.

It goes without saying that whatever happens, we will retain close trading links with the remaining 27 EU countries.

Inevitably, though, this will mean some form of compromise, particularly considering how far apart the wishes of hardline Brexiteers and those of Brussels negotiators currently are.

Most disappointing of all, this one-time Remainer is behaving as though the British people voted in the referendum to stay in the EU

Against this tense and tricky background, Mrs May ought to expect the full support of her Cabinet colleagues. But, sadly, this is not the case.

Instead, she has been obliged to put up with treachery and betrayal  two strong words, I admit, but I am not exaggerating  at this critical moment in British history.

Three ministers  arguably the most important in the Cabinet with respect to Brexit  are most culpable.

They are Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis.

Let me start with Hammond.

Most disappointing of all, this one-time Remainer is behaving as though the British people voted in the referendum to stay in the EU. In other words, hes in denial over Brexit and has failed to give Mrs May the support she deserves.

Many accuse him, too, of siding with those in the business lobby who want this country to stay in the Single Market and the Customs Union.

To be fair to Hammond, it is his job to make sure Brexit does not do unnecessary damage to the economy. Where he undoubtedly has erred in his Eeyore-ish way is that he has ducked responsibility for setting out a clear vision for Britains future.

Ministerial colleagues also accuse him of being a road block, not allowing the Treasury to give them sufficient money as they prepare for all possible eventualities of the UK leaving the EU.

This is all unforgivable. It is no surprise that many say this grumpy Remoaner is set on sabotaging Brexit and that Mrs May should show him the door.

Then there is Mr Davis. He was rescued from the political scrapheap by Mrs May who gave him the job of steering our negotiations with Brussels.

In hindsight, this was a mistake.

I am convinced that he has not put in the necessary hours of careful work. Nor is attention to detail his strong point

He has conspicuously struggled to get to grips with his admittedly very complex portfolio. I am convinced that he has not put in the necessary hours of careful work. Nor is attention to detail his strong point.

He seems too keen on TV studio sofas, forever being interviewed. He allows his team to constantly anonymously brief the media against Cabinet colleagues. He spends too much time away from his desk  for example, attending the Hay Festival to listen to Canadian feminist author Margaret Atwood.

The result is that Mr Daviss civil servants  by nature, supporters of the idea of a European super-state  have run rings around him. More to the point, so has EU chief trade negotiator, Michel Barnier.

All this culminated this week when friends of a rattled Davis suggested he was prepared to flounce out of the Government (something, of course, he has threatened before) over an obscure point of detail concerning the Brexit negotiations.

Dealing with the 69-year-olds childish tantrum distracted No. 10 staff when they had far more important matters to deal with.Next, of course, is the behaviour of Boris Johnson.

In private comments to a group of Tories, subsequently leaked, he said the Government is in danger of delivering a Brexit betrayal and took a swipe at his boss, saying that Donald Trump would make a better job than Mrs May of negotiating with Brussels.

Mr Johnson was naive in the extreme if he thought his remarks would not be leaked.

The Foreign Secretary is also naive to depend so heavily on his unimpressive Parliamentary Private Secretary, Conor Burns, who is blind to Johnsons flaws and thinks it is merely enough for his boss to engage in the great task of cheering us all up.

Mr Johnson was naive in the extreme if he thought his remarks would not be leaked

One of Johnsons biggest flaws is that he fails to hide his irrepressible ambition to become prime minister.

Indeed, after David Cameron resigned, I hoped that Johnson, having taken huge personal risks to lead the anti-EU campaign, would become PM. But he was thwarted by fellow leaver Michael Gove putting himself forward first. Now he seems to be on manoeuvres again. But he could not have chosen a worse time. It reeks of disloyalty and selfishness.

Any differences with Mrs May should be hammered out behind closed doors, rather than shared with all and sundry.

Sadly, as well as these three men, other ministers are not pulling their weight. Among these, I include International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

Being Prime Minister is a very lonely job. Theresa May deserves better support from her ministers. If shes toppled over Brexit, these disloyal men should never show their faces in public again.

Former Tory leader and trained lawyer Michael Howard applied his gimlet interrogation skills this week to hold Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to account over Israels conduct in Gaza, which has left more than 100 Palestinians dead and more than 3,000 wounded. Challenging him at a think-tank meeting in London, he said: Why couldnt you use rubber bullets? Why couldnt you  if, in extremis, you had to use live ammunition  shoot them in the legs?

What a contrast with the refusal of our current political leaders in the West to question Israels action in Gaza.

Former Tory leader and trained lawyer Michael Howard applied his gimlet interrogation skills this week to hold Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to account over Israels conduct in Gaza

Straw should explain his role in Thorpe saga

Tom Mangolds brilliant BBC Panorama film exposed an Establishment plot to stop Jeremy Thorpe being jailed for hiring a hitman.

This compelling story is not just a piece of human drama  it is a political scandal that merits a proper response from the authorities.

One person involved in this wretched business is Jack Straw. At the time, the future Labour Foreign Secretary was a young special adviser in Harold Wilsons government.

Tom Mangolds brilliant BBC Panorama film exposed an Establishment plot to stop Jeremy Thorpe being jailed for hiring a hitman

It is alleged that Wilson wanted evidence of Thorpes homosexuality which could be used to undermine the Liberal leader, and that Straw examined private social security files that related to Thorpes gay lover, Norman Scott.

If true, this was a disgraceful and disreputable operation by an ambitious young Straw.

Obtaining the private records of a British citizen for political purposes has all the hallmarks of a police state.

It is essential that Straw explains his full role in the Thorpe affair.

Harold Wilsons widow, Mary, who died this week aged 102, was once offered 30 for the publication of one of her poems. She refused because she felt it was wrong to benefit from her connection to Downing Street.

What a noble stance compared with the venal behaviour of some of her successor spouses in No. 10. Mary Wilson had an admirable independent streak, too  not always voting Labour, supporting CND and defying her husband by voting against Britains membership of the Common Market in 1975.
When the mild-mannered Bashar was called home from London, where he trained as an ophthalmologist, to take over on his fathers death in 2000, few believed he had the killer instinct necessary

Bashar al-Assad seems diffident and does not fit our stereotype of the heinous dictator. But then nor did the mild-mannered Stalin  and neither did his ruthless father, Hafez, who founded the Assad dynastys rule in 1970.

There is not a flicker of remorse in Bashar al-Assads remarkable, eerily composed interview, but that should come as no surprise.

When the mild-mannered Bashar was called home from London, where he trained as an ophthalmologist, to take over on his fathers death in 2000, few believed he had the killer instinct necessary.

Yet seven years into a brutal civil war, Bashar al-Assad stands on the brink of victory. He is a survivor when a raft of Arab dictators have fallen in the wake of 2011s Arab Spring uprisings. The secret of his survival has been a potent mix of cruelty, cunning, corruption and clan loyalty.

Whether or not we believe his claims that there never was a gas attack in Douma, no one doubts the litany of bloodshed imprisonment, and torture that have accompanied his rule.

For all his complaints today about the colonial behaviour of Britain and the West, his own behaviour has been brutal.

Victim of the brutality: A Syrian child after a chemical weapon attack

The regimes key weapons have been fear and division. Throughout the war, Assad has not hesitated to make life hell in rebel-held areas through siege warfare, barrel-bombs and chemical weapons.

Many wondered why he risked Western intervention by using chemical weapons. If there is method in the madness it is two-fold: gas is more terrifying than bullets and bombs  and by revealing that Western red lines are meaningless, it steals hope from the rebels. In addition, Assad has sought to polarise Syrian society by exploiting the countrys various minorities fear of Islamist fundamentalism.

Sunni Muslim Arabs form by far the largest part of the population of Syria, but key territories are occupied by minorities, including Syrian Kurds, Armenians, Shiite Muslims, Christian sects and Alawites such as Assad.

When Syria became caught up in the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, Assad saw the opportunity to divide and rule. He saw the moderate opposition as the immediate threat. Protesters demanding free elections could rally support across the board, unlike bearded jihadis. The result was a brutal armed crackdown.

Eliminating the moderate Sunnis left only Islamic fundamentalists as organised opposition. That frightened the Christians, Shiites and Kurds back into the Assad fold.

And so, with help from Russia and Iran, Assad has survived. Ironically, victory over his regimes deadliest enemies could see the birth of new problems. His removal of the threat of fundamentalist takeover, which underpins the reluctant acceptance of his rule by many Syrians, may be the catalyst that brings his downfall.
Ocean's 8 star Awkwafina first rose to fame with a hilarious, sassy rap song called My Vag  and while the catchy tune, which features lyrics such as 'my vag is Godfather 1 and your vag is Godfather 3', launched her career, it also cost her her job.

The rapper and actress, 30, recounted in a new interview on The Late Late Show with James Corden that she was promptly laid off after releasing the music video accompanying the song in 2012.

'I made a song called My Vag, yeah,' she said, speaking to the host along with her co-stars Sarah Paulson, 43, and Sandra Bullock, 53. 'I kind of, like, mentioned it to my boss, and she was like, "Oh."' And then I was immediately fired.'

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Tough: Ocean's 8 star Awkwafina has revealed that she was once fired from her job as a publicist after her boss found out she had released a rap song called My Vag

'Say it!' Her co-stars Sandra Bullock, 53, and Sarah Paulson, 43, urged her to reveal more details about the company that fired her as Awkwafina opened up on Jame Corden's show

Sandra and Sarah, naturally, immediately pressed Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum, to reveal the name of the employer, urging her repeatedly: 'Say it!'

But the performer wouldn't disclose the name of the organization, telling her castmates: 'I was working as a publicist', then: 'It was a firm. It was in Manhattan.'

Sandra asked 'Where?', prompting Awkwafina to reveal the company was located on 49th Street and Third Avenue.

For Sandra, that revelation was an opportunity to right a wrong on behalf of Awkwafina, saying in direction of the camera: 'So, yo! Lady in the seventh, eighth floor, 12th, what floor?

Awkwafina replied: 'The seventh.'

'Seventh floor, you know who you are,' Sandra continued. 'You lost out.'

Success: Awkwafina's song, which features lyrics such as 'my vag is Godfather 1 and your vag is Godfather 3', went viral after she released the video in 2012

Disguise: The rapper has since said she hoped people wouldn't recognize her if she wore glasses and released the song under a different name

Location: Awkwafina eventually told her co-stars that the company that laid her off was located on 49th Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan

While Awkwafina had to work a string of side gigs after being laid off from her corporate job, her career ultimately took off thanks to the video, which went viral and has now been viewed more than two million times on YouTube.

She has opened up in the past about working at a publishing house, explaining that the job was her last 'real' one before she transitioned to being a performer full-time.

'The publishing office was my last real job. I stopped working there soon after the first video,' she told the Center for Asian-American Media in 2015.

'Then I worked at a Japanese restaurant, a vegan bodega; I had a lot of random side gigs that weren't even paying the bills to begin with. When I realized Awkwafina was bigger than I thought, I didn't work [those jobs] anymore. I've made this my full-time career for almost a year.'

The rapper, a New York City native who grew up in Queens, was initially reluctant to release a video for My Vag, because she worried about the effect it could have on her career.

'I wrote that song when I was 19 years old It didn't come out until like five years later when I was 24 and working at a publishing company,' she told the CAAM.

Role: The performer is part of the all-female cast of Ocean's 8 (pictured), in which she plays Constance, a street hustler and pickpocket

Dupo: In 2016, Awkwafina collaborated with comedian Margaret Cho for the title Green Tea, which takes on stereotypes about Asian women

'My friend, who I hadn't been in touch with for a while, accidentally heard the track and called me up and said, "We need to do a video for this." I said, I can't, because I work for a company but maybe if I put it out under different name and wore glasses in the video, maybe no one will recognize me.'

Since releasing My Vag, Awkwafina has debuted several other music videos, for titles such as Queef and Yellow Ranger.

Her debut album, named after that last title, came out in February 2014.

In 2016, Awkwafina collaborated with comedian Margaret Cho for the title Green Tea, which takes on stereotypes about Asian women.

The performer has had roles on television and on the big screen, including the upcoming romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, which is based on the hit novel of the same name.

She is part of the all-female cast of Ocean's 8, in which she plays Constance, a street hustler and pickpocket.

The heist comedy, which is premiering this Friday, also features Sarah, Sandra, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter.
Eric and Lara Trump's baby boy, Luke, isn't even officially nine-months-old yet, but he is already taking his first steps.

Eric, 34, took to Instagram on Thursday to share a heartwarming video of their only child standing on his own while Lara, 35, urges his to walk in the background.

'Okay baby, lets see it. Let's see it. Come on buddy,' she coos as another woman helps Luke find his balance and holds her arms out to him.

Too cute: Eric Trump, 34, took to Instagram on Thursday to share a video of his nearly nine-month-old son, Luke, taking his first steps

'You can do it': Eric's wife Lara, 35, can be heard urging Luke to take his first steps in the background

'Hi sweet potatoes!' Lara continues. 'Come on, you can do it. One. Two Three.'

Luke is wearing a white onesie, drawstring shorts, a white socks and a white kerchief around his neck.

The tot lets out a series of smiles and gurgles before stumbling forward into the other woman's arms.

'Good job baby. Good job pumpkin,' Lara tells her baby boy.

When Eric shared the footage, he simply used the hashtag '#FirstSteps.'

Room with a view: On the same day, Lara shared a sweet photo of herself kissing Luke on the cheek while holding him in her Trump Tower office

Loving it: She also posted photos and videos onto her Instagram Stories, including a clip of little Luke mesmerized by the bubbles in his music class that morning

On the same day, Lara shared a sweet photo of herself kissing Luke on the cheek while holding him in front of the view from her Trump Tower office.

'When Sweet Potato visits the office,' she wrote.

She also posted photos and videos onto her Instagram Stories, including a clip of little Luke mesmerized by the bubbles in his music class that morning.

Later that day, Lara was in the car with her son and their dogs Charlie and Ben, and one of the pups couldn't resist stealing Luke's stuffed giraffe.

'Excuse me sir, that's not yours,' Lara tells the pup in the background.

Two dogs and a baby: Lara later shared a video of one of her dog's stealing Luke's stuffed giraffe Sophie during their commute

'The commute when you have [two dog emoji] & [baby emoji],' she captioned the footage, adding: 'Someone save Sophie,' referring to the toy giraffe.

Culprit: 'Guilty,' Lara captioned this image of herself with her pup after he stole Luke's toy

Lara was likely headed to their home in Briarcliff Manor, a village in Westchester County.

She and Eric split their time between their Hudson Valley home and their New York City apartment.

The family recently posed for a spread in Westchester Magazine, and they both gushed about how much they love the area.

'I love the idea of raising our son, or hopefully our children, in a place like Westchester. Great people, great schools, so many activities,' Lara said.

'Our friends make fun of us because we love simply spending time at our house by ourselves,' she added. 'They are always asking us to join them on trips here and there, and we just say were going to stay home. We love it.'

It has been a week of firsts for little Luke, who had his first boat ride last Friday.

Lara was visiting her parents in North Carolina when she shared photos of herself showing off her trim figure in a bikini while taking Luke out on the water.

Milestone: Lara took Luke boating for the first time last Friday while visiting her parents in North Carolina

Back home: The mom was visiting her family in Wrightsville Beach for the weekend

Fun with grandpa: Lara posted a sweet snapshot of Luke with her father, Robert Yunaska

Big day: Lara celebrated her first Mother's Day with Eric, Luke, and their dogs in May

She posted photos of herself holding her little boy on the boat, as well as a picture of little Luke with his grandfather Robert Yunaska.

'Big day! Lukes first boat ride!! (He also decided today that hes done with hats and sunglasses - and Ive turned into a crazy sunscreen mom #LifeIsFullCircle,' she captioned the images, which were taken at Wrightsville Beach.

In the first photo, Lara is sitting on the edge of the boat with Luke on her lap. The mother-of-one is wearing a string bikini and dark sunglasses, while Luke has on red swim trunks and a neon green life vest.

Although Lara is smiling for the camera, her little boy is squinting in the afternoon sun because he'll no long wear sunglasses.

The next photo shows Luke sitting on his grandfather Robert's lap. Lara's dad is shirtless and wearing a pair of shorts with a camouflage 'Make America Great Again' hat in support of his daughter's father-in-law, President Donald Trump.

The last snapshot shows Lara holding on to a blue sun hat that Luke is trying to take off his head while her family dog Buffy curls up next to them on the back of the boat.
Ivanka Trump was hidden in her Secret Service vehicle when she returned home on Friday afternoon, while her sister Tiffany was living it up in New York City with her mother, Marla Maples.

The 36-year-old first daughter was seen chatting on her iPhone in the backseat of a black SUV when she returned to her Washington, D.C. home at 4:30 p.m.

Ivanka was wearing a long sleeve black top featuring a cutout above her chest, and her husband, Jared Kushner, arrived home with a guest less than two hours later.

Ready for the weekend: Ivanka Trump was seen returning home to her Washington, D.C. home in a black Secret Service vehicle on Friday at 4:30 in the afternoon

Preoccupied: The first daughter was chatting on iPhone while sitting in the back of the SUV

While Ivanka and her husband appeared to be having a night in, Tiffany, 24, was back in New York City after finishing her first year of law school at Georgetown University last month.

Tiffany's 54-year-old mother, Marla, took to Instagram on Friday afternoon to share a photo of herself with her daughter and friends at the Gramercy Park Hotel.

The mother-daughter duo was joined by Uruguayan-American musician Gabe Saporta, even planner Elvira Grau, and two men named David and Jim, respectively.

In the first photo, they are all posed and smiling for the camera, but the second is a blurry snapshot that shows them laughing together.

'Sharing friendship, family & amazing uplifting conversations... welcome back to #NYC Tiff, #DavidGhiyam and Gabe,' Marla captioned the images. 'David your class on Spiritual Proactive Confrontation was off the charts.

Style: Ivanka had on a long-sleeve black top featuring a chest cutout

Habit: Ivanka was seen typing on her phone as she left her home in the back of the SUV earlier in the day

Returning home: Her husband, Jared Kushner, came home with a guest less than two hours later

Off for the weekend: Jared, 37, donned a gray suit and carried a black bag as he headed inside his home

'Such a gift you have to help us all dig deeper and find greater peace in all situations life can bring us,' she added. 'Jim and Elvira your love and generosity always inspires! Miss you @erinfetherston.'

Marla also shared an Instagram Stories video of them walking into the restaurant.

'Ooh I love this. This is beautiful,' Marla can be heard saying in the clip, which she captioned: 'Following the light and my girl. Hey @gabrielsaporta and @ tiffanytrump.'

After their meal, Tiffany shared a black and white Instagram Stories video of the New York City streets while she was driven past Park Avenue.

Last Friday, Tiffany was seen boarding Marine One with her brother Donald Trump Jr. and her sister Ivanka, who was with her husband Jared, as they joined their father, President Donald Trump, for a weekend jaunt to Camp David.

Out and about: Ivanka's sister Tiffany Trump (center), 24, was back in New York City with her mom, Marla Maples (left), after finishing her first year of law school at Georgetown University

Having a laugh: The mother-daughter duo enjoyed a meal with friends at Gramercy Park Hotel

Ivanka wore a classic white blouse tucked into a pair of $1,490 Oscar de la Renta high-waisted pants when she boarded Marine One with her family in the afternoon.

Standing just an inch shy of six feet, Ivanka is far from short, but her designer pants appeared to be a few inches too long  even with her sky-high heels.

Photos of Ivanka walking across the South Lawn of the White House with her husband show her long pants dragging across the grass as she makes her way to Marine One.

It's likely that her heels were sinking into the ground during the walk across the lawn, and while she ended up walking on her trousers, she didn't seem to be worried about grass stains or tripping on her hem.

Meanwhile, Tiffany was on trend in an A-line tweed dress by Eliza J and a pair of $650 Yeezy plexi ankle strap sandals.

Footage: Marla shared a video of them entering the restaurant (L), while Tiffany later posted a clip of the New York City streets while being driven by Park Avenue (R)

Tiffany's shoe choice is fitting, considering Kanye West revealed his affinity for her father in April.

Last week, she posted a photo of herself taking in the scenic view at Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Tiffany is back in New York City after spending the last few weeks in May enjoying some time in Washington, D.C. following her finals.

On Sunday, May 20, she shared photos of herself posed with a mystery man at HalfSmoke restaurant  nearly a year after she and her former Democrat boyfriend Ross Mechanic are believed to have split.

Tiffany and the unidentified man struck a pose together while she held up a box of Trumped Up Cards, a party game that pokes fun at her father Donald Trump's run for president.

Family outing: Last Friday, Tiffany was seen boarding Marine One with her brother Donald Trump Jr. as they headed to Camp David with their father, President Donald Trump

Gang's (almost) all there: They were joined by Ivanka and her husband, Jared

Scenic view: Last week, Tiffany posted a photo of herself taking in the scenic view at Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Virginia

The card game, which is advertised as the 'World's Biggest Deck,' came out in 2016, just a few months before Trump was elected president.

According to the site, it is a 'satirical card game where reality collides with alternative facts and everyone wins!'

Tiffany was all smiles as she and her male companion posed with the card game, and she captioned the image: 'Milkeshakes + games.'

In the next shot, Tiffany is holding up a milkshake topped with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, and she used a filter to give them bunny ears while they posed together.

The outing may have been in celebration of her finishing her first year of law school, as the spring semester came to an end the week before.

Date? Tiffany posted photos and videos of herself with an unidentified man at HalfSmoke restaurant in Washington, D.C. in May

Night out on the town: The first daughter also shared a photo of herself drinking a milkshake with the unidentified man

The kitschy restaurant offers gourmet sausages served in tin lunch boxes, menus held in Lisa Frank binders, and customers' checks are presented to them in Disney VHS cases.

Tiffany clearly loved the restaurant's concept, and she filmed her companion getting their check, which was held in a VHS case of the Disney classic The Fox and the Hound.

The man appeared to have paid for the meal, as the case only contained one card and receipt, and the gesture suggests that the outing may have been a date.

She also shared a video of the Lisa Frank binders containing the restaurant's menu, writing: 'Cutest menu.'

'Open up yours,' she tells her date with a laugh in the clip.

'So sue me!' Tiffany shared snaps of them posing with Trumped Up Cards, a party game that pokes fun at her father Donald Trump's run for president

Split: It has been nearly a year since Tiffany and her Democrat ex-boyfriend Ross Mechanic were last seen together (pair above in February 2017)

In February, Tiffany's ex Ross, 23, confirmed their split when he made things 'Instagram official' with his new girlfriend, sharing a photo of himself kissing her on his page.

Rumors of trouble in paradise began swirling in September when Ross set his once-public Instagram profile to private.

He and Tiffany had taken a trip to Europe together in July 2017, but just two months later they appeared to be living separate lives.

While Tiffany has not spoken about the status of their relationship, it appears they may have ended things around that time  which is also when she started law school at Georgetown.

On Valentine's Day, Ross uploaded several images to his Instagram stories, one of which showed him kissing a New York-based PR and marketing professional named Carly Berns.
A sea of fancy females have converged on Queensland's Doomben Racecourse dressed to impress for their shot at taking home a Fashions on the Field prize.

Women opted to keep with a regal red, white and black theme for Stradbroke Day - the final fixture in Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival's 10 day program.

Attendees began flooding through the gates in dazzling frocks from 9.30am, covering up for the cooler weather in sleeved dresses and tasteful coats.

A sea of fancy females have converged on Queensland's Doomben Racecourse dressed to impress Saturday

omen opted to keep with a regal red, white and black theme for Stradbroke Day - the final fixture in Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival's 10 day program

A variety of interesting headwear was a prominent feature of the day, with many opting for differently styled broad-rimmed styled black hats.

Several FotF participants kept their look classy with a pair of gloves, and one even carried a horse riding crop.

Modest necklines were also a popular choice - many opting for a white turtle-neck blouse.

One woman kept her look quirky in a wide-rimmed hat featuring dangling white and black tassels paired with a large red rose elegantly positioned in front of her ear.

One woman kept her look quirky in a wide-rimmed hat featuring dangling white and black tassels

Another opted for feathers instead of tassels, and wore her hat tilted to one side of her head, allowing for a low-hanging hair bun to sit neatly to the other side

Modest necklines were also a popular choice - many opting for a white turtle-neck blouse

Another opted for feathers instead of tassels, and wore her hat tilted to one side of her head, allowing for a low-hanging hair bun to sit neatly to the other side.

Several wore black netted veils across the front of their face as an extension on their hat, adding another element of class to their ensemble.

One lady seemed to draw inspiration from olden styled English horse riders, donning a vibrant red blazer jacket, a white neck stock and large black belt around her waist.

She posed clasping a leather crop and resting it on her shoulder - adding an extra layer to her equestrian vibe.

Several wore black netted veils across the front of their face as an extension on their hat, adding another element of class to their ensemble
The Duchess of Cambridge is no stranger to dazzling crowds with her flawless outfits.

And joining Prince William for the Trooping The Colour ceremony in London today to mark the Queen's 92nd birthday, Kate didn't disappoint.

She showcased a seriously chic power blue dress and oversized head piece as she made her way through the capital in an open-top carriage.

Royal wave: Riding beside the Duchess of Cornwall in an open-top carriage, the Duchess of Cambridge looked effortlessly elegant for the Trooping The Colour ceremony

Chic: Kate completed her sophisticated look with a statement fascinator by Juliet Botterill

Waving to crowds alongside the Duchess of Cornwall, Kate looked radiant in a frock from one of her favourite designers, Alexander McQueen.

Effortlessly stylish, she completed her sophisticated look with a statement fascinator by Juliet Botterill.

The Duchess added a pair of drop earrings to her reliably chic wardrobe choice and teamed it with one of her timeless staples - heeled court shoes.

Just seven weeks ago Kate gave birth to her third child, Prince Louis, at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London.

The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall take their place in the Queen's carriage procession, which celebrate's Her Majesty's official 92nd birthday

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in a vintage Rolls Royce Phantom together this morning. Prince William stepped out in full military ceremonial regalia alongside Kate who wowed in a sophisticated teal dress

Since welcoming her second son, the Duchess has been made just a handful of public appearances.

She made an unexpected outing at Windsor Castle less than four weeks after Prince Louis' birth.
Charlotte Caldwell, the mother of Billy, 12, plans to return to Britain with a consignment of medical cannabis obtained in Canada

The desperate mother of a boy suffering from severe epilepsy plans to fly back to Britain tomorrow with a consignment of medical cannabis obtained in Canada and declare it to customs officials.

The dramatic move by Charlotte Caldwell to openly defy drug laws is the most brazen challenge yet to Ministers over the ban on medical use of marijuana.

It presents new Home Secretary Sajid Javid with a dilemma over whether to strip her of a medicine credited with saving her son Billys life.

I will ask them if they will let me keep this safe, regulated medicine that has kept my little boy alive  or are they going to take it off me, condemning my son to possible death? said Ms Caldwell.

If they confiscate Billys medicine and arrest me, they are signing his death warrant.

Billy, a lively 12-year-old boy with autism and intractable epilepsy, became the first patient in Britain to be prescribed cannabis-based medication on the NHS after enduring up to 100 seizures a day and routinely ending up in hospital.

He was originally given the treatment by a doctor in the US, where it is legal in the majority of states. Ms Caldwell said it rapidly stopped Billys seizures and drastically improved his quality of life.

But the single mother from Castlederg, County Tyrone, was left distraught last month when the Home Office told her family doctor to stop doling out the drug or face disbarment. I had to read the email six times in disbelief, she said.

So on Thursday  one day before her sons supply ran out  she flew to Toronto to get a new prescription, accompanied by this newspaper.

She will return tomorrow with a six-month supply of a specialist cannabis oil, which is administered in oral drops. I hate having to do this, she said. For a mother to be pushed into breaking the law to keep her son alive is horrendous. But this drug has given me hope and given my son back his right to life.

'Of course I worry about breaking the law  but I want my son illegally alive rather than legally dead.

Ms Caldwell will be met at Heathrow by the parents of eight other children with epilepsy supporting her campaign. Were fighting not just for ourselves but to give all those other families the right to hope, she said.

They are backed by Dan Poulter, a former Tory Health Minister who still works part-time as a doctor in mental health services. He recently started an all-party parliamentary group supported by three other doctors at Westminster pushing to legalise medical cannabis. The current law is ridiculous, said Mr Poulter. There is growing evidence cannabis products used medically can be helpful in a number of conditions, but it is still seen through the prism of illegality.

He called on Ministers to ensure Ms Caldwell is allowed through customs unimpeded. This is both medically the right thing to do and humanely the right thing to do.

This challenge comes amid growing pressure for reform from patients and families. Three months ago, Theresa May met the parents of Alfie Dingley, a six-year-old with epilepsy, who had been treating their son successfully with an oil obtained in Holland.

Ms Caldwells trip to Canada, where she is pictured with Billy, was aided by the Centre for Medical Cannabis, a pressure group led by former government adviser Blair Gibbs

Mrs May was moved by the case and promised to find a way to make the medicine available for them in Britain. Home Office officials, however, fear opening the floodgates for other patients who would be able to seek judicial review if denied cannabis treatment.

Ironically, Britain is the worlds largest exporter of legal cannabis grown for medical markets. A recent poll found three-quarters of voters back doctors being permitted to prescribe cannabis.

Ms Caldwell is a passionate promoter of the cause after seeing the dramatic impact on her sons life. Even after 20 hours awake, travelling from Ulster to London, then on to Toronto, Billy was smiling and energetic  despite standing up for much of the transatlantic flight.

On Friday, the boy was examined by doctors. They also questioned Ms Caldwell on his medical history and weighed her son before prescribing the drug and setting the dose. I agreed not to reveal the doctors names. But one said he had seen at least ten other British patients in the past two years at his Ontario clinic.

I have no doubt this is an effective drug, he said. A couple of years ago, lots of my colleagues did not agree with prescribing it but now they are referring patients to me and telling their families to come here for treatment.

Ms Caldwell calls epilepsy brutal for its destructive impact on families and sufferers. But the doctor said cannabis could reduce the intensity of seizures, soften their impact, enable patients to cut powerful cocktails of prescribed drugs and slash the number of attacks. I love hearing that one of my patients has not had a seizure for six months, he added.

These are dramatic claims, especially given the risk of sudden death during seizures. Sceptics argue much evidence is anecdotal, although there is more and more clinical data as use of medical cannabis rises. Its not a miracle drug but it deserves respect, said one expert.

The laws on the medical use of marijuana were liberalised in 2001 in Canada  on the day we arrived it also sanctioned the legalisation and regulation of recreational use.

The drug prescribed for Billy is made by Tilray, a British Columbian manufacturer. Like most cannabis-based epilepsy medicines, it has a very high ratio of CBD (the non-psychoactive chemical found in the plant) to THC (the chemical that intoxicates users). Doctors told me it would be impossible to use this drug to get high  and since it is an oil, the THC cannot be separated out. Cannabis products containing THC are illegal in Britain.

Ms Caldwell raised more cash and returned to her US doctor, who discussed the concept of medical cannabis, sent her to a specialist and found the correct dosage to stop the seizures

Tilrays director of clinical research Catherine Jacobson, whose own child has epilepsy, said cannabis contains more than 100 different chemical compounds so the challenge was to work out which worked for particular conditions, then the correct doses.

I would never give my son street cannabis, she said. You do not know what you are giving them or how much you are giving them.

Britains cannabis ban comes under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. Campaigners argue this muddles recreational and medical use but Ministers are wary of reform amid concerns that stronger street cannabis is causing an epidemic of mental health problems among younger users.

Yet Ms Caldwell fears the Government is forcing British parents into illegality, either by using cannabis bought from street dealers or by smuggling in medical products permitted abroad in countries such as Canada, Germany and the US.

This is her latest battle since Billys birth turned her life upside down, forcing her to ditch a thriving career in the tourist industry. Her relationship with Billys father quickly fell apart and she is constantly with her son, even at night. She has one other adult son.

The epilepsy became evident when Billy was four months old, leading to a 16-week stay in hospital. I just felt powerless and sick in my heart, she said. He was having hundreds of seizures a day and they could not get them under control.

After doctors told her they could do no more for the boy, she raised 250,000 in just ten weeks to fund treatment in Chicago. She spent two years living there as her son was given intensive physiotherapy to boost his development.

I was kept going by love, faith and hope for Billy, she said. I dreamed one day he might be able to run towards me and say, Mummy. It was like a miracle when he finally did this.

When the cash ran out, she borrowed 25,000 from a bank to pay for private treatment and moved to Oxfordshire. Eighteen months later Billy walked through the airport in Ireland. I was left with nothing but I felt triumphant that he was walking and free of seizures.

But the epilepsy returned with frightening strength two years ago, which doctors blamed on a brain lesion triggered by earlier seizures. They raised the possibility of surgery, but it would have wiped out his memory and hard-fought ability to walk.

After doctors told her they could do no more for the boy, Ms Caldwell raised 250,000 in just ten weeks to fund treatment in Chicago

Ms Caldwell raised more cash and returned to her US doctor, who had moved from Chicago to a Los Angeles hospital. He discussed the concept of medical cannabis, sent her to a specialist and eventually they found the correct dosage to stop the wretched seizures. After eight months in California, funds dried up again. The pair returned to Northern Ireland  and spent eight days walking 150 miles from their home to the hospital to highlight the dramatic improvements in Billys condition thanks to his cannabis treatment.

Her GP agreed in April last year to prescribe cannabis oil, supplied by an American company  until the Government warning last month to stop.

My mission as Billys mum is to keep him alive. I scoured the globe to find the medicine that was saving his life. The debate on cannabis is so muddled  this is not recreational cannabis but a safe, regulated drug. And this is not just for Billy. There are 240 other children in Northern Ireland alone who suffer intractable epilepsy.

Can you imagine how cruel it is to see children having these seizures knowing there is a drug that could help but they are not allowed it? We have to find a solution.

Ms Caldwells trip to Canada was aided by the Centre for Medical Cannabis, a pressure group led by former government adviser Blair Gibbs. This isnt about legalising pot but providing safe, pharmaceutical grade products for a defined set of health conditions, he said.

The Home Office said: We are sympathetic to the difficult and rare situation that Billy and his family are faced with.

While we recognise that people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, it is important that medicines are thoroughly tested to ensure they meet rigorous standards so that doctors and patients are assured of their efficacy, quality and safety.

I have rarely met a more determined person than Ms Caldwell. Her efforts have made her something of a celebrity in Northern Ireland, with one man in a wheelchair on her flight from Belfast giving her 10 with instructions to buy Billy a wee gift.

So as we left one of the Canadian clinics, I asked what will she do if officials take away her sons supply when she lands tomorrow. Ill go back and get some more, she said.
Sexual assault was once an issue shrouded in guilt and shame. Too often, victims were made to feel that they were to blame for what had happened to them.

Recently, though, there has been a sea-change in attitude. People are encouraged to report such incidents to the police and to talk openly about their experiences as a way of dealing with the trauma.

This, combined with a greater understanding of mental health, has prompted calls for improved psychological services  and this week, the NHS responded with a pledge that victims of sexual assault will be offered a lifetime of counselling.

Having worked with victims of sexual violence over the years, I can think of nothing worse.

Sexual assault was once an issue shrouded in guilt and shame. Too often, victims were made to feel that they were to blame for what had happened to them

The idea that they need  or would even want  a lifetime of counselling is ludicrous.

Yes, they may seek treatment for any acute psychological effects they suffer, but what they really want is to get on with their lives.

They dont want to be defined by what has happened, or for it to dominate their future, but this offer of a lifetime of counselling casts them as perpetual victims.

In a heartfelt article in the Mail this week, Jenni Murray, doyenne of BBC Radio 4s Womans Hour, wrote about how, after a horrific, violent rape when she was a teenager, she resolved that she would not let it shape her life.

Murray was responding to controversial comments by the author and feminist Germaine Greer, who also experienced violent rape aged 18. Like Murray, Greer said she refused to live the rest of her life as a rapee.

She then went on to call for the lowering of punishment for rape, saying society should not see it as a spectacularly violent crime, but view it more as bad sex. Quite rightly, those latter comments infuriated many who felt that Greer was trivialising rape.

What struck me, though, was the similarly robust response of both women  a reaction that is shared by so many of my patients, men and women.

And at a time when the NHS is advocating evidence-based treatment, I wonder why a strategy of lifetime counselling, for which there is no evidence of benefit, is being promoted. On the contrary, theres good evidence that time-limited therapy best helps those with mental health problems, while periods away from treatment are an opportunity for them to consolidate what they have learned in therapy and to develop their own coping skills.

Too much therapy can lead to them becoming dependent on a therapist and never trying to overcome their problems.

The new pledge risks making things worse for patients  so why is the NHS suggesting it?

The real reason, I suspect, is political, rather than medical.

With the spread of the #MeToo movement, being seen to do something about sexual violence is in vogue.

However, the NHS should not be responding to fashionable diktats, but only to what patients need and what is clinically indicated.

Recently, though, there has been a sea-change in attitude. People are encouraged to report such incidents to the police and to talk openly about their experiences as a way of dealing with the trauma

Timely therapy should be the focus, not never-ending therapy.

Prompt psychological support can reduce the risk of long-term problems, yet waiting lists for those who need help following sexual assault are too long.

Recently, a patient of mine was raped and needed expert therapy. She was too distressed to call the local rape support centre, so I did it for her while she sat beside me.

I was told that after an initial assessment by a nurse, she would be put on a waiting list  currently around six months.

In some areas, the waiting list is even longer.

What are these very distressed women and men meant to do in the meantime?

Access to mental health support at the time of need is what the NHS should be focusing on.

Instead, it chases headlines with meaningless offers of never-ending therapy.

Sex robots make me feel very uneasy, but there has been widespread speculation that they might reduce sexual crimes, by providing an outlet for peoples proclivities.

A report in the BMJ this week dismisses such claims. I would go further and say the increasing availability of sexbots will raise the risk of sex crimes, by allowing individuals to act out perverted fantasies.

Weve seen this with online pornography, with extreme sex acts becoming more mainstream. My fear is that sexbots risk normalising deviant behaviour, which will then spill out into the real world.

A smile is worth a small fortune

Judy Murray has revealed that she had her teeth fixed, splashing out an estimated 30,000 on orthodontic work  and she looks fantastic.

I know first-hand how this can transform how you feel about yourself. When I was in my late teens, the teeth on one side of my jaw started collapsing inwards.

As a result, several of my front teeth stuck out almost at right angles and my lips appeared set in a permanent snarl.

I became paranoid about my goofy teeth, trying not to smile or covering my mouth when I did.

Bad dental work in childhood was to blame and my new dentist decided the best option was to remove the teeth and fit me with dentures. I was devastated.

Thankfully, a kind aunt who knew the perils of dentures intervened and paid for me to have orthodontic work.

All in all, it took about five years, but it meant I kept all my teeth  and Im not overstating it when I say it changed my life.

Its hard to feel happy when you are afraid to smile. But suddenly, my confidence rocketed and I wanted to beam at everyone.

Sadly, orthodontic work is rarely available for adults on the NHS, but I tell everyone that if there is any way they can afford it, its worth it to put a smile back on your face and give a massive boost to your self-esteem.

A caring idea we could use

In France, a revolutionary village is being created for Alzheimers patients, where they will live alongside carers, researchers and volunteers and be free to roam unrestricted.

The village will have a supermarket, restaurant, hair salon, gym and library, and be set around a central square.

It sounds a wonderful idea, but I hardly think its revolutionary.

What the French are doing is re-inventing what was once the norm  where the elderly and vulnerable were cared for within their family and community.

These days, care is outsourced to dreary care homes and it seems were only just coming to appreciate what weve lost.

n On the subject of carers, the Government has announced plans to support some six million people nationwide who look after vulnerable relatives, with flexible working arrangements and paid carers leave.

The carers need caring for, too. This cannot come soon enough.
THIRTEEN by Steve Cavanagh (Orion 7.99)

THIRTEEN

by Steve Cavanagh (Orion 7.99)

This dazzling serial killer thriller set in Manhattan is written by a Dublin-based civil rights lawyer. One of the most accomplished legal dramas I have read this year, it reminds me of Scott Turows stunning Presumed Innocent.

The premise is simple. Former con man, now lawyer, Eddie Flynn is recruited to defend Hollywood A-list actor Robert Solomon, whos accused of brutally killing his beautiful actress wife. All the evidence points to his guilt, and its set to be the celebrity trial of the century  think O. J. Simpson.

Enter the first of many intriguing twists: a ruthless serial killer is quietly ensuring he is on the jury . . . The plan doesnt work at first, as he only becomes the 13th juror  the alternate.

The trial itself reveals Cavanaghs astonishingly sure touch for character and the skill of his serpentine plotting.

A BRUSH WITH DEATH

A BRUSH WITH DEATH Ali Carter (Point Blank 8.99)

Ali Carter (Point Blank 8.99)

A delicious new voice in crime writing is revealed in this debut. Carters heroine is the engaging and spirited Susie Mahl, who paints pets for aristocratic toffs to help make a living as an artist. This means she regularly stays in grand country houses.

On one such weekend, Alexander, the ninth Earl of Greengrass, dies unexpectedly behind the local church in the English village of Spire in Dorset. Susie stays on to help look after the Earls grieving, but matriarchal, widow, Diana.

With her eye for detail and her curious nature, Susie scents the possibility of a murder, and turns herself into an amateur sleuth who Miss Marple would admire. Excellent on the English aristocracy, and written in a fine wry style, we will hear much more of Miss Mahl.

THE CHOSEN ONES

THE CHOSEN ONES by Howard Linskey (Michael Joseph 7.99)

by Howard Linskey (Michael Joseph 7.99)

Some of Linskeys stories, set in the North-East, feature the irascible detective DS Ian Bradshaw as well as journalists Tom Carney and Helen Norton.

This latest brings the three together again to investigate the possibility that young women are being abducted and kept prisoner somewhere in Durham. It begins when Eva Dunbar wakes up trapped in a large metal box that is just big enough for a single bed.

She has no idea how she got there, nor who might have taken her. But is she simply the latest in a line of victims who have disappeared?

Are they alive, have they been kept captive, or are they all dead? Bradshaw has no leads, until a body of a woman who disappeared 18 years earlier and may have been held a prisoner is discovered. This story will cause nightmares, it is that good.
The Future Ready Institute training for teachers involved in institutes this fall will be June 11-15 at Unum. Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be dedicated to classwork at Unum, while Wednesday and Thursday of the week will be dedicated to teachers participating in externships at business locations in the community. The training will be held at Unums Chattanooga offices. The business locations will match with the theme of the institute to give teachers the experience of the business world they will be teaching to students to prepare graduates for the future.



The aviation externship was held early this week due to scheduling. The aviation experience at the Chattanooga Airport visited Wilson Air, the airport fire station, the commercial terminal, West Star, air traffic control, and the Crystal Air hanger. Brainerd High Schools Institute of Aviation participated in the externship at the airport.



The five-day training session will engage the school teams in two days of training on the use of the project-based learning method in their classroom instruction. The school groups will also spend two days embedded into a job site in the community getting practical experience in the program they will teach to high school students. The last day will be for group planning for the first year of the Future Ready Institutes.



Future Ready Institutes will challenge the traditional approach to education in high schools by developing career-themed small learning communities, officials said. Teachers of all content areas including English, math, science and social studies will work closely with the career and technical education teacher to provide classroom instruction through the lens of a career. The goal is for students to clearly understand why a lesson is important and how they will use the information in the future.



Unum Training



Monday, June 11

8:30 a.m.  Introductions

9:30 a.m.  Design Challenge (Michael Weiss)

11:30 a.m.  Project Based Learning Intro (Michael Stone)

12:30 p.m.  Lunch

1:30  4:30 p.m.  PBL continued



Tuesday, June 12

8:45 a.m.  Project Based Learning (Michael Stone)

12 p.m.  Lunch

1  4 p.m.  PBL continued

4 p.m.  Externship Overview

4:30 p.m.  Day ends



Wednesday and Thursday

Teacher Externships  Details to come on these days

Externships will include EPB, Erlanger, TVA, Chattanooga Police, Chattanooga Fire, District Attorneys office, Unum, Chattanooga Aquarium, Komatsu, PEF and more.



Friday, June 15

8:45 a.m.  Design challenge (Michael Weiss)

12 p.m.  Lunch

1  4 p.m.  Design challenge continued

4-4:30 p.m.  School next steps



The small learning communities that will create a school within a school will give high school students an opportunity to combine academics with a career field that interests them. The goal of the new Future Ready Institutes in Hamilton County Schools is to ensure graduates are ready for success in their future careers.



Unum, a Chattanooga-based provider of employee benefits and income protection, is providing funding for teacher and instructor training for Future Ready Institutes district-wide. The company has committed $300,000 in funding for the program over the next three years.



The vision that all Hamilton County School students should graduate from high school prepared for post-secondary opportunities is a cause that we can rally behind at Unum, said Miles Huff, community relations specialist at Unum. Supporting students, teachers, and schools in the communities where we live and work is our top priority.



Community partners like Unum are making the transition of our schools into future ready hubs of learning a possibility for our children, stated Dr. Bryan Johnson, superintendent of Hamilton County Schools. The training funded by Unum will allow our teachers to get a clearer picture of business and industry needs in our community and provide a closer connection between teaching in the classroom and career requirements.








Dress to impress, have a joke up your sleeve and flout rule number one  NEVER mention her age!  at your peril... Events Louise Gannon recalls her SEVEN bruising bouts with pops punchiest star

A decade ago I sat in a holding suite in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills awaiting an audience with Madonna.

It was a matter of weeks ahead of her 50th birthday and the beginning of her eighth concert tour (Sweet & Sticky) to promote her 11th studio album, Hard Candy. Eight writers had been hand-selected from the biggest territories all over the world. There was tension in the room  there always is with Madonna  because there was one rule she was insisting every journalist follow: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN YOU ASK HER ABOUT TURNING 50.

There is no such thing as complacency in her world  even at 60. Madonna, we salute you

Dress to impress, have a joke up your sleeve and flout rule number one  NEVER mention her age!  at your peril...

I was the last person to speak to her that day. The journalist before me, a nervous Italian, was led out of her interview room after less than 15 minutes and looking close to tears. He had not asked the forbidden question; hed done something far worse. He had bored her with tedious queries and then sat in terrified silence, flipping back and forward through his notebook as she demanded: Ask me something interesting. He was struck dumb so she waved her hand for him to be removed.

Anna Friel: I met Madonna in 1999 when I was doing the play Closer in New York. She took me out to dinner. I was so nervous, but I had my gran with me and I asked if she could come too. It was hilarious. My gran had no idea who she was. She called her Radonna and asked her what she did for a living. I think she thought it was quite funny. I still laugh about that now

She was wearing a black leather jacket, black trousers and a scowl when I walked in. On a previous occasion she had told me she enjoys being in bitch mode. I was prepared. She complimented me on my outfit (I was wearing gold sandals from her 2007 H&M collection because Id interviewed her six times before and know she takes in every tiny detail) and I grinned. Weve been told not to ask you about turning 50, I said. But youre a feminist, youre a trailblazer and women want to know how you are going to handle 50.

Youve broken the rule, she said firmly. Yes, I answered, making sure I gave direct eye contact. Because thats what youve taught women to do. Im only following your lead. She burst out laughing. I had a longer audience than anyone else that day (possibly because of the early exit of the terrified Italian), and when I left she recommended a Vietnamese massage centre on Sunset to deal with jet lag. I tried her recommendation  it was pure torture. I wondered whether it was a joke on me or a lesson in what it takes to be Madonna: take everything to the extreme.

Ten years ago, she gave me her manifesto for ageing: Im not going to be defined by my age. Why should any woman? Im not going to slow down, get off this ride, stay home and get fat. No way... I will certainly never get fat. I dont ever want to stop learning, living, loving  I want more, more, more.

The first time I met her was in 1989 (the year she divorced her first husband, Sean Penn), when she had just had a $5 million contract with Pepsi revoked after the Vatican condemned her for the Like A Prayer video, which featured burning crosses, stigmata and her making love to a saint in a dream sequence.

Sharleen Spiteri: To me there are three great women in rock: Madonna, Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde. I got to know Madonna though Stella McCartney  she asked if she could bring me to dinner at her house. I was totally blown away by everything about her but most of all how brilliantly sarcastic she is about absolutely everything. Theres something fantastically British about her. Madonna gets irony. Very few Americans do

She was (slightly) less intimidating then, with cropped, curly peroxide hair and dressed like an off-duty dancer in black sweats. But Madonna doesnt necessarily give interviews  she gives tests. She said I had to tell her a joke. Whats the difference between a rock star and a dictator? She shook her head. You can negotiate with a dictator. She laughed. How did she feel being banned by the Pope and losing $5 million? I got to No 1 all over the world, didnt I? she answered. And Im not here just to entertain people. Im here to make them think. I want to push boundaries. Or else, whats the point? Im not afraid to be the sort of artist who makes you question everything  people can hate me or love me, but as long as I make them think, thats all I care about.

When she first exploded on the scene in 1980, a raw, pretty dancer on New Yorks arty club scene, whose past boyfriends included the graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, she just seemed  as she once told me  like another piece of ass to be exploited for a fast buck.

Being underestimated is a very powerful position to be in, she said. No one expected a woman to make a deal, break a deal and make demands. People call you a bitch and a ball-breaker. No one calls a powerful man that. No one asks can he cook and look after his children. F*** that. If it takes being a bitch, Ill be a bitch.

Get into the grooves... her greatest hits 1 Holiday (1983) Childlike synth-pop, so catchy that it goes down a treat in concert. And Madonna knows it: she has performed it more than any other song. 2 Borderline (1984) Swinging dance-pop with a Motown vibe and a video that sums up the young Madonna: squeaky, lovable and looking as if shes just bought everything in the thrift store. In a good year, Madonna picks up on whats playing in the clubs, finds a hot producer and makes that sound her own 3 Like A Virgin (1984) A defining moment, with a gleaming production by Nile Rodgers, riding high after Bowies Lets Dance. 4 Into The Groove (1985) Her most Madonna-ish hit: only when Im dancing, she trills, can I feel this free. Her first British No 1. 5 Papa Dont Preach (1986) Madonna takes on the patriarchy, and wins. 6 Like A Prayer (1989) A peach of a tune, and a controversial video, about white supremacists, which got Madonna admonished by the Vatican and dropped from a Pepsi ad. 7 Vogue (1990) In a good year, Madonna picks up on whats playing in the clubs, finds a hot producer and makes that sound her own. In 1990 she did it with Shep Pettibone, and the result was a disco-house classic. 8 You Must Love Me (1996) Before starring in Evita, Madonna took singing lessons. They paid off on this touching ballad, written specially for the film by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. 9 Ray Of Light (1998) When a pop star discovers spirituality, anything can happen. For Madonna it meant hiring the British producer William Orbit and writing some of her strongest songs, mixing electronica with psychedelia. 10 Hung Up (2005) A rousing floor-filler, and a tribute to her powers of persuasion, as she coaxed Benny and Bjorn from Abba into letting her sample Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight). She has got guts and has been around for 21 years, said Benny. Thats not bad going. Tim de Lisle Advertisement

Tracy Anderson (former personal trainer): Madonna is a total one-off. Ive trained a hundred women  lots of celebrities  but no one like her. Shes like a professional athlete. She pushes herself harder than anyone Ive ever known and shes willing to do anything  I mean anything  to get results. She even trains for two hours on Christmas Day. Who does that? Even I dont, but Madonna does.

When youre in a room with her, she is in control. She likes to be seated already, and there is usually a large book in front of her containing her schedule for the day, which must be adhered to. And she has always relished her man-eater image. Im not ashamed of my sexuality  whats sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, she said in 1996. Although she also told me the reason she fell for Guy Ritchie was because he said No to me, and that is something I couldnt resist.

She can be surprisingly funny  she can even laugh at herself. Ritchie used to mock her outrageous outfits. Sometimes, Ive come down the stairs all dressed up. He gives me a look and says, Who are you going as tonight, then? Isnt that a great put-down? And she took great pleasure in her daughters embarrassment of being taken to school by her. Youre not wearing that, are you? is what she says to me pretty much each time.

Ive asked Madonna many times what it is that drives her. I am entirely a product of my childhood  I have dealt with a lot of my demons, but the biggest one is still to do with my mother dying when I was young.

Bitch? I'm Madonna... Rupert Everett with Madonna Her Madgesty makes friends fast, but keeping them? Thats another story. Here are four of her most famous fallings-out... Rupert Everett The pair met at a dinner party where Madonna chatted happily to Everett (right), but ignored everyone else. Manners were something she had discarded at base camp, he said later. Their friendship unravelled after he wrote that she looked like a Picasso and behaved like a whiny old barmaid when stressed, in his first memoir in 2006. Madonna responded with a frosty silence. Sandra Bernhard In the early Nineties, comedian Sandra Bernhard was one of Madonnas best pals. Then something changed. While neither Bernhard nor Madge has ever divulged what happened between them, Bernhard said, I look at my friendship with her as like having a gallstone: you deal with it, there is pain, and then you pass it. Elton John In 2002 Elton branded Madonnas theme song for Die Another Day as the worst Bond tune ever. Then, at the 2004 Q Awards, added: Madonna, live act? F*** off. Since when has lip-syncing been live? Everyone who lip-syncs when you pay 75 quid to see them should be shot. Thats me off her Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No. Madonna has appeared to want to mend the rift. Hes known to get mad at me, she said in 2012, but I adore him. Gwyneth Paltrow The two blondes were once besties but fell out after Madonna fired their shared personal trainer, Tracy Anderson, and told Gwyneth she should too. When Paltrow refused, Madonna terminated their friendship. In 2011 Paltrow alluded to the feud on her blog, writing about an insufferable friend who left her feeling drained, empty and belittled. Advertisement

Livia Firth: I first encountered Madonna at the 2011 Oscars when my husband Colin [Firth] won Best Actor [for The Kings Speech]. It was one of the best nights of my life, and there were so many unbelievable people later at a party. I remember being on the dancefloor and realising I was right next to Madonna. Madonna dancing. Id like to say she said something but she didnt really look at me  she was concentrating on her dancing. But just to be next to her was a huge buzz

As I child I had no control. I felt the world around me was chaotic and I needed to have some control, which would enable me to pull myself up by my bootstraps. Thats when the self-discipline started. It was my way of survival.

I started off wanting to be a nun like the ones at my school because they lived this incredible ordered life and they moved around in this graceful, beautiful way. Then I realised I loved boys, so that was out.

Then I found dance, and it was this world where you had to achieve results  no tricks, no shortcuts. Its how Ive lived my life forever. When I hung out in clubs in New York and experimented with drugs I hated being out of control. Id drink water to get them out of my system.

In life I have to be engaged, to be learning, doing, living. Ive never wanted to be disengaged or to miss a moment.

Im glad not to have missed a moment in her company because women like Madonna are rare. You cannot predict how she is going to react to any question or what words are going to come out of her mouth. There is no such thing as complacency in her world  even at 60.

Madonna, we salute you.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Cert: 12A 2hrs 8mins

Rating:

Three years ago, the first Jurassic World film didnt just reboot the old and much loved dino franchise, it completely transformed it.

With an immaculately polished screenplay, an intelligent awareness of its own heritage and fabulous chemistry between its two stars, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, it was, without doubt, one of the cinematic highlights of 2015 as well as the fifth-highest grossing film ever made.

Sadly, the inevitable second film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, just isnt in the same class.

Three years ago, the first Jurassic World film didnt just reboot the much loved franchise, it completely transformed it. Sadly,Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, just isnt in the same class

Yes, theres a relentless and eventually rather wearying narrative drive, and there are certainly an awful lot of dinosaurs, but the story feels both formulaic and familiar, the back-archive (this, after all, is the fifth film in the now 25-year-old series) is plundered for inspiration with impunity, and as for the chemistry, and indeed comedy, that Pratt and Howard shared first time around you barely notice either this time.

And we cant go much further without quickly addressing the subject of Jeff Goldblum, whose return as mathematician and general doomster Ian Malcolm after a 21-year absence has earned the new film huge amounts of publicity.

And yet he graces it for what 90 seconds, two minutes max, topping and tailing the action  in which he plays absolutely no part  like a particularly twitchy and no doubt very expensive afterthought.

Both Chris Pratt (above) and Bryce Dallas Howard return but there is no sign of the fabulous chemistry they shared in 2015

Its as if executive producer Steven Spielberg watched an early cut, decided it wasnt quite working  particularly in the film- magic, hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck department  and suddenly ordered: Give Goldblum a ring; see how much he wants. Too cynical? Possibly, but only just.

Set a few years after the cataclysmic events that led to the closure of the Jurassic World theme park, the new film sees the prehistoric inhabitants of Isla Nublar facing a new threat.

The islands long-dormant volcano has become active again and an eruption seems imminent. Should nature be allowed to take its course and see the dinosaurs wiped out (again), or should someone mount a rescue mission?

Above: Bryce Dallas Howard and Justice Smith. The new film sees the prehistoric inhabitants of Isla Nublar facing a new threat in the form of the islands long-dormant volcano

There are no prizes for guessing what reborn dinosaur-rights activist Claire Dearing (Howard) thinks, so shes delighted when the ageing and ailing billionaire Benjamin Lockwood  apparently the business partner of the character played by Richard Attenborough in the original films  says hes keen and willing to back her.

Indeed, his right-hand man (British actor Rafe Spall, playing American) already has a team on the island.

But why  when she gets to the island  do they look like a military team? And why are they so particularly keen to rescue Blue, the genetically improved and highly intelligent raptor who, dino-wise, stole the first Jurassic World film from larger rivals such as the Indominus Rex and the Mosasaurus, the marine monster that eats great white sharks for fun?

Should nature be allowed to take its course and see the dinosaurs wiped out (again), or should someone mount a rescue mission?

The answer to the last question, of course, is that it gets Owen Grady (Pratt) back in the action, along with the two younger characters that no Jurassic Park/World film can be without  in this case nervous computer nerd Franklin (an overacting Justice Smith) and feisty female paleo-veterinarian Zia (Daniella Pineda) because, obviously, you never know when you might need a dinosaur bandaged up.

The Spanish director J A Bayona, who made the strange British film A Monster Calls a couple of years ago, makes his Hollywood debut here, and while he can now add big budget summer blockbuster to his CV, his handling of the big action scenes doesnt always convince.

IT'S A FACT Shooting began on a Slough business park, where offices were used for scenes in which baby raptors are trained and blood is taken from a T-rex. Advertisement

A scene that sees Pratt almost jogging away from a herd of stampeding dinosaurs seems particularly silly, as does a later sequence when he evades dino-squashing and molten lava in quick succession (despite being virtually paralysed).

The problem is that when you dont believe in the action and youre not emotionally involved with the characters, you switch off.

That said, a younger audience brought in by the first Jurassic World picture could find enough to enjoy here. This is a commercial popcorn movie, not a genre-redefining one.

I think we can safely say the scene is very much set for Jurassic World 3. But I, for one, wont be holding my breath.

SECOND SCREEN

McQueen (15)

Rating:

Id forgotten about the so-called bumsters, trousers so low-cut they left half your bottom on display. And the towering platform shoes that seemed to defy the laws of physics. Not to mention his love of the casually displayed nipple.

But then Alexander McQueen, one of the bad boys of British fashion, has been dead for eight years now and would be in danger of being forgotten were it not for hugely popular museum shows such as Savage Beauty and now documentaries like this one, simply titled McQueen.

Made, clearly with love, by Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui, and with music from one of McQueens favourite composers, Michael Nyman, its the story of the plump, working-class boy from east London whose love of clothes and design would eventually see him installed as head designer at both Givenchy and Gucci, as well as having a ground-breaking and hugely successful label of his own.

Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui's documentary about fashion bad boy Alexander McQueen (above) is an intimate portrait and a must-see for anyone interested in fashion

Its the story of a man who loved good tailoring but also loved to rip up the established conventions of the fashion world in his desire both to create and to shock, drawing the frequent criticism that his clothes were both misogynistic and unwearable.

And yet you dont have to know very much about fashion to see that there is beauty as well as genius here.

Success made him wealthy, slim, world-famous and difficult to work with. But it didnt make him happy, as this eventually sad and moving story makes clear.

As one of the contributors, plucked from a mix of family and close colleagues, puts it: The more money he had, the more unhappy he was.

Under relentless pressure to keep churning out headline-grabbing collections, using drugs and devastated by the death of his mother, McQueen committed suicide the day before her funeral. He was 40.

This film is a fascinating tribute, adroitly tip-toeing its perilous way through creations and collections, some destined to become fashion classics while others smacked of emperors new clothes. Sometimes almost literally.

Its an intimate portrait and a must-see for anyone interested in fashion but, as more of an interested bystander, I would have enjoyed an outside voice or two offering a little historical perspective on McQueens brilliant but tragically short career.
Tate Britain, London Until Sep 23

Rating:

The past four years have seen many a cultural event marking the centenary of the First World War.

Now, with the 100th anniversary of the Armistice approaching, Tate Britain has changed tack: with an exhibition on the aftermath of that conflict.

Specifically, on the way British, French and German artists responded to the fact that ten million of their peers had been obliterated.

The Dance Club (The Jazz Party) - William Roberts. The past four years have seen many a cultural event marking the centenary of the First World War

The works from this country are, by and large, familiar  though that doesnt necessarily lessen their impact. Take Henry Tonkss pastel portraits of servicemen whod had their faces hideously disfigured.

Perhaps because the works are less well known here, its the German art on show thats most captivating.

Hanging above us, in the second room, is Ernst Barlachs The Floating One. It consists of a levitating bronze female figure, with eyes closed, arms folded and a haunted look on her face.

Kathe Kollwitz, The Widow I. Now, with the 100th anniversary of the Armistice approaching, Tate Britain has changed tack: with an exhibition on the aftermath of that conflict

She is horizontal, calling to mind both a launched missile and angel of death. To say she makes for uncomfortable viewing is an understatement.

One must also surely mention Kathe Kollwitzs moving series of Expressionist prints, War, inspired by the trauma of losing her son Peter in action.

The big art movement of the post-war years in Paris was Surrealism  its madcap images a rebellion against a society that had just reduced the world to mass slaughter.

Otto Dix - Prostitute And Disabled War Veteran. Perhaps because the works are less well known here, its the German art on show thats most captivating

In France, meanwhile, the likes of Roger de la Fresnaye found solace in rural landscapes and peasant labour.

With paintings such as A Herdsman, he celebrated the survival of the French people and land.

Artists reacted in a variety of ways to the war. The problem with Aftermath, though, is that its focus isnt tight enough.

Ypres After The First Bombardment - Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson. Artists reacted in a variety of ways to the war. The problem with Aftermath is that its focus isnt tight enough

The period it covers drags on until 1932, by which time most of the works have a tenuous connection to the conflict.

A show worth seeing, then, but one with plenty to skip in the final rooms.

ALSO WORTH SEEING

Howard Hodgkin: Last Paintings

Gagosian, London Until Jul 28

Rating:

The English painter Howard Hodgkin always tried to keep the number of works in his exhibitions to a minimum, keen to leave the visitor wanting more.

Thats precisely the feeling one is left with after seeing Howard Hodgkin: Last Paintings at Gagosians Mayfair gallery.

The trouble is, though, that there will now never be any more. Hodgkin died last year, aged 84, and this excellent show features 32 works from his final years.

Bombay Afternoon, from 2016. With his unrestrained swathes of fiery red and yellow, Hodgkin captured perfectly the hustle-bustle and heat of Indias biggest city in daytime

He was, to all intents and purposes, an abstract painter. But Hodgkin insisted what he actually painted was the mood of a given place or event  with his titles offering a guide as to where or what that might be.

Take Bombay Afternoon, from 2016. Theres nothing figurative or obviously recognisable in this image, yet with his unrestrained swathes of fiery red and yellow, Hodgkin captured perfectly the hustle-bustle and heat of Indias biggest city in daytime.

In Cocktails For Two, meanwhile, a mango colour dominates, suggestive of the exotic fruits that went into the tipple in question.

Hodgkin was a master of colour, his palette enhanced by the brightness he encountered on annual trips to India.

What stands out about the works in this exhibition, though, is the way he applied his paint quickly and thinly, leaving expanses of wood visible underneath that serve as an extra colour. (Hodgkin never liked canvas, preferring to paint on panel.)

With his final works, theres a sense of a seasoned artist, trusting his instincts and letting loose  in contrast to paintings from earlier in his career, which he worked and reworked.

Far from hampering Hodgkin, old age brought out the boldest  and the best  in him.
From woolly one-pieces to not-so-teeny bikinis, swimwear has come a long way. And, as a new book celebrating the original beach-babes proves, weve got these Hollywood pin-ups to thank

Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth in 1938

The flirty 30s

Glamour portraiture reached its zenith in the late 1930s and Hollywood actresses were often sent to Santa Monica Beach to be snapped having fun in the sun. Rita Hayworth, above in 1938, and Bette Davis, below, casually posed in their wool-jersey tank suits, but there was one cardinal rule the film studios imposed on photographers and stars: the swimsuit must never get wet, the resulting cling being quite taboo.

Bette Davis makes a bid for bombshell status with her role as Ruth Wescott in the 1932 crime melodrama Three on a Match

The daring 40s

The wartime restrictions on materials encouraged the popularity of the two-piece suit as it used less fabric than the classic one-piece maillot, even though the gap between top and bottom was just three to four inches. Joan Crawford, below on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, in 1949, and Ava Gardner posed in flattering designs made from Lastex, a lightweight silk and elastic blend originally used for girdles.

Joan Crawford on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, in 1949

Ava Gardner in 1944

The flaunty 50s

California-based designer Rose Marie Reid introduced dress sizing to swimwear, seeking to perfect the inner brassiere and incorporate tummy-tuck panels as modelled by a young Brigitte Bardot, below, in Cannes, 1953.

Brigitte Bardot in Cannes, 1953

Three years later, in the film And God Created Woman, Bardot seduced audiences everywhere in her provocative little French-cut bikinis. She started a trend for gingham which, in record time, was cut and stitched into truckloads of bikinis. Marilyn Monroe segued from her one-piece halternecks into various revealing bikini styles, as did Jayne Mansfield and Diana Dors.

Marilyn Monroe in Clash by Night, 1952

Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief, 1955

The red-hot 60s

This bikini made me a success. My entrance in Dr No wearing it made me world famous as The Bond Girl'

Brazil suddenly came into sunny focus in the mid-60s thanks to its smooth rhythms and bikini-beautiful girls. The sea, the shore, the sand  all things coastal  captured the attention of the young and the tannable.

Hawaii had become the 50th state of the US; Ursula Andress undulated out of the Caribbean Sea in a startling white bikini in Dr No in 1962, and Elvis had begun his long streak of romantic-comedies, some of which were set by the sea.

The bikini became a jet-set favourite, surpassing the one-piece maillots, tanks and two-piece suits in popularity.

Bond beauties Martine Beswick, Claudine Auger and Luciana Paluzzi heat up the Bahamas in the 007 action-thriller Thunderball, 1965

Raquel Welch bikinied her way to superstardom in the 1966 fantasy One Million Years BC

Raquel Welch would work a similar wardrobe to spectacular effect in Fathom, 1967

David Wills has accrued one of the worlds largest photography archives. This is an edited extract from his book Hollywood Beach Beauties: Sea Sirens, Sun Goddesses and Summer Style 1930-1970, to be published on Thursday by Dey St, an imprint of HarperCollins, price 25. To order a copy for 18.75 (a 25 per cent discount) until 24 June, visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over 15.
A woman who allegedly kidnapped her twin daughters and homeschooled them in a regional community has had the details of her story revealed - including the heated interview she had with police before dropping off the grid.

The mother - who cannot be named for legal reasons - fled Townsville in 2014 with her 11-year-old daughters in tow: relocating to several locations around Australia before finally settling in the small township of Taree, New South Wales.

She was arrested a month ago after four years on the run: living rent-free, with her daughters, in a remote farmhouse, Nine News reports.

A woman (pictured) who allegedly kidnapped her twin daughters and homeschooled them in a regional community has details of her story revealed - including the heated interview she had with police before dropping off the grid

The mother fled Townsville in 2014 with her daughters in tow: relocating to several locations around Australia before finally settling in the small township of Taree, in regional New South Wales

The woman allegedly claimed she fled because her husband was physically abusing her daughters - an accusation she'd made multiple times prior to going missing.

But police insist the mother's allegations were unsubstantiated - it is not suggested that there was any truth to the allegations - and, in an interview recorded before her disappearance, officers express clear frustration at the woman's constant claims against her husband.

'It is now your time to listen,' says one officer.

'You are a parent. You are not a doctor, you are not a police officer, you are not an investigator.'

'This is our position,' another officer insists. 'And you need to take this on board because we are the professionals.

'You wanted the professionals to investigate and we have done so.'

Taree local Aerial (pictured) knew the family well during their time there, and would visit them regularly at the farm where they were staying. She said the children 'were prisoners in paradise in a way'

In bail documents submitted to Brisbane's Supreme Court (pictured) police allege the woman went to great lengths - including changing the girls' birth dates and schooling them at home - to avoid detection

In bail documents submitted to Brisbane's Supreme Court, police allege that the woman went to great lengths - including changing the girls' birth dates and schooling them at home - to avoid detection for a number of years.

During that time, the mother and her two daughters lived a new, secretive life in Taree - helped along the way by a handful of oblivious locals.

A farmer in the area, became a kind of surrogate grandfather for the girls, and would drive them to town every fortnight to spend money that their mother earned working odd cash-in-the-hand jobs on the side.

'She did some cleaning for me,' said Aerial, a grandmother who knew the woman and her two daughters well from their time in the country town.

The mother and her two daughters lived a new, secretive life in Taree - helped along the way by a handful of oblivious locals

Aerial used to visit the girls on the farm where they were staying - but claims it never occurred to her that the small family might be on the run.

'I used to go there and think "God this is wonderful",' she said. 'And then I'd remember they couldn't go anywhere else. So it was kind of like they were prisoners in paradise in a way.'

Locals in the area deny police suggestions that there was an organised network of people helping the mother and her two daughters subsist in the community, claiming it 'was just a group of caring friends who helped someone in need.'

The woman will face court again next month.

If convicted, she could face up to seven years in jail.
Australia's elite special forces have allegedly committed war crimes while fighting in Afghanistan, according to a secret report.

A confidential defence inquiry report seen by Fairfax Media shows members of the special forces reported 'unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations', which showed a 'disregard for human life and dignity'.

Some of the testimony included in the report includes a pattern of elitism, cover-ups of serious offences and a culture of drug and alcohol abuse.

Australia's elite special forces have allegedly committed war crimes while fighting in Afghanistan, according to a secret report (stock image)

A confidential defence inquiry report seen by Fairfax Media shows members of the special forces reported 'unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations' (stock image  persons shown are not involved with the allegations)

A special forces interviewee said 'horrendous' and 'disgraceful things happened in Kabul... very bad news, or just inappropriate behaviour, but it was pretty much kept under wraps'.

The report also describes the challenges the government faces in tackling conduct which involves 'problems deeply embedded in the culture' of the special forces.

It warns the country's national security is at risk due to 'major gaps in knowledge' across the government regarding the culture of the Special Operations Command.

It also says there is a lack of coordination between the SAS and the Commandos.

The inquiry was commissioned by then Special Operations Commander Major General Jeff Sengelman in 2016.

Defence Minister Marise Payne has been briefed on the report.

In a statement, the defence force said it takes all allegations about Australian forces seriously'.

The inquiry was commissioned by then Special Operations Commander Major General Jeff Sengelman (pictured) in 2016

The report also describes the challenges the government faces in tackling conduct which involves 'problems deeply embedded in the culture' of the special forces (stock image  persons shown are not involved with the allegations)

Special forces are available for overseas deployments as well as domestic counter-terrorism responses.

The inquiry was conducted by defence consultant Dr Samantha Crompvoets.

It contrasts the image of the special forces and SAS portrayed to the public with the reality which included 'unverified accounts of extremely serious breaches of trust'.

'Some of these related to policy, process and governance failure,' according to the report, including loss of weapons, unacceptable safety practices and wasteful resource management.
Publicist Sara Huegill told a client 'don't worry babe you're in good hands' after the business paid her $3300 for public relations work.

But over the coming weeks she rattled off a series of excuses justifying why the work was not done - from being ill to a broken laptop and work and family functions.

Daily Mail Australia has obtained extraordinary text messages the troubled businesswoman wife of Olympic swimmer Geoff Huegill sent a business client.

The public relations specialist, 35, solicited work from Alysha Bishop's Bella Bikini business via Instagram late last year.

'I thought, "she's persistent, maybe I'll give her a try",' Ms Bishop, 28, said.

But the young Sydney businesswoman's dream of a summer PR campaign - to drum up business at the most important time of the year - never became reality.

Ms Bishop said: 'She never did any work! She never sent me the media release or didn't do anything.

'She said she did but never sent it.'

The PR businesswoman 'developed difficulty with anxiety and depression which resulted in inattention to administrative matters', her lawyer said. Sara Huegill with husband Geoff above

'Don't worry your (sic) in good hands': Bombshell texts (left, right) have emerged between Huegill and one of her clients who paid her $3300.00 for public relations services

'She never did any work!' said Alysha Bishop, owner of @bellabikini_ (above). Two women model in a photograph for the brand above

The messages provide an insight into Huegill's business practices in a week where at least five other clients claimed they paid her for work that was never done.

Some businesses, including fellow swimwear company I Dream of Bikini, sought default judgments at court.

The first messages exchanged between Ms Bishop and Huegill

Huegill's solicitor Paul Hunt this week admitted she took on 'more work than she could manage'.

But Ms Bishop had no idea of that last October when Huegill sought her business.

'Would love to work with you,' Huegill said.

She spoke to her about magazine spreads and product placements on social media.

Once they agreed to work together, the former Sweaty Betty PR staffer demanded quick payment.

'Would be great if you can do it today if you get the chance!' she texted on October 29.

'It shouldn't take you more than 2 minutes just 1 signature x'.

The next day: 'Please let me know when you have been able to do everything this morning.

'Can you do the transfer today? At lunch? X'

When Ms Bishop transferred $3000, Huegill added: 'It's 3300 my love just for gst (Goods and Services Tax) x'.

Chasing payment: Sara Huegill asks for payment to be brought forward to 'lunchtime', rather than in the evening

Huegill then upped the price to $3300.00 - citing the goods and services tax

Huegill then asked for an email with information about Ms Bishop's work.

But a day after Ms Bishop transferred the funds, Huegill's story started to change.

Huegill revealed she could not do any work because of a medical procedure.

'Hi lovely, I had an operation today so will be offline. Will be back on deck tomorrow.'

Two days later she told Ms Bishop she was 'still in bed but better thanks.

'Will be working over the weekend so will be in touch.'

Days later, Ms Bishop asked: 'How are u feeling? And do you need any other info etc?

'Have you started?' she added, with a tongue-poking emoji.

Medical dramas: Sara revealed 'I had an operation today' on November 1, the day after payment was made (left). Huegill then had a 'huge event' the next week

'Hi so sorry for the delay,' Huegill said.

'I have a huge event this week. Started and will send Media Release for your approval tomorrow.'

'Sorry babe, can't chat,' Sara Huegill said

It didn't come.

Later that week Huegill requested 'imagery' and complained that links Ms Bishop had sent to her had expired.

Huegill moaned that her computer 'won't load old emails and my other computer is at Apple getting fixed'.

'I have tried so many times,' Huegill said.

In the days to come, Huegill fobbed off Ms Bishop's calls.

One Sunday she said: 'Sorry love I'm busy to take calls at a family function ...

'Sorry babe can't chat, can post 8pm.'

On November 14, Ms Huegill announced: 'All downloads done. All will be with you by tonight'.

But it never came, Ms Bishop claimed.

She repeatedly texted Huegill over several days but was met with silence.

'I didn't get your email ... Did u send it yet?' she asked on November 15, a fortnight after payment.

'?' she asked again, two days later.

'I still haven't received anything,' she said on November 20.

Radio silence: Ms Bishop kept texting but did not hear back from the Row A PR businesswoman

By that point, Ms Bishop said, it was getting too late for a summer swimwear campaign.

Both Sara and Geoff pleading guilty to possessing cocaine in 2014

Little did Ms Bishop know Huegill's business had in fact been deregistered since 2016.

'I didn't realise that there were such horrible people out there especially targeting young start up businesses,' she said.

Ms Huegill's lawyer Paul Hunt was in court this week defending Huegill from a charge of shoplifting $2000 leather pants from a Byron Bay boutique.

It is not the first time she has faced court, with both Sara and Geoff pleading guilty to possessing cocaine in 2014.

In a statement addressing claims about Huegill's business, Mr Hunt said Sara had suffered 'increasing difficulty with anxiety and depression' recently.

'Sara deeply regrets the circumstances and apologises unreservedly to her clients,' he said.

Sara's husband Geoff also issued a vague apology on Instagram: 'At times, good people make poor choices,' he said.

'We all trip over and make mistakes and unfortunately, we let others down.

'But that doesn't make us bad people.'
The 'emerging threat' of drones around NSW prisons has led to a state government crackdown.

Anyone caught flying a drone near a jail could land themselves behind bars for up to two years, according to new laws aimed at deterring people from smuggling contraband into prisons, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The growing number of drone incidents have included attempts to traffic in phones, remote devices and tobacco in Goulburn's notorious maximum security prison.

Since 2014, 13 drones were found within prison complexes and more than 400 steroid capsules were recently dropped at Lithgow prison.

The 'emerging threat' of drones around NSW prisons has led to a state government crackdown (Pictured: An aerial view of Goulburn prison)

Attempts to traffic in contraband were discovered in Goulburn prison, with 13 drones found within prison complexes across the state since 2014 (stock image)

A further 24 drones have been sighted near prisons, according to departmental records over the same period.

Drones have also been sighted at Kempsey, Bathurst, Goulburn and Silverwater Women's prisons.

Corrective Services Minister David Elliot will bring in strict new laws creating two offences related to the use of drones.

A ban on possessing drones in or at a prison, as well as operating or using one up to 400 feet, or 122m, above an adult or juvenile jail will be introduced later this year.

'Drones pose an unacceptable risk to the safety and security of our correctional officers and prison system,' Mr Elliot said.

A ban on possessing drones in or at a prison, as well as operating or using one up to 400 feet above an adult or juvenile jail will be introduced later this year (Goulburn Correctional Centre)

'This is an emerging threat and it is vital we act now to send a clear message to offenders that we have them in our sights.

'This is new technology so the NSW Liberals and Nationals have taken the time to ensure we have a comprehensive solution.'

Victoria has already brought in new laws and opposition prisons spokesman Guy Zangari said the NSW Liberal government had been slow to act.

'Not only do drones bring in contraband like drugs and mobile phones, they put the safety of inmates and Corrective Services officers at risk,' Mr Zangari said.

'We will believe the legislation when we see it.'
Shortly before they began ascending Grenfell Tower  up the only (perilously narrow) flight of stairs in the blazing building  members of London Fire Brigade observed an unwritten protocol reserved for the most dire emergencies: they wrote their names on the side of their helmets.

There is only one reason a firefighter ever does this: for identification purposes in case the unthinkable happens, which, in the early hours of June 14 last year, was a frighteningly real possibility.

I thought I might not be coming out, a fireman on duty that night explained without exaggeration or bravado. During my 13 years with the service, Ive never had to sign my helmet before. Never.

The haunting image of crews, with breathing masks and oxygen cylinders strapped to their backs, trooping into the inferno with their yellow helmets bearing their names (Mick *****, Pete *****, Gary ***** ) is an answer to those who, in recent weeks, may have been questioning their quiet, unheralded courage that night.

Firefighters wrote their names on their helmets before going into Grenfell over fears they may not make it out alive

Theirs is a story which has been all but forgotten  dismissed, even  especially now, when the brigades policy of asking people to remain in their flats was blamed at the public inquiry into the disaster for the terrible loss of life.

Behind the 72 deaths are heartbreaking and harrowing personal tragedies: the man who lost six members of his family, the wife whose husband jumped from the 23rd floor, the father grieving the loss of his five-year-old son, and the parents who lost their unborn child because of the delay in getting out  all victims, we are told, of the controversial stay put advice.

Under such a tragic backdrop, it is perhaps understandable that our once unshakeable faith in our fire service should be challenged. But the furore over the controversial stay put policy has resulted in what the Fire Brigades Union believes is unfair criticism of its rank and file members.

General secretary Matt Wrack said firefighters who were clapped and cheered by the Grenfell community as they returned to their stations are now facing trial by media, which is both disgraceful and heartbreaking.

Armchair critics, he called them.

One was Andrew OHagan, who spent ten months investigating the Grenfell catastrophe for an excoriating report for the London Review of Books, and said it was not a great night for the fire service when he was interviewed on Radio 4s Today programme.

Sarah Baxter, deputy editor of the Sunday Times, was also singled out. Why, she wrote, didnt the emergency services save more lives? Why did the jobsworths in the fire brigade stick to the rigid demands of bureaucratic protocol when it was obvious that the flames were raging out of control? before reminding us more than 300 New York fire crew died during the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.

Do you have to die to be a hero? one of the firemen we spoke to this week asked rhetorically. His sense of injustice is shared by many in the London Fire Brigade, who feel they have been hung out to dry over Grenfell. Parallels have been drawn between Grenfell and the Manchester Arena bombing last May, where, it has now been revealed, fire crew were held back by risk-averse officers in case a terrorist gunman remained on the loose. Bureaucratic protocols, in other words, came before saving lives.

But what has emerged from our inquiries into Grenfell over the course of the past few weeks, is a dramatically different narrative.

The rules were broken at Grenfell  in order to save lives, said one of the firemen who met us.

His version of events is backed up by others.

The fireman, one of a number we spoke to, asked to remain anonymous because members of the London Fire Brigade have been instructed not to speak to the Press. They fear being disciplined and even losing their jobs if they dare to speak out.

He is a husband and father in his 40s who has to do a second job to supplement his 2,000-a-month take-home pay as a fireman. Bear that in mind when you read what follows.

The rules  which prevented firefighters entering Manchester Arena for two hours  are contained in the Home Offices operational guidance for the fire and rescue service.

Under those same rules, fire crew should not have even gone into Grenfell Tower because, according to a risk assessment carried out after the blaze started that night, it was in danger of collapsing.

Firefighters were officially informed of this by Dany Cotton, the female commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, who addressed staff at the scene, in North Kensington, London, at the height of the unfolding tragedy.

Go in and get people out, she told them. Forget protocol. Forget the rulebook. But, crucially, she also admitted that she couldnt order them to go into the building  it was up to each individual fireman to make his own decision in those circumstances.

All of the firefighters gathered around her  thats more than 200 men and women  went in.

So there are no similarities, in this respect, between Grenfell and Manchester. The health and safety protocols might have been the same, but they were interpreted very differently by the two respective brigades.

Inferno: Grenfell Tower is engulfed by flames last year - eventually the fire was fought by over 200 firefighters

According to the rules, firefighters should have come back out of Grenfell Tower when radio communication broke down almost immediately after the fire started. Instead, they stayed inside, trying to save lives.

Furthermore, firefighters are instructed never to remove their breathing apparatus when fighting a blaze. That night, they ignored this rule, too, sharing their oxygen masks with residents of Grenfell Tower, who might not otherwise have made it out alive. The rules also, say firefighters, should never allow the oxygen in their tanks to reach dangerously low levels either. This is known in the trade as the time of whistle  so called because an alarm sounds within the breathing apparatus about ten minutes before the air runs out. Many firefighters ignored this whistle and carried on trying to rescue people for as long as was humanly possible.

There were whistles going off everywhere, said the fireman.

He arrived at the scene of the disaster along with colleagues from Red Watch, the night shift, soon after 1am. By then, the fire, which had started in flat 16 on the fourth floor, had burned through the plastic window frames and ignited combustible materials in the external cladding.

On the floor below, a bridgehead  a safe position inside the building from which to direct operations  was established.

It was here that crews from across the capital assembled, like soldiers before battle, and prepared to enter the unknown.

What was it like for crew who bravely ventured above the bridgehead in the early hours of June 14, 2017? The following, almost visceral account, posted on Facebook by one who was there, is probably as close as anyone has got to reliving the horror.

We made our way up a crowded stairwell struggling to make progress, at times unable to pass because of the people on the stairs, he wrote. The stairwells were full of other BA (breathing apparatus) crews bringing people down in various states and conditions.

The smoke grew thicker with each floor we went up. No proper floor numbers on the stairwells after the 5th floor made it hard to know where you were. Someone before us tried to write them on the wall but that didnt last long. The dirty smoke was covering the walls with a film of blackness.

Around the 9th floor, we lost all visibility and the heat was rising. Still, we continued up and through the blackness. We reached what we believed to be the 19/20th floor but there was no way to tell.

It was here we found a couple trying to find their way out, panicking, choking, blinded by the thick, toxic air. A quick (oxygen level) gauge check showed us that the amount of floors wed climbed had taken its toll, we were getting low on air . . .

The fireman and his partner did eventually make it out with two casualties.

There is one more thing you should know. The partner was a female firefighter  and she had recently become a mother.

Our source experienced the same harrowing journey up the tower.

Almost immediately after entering, the radio frequency used to communicate with people inside the building failed. So, the fireman could speak to officers outside but not to colleagues inside, which in the midst of a fire is vital.

Put simply, those outside have a better appreciation of how the fire is spreading but do not have up-to-date information about casualties or whether crews might need assistance and where.

He and his partner carried on, eventually reaching the higher floors (we cannot specify exactly which one because such information risks identifying him) where they found the lifeless body of a woman on the landing.

The rule, in these circumstances, is to leave the dead where they are and concentrate on the living. But how can one know for sure whether a casualty is dead or just unconscious?

The fireman we interviewed couldnt be sure on this occasion, so he and his partner decided to carry the woman out. It took about 20 minutes to get her down a few flights of stairs. Our fireman takes up the story: At this point, the whistle [on my breathing apparatus] started blowing, which meant I had only a few minutes of oxygen left, he said.

To this day, he is not sure if the woman on the landing was still alive or not.

Exhausted: Crew are applauded by residents as they return to the scene

The fireman himself made it out with about 30 seconds of air left in his tank. Asked about the stay put policy, he replied: I came across a number of bodies in the stairwell. Did they die because they stayed in their flats and left it too late to get out [the fate of most victims, reportedly]? I just dont know. It was bedlam in there.

The stay put policy has been central to fire safety advice for housing blocks since the Fifties. It is based on the principle of compartmentation, that fire is not supposed to be able to spread from one unit to another. Residents should evacuate only if their own flat is on fire  everyone else, generally, is thought safe to remain.

At Grenfell, the stay put policy had effectively failed within 30 minutes of firefighters attending the first call to the emergency services at 12.54am on June 14 last year, the public inquiry into the disaster heard. Fire was spreading in a way it was not expected to. But residents, however, were not told to evacuate until 2.47am.

These events are the subject of a criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police, which says it has an absolute obligation to consider whether the performance of the London Fire Brigade contributed to the death toll.

But there are other mitigating caveats for the London Fire Brigade  mentioned in the report presented to the Grenfell inquiry this week by fire safety expert Dr Barbara Lane  which have gone unreported.

Alerting residents, door-to-door, she said, would have required significant resources.

Consider the fact that at 1.14am only four fire engines and around 16 firefighters were at the scene. Thats 16 crew and 294 occupants in 129 flats over 23 storeys to contact while also trying to tackle the blaze.

A call to increase the response to make pumps eight [eight engines] was made at 1.19am to make pumps ten at 1.24am, and make pumps 25 at 1.31am. Eventually, more than 200 firefighters were involved in the operation.

So, to clarify, at 1.14am, when the stay put policy was clearly beginning to fail, only a handful of firefighters were at Grenfell.

By 1.40am  just 26 minutes later  the stairs were choked with smoke and toxic gases which, the inquiry was told, were severely affecting the ability of residents to escape and firefighters to rescue.

Of course  with the benefit of hindsight  residents should have been evacuated after 1.40am. But it was far from the straightforward decision it has sometimes been made out to be.

Dr Lane acknowledges this in her report. I do not wish to imply this was an easy decision to make during the unfolding and complex events that occurred during the Grenfell Tower fire, she said.

In fact, fire commanders  without the benefit of hindsight  decided that ordering a mass evacuation down a single, narrow staircase that was choked with toxic smoke could have caused more loss of life.

And, how could they have known that virtually every aspect of fire safety in the block  the flammable cladding and ineffective fire doors on flats to name but two  had failed?

Even as late as 2.45am, the brigade still believed they had a real chance of reaching residents stranded on the upper floors. Megaphones were used to communicate with those trapped inside the tower.

There were some [residents] that had linked up some bedding and started to climb down that, one fire officer revealed in his statement to the inquiry.

I just started shouting: Stay where you are, stay where you are. At that point, I still believed we had a real chance of getting them out. That was the best chance of survival.

Of the 294 people who lived in Grenfell Tower, 72 died, 223 escaped and 65 were rescued by the London Fire Brigade. Thats 65 lives which might have been lost if it wasnt for the men and women of the London Fire Brigade.
Australia's 'Poo Jogger' could have been chasing an adrenaline rush when he defecated in public up to 30 times in the past year, a psychologist has suggested.

Notorious public pooer, Andrew Macintosh, was outed last month as the man repeatedly emptying his bowels outside a unit block during his early morning runs in Brisbane.

The 64-year-old was forced to resign from his role as national quality manager of retirement village company Aveo and as a council adviser on 'land use and community cohesiveness'.

Notorious public pooer, Andrew Macintosh (pictured), could have been chasing an adrenaline rush when he defecated in public up to 30 times in the past year

He was outed last month as the man repeatedly defecating outside a unit block during his early morning runs in Brisbane

Since the highly publicised scandal erupted, several other cases have surfaced, highlighting the fact Mr Macintosh was not alone in his struggle.

Leading clinical psychologist, Grant Brecht, has proposed thrill-seeking as an explanation for why people chose to poo publicly.

'They are seeking a thrill and they get addicted to the way it makes them feel ... equating it to taking a hit of heroin,' he told Sydney Morning Herald.

'It can make them feel invincible ... it can also tie into the idea of delusions of grandeur. The thing is nobody really knows why.'

The 64-year-old (pictured) was forced to resign from his role as national quality manager of retirement village company Aveo and as a council adviser

Mr Brecht said there are a plethora of possible motivations for the act, including aggression, anxiety or a form of obsessive behaviour.

'A person might be feeling really anxious, they could be under a lot of pressure at work and one day they defecate in a certain place for whatever reason. Then they feel this compulsion to return there every day because if they don't, they fear something could go wrong in their lives,' he said.

Sydney clinical psychologist Pandelis Tsomis said 'emotional tension' manifesting in an obsessive compulsive disorder could have explained Mr Macintosh's consistency.

To know for sure, the perpetrator would need to be interrogated and to answer questions with complete honesty, he said.

Since the highly publicised scandal erupted, several other cases have surfaced, highlighting the fact Mr Macintosh (pictured) was not alone in his struggle

Mr Macintosh first had his reputation smeared in May, when a photograph surfaced of him squatting on the privately-owned footpath of an apartment block in Greenslopes, south-east of the city - evacuating his bowels.

Residents claim the mysterious mess had appeared on the pathway for months on end before the culprit was finally caught one fateful dawn.

'I started sitting out there in the dark and waiting, and I decided I was going to get a photo of this guy,' photographer Steve Smith told Courier Mail .

'I patiently waited each morning for a few minutes until eventually I got that photo.'

Mr Macintosh (pictured) first had his reputation smeared in May, when a photograph surfaced of him squatting on the privately-owned footpath of an apartment block

The incriminating image of Mr Macintosh caught in the act was later posted to Facebook in an attempt to identify the miscreant.

The comments thread was abuzz in no time, with a raft of commentators weighing in to give their two cents.

'I can see no reasonable excuse for his filthy and disgusting behaviour,' said one Facebook user. 'The fact that he has done this on numerous occasions makes it even worse!'

Another wrote: 'Hopefully someone (either friend, acquaintance or even his employer) will recognise him'.

The incriminating image definitively shows Mr Macinstosh (pictured) in the middle of the act

Mr Mcintosh's former employer, the Aveo Group, said they were 'distressed and disappointed at the alleged incidents concerning Mr Macintosh.'

'Until yesterday, Aveo Group was not aware of the incidents concerning/charges laid against Mr Macintosh,' Aveo spokeswoman Anne Punter told Daily Mail Australia.

The 64-year-old was previously a director of FSAC Ltd from 2001 to 2009, which is affiliated with the Anglican church's Brisbane diocese.

He was also the director of St John's Anglican College in Forest Lake and nearby Springfield Anglican College.
Say Artificial Intelligence and some folks bow up like a scared cat.

Computers becoming smarter than us, deciding we arent brainy enough to be top dog on Earth. Theyll take over and put us in prison camps, making us slaves. Run for your lives!

OK, put it in reverse there, Sparky.

AI is nothing like that. It simply means that computers can learn, find better ways to handle data and make connections between that data more quickly and efficiently and even find connections that havent been considered. If it makes you feel better, call it deep learning or machine learning instead of artificial intelligence.

AI and other technology will be discussed and dissected in an upcoming conference titled Chattanooga 2018 Deep Learning and organized by Dr. Mina Sartipi, lead scientist for Smart Cities and urban science for UTC and a professor in computer science. She hopes the panel discussions and presentations will point out the widely varied uses that UTCs Smart City initiative, which involves faculty from across campus, can provide to local startups, governments, industries and other organizations. These groups already are collecting data for themselves, but they may not know everything that can be done with it, she says.

"Ultimately, its throwing out ideas about what can be done, some of the things that we have done. Its: How can we help you guys? she says. My hope is they see what a goldmine of data they have that some of them are theyre not using yet.

The conference will show how UTC and its Smart City initiative can crunch data from such diverse subjects as health care, cybersecurity, transportation, even urban sociology and predicting trends in insurance. Experts from the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, Volkswagen, TVA, Erlanger Hospital, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and several local industries and startups will be on the the panels.

Dr. Sartipi is a leader in developing and utilizing the international Smart City concept, which takes huge amounts of data from across a city or university or business, then analyzes it and finds ways to increase efficiency, improve safety and generally make things better for residents. Chattanooga is one of the leading cities involved in putting the concept into real-world use.

Our final goal is: How we can improve peoples lives? Dr. Sartipi says.

While some think the Smart City initiative is only interested in such areas as traffic flow, city services and grids for electricity, cable and other utilities, Dr. Sartipi says thats a very limited view. Researchers in the smart health field can take purchasing data, for instance, run it through SimCenters high-speed computers and come up with methods to make the process more efficient and save money, she says.

They say, It would be really nice if you can tell us how to make this process in the hospital more efficient, she explains. Some of us in computer science, we approach it just from a technical background, but they are the experts of their domain, so they can also ask us, What can we do with the data?

Getting others to understand the breadth of UTCs capabilities in applying data science to Smart City applications will benefit UTC as a whole, Dr. Sartipi adds. By helping local business and industry, UTC students can be trained to be workforce ready, she notes, with the Smart City team and others at UTC can collaborate with various groups and perhaps land research contracts with them. In the end, everyone wins, she says.

It would end up being a profit for everyone.






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The funeral has taken place in Argentina of the sister of Queen Maxima of Holland, who committed suicide earlier this week.

Ines Zorreguieta, 33, who reportedly had been battling depression and other mental issues, was found dead by a friend in her apartment in the Almagro district of Buenos Aires.

The 47-year-old Argentine-born queen arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday for the funeral accompanied by her husband King Willem-Alexander and their three daughters.

Queen Maxima, far right, with other mourners at the funeral of her sister Ines Zorreguieta in Buenos Aires

The Queen was pictured talking to a fellow mourner at the funeral, after flying from the Netherlands with her family

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his youngest daughter Princess Ariane. Ms Zorreguieta was the 11-year-old's godmother

Queen Maxima of Holland's sister Ines Zorreguieta, pictured in a red hat at Princess Ariane's christening in 2007

A private funeral was held at a cemetery in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires at around 3pm and there was a heavy security presence in the area.

Police said the autopsy report on Zorreguieta would be available in a week but did not suspect foul play.

Maxima maintained a close relationship with her sister, 13 years her junior.

Ines was the maid of honour at Maxima's wedding, as well as a godmother to her youngest daughter, 11-year-old daughter Princess Ariane.

Maxima has two brothers, Martin and Juan, as well as three stepsisters from the first marriage of her father, Jorge Zorreguieta, who was secretary of agriculture in Argentina's military dictatorship.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands clutching a bunch of flowers as mourners gather around her sister's coffin

Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands accompany the coffin of the Queen's sister Ines Zorreguieta

The coffin of Ines Zorreguieta is wheeled through the Memorial park in Pilar, in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, for her funeral

The coffin is accompanied by the Dutch royal family along with friends and relatives for ceremony

The 33-year-old had suffered from depression and other mental health problems. Queen Maxima walks behind the coffin with King Willem-Alexander

Friends and relatives gather for the funeral of Ines Zorreguieta, who was close to her older sister, Queen Maxima of Holland

Zorreguieta wrote a thesis about suicide at university, eight years before she took her own life on Wednesday

The death of her sister comes after she returned to Argentina for funeral of her father, who died from cancer at the age of 89

Mourners make their way past the large number of journalists into the Memorial park, in Pilar, outside Buenos Aires

She wrote a thesis about suicide at university, eight years before she took her own life.

Entitled 'Gender differences and their relation to suicide and related behaviors', the paper for her psychology degree at the Belgrano University looked at what drives women to take the own lives.

Queen Maxima became the first Latin American-born queen-consort of Holland when King Willem-Alexander ascended to the throne after his mother's abdication on April 30, 2013.

The pair met in Seville, Spain, in 1999, but she was unaware he was a prince since he introduced himself only as 'Alexander.' They announced their engagement two years later.

The news sparked controversy in Holland due to her father's being in office during early stages of the Dirty War in Argentina, which saw up to 30,000 people killed or go missing during a seven-year military regime.
Two drug dealers on trial over a knife attack were caught passing cannabis to each other in court.

Khalid Latif, 18, handed cannabis to Kuany Eljack, 23, in the dock as the jury was sworn in.

The pair then struggled with a dock officer as the bemused judge looked on.

Two drug dealers on trial over a knife attack were caught passing cannabis to each other in court

Latif was later fined 100 for possession of cannabis.

Of the incident, Judge Michael Simon said: I suspect that my face may have displayed some disquiet.

Latif and Eljack were on trial for stabbing two men over a 15 drugs debt.

The pair then struggled with a dock officer as the bemused judge looked on at Blackfriars Crown Court (pictured)

John Furman sustained neck and arm injuries while David Ginova was slashed across the back at their home in north-west London in January 2017.

Latif and Eljack, both of North London, were convicted of wounding with intent to cause GBH and unlawful wounding at Blackfriars Crown Court.

Latif was jailed for ten years and Eljack for seven-and-a-half.
The Israeli tourist wanted for alleging stabbing an Australian man at a Thailand bar has fled the country, police have revealed.

Jaydon Sienkiewicz, 21, was stabbed in the stomach on Thursday as he partied with his father, Thai step-mother and eight other people at the Mixx Discotheque nightclub in Pattaya's Walking Street.

Mr Sienkiewicz was captured on footage pinching the tourist's girlfriend on the bottom before the fight between the pair erupted.

Thai immigration officials revealed on Saturday they believe the Israeli man has since left the country, according to The Canberra Times.

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Jaydon Sienkiewicz is pictured being transported to hospital after being stabbed in a Thailand night club

Police have revealed the Israeli tourist wanted over the alleged stabbing of Australian man Jaydon Sienkiewicz (pictured) has fled the country

Police have conducted a number of interviews with nightclub staff and are in the process of seeking an arrest warrant for the man.

However, Thailand doesn't have an extradition agreement with Israel.

Thai officials handed over 5,000 Thai Baht to Mr Sienkiewicz on Friday as part of the Thailand Tourist Assistance program.

Part of the program is to work with 'foreign embassies and consulates in working out remedies for tourist's related problems both short and long term'.

The foundation offers aid to tourists in a range of situations including if they suffer 'bodily harm' while in Thailand.

Doctors work on Jaydon Sienkiewicz in hospital after he was stabbed in a nightclub

Thai officials giving Jaydon Sienkiewicz 5,000 Thai baht as part of the tourist assistance program

CCTV footage shows Mr Sienkiewicz at the bar at 4am on Thursday, standing next to a table where a Thai woman has her arms wrapped around her boyfriend.

The woman's back is facing Mr Sienkiewicz, who then reaches out and pinches the woman's bottom.

The girl's boyfriend pulls her away and tries to approach Mr Sienkiewicz, but is stopped by his girlfriend.

He pushes her away before pulling out what is believed to be a knife out of his pocket and lunging at Mr Sienkiewicz.

As Mr Sienkiewicz walks away, he pulls up his shirt and notices the stab wound before stumbling back to the table where his father and stepmother were.

Mr Sienkiewicz was rushed to Pattaya Hospital. He is now in a stable condition.

His stepmother, Khumkhun Songnangrong, 33, told investigators they were having a fun time in the club and was not sure why anyone would stab her stepson.

Jaydon Sienkiewicz, 21, is seen pinching a woman's bottom at the Mixx Discotheque nightclub in Thailand

The woman's boyfriend stabbed Mr Sienkiewicz in the chest, after he pinched his girlfriend's bottom

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they are ready to offer consular assistance to Jaydon.

'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stands ready to offer consular assistance to an Australian man hospitalised in Thailand,' the spokesperson said.

'Consular assistance may include liaison with or visits to local hospitals, liaison with local authorities, provision of lists of medical providers and assistance communicating with family members or nominated contacts.

'Consular staff cannot provide medical services or medications, pay for medical costs, or query treatment regimes on behalf of Australians overseas.'
Meanwhile, it was revealed Friday evening that Facebook shared user's personal information long after company executives said it ended the practice

Facebook will lose an estimated two million users under 25 this year, according to New York market research company eMarketer

In February, Facebook was shocked to discover that a younger generation of online users had collectively decided to stop using the social media platform

Facebook has faced backlash in the wake of a privacy scandal involving British data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica

Echoing previous comments from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg went on to emphasize the importance of taking full responsibility for mistakes

Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer, repeatedly warned graduates about the dangers of unforeseen consequences

Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg didn't shy away from her company's ongoing privacy scandal in a Friday commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, turning the address into a lament about unforeseen consequences and corporate accountability.

Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer, repeatedly warned graduates that even technology created with the best intentions can be twisted to do harm, a lesson that she said hits close to home, 'given some of the issues Facebook has had.'

'At Facebook, we didn't see all the risks coming, and we didn't do enough to stop them,' Sandberg said. 'It's hard when you know you let people down.'

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg (pictured) gives the commencement address at the 2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology on June 8, 2018

MIT President Leo Rafael Reif (L) and Sheryl Sandberg on stage at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Commencement Exercises

'When you own your mistakes, you can work hard to correct them, and even harder to prevent the next ones,' she added while speaking at the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

'That's my job now. It won't be easy, and it's not going to be fast, but we will see it through.'

Facebook has faced backlash in the wake of a privacy scandal involving British data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica. In April, Zuckerberg appeared before Congress to apologize for the site's role in foreign interference in the 2016 election.

The furor continued with recent revelations that Facebook shared user data with device makers including China's Huawei, and that an unrelated software bug made some private posts public for up to 14 million users over several days in May.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook has come under recent fire after it was revealed that he allowed private firms to access user data

Sandberg said she's still proud of the company, noting its power to help organize movements like the Women's March and Black Lives Matter.

But she warned graduates that technology has a flipside, and isn't always used for the sake of good.

'It also empowers those who would seek to do harm,' she said. 'When everyone has a voice, some raise their voices in hatred. When everyone can share, some share lies. And when everyone can organize, some organize against the things we value the most.'

In February, Facebook was shocked to discover that a younger generation of online users had collectively decided to stop using the social media platform, seeing hundreds of thousands of teens and young adults flee .

Industry research suggests that privacy concerns and the impermanence of content was driving younger users to platforms like Snapchat.

The figures were gathered from New York market research company eMarketer, as part of a study on UK and US digital users.

The research firm said it expected the first-ever decline in the 18 to 24 age group in the US, a drop of 5.8 per cent this year.

The same trend is expected to continue into 2019 and 2020, with declines in all segments of US users under 25, the report added.

Facebook will lose an estimated two million users under 25 this year, with Snapchat and Instagram the main beneficiaries. It should be noted that Instagram is a online platform owned by Facebook.

Facebook specifically faced backlash in the wake of a privacy scandal involving British data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica (Pictured: former CEO of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix)

Facebook is still growing in the US market, according to research firm, mainly due to increases in usage by older age groups.

Sandberg, an alumna of Harvard University, is a former vice president at Google and was chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton.

She has written three bestselling books on leadership and resilience.

Much of her speech was about the role of technology in society, a common topic at MIT, a school known for its tech prowess.

But her advice also drew on broader topics that have captured the nation's attention, including tensions tied to race and gender.

'Build workplaces where everyone - everyone - is treated with respect,' she said. 'We need to stop harassment and hold both perpetrators and enablers accountable. And we need to make a personal commitment to stop racism and sexism.'

MIT student Nicola Greco of Italy makes a statement about Facebook on the top of his cap at MIT's 2018 Commencement exercises

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday evening that Facebook shared personal information culled from its users' profiles with other companies after the date when executives have said the social network prevented third-party developers from gaining access to the data, the company confirmed to the publication.

The records included information about the friends of Facebook users, including phone numbers and breakdowns analyzing the degrees of separation between people on the social networks.

In its confirmation of the story, Facebook acknowledged the information was given to a 'small number' of companies including RBC Capital Markets and Nissan Motor Co., advertisers and other business partners.

The Journal's report capped another tough week for Facebook as it continues to grapple with the fallout from a privacy scandal that erupted nearly three months ago with the revelation that a data mining firm tied to President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign had scooped up the personal information of 87 million users.
Two former Afghan interpreters who were nearly killed serving with UK troops on the frontline face deportation back to Afghanistan.

The men, named only as Maroof and Naqeeb, were forced to flee to Germany after the British Government refused to help them when they reported death threats and targeted attacks by the Taliban.

But now the German authorities have warned they must return to their homeland and from there apply to the UK for assistance.

The pair, who were injured by Taliban bombs which killed British soldiers in Helmand Province, went to the UK embassy in Berlin for help.

There they claim they were merely given the telephone number in the Afghan capital Kabul of a special UK unit set up to examine threats against translators  which had ignored their pleas for assistance.

The two men, named only as Maroof and Naqeeb, went to the UK embassy in Berlin (pictured) for help but were told they must return to their homeland and apply for assistance there

They are among dozens of interpreters who risked their lives for UK troops but have been denied sanctuary in Britain because they were not serving in December 2012.

Under a relocation scheme, interpreters had to have been serving on the arbitrary date in order to qualify.

They could technically qualify for a second intimidation scheme but they must be able to prove they have been intimidated.

A report by the Commons defence select committee published last month revealed not a single interpreter has been allowed to the UK under this second scheme.

Maroof, 28, was rescued by Afghan police as he was seized and beaten by Taliban thugs.

Speaking from Germany, he told the Mail: I fear that if we go back to Kabul we have no future and will die at the hands of the Taliban.

The German authorities said that if I had worked for their military they could help me  but I worked for the British and they say they should help me. But the British in Kabul know the very real threats against me and how I was attacked by three Taliban who wanted to kill me. They [the British] told me I was on my own and had to look after myself.

Both Maroof and Naqeeb, 33, worked separately on the frontlines with the British military between 2009 and 2011 in Helmand, where they were injured in improvised explosive device attacks.

They said they reported Taliban threats to the British intimidation unit in Kabul, but were told it was unable to help. Finally, they both decided to flee and make the dangerous journey to Europe.

In 2014, Naqeeb travelled through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Hungary and Austria with the hope of reaching England.

The Afghan translators were injured in Helmand Province (stock picture) alongside UK troops

But he said he was arrested in France and warned he would not make it to Britain. Instead he went to Germany, where at the time Afghans were welcomed.

His story is mirrored by that of Maroof, who fled in 2015. He too ended up in Germany.

The Daily Mails Betrayal of the Brave campaign, which has been supported by former senior military figures, MPs and soldiers, has highlighted the scandal of several interpreters facing deportation as well as the plight of dozens claiming to face death threats still in Afghanistan.

Maroof added: If we are sent back then the Taliban will try to kill us. It is why we believe that Britain remains our only real hope of a normal and safe life for us and our families.

We almost died serving with them [the British] but they are now safe. We too would like to be safe.

Their pleas come as one of Afghanistans leaders has admitted that interpreters face a higher risk from the Taliban than others in the war-ravaged nation.

Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan governments chief executive, said he would be understanding if Britain changed its policy to give them sanctuary in the UK.

He said: We do know that the risks are higher for those people from the Taliban, from the terrorist groups. We do understand, hopefully there will be a way out.
Former Tory minister Edwina Currie (pictured) took over the choir in 2012

For more than half a century it has practised in perfect harmony in an idyllic Peak District village.

In recent years the Tideswell Male Voice Choir has even played sell-out concerts with Aled Jones and the chart-topping Military Wives Choir, raising thousands of pounds for charity.

But under the presidency of former Tory minister and local celebrity Edwina Currie, the once merry ensemble has been plunged into discord.

The ex-South Derbyshire MP, who took over the choir in 2012, is accused of playing a large part in a row that has left it split down the middle  and forced to find 8,000 in compensation for a veteran member.

She chaired a meeting where musical director Dennis Kay was dumped despite 11 years of devoted service after allegedly being 'condemned without fair trial' following a rift over his leadership style and pay.

The former Salvation Army choirmaster, 70, was not formally told he had been sacked but the locks on the rehearsal rooms were changed to stop him entering.

When Mr Kay consulted lawyers, the choir believed he could not bring an action for constructive dismissal.

After it turned out he could, Mrs Currie represented the choir during the five-day employment tribunal in Manchester where she made a string of extraordinary allegations against him.

She suggested that he 'had his hand in the bucket', had stolen money raised for charity, had 'fabricated' a bonus payment for extra shows, and was 'domineering' and insulting to choir members.

Mrs Currie was so vigorous in her approach that at one point the tribunal judge had to gently remind her that she was no longer in the House of Commons. But despite her claims, the judge ruled in Mr Kay's favour and ordered the choir to pay him 8,000 compensation.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Kay accused Mrs Currie  who had to resign as a junior health minister after claiming that most eggs were infected with salmonella  of being a driving force in the debacle.

Dennis Kay (pictured with the Tideswell Male Voice Choir) was the music director the choir for 11 years

He said: 'She's left with egg on her face again, but her humiliation is nothing compared to the pain my wife and I have suffered. The entire process felt like a character assassination. We lost our home and suffered enormous stress.

'If they wanted to get rid of me, we could have negotiated like adults  instead I was just thrown out without anyone even formally telling me.

'Nobody has won following this battle. We won't see a penny of the cash  the choir is left with a huge bill and a split down the middle.'

Mr Kay took over the choir full-time in 2005. In January 2011 it was agreed that he would receive a salary of 12,000, which rose to 15,000 the following year.

Under his lead the choir performed sell-out shows with the Military Wives Choir, Aled Jones and the Band of the Royal Air Force.

Dennis Kay (pictured with wife Helen) said there was a 'concerted attempt' by two choir members to harm his reputation

However, things started to go wrong when it put on four shows inspired by the musical Les Miserables in 2016. The choir chairman agreed to pay Mr Kay an extra 500 a show for the extra work, the tribunal heard. The four shows made a profit of 11,797.

But at a committee meeting it was decided not to pay him the extra 2,000 as it was wrongly claimed the shows lost money.

Mr Kay said there followed a 'concerted attempt' by two choir members to harm his reputation  including 'false and hurtful' claims he had 'awarded himself' the bonuses.

At a meeting in November called for and chaired by Mrs Currie, Mr Kay lost a vote over whether he should continue as musical director.

Mrs Currie immediately launched a 'great search for a new musical director' and the locks on the rehearsal rooms were changed.

But Mr Kay, who was not invited to the meeting, said he was not formally told about the vote and was still in his post while Mrs Currie hunted for his successor.

After loyal choir members told him what had happened, he resigned in December, saying he regarded it as a case of 'constructive dismissal'.

One member later described in an email how Mr Kay had been 'condemned without fair trial' after not being given a chance to respond to the 'accusations and insinuations'.

Mrs Currie declined to comment.
The behaviour of Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan has come under unprecedented scrutiny following a series of controversies and the death of an Afghan shepherd.

Some members of the special forces, those who carry out the nation's most sensitive and dangerous military missions, engaged in an 'unsanctioned and illegal application of violence,' a report has revealed.

One soldier in particular, who has not been identified, reveled in a 'warrior ethos', encouraged an escalating enemy body count and tacked a 'kill board' to the patrol room wall.

He allegedly kicked Ali Jan, a shepherd and father-of-eight who left his home to buy some flour, off a cliff in the rugged Afghan hills in 2012.

The behaviour of Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan has come under scrutiny following the death of an Afghan shepherd who never returned home (stock image - persons shown are not involved with the allegations)

One soldier allegedly led Ali Jan, an Afghan shepherd and father-of-eight, to the edge of a cliff in the rugged Afghan hills (Google satellite image)

An onslaught of rumours and accusations have circled within the usually tight-lipped military.

The rumours relate to a small number of regiment members deployed in Afghanistan who have been accused of acting with apparent impunity, blurring the lines of proper behaviour in combat.

An inquiry conducted by defence consultant Dr Samantha Crompvoets led to a highly confidential 2016 report detailing interviews with current and former soldiers and senior officials, unearthing highly confidential internal documents and briefings.

The worst accounts concerned 'unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations', which showed a 'disregard for human life and dignity', Dr Crompvoets observed.

An inquiry conducted by defence consultant Dr Samantha Crompvoets led to a highly confidential 2016 report which described 'problems deeply embedded in the culture' of the special forces (stock image  persons shown are not involved with the allegations)

In the report, seen by Fairfax Media, special forces interviewees allegedly described 'horrendous' and 'disgraceful things happened' that was 'pretty much kept under wraps'.

The report presented a stark contrast to the image of the special forces and SAS portrayed to the public, including 'unverified accounts of extremely serious breaches of trust'.

The entrenched culture of anonymity, pride and an unspoken taboo about breaking ranks was challenged by Major General Jeff Sengelman, who worried that the special forces were 'no longer holding itself to account'.

Major Sengelman described the situation as a 'gradual erosion of leadership and accountability across the full span of command responsibilities'.

Major General Jeff Sengelman (pictured) described the situation as a 'gradual erosion of leadership and accountability across the full span of command responsibilities'

Ali Jan was allegedly thrown from a cliff in a remote Afghan village on September 11, 2012.

He lives in a village a three-hour walk away.

He had travelled by donkey to get flour and planned to return home to his pregnant wife, Bibi, and seven young children the next morning.

At some point, he was handcuffed by heavily armed Australian soldiers sweeping through the village and became a detainee: one of dozens of local men arrested for questioning.

Most of the men were released, but Ali Jan never arrived home.

Some members of the special forces, those who carry out the nation's most sensitive and dangerous military missions, engaged in an 'unsanctioned and illegal application of violence,' a report has revealed (stock image - persons shown are not involved with the allegations)

Some soldiers have alleged Ali Jan was forced over the cliff by the Australian soldier and then executed.

The soldier, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was deployed repeatedly to Afghanistan and had multiple connections up the chain of army command, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He was in the area on the day Ali Jan died.

A small number of regiment members deployed in Afghanistan have allegedly acted with apparent impunity (stock image - persons shown are not involved with the allegations)

One soldier who was there at the same time has claimed in the report that he saw a body at the bottom of a cliff.

A junior soldier separately described witnessing the soldier grab one of the handcuffed PUCs, walk him to the edge of a rocky 10metre cliff and kick him off the edge.

The junior soldier told his superiors that the detainee was later executed.

Another witness corroborated the same story.

Soldiers from Australia's Special Air Service Regiment have been summoned to give evidence to a special inquiry, which aims to give clarity to the accusations.
An understudy raced from another theatre to save a performance of Mamma Mia!

The lead actress, Caroline Deverill, was just one scene in to the musical show on Thursday night when a calf injury forced her off the stage at the Novello Theatre in London.

Without a replacement in hand, theatre managers realised that Steph Parry, who had played the role of Donna Sheridan before, was only four minutes away at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Steph Parry (pictured) saved a performance of Mama Mia! on Thursday night when the lead actress injured herself and couldn't perform

She was working as an understudy in the Royal's production of 42nd Street and was able to take the stage 18 minutes after Miss Deverill had been forced to retire.

Miss Parry, 35, had performed as Donna on the West End stage in 2014 and on a cruise ship tour.

Stage manager Philip Effemey, who made the emergency call, said it was a 'one in a billion chance'.

Miss Parry told The Stage: 'It was my first day back at 42nd Street after a holiday, and was back to being a standby waiting in the dressing room tucking into some carrots and hummus.

Mama Mia! lead actress, Caroline Deverill (pictured), was just one scene into the musical when she was forced off the stage with a calf injury

'My company manager then gave me a call, so I thought I was going to have to go on at the Theatre Royal. But he tells me he's got David Lamb  Mamma Mia!'s company manager  on the phone seeing if I am in the building because they had an emergency.

'I simply got told 'They need you there, can you run over to Mamma Mia!, and go now'. It was a packed house and they were marvellous.'

Mr Effemey told The Stage: 'It was a completely unique experience for the audience. When something like that happens and it works the audience love it.

'It was a one in a billion chance that we had somebody who could play the role literally in the theatre next to ours, otherwise we would have had to abandon the show and refund everybody's money.'

Miss Parry was working as an understudy in the Theatre Royal's production of 42nd Street and was able to take the stage 18 minutes at Novello Theatre (pictured) after Miss Deverill was injured

Miss Parry received a euphoric welcome from the audience when she arrived. 'I was being pulled around stage and guided along by others,' she said.

'I honestly wish I could have taped the reaction and had it on demand for whenever I'm feeling down. It's a really good moment to celebrate the camaraderie of the West End.'

She went on stage in what she described as a mix of other performers' costumes. It is unclear why the 1,100-seat Novello did not have an understudy to hand.
Alton William Barron (pictured) has fathered at least 12 children to different women across the US and abroad. Now, with the help of ancestry websites and DNA tests, the estranged siblings are finding each other

A group of adults who share the same father are searching across the US to piece together their unusual family tree - as they reveal just how much of a 'player' their paternal father really was.

With the help of DNA and online ancestry communities, the biological children of Alton William Barron are banding together to find one another.

Alton, or as some women knew him, Allan Kain, married eight women, had countless girlfriends and fathered at least 12 children across the United States.

One of his daughters, Connie Hoye, who grew up in Minnesota and now lives in Missouri, has so far found she has six half-brothers and five half-sisters, all born to Barron.

'You have to laugh because it's so incredible,' Hoye, who has taken charge in the search for the Barron siblings, told the Star Tribune.

Despite already tracking down a whopping 11 siblings, Hoye says she knows there are more, and they could be anywhere - even overseas.

'He spent a lot of time in Idaho, Washington state, California, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Texas,' she explained.

'It also appears he married and fathered at least one child while working on an oil rig in Indonesia.'

Connie Hoye (left) says she has found six half-brothers and five half-sisters (pictured from left: : Connie Hoye, Candi Gardner-Hoyt, Lori Stangl, Dena Simon, and Shelia Jenkins)

Hoye says she knows there are more of Barron's children out there, with at least one more to find

Barron's DNA is spread so far and wide his children have renamed him 'Johnny Appleseed'.

Her father's promiscuous ways strengthen the idea Hoye could have dozens of long lost siblings.

'We know that he didn't go very long before impregnating somebody,' she said.

There is one sibling the amateur historian knows is still out there.

In February 1962, when Hoye was just a child, a woman cradling a newborn girl and her father came knocking at her mother's door, looking for Barron.

Unfortunately, just as he had with Hoye's mother, the man had disappeared.

Hoye was not even a year old at the time. The woman at the door said she worked at Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis - where Hoye was born just 10 months before.

'[Barron] probably met her at the hospital while my mom was having me,' she said.

The Missouri woman has assumed the role of amateur historian and is leading the search for her long lost siblings

Barron stood tall at six feet four, and his sparkling blue eyes were magnetizing to women. Combined with a southern drawl and his golden skin, it didn't take much for him to woo the ladies.

But his love for women eventually proved to be his downfall. He was jailed for bigamy and eventually shot dead by the bitter estranged husband of one of his many girlfriends.

Barron was arrested for bigamy in Louisiana, where he had been married to five different women.

He was only charged with being married to three though, as two - who had since remarried - declined to testify against him.

His younger half-brother, Bob Sexton, said he saw the man's downfall coming .

In the fall of 1979, just one month before he was actually shot, Sexton says he issued a dire warning.

'If you keep messing around, you're going to get killed,' he told his brother.
Millions of pounds given to charities are being used to pay street fundraising firms, the Daily Mail reveals today.

Charities often contract out the work to third-party companies that employ chuggers  charity muggers.

Their job is to approach passers-by and ask them to sign up for direct debits.

The fundraising firms are paid up-front fees of as much as 1.3million for targeting donors in the hope they will sign for up to five years.

This means at least the first 12 months of an individuals donations are swallowed up in fundraising costs.

Charities often contract out the work to third-party companies that employ chuggers  charity muggers

In one case, more than two years of monthly direct debits to an international charity, which sponsors children in poverty-afflicted areas, are swallowed up by the payments to a private fundraiser.

One Sixty Fundraising is being paid 478,000 plus VAT by Plan International, a charity dedicated to helping children. It hopes to raise 1.3million based on donors giving for five years.

But these estimates mean that even if the charity hits its targets for the campaign, donors will typically have to give for 27 months to cover the costs paid to the private fundraising firm.

Unicef is paying One Sixty Fundraising 1,303,731 for a nationwide campaign, in the hope of raising 5.2million if donors continue to give for four years.

The figures mean donors must give for at least one year before the charity recoups its investment and begins to make money.

It is thought that fees to fundraisers are regularly in excess of the 96-a-year average that donors give in the first year of direct debit payments. Last year, more than 400,000 Britons signed up to donate over direct debit, according to the Institute of Fundraising.

But chuggers have come under fire, accused of harassing people during the rush hour and on their lunch breaks.

By 2015, 100 towns had signed up to a scheme to ban chuggers on certain days. Newcastle has banned them from parts of the city centre altogether under Public Spaces Protection Orders. Baroness Ros Altmann, who campaigns on behalf of the elderly, said: Its astonishing that kind-hearted donations are effectively not going to charity for at least the first year. You think you are doing something marvellous in signing up and helping the charity but instead your money is effectively being paid to cover these sales people and nothing may be going to charity for a duration.

I dont believe these high-pressure sales tactics have a place in charitable giving to start with.

The charities need to be up front about how much these private firms are getting. Daily Mail reporters signed up to charities using third-party fundraisers across the country after a whistleblower who worked for one such firm raised concerns.

When reporters agreed to donate, they were told that all their money would go to the good cause. They were only told about the upfront fees at the very end of the transaction, just before a signature was required.

The whistleblower, who wishes to remain anonymous, worked for Real Fundraising, which has provided services to Barnardos and Oxfam. He said charities only made money if donors gave for extended periods. Before that the people donating are effectively just paying Real Fundraising for its campaign, he added. The Fundraising Regulator has called on charities to disclose how the fundraising organisation will be paid and the length of commitment expected of the potential donor.

But the watchdog yesterday said it was enough for charities to inform potential donors that the commitment is expected to be long term rather than specifying a minimum time period before costs are covered.

The charities contacted by the Mail agreed they should be transparent with donors about fundraising costs but none were prepared to disclose their agreed sign-up fee for individual donors. Barnardos refused to reveal the price it pays for each sign-up, describing it as commercially sensitive information.

The charity said it spends 6p out of every 1 raised on fundraising. A spokesman said: We invest in recruiting new donors with the aim that they understand our work and see the difference their donations make over a period of years.

Unicef spends 29p of every 1 of income on fundraising.

A spokesman added: We constantly monitor and tweak our campaigns to make sure we are predicting how much they are going to raise as accurately as possible and to keep the costs of raising that money as low as possible. If working with fundraising companies like One Sixty became too expensive, we would stop using them.

Danielle Atkinson of Plan International said: Raising funds costs money. Using agencies is an established way to do so efficiently, as we can control exactly how much we spend.

A spokesman for One Sixty said its financial declarations were provided to us by our charity partners and are in line with the Fundraising Regulators guidance.

A spokesman for Real Fundraising said: Real takes its responsibilities very seriously and abides by the code of fundraising practice to inform all donors of the costs involved in the face to face fundraising campaign. We do not want supporters to feel under pressure to continue donating longer than they are able to. Supporters are in full control of the direct debit they pay to our client and may cancel whenever they see fit.

David Holdsworth, deputy chief executive of the Charity Commission, said the public could give directly to good causes in order to cut out third party companies.

The British public rightly expect transparency about how charitable funds are raised, he said.

Our research shows they want to see honest and ethical fundraising. Our advice is to be savvy and to use your head as well as your heart  ask questions about where your money is going and the work that the charity does.

Secrets of firm whose staff stop you in the street

Real Fundraising

Set up in 2009 by two ex-doorstep fundraisers and a chugger, the firms stated aim is to change the world.

It targets wealthy long-term donors using profiling techniques based on postcodes and claims to have signed up more than 90,000 people to almost 40 charities, including the RSPCA, Action Aid and Cancer Research UK.

Its chuggers, who move from city to city each week, have to sign up three donors a day to win a slice of the best bonus scheme in the industry. The most successful win trips abroad to destinations including Goa, Amsterdam and Geneva. Its staff are banned on ethical grounds from using certain companies products in work time, including those of KFC, Nestle and Coca-Cola.

UrbanLeaf Ltd

Director Mark Nesbitt, 41, and his business partner Tom Lebor, 40, founded Urban Leaf in 2009 after realising they could run a fundraising agency better than their boss. The firm says it specialises in long-term donors and quality over quantity.

Company records show the two bosses paid themselves 25,000 each in dividends last year. Fundraisers are paid a hefty 12-16 per hour and the firm says on its website that charities will always need money to do what they do and so people like us will need to get it for them.

One Sixty Fundraising

Set up in 2014 by law graduate Matt Monfared, 31, and his business partner Matthew Atkinson, 37, One Sixty is currently being paid 1.3million for a Unicef campaign and more than 500,000 by humanitarian charity Plan International.

Mr Monfared is an ex-street fundraiser for homeless charity Shelter in Birmingham, where he claims to have managed the most successful team in Britain. He went on to manage the charitys street fundraising in the south of England.

Companies House records show he and Mr Atkinson last year created another company called Maven Fundraising.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a dinner on Saturday evening to welcome guests who gather in the coastal city of Qingdao for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

"It is such a pleasure to have you with us here in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on the shore of the Yellow Sea," Xi said while addressing the dinner.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the welcoming banquet of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, on Saturday, June 9, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

"I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, a very warm welcome to all of you, particularly the state leaders and heads of international organizations who have come to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO," he said.



Shandong is the home province of Confucius and birthplace of Confucianism. An integral part of Chinese civilization, Confucianism believes that "a just cause should be pursued for the common good" and champions harmony, unity and a shared community for all nations, Xi told the guests.

Its emphasis on unity and harmony has much in common with the Shanghai Spirit, namely, mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, he said.

"The Shanghai Spirit's focus on seeking common ground while setting aside differences and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation has won widespread international endorsement and support," the Chinese president said.

Guided by the Shanghai Spirit, the SCO has delivered fruitful outcomes in security, economic and cultural cooperation and made historic strides in institution building, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) and other leaders attending the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit pose for a group photo ahead of a banquet in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

With eight member states, four observer states and six dialogue partners, the SCO has become an important force for upholding regional security, promoting common development and improving global governance, Xi said.

"Qingdao is a famous international sailing capital. It is from here that many ships set sail in pursuit of dreams. Tomorrow, we will hold the first summit of the SCO after its expansion and draw up a blueprint for its future growth," Xi said.

"The Qingdao summit is a new departure point for us. Together, let us hoist the sail of the Shanghai Spirit, break waves and embark on a new voyage for our organization," he said.

After the dinner, Xi and the guests watched an artistic performance of lights and fireworks with the theme of "A Warm Welcome to Friends from Afar."

Xi and foreign leaders had a group photo taken ahead of the dinner.
Two holidaymakers bagged a private jet experience for an economy flight price after they found themselves to be the only passengers on a 147-seater.

Yvette Francis, 47, and Peaches Murray were flying on Delta Air Lines service from Heathrow to New York when they were greeted with an empty aircraft.

It meant their trip to the US began with them being bumped up to business class.

Yvette told The Sun staff offered them champagne, cocktails and all the legroom she could possibly desire.

Yvette and Peaches, right, pose with a member of staff, left, after finding themselves the only passengers on board the flight to New York

The pair were given a business class experience that would usually cost upwards of 5,000

'It was absolutely fantastic,' she said. 'Cabin crew were so attentive. They said to us to help ourselves to anything from the fridge.'

The friends from London originally bought economy tickets - worth 1,073 each - through a relative who works at the travel firm.

But their flight was cancelled and Delta couldn't get them onto the same rescheduled flight as the other affected flyers, forcing the pair to rebook for May 24.

After finding a deserted boarding area, Yvette said she was 'excited' to find an aircraft devoid of passengers.

Yvette poses with a member of staff aboard the flight after the friends found themselves aboard a deserted aircraft

They had the run of business class, where tickets can cost up to 5,042 and the pilot told them he'd never forget the strange experience.

Both passengers were treated to a Delta Sunrise cocktail and had their pick of Dine and Rest dishes.

They opted for pan-fried cod, ginger-marinated prawns, dhal makhani and ice cream.

It comes after Beth VerSteeg found herself to be the only passenger on a one-hour flight from Rochester, New York, to Washington DC.
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Martha Stewart delivered a eulogy at the funeral of her friend of 20 years, celebrity home builder Bernard 'Ben' Krupinski, his wife Bonnie and their grandson, who died in a plane crash last week.

Hundreds packed First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton Friday morning to remember the popular couple, who were known for building and renovating homes for the likes of Martha, and their 22-year-old grandson Will Maerov.

Ben and Bonnie, both 70, were killed along with Will and a pilot when their plane crashed off the coast of East Hampton, Long Island, New York, last Saturday.

The couple met Martha in the early 1990s and just six years ago their now-estranged daughter alleged her father Ben and Martha were having an affair, although this has been unequivocally denied.

Although it seems they were all close friends - the New York Post, quoting East Hampton gallery owner Terry Wallace, reports that in 2005 he 'took his plane and got her' when she was released from prison.

Martha Stewart is pictured at Ben and Bonnie Krupinski's funeral Friday where she delivered a eulogy

The funeral for millionaire mansion builder Ben Krupinski and his wife Bonnie was held at the First Presbyterian church in East Hampton, NY

An attendee is pictured hugging Martha Stewart at Friday's service for the Krupinskis and their grandson Will, 22

Martha Stewart is pictured (center) with Ben Krupinski (left) and his wife Bonnie (right) and their grandson Will Maerov (second from left)

More than 100 mourners came to celebrate the life of Ben(left) and Bonnie (center, left) and Will (right)

On the funeral program for the couple was a photo of their grandson Will Maerov, 22, who also died when the plane crashed off the coast of East Hampton, Long Island, Saturday

Martha spoke of her friendship with Ben at the two-hour service and how it stemmed from the businesswoman looking for her dream home in the 1990s.

She said she eventually set her eyes on an older home that Ben had worked on for years, according to a guest leaving the service.

The crowd attending the funeral, which included Irish republican leader Gerry Adams and professional golfer Ben Crenshaw, was so large that some mourners were directed next door where they watched the service on TV screens, according to News Day.

'Devout patriotism and exemplary citizenship were trademark characteristics of the Krupinskis and Willie,' the program read.

The Piper PA31 Navajo aircraft was about one mile away from the airport when it lost contact with the East Hampton Tower, the East Hampton Police Department said on Saturday, June 2. The pilot flying the aircraft, Jon Kenneth Dollard, age 47, also tragically died in the crash.

The Coast Guard found two bodies and called off the search Monday for the two others who were missing in the surrounding water.

A New York Times article from 1992 called the Hamptons area 'Krupinskiland,' and described it as containing 'sprawling houses with attitude that look as if they are sprawled out on lounge chairs with a masseuse and a pina colada.'

In the article, Martha is mentioned twice, first for having Ben on a job at that time, and secondly in a quote calling the builder, 'Extraordinary!' in reference to his sense of perfection while renovating Martha's 24-room home.

The late Ben's work with celebrity chef and lifestyle expert Martha raised questions but were always denied and never proven.

Back in 2013, Ben's daughter Laura, a New York socialite, told Page Six her father cut her off after she found out about an alleged affair he was having with Martha.

Laura, a former model and mother of Will, said she grew suspicious when she saw them getting close in Palm Beach during a vacation but stayed quiet for years before telling her mother.

She said her father denied it, insisting they were just close friends and called his daughter 'crazy', while her mother got angry and wouldn't return her calls.

Laura claims her father cut her off from her $26,000 monthly allowance, her mother refused to speak to her, and the two of them kicked her out of her Bedford home after making the claims.

At the time, a representative for Martha denied the claim and said she was friends with the couple.

A source close to Ben told Page Six at the time: 'The family has supported Laura financially for 47 years, but she has some personal issues. They hope that she can get some help to subdue her demons.'

While Ben's attorney Robert Lin said: 'This is a sad situation. They are worried about Laura and they hope she can do something to help herself.'

Ben and Bonnie's now estranged daughter Laura (pictured) claimed her father had an affair with Martha Stewart. Laura is Will Maerov's, 22, mother

'Devout patriotism and exemplary citizenship were trademark characteristics of the Krupinskis and Willie,' the funeral program read

People are pictured lining up outside the Yardly and Pino Funeral Home to pay their respect to the Krupinskis

Men are pictured loading the coffin into the hearse as hundreds paid their respects to the couple and their grandson

The aircraft went down about one mile off the shore of Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett

Members of the New York State park police are seen here near the scene of the plane crash in the ocean off Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett, New York on Saturday

Mourners are pictured hugging at Friday's funeral service for the Krupinski family, who were a central figure in the Hamptons

While building homes for the rich and famous, Ben became a central figure in the Hamptons.

In addition to Ben's building business, the family owns dozens of commercial real estate properties in both East Hampton and Southampton.

Their three restaurants in East Hampton include the 1770 House on Main Street, Cittanuova on Newtown Lane, and the restaurant, hotel, marina complex East Hampton Point on Three Mile Harbor Hog Creek Road.

The couple were also known to be very philanthropic in the Hamptons.

Ben had often anonymously supported local charities throughout East Hampton Town, and had on several occasions volunteered his work force for pro bono construction.

Two instances included the historic restoration of Scoville Hall in Amagansett and the Amagansett Life-Saving Station.

The couple's good works earned them the title of East Hampton Lions Club Citizens of the Year in May 2017, an honor bestowed upon them by the East End community.

'I'm speechless,' Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said. 'They were so incredibly generous.'

Former East Hampton Town board member Diana Weir said: 'They are an integral part of the East Hampton community  one of the most distinguished local families.'

The long-time friend of the couple added: 'I am crushed. They were very good to me and all local charities.'

Of Bonnie, specifically, Weir recalled how she dedicated her to life to giving back to the community with her 'tremendous business acumen serving on various boards. I am heartbroken.'

Men are pictured carrying the caskets of the deceased who died in a private plane crash last week

Family and friends are pictured mourning the loss of the beloved Krupinskis and their grandson Will, who is the son of their estranged daughter Laura

Mourners gather outside First Presbyterian church in East Hampton, NY

Ben Krupinski made a name for himself building and renovating homes for A-listers

'We are stricken by this loss,' Captain Kevin Reed, a commander at Sector Long Island Sound, said in a press release. 'Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of the two recovered individuals.'

The crash occurred at around 2.50pm on Saturday.

Crews aboard two commercial fishing boats in the area were asked to join in the search by authorities, according to Newsday.

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined, but Ryan O'Hare of Coast Guard Station Montauk noted that the plane went down around the same time that thunderstorms entered the area.

Bonnie Brady, the wife of Dave Aripotch, the owner of a commercial 63-foot fishing trawler, who has been searching for the remaining passengers, also said her husband called her after a 'torrential downpour' hit the area where he had been fishing.

Aripotch was four miles away from the crash site when he received a pan-pan emergency signal from the US Coast Guard, which alerted him that an aircraft had come down in the area.

He immediately began aiding in the search near Indian Wells Beach, his wife said.
Joseph DeAngelo Jr is accused of killing 12 and raping at least 50 women decades ago

The estranged wife of the accused Golden State Killer has spoken out in a brief statement.

'My thoughts and prayers are for the victims and their families,' Sharon Huddle said in a statement issued through the Sacrament County Sheriff's Department on Friday.

'The press has relentlessly pursued interviews of me. I will not be giving any interviews for the foreseeable future. I ask the press to please respect my privacy and that of my children,' the four-sentence statement concluded.

Huddle, a divorce attorney, married accused serial killer Joseph DeAngelo Jr in 1973 and the couple have three daughters together. They split in 1991, but police say the couple is still legally married, though estranged.

Investigators believe that DeAngelo, 72, is the notorious serial killer responsible for 12 murders and at least 50 rapes in California spanning from the early 1970s to around 1986.

DeAngelo appears here in Sacramento Superior Court last week in Sacramento, California

Prior to marrying Huddle, DeAngelo was engaged to Bonnie Jean Colwell, who broke off the engagement. At least one victim of the Golden State Killer reported that her attacker said 'I hate you Bonnie' during the assault.

Huddle and DeAngelo's three daughters are all adults now. The accused serial killer was living with one daughter and a grandchild when he was arrested on April 25.

Last week, it emerged that DNA from a tissue left in a trash can ultimately led authorities to arrest DeAngelo.

Documents released by a judge at the request of news outlets detailed the case investigators pieced together to obtain arrest and search warrants for DeAngelo.

DNA collected from the door handle of a car DeAngelo was seen exiting in Sacramento on April 18, and voluntary submission of DNA to private genetics testing and analysis companies also played a role in DeAngelo's arrest.

In total, 123 pages of documents were released by Judge Michael Sweet, over the objection of DeAngelo's defense team.

To crack the investigation that's been ongoing for 40 years, police zeroed in on DeAngelo by using genealogical websites to identify potential relatives of the killer based on DNA collected at a crime scene.

Cress stands next to his client DeAngelo appears in Sacramento Superior Courtlast week

Investigators used DNA from a semen sample collected at the double murder of Lyman and Charlene Smith in 1980 in Ventura County to find one of DeAngelo's relatives and eventually the suspect himself, according to the warrants.

The crime scene DNA was entered into private DNA testing and analysis databases that are intended, in part, to find relatives and assess ancestry. Once a distance relative was matched to that DNA, detectives told The Los Angeles Times that they were able to close in on DeAngelo based on his age, employment and close proximity to the location of many of the Golden State Killer's crimes.

After identifying DeAngelo as a suspect, investigators followed him to a Hobby Lobby located just outside of Sacramento in Roseville, and took a swab from the door handle of a car he exited on April 18.

The door handle sample matched DNA from semen found at a Golden State Killer crime scene, but didn't immediately lead to an arrest.

The reliability of so-called 'touch DNA,' which is how the industry refers to DNA collected when only a few human cells are left behind when someone touches an object, has been an issue of controversy among forensic experts.

Five days after the 'touch DNA' was gathered into evidence, investigators collected trash from cans left outside DeAngelo's home in Citrus Heights, California.

A piece of tissue plucked from the trash on April 23 proved to be the piece of evidence they needed to obtain an arrest warrant, according to the documents.

Sacramento County Sheriff officers take evidence bags out of the home of DeAngelo, in Citrus Heights, California on April 25

Authorities dig in the backyard of DeAngelo's home in Citrus Heights, California on April 26

DeAngelo was arrested on April 25 and has since been charged with 12 counts of murder in Sacramento, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Orange counties. Prosecutors haven't yet decided where he'll be tried.

Following his arrest, investigators began searching DeAngelo's house, vehicles and storage locker, as well as his computer and cellphone for anything else that may tie him to the dozens of murders and rapes he's suspected of committing.

Authorities said the Golden State Killer stole dozens of rings, watches, cufflinks and tie pins from his targets over the years that detectives hoped to find, along with an odd assortment of items that included women's purses, cameras, jewelry made from coins, china, a clock radio and a wooden bowl.

He also took drivers' licenses, photographs and other identification from his victims, according to the documents.

Detectives also hoped the killer might have kept three blunt objects containing blood, tissue and hair from four victims who were beaten to death. One of the weapons is described as 'possibly a metal sprinkler head.'

It's not clear what was recovered from the searches because a judge ruled that those records should remain sealed.

Law enforcement authorities process evidence at the home of suspected 'Golden State Killer' Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, in Citrus Heights, California on April 25

Sheriffs deputies are seen in front of the home of DeAngelo in Citrus Heights on April 25

These ski masks were collected from the home of DeAngelo and are believed to have been worn during many crimes perpetrated by the man suspected of being the Golden State Killer

The documents that were released said that through matching DNA, detectives were able to tie rapes in Northern California to several murders in Southern California, that had otherwise seemed unrelated and had kept authorities guessing for years.

The heavily redacted affidavits recounted chilling behavior by the Golden State Killer. The Sacramento County district attorneys office noted that the overwhelming majority of the material redacted was blacked out at the request of DeAngelos public defenders.

The documents told the story of how neighbors of Brian and Katie Maggiore reported numerous silent or lewd phone calls before the double murder of the Maggiores in Sacramento in 1978.

A 25-year-old woman in the community reported finding shoe prints outside her bedroom window and drawings in what appeared to be bodily fluids, according to the affidavit.

The Maggiores were shot while on a walk one evening. The attacker then fled, running through multiple neighbors' yards. To one, he said, 'Excuse me, I'm trespassing,' the documents state.

Authorities said the Golden State Killer stole dozens of rings, watches, cufflinks and tie pins from his targets over the years that detectives hoped to find

Suspected 'Golden State Killer' Joseph James DeAngelo, is seen at right while he was a police officer in 1979

A file photo of DeAngelo while working for the Exeter Police Department is seen here

The documents details how another couple was found beaten to death with a fireplace log in Ventura, and another was shot to death while tied up in Santa Barbara County.

The killer was known to be prone to 'explosive violence' when cornered, and once confronted by police or neighbors, he tended to never again attack within that same jurisdiction, the documents said.

Descriptions provided by those neighbors helped investigators draw their first composite sketch of the killer.

DeAngelo was a member of the police force for small towns in California until 1979, at which time he was fired for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent in the city of Auburn. After that he spent decades working as a truck mechanic, living just north of Sacramento in a suburb, amidst the communities that had been rocked by sexual assaults and killings that are now attributed to the Golden State Killer.

DeAngelo has been charged with the fatal shootings of the Maggiores in Sacramento and faces a total of 10 additional counts of murder in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Orange counties.

Detectives also accuse DeAngelo of a 13th killing, the fatal shooting of Claude Snelling in 1975 in Visalia, in the documents, but charges have yet to be filed.

DeAngelo is being held without bail and is next due in court in Sacramento County on July 12.
Britain's longest-serving poppy seller has been awarded an MBE as she prepares to retire aged 103.

Rosemary Powell said she was over the moon at being recognised for a remarkable 97 years of collecting for the Poppy Appeal.

She first helped her mother sell poppies on Richmond Bridge, west London, for the Royal British Legions inaugural appeal in 1921.

Britain's longest-serving poppy seller has been awarded an MBE as she prepares to retire aged 103

The great-grandmother, from London, plans to hand over to a new generation of fundraisers  because she is getting old.

Mrs Powells family said her years of work were inspired by the loss she suffered in the two world wars.

Rosemary Powell said she was over the moon at being recognised for a remarkable 97 years of collecting for the Poppy Appeal

She lost two godfathers and three uncles during the First World War. Her first fiance and younger brother died in the Second.

Her son Giles said: The MBE is a tremendous reward for years and years of hard work and loyalty. Mum is absolutely over the moon.

Mrs Powell said: It is very nice that I have been given this. I still vividly remember selling poppies on Richmond Bridge with my mother.

Charles Byrne, of the RBL, said: Rosemarys incredible long-serving support of the Legion has literally helped thousands of Armed Forces personnel, veterans and families.

She headed up scores of unsung heroes rewarded in this years Queens birthday honours list, including Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott, who was knighted for services to Holocaust remembrance.

Mike Haines, brother of aid worker David, who was beheaded by Islamic State extremists, was awarded an OBE for his work against terrorism.
Tommy Robinson, 35, was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court

A 'Free Tommy Robinson' march through the streets of Newcastle has been abandoned after police told far-right protesters they were 'too busy protecting an Ed Sheeran concert'.

The far-right English Defence League founder was jailed on May for 13 months after pleading guilty to contempt of court.

And Saturday's march had been planned by a group called Northeast Frontline Patriots in protest at Robinson's sentence.

But organisers agreed to cancel the event after police revealed their resources were already stretched by an Ed Sheeran concert at St James' Park Stadium, as well as The Blaydon Race the same day.

Police said they were 'pleased' the right-wing activists had listened to their 'concerns'.

A spokesperson for Northumbria Police told Chronicle Live: 'The organisers of two protests planned for Newcastle on Saturday have, following consultation with police, decided not to go ahead with the events.

'While Northumbria Police will always facilitate peaceful protests, and would of course have policed these events if they went ahead, we are pleased organisers have listened to our concerns.

The far-right march was cancelled after police admitted they were 'stretched' due to an Ed Sheeran concert at St James' Park Stadium. Pictured: Ed Sheeran in December last year

'These concerns centred around an already-anticipated higher number of visitors than normal in the city centre due to existing long-standing events, including a large stadium concert and The Blaydon Road Race and the challenges these present in terms of public safety.'

Robinson, 35, was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting on Facebook Live outside Leeds Crown Court  putting the major trial at risk of collapse.

A court heard how Robinson had filmed himself and people involved in the case, in footage that was watched around 250,000 times within hours of being posted.

Robinson, who was listed by his real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon on court documents, was sentenced to 13 months in jail on the same day as his arrest.

He was given 10 months in jail for contempt of court, and an additional three months for beaching a previous suspended sentence.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told Robinson at the time: 'Everyone understands the right to freedom of speech but there are responsibilities and obligations.'

A reporting restriction had initially prevented the media from reporting his conviction, but this was lifted at the same court on Tuesday.

The Judge said: 'If the jurors in my present trial get to know of this video I will no doubt be faced with an application to discharge the jury.

Hundreds of Tommy Robinson's supporters gathered outside Leeds Crown Court last Friday to protest the former EDL leader's jail sentence

The march saw Robinson's supporters brand police officers a 'disgrace', as chants of 'you ought to be ashamed of yourselves' broke out

'If I have to do that it will mean a re-trial, costing hundreds and hundreds and thousands of pounds.'

The judge added: 'This contempt hearing is not about free speech. This is not about the freedom of the press.

'This is not about legitimate journalism, this is not about political correctness, this is not about whether one political viewpoint is right or another. It is about justice and it is about ensuring that a trial can be carried out justly and fairly.

During the demonstration, hoards of people were seen waving flags bearing the St George's Cross and handmade placards voicing support for Robinson

'It is about ensuring that a jury are not in any way inhibited from carrying out their important function.'

It comes after around 500 protesters chanted 'let Tommy out' outside Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

The event was organised by the group Proud British, which claims on Facebook that its purpose is to 'voice freedom of speech' and 'stop the strain on the NHS, schools and our public services'.

Protesters also called on members of the press to publish details of the case that Robinson, of Bedfordshire, had been filming, in line with 'the principle of open justice'.
A pair of radio DJs have crowdfunded their own search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which infamously disappeared in 2014.

Hosts of New Zealand radio show The Rock, Duncan Heyde and Thane Kirby, are set to fly to Mauritius in June to look at possible locations that have been suggested as the final resting place of the missing plane.

The pair managed to gather $35,000 from around 400 of their listeners through a crowdfunding campaign online, Stuff reported.

Hosts of New Zealand radio show The Rock, Duncan Heyde (left) and Thane Kirby (right) are set to begin their own search for the missing flight MH370 thanks to crowd funding support

The radio duo said they will search the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mauritius with coordinates supplied by Australian engineer Peter McMahon.

Mr McMahon's theory has been widely criticised and discredited by other researchers and investigators, however, Mr Heyde said even if they came up with nothing, the search would still have a positive impact.

'At least we can offer to the families that have got victims that another part of the ocean has been searched, they can cross that (location) off,' he said.

The last known movements of flight MH370 before it disappeared in 2014

As far as locations go the radio duo will search the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mauritius with coordinates supplied by Australian engineer Peter McMahon

Mr Kirby has said in the past that the M370 case is one that has captured his imagination and turned into something of an 'obsession'.

Mr Kirby said the pair had received a good amount of support for their trip but have also attracted their fair share of naysayers and on top of that a number of conspiracy theorists have contacted them.

'Some have even suggested that this is a complete waste of time because the plane is actually in a hangar in Germany,' he said.

'We've had a lot of naysayers trying to put a lot of confusing [other] theories in our heads, but we've been head down and dedicated to making the most of our time in Mauritius.'
The Philadelphia Police Department on Friday announced a new policy on how to confront people accused of trespassing on private property, two months after coming under fire for arresting two black men waiting for a colleague at a Starbucks.

Officers are now instructed to first attempt to de-escalate and mediate disturbances between property owners and accused offenders. Before an officer arrests someone, that person must understand he or she is not allowed on the property. The officer also must witness the person refusing to leave.

'While business owners may exclude persons from their establishments, they cannot misuse the authority of police officers in the process,' the policy says. 'Such misuse may lead to a technically lawful arrest, but can create the appearance of improprieties on behalf of the officers and the Department.'

The Philadelphia Police Department revealed a new policy for dealing with people suspected of trespassing

Police outside a Philadelphia Starbucks where protestors gathered after two men were arrested for trespassing

Rashon Nelson did not fight when he was arrested April 12 for trespassing at Starbucks, the company and the police later apologized

Donte Robinson was arrested within minutes of arriving at Starbucks for a meeting, the company and the police have since apologized

Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were arrested April 12 within minutes of arriving at Starbucks. A viral video of their arrest sparked national outrage and has led to policy changes at the world's largest coffeehouse chain, including unconscious bias training and a new policy that allows anyone to sit in its cafes or use its restrooms - even if they don't buy anything.

Stewart Cohen, a lawyer for the men, said Friday that the updated policy is 'a great first step.'

'The rubber's going to meet the road in terms of enforcement,' Cohen said, adding that he and his clients are willing to work with the city on de-escalation training and mediation.

Starbucks closed all of it's stores for unconscious bias training in the wake of the Philadelphia incident.

Davis, left, and Robinson, right on the set of Good Morning America after the incident. Their lawyer calls the announcement a step in the right direction

The men reached a settlement with Starbucks and the city last month. They were not prosecuted, and their arrest records have been expunged.

Philadelphia police also came under fire in the wake of the arrest for how the incident was handled, with critics questioning why the men were arrested so quickly for something many see as common practice at the coffee shops.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross initially defended his officers' handling of the encounter but later publicly apologized to the men in a somber press conference.

'We've made a lot of progress and will continue to do so as we explore and implement new practices that reflect the importance of diversity, public safety and accountability,' Ross said.
Graphic images and the desperate emergency call made by a man mauled by his own dog were released by a Texas police department on Friday.

Amarillo law enforcement also released a timeline of the events, which eventually led to the euthanization of a pitbull in labor at Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare, according to Fox affiliate KFDA.

The incident occurred on May 8 when the owner attempted to stop his pregnant dog from attacking a six-month-old puppy. That's when the owner's second dog, a male, jumped into the fray and began attacking his master.

Amarillo law enforcement released a timeline of the events as they unfolded which eventually led to the euthanization of a pitbull in labor

The incident occurred on May 8 when the owner attempted to stop his pregnant dog from attacking a six-month-old puppy

The man, who remains unidentified, was rushed into surgery following the attack, sustaining severe injuries to his forearms and upper body

The man, who remains unidentified, was rushed into surgery following the attack, sustaining severe injuries to his forearms and upper body.

It was later revealed that the male dog belonged to the man, who initially misled investigators by stating the animal was a stray.

The male dog was later surrendered Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare and was euthanized.

At around 10pm, another emergency call was placed at the same home and reported that a dog had injured two people.

According to KFDA, the female dog was determined to be responsible for the subsequent attack and was surrendered to Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare.

After arriving to the district's animal housing facility, the dog was placed in kennel G7 but was not properly marked as a dangerous, according to City Manager Jared Miller.

The next day, when an employee at the kennel informed staff that the pregnant dog was going into labor, they were made aware of its dangerous animal designation.

A decision was made to humanely euthanized the dog along with her two puppies.
Bikie gangs have signaled a move away from hosting meetings at traditional branded headquarters and towards below-the-radar gatherings at short-term rentals.

Easily identifiable clubhouses have long painted the outlaw groups easy targets for police, however, houses on AirBnB seem to be emerging a new favourite among the 'big five' gangs, Herald Sun reported.

The move away from large warehouses to discrete, frequently changing locations, is one of several signs a fresh wave of identities is filtering through the ranks.

Bikie gangs have signaled a move away from hosting meetings at traditional branded headquarters and towards below-the-radar gatherings at short-term rentals

Modern leaders appear not to be following in footsteps of figures like retired bikie Toby Mitchell, who was known to flash his expensive lifestyle on the internet.

Chadwick model Hasan Topal has stepped as the unlikely new leader for Melbourne's Comancheros in place of Mick Murray, who is currently in jail.

The 28-year-old has become a representative of the changing face of bikie gangs in the state, and the way less emphasis is being placed on social media.

Indications show members have significantly retreated from mass boasting about their lavish lifestyles and personal affairs.

Clubs have shifted to utilising plain industrial sized sheds without logos in a move synchronised with Victoria's recent crack down on bikie laws.

The state was previously tagged Australia's answer to Switzerland because it was known as a 'safe haven' from tougher laws set by New South Wales and Queensland.

Chadwick model Hasan Topal (pictured) has stepped as the unlikely new leader for Melbourne's Comancheros in place of Mick Murray, who is currently in jail

Despite the apparent revolution, the 'big five' gangs have remained the same - the Comanchero, Hells Angels, Rebels, Bandidos and Mongols

WHAT ARE THE ANTI-GANG LAWS? (NSW) According to NSW law a person can be charged with consorting if they 'habitually consorts with convicted offenders after being given a warning not to speak with the offenders. This means they cannot talk to or communicates with an offender. To habitually consort the person has to talk to two convicted offenders (whether the same or separate occasion) and have to be caught on two occasions. Police can give a consorting warning orally or in writing and must explain that consorting is an offence and the person being spoken to is a criminal. The maximum penalty is three years jail. Advertisement

In New South Wales and Queensland, tough laws mean bikies can't ride together, or even communicate with each other 'without risking jail time'.

Police raids throughout the past decade have seen a series of clubhouses close and gangs now congregate in secret meetings, known as 'church'.

Despite the apparent revolution, the 'big five' gangs have remained the same - the Comanchero, Hells Angels, Rebels, Bandidos and Mongols.

Also occupying police resources are the reunited Finks, old-school Coffin Cheaters, Bros, Gypsy Jokers and Iron Horsemen.

Outlaw bikies in Victoria hovered between 1,200 and 1,400 members, Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said this week.

The figure is a clear example the tough police crack downs has done little to dwindle bikie ranks.
A father charged with the brutal murder of his five-year-old son fronted court on Saturday appearing confused.

'Where am I?' the man, who is accused of stabbing his son at a Carlingford home in Sydney's north-west on Friday morning, asked as he appeared in a court via video link.

The 36-year-old was refused bail and is expected to face Parramatta Bail Court on July 30.

A father has been charged with the brutal murder of his five-year-old son during an alleged domestic dispute at the Carlingford home in Sydney's north-west

The boy tragically died in hospital after he was stabbed by his 36-year-old father, who was refused bail, at about 7am Friday

Natalie Lewin said she and her husband Hank (pictured together) were good friends with the boy's parents and the alleged attack came as a complete shock

A witness also told Daily Mail Australia he saw the boy's 'heroic' grandmother, in her 60s, run up the street with the injured schoolboy in her arms.

'The woman ran all the way up the church with the boy in her arms. I'm trying to figure out how she got all the way up there. It's a fair hike,' he said.

'It's got to be 400 metres.'

The child was rushed to Westmead Children's Hospital but could not be saved.

A neighbour revealed to Daily Mail Australia how she heard a loud 'bang, bang' as the five-year-old boy was allegedly brutally murdered.

Moments later the suburban street inundated with emergency response vehicles.

Natalie Lewin said she and her husband Hank were good friends with the boy's parents and the alleged attack came as a complete shock.

'I heard a bang, bang I fell back to sleep then when I got up everyone was here,' she said.

'He played with my daughter and son, he was a very very nice boy.'

Mrs Lewin described the young victim as 'the sweetest little thing'.

'He's the sweetest boy, very smart and outgoing,' she said.

'He's five but he looks about three-and-a-half. He's a very little boy. It's just heartbreaking.'

Mrs Lewin's husband said the attack was 'absolutely shocking'.

'We were friends when they moved here, they came to our house and we went to their house. I'm friends with his wife, she's a Thai girl the same as me,' Mrs Lewin said.

'I'm still shaking because I don't even know how to tell my kids.'

Ms Lewin (pictured) said her children played with the five-year-old boy who she described as being the 'sweetest little thing'

The child was rushed to Westmead Children's Hospital, in Sydney, where he died on Friday morning after the alleged attack

The boy's 60-year-old grandmother fled the scene and took the boy to nearby Mosley Street where she called triple zero

The father was arrested nearby and taken to Castle Hill Police Station.

'All we know for sure is that a young child has been murdered in his home brutally, and we have a gentleman in custody,' Superintendent Rob Critchlow said.

Mr Critchlow described the actions of the boy's grandmother as 'heroic'.

A man and a woman, believed to be known to the residents of the home, arrived at the scene and spoke to police on Friday afternoon.

Looking visibly distressed and shaken they spoke to a detective before leaving the scene in a car.

The man told media he would be a spokesman for the family and would return later in the day to speak to waiting media.

'I'll be making a f***ing statement, you better believe it,' he said before abruptly leaving.

New South Wales Police said the boy was 'brutally murdered' in the early hours of Friday morning

Forensic police work at the scene of a crime in Carlingford after the grandmother ran '400 metres' with the boy in her arms

A neighbour reacts with complete shock as she speaks to media at the scene of the crime on Friday

Neighbours John and Cynthia, whose backyard is positioned directly in front of the murder scene, said they were at home and awake at the time of the alleged attack.

'I've heard the boy outside playing - you will hear him coming in and out. But we didn't even hear a noise this morning,' Cynthia told Daily Mail Australia.

'You would see the family sitting on the verandah doing their own thing and we would hear them talking. But nothing to think anything was wrong.'

Despite being at home during the alleged murder, John said he and Cynthia 'heard nothing'.

'It was a shock to hear the little boy had died this morning. It's disappointing to hear it happened out the back of our house... so sad for the little boy,' he said.

John said the family only lived at the home for two to three months before the Friday morning incident.

This is the scene where the five-year-old was allegedly murdered on Friday - furniture can be seen strewn on the footpath

One man at the scene of the crime said his entire family was in a state of shock after news of the alleged murder broke.

'Nothing like this ever happens here. It's a safe area,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Maybe kids riding motorbikes in parks, but nothing like this.'

Another neighbour in the leafy suburb of Carlingford agreed, saying 'it's such a nice area'.

'You always see kids playing on the streets and people walking their dogs. It's just a normal neighbourhood,' he said.

'We've never had anything close to this ... I've been here for 15 years and we've never had anything like this.'

The director of a nearby childcare centre told the Sydney Morning Herald her staff saw paramedics take the boy to hospital

Investigators are seen wearing suits outside the scene of the alleged crime where the five-year-old was allegedly murdered

The child was left with serious stab wounds after the incident at a home in Carlingford in the city's north-west at around 7am on Friday, police said

Mr Critchlow described the level of violence as 'horrendous'.

'The fact a young boy - five years of age - has died from being injured in his home, it's probably about as bad as it gets,' he said.

Mr Critchlow said investigations were still in the early stages.

A neighbour reacts to news of the five-year-old boy's death outside the scene of the alleged crime on Friday

Superintendent Rob Critchlow said the boy was 'gravely injured' and was unable to recover

Mr Critchlow, who said the arrested man was a relative of the boy, described the actions of the grandmother as 'heroic'

The child was rushed to Westmead Children's Hospital but died shortly after arrival, police confirmed just after 9.30am

Detectives arrive at the Carlingford home to investigate on Friday, after the five-year-old boy died in hospital

'She's behaved in a heroic and caring manner, as you would imagine a grandmother would,' he said, when asked about the boy's grandmother.

'She's been presented with something terrible, and done her best to get the young boy to safety and to get him treatment.

'Sadly, despite her best efforts, there was nothing more she could have done. We're grateful to her for what she did do at the scene.'

Police were seen leading a woman covered in a white sheet to a waiting ambulance on Friday morning.

The boy's mother was not at the house at the time of the attack, but was called to the Children's Hospital, where she remains.

Forensic police work at the scene of the crime in Carlingford on Friday morning

New South Wales Police worked with forensic investigators at the scene of the crime

Police have confirmed the arrested man is a relative of the boy, but wouldn't elaborate

'The level of violence is horrendous... The fact that a young boy - five years of age - has died from being injured in his home, it's probably about as bad as it gets,' police said

One neighbour, who said he was woken by police helicopters, knew of the family, but said they had never interacted.

'They seemed very tight-knit, very close. They kept to themselves. I never had anything to do with them,' they told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.

Another neighbour said they heard possible screams coming from the home.

'I was asleep and thought I might have heard screaming. I went back to sleep and then heard the helicopters,' they said.

'Then I heard the news. It's just horrendous.'

Forensic police set up outside the home in Carlingford, Sydney, after the five-year-old boy died

The child was left with serious stab wounds after the incident at a home in Carlingford, police said

The director of a nearby childcare centre told the Sydney Morning Herald her staff saw paramedics take the boy to hospital.

'We just saw the child and the carer in front of our centre. By the time we got there emergency services had arrived,' Valli Adabjou said.

'The carer was attempting to resuscitate the child. I don't know where the incident happened.'

Ms Adabjou said the boy was not enrolled at her centre and she has emailed parents to tell them the children in her care are safe.

The director of a nearby childcare centre said her staff saw paramedics take the boy to hospital
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
They're calling it their 'new normal'.

People who lost almost everything to the Kilauea Volcano are living in a tent city outside a Red Cross shelter in Pahoa. The tents give them a little privacy, and a space to keep what few possessions they still have.

Zelda Kanakaole and her family of 15 are living in four vehicles parked in a row, which are connected by tents. 'We rented a van because we only had a car,' she told Hawaii News Now, 'and we just got an air mattress'.

Two children sleep in the front seat of a car, others sleep where they can find a space. This is how the family has been living since they fled their home a month ago.

Fifteen members of one family are living in this 'compound' within the Big Island tent city

Zelda Kanakaole stands at the van that she has called 'home' for over a month

The parking lot outside the Red Cross Shelter in a Pahoa has become a tent city for people and their belongings

Zelda said the family came close to renting a house, but the price was suddenly increased from $1,100 a month to $1,900 a month.

'Right now it's so hard because there's limited houses in the area,' she said. 'We need help, at least to a rent control kind of thing'.

As of Friday, 600 homes had been destroyed, and officials from the U.S. Geological Survey said there's no way to know when the eruption will end or if more lava-spewing vents will open.

People moved to tents because they feel they offer more privacy than living in the shelter

A housing shortage means many people don't know how long they will be in this tent city

In the meantime, people wait to see where they can go.

Officials counted 250 people in the tent city on Thursday morning, noting they counted after many people had had gone to work, so the real number of 'residents' is higher.

One official told Hawaii News Now that it is really important to get these people into homes, 'camping is fun,' she said, 'but a little over a month is too long.'

As of Friday, 600 homes have been destroyed by the eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano

The volcano on Friday shoes two pillars of gases rising up. The US Geologic Service cannot predict when this will end

People have everything they could salvage as they evacuated their homes
A church in Denver posted a sign condemning the decision from the Supreme Court in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to sell to a gay couple for their wedding.

At South Broadway Christian Church, a sign offers the times for Sunday worship along with the message 'Jesus would have baked that cake.'

'Jesus worked with folks on the periphery of society, mistreated and marginalized,' said Pastor Dustin Adkins, who posted the message, to KUSA.

'Those folks are the ones he welcomes the most.'

At South Broadway Christian Church, a sign offers the times for Sunday worship along with the message 'Jesus would have baked that cake'

'Jesus worked with folks on the periphery of society, mistreated and marginalized,' said Pastor Dustin Adkins, who posted the message

After Jack Phillips refused to make a cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig's wedding in 2012, the gay couple filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

The church's pastor added: 'those folks are the ones he welcomes the most'

The Commission ruled in their favor, saying Phillips had violated the state's anti-discrimination law, which bars businesses from discriminating against customers based on their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

But that was soon overturned when the Supreme Court decided against the Commission on Monday.

The majority of the justices voted 7-2 that the Commission violated Phillips' First Amendment right to exercise his religion.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was forecast to be the swing vote, wrote the majority opinion, saying Phillips' Free Exercise rights were violated because the Commission showed hostility to his religious beliefs when they were making the decision.

The justices' 7-2 ruling was limited, and didn't deal with the biggest concern in the case - whether religious people like baker Jack Phillips could refuse to serve gay or lesbian people.

Monday's ruling was heralded as a victory for conservative Christians, including the one that represented Phillips in his case.

The Supreme Court ruled in the favor of Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker who refused to make a gay couple's wedding cake over his Christian beliefs in 2012. Phillips is seen above at work on Monday after the decision was released

After Jack Phillips refused to make a cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig's wedding in 2012, the gay couple filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission

'Government hostility toward people of faith has no place in our society, yet the state of Colorado was openly antagonistic toward Jack's religious beliefs about marriage. The court was right to condemn that,' said Kristen Waggoner, a lawyer at conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Phillips. Since 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has labeled the Alliance as 'virulently anti-gay'.

Waggoner added that the decision 'makes clear that the government must respect Jack's beliefs about marriage.'

ACLU lawyer Louise Melling, who represents Mullins and Craig, said that high court had made it clear that businesses open to the public must serve everyone.

Monday's ruling was heralded as a victory for conservative Christians, including the one that represented Phillips in his case

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, front left, and Sonia Sotomayor, back row second from right, were the two dissenters in the case

'The court reversed the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision based on concerns unique to the case but reaffirmed its longstanding rule that states can prevent the harms of discrimination in the marketplace, including against LGBT people,' Melling added.

Phillips' lawyers argued that his cakes are an art form - a 'temporary sculpture' - and being forced to create one to commemorate a gay wedding would violate his rights under the U.S. Constitution to freedom of speech and expression and free exercise of religion.

Mullins and Craig, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, said Phillips was using his Christian faith as pretext for unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation. The ACLU said the baker was advocating for a 'license to discriminate' that could have broad repercussions beyond gay rights.

The case became a cultural flashpoint in the United States, underscoring the tensions between gay rights proponents and conservative Christians.

The litigation, along with similar cases around the country, is part of a conservative Christian backlash to the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling. Phillips and others like him who believe that gay marriage is not consistent with their Christian beliefs, have said they should not be required to effectively endorse the practice.

Gay rights advocates said the case is just one part of a bigger struggle seeking greater legal protections for gay, bisexual and transgender people, including in the workplace, even as they fight efforts by conservatives to undermine gains secured in recent years.
Anthony Bourdain's ex-girlfriend Paula Froelich has written a powerful post about depression in the wake of his suicide.

Froelich, who dated the celebrity chef in 2005, shared a photo of them together on Instagram just hours after Bourdain was found hanged in his French hotel room.

'To a good man, a great friend, a loyal love. That's all I'm going to say,' New York Post columnist Froelich, 44, captioned the picture of Bourdain with his arm round her.

She also penned a lengthy post about depression and loneliness.

Froelich, who dated the celebrity chef in 2005, shared a photo of them together on Instagram just hours after Bourdain was found hanged in his French hotel room

Froelich dated Bourdain for a few months in 2005 after he divorced from his high school girlfriend and wife of 20 years Nancy Putkoski

'Here's the thing about depression: it's a sneaky little, sticky b***h,' she tweeted, adding that depression didn't care if you were rich or poor.

'You can be rich as hell, totally successful but still lonely AF and the 'you're nothing but a fraud' voice only goes away when the ambien takes effect.

'The problem with that is ambien makes the harsh voice louder in the morning. And there's only a few you can talk to about it - but even then sparingly because it just gets OLD, doesn't it? And you become the sad sack ... even though you're normally so FUN.

'And it can take a village of pills, shrinks, empathetic friends, neighbors, to pull you out of a slump - and guess what?! You're not manic, or some other couch shrink diagnosis you just have. Regular old depression.

She also penned a lengthy post about depression and it's isolating effect

'You know because you've wondered and went to go get checked out hoping that there was some magic pill somewhere that would make it all better. But no. There's not.

'It's lonely, it magnifies everything into something awful, and you don't know when or if this cycle will end... so it's also terrifying. And embarrassing. And humiliating - because there's something wrong with you.

'But take heart in knowing: only the best, funniest, loveliest, most empathetic, wonderful, talented people have depression. You're in a good crowd. Now. Let's go fight that black dog. Together.'

Froelich confirmed her relationship status with Bourdain when he catered her book party in April 2005.

Meal time: Anthony Bourdain (above earlier this week in France) dined out at Wistub La Petite Venise a few days before his death

Grieving friends of Anthony Bourdain say he was left exhausted to by his grueling work schedule which fueled his depression. Bourdain was also pictured riding a tandem bike with friend Eric Ripert on Wednesday - just two days before he was found hanged

The Mercury in Retrograde author told the New York Times, they liked 'to hang out and have sex' and that he'd offered to cater for her.

Bourdain was married twice; the first to his high school girlfriend, Nancy Putkoski, in 1985. They stayed together for twenty years before their divorce in 2005. That was the same year he started seeing Froelich.

In 2007, he married Ottavia Busia, a mixed martial artist, who gave birth to his daughter, Ariane. The couple divorced amicably in 2016.

The following year he began dating Italian actress Asia Argento, whom he met when she appeared on the Rome episode of Parts Unknown.

Argento released a statement in the wake of his death which read: 'Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds.

The celebrity chef and TV host is pictured with current girlfriend Asia Argento last month in Florence

'He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyind devestated.

'My thoughts and prayers are with his family. I would ask that your respect their privacy and mine.'

Bourdain and Argento had also both posted a black-and-white photo from Florence of the two btaken on May 26, with the chef writing: 'An eventful week. On the battlefield and off. Making art . Every motherf***ing day.'

Bourdain, a recovering cocaine and heroin addict, hanged himself while staying at the Le Chambard hotel in Kaysersberg, France, where he was filming an upcoming episode of his CNN show Parts Unknown, according to French media.

Bourdain's profile began to soar in 1999, when the New Yorker published his article 'Don't Eat Before Reading This,' which he developed into the 2000 book, 'Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly'. The memoir also detailed his struggles with drug abuse, which led many to describe him as a 'rockstar chef' and a 'culinary bad boy'.

He became a household name by hosting such shows as A Cook's Tour and No Reservations, which blended his love of food and travel. No Reservations was his break-out hit, catapulting him to national fame and earning him two Emmy Awards. The show ran from 2005 to 2012, when he let the Travel Channel for CNN.

At CNN, Bourdain traveled to lesser-known places for Parts Unknown, a show that was acclaimed for its cinematography and earned him a Peabody Award.

For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or click here

For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here

For confidential support in Australia, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or click here
A 20-year-old woman accused of throwing soft drink cans and an EFTPOS machine at KFC staff during an angry tirade has fronted court.

Jarrah Ladner was charged with disorderly behaviour, two counts of assault, two counts of aggravated assault on police and property damage after the incident in Adelaide in May.

During her court appearance on Saturday, Deputy Chief Magistrate Dr Andrew Cannon agreed to review her bail conditions, which could allow Ms Ladner to be within at least 50 metres of the fast food outlet, instead of the initial 200 metres.

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Jarrah Ladner has been charged with disorderly behaviour, assault and property damage

Ms Ladner was silent upon leaving the court. She is set to appear again in late July.

CCTV captured Ms Ladner allegedly throwing an EFTPOS machine and screaming at staff during the outburst.

In the video, Ms Ladner, who was wearing Dr Martens boots and a black puffer jacket, was reportedly seen ripping off Eftpos machines from the counter.

She's accused of throwing them at employees and signs in the store.

A woman can be heard saying: 'You don't have anything else'.

'You're holding us hostage.'
The culinary world is paying tribute to rockstar chef Anthony Bourdain after his tragic suicide.

Bourdian, 61, was found hanged in his hotel room in the French village of Kaysersberg on Friday.

Since then, leading culinary figures and celebrity chefs around the world have been paying tribute to the TV host.

And closer to his home city of New York, the restaurants Bourdain worked at and visited have found their own way to pay respects to the chef.

Barney Greengrass, a Jewish deli in Manhattan where Bourdain was a regular, laid out his usual breakfast order; Nova Scotia Lox and egg scramble, in front of an empty chair in his honor on Friday

Meanwhile fans left photos, flowers and heartfelt, handwritten notes outside Brasserie Les Halles - the now closed restaurant where Bourdain got his big break as executive chef

Notes, photographs and flowers are left in memory of Anthony Bourdain at the closed location of Brasserie Les Halles, where Bourdain used to work as the executive chef, in New York City

A man takes a photograph of notes and photographs left in memory of Anthony Bourdain at the closed location of Brasserie Les Halles

Barney Greengrass, a Jewish deli in Manhattan where Bourdain was a regular, laid out his usual breakfast order; Nova Scotia Lox and egg scramble, in front of an empty chair in his honor on Friday.

'He was a customer here for many years,' Greengrass owner Gary Greengrass told CNN. 'He came in the store [and] made everyone feel at home.'

'TV makes you famous but he never acted that way. Never looked for anything special.

Meanwhile fans left photos, flowers and heartfelt, handwritten notes outside Brasserie Les Halles - the now closed restaurant where Bourdain got his big break as executive chef.

A New York noodle shop, which owes much of its success to Bourdain, also announced it was donating Friday's revenue to suicide prevention.

Jason Wang, CEO of Xi'an Famous Foods, a popular New York City restaurant chain, said today was a day of 'extreme sadness'.

Bourdian, 61, was found hanged in his hotel room in the French village of Kaysersberg on Friday

Meal time: Anthony Bourdain (above earlier this week in France) dined out at Wistub La Petite Venise a few days before his death

Grieving friends of Anthony Bourdain say he was left exhausted to by his grueling work schedule which fueled his depression. Bourdain was also pictured riding a tandem bike with friend Eric Ripert on Wednesday - just two days before he was found hanged

'I've lost a dear friend today, and we mourn with the rest of the world,' he tweeted, sharing how his family's Queens food stall grew into a New York empire after Bourdain visited in 2007.

'I remember years later in 2015... I approached Tony. I looked at him in the eyes and said, this is something we will always be thankful for, Tony. And he simply replied, 'I'm just calling out good food like it is, that's all.'

Bourdain spent two years at New York's Vassar College, before he dropped out and enrolled in culinary school. He spent years as a line cook and sous chef at restaurants across the Northeast before joining the Brasserie Les Halles.

His profile began to soar in 1999, when the New Yorker published his article 'Don't Eat Before Reading This,' which he developed into the 2000 book, 'Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly'. The memoir also detailed his struggles with drug abuse, which led many to describe him as a 'rockstar chef' and a 'culinary bad boy'.

He became a household name by hosting such shows as A Cook's Tour and No Reservations, which blended his love of food and travel. No Reservations was his break-out hit, catapulting him to national fame and earning him two Emmy Awards. The show ran from 2005 to 2012, when he let the Travel Channel for CNN.

At CNN, Bourdain traveled to lesser-known places for Parts Unknown, a show that was acclaimed for its cinematography and earned him a Peabody Award.

News of his suicide has shaken the culinary world.

Superstar chef of The French Laundry, Thomas Keller said: 'The kitchen lights are dim today. Tony was a force at the pass & beyond. He was cool & irreverent. His life & work are a testament to the power of cooking to make the world a kinder, more connected place. My thoughts are with his daughter, family & the countless lives he touched.'

French chef Eric Ripert, one of Bourdain's closest friends, and who was with him in France filming for Parts Unknown when the chef took his own life, tweeted his 'love & prayers'.

'Anthony was my best friend,' he wrote. 'An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love & prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones.'

TV personality and 'Chopped' host Ted Allen shared a photo of himself talking with Bourdain with the caption: 'Tony Bourdain made the world a smarter, better place.'

Chef Gordon Ramsay tweeted he was stunned and saddened by his death.

Ramsay wrote that Bourdain 'brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures.'

Fellow British chef Nigella Lawson added that she was 'heartbroken' by the news.

'Bizarre Foods' host Andrew Zimmern wrote that a piece of his heart 'is truly broken.' Zimmern said 'the sad cruel irony' is that in the last year, Bourdain had 'never been happier.'

'Tony was a symphony. I wish everyone could have seen all of him. A true friend.'

Actor and former 'Man v. Food' host Adam Richman tweeted 'Why?' Richman said his heart was with Bourdain.

'My friend, I know you are on a ferry going to somewhere amazing..you still had so many places to show us, whispering to our souls the great possibilities beyond what we could see with our own eyes,' tweeted chef Jose Andres, of World Central Kitchen.

Celebrity chef and 'Top Chef' judge Tom Colicchio joked that suggestions that Bourdain rest in peace were 'doubtful.'

'Tony's restless spirit will roam the earth in search of justice, truth and a great bowl of noodles,' Colicchio wrote.

Another celebrity chef, Tyler Florence, remembered Bourdain's 'swagger, his prose, his grit,' adding that the travel show host will be is 'splitting a bottle of scotch' with literary greats.

'Tony didn't give a f**k the way most of us wish we could. That's what made him special,' he added.

Celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality Emeril Lagasse added he was 'shocked and extremely saddened by the tragic loss' calling Bourdain a 'great soul, a mentor, a friend, a father, and an incredible chef.'

Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro said he was 'gutted' to hear the news before sharing the number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

A photo of Bourdain hangs above a note that states 'Rest in Peace, My Bourdain' outside Brasserie Les Halles, where Bourdain used to work as the executive chef

The doors have been covered in flowers, cards, photos and messages

Model and food blogger Chrissy Teigen wrote: ''Anthony. One of my idols. Unapologetic, passionate and one of the best storytellers on the planet. Thank you for making food so exciting'.

Countless other chefs and restaurateurs paid tribute to Bourdain, whose shows could turned countless street food vendors or locals cafes into a must-visit for foodies.

Meanwhile Bourdain's production company said the loss is 'deep & extraordinarily profound'.

'We'll remember him for his immense talent & more importantly for his friendship,' according to a tweet from the company,' Zero Point Zero Production said in a statement.

For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch.

For confidential support in Australia, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
A family that lost several relatives during a mass shooting at a Texas church says the federal government was negligent by failing to report the gunman's criminal information to a national database, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Antonio, said that even though gunman Devin Patrick Kelley was criminally convicted while in the Air Force the military failed to enter the information into a database used to conduct background checks of gun buyers.

The error, according to the lawsuit, allowed Kelley to buy the assault-style rifle he used during the November shooting in Sutherland Springs that killed more than two dozen people. The Holcombe family suffered about a third of those deaths.

'We think this entire tragedy could have been avoided,' said family's attorney Rob Ammons in an interview Friday. He said an unborn child was among the Holcombe family members killed.

Bryan Holcombe and his wife Karla were in the church that morning because Bryan was the guest pastor

Crystal Holcombe (center) died in the church shooting on Sunday alongside her son Greg (far left), daughters Emily and Megan. Her husband, John (far right) survived alongside two of their children.

'The Air Force didn't do its job,' he said.

An Air Force spokeswoman declined comment.

The litigation said the Air Force acted recklessly and carelessly in not reporting Kelley's criminal information to a federal database.

The federal suit was filed on behalf of Joe and Claryce Holcombe. The lawsuit said their son, John Bryan Holcombe, was murdered while walking to the pulpit at the church.

The scene shortly after the shooting on November 5, 2017, that took 26 people, 9 of them members of the Holcombe family

A memorial for those killed in the massacre outside the church Devin Kelley opened fire

It is difficult to sue the federal government under a principle called sovereign immunity. The lawsuit filed over the Texas shooting cited The Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows such suits in certain circumstances.

The litigation is one of several lawsuits that have been filed following high-profile mass shootings that have garnered national attention and stirred debate.

Some of the surviving victims of a massacre at an Orlando nightclub were filing a lawsuit in federal court Thursday, saying authorities and city did not to try to stop the shooter.

Antonio Romanucci, a Chicago attorney, said there has been an uptick in the amount of litigation regarding mass shootings. When people see inaction on gun regulations at the federal level, he said, civil lawsuits can be an option for victims to pursue change and justice.

'I think litigation plays a very important role in these cases,' he said
An MSNBC television host found herself knee deep in controversy on Thursday after asking if the women closest to President Donald Trump are 'dead inside' or simply being 'paid off' to keep silent over allegations on his past sexual conduct.

The controversial comments were made while Nicole Wallace was discussing first lady Melania Trump and first daughter Ivanka during her early morning news program 'Deadline: White House.'

The discussion veered towards the supposed motives of the women in the first family while Wallace and her panel commented on allegations surrounding adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.

Nicole Wallace (Pictured) made the her controversial comments while hosting her early morning news program 'Deadline: White House' on Friday

The discussion veered towards the supposed motives behind first lady Melania Trump (L) and daughter Ivanka's (R) supposed silence over allegations made by Stormy Daniels

Wallace is a long-time Republican strategist and former George W. Bush administration official

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims to have had a consensual affair with Trump more than a decade ago.

'Are they just the most stoic human beings, are they numb, are they dead inside, are they paid off, I mean, what's their deal?' Wallace asked.

Trump expressed frustration following media speculation concerning the whereabouts of his wife, who had not been seen in the public eye for nearly a month

Soon after the comments hit the airwaves, conservatives pounced on the MSNBC host, calling her remarks inappropriate and offensive.

'Ivanka and Melania can't win with the media,' Political commentator Britt McHenry told Fox News on Friday. 'If they show too much emotion, they're 'not taking the White House serious enough. If they don't show much emotion, apparently now they're stoic and cold.'

Wallace is a long-time Republican strategist and former George W. Bush administration official, working as White House communications director from 2005 to 2006.

Social media users also came to the defense of the Trump women, with commentators offering a barrage of indignant responses for the 'petty' and 'cruel' remarks.

Earlier this week, Trump expressed frustration following media speculation concerning the whereabouts of his wife, who had not been seen in the public eye for nearly a month following a medical procedure.

'The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania,' the President tweeted on June 6.

'During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!' Trump added.
A 49-year-old woman who was stabbed to death by her 'jealous boss' gave the 75-year-old a key to her home prior to her brutal murder.

Jennifer Borchardt was found dead in a pool of blood in her quiet Melbourne suburban home last year by her heartbroken partner Robert Hanson.

The woman's employer, Peter Palvis, who has been described a 'jealous boss', pleaded guilty to her violent murder and is waiting to be sentenced.

Jennifer Borchardt (pictured) was found dead in a pool of blood in her quiet suburban home last year by her heartbroken partner Robert Hanson days after their engagement

The 49-year-old woman (right) who was stabbed to death by her 'jealous boss' gave the 75-year-old a key to her home prior to her brutal murder

Peter Palvis (right) was described of having 'jealous rage' towards Ms Borchardt's (left) relationship despite having worked with her for 18 years at his company, The Muesli Company

Mr Hanson, who proposed to 'the love of his life' days earlier, believed their relationship fueled the 75-year-old's 'jealous rage' which served as a motive for the grim murder.

Ms Borchardt often picked Mr Palvis, who reportedly suffers dementia, up from his house to drive to work together where she later gave her boss a key to her Richmond home, in Melbourne, the heartbroken partner told Take 5 magazine.

Despite Mr Hanson thinking the situation was a 'bit freaky', his girlfriend brushed it off because 'he's 75 and pretty harmless'.

'Looking back, it's obvious he was secretly infatuated with Jennifer,' Mr Hanson said.

'He thought he owned her and I'm convinced he had a warped fantasy they'd be together one day.'

Some colleagues speculated that the murderer's motive could have been because of 'an argument about a botched shipment to China'.

Ms Borchardt (pictured) often picked Mr Palvis, who reportedly suffers dementia, up from his house to drive to work together where she later gave him a key to her Melbourne home

Despite Mr Hanson thinking the situation was a 'bit freaky', his girlfriend brushed it off because 'he's 75 and pretty harmless' but now he believes Mr Palvis was 'secretly infatuated' with her

Other workmates reportedly said Mr Palvis, who had worked with the 49-year-old (pictured) for 18 years, 'had put pressure on Jennifer to dump (her boyfriend)'

Other workmates reportedly said Mr Palvis, who had worked with the 49-year-old for 18 years, 'had put pressure on Jennifer to dump (her boyfriend)'.

Mr Palvis, who founded the Muesli Company in 1984, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court and did not apply for bail.

The elderly man is expected to appear in the Victorian Supreme Court in July.
As Australia turns toward secularism, the idea of leaving a religion has become acceptable and even encouraged by parts of society.

But for many Muslims the choice to turn away from their faith can have disastrous consequences.

They can loose their family and friends, and many have been shamed, silenced, abused and have even received death threats for renouncing their faith.

Those that do abandon Islam can be cut off from their communities and forced to build new lives.

Those who can't, where the risk is just too great, continue to live a lie, praying to a God they don't believe in.

Harris Sultan (pictured) is a prominent ex-Muslim in Australia and says he has doubts about the religion form a young age

Because of this, a secretive underground community has emerged where ex-Muslims, both out and proud and in the closet, meet online and in person to share their experiences.

While the ex-Muslim network is filled with members from across the globe, in Australia, there are only a few brave enough to declare themselves publicly as part of the small and secretive community.

Harris Sultan is one of those people. He runs a Facebook page called the Ex-Muslim Atheist and is vocal about questioning Islam.

He grew up in Pakistan and says he had doubts from a young age.

'Growing up in Pakistan in a fairly Muslim, however a moderate religious family, I still grew up as a Muslim,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I did have times when I fully devoted myself to Islam and tried to bury my doubts against Islam but at the end scepticism got the better out of me.'

The Society of Ex-Muslims of Australia is operated by both out and proud members and those still in the closet

'All the questions I had, I could not ask them openly... as questioning Islam was just not an option.

'We are raised as blindingly believing in Islam and all the miracles associated with it.'

He says that while his family wasn't happy when he told them he was an atheist he faced no 'major backlash.'

But when he chose to go public with it his father stopped speaking to him.

'My father is not happy with me publicly coming out as an atheist and is not on speaking terms with me.

'But I believe he'll eventually come around. He's too reasonable to cut me out entirely.

'My father is more worried about relative's backlash then having a problem with it personally so I can see why he is behaving the way he is.'

Harris works with a small group of ex-Muslims online to offer support and hope to those turning away from their faith.

One of those people is called Sha, who said she also lost interest in the religion at a young age.

'I'm estranged from my family and we never had an 'out' conversation about my lack of beliefs, but they hated that I wasn't a dutiful Muslim girl and it was a source of drama and abuse constantly,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Many ex-Muslims still pretend to be believers in the religion because of they fear persecution by coming out

'I didn't feel safe telling them I wasn't Muslim, given their reaction to other opinions and beliefs of mine, such as the scandalous belief I hold that gay people aren't disgusting.'

Sha might not have gotten to have that conversation with her family before they stopped talking but through the Facebook page Society of Ex-Muslims Australia, she helps support others who are.

She said many ex-Muslims continue living as if they still believe in Allah.

'Most don't live as though they're practising but live as if they still believe, but they make changes as in will dress a little less 'modestly,' maybe wear more makeup, maybe not read packets of lollies to see if they contain pork gelatin,' she said.

'It's usually a constant struggle with arguments and family discord.'

Harris agrees, saying many of the ex-Muslims they know have suffered abuse after deciding to leave.

'Yes, we know a lot of closeted ex-Muslims who pretend to be practising Muslims,' he said.

Harris, who has this image on his Facebook page, says he wants to help ex-Muslims

He add that a small group of Ex-Muslims are trying to launch an NGO to support those feeling their families because renouncing their faith has placed their lives in danger.

Jennine Khalik recently spent time with a few ex-Muslims in Melbourne, reportingon their horrific stories for ABC News.

Known only as Aisha* a 20-year-old Melbourne woman said she had fled her family home because her parents had seen a picture of her without her hijab on.

'The most that happened was when I took my hijab off, one of my friends put a photo on Facebook and my parents ended up seeing it,' she said.

'They were pretty upset and said I was obviously just a w***e who would end up dead in the gutters.'

She said that as a result her parents turned physically violent and she was forced to flee the family home.

She's now just one of more than 70 members of the underground ex-Muslim group operating within Australia.

The small community in Australia is part of a much larger global ex-Muslim network.

On Reddit more than 30,000 subscribe to a forum where they can discuss anything from the reasons they left to weather Mohammed really was moral.

During Ramadan, there was a call out over the platform offering struggling ex-Muslims a chance to meet up.

There is a very strict vetting process for joining the small community

The post offered those 'still in the closet' and 'those out and dealing with the pressure of your Muslim family' to join the online community.

There is a strict vetting criteria for those wanting to join.

'We take the privacy and security of members very seriously, and as such we verify and interview members before they join,' it says.

The strict measures are because risks of becoming an apostate, a person who has renounced their religion, often outweigh the freedoms that can come living honestly.

'The backlash is extreme which is the reason why most ex-Muslims don't come out,' said Sha.

'They usually have commitments that make it difficult to just leave the family home, or are still grappling and trying to think of a medium ground to keep family relationships but also live a life they want.'

'It's a brave and difficult situation.'

Sha said many Muslims have strong reactions because of how demonised the faith can be.

They have over 70 active members in Australia but globally there are thousands

'I think some Muslims react sensitively because they definitely do have it tough in the West and they fear our experiences will be used as Islamophobic fuel.

'But I also think other Muslims definitely are staunch believers of a religion that says ex-believers should be killed and that it is truly a 'perfect' faith and cant understand why anyone would leave it.'

Harris agrees, but adds that the small group is very much stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As an group, they're weaponised by those on the right of politics to advance an anti-Islamic agenda and feel deserted by those on the left.

'Yes, we have this clear clash of extreme right wing and extreme left wing politics,' he said.

'Ex-Muslims are caught in the middle, we don't wanna join the right wingers who don't want any Muslims or brown people in Australia.

But at the same time, the left doesn't acknowledge the plight of ex-Muslims because they are too afraid to be called racist.'

'Ex-Muslims just want to live their lives without fear of oppression or violence. That's all we want,' added Sha.
Anthony Liddell, 50, (pictured), described by friends as a 'really good bloke', was the sole occupant and was located deceased in his aircraft after the crash

The pilot who died when his plane crashed over a suburban street, tearing down power lines before it caught fire in seven-metre high flames, has been revealed to be a father-of-two and a community volunteer.

Anthony Liddell, 50, from Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula, has been praised for steering the light plane away from the houses below and onto the middle of the road.

The respected pilot, described by friends as a 'really good bloke', was the sole occupant and was located deceased in his aircraft just after 5pm in Mordialloc, in Melbourne's south-east, on Friday.

The cause of the crash remains unknown and an investigation is underway.

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Mr Liddell (pictured) has been praised for steering his plane away from houses and onto the middle of the road before it crashed over a Melbourne suburban street

A plane crashed over a suburban Melbourne street, tearing down power lines before it caught fire in seven-metre high flames (pictured)

'He was highly skilled and would have done this hundreds of times before  he knew what he was doing,' a close friend of the pilot told The Herald Sun.

Ralph Guerry, a fellow pilot and friend, described Mr Liddell as a 'meticulous' and experienced pilot who was familiar with the area and a 'true gentlemen of aviation.'

'You could not wish for a nicer guy. I just can't believe he is gone,' he said.

Friends and family laid flowers at the crash site to pay their tributes.

CAE Oxford Aviation Academy general manager Michael Drinkall confirmed the crash happened during a routine maintenance check flight, the Herald Sun reported.

He also added that CAE had grounded its planes for the weekend.

The pilot, described by friends as a 'really good bloke', was the sole occupant and was located deceased in his aircraft just after 5pm in Mordialloc, in Melbourne's south-east, on Friday

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau sent investigators to the site who will stay for several days and possibly take sections of the aircraft to a different facility for further inspection

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has sent investigators to Scarlet Street who will stay on-site for several days and possibly take sections of the aircraft to a different facility for further inspection.

ATSB executive director Nat Nagy declined to speculate on exactly what happened in the lead-up to the crash, and said 'at this stage it's too early to know exactly what happened.'

'We can confirm that when the aircraft was on approach to land ... it made a turn prior to colliding with the ground, destroying the aircraft,' he said.

Suggestions that Mr Liddell may have been trying to land at a nearby oval were just speculation and there was no indication of engine failure at this stage, Mr Nagy said.

Weather and flying conditions had been deemed safe and 'fine'.

Investigators will conduct an examination of the aircraft wreckage, components and parts, attempt to recover in-air data and air traffic control recordings, interview witnesses and look at maintenance records of the aircraft and the pilot's records to to determine what caused the crash.

It is unclear why the plane caught fire and as no flight recorder was on board, any in-flight distress may not have been captured by the black box

It is unclear why the plane caught fire and as no flight recorder was on board, any in-flight distress may not have been captured by the black box.

Flight tracking details show the plane took off at 4:06pm from Moorabbin Airport and its crash landing happened at 5.13pm, after it had done a near loop.

Brian Colbey, a resident of the street of the crash, told the Herald Sun he had 'been waiting for this to happen for 30 years' and other residents wanted the nearby Moorabbin airport to go.

David Trotter who also lives just metres from the crash site said 'there are a lot of beginner pilots learning there and that needs to be restricted.'

'When they built that airport, there were no homes here,' he said.

In 2010, a four-seater plane clipped a roof in the same suburb and brought down powerlines before landing in a backyard.

The plane's operator, Oxford Aviation Academy, declined to comment on Friday, AAP reported.
(CNN)  News of Anthony Bourdain's death shook the world Friday morning.

Within minutes, Bourdain's colleagues, friends and fans flooded social media, celebrating the impact Bourdain made on the culinary community and beyond.

They expressed their sadness, but they also spoke of Bourdain's ability to shed light on a myriad of different cultures in a way that highlighted their beauty and charm, and showed us we weren't that different from each other after all.

"Stunned and saddened by the loss of Anthony Bourdain," said fellow chef Gordon Ramsay. "He brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food."

Bourdain was a "great explorer and brilliant storyteller," said chef Yotam Ottolenghi on Instagram. "A huge loss of a person who shaped and changed the way we write about food."

Andrew Zimmern, another chef and TV host, said the news was heartbreaking. "Tony was a symphony. I wish everyone could have seen all of him. A true friend."

"Anthony. One of my idols," wrote Chrissy Teigen. "Unapologetic, passionate and one of the best storytellers on the planet. Thank you for making food so exciting. And always standing up for everything right. ... Be at peace now :("

He 'did right' by other cultures

Some recognized Bourdain for his ability to turn the spotlight on different cultures around the world while being respectful and receptive.

"RIP Anthony Bourdain. He did right by Africans in his TV programs," said a tweet from the outlet Africa is a Country.

Ali Gharib, an editor at The Intercept, chimed in, and said Bourdain "Did right by Iran, too."

The Washington Post's correspondent in Istanbul shared a photo of Bourdain sitting by a group of children in Gaza. "Thank you for shining your light on the dark places," she said.

"Bourdain's Parts Unknown on the Philippines was wonderful - watched it flying out of Manila and it made me cry," said Adam Harvey, ABC's Indonesia bureau chief. "The man had such empathy and insight."

READ: PH food entrepreneurs grateful to Anthony Bourdain for jumpstarting global fame of Filipino food

Astronaut Scott Kelly wrote that he watched Bourdain during his stint on the International Space Station.

"It made me feel more connected to the planet," he wrote, "its people and cultures and made my time there more palatable. He inspired me to see the world up close."

"My family invited Anthony Bourdain into our home every week," tweeted Danielle Campoamor, a columnist for Bustle. "And every week he took us around the world, trying new foods and speaking to new people and discovering new cultures. His writing, humor, & candor always reminding me of home. I'm heartbroken. We are failing one another."

Some shared suicide prevention resources

Like Ramsay, others shared the number to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline after learning the cause of Bourdain's death was suicide, as many did earlier this week following the death of designer Kate Spade.

Comedian Patton Oswalt shared the phone number, writing, "I've brushed up against this darkness and I know it's a tempting exit but REACH OUT to ANYONE. Stay on this side of it -- in the light and warmth. Where you get to try again, every day."

"Incredibly sad news about Anthony Bourdain," said NBC's Megyn Kelly. "Sending such love to his family, including his CNN family, who must be hurting terribly today. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, please remember, help is right here: Nat'l Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255."

How to get help: Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also can provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.
A man has been jailed for assaulting his friend and another man with an improvised 'cat o nine tails' whip over a $50 debt.

Matthew Stuart, 50, was sentenced this week to two years and seven months in jail by a Melbourne court.

At present, he has already spent 16 months in custody.

Mr Stuart hit the other man with an improvised whip that was described to the court as 'like a cat-o'-nine-tails' (stock image), which improvised with electrical cables and a PVC pipe

Mr Stuart went to his friend's home in Seaford last year to talk about the debt.

Mr Stuart punched the man, purposefully wearing his rings so that he could 'do more damage' to him.

He then hit the other man with an improvised whip that was described to the court as 'like a cat-o'-nine-tails', according to News.com.au.

The homemade whip was made up of electrical cables and a PVC pipe.

Mr Stuart was also angry at the men because one of them threatened to give his girlfriend heroin, according to Victoria County Court Judge Mandy Fox.

Mr Stuart pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a sawn-off shotgun, which police found in his home.

'I'm sorry I did it, I've lost two friends because of it,' Mr Stuart told the court.

He was reportedly on two community corrections when the incident occurred.

'I hope you take advantage of this opportunity and don't return to drug use and criminal activity when you're released,' Judge Fox told the former drug user.
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The White House has claimed that Canada is 'close to a deal on NAFTA' after President Donald Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G7.

After Trump's bilateral meeting with Trudeau on Friday at the G7 in Quebec, Canada, there was no immediate joint statement, but the White House said the talks were a 'great meeting'.

'The President underscored his willingness to work with Canada to achieve free, fair, and reciprocal trade,' Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement about the discussion.

'The two leaders and their delegations are close to a deal on NAFTA, but there was discussion of a bilateral deal.'

The meeting comes a week after Trudeau slapped tariffs on $12.8billion worth of US exports in response to new US duties on imported steel and aluminum, and European leaders threatened their own retaliatory tariffs.

Trudeau, this year's host of the gathering of rich nations, was more tight-lipped about the talks, tweeting about the discussion with Trump: 'We will always stand up for Canadian workers, their jobs & their livelihoods.'

'We are stronger together,' Trudeau wrote in another tweet, in a bid for unity that not-so-subtlety echoed Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign slogan.

Trudeau shared this photo of their meeting, writing: 'We will always stand up for Canadian workers, their jobs & their livelihoods. Today at the @g7 I sat down with @realDonaldTrump for a meeting focused on trade and NAFTA negotiations'

Trudeau and Trump are seen at a joint press conference prior to their meeting on Friday on the sidelines of the G7 summit

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit

Trudeau, the host of the G7 this year, and his wife Sophie Gregoire greeted Trump as he arrived for the summit

Family time: European Council President Donald Tusk, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pose at the start of the G7 in La Malbaie, Charlevoix, Quebec

Also on Friday, Trump held one-on-one talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has also blasted Trump over tariffs and threatened retaliation through the EU trading bloc.

Macron also posted a picture of his meeting with Trump on Twitter, writing in French: 'The challenges are considerable and we need this ongoing dialogue.'

Following Trump's meeting with Macron, the French president told reporters at a joint press conference: 'On trade, there is a critical a path, but there is a way to progress altogether.

'We had a very direct and open discussion. And I saw the willingness on all the sides to find agreements and have a win-win approach for our people, our workers, and our middle classes.'

Later in the press conference, Trump said: 'We have a little test every once in a while when it comes to trade.

'The United States has had a very big trade deficit for many years with the European Union, and we're working it out. And Emmanuel has been very helpful in that regard.'

Trump predicted that 'something is going to happen' on trade with the EU and predicted it would be 'very positive'.

Macron posted this photo meeting with Trump, writing: 'The challenges are considerable and we need this ongoing dialogue'

Down to work: Seated clockwise from top center: German Chancellor Angela Merkel; US President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; French President Emmanuel Macron; Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte; President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker; President of the European Council Donald Tusk; and British Prime Minister Theresa May

Frank exchanges: Trump suggested that the would use the G7 to press his case that trade is structurally unfair to the U.S.

Trade: Trump is making his push against what he says are unfair barriers to U.S. trade the center of his summit strategy

Complaint: Trump had been said to be tired of British minister Theresa May's tone and did not appear to be offering her warm looks

Despite the pleasantries, officials have warned that this could be the first G7 to end without a joint communique, a broad statement of principles and goals agreed to by the leaders of Canada, the UK, the US, Germany, France, Japan and Italy.

Leaders like Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel have admitted it will be difficult to agree on a joint communique at the two-day meeting.

Instead, Canada will likely issue a chair's summary of the meeting listing the major topics of discussion.

Matters were complicated by Trump's unexpected remarks that Russia should be readmitted to the G7, which expelled the country from the G8 over the annexation of Crimea.

'They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table,' Trump said before boarding Marine One to depart for the summit.

'Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?' Trump asked.

'They threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in.'

Though other leaders balked, new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted out his support for the idea, writing in Italian: 'I agree with the President @realDonaldTrump: Russia should be back in the G8. It is in everyone's interest.'

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (left) was the sole G7 leader to voice support for Trump's proposal to readmit Russia

Encounter: Angela Merkel had brief one-on-one discussions with Trump after the family photo was taken

Scenic: Canada is using the G7 as a chance to promote the beauty of Quebec, with the summit being held at a hotel overlooking the St Lawrence River in Quebec

Happy family meal: Lunch, a distinctly non-Trumpian menu which included Arctic char perfumed with Labrador tea, saw him seated between Germany's Angela Merkel and Britain's Theresa May. To the right of may is Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau

Trump arrived in Malbaie, Charlevoix, Quebec, late, having given reporters an extended unscheduled briefing on the South Lawn of the White House.

In contrast to most of the leaders, Trump went solo, saying that the First Lady, Melania Trump, has been told by doctors not to fly after a 'four-hour operation', which was far more serious than previously reported.

A family photo saw Trump greet other leaders apparently warmly - although the start of official business at a round table session saw Trump photographed looking less than happy.

SORRY DONALD, THE BURGER IS OFF Justin Trudeau offered no concessions to Trump's well-known taste for burgers, meatloaf and ice cream. Here is the menu from the G7's opening lunch. Arctic char escabeche perfumed with Labrador tea Buckwheat salad with red apple, rhubarb, and balsam fir spiral Veal Dessert of haskap berry and cedar snowball with northern saffron creme anglaise Advertisement

The world leaders had a lunch of locally-sourced food, a far cry from Trump's preferred burgers, and posed for a 'family photo' overlooking the St Lawrence River.

Trump's bold pronouncement on Russia came after he already has been engaged in angry back-and-forth with traditional allies France and Canada in a trade war.

The Trump administration last week removed exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs for allies, citing the need to maintain domestic production capacity as a matter of national security.

The Canadian prime minster blasted back in an emotional appeal citing Canada's war dead in WWII, while French President Macron said Thursday the remaining six G6 nations could operate without US leadership.

Russia didn't jump at the offer Trump extended in remarks to reporters.

'Russia is focused on other formats, apart from the G7,' Kremlin spokesman said, according to state-sponsored Sputnik media.

The U.S. and other leading industrial nations kicked Russia out of the G8 in 2014, after its invasion of Ukraine and seizing of Crimea.

'International law prohibits the acquisition of part or all of another state's territory through coercion or force,' according to a joint statement at the time. 'To do so violates the principles upon which the international system is built. We condemn the illegal referendum held in Crimea in violation of Ukraine's constitution.'

The statement continued: 'We also strongly condemn Russia's illegal attempt to annex Crimea in contravention of international law and specific international obligations.'

Chance to make allies: Italy's Giuseppe Conte and Jean-Clause Juncker, president of the European Commission, flank Trump as they walk back from the family photo

Not too warm: Trump flamed other world leaders on trade barriers before flying to Canada for the summit, including Emmanuel Macron, who brought his wife Brigitte

Trump is scheduled to leave early on Saturday for Singapore to prepare for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday.

Trump is planning to leave the G7 summit early - skipping the climate discussions - following a furious Twitter spat with Macron and Trudeau after Trump said that France and Canada 'are charging the U.S. massive tariffs.'

'The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be,' Macron wrote.

'Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force.'

Trump also tweeted on Thursday: 'Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things...but he doesn't bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy  hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!'

The tweet followed another, where he wrote that: 'The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out.'

He concluded his message by writing: 'Look forward to seeing them tomorrow.'
A McDonald's branch in Queensland has been slammed by customers for requiring them to pay to use the toilets.

People can only access the toilets at the store in Queensland's Sunshine Coast through a unique code at the bottom of a customer's McDonald's receipt, according to the ABC.

The newly implemented rule has been met with mixed reactions from customers.

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A McDonald's branch in Queensland's Sunshine Coast has been slammed by customers for requiring them to pay to use the toilets

People can only access the toilets at the store through a unique code at the bottom of a customer's McDonald's receipt (pictured)

One customer, Kim McDonald, complained that even the disabled toilets required a code, which made it more difficult for her 90-year-old grandmother to use the bathroom.

'While we were there I had to help two other elderly people just to figure out they needed a code to get in the door,' she told ABC.

This also means that people would have to wait in line in order to get the code before they can use the toilets.

By implementing this policy, McDonald's ensures that only actual McDonald's customers will use their toilets.

It also allows the fast food chain to ensure that people coming in will have to buy their meals before having access to their facilities.

While Ms McDonald acknowledged the reason behind this policy, she said it was still inconvenient for everyone.

A McDonald's spokesperson told ABC that it is not a practiced policy in McDonald's branches.

Branch owner Gary Binet told the ABC that the policy was implemented due to a 'security issue involving a syringe'.

Having to pay to access public bathrooms is unheard of in Australia, but other countries are known to do so, especially in Europe.
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The Duchess of Sussex made her debut on the Buckingham Palace balcony today, alongside Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Queen celebrating her 92nd birthday, and an assortment of playful young royals.

Fresh from their rumoured honeymoon spent in Co. Mayo, Ireland, the newlyweds cut happy and relaxed figures as they paid tribute to Her Majesty at the Trooping the Colour ceremony, at Whitehall's Horse Guard parade.

The Queen, who flashed a wide smile after seeing Charles, Andrew and William, as well as Princess Anne ride horseback past her carriage for the procession, was finally able to ditch her sunglasses following a cataract operation three weeks ago.

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Meghan makes her bow: The Duchess of Sussex made her debut on the Buckingham Palace balcony today, alongside Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Queen celebrating her 92nd birthday, and an assortment of playful young royals

Fresh from their rumoured honeymoon spent in Co. Mayo, Ireland, the newlyweds cut happy and relaxed figures as they paid tribute to Her Majesty at the Trooping the Colour ceremony, at Whitehall's Horse Guard parade

Trooping the colour: More than 1,000 soldiers took part in the ceremony which marks the Queen's official birthday as the nation honours the monarch

Who's who: 1. Sophie Wessex 2. Xan, Baron Culloden 3. Lady Louise Windsor 4. Princess Eugenie 5. Princess Beatrice 6. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall 7. Kate, Duchess of Cambridge 8. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex 9. Prince Harry 10. Isla Phillips 11. Savannah Phillips 12. Peter Phillips 13. Autumn Phillips 14. Estella Taylor 15. Lady Helen Windsor 16. Duke of Kent 17. Eloise Taylor

For Guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall (centre) the event is not only his first Trooping the Colour, but also marks the first time a member of the Coldstream Guards has taken part wearing a turban

The parade marks the official birthday of the Sovereign, even though the Queen's actual birthday is on April 21

Members of the Coldstream Guards march down The Mall as part of Trooping the Colour in central London

The annual ceremony involving around 1,400 guardsmen and cavalry, is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II

RAF Red Arrows during a flypast over Buckingham Palace, in central London, following the Trooping the Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade

Harry and Meghan were pictured riding in a carriage together, where the new Duchess had the opportunity to show-off her royal wave, and then joined her new in-laws on the balcony for the first time to watch the RAF flypast.

Although the dramatic aerial display proved unmissable viewing for the older royals, many of the younger brood found other ways to entertain themselves, including endless chatter from Prince George - who had to be shushed by the seven-year-old great-granddaughter of the Queen, Savannah Phillips.

While Princess Charlotte found the event overwhelming and needed comforting by her doting mother Kate.

However, the event did not go without mishap, after 79-year-old Field Marshal Charles Guthrie fell from his horse and landed heavily on his head as he rode outside of the palace earlier in the day. He was rushed to hospital where his condition remains unknown.

And a 52-year-old woman was taken into custody after throwing an object at the procession as it passed by.

Tens of thousands of cheering Royal enthusiasts flocked to Whitehall to see the royals mingle on the balcony, with Meghan and Kate sharing a chuckle while Harry watched on

Harry and Meghan were pictured riding in a carriage together, where the Duchess had the opportunity to show-off her royal wave, and then joined her new in-laws on the balcony for the first time to watch the RAF flypast

Harry and Meghan were pictured riding in a carriage together, where the Duchess had the opportunity to show-off her royal wave, and then joined her new in-laws on the balcony for the first time to watch the RAF flypast

All smiles: Kate, Meghan and Camilla shared a laugh on the Buckingham Palace balcony just moments ago

Oi you two! Prince William gives a stern look as Savannah Phillips (daughter of Peter and Autumn Phillips) covers Prince George of Cambridge's mouth during the National Anthem

Tens of thousands of cheering Royal enthusiasts flocked to Whitehall to see the royals mingle on the balcony, with Meghan and Kate sharing a chuckle while Harry watched on.

Meghan wore a dress by Carolina Herrera and a hat by Philip Treacy. While Kate wore a dress by Alexander McQueen and a hat by Juliette Botterill.

Camilla was in a pale blue silk dress and coat by Bruce Oldfield and a hat by Philip Treacy and the Queen wore a sky blue coat and dress by Stuart Parvin, and a hat by Angela Kelly.

Moving along the procession earlier today, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge were in a carriage together while a third carried Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the Countess of Wessex and her daughter Lady Louise.

Fresh from their showstopping wedding three weeks ago, Meghan and Prince Harry will today pay tribute to the Queen at the spectacular Trooping The Colour ceremony today

Meghan wore a dress by Carolina Herrera and a hat by Philip Treacy. While Kate wore a dress by Alexander McQueen and a hat by Juliette Botterill

Little rascals! Princess Charlotte, Savannah Phillips and Prince George giggled while watching the flypast overhead

Royal fans will be eager to see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - who have just returned from their honeymoon - joining other members of the royal family at the traditional summer spectacle

Her Majesty takes her place in the Royal carriage in celebration of her offical 92nd birthday today. Royal watchers will be glad of her appearance, following her minor surgery to successfully remove a cataract

Lord Guthrie slumped in his saddle and appeared to faint and fell sideways to his left in front of Buckingham Palace in the middle of The Mall near the Victoria Memorial

Lord Guthrie in the process of falling from his horse as the riders next to him begin to react

Photos shot before Guthrie fell showed Colonel Crispin Lockhart trying to prop him up as he slumped back in his horse at a 45-degree angle and closed his eyes

Trooping the Colour is a ceremonial spectacle that brings together prestigious regiments and the families of the serving men and women in celebration of the monarch's official birthday.

Stands lining Horse Guards were filled with the wives, girlfriends and parents of the servicemen who when not performing ceremonial duties are fighting soldiers.

Meghan, Harry and the other members of the royal family took their place in Wellington's former office which overlooks the parade ground.

The Queen soon made her entrance onto Horse Guards in an Ascot Landau after making her journey from her famous London home Buckingham Palace.

Her procession was accompanied by a Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry, made up of Life Guards and Blues and Royals, in their silver and gold breastplates and plumed helmets.

After the ceremony the royal family will head back to Buckingham Palace and gather on the balcony to watch the RAF flypast

The royals gazed skywards as they enjoyed the RAF Red Arrows aerial display team above Buckingham Palace today

The royal colonels, all on horseback, will accompany the Queen: Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards. The Queen is pictured smiling at her boys Charles, Andrew and William riding horseback alongside her

Father and son shared a quiet word with each other while Meghan and Kate chatted together happily in the background

The Queen, who recently had a successful eye operation to remove a cataract, will watch the Trooping ceremony from a dais in Horse Guards and later inspect the lines of guardsmen in their scarlet tunics and bearskins. She was pictured today wearing her usual clear framed spectacles, having spent the previous three weeks wearing shaded lenses following the procedure (pictured today, left, and right at her annual garden party of May 31)

The newly weds cut happy figures in their carriage, where Meghan had the opportunity to showcase her new royal wave

The 7,500 guests seated in stands lining the parade ground stood as a mark of respect as the monarch arrived and began inspecting the massed ranks of the troops.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who celebrates his 97th birthday on Sunday, has retired from official public duties and did not attend.

But the Queen was accompanied by the royal colonels, all on horseback: Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards.

Royal wave: Meghan was pictured fine tuning her royal wave alongside a grinning Harry at Buckingham Palace this morning

Princess Anne cuts a stern figure draped in full ceremonial regalia while William flashed his military stare while saluting the Queen

The happy couple share a few words as the carriage is pulled by two thoroughbreds along Horse Guard parade

Also riding in the ceremony for the first time was the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

Among the guests was Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, the Prime Minister Theresa May normally attends but is at a G7 meeting of world leaders in Canada.

The colour trooped this year was the flag of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. Trooping the Colour originated from traditional preparations for battle.

Colours, or flags, were carried, or 'trooped', down the rank so that they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.

In the 18th century, guards from the royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to 'troop the colours', and in 1748 it was announced that the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday.

The Queen's actual birthday was on April 21 when she turned 92.

The massed bands of the Household Division and the Mounted Band of the Household Calvary provided the musical backing for the ceremony.

While also taking part was the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, who will fire a 41-gun salute in Green Park to mark the Queen's official birthday.

The British RAF Red Arrows fly past the Strand London, on the way to Buckingham Palace (left) and putting on a colourful display above the crowds below (right)

Eurofighter Typhoons escort a Voyager during a flypast over Buckingham Palace, in central London, following the Trooping the Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade

Tornadoes zooming through the sky during a flypast over Buckingham Palace as the Queen celebrates her official birthday

The moment RAF pilots got into formation and performed the flypast in front of the royal family who watched from the balcony of Buckingham Palace

Lord Guthrie slumped in his saddle and appeared to faint and fell sideways to his left in front of Buckingham Palace in the middle of The Mall near the Victoria Memorial

Lord Guthrie hit his head hard as he landed hard on the asphalt of The Mall, much to the shock of thousands of onlookers

The first rehearsal known as The Major General's Review usually takes place two weeks before the actual Birthday Parade. The second rehearsal almost always takes place exactly two weeks before the actual Birthday Parade, which will broadcast live to millions of viewers around the world

The colour was first trooped through the ranks of soldiers before the Guardsmen marched past the Queen, first in slow then in quick time.

As the ceremony came to an end, the thousands in the stands were treated to the sight of the Blues and Royals and Life Guards from the Household Cavalry Regiment.

The mounted soldiers and officers in their gleaming breast plates and plumed helmets rode past the Queen with the horses throwing up dust.

Queen Elizabeth II arrives at The Royal Horseguards during Trooping The Colour ceremony

Taking over the reigns: Riding in the ceremony for the first time is the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards (pictured right)

Coldstream Guards and The Household Cavalry march down The Mall as part of Trooping the Colour

Not all event-goers were on their best behaviour however, with woman woman arrested after throwing an object at the procession.

Scotland Yard said that a woman has been arrested after an object was thrown at the Trooping the Colour procession.

A spokesman said: 'A 51-year-old woman was arrested for a public order offence after an item was thrown towards a procession at the Trooping the Colour.

'She is currently in custody at a central London police station.'

Crowds look on as soldiers of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards during the Trooping the Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Princess Anne, Princess Royal arrive at The Royal Horseguards during Trooping The Colour ceremony

Duchess of Cornwall watches the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guard from the balcony

The annual event will see more than 1,000 soldiers taking part in the traditional display of pomp and pageantry. The colour being paraded this year is the flag of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards

The procession will be accompanied by a Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry, made up of Life Guards and Blues and Royals, in their silver and gold breastplates and plumed helmets

In the 18th century, guards from the royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to 'troop the colours' and in 1748 it was announced that the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday.

The Queen's actual birthday was on April 21 when she turned 92.

In honour of Her Majesty's birthday, members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) performed a 21 gun salute to celebrate Queen's Elizabeth II's Birthday holiday weekend at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Royal flush: Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne make their way long the parade on horseback

The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall take their place in the Queen's carriage procession, which celebrate's Her Majesty's official 92nd birthday

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in a vintage Rolls Royce Phantom together this morning. Prince William stepped out in full military ceremonial regalia alongside Kate who wowed in a sophisticated teal dress

The loved up pair have not been seen publicly since the wedding, and were rumoured to be enjoying a romantic stay at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta, Canada. According to reports, they finished off their break with a short stay in Ireland, before returning to London

As with previous years, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall are expected to take part in the Queen's carriage procession

Members of the queen's personal troops, the Household Division march past the Guards Division War Memorial

Even animals seem immune to the charms of Meghan and Harry, as one young fox cub rushes to secure prime roadside territory to watch the procession

The annual event will see more than 1,000 soldiers taking part in the traditional display of pomp and pageantry. The colour being paraded this year is the flag of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards

Security officers perform final safety checks along the parade today, ahead of the annual event that will see more than 1,000 soldiers taking part in the traditional display of pomp and pageantry

The annual event will see more than 1,000 soldiers taking part in the traditional display of pomp and pageantry. Royal watchers are flocking en mass to Whitehall parade, where the RAF will perform a ceremonial flypast

Officers march along the parade in unison as they prepare for today's celebrations, which will commemorate the Queen's 92nd birthday

Officers on horseback are all smiles as they make their way along the parade ahead of today's celebratory occasion

One VERY enthusiastic Royal fan shows off his patriotic Union Flag suit, hat and accessories

Royal fans, who have just started to gather along the parade, will be eager to see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - who have just returned from their honeymoon - joining other members of the royal family at the traditional summer spectacle

Riding in the ceremony for the first time will be the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards (middle)

In honour of Her Majesty's birthday, members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) performed a 21 gun salute to celebrate Queen's Elizabeth II's Birthday holiday weekend at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Australian Defence Force troops march together for the 21 gun salute to mark the Queen's birthday weekend

Drum Major's 27th and final Trooping the Colour to mark the end of his glittering 40-year career in the army For Drum Major Steve Staite, who has taken part in Trooping the Colour at least 26 times - 17 as drum major, something the Army claim is a world record - this year's Queen's birthday parade carries extra significance A drum major is poised to parade in his final Trooping the Colour on a day which will also mark the end of his four-decade career in the British Army. The centuries-old military spectacle of might, splendour and precision marching will take place on Horse Guards Parade this Saturday to mark the Queen's official birthday. It is an important day in the armed forces' calendar and for the monarchy, where the families and friends of those on parade proudly watch the ceremony. For Drum Major Steve Staite, who has taken part in Trooping the Colour at least 26 times - 17 as drum major, something the Army claim is a world record - this year's Queen's birthday parade carries extra significance. 'I am very excited to be doing my final Queen's birthday parade, it is a culmination of my career over the four decades,' he said. 'And what better day to go out on than the Queen's birthday?' The 55-year-old who is originally from Preston, Lancashire, joined the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards at the age of 16 on June 19 1979 and was appointed drum major to the Queen in 1995. 'We are personal drummers to her majesty, we get a royal warrant signed to that effect, and it is the greatest honour in the world, you can't beat it,' he told the Press Association. As one of five drum majors wearing the elaborate gold-thread state clothing, during Trooping the Colour he marches one of the divisions up to Horse Guards to get them on to parade. The drum major is poised to parade in his final Trooping the Colour on a day which will also mark the end of his four-decade career in the British Army (pictured outside the Officers Mess in Munster, 1986) Drum Major Staite also leads one of the massed bands during the parade in slow and quick time - something the father-of-two agreed very few people get to do. 'A lot of people tell you it is great to march behind a band, but you can't beat marching in front of it,' he said. During his career Drum Major Staite said he has visited 40 of the 50 states in America, and has worked in Kenya, Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. It was during a posting to West Berlin on his first deployment that he also patrolled the Berlin Wall and guarded Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, when he was held at Spandau prison. Quizzed on what that experience was like, Drum Major Staite who plans on retiring to Middlesbrough with his wife Fee, said: 'You just sat in a sanger at Spandau prison. 'You weren't really allowed to look into the yard, it was just a normal prison with one person in it. But driving around the Berlin wall in those days was something very, very different.' Posted to Household Division headquarters in 2000, he was involved in the funeral of the Queen Mother and Lady Margaret Thatcher, the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games and the royal weddings of Prince Charles and Prince William. June 9 will mark 38 years 355 days in uniform for Drum Major Staite, who described his impending last Trooping the Colour as a 'very special moment'. He has also chosen the march the Grenadier Guards will step on to Horse Guards to, which is Wadi Al Batin - a battle honour from the 1991 Gulf War - in which he fought. 'Marching on to parade with the band playing Wadi al Batin for me, which is the march I chose, that will be quite emotional,' he added. Once the parade is finished Drum Major Staite said his state clothing will have to be handed back, something he said he will probably do 'with a tear in my eye'. Advertisement

Turban-wearing Coldstream Guards soldier will make history at Trooping the Colour as the first soldier to parade in Sikh headdress

A Coldstream Guards soldier who will wear a turban as he parades during Trooping the Colour has said he hopes it is looked upon as a 'new change in history'.

More than 1,000 soldiers will take part in the ceremony which marks the Queen's official birthday on Saturday as the nation honours the monarch.

For Guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall the event is not only his first Trooping the Colour, but also marks the first time a member of the Coldstream Guards has taken part wearing a turban.

The 22-year-old from Leicester told the said: 'I hope that people watching, that they will just acknowledge it and that they will look at it as a new change in history.

'I hope that more people like me, not just Sikhs but from other religions and different backgrounds, that they will be encouraged to join the Army.'

A member of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, the turban he will be wearing during Trooping the Colour will be black, featuring the ceremonial cap star to match the bearskin hats.

Gdsm Lall who joined the British Army in January 2016, was born in Punjab, India, and moved to the UK as a baby, said he is feeling 'quite excited' ahead of the event.

'I'm quite proud and I know that a lot of other people are proud of me as well,' he said.

'It is a good feeling... there's going to be a lot of eyes and I am going to have an influence on other people.'

This year the Sovereign's official birthday will see the Colour of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards being trooped

Trooping the Colour originated from traditional preparations for battle.

Colours, or flags, were carried, or 'trooped', down the ranks so they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.

In the 18th century, guards from the Royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to 'troop the colours', and in 1748 it was announced the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday.

This year the ceremony, which is staged every June in London's historic Horse Guards Parade, will see the Colour of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards being trooped.

He revealed his mother, father and sister, who are 'really, really proud' of him, will be coming to watch him take part

More than 1,000 soldiers will take part in the ceremony which marks the Queen's official birthday on Saturday

With weeks of rigorous training under his belt, on the day he and many other soldiers will wear immaculate uniforms and march with precision up the Mall and onto parade.

Gdsm Lall added: 'For myself, being the first turban-wearing sikh to troop the colour and to be part of the escort it is a really high honour for myself, and hopefully for everyone else as well.'

He revealed his family including his mother, father and sister, who are 'really, really proud' of him, will be coming to watch him take part.

'My mum was crying on the day I passed out so I wonder what is going to happen to her when she sees me in this,' Gdsm Lall added.
Police are appealing for public assistance in locating a woman who has been missing for three months.

Lusy Hutabarat, 29, was last seen in Brisbane's riverside inner suburb New Farm on March 18th.

The Indonesian woman was reported missing by family members who are concerned for her safety and well-being.

Ms Hutabarat (pictured) was reported missing by family members who are concerned for her safety and well-being.

She last spoke to them on the date she was last seen, telling her family she was going to live with a friend in Kangaroo Point, Brisbane.

Police have information a Brisbane business received an email from Ms Hutabarat's account on April 23rd.

They also have an unconfirmed sighting of Lusy at a cafe in Kangaroo Point on May 23rd.

Police are asking for the public to keep an eye out, or anyone who may know of her current whereabouts to contact them.

Ms Hutabarat is described as approximately 165cm tall with a proportionate build, long black hair and brown eyes.

Police urge anybody with information to contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide details using the 24 hour online form.

Crimes can be reported anonymously to Crime Stoppers, a registered charity and community volunteer organisation, by calling 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day.
An awkward-looking Jeremy Corbyn appeared to freeze as he was given a very enthusiastic embrace at an awards bash last night.

Mr Corbyn was smothered by Labour MP Dawn Butler at the DIVA Awards at The Waldorf Hilton Hotel in London.

The Labour leader was seemingly caught off-guard as the Brent Central MP went to greet him with a firm hug.

An awkward-looking Jeremy Corbyn was greeted with an enthusiastic hug at the awards bash

He was smothered by Labour MP Dawn Butler at the DIVA Awards at The Waldorf Hilton Hotel in London

The DIVA Awards celebrate 'lesbian, bisexual, trans and queer people making a difference' across business, the media, politics and sport.

Ms Butler, who is Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, has been working to advance the rights of the LGBT community in her post.

She won the DIVA Ally Award and was presented the gong by Jeremy Corbyn, who then received another hug - but this time looked more prepared.

Ms Butler won the DIVA Ally Award and was presented the gong by Jeremy Corbyn, who looked more prepared for a hug

Ross Kemp on gongs: The soap star and filmmaker was in attendance (pictured with Ms Butler)

Pictured: Singer Liz McClamon, DIVA magazine publisher Linda Riley, Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Secretary for Women and Equalities Dawn Butler

Linda Riley, publisher of DIVA, said: 'We are delighted to be celebrating our community its with such a fantastic event. It's the highlight if the DIVA year.

'Lesbians and bisexual women are becoming increasingly visible, with politicians, media stars, authors, sportswomen and business leaders all demonstrating that determination and talent can overcome prejudice.

'These amazing women serve as role models to the generations who follow them, and everyone at DIVA is delighted that clued-up corporates recognise the value and importance of the DIVA demographic.'
Wolf Creek producer David Lightfoot has credited his military training for being able to fight off two thugs at the Cannes Film Festival.

The South Australian-raised filmmaker was involved in a 'nasty' confrontation when two attackers jumped him while walking down an alley in the Old Town in Cannes last Wednesday.

'I was just defending myself. My old skills came out and down they went,' Mr Lightfoot told The Advertiser.

Wolf Creek producer David Lightfoot (pictured) was attacked in Cannes on Wednesday

The South Australian-raised filmmaker was involved in a 'nasty' confrontation while walking down an alley in the Old Town (pictured), Cannes

After having visited the 'most stunning looking, sun-drenched beach in France' on 15 previous occasions, this was the first time he had ever ran into any trouble.

He was struck on the back of the head and when he turned around, he saw two men ready to confront him.

The ex-paratrooper - whose landmark movie Wolf Creek was nominated for many Australian film awards - defended himself.

Mr Lightfoot was able to push them out into the street before the police were contacted.

He then gave a statement to officers however it was not established whether the pair were taken into custody.
Ben Wallace, pictured arriving at Downing Street, said digital IDs could help stop mob rule on the internet

Digital IDs should be introduced to stop mob rule and end anonymity online, the security minister has said.

Ben Wallace, the MP for Wyre and Preston North and Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime, said bullying and grooming takes place on social media because people believe they can't be identified.

He added that websites should be able to identify people online in the same way that banks do.

'It is mob rule on the internet. You shouldn't be able to hide behind anonymity as much as you can now... If we're going to make the internet safer, and cut out the abuse, we're going to have to do something more about some form of digital identification' the former soldier told the Times.

His comments come as the number of online child sex abuse cases referred to the Met have increased by 700 percent in the last four years.

At the G7 summit this week, Theresa May highlighted the growth of cyber bullying and threats of violence against women online.

Speaking in Quebec, the Prime Minister said: We know that technology plays a crucial part in advancing gender equality and empowering women and girls, but these benefits are being undermined by vile forms of online violence, abuse and harassment.

What is illegal offline is illegal online and I am calling on world leaders to take serious action to deal with this, just like we are doing in the UK with our commitment to legislate on online harms such as cyber-stalking and harassment.

The system may be based on existing Verify systems the government use or on the age-verification procedure that will soon be needed to access online pornography.

However, the latter had been delayed over concerns of how it will work.

On the HMRC website users have to take identity documents such as a passport or driver's license to the Post Office or another partner organisation to verify their identity.

The number of online child sex abuse cases referred to the Met have increased by 700 percent in the last four years (stock image)

Experts are divided on the use of forced-IDs online.

Alan Woodward, of the University, of Surrey, told the Times: 'I don't think it's technically workable. For those who persist in the vilest online behaviour, there are so many ways to mask their real identities.'

Anthony Glees, of the University of Buckingham, said: 'This is do-able and it should be done. Anonymity on the web is a threat to our national security of the first order. Legal compulsion will be necessary and we should go for it.'
Dozens of protesters have rallied in support of Australian television host Sonia Kruger and incarcerated far-right British activist Tommy Robinson.

The Melbourne 'free speech' rally was the first of four to be held nationwide over the weekend by the Australian Liberty Alliance, with Kruger currently under fire after calling for an Australian Muslim ban.

Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson was arrested a week ago for using social media to broadcast details of a trial which is subject to blanket reporting restrictions.

Robinson, who was listed by his real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon on court documents, was sentenced to 13 months in jail on the same day as his arrest.

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Protesters in Melbourne showed their support for far-right British activist Tommy Robinson

Across Australia, there is plenty pf support for Robinson, who was was recently jailed for contempt of court while reporting on a trial where reporting restrictions had been imposed

'Tommy resonates with a lot of people. He's a working class man, he's like a typical Aussie. They (Australian supporters) feel like what he says is our future here too,' organiser Avi Yemini told AAP on Saturday.

He told the crowd that 'I, you, we all are Tommy Robinson'.

'If that can happen to a man who stands up to defend our rights, it can happen to anyone.'

The crowd sang the Australian anthem followed by chants for Robinson, with hecklers yelling at the crowd nearby.

There were plenty of police out in force to ensure the Melbourne rally didn't get out of hand

'By God we are going to stand up and fight to ensure that freedom continues,' Mr Yemini told the crowd.

'Freedom of speech is the fundamental right of every Australian and it is supposed to be the right of every single British citizen too.

'We have our very own Sonia Kruger who dared, who dared to have an opinion on our immigration policy, who dared to stand up for Donald Trump's Muslim ban... now she's being dragged through the courts.'

Australian Liberty Alliance's Debbie Robinson said 'most people in Australia would agree with Sonia Kruger'.

'Tommy resonates with a lot of people. He's a working class man, he's like a typical Aussie,' rally organiser Avi Yemini from the Australian Liberty Alliance said in Melbourne on Saturday

Dozens activists braved the dreary weather to rally outside the British Consulate-General in Sydney on Saturday afternoon.

'Thank you Avi and ALA for organizing a peaceful protest for free speech and #freetommy ! A shout out too, to the police who surrounded us and did a great job of protecting our right to free speech, one woman commentedon Facebook afterwards.'

Another added: 'Go Melbourne we need to keep pushing for free speech.'

Similar rallies will be held in Brisbane and Perth on Sunday.

Earlier in the week, federal Senator Pauline Hanson announced she was hoping to meet Robinson while she's on a five-day parliamentary trip to the UK and Europe.

'I support you and I hope I can get to see you and bring the messages from the Australian people to you, because I can tell you, you're not alone,' Senator Hanson said in a video posted to social media.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un opened a new seafood restaurant in Pyongyang days before his meeting with Donald Trump.

Mr Kim took time out from preparing for the historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday to survey sturgeon fish in huge tanks at the Taedong River eatery.

Walking with his wife Ri Sol-ju, he inspected the dining halls and pools where fish swam and expressed his satisfaction.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un opened a new seafood restaurant in Pyongyang with his wife Ri Sol-ju (right) days before his meeting with Donald Trump

'Another landmark restaurant on par with Okryu-gwan has been born in Pyongyang,' he told the Korean Central News Agency.

Mr Kim christened it Pyongyang Daedonggang Seafood Restaurant and told the owners its design and construction were outstanding.

The rogue state leader also asked restaurant workers to serve its foreign customers as well as North Korean diners.

Mr Kim was making more inspections of Korean businesses since shifting his policy focus to the economy at a meeting of his party's Central Committee on April 20.

Mr Kim took time out from preparing for the historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday to survey sturgeon fish in huge tanks at the Taedong River eatery

Choe Ryong-hae, vice chairman of the State Affairs Commission, visited cooperative farms, a fish farm and a food factory in regions south of the capital this month.

The top North Korean official earlier visited a car assembly plant and a food factory in late May in line with Mr Kim's direction.

Also taking a break from summit preparation was U.S. President Trump, who seemed content to wing it because 'attitude' was more important.

'I think I'm very well prepared. I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about the attitude. It's about willingness to get things done,' he said on Thursday.

'But I think I've been preparing for the summit for a long time. As has the other side. They've been preparing for a long time, also.

Mr Kim christened it Pyongyang Daedonggang Seafood Restaurant and told the owners its design and construction were outstanding

'I think it's going to be a very fruitful meeting.'

President Trump said North Korea had to give up its nuclear weapons, and the U.S. could add more sanctions if necessary.

'If they don't denuclearize, that will not be acceptable,' he said.

'We cannot take sanctions off. The sanctions are extraordinarily powerful. And I could add a lot more but I've chosen not to do that at this time, but that may happen.'
Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.
This is the horrifying moment a hero pilot bravely avoids hitting family homes before landing his aircraft in the street.

The plane tore down power lines on a suburban street in Mordiollac, in Melbourne's south-east, before it caught fire in seven-metre high flames, navigated by a father-of-two and a community volunteer.

Anthony Liddell, 50, from Mornington Peninsula, has been praised for steering the light plane away from the houses below and onto the middle of the road.

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The tragic moment a hero pilot bravely avoids hitting family homes before landing his aircraft in the street

The cause of the crash remains unknown and an investigation is underway

Anthony Liddell, 50, (pictured), described by friends as a 'really good bloke', was the sole occupant and was located deceased in his aircraft after the crash

The respected pilot, described by friends as a 'really good bloke', was the sole occupant and was located deceased in his aircraft just after 5pm on Friday.

The cause of the crash remains unknown and an investigation is underway.

'He was highly skilled and would have done this hundreds of times before  he knew what he was doing,' a close friend of the pilot told The Herald Sun.

Ralph Guerry, a fellow pilot and friend, described Mr Liddell as a 'meticulous' and experienced pilot who was familiar with the area and a 'true gentlemen of aviation.'

Mr Liddell (pictured) has been praised for steering his plane away from houses and onto the middle of the road before it crashed over a Melbourne suburban street

A plane crashed over a suburban Melbourne street, tearing down power lines before it caught fire in seven-metre high flames (pictured)

'You could not wish for a nicer guy. I just can't believe he is gone,' he said.

Friends and family laid flowers at the crash site to pay their tributes.

CAE Oxford Aviation Academy general manager Michael Drinkall confirmed the crash happened during a routine maintenance check flight, the Herald Sun reported.

He also added that CAE had grounded its planes for the weekend.

The pilot, described by friends as a 'really good bloke', was the sole occupant and was located deceased in his aircraft just after 5pm in Mordialloc, in Melbourne's south-east, on Friday

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau sent investigators to the site who will stay for several days and possibly take sections of the aircraft to a different facility for further inspection

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has sent investigators to Scarlet Street who will stay on-site for several days and possibly take sections of the aircraft to a different facility for further inspection.

ATSB executive director Nat Nagy declined to speculate on exactly what happened in the lead-up to the crash, and said 'at this stage it's too early to know exactly what happened.'

'We can confirm that when the aircraft was on approach to land ... it made a turn prior to colliding with the ground, destroying the aircraft,' he said.

Suggestions that Mr Liddell may have been trying to land at a nearby oval were just speculation and there was no indication of engine failure at this stage, Mr Nagy said.

Weather and flying conditions had been deemed safe and 'fine'.

Investigators will conduct an examination of the aircraft wreckage, components and parts, attempt to recover in-air data and air traffic control recordings, interview witnesses and look at maintenance records of the aircraft and the pilot's records to to determine what caused the crash.

It is unclear why the plane caught fire and as no flight recorder was on board, any in-flight distress may not have been captured by the black box

It is unclear why the plane caught fire and as no flight recorder was on board, any in-flight distress may not have been captured by the black box.

Flight tracking details show the plane took off at 4:06pm from Moorabbin Airport and its crash landing happened at 5.13pm, after it had done a near loop.

Brian Colbey, a resident of the street of the crash, told the Herald Sun he had 'been waiting for this to happen for 30 years' and other residents wanted the nearby Moorabbin airport to go.

David Trotter who also lives just metres from the crash site said 'there are a lot of beginner pilots learning there and that needs to be restricted.'

'When they built that airport, there were no homes here,' he said.

In 2010, a four-seater plane clipped a roof in the same suburb and brought down powerlines before landing in a backyard.

The plane's operator, Oxford Aviation Academy, declined to comment on Friday, AAP reported.
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Fascinating new pictures show the horrific realities of World War One - in colour.

Jon Wilkinson's new book, 'The Great War Illustrated in Colour', shows readers the heart-breaking scenes of warfare in impressive detail.

Carefully colourised images reveal the intimidating sights of the main assault ships used by the Royal Navy, the bodies of soldiers strewn in perilous trenches and troops advancing through barbed wire to attack British forces.

A German soldier - with the iconic green uniform clearly visible - throwing a grenade over the barbed wire protecting the British trenches

Three British soldiers crouch together in a pit poised for action while a fourth keeps watch nearby. Their Lewis guns can be seen lying nearby

German soldiers carrying 17cm mittlerer Minenwerfer mortars duck for cover as shots are rained down on them

Striking colour portraits of German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II and German commander Paul von Hindenburg

German marine infantry manning positions on the Belgian coast lie poised with their guns and telescopes on sandbags

A British submarine, under the command of Lieutenant Richard Sandford, glides stealthily through the sea

'I hope to project to the readers what these soldiers would have seen with their own eyes' Mr Wilkinson explained.

'Adding colour takes the reader back to these places and gives them a sense of what it would have been like.

'Various items that litter the trenches such as bullets, pocket watches, rifle bolts and even fragments of clothing can be colourised as otherwise they could have been lost in a black and white image.'

The Stokes mortar position situated beneath th flamethrower hut on HMS Vindictive. A massive clean-up operation was carried out by the crew and marines

The National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell where women helped the war effort

Storm troops lead the attack on the Allied positions

HMS Vindictivel, under the control of Vice Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, was used to damage the mole at Zeebrugge

The book highlights details of the disastrous naval Zeebrugge Raid of 1918 and show the intimidating sight of the main assaults used by the Royal Navy in the First World War, overseen by Vice Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, HMS Vindictive which was used to damage the stone Mole at Zeebrugge and sinking the smaller ships in the channels at Ostend.

Another striking image from the book shows readers the deck of HMS Vindictive, with its specially constructed gangplanks which were used to lower the naval officers onto the Mole.

Other shots capture an aerial view of the aftermath of the infamous Zeebrugge Raid on April 23, 1918 showing the British ships being hurried through the entrance of the canal.

Attack on the Hindenburg Line, British MkV tanks carrying aid for those crossing the trenches and troops going forward towards Bellicourt

A British battery of 18-pounder field guns in action on the old Somme battlefield in October 1918

Above deck of HMS Vindictive with specially constructed gangplanks which were lowered to connect with the mole to discharge the raiding party

Two portraits show the imperious looking Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, and Paul von Hindenburg, the Generalfeldmarschall, are in the book, as well as comparative shots demonstrating the bodies of soldiers killed in the trenches and troops advancing through barbed wires to attack the British forces.

The Zeebrugge Raid of 1918 was an attempt made by the Royal Navy at blockading the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge. This port was a vital base for the German forces as it held their U-boats and small ships.

An initial attempt to raid the port was planned for April 2nd, 1918, however this was cancelled in the final days before its intended date due to a changed wind direction which would have foiled their plan of making a smokescreen to camouflage the ships as they approached.

An approach often used by the Royal Navy was to sink so-called 'blockships' intentionally in a bid to prevent a channel, river or canal from being used by another force.

Royal Marines demonstrating their fighting garb, they were issued with khaki uniforms for the raid

Ship movement was largely impeded by the placing of three blockships, HMS Intrepid, HMS Iphigenia and HMS Thetis

Of the Royal Navy's three blockships, two were placed in the narrowest region of the Bruges Canal, and a submarine was used to link the Mole to the shore which was hoped to have trapped the German garrison.

Unfortunately, the blockships were sunk in the wrong location, enabling the Germans to reopen the canal to their submarines during a high tide. This limited the number of German casualties to just twenty-four, with the British facing nearly six hundred casualties.

The disaster did not stop Britain from reporting the raid as a success, and eight Victoria Crosses were awarded for gallantry in the most extreme circumstances.

The Hindenburg Line was built by the German forces in the latter stages of 1916, running from Verdun to the border of France and Belgium. Despite multiple attacks of the Line throughout 1917, the offence wasn't successful until September, this was known as the 'Hundred Days Offensive'.

German shock troops advancing, after breaking through the barbed wire

The breach in the mole viaduct caused by 10,000 kilos of high explosives
The father accused of murdering his five-year-old son tried to check himself into a mental health facility days earlier but was turned away.

The 36-year-old was charged shortly after the stabbing murder at a Carlingford home in Sydney's north-west early Friday morning.

The boy's grandmother frantically rushed the child about 400metres away from the home before calling Triple Zero but the child died shortly after arriving at hospital.

The father accused with murdering his five-year-old son (pictured) tried to check himself into a mental health facility but was turned away days earlier

The 36-year-old was charged shortly after the stabbing at a Carlingford home in Sydney's north-west early Friday morning (pictured)

The boy's grandmother rushed the child about 400 metres away from the home before calling Triple Zero however her five-year-old grandson died shortly after arriving to hospital

The accused faced Parramatta Bail Court a day later via video link where it was heard the man's family tried to find him help days before the alleged attack

The accused faced Parramatta Bail Court a day later via video link from Amber Laurel Correctional Centre where it was heard the man's family tried to find him help days before the alleged attack.

The 36-year-old, who recently took time off work, was turned away from a mental health facility because there were no beds, 9News reported.

'There is a lot more to this,' the child's grandfather said.

When the father appeared through video link, he seemed confused asking 'where am I?'.

Just 24 hours earlier, the man's 'sweet boy' was being driven away from the house by his 60-year-old grandmother in a desperate attempt to save his life.

Neighbours told Daily Mail Australia the dad 'cared for that boy very much', while witnesses described the grandmother's 'brave' attempt to get her beloved relative to safety.

The 36-year-old, who recently took time off work, was turned away from a mental health facility because there were no beds just days before the alleged attack

When the father appeared through video link, he seemed confused asking 'where I am?'

Just 24 hours earlier, the man's 'sweet boy' was being driven away from the house by his 60-year-old grandmother in a desperate attempt to save his life

Neighbours told Daily Mail Australia the dad 'cared for that boy very much', while witnesses described the grandmother's 'brave' attempt to get her beloved relative to safety

Another neighbour, Hank, said: 'He was a very sweet little boy ... the relationship between the father and son was a doting relationship.

'[He] ran to his father when he wanted help'.

New South Wales Police Superintendent Rob Critchlow was full of praise for the grandmother's heroism yesterday but 'despite her best efforts, there was nothing more she could have done'.

Superintendent Critchlow described the level of violence as 'horrendous' as investigations were still in the early stages.

A neighbour, Hank, said: 'He was a very sweet little boy ... the relationship between the father and son was a doting relationship'

New South Wales Police Superintendent Rob Critchlow was full of praise for the grandmother's heroism yesterday but 'despite her best efforts, there was nothing more she could have done'

Superintendent Critchlow described the level of violence as 'horrendous' as investigations were still in the early stages (scene pictured)

'The fact a young boy - five years of age - has died from being injured in his home, it's probably about as bad as it gets,' he said at the crime scene Friday

'The fact a young boy - five years of age - has died from being injured in his home, it's probably about as bad as it gets,' he said at the crime scene Friday.

The school boy was rushed to Westmead Children's Hospital but could not be saved.

The youngster's mother visited the hospital however it is unknown where she was at the time of the alleged stabbing.

The 36-year-old father is expected to appear next in court on July 30.


A man is fighting for life after an alleged one punch attack outside a popular nightspot left him with a fractured skull.

Emergency services were called to Irish pub Scruffy Murphy's in the heart of Sydney just after 7pm on Friday night after reports of an altercation between two men.

Police found a man, 24, unconscious when they arrived at the scene.

He was rushed to St Vincent's Hospital with a suspected fractured skull, where he remains in a critical condition.

A man suffered a suspected fractured skull after he was allegedly knocked unconscious outside popular Sydney Irish pub Scruffy Murphy's (pictured) on Friday night

A Redfern man, 25, was arrested at the scene and taken to Day Street Police Station.

He was charged with reckless grievous bodily harm and bailed to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on July 25.

A popular nightspot, Scruffy Murphy's is also one of NSW's most violent venues with police called to 13 assaults there in 2017

Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident as they wait to speak to the alleged victim.

Scruffy Murphy's was one of nine Sydney nightspots that was recently named and shamed on Liquor and Gaming NSW's latest most violent venues list.

It was ranked 11th most violent on the list with the police called to 13 assaults there in 2017.

A man was rushed to St Vincent's Hospital (pictured) following the alleged attack in Sydney

The incident wasn't the only alleged assault in Sydney on Friday night.

A man, 27, is recovering in Westmead Hospital after he was allegedly stabbed in a brawl at a St Marys pub in western Sydney.

A man, 18, a boy, 17, and a girl, 17, were arrested following an extensive police search.

They were each charged with being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, and affray and were all bailed to appear in court on July 3.
Meghan Markle has rebelled against the regal dress code, revealing her arms once more after claims she had been 'duchessified'.

In her first engagement after marrying Prince Harry, the Duchess of Sussex abandoned her usual fashion-forward outfits for a more prim and proper look.

But after her honeymoon, Meghan has reverted back to her modern image by ditching her sleeves in an off-the-shoulder frock.

Meghan showed off her polished but bold wardrobe choice today at the Trooping The Colour ceremony in London with her new husband.

Her clavicle-baring dress wasn't the only thing that drew attention to the new royal, as it appeared she'd been practising her regal wave.

After her honeymoon, the Duchess of Sussex has already shaken up her royal image, by ditching her sleeves and wearing an off-the-shoulder frock. Pictured: Meghan and Prince Harry at the spectacular Trooping The Colour ceremony today

Pretty in pink: Meghan dazzled in a sophisticated pastel pink gown which showed off her elegant long neck

Harry and Meghan were pictured riding in a carriage together, where the Duchess had the opportunity to show-off her royal wave, and then joined her new in-laws on the balcony for the first time to watch the RAF flypast

Before her excitable wave in engagement photos with Harry back in December was not quite royal-ready.

Meghan gave a polished and poised wave to thrilled crowds as she made her way through London with Prince Harry in an open-top carriage.

This was the pair's first formal engagement since their showstopping wedding in May - and comes after their rumoured mini-honeymoon in Canada.

Dazzling crowds with beaming smiles, they made their way to Whitehall's Horse Guards Parade for the ceremony to mark the Queen's 92nd birthday.

All eyes were on Meghan's stunning white wedding gown by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy on her wedding day.

And the Duchess did not disappoint with her latest wardrobe choice.

The dress is a daring statement that pushes the boundaries of regal dress code, as it is a tad more revealing than what's usually seen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Meghan wore a dress by Carolina Herrera and a hat by Philip Treacy. While Kate wore a dress by Alexander McQueen and a hat by Juliette Botterill

Royal wave: Meghan was pictured fine tuning her royal wave alongside a grinning Harry at Buckingham Palace this morning

Stylish as ever, she opted for a 'pretty in pink' vibe with a sophisticated off-the-shoulder pastel dress by Carolina Herrera - a favourite designer among the royals.

Its flattering fold-down bardot neckline and button detail accentuated the former actress's elegant neck.

She teamed the frock with an angular hat by Philip Treacy in a matching hue to complete the look.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arriving for the Trooping The Colour ceremony in Whitehall

The Duke of Sussex proudly salutes in an open-top carriage beside his new wife on their way to the ceremony in London

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex make their way to the ceremony. Afterwards the Royal Family will head back to Buckingham Palace and gather on the balcony to watch the RAF fly past
As Anthony Bourdain fans flock to her restaurant, the owner of the Hanoi noodle shop where he slurped down 'bun cha' with former US president Barack Obama has expressed her shock and sorrow over the death of the globetrotting American celebrity chef.

Bun Cha Huong Lien restaurant in the Vietnamese capital's leafy Old Quarter soared to fame after the sit-down between then-President Obama and Bourdain during an episode of the CNN show, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, aired in September 2016.

The pair shared a simple meal of pork noodles and fried spring rolls  each dish worth around $3  and photos of the casual dinner quickly went viral.

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The late Anthony Bourdain posted this snapshot of himself, sitting down for bun cha in a restaurant in Vietnam, with then-President Obama in 2016

The restaurant in Hanoi's leafy Old Quarter, Bun Cha Huong Lien, soared to fame after the episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown featuring Obama was filmed there in 2016

After news of Bourdain's death broke Friday, Obama posted this tribute to the celebrity cook, featuring an image of the pair during the iconic episode of Bourdain's CNN show

Bourdain, 61, died by suicide while in France filming an episode of his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel program, the network said Friday.

'I was surprised and sad when I heard about (Bourdain's) death,' Nguyen Thi Nga, co-owner of Bun Cha Huong Lien restaurant told AFP.

'(Bourdain) was a nice, friendly and folksy person... He praised our bun cha dish and its fish-sauce broth. He loved Vietnamese food,' Nga said.

Inside the restaurant, as hungry customers poured in for lunch on Saturday, diners gave extra attention to the glass box in which the table and chairs used by Bourdain and Obama are preserved.

'I came here to share the grief of the loss of such a talented chef... he was a such a special person because he had such a great passion for Vietnamese food,' customer Nguyen Quan told AFP.

Obama posted a tribute on Twitter to Bourdain on Friday, sharing a picture of the pair drinking beer during the meal which took place during Obama's state visit to Hanoi.

In the tweet, Obama quoted Bourdain's original tweet about the picture  'Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer'  and added, 'This is how I'll remember Tony. He taught us about food  but more importantly about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him.'

In March, Bourdain posted a picture on Instagram revealing that the table where he and Obama ate their meal at the restaurant was now encased in glass. 'Not sure how I feel about this,' Bourdain wrote.

Bourdain posted a picture of the Parts Unknown crew 'and special guest' Obama at the restaurant after the interview was taped

The pair shared a simple meal of pork noodles and fried spring rolls at what Bourdain called a 'decidedly working class,' which was a far cry from the state dinners Obama was used to

Bun Cha Huong Lien's owner, Nguyen Thi Lien (in 2016), said Saturday she was 'surprised and sad' when she heard that Bourdain had committed suicide on Friday

Bourdain died while in France filming an episode of his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel program 'Parts Unknown.' French prosecutors said he hanged himself Friday

Bourdain traveled to Vietnam several times throughout his life, making several TV programmes about his fascination with the country's food.

In an article about the episode, Bourdain wrote that he picked the 'decidedly working class' Bun Cha Huong Lien restaurant as the setting for his interview with Obama because it 'is not exactly the kind of place the President was likely to be taken by his hosts on any official state visit.'

Bourdain wrote that he assumed Obama had spent 'more than his share of time in the banquet rooms of major chain hotels, slogging through long state dinners, eating representative menus of "national dishes."'

The day after the episode was filmed, 'I was suddenly recognizable to the Vietnamese who rode their scooters and motorbikes around me. They'd seen me in the newspapers and again and again would point at me, shouting "Bun cha! Mister Bun Cha!"'

While Speaking with Anderson Cooper about the iconic episode, Bourdain said, 'I've never seen a guy enjoy a cold beer and a low plastic stool more than President Obama, by the way.'

Bourdain was found unresponsive on in the bathroom of his room at Le Chambard hotel in Kayserberg, France, by his close friend and famed chef Eric Ripert, on Friday.

French prosecutors revealed later that day that Bourdain hanged himself with the belt of his bathrobe in a small hotel room bathroom. A toxicology exam is being conducted to see if there were any traces of alcohol or other substances in his system at the time of his death.

Bourdain had been in France filming scenes for an upcoming episode of his CNN series.
The Duke of Cambridge today rode out on horseback surrounded by members of the Royal Family to mark the Queen's official birthday.

Wearing full regalia and bearskins, the Prince of Wales, Prince William and Princess Anne saluted as they rode out of onto the Mall.

Also riding in the ceremony for the first time was the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

They join more than 1,400 guardsmen and cavalry for the magnificent Trooping of The Colour today in London.

Wearing full regalia and bearskins, the Prince of Wales, Prince William, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne saluted as they rode out of onto the Mall

Also riding in the ceremony for the first time was the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards

Proud: The Queen smiles at her boy Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, during the Trooping of the Colour today

The Duke of Edinburgh, who celebrates his 97th birthday on Sunday, has retired from official public duties and did not attend.

But the Queen was accompanied by the royal colonels, all on horseback: Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards.

Among the guests was Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, the Prime Minister Theresa May normally attends but is at a G7 meeting of world leaders in Canada.

The colour trooped this year was the flag of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.

Princess Anne rode out wearing an impressive ceremonial regalia and was covered in medals

They join more than 1,400 guardsmen and cavalry for the magnificent Trooping of The Colour today in London

The Duke of Edinburgh, who celebrates his 97th birthday on Sunday, has retired from official public duties and did not attend

Among the guests was Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, the Prime Minister Theresa May normally attends but is at a G7 meeting of world leaders in Canada

Crowds look on as soldiers of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards during the Trooping the Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Princess Anne, Princess Royal arrive at The Royal Horseguards during Trooping The Colour ceremony

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's procession is accompanied by a Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry, made up of Life Guards and Blues and Royals, in their silver and gold breastplates and plumed helmets

Trooping the Colour originated from traditional preparations for battle.

Colours, or flags, were carried, or "trooped", down the rank so that they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.

In the 18th century, guards from the royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to "troop the colours", and in 1748 it was announced that the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday.

The Queen's actual birthday was on April 21 when she turned 92.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex paid tribute to the Queen at the spectacular ceremony.

Field Marshall Guthrie, 79, is rushed to hospital after being thrown off horse at Trooping The Colour Field Marshall Charles Guthrie (centre) has been thrown from his horse as he rode back to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour Field Marshall Charles Guthrie has been thrown from his horse as he rode back to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour. The 79-year-old was rushed to hospital after being treated at the scene by paramedics, but aides said he was being 'well looked after'. His fall slightly delayed the royal balcony appearance. Numerous people wished the decorated commander a speedy recovery on social media, including Air Force veteran John Nichol. 'Really hope all is OK - a nicer General Officer you could not hope to meet. Wishing you well Sir,' he wrote. Lord Guthrie was chief of army general staff from 1994 to 1997 and chief of defence staff from 1997 until his retirement in 2001. Advertisement

Harry and Meghan joined members of the monarchy on Buckingham Palace's balcony to watch the RAF flypast and acknowledge the crowds. It is the first time Meghan has stepped out on to the balcony for any ceremonial occaision

Fresh from their showstopping wedding three weeks ago, Meghan and Prince Harry will today pay tribute to the Queen at the spectacular Trooping The Colour ceremony today

All smiles: Kate, Meghan and Camilla shared a laugh on the Buckingham Palace balcony just moments ago

Tens of thousands of cheering Royal enthusiasts flocked to Whitehall to see the royals mingle on the balcony, with Meghan and Kate sharing a chuckle while Harry watched on

The Queen, who recently had a successful eye operation to remove a cataract, was pictured wearing her usual clear framed spectacles, having spent the previous three weeks wearing shaded lenses following the procedure.

Harry and Meghan were pictured riding in a carriage together, staged on Whitehall's Horse Guards Parade, and later joined members of the monarchy on Buckingham Palace's balcony for the first time to watch the RAF flypast and acknowledge the crowds.

Tens of thousands of cheering Royal enthusiasts flocked to Whitehall to see the royals mingle on the balcony, with Meghan and Kate sharing a chuckle while Harry watched on.

Meghan wore a dress by Carolina Herrera and a hat by Philip Treacy. While Kate wore a dress by Alexander McQueen and a hat by Juliette Botterill.

Royal fans will be eager to see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - who have just returned from their honeymoon - joining other members of the royal family at the traditional summer spectacle

Her Majesty takes her place in the Royal carriage in celebration of her offical 92nd birthday today. Royal watchers will be glad of her appearance, following her minor surgery to successfully remove a cataract

The loved up pair have not been seen publicly since the wedding, and were rumoured to be enjoying a romantic stay at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta, Canada. According to reports, they finished off their break with a short stay in Ireland, before returning to London

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in a vintage Rolls Royce Phantom together this morning. Prince William stepped out in full military ceremonial regalia alongside Kate who wowed in a sophisticated teal dress

The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall take their place in the Queen's carriage procession, which celebrate's Her Majesty's official 92nd birthday

Camilla was in a pale blue silk dress and coat by Bruce Oldfield and a hat by Philip Treacy and the Queen wore a sky blue coat and dress by Stuart Parvin, and a hat by Angela Kelly.

The Queen will watch the Trooping ceremony from a dais in Horse Guards and later inspect the lines of guardsmen in their scarlet tunics and bearskins.

The annual event will see more than 1,000 soldiers taking part in the traditional display of pomp and pageantry. The colour being paraded this year is the flag of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who celebrates his 97th birthday on Sunday, has retired from official public duties and is not expected to attend.

The royal colonels, all on horseback, will accompany the Queen: Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards.

Riding in the ceremony for the first time will be the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
Tragic celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain dined on local Alsace sausage, pork knuckle and saurkraut in a meal that cost 44 (39, $52) and drank three glasses of 4 ($4.70) wine before committing suicide on Friday, MailOnline can reveal.

The table he used at the Wistub La Petite Venise in Colmar, France, has become a place of pilgrimage for fans and the restaurant is planning to offer his selection as a 'Bourdain Menu' in tribute to the star.

Bourdain, 61, filmed at the restaurant on Monday and a photograph of him dining there was his final post on Instagram. It has since attracted more than 160,000 likes.

Anthony Bourdain dined at Wistub La Petite Venise in Colmar, France, four days before he died. He is pictured right with chef Julien Schroeder (center), his wife Virginie Schroeder (center right) Eric Ripert (second left)

Bourdain's meal, and his last-ever Instagram post, including braised pork knuckle with horseradish sauce, sauerkraut, and cervelas sausage

'It is very strange to sit at the same table that he dined at just a few days ago,' owner Julien Schroeder, 35, told MailOnline. His last Instagram photo was here so it is a very big thing for us.

'We can see how people loved him. The picture has 160,000 likes so far. He was a kitchen star and it was very big for us to see him before he died.'

Adele Couvidov, 20, was behind the bar when Bourdin attended the restaurant. 'He didn't speak very much and seemed preoccupied but there was nothing to suggest he was suicidal,' she said.

'His table has already become very popular. People are asking to eat the same food. We are planning to serve it as a tribute, as Bourdin's menu.'

Bourdain, 61, hanged himself four days after dining at this table (right) at the restaurant in eastern France

The table (pictured) he used has become a place of pilgrimage for fans since his death

Bourdain is filmed for his TV series Parts Unknown about to tuck into the meal on Monday

To start, the superstar chef ate cervelas sausage  a local speciality that originally contained pork brain  Swiss Gruyere cheese and pickled cucumber.

His main course was braised pork knuckle with horseradish sauce. He also ordered a large dish of choucroute, more commonly known as sauerkraut.

To drink the food icon had three modest glasses of wine, each costing just 4 ($4.70). First he ordered a Riesling Faller followed by the Riesling Albert Mann.

He finished with a Pinot Noir Albert Mann Grand H. The chef did not have a dessert, coffee or digestif but left a generous tip.

Adele Couvidov, 20, was behind the bar when Bourdin ate. 'He didn't speak very much and seemed preoccupied but there was nothing to suggest he was suicidal,' she said

The fod menu at Wistub La Petite Venise from which Bourdain picked out his meal

To drink (menu pictured) the food icon had three modest glasses of wine, each costing just 4 - a Riesling Faller followed by the Riesling Albert Mann and a Pinot Noir Albert Mann Grand H

'It was a great moment for our restaurant and now a tragic moment for kitchen history,' Schroeder said.

'If our restaurant becomes a place for fans to remember him we are happy about that.'

French prosecutors said Bourdain hanged himself with the belt of his bathrobe in a small hotel room bathroom.

He was found unresponsive on Friday morning in the bathroom of his room at Le Chambard hotel in Kayserberg by his close friend Eric Ripert.

Tandem bike owner happy to give Bourdain 'piece of happiness' The tandem that Bourdain was riding in an iconic photograph taken in his final days was hired from Lulu Cycles in Colmar, MailOnline has learned. Its owner, Lucas Hilbert, 25, said: 'It's a tragedy. Nobody can understand why he did it. To ride a bike is something joyful, especially a tandem. 'I am happy to have given him a little piece of happiness in a dark time.' The tandem that Bourdain was riding in an iconic photograph taken in his final days was hired from Lulu Cycles in Colmar Advertisement

Two of the many Bourdain fans MailOnline saw flock to the restaurant to sit at his table, which one of them is pictured pointing out

Restaurant owner Julien Schroeder, 35, sitting at the table where Bourdin dined

He was staying in the region to film scenes for his hit food travel show Parts Unknown.

A toxicology exam is underway to determine if he had any traces of alcohol or other substances in his system at the time.

Bourdain was open about his past struggles with drugs and was a recovered heroin addict.

French authorities say they are confident his death was a suicide and that 'there is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment.'
A cruise ship passenger who demanded full compensation due to his neighbours 'loud snoring' has had his appeal rejected in court.

Brendan Ritson and his partner already had their requests accommodated to on the 11-day Royal Caribbean South Pacific cruise.

The cruise left Sydney in December of 2016 en route to Fiji, and the couple found a water leak in their interior cabin that same night.

The cruise left Sydney in December of 2016 en route to Fiji, and the couple found a water leak in their interior cabin that same night

The couple were upgraded to an expensive exterior double cabin, equipped with a porthole window

The couple were then upgraded to an expensive exterior double cabin, equipped with a porthole window.

Mr Ritson told the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Court a mother and daughter moved into the adjoining connected cabin on the third night of the cruise.

He claimed the pair kept he and his partner awake all night for various reasons, including loud snoring, heated arguments and the use of offensive language.

After making a complaint when the ship returned, Mr Ritson brought an application into the Tribunal, initially seeking a refund for all monies paid whilst on board the ship, totalling to $3,270.29.

This was reduced at the hearing to cover only the cost of the accomodation, $2436.78.

The appeal's tribunal heard Mr Ritson did not complain about the noise of his neighbours until the eighth day of the cruise, five days after they moved in.

The tribunal report read 'much of the pleasure of a cruise is enjoying the facilities and entertainment and food'

The tribunal also found that the cruise ship attempted to remedy the situation appropriately and offered reasonable compensation for the inconveniences caused.

All of these attempts were rejected by Mr Ritson.

In three seperate occasions, the cruise ship offered to return the pair to a room equivalent to the original room booked.

Mr Ritson's appeal was heard on the basis of the cabin he was moved to not being fit for purpose, as it did not provide the promised relaxation and enjoyment.

The appeal tribunal agreed that this may have been the case, but it was only a minor failure that would have been solved had Mr Ritson agreed to change rooms.

'In all the circumstances it was unreasonable of Mr Ritson to refuse to move back to the grade of cabin he had paid for, which would have solved his problems,' the court heard.

'His claim to recover all or any part of the fares he paid based on a breach of the consumer guarantees of the ACL must therefore be refused.'
A couple who claimed their adopted daughter had been bullied at school took action only to end up locked in a five-and-a-half year long defamation case.

Anthony Woolley and Janet Kencian were seeking an apology from Trinity Anglican School in Cairns in 2011 after hearing their daughter Gowri had been called a 'black b****'.

They took their racial-vilification and bullying concerns to the school, and had a meeting with then-principal Christopher Daunt Watney, The Australian reported.

Anthony Woolley and Janet Kencian faced defamation case after claiming their daughter Gowri (pictured) was bullied

Gowri had won the hearts of Mr Woolley and Dr Kencian, a pathologist, when they met her at age nine in a crowded orphanage.

She had survived the streets of Bangalore, India, and was taken to Cairns to experience a 'happy childhood' and allow her to reach her full potential.

After approaching the school an external investigation was launched but were not satisfied with the outcome.

Seeking further assistance, the pair - who have adopted four children - wrote to the then director-general of education, Julie Grantham, in 2012.

Later in the year, the document would be the incentive behind defamation claims, filed by the school who were seeking costs of $75,000 from both parents.

Mr Daunt Watney also filed defamation action asking for $389,000 in damages.

Despite a first jury rejecting insistence that the letter was defamatory, a second trial found their result to be 'perverse' and ordered a fresh jury trial.

Gowri was allegedly called a 'black b****' at Cairns Trinity Anglican School (pictured)

The battle took more than five years to resolve and has cost Gowri's parents $850,000 in legal fees.

Mr Woolley says his now 19-year-old daughter was put through a huge amount of stress and explained the family have not received any form of apology.

'The financial and emotional distress we have endured from five-and-a-half years of litigation against us has been extreme but our resolve to follow through on the issues we raised is undiminished,' he said.

Mr Daunt Watney, who has since moved to a deputy principal role at a Sydney school, said the decision to take legal action was made by the school but did not comment on whether he agreed with the decision, or not.

'I was the head of the school at the time,' he said. 'The decision to proceed with any kind of action is not the decision of the head of the school; it's the decision of the school board.'

Trinity Anglican School chairman Jason Fowler said the school pursued the case on the belief former principal Mr Daunt Watney's reputation had been damaged.
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Field Marshal Charles Guthrie has fallen from his horse and landed heavily on his head as he rode outside Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour where temperatures hit (73F) 23C.

The 79-year-old was rushed to hospital after being treated at the scene by paramedics, but aides said he was being 'well looked after'.

His fall slightly delayed the royal balcony appearance celebrating the Queen's official 92nd Birthday on Saturday afternoon, the first to include Prince Harry's new bride Meghan Markle.

Field Marshal Charles Guthrie has fallen from his horse as he rode outside Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour

The 79-year-old was rushed to hospital after being treated at the scene by paramedics, but aides said he was being 'well looked after'

Lord Guthrie slumped in his saddle and appeared to faint and fell sideways to his left in front of Buckingham Palace in the middle of The Mall near the Victoria Memorial.

Nearby police immediately rushed to his aid until paramedics arrived and and two senior army officers trotting beside him stopped and looked distressed.

On his right was Major General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne, former General Officer Commanding Household Division and Prince Harry's commanding officer in the Household Cavalry.

Left of Guthrie as they rode was Colonel Crispin Lockhart, Chief of Staff for the London District.

Photos shot before Guthrie fell showed Colonel Lockhart trying to prop him up as he slumped back in his horse at a 45-degree angle and closed his eyes.

Several police were seen working on him with one cradling his head with his eyes still open, having pulled off his golden helmet.

Lord Guthrie slumped in his saddle and appeared to faint and fell sideways to his left in front of Buckingham Palace in the middle of The Mall near the Victoria Memorial

Lord Guthrie in the process of falling from his horse as the riders next to him begin to react

Lord Guthrie hit his head hard as he landed hard on the asphalt of The Mall, much to the shock of thousands of onlookers

A witness said she saw Lord Guthrie looking 'off' as he was riding in the parade and the riders next to him seemed concerned.

'[He was] leaning back whilst riding, not going with movements of horse, and his flanking officers seemed to be riding close,' she said.

Another witness said they saw Lord Guthrie slumped back in his saddle looking like he was 'going to faint' and as he rode through The Mall he began to shake.

Numerous people wished the decorated commander a speedy recovery on social media, including Air Force veteran John Nichol.

'Really hope all is OK - a nicer General Officer you could not hope to meet. Wishing you well Sir,' he wrote.

Lord Guthrie was chief of army general staff from 1994 to 1997 and chief of defence staff from 1997 until his retirement in 2001.

Photos shot before Guthrie fell showed Colonel Crispin Lockhart trying to prop him up as he slumped back in his horse at a 45-degree angle and closed his eyes

A witness said she saw Lord Guthrie looking 'off' as he was riding in the parade and the riders next to him seemed concerned

Another witness said they saw Lord Guthrie slumped back in his saddle looking like he was 'going to faint' and as he rode through The Mall he began to shake

Colonel Lockhart grips Lord Guthrie's left arm in an effort to haul him upright as they rode, or at least steady him in the saddle

Lord Guthrie slumps back seconds before he falls from his horse on The Mall

Lord Guthrie was riding in a group of senior officers alongside Major General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne (left) and Colonel Crispin Lockhart (right)

He still serves as the ceremonial Colonel of the Life Guards, and was riding with a group of other senior officers as Gold Stick in Waiting at Trooping The Colour.

Field Marshal Guthrie began his military career in 1959 with the Welsh Guards, then joined the SAS in 1966 where he served for fours years in Aden, the Persian Gulf, Malaysia and East Africa.

The seasoned officer then returned to the Welsh Guards in 1970 as a major and was promoted through the ranks until he ran the whole army from 1994.

He was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1980 and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1990.

Lord Guthrie masterminded military operations in Northern Ireland and provided advice to the British Government during the Bosnian War and the Kosovo War.

He was created Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank after his retirement and sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.

The first police officers reach Lord Guthrie as he lies motionless on the ground after he heavy fall

At least a dozen paramedics and many more police flood The Mall to work on Guthrie as he lay stricken on the ground

Ambulances arrive and paramedics work on Guthrie before rushing him to hospital

Police and paramedics swarm around Lord Guthrie with what appears to be defibrillator on the ground next to him

In 2007 warned against a British invasion of Zimbabwe to remove dictator Robert Mugabe, saying: 'Hold hard, you'll make it worse'.

The same year he co-authored a book on Ethics in Modern Warfare with Michael Quinlan, former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence.

A year later he argued with then Prime-Minister Gordon Brown over army funding, and renewed his attack in 2010, accusing him of giving defence the 'bare minimum' as he wanted to allocate 'as little as he could get away with'.

'He should be asked why he was so unsympathetic towards defence and so sympathetic to other departments,' he said in 2010.

'You cannot magic helicopters out of mid-air; you cannot magic armoured vehicles quickly, which, if we'd had them, would certainly have saved lives.'

Lord Guthrie also campaigned against Britain allowing its soldiers to face liability for wartime actions at the International Criminal Court, except in case of murder or other obvious war crimes.

Lord Guthrie (pictured in 2012) was chief of army general staff from 1994 to 1997 and chief of defence staff from 1997 until his retirement in 2001

Field Marshal Guthrie began his military career in 1959 with the Welsh Guards, then joined the SAS in 1966 where he served for fours years (pictured with The Queen in 2007)

Field Marshal Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank during an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, where Her Majesty handed him his Field Marshal's Baton at Buckingham Palace

We should recognise what we are asking them to do and just how hostile, frightening and stressful the environment is in which they must operate,' he told the House of Lords in 2005.

'They are often in mortal danger and tired. They are expected always to make considered decisions and take correct actions when the situation in which they find themselves is far from clear and their own and others' lives are threatened.'

He initially supported the Remain campaign but switched his position a week before the 2016 poll over concerns a combined European army could be formed.

Guthrie is president of several charities including Action Medical Research, the Army Benevolent Fund, Soldier On! the Federation of London Youth Clubs, and the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association.

The converted Catholic is a Knight of Malta and a patron of Catholic homeless charities Cardinal Hume Centre and Caritas Anchor House. He became Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University in July 2013.

Lord Guthrie is married with two children and is said to be a keen skier, horse rider, and tennis player and enjoys travelling and watch opera performances.

Lord Guthrie as Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff talks to the press after arriving in Freetown, Sierra Leone in May 2000, for talks about the situation in the west African country

General Sir Charles Guthrie (right) pictured at a 1995 meeting to prepare Britain's contribution to the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo. 'There's a great deal of work going on here which should eventually help bring peace in that region. I've been most impressed by all the effort,' he said at the time
Three New York men convicted Friday of torturing and raping prostitutes would scour the internet to find their victims.

Fernando Sandel, 29; Isaiah Rivera, 34; and Joey Cruz, 29, were all convicted of predatory sexual assault, conspiracy, rape and charges related to the vicious attacks.

Authorities said the men found their first victim, a 20-year-old prostitute, through an online ad for sex in June 2015. The woman arranged for a man to meet her in the South Bronx, the New York Daily News reports.

Fernando Sandel was one of the three men convicted Friday of torturing and raping prostitutes in a string of attacks in 2015. He's pictured above during a 2016 court appearance

Joey Cruz, pictured during a 2016 court appearance, was also convicted. All three men involved were convicted of predatory sexual assault, conspiracy and rape

Isaiah Rivera, pictured in a 2016 court appearance, was also convicted in a Manhattan courtroom Friday

When she arrived, three men were waiting. Police said the woman was forced to the roof of the building and then raped and robbed. She was treated at an area hospital.

The second attack happened on August 3, 2015, when a 34-year-old woman arranged to meet with a man at a hotel. The woman was pepper sprayed, bound by her ankles and wrists with zip ties and raped.

A third woman was attacked in a Gramercy apartment the following day, according to Manhattan District Attorney.

Sandel and Cruz discussed the crimes in text messages to each other, authorities said.

On April 11, 2015, Sandel wrote: 'About to hit up 33rd street... I need to get that paper and free p***y'.

'B**** better have my money,' Rivera said in another message sent weeks later.

Cruz (left) and Rivera (right) were also convicted of pepper spraying and sexually assaulting a woman attacked in June 2015

Sandel responded: 'You crazy bro soon just bring that pepper spray & taser'.

'These defendants deliberately targeted vulnerable, prostituted women because they thought these women would not go to law enforcement for help  and that even if they did, no one would believe them,' DA Cy Vance Jr. said, according to the News.

'They were wrong. These brave survivors did go to law enforcement. We believed them, and the jury believed them.'

Cruz and Rivera were also convicted of pepper spraying and sexually assaulting the woman attacked in June 2015.

Among the sites they used to find victims was Backpage.com.
Republican Missouri Governor Eric Greitens will not face charges for allegedly taking an unauthorized nude photo of his former mistress.

Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said she believes the victim, a hair stylist, who claims Greitens snapped a photo of her without her consent as she was blindfolded and partially naked, on Friday.

But as prosecutors were unable to produce the compromising photograph as evidence, Baker declined to refile a felony invasion of privacy charge against the politician.

The news comes just one week after the father-of-two, 44, resigned from office amid allegations of blackmail, sexual misconduct, and invasion of privacy in the 2015 affair.

Republican Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, 4, will not face charges for allegedly taking an unauthorized nude photo of his former mistress

The news comes one week after he resigned from office last week due to the scandal's effect on his family, pictured above

Greitens is seen with his arm around his wife after he admitted to the affair

'I believe her statements about being photographed are true. But without proof of the photograph, the full weight of the case would have rested with the woman, who didnt want to go it alone,' Baker said during a Kansas City press conference.

A St. Louis grand jury indicted Greitens on Feb. 22 on one felony count of invasion of privacy. His mugshot is above

'In the words of this victim, quote, "My heart just cant bear it". That statement still weighs heavily on me,' she added.

The GOP politician was indicted on February 22 by a St. Louis grand jury on one felony count of invasion of privacy.

The photo, taken in March 2015, allegedly displayed the hairstylist blindfolded, bound at the hands, and at least partially in the nude, according to the New York Daily News.

She testified to a special Missouri House committee that Greitens had threatened to share the photo if she spoke of their affair, but later told her he deleted it.

His attorney Jim Martin said the defense lawyers 'agree with the prosecution that there was not sufficient evidence to file any charges'.

Greitens has also been accused of misusing a charity donor list during his scandal-plagued term.

On Friday Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said she believed the victim but as the spoken photograph was never produced as evidence, charges would not be made

Prosecutor also declined to refile a felony invasion of privacy charge

The spoken photo was taken in March 2015 during their affair and allegedly displayed the hairstylist blindfolded, bound at the hands, and at least partially in the nude

That charge was dropped in exchange for Greitens' resignation as officials met to consider possibly impeaching the governor.

'This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family - millions of dollars of mounting legal bills, endless personal attacks designed to cause maximum damage to family and friends,' he said in a shaky voice, announcing his resignation on May 29.

'It's clear that for the forces that oppose us there is no end in sight. I cannot allow those forces to continue to cause pain and difficulty for the people that I love,' he added.

Records obtained by the Associated Press on Friday revealed that Greitens' attorney's billed the state more than $153,000 during the legislative investigation.

The Office of Administration was still reviewing the request for payment as of Friday.
Doug Vickery (pictured) was handed the $200 fine one afternoon as he enjoyed an afternoon fishing for octopus off rocks

An angler has been hit with a bizarre fine after police nabbed him for drinking a beer while fishing.

Doug Vickery was handed the $200 fine one afternoon as he enjoyed his afternoon fishing for octopus off a rock wall in Perth.

The two officers approached the fisherman and breathalised him as he sat on the rocks with an empty beer bottle in his pocket before slapping him with the fine.

'I had nothing on my person, no bag, no esky, just my one beer bottle in my pocket and my occy stick and gaff,' Mr Vickery explained online.

'My only beer had been empty in my pocket for 15 by then ... I passed the breathalyser.'

The electrician said the police handed him the 'un-Australian' fine after hearing reports someone had been speeding and drink driving around the marina in Western Australia.

The two officers approached the fisherman (pictured) and breathalised him as he sat on the rocks with an empty beer bottle in his pocket before slapping him with the fine

'My only beer had been empty in my pocket for 15 by then ... I passed the breathalyser,' Mr Vickery (pictured) wrote online

Mr Vickery, who decided to go fishing after finishing work, said the two officers checked his license before reviewing CCTV footage to determine who was drink driving.

'I was furious by then,' he wrote online.

'[The police] said 'you drank in a public place and your $200 infringement will come in the post'.

'They've just given a fisherman a $200 fine for having a beer when he was fishing!'

The 36-year-old (pictured) said the officers slapped him with the fine because it was 'an offence (to) crack a beer when fishing' in a public place

The 36-year-old said the officers slapped him with the fine because it was 'an offence [to] crack a beer when fishing' in a public place.

'I didn't know it was illegal to have a beer while fishing, it's a joke really, it's un-Australian if anything,' he told 9News.

'On a lighter note, I did catch an octopus.'

While technically Mr Vickery committed an offence, defence lawyer Tom Percy QC said he though 'common sense would prevail'.

'You'd think they [the police] would have better things to do,' he told the publication.

There is no suggestion from Daily Mail Australia that Mr Vickery was drink-driving.
As the foundation of Thor actor Chris Hemsworth's estate transforms into a huge Hollywood-style mansion, locals fear the development sets an 'inappropriate' tone for the surf town.

Construction is still rumbling on for the couple's multi-storey $8.7 million coastal abode set in the hills above Seven Mile Beach at Broken Head, but residents say it's spoiling the local charm.

One resident of 38 years said the presence of celebrities is killing Byron Bay's quaint appeal.

Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky's Byron Bay mansion (pictured) is seen covered in scaffolding as the $8 million makeover rumbles on

The couple began the renovation of their sprawling mansion before Christmas (pictured together last October)

Locals fear the development sets an 'inappropriate' tone for Byron Bay with the influx of celebrities causing a stir in the sleepy surf town

'It used to be very quiet, but the overflow from (Byron Bay) is horrendous: you can't get a park, you've gone from surfing with three people to surfing with 53 people,' Darren Birch, told The Herald Sun.

Striking aerial shots show the sprawling concrete estate covered with bare brick walls, scaffolding and building materials.

'It seems excessive but there's not much we can do about it  nothing surprises me in this town these days,' Mr Birch said.

A man who asked not be named, said he hopes that the build won't impact too much of the environment.

'If they cut too many trees down, so you can see it when surfing out in the ocean, it will be a real problem,' he said.

One resident of 38 years said the presence of celebrities is killing the appeal of Byron Bay

The foundations have been laid for appears to be a huge infinity swimming pool (pictured)

Byron Shire Council has been keeping an eye on the build with concerns having streamed in - one likening the strcutre to that of a 'shopping centre'.

Chris and Elsa Pataky lived in the east coast residence with their three children - daughter India Rose and twin sons Tristan and Sasha - before relocating to a rental property nearby as the construction takes shape.

A development application for alterations and additions to the Seven Mile Beach Road property was lodged to Byron Shire Council on 2 November 2016, pricing renovation at $8.778 million.

Plans for the work outlined the demolition of the existing house and structures, and the building of a new infinity swimming pool.

The Hollywood heartthrob and his Spanish-born wife purchased the Broken Head mansion in September 2014 for $7million.

In its former state, the house - which was spread over 4.2 hectares - had eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms.
Boris Johnson was photographed on his way out this morning as he left his London home with his wife Marina Wheeler.

It comes as Theresa May prepares to gather her warring Cabinet at Chequers to thrash out the Government's position on Brexit on her return from the G7 summit in Canada.

The Foreign Secretary has criticised the Prime Minister in recent days over a need for 'guts' with the approach to Brexit.

He will be joining the Prime Minister and her senior ministers to settle the details of the Brexit white paper on an away day at the Buckinghamshire retreat.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his wife Marina Wheeler pictured this morning

While Theresa May was flying to Canada for a G7 summit, it emerged the former London Mayor told a private dinner there was a risk Brexit 'will not be the one we want' and would keep the UK locked in orbit around the EU.

At the gathering of the Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite campaign group, he branded the Treasury the heart of Remain and claimed negotiations were approaching a moment of truth.

Mr Johnson was heard warning of a Brexit meltdown and said the UK could end up in the customs union and to a large extent still in the single market.

The Prime Minister was 'going to go into a phase where we are much more combative with Brussels', the Cabinet minister said.

He also claimed fears about the border on the island of Ireland were out of proportion and said it was 'beyond belief that we're allowing the tail to wag the dog in this way'.

Former Cabinet minister Damian Green - who was effectively Mrs May's deputy - said he expected the Cabinet would come together behind a common position.

'Boris [Johnson]'s views are well known. But the fact is that the Government has united around a series of propositions that were successfully negotiated at previous European Councils and I am sure will continue to do so,' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today.

'The Government's position is clear and has been set out by the Prime Minister and continues to be so. Cabinet ministers across the board have strong views which they express in private and sometimes they get out in public.

'What is important in the end is that they all unite behind the agreed the Government position - particularly at the points where it absolutely matters which is when the Prime Minister is going into negotiations.

'That's happened up to now, for all the noises off, and I think that will continue to happen.'

Mrs May is keen to show she is making progress on the process of leaving the European Union after criticism from Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and a row with Brexit Secretary David Davis in recent days.

Plans for the Brexit white paper were announced in May when Mr Davis said it would be the Government's 'most significant publication on the EU since the referendum'.

Mrs May told reporters at the G7 summit in Canada: 'There is going to be a lot of activity in the negotiations over the coming weeks.'

The return of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill to the Commons next week will be followed by the June 28 European Council.

Mrs May said that at the gathering of EU leaders 'we'll be talking about finalising withdrawal agreement but also pressing on the future relationship'.

'After that I'll be bringing my ministers together for an away day at Chequers to finalise the white paper that we are going to be publishing and then before Parliament breaks for the summer we'll be bringing the Trade and Customs Bills back to the House of Commons and throughout all of that time the negotiations will be continuing.

'The British people want us to deliver Brexit and I'm getting on and doing exactly that and I'm doing it because there is a prize for us at the end of this which is a brighter future for Britain in control of our laws, our money and our borders.'

The Foreign Secretary has criticised the Prime Minister in recent days over a need for 'guts' with the approach to Brexit

Mrs May's announcement on the white paper comes after she was forced to defend her approach after criticism from Mr Johnson.

She said the Foreign Secretary has strong views on Brexit 'but so do I', as she attempted to downplay Mr Johnson's outburst on how negotiations are progressing.

The Prime Minister claimed 'nobody ever said it was going to be easy' to quit the European Union but pledged to 'deliver Brexit for the British people'.

Mr Johnson's indiscreet remarks about Brexit, which saw him call for 'guts' in the negotiations, emerged as Mrs May was in mid-air en route to Canada.

Quizzed by broadcasters on her arrival in La Malbaie, she said: 'Boris has strong views on Brexit but so do I.'

Mrs May told Channel 4 News: 'These are complex negotiations. Boris has strong views on Brexit but so do I.

'I want to deliver for the British people, that's exactly what we are doing as a Government and if you look at the process of these negotiations - nobody ever said it was going to be easy.'

It comes as the PM's latest Brexit proposals received a frosty reception in Brussels, Michel Barnier raising objections to her plan for a time-limited customs backstop covering the whole UK.

But within minutes of concluding a press conference in Brussels, the chief EU negotiator took to Twitter to correct the impression that he was rejecting the UK proposals out of hand, stressing that they would be the subject of discussions in the coming days and weeks.

Responding, Mrs May told the BBC: 'This is a negotiation, Michel Barnier has said exactly that point.

'We have put a proposal on the table, on this backstop relating to Northern Ireland, we will now sit down and negotiate it with the European Union.'

Friends of Mr Johnson said it was disappointing that the private dinner had been covertly recorded but senior Conservative Sarah Wollaston said dressing up the comments 'under the cover of a 'private' discussions won't wash'.
A Northern California high school valedictorian says school officials turned off her microphone during a graduation speech before she had the chance to talk about being sexually assaulted by another student.

Lulabel Seitz was a few minutes into her speech when her mic suddenly went silent. The teen, who will attend Stanford University in the fall, had been giving an uplifting speech on following your dreams and making an impact in the world.

When Seitz started to talk about how Petaluma High School's class of 2018 have had to overcome many obstacles like the California wildfires and teachers going on strike 'because they didn't get the respect or the contracts they deserved', things started to go south.

'It is always difficult to say goodbye. But it is not as difficult knowing that we have made an impact on each other and the world around us and we will not be forgotten as a whole,' she said, in part.

'And it helps that we have had the support of so many compassionate and dedicated parents, teachers, family members, friends, staff, counselor, custodians and librarians to help us get to where we are today. Because the class of 2018 has demonstrated time and time again that we may be a new generation, but we are not too young to speak up, to dream and to create change, which is why, even when some people on this campus, those same people-,' Seitz said before the mic went off.

The teen tried to continue giving her speech but started to walk back to her seat when she realized her fellow classmates could not hear her. As Seitz sat down, students began chanting 'let her speak!'

Seitz told KPIX-TV that she was going to talk about how she was allegedly sexually assaulted by another student - who was in the audience at the ceremony - and the school's lack of response.

According to the outlet, administrators had approved Seitz's graduation speech but cut the mic when she veered away from it.

'The school continually censors students,' she told the station. 'It wasn't an easy thing to do to go up there and say what I said or tried to say.'

The teen said she reported the incident to school officials, but they did not take any action.

Lulabel Seitz said school administrators cut her mic during her graduation speech before she could talk about being sexually assaulted by another student

The teen posted a video of the incident and included her full speech. She also slammed the school for censoring students

The school responded telling the outlet that it could not address the accusations, but 'when issues of sexual assault come to our attention, local law enforcement has initial jurisdiction and determines the course of action'.

Seitz posted a YouTube video of the incident saying the school abruptly ended her speech out of 'fear of the truth'. The video has been viewed more than 28,000 times.

She also included what she had planned to say to end her speech.

'It helps that we had the support of compassionate and dedicated teachers, friends, parents, counselors, custodians, and librarians throughout the years. Learning on a campus in which some people defend perpetrators of sexual assault and silence their victims - we didnt let that drag us down. ... Even after four years of working our hardest and becoming the best class Petaluma High has ever seen, just to be told that our love of learning, art, drama, music - anything - wasnt valuable enough to be funded - we didn't let that drag us down either... As such, we will never be forgotten. How could we be?'
A nurse who was bitten on the foot by a deadly snake helped save his own life by telling a pair of tourists how to treat him.

Christian Wright was on holidays in a remote part of Karijini National Park in Western Australia's Pilbara region when he was bitten on the foot by an eastern brown snake.

Mr Wright may have died from the bite of the world's second most deadly land snake if he wasn't an emergency nurse.

While saving patients' lives is part of the job, the Perth nurse never imagined he would need to use his medical training to save his own life.

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Christian Wright (pictured) feared for his life after he was bitten by a deadly brown snake

It was two hours before paramedics arrived to help Perth nurse Christian Wright

'I looked at my foot, there was no puncture marks. No blood, no swelling, no nothing,' Mr Wright, 33, told 7 News.

'I started losing my vision. I knew I was going to pass out.'

Austrian tourists Andrea and Richard Pausa responded to the screams for help after Mr Wright was bitten.

Mr Wright then directed them how to put a pressure bandage on his leg to prevent the deadly venom from spreading as he slipped in and out of consciousness.

Tourists helped paramedics carry Christian to the ambulance, which was an hour away

'Christian really looked bad, he was barely responsive, had no colour in the face. It seemed like he was sweating and, to be honest, we really thought that he would die,' Mr Pausa told The West Australian.

'I was convulsing, I was sweating pools of sweat and I was vomiting everywhere,' Mr Wright added.

The brown snake is responsible for around 60 per cent of snake bite deaths in Australia.

Envenomation can result in paralysis, uncontrollable bleeding and death if left untreated.

The scary ordeal occurred in a remote part of Karijini National Park (stock image) in Western Australia's Pilbara region

Stuck at the bottom of a gorge, it took two hours before paramedics and SES volunteers to arrive.

The help of 20 tourists was then needed to help carry Mr Wright on a stretcher to the waiting ambulance, which was an hour away.

'I could hear the ambulance officers saying there's no blood returning to his foot at that point I thought 'oh I'm going to lose my leg,' Mr Wright told 7 News

Mr Wright was driven to Tom Price Hospital before he was put on an emergency flight to be rushed to Port Hedland.

The brown snake (stock photo) is the second-most venomous land snake in the world

He was well enough to be released from hospital to continue his holiday the following night.

'And we drove back to Karijini. It was beautiful, actually,' Mr Wright said.

'I just want to thank all those people who were involved. You saved my life. Thank you.'
Joanna Parrish, 20, was raped and murdered in 1990. Monique Oliver, the ex-wife of Joanna's alleged killer Michel Fourniret, said he killed the British student and dumped her naked body in a river

The ex-wife of French serial killer the 'Ogre of the Ardennes' has revealed they killed a British student and dumped her naked body in a river.

Monique Oliver, now 70, said her former husband Michel Fourniret, 76, raped and killed 20-year-old Joanna Parrish in 1990.

She told a closed court preliminary hearing she got out the van they in which they picked up the student because she did not want to witness the horrific crime.

Oliver was grilled for two days by the judges who pressed her for details of the crime against the Gloucestershire student, from Newham on Severn.

Olivier lured girls into Fourniret's van on several occasions to rape and kill them, evidence at the evil couple's trial in 2008 revealed.

Both are now behind bars for life.

The couple have been compared with Moors murderers ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

Olivier met Fourniret whilst she was a prison warder in a jail where he was serving a sentence for petty crime more than thirty years ago.

She wrote letters to him calling him 'My Tiger' and the couple married on his release and began luring and killing young victims.

But Fourniret divorced Olivier after she revealed to a prosecutor in 2005 that he had killed Joanna.

Michel Fourniret, left in 2004 and right in 2008, was yesterday described as a 'devious psychopath by Joanna's father Roger Parrish

Olivier, pictured in 2008, met Fourniret whilst she was a prison warder in a jail where he was serving a sentence for petty crime more than thirty years ago

She later retracted her confession and claimed interrogators had beaten her and forced her to confess.

The parents of Joanna, Roger Parrish and Pauline Sewell, have campaigned for justice for 28 years.

They have suspected Fourniret of killing their daughter since the early 2000s.

In February, Fourniret finally confessed to killing the 20-year-old Gloucestershire student.

He told judges: 'If she had not met me she would still be alive today'.

Michel Fourniret was yesterday described as a 'devious psychopath by Joanna's father Roger Parrish.

The parents of Joanna, Roger Parrish and Pauline Sewell, have campaigned for justice for 28 years

He could face trial for the 20-year-old's murder next year.

His conviction would mean closure for her parents and the end of their ordeal.

In May, Joanna's parents were updated on the investigation into their daughter's murder by a judge during a 90-minute meeting in Paris.

Afterwards, their French lawyer Didier Seban declared: 'The end of a long fight for justice is in sight'.

There were still fears, however, that Fourniret - a known manipulator of judges, prosecutors and Police - would retract his confession.

But Joanna's parents are confident that his 'repeated confessions' to judges in February will be enough to see him convicted.

Joanna's parents previously said they were convinced that Fourniret killed their daughter. They have suspected Fourniret of killing their daughter since the early 2000s

Fourniret was jailed for life in 2008 for seven murders of teenage girls in France and Belgium.

Olivier was also given a life sentence for complicity in four of the killings.

Joanna's parents previously said they were convinced that Fourniret killed their daughter.

Ms Sewell wrote to Monique Olivier begging her to confess so she could get closure to the 28-year nightmare.

They campaigned for nearly three decades, visiting France dozens of times to force judges and Gendarmes to bring her killer to justice.

'I cannot say that I am happy today but I can say that I am relieved. We have been coming to France for 28 years to get justice,' Mr Parrish said last month.

An poster handed out by Joanna's parents

'It's been a long time. We are not worried about coming to face to face with Fourniret.'

The naked body of Miss Parrish was found in a river in Burgundy on May 17 1990.

An autopsy revealed she had been beaten, raped and strangled while puncture marks on her arms which suggested she had had air injected into her veins.

Michel Fourniret is known to have inflicted this treatment on several other of his victims as a form of torture.

A student teacher at a school in Auxerre Joanna had placed a newspaper advert offering English lessons.

The evening before she died she told friends she was going to meet a man who had replied to her offer.

Fourniret is known to have regularly scanned newspaper advert columns in his search for potential victims.

During the two day questioning by judges in Paris this week, Olivier also related details of another murder, that of French girl Marie-Ange Domece,19, whose body has never been found and whose murder Fourniret admitted in February.
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The Hawaii volcano eruption is expected to impact the state's marine and animal life for decades as the environment changes in the wake of the lava flow.

Kilauea, on Hawaii's Big Island, first start erupting on May 3, resulting in lava oozing over residential communities and heading towards the Pacific Ocean. The lava first met the ocean on May 20.

While the lava flow has received lots of attention for destroying neighborhoods, it has also been quietly covering Hawaii's famed tide pools, hot springs and coastal waters, changing the shoreline in the process.

The sky turns orange as lava flow covers a road near Pahoa on Hawaii's Big Island on Friday. Kilauea began erupting on May 3

The sky's deep orange hue reflects the fiery volcano eruption in Leilani Estates. The lava has already destroyed 600 homes

Lava from the Kilauea volcano paints Hawaii's normally crisp, blue skies orange when viewed near the Pahoa neighborhood

Hawaii National Guard soldiers were spotted stopped near Pahoa while examining the lava flow covering the road Friday

Scientists say that the lava's impact on local marine life will be seen in major ways.

'On the shoreline, the differences will be night and day,' Frank Samsone, a professor of oceanography at UH Manoa, told KHON.

'What used to be a lush productive environment with hot pools and animals of all different kinds, it's going to be either a black sand beach or a cliff.'

In addition, Samson noted that when lava  which emits sulfur dioxide and hydriodic acid  mixes with water, it changes the acidity in the water. If the acidity changes enough, it could have a deleterious effect on sensitive marine life, which would either leave the area or stay away from it in the future.

In addition, when lava meets water, it sheds tiny, glassy particles into the water, which Samsone said would be harmful when passing through animals with gills.

Samsone said that it could take hundreds of years for the marine life to return to the state it was in prior to the volcano eruption.

Lava from the Kilaeua volcano can be seen flowing into the Pacific Ocean near Kapoho Bay and Vactionland on the Big Island. Scientists said that the lava flow's impact on the local marine life could be felt for decades, if not a century

A satellite image from June 3, capturing the slow advance of the lava over land and towards the ocean. In the process, the lava has covered tide pools and hot springs in its path. Scientists say that black sand beaches will migrate down the coast

In the meantime, he said, it's likely that more deep water animals will be seen along the coast, in place of the traditional inshore, coastal varieties that the Kapoho area is known for.

In addition, 'If you kept a careful eye, you would see the black sand beaches coming and going maybe they would migrate down the coast,' Samsone said.

The volcano eruption isn't all bad news for marine life, however.

Ash blocks the sun and causes ocean temperatures to fall, which creates ideal growth conditions in the ocean, as well as supplying nutrients on the ocean surface, International Pacific Researcher Megumi Chikamoto told KHON.

Meanwhile, on land, as people flee from the lava's path, they're often forced to leave behind both pets and livestock, which are now said to be scattered around the Big Island's animal shelters, sanctuaries and foster homes.

Once, a litter of puppies was discovered in a box near the side of the highway close to the lava zone.

Kathy Buono, of Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary, in Kurtistown, Hawaii, said that the shelter has been inundated with household pets that their owners were unable to flee with.

'Unfortunately, a lot of people are dumping their animals, so we're getting a lot of abandoned and surrendered animals as well,' Buono told KITV.

She added that the shelter has been on the receiving end of non-stop calls from 'people crying on the phone' seeking help for their beloved animals. 'It's very emotional for them,' Buono said.

Good Samaritans have been known to rescue fleeing neighbors' livestock as well, lest they be covered by the lava.

Hawaii's Civil Defense is now said to be working with the Hawaii Fire Department to arrange air rescues and answer calls for animal rescues.

The AP reported Friday that scientists said the lava flow has created nearly a mile of new land and that there is no way of knowing when the eruption will end or if more lava-spewing vents will open. More than 600 homes in the lava's path have been destroyed so far.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 8)  The Court of Appeals (CA) upheld its earlier ruling that Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Veloso cannot testify against her alleged illegal recruiters unless she comes home to the Philippines from Indonesia.

In an eight-page decision signed June 5, the CA rejected the motion for reconsideration filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida on January 16. A copy of the CA's ruling was released to the media on Friday.

Calida sought the reversal of the appellate court's December 2017 decision that stopped Veloso from testifying in the illegal recruitment, estafa, and human trafficking charges against Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, who allegedly tricked her into smuggling drugs in Indonesia in 2010.

The CA on Tuesday denied the motion for reconsideration "for lack of merit."

It reminded Calida, the government's top lawyer, of the "supremacy of the Constitution," saying the right of the accused to meet the witnesses face to face is a fundamental right under the 1987 Constitution.

Allowing Veloso to issue an out-of-court testimony would violate this provision, the CA said.

Lawyer Edre Olalia called the CA's ruling "a nitpicking purely legalistic approach devoid of any social context or divorced from concrete reality."

He said they are taking the matter up to the Supreme Court.

Veloso, detained in Yogyakarta, was sentenced to death in October 2010 after Indonesian authorities found her with 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase. She was supposed to be executed in April 2015, but she was granted a last minute reprieve.

The CA said the government should instead convince Indonesia to allow Veloso to temporarily return to the Philippines to testify.

"The Philippine government can request with the consent of Indonesia to temporarily transfer the custody of Mary Jane Veloso to the Philippine government to allow her for a limited period to testify in the Philippine courts," the CA said, citing article 15 of the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal matters, which both Philippines and Indonesia signed.

The Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court, earlier allowed Veloso to send a testimony against her recruiters, but this was reversed by the CA.

In January, Veloso asked for President Rodrigo Duterte to help her testify in the case against her alleged recruiters.

"Pangulong Duterte, buong puso po akong humihingi ng tulong sa inyo para payagan akong magtestigo sa kaso ni Cristina Sergio doon sa Pilipinas para maibunyag ang katotohanan at maparusahan ang taong talagang may kasalanan," Veloso said through a recording from detention, played at her birthday celebration in Quezon City.

[Translation: President Duterte, I'm wholeheartedly asking for your help to allow me to testify in the case of Christina Sergio in the Philippines so that I can unravel the truth and those who are at fault can be duly penalized.]
A judge has ordered President Donald Trump to go on record with any objections he has to documents seized from his lawyer Michael Cohen's office that are pending federal review.

Trump's lawyer Joanna Hendon requested to have Trump look over the documents and share his objections in confidentiality.

However, Manhattan federal Judge Kimba Wood ruled Friday that the president and Cohen cannot seal their arguments for why certain documents should not be shared with the FBI according to the New York Post.

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President Donald Trump must go on record with any objections he has to documents seized from Michael Cohen's offices that are pending federal review, a judge ruled Friday

Earlier this week special master Barbara Jones reported that after assessing 300,000 initial documents for privilege designations - only 162 were deemed privileged.

However Trump, the Trump Organization and Cohen disagree on three items over which they claim privilege, according to Business Insider.

Just last Wednesday Hendon filed a letter on behalf of her clients requesting objections be made under a seal.

She added she was ready to file those objections on Thursday, should they be allowed to do under the seal.

Trump's lawyer Joanna Hendon requested Trump's objections to any documents be made under a seal

Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization have reviewed 1.3million documents seized in the FBI raids on April 9

That request was denied as the government found 'no reason' they 'should be deprived of access to the balance of the filing'.

The review of the documents are yet to be complete.

Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization have reviewed 1.3million documents seized in the FBI raids on April 9.

But there's nearly 2.4million more documents left to review, Cohen's attorney's said during a hearing before Wood last week, where she said the review was going too slowly.

She gave Cohen and Trump's parties a deadline of June 15 to complete their review. Cohen's lawyers have asked for that deadline to be pushed to mid-July.
In an era where male felons are landing high-profile modelling deals from their mugshots, it can be easy to forget about female felons.

But Instagram account 'mugshawtys' has not forgotten, and has spent the past nine months compiling the mug shots of shockingly photogenic felons.

Some of the women on the page have been arrested for DUI, larceny and loaning out their drivers license, while others are facing more serious charges.

Despite the serious situation the women have gotten themselves into, some still manage to strike a pose for the camera, their hair still perfectly in place.

Others appear to have had a more rough transition to the booking station.

'Hot Felon' Jeremy Meeks started a trend when he shot to fame in 2014 after his mugshot was posted to Facebookby the Stockton Police Department.

The former criminal, who had been arrested on felony weapons charges in California, became an internet sensation.

His piercing blue eyes and full lips attracted thousands of likes and comments, and saw him walk out of prison and on to the runway at New York Fashion Week.

He is now dating Topshop heiress Chloe Green and she gave birth to their first child together this week.

The mugshots of photogenic women have been compiled into an Instagram account

The account, Mugshawtys, has a following of nearly 50,000 people

The mugshots attract followings of mesmerized men and women

Many of the women have been charged with driving offences (this woman received a DUI)

Others are facing much more serious charges, though their following do not seem to mind (these women have been charged with DUI)

One woman (right) appears to have a full face of makeup on and perfectly coiffed hair. Her charges were not listed

The woman on the left was charged with larceny, but no charge was listed for the woman on the right

Jeremy Meeks, who shot to fame in 2014 after his mugshot went viral, is now dating Topshop heiress Chloe Green (pictured together right)

Despite their situation, many of the women appear well put together
Theresa May and other world leaders are pressing Donald Trump for a last-minute agreement on tariffs before he flies out to Singapore to meet with Kim Jong-Un.

After days of verbal sparring over new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Trump joined the leaders of major nations in an idyllic Canadian resort town.

The U.S. President plans to leave Canada several hours early, heading to Singapore for his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

It will mean he misses G-7 sessions on climate change, clean energy and ocean protection.

The Prime Minister will join other world leaders in pressing the US president for a last-minute agreement on tariffs before he flies out to Singapore to meet with Kim Jong-un

The U.S. President plans to leave Canada several hours early, heading to Singapore for his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Mr Trump is pictured with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, takes his seat after arriving late for the Gender Equality Advisory Council breakfast during the G-7 summit

Mr Trump also suggested the G-7 offer a seat at the table to Russia  after the country was ousted from the group after it annexed Crimea

On his way to the annual gathering, Trump laid out his fundamental grievance, saying that other countries 'have been taking advantage of the United States on trade'.

He also suggested the G-7 offer a seat at the table to Russia  after the country was ousted from the group after it annexed Crimea.

Trump's latest moves build on 18 months of nationalist policy-making, leave him out of step with the globally-minded organisation.

They have also prompted speculation that the group could fracture into 'the G6 plus one'.

But in meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump stressed his friendships with the allies while continuing to insist he wanted to see changes on trade.

Trump bantered easily with Trudeau, joking that the neighboring leader had 'agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers.'

And he emphasized a 'good relationship' with Macron, saying they sometimes have a 'little test' on trade, but predicting a positive outcome.

Donald Trump arrives at the table for the G7 summit today and is greeted by Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde

Trump's latest moves build on 18 months of nationalist policy-making, leave him out of step with the globally-minded organisation

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May attends a G7 and Gender Equality Advisory Council meeting as part of a G7 summit. Mrs May and other world leaders were to make a last-ditch bid at securing a tariffs deal with Mr Trump before he flies out to Singapore

Still, the fundamental differences remained clear. Trump again railed against trade deficits with other countries and repeated that he may pursue separate trade deals with Canada and Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, while Canada would prefer to renegotiate the three-way deal

Asked if Trudeau was upset that Trump would be leaving the summit in Canada early on Saturday, Trump joked, 'He's happy.'

Macron said he and Trump held 'open and direct' discussions, adding that he thought there was a way to get a 'win-win' outcome on trade, though details remained unclear.

US President Donald Trump leaves after holding a press conference ahead of his early departure from the G7 Summit

While Mr Trump has hinted Britain could be exempted from the charges, practicably this would be impossible while the UK remains in the EU, which imposes ad receives tariffs as a single trading bloc

What are tariffs and why has Trump's plan to impose them been met with such criticism? Tariffs are charges which governments can slap on certain goods or products imported into the country. Governments usually try to negotiate minimum tariffs so that goods can be traded freely around the world. This is because for many years most politicians have agreed that free trade leads to greater wealth and makes products cheaper to buy in the shops. But China has massively ramped up the amount of steel it has produced in recent years and dumped it cheaply on the market. This global steel glut has made it far harder for steel industries in other countries to compete - prompting plant closures and job losses. In the US this has sparked widespread anger which has led to Donald Trump imposing his hefty tariffs in a bid to protect the American steel industry. But critics around the world have blasted the move - warning this will result in a tit for tat trade war which will only push up prices in the long term. And while Mr Trump has hinted Britain could be exempted from the charges, practicably this would be impossible while the UK remains in the EU, which imposes ad receives tariffs as a single trading bloc. There would have to be an EU-wide exemption for Britain to avoid the tariffs. Advertisement

Both sides suggested some progress in NAFTA talks. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they were 'close to a deal,' but added that there was also discussion of shifting to a bilateral deal.

A Canadian official said the leaders discussed accelerating the pace of the talks.

Trump spent Friday participating in the rituals of the G-7, including the formal greeting by host Trudeau, a group photo in front of the sparkling St. Lawrence River and a working lunch of Arctic char and buckwheat salad.

Other members of the Group of Seven are Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. The European Union also attends.

Trump's relations with the others have hit such a low point that a key question was whether the seven countries can agree on a joint statement of priorities at the conclusion of the meeting.

Macron said Thursday on Twitter, 'The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be.'

Complaint: Trump had been said to be tired of British minister Theresa May's tone and did not appear to be offering her warm looks

Happy family meal: Lunch, a distinctly non-Trumpian menu which included Arctic char perfumed with Labrador tea, saw him seated between Germany's Angela Merkel and Britain's Theresa May. To the right of may is Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau

Trump said Friday he thinks the group will produce a joint statement.

Before arriving at the Quebec summit, Trump injected fresh drama by asking why Russia wasn't included in the group.

'They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table,' he said.

Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

In the U.S., special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election in his favor.

The comments drew a mixed response.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the issue 'hasn't been raised around the G-7 table,' though she said there have been 'some direct conversations in bilateral meetings.'

She added 'there are no grounds whatsoever for bringing Russia with its current behavior back into the G-7.'

In Paris, Macron's office said such a move wouldn't make sense and pointed out that the latest country to impose economic sanctions on Russia was the U.S.

Italy's new premier, Giuseppe Conte, tweeted that he agreed with Trump, saying: 'Russia should go back into the G-8. In the interest of all.'

Russia seemed unconcerned. State news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, 'We are putting the emphasis on other formats.'

Over the course of his presidency, Trump has inflamed allies with his isolationist policies, including withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and the international Iran-nuclear agreement.

'The rules-based international order is being challenged, not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor: the United States,' said European Council President Donald Tusk.
A Holocaust survivor who comforted Anne Frank at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp before the Dutch girl's death just one month before the camp was liberated has died aged 95.

Polish native Gena Turgel dedicated her life to sharing the horrific experiences she endured during World War Two and ensure the atrocity would never be forgotten.

She also became known as the 'Bride of Belsen' after marrying Norman Turgel, one of the British soldiers who liberated Bergen-Belsen.

Her wedding dress, made from parachute silk, is part of the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London.

Holcaust survivor Gena Turgel, pictured, who comforted Anne Frank at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp before her death has died aged 95

Mrs Turgel spent years talking about her experiences in schools around Britain. She is pictured speaking to pupils at La Sainte Union Catholic School in Highgate, London

Mrs Turgel attended Britain's annual Holocaust remembrance two months ago in a wheelchair with a blanket draped over her knees.

'My story is the story of one survivor, but it is also the story of 6 million who perished,' she said at the event in London's Hyde Park.

'Maybe that's why I was spared - so my testimony would serve as a memorial like that candle that I light, for the men, women and children who have no voice.'

Born in Krakow, Poland as Gena Goldfinger on February 1, 1923, Mrs Turgel had to move with her family in 1941 to a Jewish ghetto with only a sack of potatoes, some flour and a few belongings.

Norman and Gena Turgel pictured together on their wedding day in Germany, on October 7, 1947

The Queen chats with Mrs Turgel duringa garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2015

One brother was shot by the Nazi SS police and another disappeared after trying to escape, according to the Holocaust Educational Trust in London.

A sister of hers was shot while trying to smuggle food into a labour camp. In January 1945, Mrs Turgel and her mother were forced onto a death march from Auschwitz, leaving her remaining sister behind.

It was in a hospital at Bergen-Belsen, where the 22-year-old Turgel arrived in February, that she cared for Anne Frank as the 15-year-old girl was dying from typhus.

'I washed her face, gave her water to drink, and I can still see that face, her hair and how she looked,' Mrs Turgel once told the BBC.

The Queen left, meets Holocaust survivor Gena Turgel during a service to remember victims in Westminster Central Hall in London on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 2005

She published a memoir, 'I Light a Candle,' in 1987 and kept retelling her story in schools across Britain until the end of her life.

'Gena dedicated her life to sharing her testimony to hundreds of thousands in schools across the country.

'Her story was difficult to hear - and difficult for her to tell, but no one who heard her speak will ever forget,' Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he met Turgel at the Hyde Park event in April and was 'inspired by her lifelong commitment to educating people about the horrors of the Holocaust.'

'Let us hope for a better future where anti-Semitism and all hatred should be demolished, shouldn't be tolerated,' Turgel said at the time. 'And I do beg you, don't forget those who are less fortunate than yourselves. '

She is survived by her three children, as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Australian taxpayers have reportedly footed the bill for almost $60million in office upgrades for government bureaucrats.

More than half was spent by Department of Human Services to upgrade 26 offices, including a $4million refurbishment to its Melbourne CBD space.

A department spokesman justified the spending spree, claiming it needed to upgrade its properties so they're fit for purpose.

Department of Jobs and Innovation staff in a Melbourne office now have a new $210,643 kitchen, thanks to a government spending spree (stock image)

Department of Environment and Energy staff have two new treadmills (stock image)

'The Department of Human Services manages the largest non-defence property portfolio in the Commonwealth, the majority of these properties consist of our customer facing service centre network,' he told The Herald Sun.

Other government departments also splashed out on taxpayers funds, according to the publication.

Department of Jobs and Innovation staff in one Melbourne office now have a new kitchen worth $210,643, where an extra $38,000 was spent on a 'tea point'.

Four chateau tub chairs worth $1,500 each and a $2,200 timber coffee table were purchased for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet's headquarters in Canberra.

Almost $60 million of taxpayers' funds were spent office upgrades for federal government bureaucrats (stock image)

Department of Environment and Energy staff have two new treadmills worth $6,000 each and 40 sandwich presses, while staff in the Home Affairs ministry are enjoying $141,000 worth of upgraded white goods, the publication reported.

Blockout blinds were also installed in one department's offices while another department's office is now closer to the gym, thanks to a $313,000 handout from taxpayers.

The $60million spent on the office upgrades is the same amount the federal government is spending on vital projects.

Many government bureaucrats are enjoying upgraded offices, courtesy of Australian taxpayers (stock image)

They include to boost mobile phone coverage in regional and remote areas, building the new Cradle Mountain cableway in Tasmania and duplicating a 5km stretch of the Capricorn Highway in Central Queensland.

News of the spending spree comes a week after Daily Mail Australia revealed that five ineligible federal MPs claimed almost $1 million in expenses from taxpayers in just six months, despite being under a citizenship cloud due to their ties to Britain.

It was also recently revealed that Prince Charles and Camilla's trip to Australia for the Commonwealth Games in April cost taxpayers more than $1 million.
A black-and-white photo taken more than six decades ago shows North and South Korea coming together to sign armistice documents - which put a stop to roughly three years of fighting between the two countries - but didn't necessarily end the Korean War.

In the July 26, 1953 photo U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison Jr. of the United Nations Command Delegation is seated at a table on the left while North Korean General Nam Il sits at a table on the right.

Both leaders signed armistice documents in Armistice Hall in Panmunjom, a no-man's-land between the Koreas.

In this July 26, 1953 photo U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison Jr. (left) of the United Nations Command Delegation and North Korean General Nam Il (right) sign an armistice in in Armistice Hall in Panmunjom, a no-man's-land between the Koreas

South Koreans held a rally hoping for successful summit between president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12

South Korean peace group members hold Korean Peninsula-shaped cardboards during a rally to wish for peace at the summit

The armistice was more of a ceasefire agreement, instead of a permanent peace treaty. North and South Korea are technically still at war, 68 years later.

President Donald Trump during his June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hopes to bring peace between the countries and officially end the decades-long war.

'We talked about ending the war,' Trump said at the White House after his meeting earlier this month with senior North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol. 'It's got to be the longest war  almost 70 years, right? And there is a possibility of something like that. ... Can you believe that we're talking about the ending of the Korean War?'

Trump has said that he hopes his summit with Kim Jong-un will result in a peace treaty ending the decades-long Korean War. Howard, an Australian-Chinese impersonating North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (left), and Dennis Alan, who is impersonating Trump (right) attend an event in Singapore

President Donald Trump (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (right) will meet on June 12

Complete North Korean denuclearization will likely take much more than a single summit, but Trump may see a peace deal as a quick, fairly painless path to a Nobel Peace Prize. Kim Jong-un, meanwhile, is pursuing a long-sought North Korean demand for a treaty that may be aimed at getting US troops off the Korean Peninsula and, eventually, paving the way for a North Korean-led unified Korea.

Beyond the speculation over motivation, however, Trump and Kim Jong-un may face huge obstacles to settling a deal on their own; some even question whether a treaty, if they managed to pull it off, could lead to disaster, not peace.
President Trump reiterated his controversial call for Russia to be brought back into the G7 on Saturday as he dismissed the annexation of Crimea as 'something that happened a while ago' which shouldn't now stand in the way of peace.

The president was speaking at a press conference on Charlevoix near Quebec after attending a breakfast earlier in the day with foreign leaders.

'I have not spoken to Vladimir Putin for quite a while. It has been discussed and some people quite like the idea of bringing Russia back in.

'This used to be the G8, not the G7.

President Trump said on Saturday that he thinks Russia should be allowed back into the G7

'Something happened a while ago and I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in.

'I think it would be good for Russia and I think the G8 would be better having Russia back in would be a positive thing.

'We're looking for peace in the world. We're not looking to play games,' he said.

Later, when pushed on whether or not he supported Putin taking control of the peninsula, he was vague.

'Crimea was let go during the Obama administration and Obama can say all he wants but he allowed Russia to take Crimea.

'I may have had a much different attitude.

'Why did he do that? Why did he do that? 'That being said, it's been done a long time,' he said.

He added: 'I would rather see Russia in the G8 as opposed to the G7.

'The G8 is a more meaningful group than the G7.'

The opinion is sure to ruffle other European leaders who were unanimous in their expulsion of Russia from the group in 2014.

As Trump called for Putin to be brought back into the fold, the Russian president met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, one of Trump's political enemies

THE ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA The Republic of Crimea is a small peninsula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. In February 2014, Russia, under Putin's watch, took control of it from Ukraine in a violent take-over which saw Kremlin-backed troops descend on the region. Police officers arrest a protester in Moscow, March 2, 2014, during clashes over Russia's annexation of Crimea The majority of Crimea's 2million residents speak Russian and had voted to join Russia officially in a referendum but the vote was deemed illegal by Ukraine and by the rest of the West. There also remained a huge portion of the population who consider themselves Ukrainian and not Russian, along with the Crimean Tatar population - a predominantly Muslim community who suffered under Russian leaders in the past. The dispute sparked violent clashes in the area and was condemned internationally. President Obama slammed Putin's seizure of it as 'illegitimate' and he slapped sanctions on Russia as a result. At the time, Putin was part of the G8 but its leaders moved to expel him in response. In a statement at the time, they said it went against the principles of the international community. The region had been fought over for years. From 1793 until 1954, it was part of Russia. In the 1950s, it was transferred to Ukraine by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. During Russia's control of it, particularly in the years of Stalin's leadership, Crimean Tatars were persecuted. Stalin believed they had worked with German occupiers and sent many of them in exile to parts of Asia. Advertisement

They condemned both Putin and Ukraine - which held an illegal referendum on the status of Crimea - saying at the time that both violated international laws and ethics.

It capped off a brief stop in Quebec where he appeared isolated by other world leaders.

Despite reports of frosty relations between them, Trump insisted that his relationships with other countries were 'a 10'.

On Saturday, as the G7 met in Quebec, Putin held a summit of his own with the President of Iran, one of Trump's political enemies.

They grinned as they posed for photographs in China together as the European leaders and Trump discussed how to combat Iran's nuclear plans and support of terrorist groups.
A man has appeared in court charged with the manslaughter and robbery of a 100-year-old widow who had her neck broken in a mugging.

Polish-born Zofija Kaczan suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured cheekbone, in an attack on May 28 and died in hospital on Wednesday.

Arthur Waszkiewicz, 39, was charged on Friday and spoke only to confirm his name, address and nationality when he appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

Mrs Kaczan, who was held in a Nazi training camp in Poland during the Second World War before coming to Britain, had her handbag stolen outside the St Maksymilian Kolbe Church in Derby.

Sophie Kaczan, 100, died in hospital after her neck was broken during a vicious mugging

It has been reported that she had left her home to go to a service at St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church where she attended daily services.

Wearing a black jacket and grey jeans, Waszkiewicz looked at the floor throughout the 10-minute hearing.

Flanked by two dock officers, the Polish-born defendant was not required to enter any pleas.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherds Bush, west London, was remanded into custody to appear at Derby Crown Court on July 6.

A Derbyshire Police spokesman said previously: 'Zofija Kaczan passed away early yesterday morning.

'She suffered multiple injuries, including a broken neck, as a result of the robbery, which happened at around 8.45am on Monday, May 28, close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton.

'She had told us that she was approached from behind, knocked over and had her handbag stolen.'

Detectives are appealing for information about a beige/silver Seat Leon seen in the area at the time, with the registration plate SL02 KVZ.

The spokesman added: 'We want to hear from anyone who may have information about the driver of the vehicle  or if you have CCTV or dash cam footage that shows the vehicle?'

Police have released an image of this Seat Leon as part of the investigating into the attack

Ms Kaczan's friend and neighbour Stacia Fitzsimmons, 55, said: 'She would still be walking to church every morning if it wasn't for the person who has done this  he has killed her.'

Mrs Ftzsimmons added: 'It's so upsetting  she was like a mother to me. It is just awful that she has had to live out her final days like this. I just hope that the police catch whoever did this to Zofija.'

Mrs Kaczan was attacked moments after leaving her semi-detached home in the Normanton area of Derby to attend a service at the nearby St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church. Neighbours said she went there most days.

It is feared the mugger may have got away with as much as 1,000 as her bag  with a 900 utility bill inside  was later found dumped. Friends said she may have had the cash to pay the bill in her bag at the time.

Mrs Kaczan attended the St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church every day

Flowers have been hung outside the St Maksymilian Kolbe Church she used to visit every day, with Father Sebastian Ludwin lighting candles in her memory inside the church.

He recalled the moment she was brought into church following the attack, where her bag was snatched from her by an attacker.

Father Ludwin said: 'She had black eyes, a lot of blood on her face and we bandaged her up and sat her in the last pew waiting for an ambulance. The community has been left shocked at what has happened. She was a remarkable woman.'

Her death came nearly a month after her 100th birthday, which she celebrated with friends.

She even received a blessing from the Pope but despite living in England since 1948, she never applied for British citizenship so did not receive a blessing from the Queen.

Floral tributes have been left outside the church which she attended

The pensioner grew up in the town of Brody until the Nazi occupation. Her younger brother was killed by Hitler's forces while she was sent to work detail in Germany.

A friend of Mrs Kaczan said she was sent to work in two factories making nails and porcelain and was housed in a concentration camp, possibly Dachau.

Following the end of the war, she fled to England with her partner Mikolaj, first living in Weston on Trent before moving to Derby.

Another friend of Mrs Kaczan said her husband passed away in 2009, leaving her 'lonely and depressed'.

Friends paid touching tributes to Mrs Kaczan, describing her as an 'amazing person' and a 'stalwart of the community'.

Ms Zimand told the Daily Telegraph: 'We are just in a state of disbelief that this could have happened and that after such a difficult life she met such a violent end.'
Joaquin Labaut, 35, was caught on camera being beaten and tasered by police as he resisted arrest at a Florida Wendy's

A Florida man was captured on camera being beaten and tasered by police after causing a scene at a Wendy's restaurant.

Joaquin Labaut, 35, was taken into custody and charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest on Wednesday.

A bystander at the Wendy's in Cutler Bay, Florida, captured dramatic footage of Labaut's interaction with Miami-Dade police prior to his arrest.

In the beginning of the nearly four minute-long video, two police officers can be seen calmly speaking with a clearly agitated Labaut, who shouts that the shouldn't touch him.

One of the officers shows Labaut what appears to be a stun gun and says, 'You've felt this one time before, right? I need you to put your arms behind your back.' When he refuses to comply, the other officer tells him to get down on the floor.

Both officers can then be seen firing their stun guns at Labaut, who, seemingly unaffected by the voltage, then runs around the Wendy's counter and into the food prep area.

As the officers continue to try to subdue Labaut, backing him into a corner and tasering him and telling him to 'get on the floor,' which he refuses to do, a third officer comes into view, waving a collapsible baton in the air and shouting, 'Get on the f**king ground now!'

In the dramatic video, Miami-Dade police officers are seen trying to calmly apprehend Labaut. When he refuses to put his hands behind his back, the officers show him their stun guns

Labaut can then be seen being tasered by police officers, before running behind the Wendy's counter and into the food prep area, where he is then shouted at and beaten with a baton

The third officer can then be seen striking Labaut's leg with the baton multiple times, screaming, 'Get on the ground' with each hit.

After multiple rounds of beatings and tasering, Labaut bum-rushes the officers and heads for the the exit, only to trip over a table and fall to the floor.

Two more officers join in and together, they manage to bring Labaut down and restrain the 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound Labaut.

Police had been called to the scene because Labaut was reportedly talking loudly to himself, pacing around customers, harassing employees, swearing and flailing his arms, according to CBS Miami.

According to Labaut's booking information, he was free on a felony bond from a previous incident in 2017 and was already facing similar charges to those lobbed against him Wednesday.
Supporters of Tommy Robinson have clashed with police at a Whitehall demonstration after hearing Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders call for the English Defence League founder to be freed.

Rows of riot police blocked the gate down the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace where the Royal Family gathered on the balcony after celebrating Trooping the Colour just hours before.

Five arrests have been made and five officers were reportedly injured during the demonstration which saw some of Robinson's supporters appear to throw bottles, metal barriers and traffic cones at police.

Wilders, 54, who was banned from Britain in 2009 only to get it overturned, has attended today's protest after the EDL founder was jailed for 13 months.

Robinson pleaded guilty to contempt of court and breaching the terms of a suspended sentence he was handed last May for a similar offence.

His supporters have gathered in huge numbers at a series of protests outside Downing Street, Leeds Crown Court and even at British embassies in Europe.

Some protesters scuffle with police at the junction of Whitehall and The Mall during a gathering by supporters of Tommy Robinson in central London

Dutch Leader of the Opposition Geert Wilders of nationalist Party for Freedom surrounded by police during a 'Free Tommy Robinson' Protest where he spoke to the crowd in Whitehall

A police medic (left) sports a facial injury after some Tommy Robinson (right) supporters clash with officers

Many supporters of Tommy Robinson have clashed with police at a Whitehall demonstration

Union Jack and England flags were paraded by some supporters at the protest this Saturday

More than 590,000 people have also signed a petition urging Theresa May to intervene and set him free.

Speaking at the demonstration Wilders said: 'I am here to tell you that you will never walk alone. And we are here to tell the world, and the UK government in particular: "Free Tommy Robinson!"'

At this very moment thousands of people are demonstrating all over the world in front of British embassies...all with one important message Free Tommy.

'Downing Street is just around the corner, so maybe once again, as loud as possible we can let them hear our message: "Free Tommy Robinson!'

WHO IS GEERT WILDERS? Geert Wilders founded the right-wing Party For Freedom in 2006 and rallied against what he saw as the 'Islamification' of the Netherlands. Wilders, who has led his party in four elections, vowed to confiscate Korans, close mosques and Islamic schools, shut Dutch borders and ban migrants from Islamic countries among a raft of other anti-Islamic moves. His policies have seen him receive a barrage of death threats, reportedly forcing him to wear a bullet proof vest around the clock. Geert Wilders delivers a speech at a rally in support of freeing Tommy Robinson in London After working in health insurance, he ventured into politics and first took public office at Utrecht City Council in 1997 for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. However, he left the VVD in 2004, after it supported Turkey's accession to the European Union. Wilders was temporarily banned from visiting the UK by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009, after he released a offensive film linking the Koran to terrorism. This was later overturned. Wilders found himself at the centre of controversy again in 2015, after he attended a 'draw the prophet Muhammad' contest in Dallas, US, and it was attacked by two gunmen. The politician was a guest speaker at the event, attended by 150 people, when the shooters opened fire. They were later shot dead by police. Advertisement

This prompted extended chants of Oh, Tommy while Wilders continued saying to the crowd: Tommy Robinson is a freedom fighter. He says what no-one dares to say. He has guts. He has courage.

A Met Police spokesperson said five arrests have been made at the protest as of 7.20pm on Saturday.

Two for allegedly assaulting a police officer, one for allegedly possessing an offensive weapon, one for allegedly possessing a flare and one for allegedly causing criminal damage to a bus.

Police have not revealed the identities of the people arrested.

Rows of riot police blocked the gate down the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace where the Royal Family gathered on the balcony after celebrating Trooping the Colour just hours before

Riot police line the streets near Whitehall and The Mall in London as Tommy Robinson supporters gather in protest

Wilders was escorted away by officers after speaking at the gathering and thanked the police on his Twitter page for 'protecting' him

Traffic cones fly as some protesters clash with police officers at the junction of Whitehall and The Mall in London

The spokesperson added: The protest held in Whitehall concluded at 17:00hrs today.

During the protest there were scenes of violence which saw bottles, metal barriers and other objects thrown at officers.

Five officers have reported injuries, which are not serious.

The Met will now launch a post investigation collating the CCTV in the area.

Hundreds of supporters crowded on to an open-top Megabus sightseeing vehicle waving Union Jack flags, while one supporter posed on the roof in a Donald Trump mask.

Other Robinson supporters crowded on to the steps of Nelson's Column and continued to chant slogans.

A spokeswoman for megasightseeing.com said: 'Our London sightseeing bus was on its normal route when it got caught up in the demonstrations.

'The bus was stormed by demonstrators and the driver and a small number of customers got off.

Some protesters near Downing Street clashed with police after hearing Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders call for the English Defence League founder to be freed

More than 1,000 Tommy Robinson supporters were believed to be at the planned event today

Officers tried to hold back protesters as they crashed into barricades at the demonstration

'The demonstrators have caused a significant amount of damage to the bus which meant it had to be towed away.

'We have reported this to the police and will help them with any investigations.'

Wilders compared Robinson to Winston Churchill ahead of the protest on Whitehall in London where he spoke to more than a thousand protesters.

He told Breitbart: 'Tommy Robinson was arrested on May 25 outside Leeds Crown Court after using social media to broadcast details of an ongoing trial which was subject to reporting restrictions.

'He was arrested, brought before a judge, and sentenced within five hours. The judge ordered a media ban on his arrest and imprisonment, even forcing British publications to delete their articles about the case.

'Such measures are common practice in North Korea and Saudi Arabia. It is sad to see how Britain, the cradle of Western democracy and the rule of law, is fast descending into tyranny'.

He added: 'Tommy is a hero. It is a disgrace that he is still in jail. I have been invited to a major protest demonstration in London next week, and I will be coming. Free Tommy now'.

Right-wing activists in America have also rushed to support Robinson, after restrictions ordered by a judge initially prevented his court case and jail term being reported.

Speaking at the demonstration Wilders said: 'I am here to tell you that you will never walk alone. And we are here to tell the world, and the UK government in particular: "Free Tommy Robinson!"'

Police officers mounted on horses corral protesters together in an attempt to contain them

A protester squares up to riot police officers who are dressed in high-visibility protective gear

A host of conspiracy theorists in the US then began claiming that he was imprisoned as part of a plot to silence the right.

Around 500 protesters chanted 'let Tommy out' at police officers outside Leeds Crown Court last week.

The march saw some of Robinson's supporters brand police officers a 'disgrace', as chants of 'you ought to be ashamed of yourselves' broke out.

The event was organised by the group Proud British, which claims on Facebook that its purpose is to 'voice freedom of speech' and 'stop the strain on the NHS, schools and our public services'.

On May 26 supporters flocked to Downing Street to demand the release of Robinson.

They waved '#FreeTommy' and 'Free the truth teller' placards as others branded St George's flags and banners with 'Make Britain Great Again' on them.

Some managed to mount the gates surrounding the Prime Minister's home, but the Metropolitan Police told MailOnline there were no arrests made.

Hundreds of Tommy Robinson's supporters previously gathered outside Leeds Crown Court to protest the former EDL leader's jail sentence

Another protest previously saw Tommy's supporters climbing the gates of Downing Street but there were no arrests

Wilder arrived in the UK in 2009 (pictured) only to be turned back and put on a flight to Amsterdam as he tested a ban on visiting Britain. He later won the right to visit

Robinson, 35, was jailed for 13 months on Friday May 25 for contempt of court after broadcasting on Facebook Live outside Leeds Crown Court  putting the major trial at risk of collapse.

The court heard how Robinson had filmed himself and people involved in the case, in footage that was watched around 250,000 times within hours of being posted.

Robinson, who was listed by his real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon on court documents, was sentenced to 13 months in jail on the same day as his arrest.

Judge: If the jurors saw Robinson's video I would be asked to discharge them The judge who jailed Tommy Robinson told him his Facebook Live could have collapsed a six-week trial if the jurors saw it. Mr Justice Marson QC said that Robinson had failed in his 'responsibility to exercise freedom of speech within the law'. Within five hours of his arrest Robinson was jailed for 13 months after pleading guilty to contempt in relation to an ongoing trial. He also admitted breaching the terms of a suspended sentence he was handed in Canterbury last May for a similar offence. Mr Justice Marson QC said: 'No one could possibly conclude that it would be anything other than highly prejudicial to the defendants in the trial. I respect everyone's right to free speech. That's one of the most important rights that we have. 'With those rights come responsibilities. The responsibility to exercise that freedom of speech within the law. I am not sure you appreciate the potential consequence of what you have done. 'If the jurors in my present trial get to know of this video I will no doubt be faced with an application to discharge the jury. If I have to do that it will mean a re-trial, costing hundreds and hundreds and thousands of pounds.' Advertisement

He was given 10 months in jail after pleading guilty to contempt of court, and an additional three months for beaching a previous suspended sentence.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told Robinson at the time: 'Everyone understands the right to freedom of speech but there are responsibilities and obligations.'

He added that if the jurors had seen his Facebook Live he would have been asked to end the trial.

A reporting restriction had initially prevented the media from reporting his conviction, but this was lifted at the same court four days later after an appeal by the media.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 8)  The chiefs of the national police and the defense department have denounced the results of the 2018 Global Peace Index that marked the Philippines as the least peaceful country in Southeast Asia as unfair.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde contradicted the study, which also tagged the Philippines as the second least peaceful in Asia Pacific. He said Filipinos do not regard the Philippines as a dangerous country.

"It's really unfair for them to be judging us...at tayo naman wala naman naniniwala doon (ranking) because we're living peacefully dito sa ating bansa and everybody could probably say that," Albayalde said in a press briefing Friday.

[Translation: It's really unfair for them to be judging us, and no one among us believe that (ranking) because we're living peacefully here and everybody could probably say that.]

Albayalde echoed the sentiments of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana who questioned the basis of the Index.

"They are using some parameters that, as I said a while ago, are known only to them, I do not know how [they come up with that]," Lorenzana told reporters Thursday.

The secretary was boggled particularly by the proximity of the country's ranking to North Korea. The Philippines is only second to North Korea in the Asia-Pacific's least peaceful countries list.

"How could we be the least, next only to Korea, least peaceful? No, maybe... if you ask the North Koreans they will say that they are also peaceful dahil wala namang patayan dun e, diba,[because there are no killings there right?]," he argued.

Lorenzana added that he will look into the study himself to judge the basis of the Index's findings.

"It is not fair but I'd like to look at the study again kung, if we can get a copy of the study, then I will read it and conclude," he said.

The PNP chief surmised the study was based only on hearsay or negative feedback from the media.

"You cannot judge a country by just perception, by just mere reports, or by just mere chismis [gossip] coming from anybody or by probably the news that you see everyday," he said.

In order for foreign countries to have an accurate view of the country's situation, Albayalde said, he invited the researchers to visit the Philippines, and personally witness the nation's "prevailing peace and order."

"That's why we are inviting kung sino mga naglalagay ng perception na 'yan survey na 'yan...We would like to invite them to stay here personally... to see for themselves kung ano talaga ang prevailing na peace and order dito sa ating bansa," he said.

[Translation: That' why we are inviting whoever gave that perception or mae the survey, to stay here personally to see for themselves what kind of peace and order prevails in the country]

The Global Peace Index study posted two main factors for the decline in the Philippines rankings: the Duterte administration's anti-drug campaign and the Marawi siege.

RELATED: Study shows Philippines least peaceful Southeast Asian country

Albayalde did not directly address the factors pointed out in the study, but said incidents of suspects being killed in police operations are "isolated cases" necessary to maintain order.

"'Yung mga nangyayaring patayan [the killing incidents], those are law enforcements, those are all part of law enforcements that [contribute] to the improvement of our peace and order. Although there are isolated cases of killings siguro yan ang nakikita lang nila [maybe those are the only cases they observe]," he suggested.

Albayalde concluded his argument saying the increasing number of tourists in the country is a testament to the nation's peaceful situation.

"An indication dito is yung pagtaas ng tourism natin, yung mga turista na pumapasok dito every year tumataas, so how can they say that this is a dangerous country kung tumataas yung mga turista na pumupunta dito sa ating bansa," he said.

[Translation: An indication here is the rising number of tourists every year, so how can they say that this is a dangerous country if more tourists are visiting the country.]

Data from the Department of Tourism show the number of tourists in the country has been increasing. In the first half of 2017, nearly 3.4 million tourists visited the Philippines, up 12.7 percent from almost 3 million during the same period the previous year.
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A warning has been issued over super strength 'Punisher' ecstasy pill as thousands of music fans flock to the Parklife music festival.

This comes as Tommy Cowan, 20, and Georgia Jones, 18, died after reportedly taking 'Green Heineken' ecstasy in a double tragedy at Portsmouth's Mutiny Festival two weeks ago.

Parklife festival, which takes place in Heaton Park in Manchester this weekend, posted a message highlighting the dangers of the lethal drugs.

M N E K performing on stage at Parklife festival, which takes place in Heaton Park, Manchester this weekend

This year's Parklife line up features acts such as Lorde, N.E.R.D, Jessie Ware, A$AP Rocky, Giggs, Bugzy Malone, Bonobo, Skepta, Chvrches and Everything Everything

Despite the warnings, music lovers are seen embracing the sun soaked weekend without the need for raincoats or wellies

Posting on the Parklife Twitter account, the team posted: 'We all saw the sad news last weekend.

'There are batches of very bad pills out there at the moment.

'Please act responsibly and look after each other. '

They also added a photo of the drugs alongside the message: 'WARNING Please note, we have found blue punishers in the confiscation box.

'They are potentially lethal. This is what we have been warning about #BeSafe'.

Parklife festival, which takes place in Heaton Park in Manchester this weekend, posted a message highlighting the dangers of the lethal drugs

A photo of the ecstasy tablets were posted on the Parklife Twitter alongside the message: 'WARNING Please note, we have found blue punishers in the confiscation box. They are potentially lethal. This is what we have been warning about #BeSafe'

Mr Cowan and Ms Jones were among 15 revellers admitted to Queen Alexandra Hospital from Mutiny Festival, with organisers issuing a warning of a 'high strength or bad batch' of drugs.

Three men are in custody after being arrested on suspicion of drug dealing.

Two 20-year-olds, from Havant and Waterlooville, and a 22-year-old from Cosham have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs, police said.

The second day of the festival, which Craig David and Sean Paul were due to headline, was cancelled as a 'safety precaution'.

Tommy Cowan, 20, (left) and Georgia Jones, 18, (right) died after reportedly taking 'Green Heineken' ecstasy in a double tragedy at Portsmouth's Mutiny Festival two weeks ago

Despite the warnings, pictures show music lovers embracing the sun soaked weekend without the need for raincoats or wellies.

And revellers look as though they are more likely to need sunglasses and sun cream this weekend as warm weather is expected for the remainder of the weekend.

Temperatures peaked at 22 degrees C on Saturday however Sunday is looking like the better of the two days, with highs of 24 degrees C and sunny spells expected throughout the day, according to the Met Office.

This year's line up features acts such as Lorde, N.E.R.D, Jessie Ware, A$AP Rocky, Giggs, Bugzy Malone, Bonobo, Skepta, Chvrches and Everything Everything.

Revellers look as though they are more likely to need sunglasses and sun cream this weekend as warm weather is expected for the remainder of the weekend

And brand new for 2018 is the Blade Runner-inspired Valley stage and an improved VIP area with three stages, with an additional pub, street food village, cocktail bars and more.

The music festival is just one of the big events taking place this weekend in Manchester.

Tyson Fury will also box Sefer Seferi at Manchester Arena on Saturday night, a match that will attract a flurry of celebrity spectators.

This takes place at the same time as Taylor Swift will perform to thousands of fans in the second of two nights at the Etihad Stadium.
Family and friends have continued to flood Andy Spade's New York apartment as he and teenage daughter Frances grieve the death of designer Kate Spade, their beloved wife and mother.

Spade's niece, House of Cards actress Rachel Brosnahan, was seen exiting a cab with a woman dressed in in yellow and her father Earl on Saturday for her third day visiting in a row.

Previously, Brosnahan has been seen at the home with Earl, Kate's older brother, and Elyce Arons, an old friend and business partner of Kate's.

Kate, 55, was found dead at her Manhattan apartment on Tuesday after hanging herself with a scarf.

The accessories designer was discovered by her housekeeper and friend Bella Cariaga, who tried desperately to save Kate's life, but was not successful.

Rachel Brosnahan (left) joined her father Earl visiting Andy Spade and his daughter Frances after the tragic death of his wife, designer Kate Spade

Rachel, Kate Spade's niece, has been seen at Andy Spade's Park Avenue apartment every day since Thursday

Another friend was seen leaving the apartment as well-wishers continue to flood in and out of the home

Rachel Brosnahan honored her late aunt, who she called Katy, in a heartfelt Instagram post on Wednesday.

A moving caption shared alongside a video of the handbag designer dancing with husband Andy said Kate had 'a light that words can't capture'.

'[Kate] touched everyone she came into contact with,' she wrote.

'She was exceedingly kind, beautifully sensitive, insanely talented, funny as heck and one of the most generous people I have ever known.

'She was effervescent. Hug your loved ones extra tight today.'

Andy and Kate were married for 35 years, but had been separated for 10 months at the time Kate died by suicide. Andy says the pair still spoke every day despite their separation and had never discussed divorce

The apartment where Kate died is not the same one Andy and their daughter Frances are living in.

Andy and Kate separated 10 months ago and have been living in separate apartments on the same street, just blocks from one another.

They continued to work and raise Frances together, with the 13-year-old moving between homes, Andy said in a statement.

He claimed the couple spoke 'every day' and had never broached the subject of divorce.

Kate's death is suspected to be caused by mental illness, with husband Andy revealing while she had always endured bouts of anxiety, depression began to set in only six years ago.

Her older brother Earl, who was also at Andy's apartment again on Saturday, said the pair called her condition 'her sadness', and that the iconic accessories designer was making plans for her future at least a week before her death.

Arons, who met Kate while the pair were both studying at the University of Kansas, told the Seattle Times the mother-of-one's condition had developed 'slowly, over time', but that Kate had always been adamant she would never commit suicide.

Andy Spade (pictured) was seen on the phone and clutching a notebook as he entered his apartment on Saturday

Spade's father Frank Brosnahan revealed that he had warned his daughter about the pills she had been taking and told how her suicide came as a shock after he had spoken to her the night before she died.

'She'd been taking some pills, which I advised her not to take,' he told the Kansas City Star on Wednesday.

Brosnahan said he does 'not know what happened' since his daughter did not show any signs she had planned to take her life.

'The last I talked with her, the night before last, she was happy planning a trip to California to look at colleges. She doted on her daughter,' he said.

Earl Brosnahan (pictured), Kate's older brother, has also been a regular visitor to the home. He said he had been aware of Kate's depression for about 18 months, and the pair would refer to it as 'her sadness'

Earl's daughter Rachel (right) appeared to be quite close with Kate, who she said had a 'light words can't explain' in an emotional tribute shared to Instagram on Wednesday

Her older sister Reta Saffo, who is understood to be estranged from the rest of her family, said she saw Kate's tragic death coming.

Saffo told DailyMail.com that Kate struggled to cope with her celebrity status, which only made her suspected bipolar disorder worse. She added that her sister had been planning to kill herself for a long time before she hanged herself on Tuesday.

'My little sister Katy was a precious, precious little person,' Saffo told us. 'Genuine in almost every way.

'Just dear - but she was surrounded by YES people, for far too long, therefore she did not receive the proper care for what I believed to be (and tried numerous times to get her help for) bipolar disorder... stemming from her immense celebrity.'

Kate's brother Earl angrily hit back at the claims, saying it was a shame certain people were 'leaking false, speculative information'.

Kate is survived by her five other siblings, sisters Missy, Ann, Eve, Reta, and brother Earl.

Her daughter Frances is thirteen years old.

If you need support, please call Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255 or chat online here
A prisoner serving a life sentence for a brutal murder is to have a sex-change operation costing the taxpayer 20,000.

Paris Green was born Peter Laing but has identified as female since 2011. She was jailed for life in 2013 for killing Robert Shankland.

Green and two accomplices lured Mr Shankland, 45, to her flat, tied him up and tortured him for several hours, beating him so badly they left a footprint on his neck. They also sexually assaulted him with a rolling pin.

Paris Green was born Peter Laing but has identified as female since 2011 and is now to undergo gender reassignment

Green, 26, began her sentence of at least 18 years at Cornton Vale womens jail in Stirling, Scotland, but was moved after reports that she was having sex with female prisoners in her cell.

Now  to the fury of her victims family  she is to receive full gender reassignment surgery paid for by the taxpayer. Green will be transported hundreds of miles from her cell to a hospital in England under constant guard.

Last night, Mr Shanklands sister, Pauline Bell, 46, said: She should not be getting the operation on the NHS. Its not lifesaving treatment. She took somebodys life away and destroyed a family.

Robert Shankland was tortured for several hours and beaten so badly it left a footprint on his neck. He was also sexually assaulted him with a rolling pin

She destroyed my mums life and now she is being given this treatment so she can feel better?

The Prison Service says its about human rights  but she took away someones human rights in the worst possible way. Ive got absolute sympathy for transgender people. Let them have the operation. But not her.

Mr Shanklands mother, Mary, 74, said: Green doesnt know the meaning of the word remorse. She shouldnt get the operation, especially when so many people need vital treatment on the NHS  and theyre not getting it. But the authorities are jumping through hoops for her.

Writing from the womens wing of HMP Edinburgh, Green confirmed to The Mail on Sunday: I am having the op, and pretty soon. The letter has went out [sic] to the surgeon asking him to take on my case.

As Peter Laing, Green spent much of her childhood in care. In 2011 she officially changed her name to Paris Green. Two years later, while waiting to be sentenced for Mr Shanklands murder earlier in 2013, she wrote to her mother complaining she had nothing to wear to court and worrying about having no make-up.

Judge John Morris told Green and her co-defendants at the trial: It beggars belief you could act towards another human in this way. You left the victim, even in death, without any dignity.

Most Scots undergoing gender reassignment on the NHS are sent to the private Nuffield Hospital in Brighton.

Green was convicted along with Kevin McDonagh and Dean Smith in 2013

A judge told Green that ;beggars belief you could act towards another human in this way'

That would mean a 1,000-mile round-trip for Green, who would require a 24-hour guard for several days.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: We cannot discuss individual cases but if a request is made by the NHS for surgery for one of the prisoners it is treating, we would not and could not stand in the way.

A former prisoner with Green said: When I first went in she looked, talked and acted like a woman.

'But she had a spell where her behaviour changed. It seemed she was having doubts, had stopped taking the hormones and was growing facial hair again. She was also sexually active and everyone knew about it. She had at least one girlfriend.

Another former prisoner said Green was notorious for having sex with other prisoners, adding: He didnt seem to be acting much like a woman to me.

Last week, the MoS reported that prison governors feared that moving sex offenders who are born male but identify as female into womens jails could lead to vulnerable inmates being attacked.
Adriana Barton (pictured) was horrified to find herself in the company of suspected terrorists, war criminals and sex abusers

She's a regular housewife who loves to spend time with her husband and two teenage children.

So Adriana Barton was horrified to find herself in the company of suspected terrorists, war criminals and sex abusers on a list of Interpol's most wanted fugitives.

According to the 'red list' of international criminals, Mrs Barton, from Weymouth in Dorset, was wanted in Costa Rica in connection with fraud.

In fact, officials had mistaken her for a Brazilian-born fraudster with a similar name, but who was six years older. The former teacher, 41, only found out when the list of 25 British suspects was published in newspapers last summer and she received a call from a worried friend who had spotted her photograph.

'When I looked at the page I was shaking,' she said. 'It was robbers, rapists and murderers  and me. I just panicked.

'I felt sick. I started shaking. I put the phone down and started locking the doors and windows.

Barton from Weymouth's details were put on the NCA and Interpol 'Most Wanted' Brions list

Adriana Barton's passport photo (seen middle row third left) was used on Interpol's most wanted list

'I knew I hadn't done anything wrong but I thought the police would be banging on the door and everyone would be looking for me.' She went voluntarily to her local police station, where she was interrogated before being allowed home.

Now Mrs Barton and her husband Mark, a 49-year-old joiner, have employed a lawyer to sue the National Crime Agency (NCA) over the mix-up.

'Britain's FBI' took six months to apologise  and her image still appears on some news websites as a wanted fugitive.

Mrs Barton (pictured left and right) and her husband Mark have employed a lawyer to sue the National Crime Agency

Mrs Barton, who has a 15-year- old daughter and a 13-year-old son, added: 'Interpol and the NCA are supposed to protect people. It makes you worry about trusting the system. It can destroy someone's life. It makes me so angry to think about it.'

Others on Interpol's list included Daren Elarmo, wanted by the US authorities for allegedly sexually abusing children; Harris Binotti, who is wanted for murder in Burma; and William Blackledge, 82, a suspected drug smuggler. The NCA said: 'In 2014 Mrs Barton's photo was incorrectly shared with the Costa Rican authorities for intelligence purposes.

'At no point was the NCA made aware that this intelligence would be made public later. However, we accept that the photograph was shared in error and we have apologised fully to Mrs Barton.'
A masked gunman shoots his victim at point-blank range at dawn on a quiet residential street in the most shocking image yet from 'Wild West Britain'.

Seconds later the gunman had fled the scene in suburban Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in a van.

Police believe the shooting was a 'targeted attack' and yesterday released shocking images from a resident's CCTV camera as they hunted the gunman.

Terror: A masked gunman opens fire in Huddersfield

It is just one more sickening incident in a wave of violent crime sweeping the country.

There have been 74 killings in London so far this year - many of them stabbings - and at one point the capital's murder rate was higher that New York's for the first time.

The latest victim was a man in his 30s who was stabbed to death in Haringey on Saturday night.

In February more than 250 knives and swords were seized across London in just one week and 283 people, many of them teenagers, were arrested for carrying them.

There were more than 23,000 moped-related crimes in London last year  an average of 60 every day.

MPs claim London is like the 'Wild West' because gangs appear fearless about being caught.

In a separate incident, shots were fired early yesterday outside South Woodford Tube station in North East London.

Also yesterday a schoolboy appeared in court accused of seven robberies in an hour-long spree in London while on the back of a moped.

The 14-year-old allegedly punched one victim in the head to get him to hand over his smartphone.

Victim: Zofija Kaczan died after she was mugged in the street

He was remanded into the care of Haringey Council but will live at his parents' home under curfew.

After Friday's shooting in Huddersfield, residents told how they were woken at 4.40am by the sound of gunshots and the screams of the 32-year-old victim, who is believed to live locally.

One said: 'There was someone giving him first aid, applying pressure to a leg wound. It took about 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. He had lost a lot of blood.' The victim is now in a stable condition in hospital.

Comedian Michael McIntyre talks to a police officer after he was violently robbed of his 15,000 Rolex watch by a gang of moped riders in Golders Green last week

On Friday afternoon, a 16-year-old schoolboy was stabbed in South-West London. A gun was later found at the scene. The victim was taken to hospital by air ambulance. Two teenagers and a 58-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Later on Friday, a woman in her 30s had acid thrown at her while she was walking along a busy street in Brentford, East London. A 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.

An array of knives collected at Bethnal Green Police Station by police officers, including an enormous blade with its handle wrapped up seemingly to improve the grip (centre)

Tower Hamlets Police discovered this shocking silver meat cleaver with a red handle

Two of the knives seized this week by London officers in just 24 hours. The 'zombie' sword (left) was confiscated in Lewisham on Sunday night and the machete (right) was found in Greenwich on Monday night

On Friday night, a three-year-old girl was found dead at her home in the Rhondda valley, South Wales.

Amelia-Brooke Harris's death is being treated as 'unexplained' by police. Her 37-year-old mother was taken into custody for questioning.

On Thursday night, a 21-year-old man was shot dead in Netherton, Merseyside.

Dashcam footage shows an armed moped robber seconds before he stabs a driver and steals his and his passenger's watches on the North Circular Road in Finchley, London

The attacker leaps onto the driver's bonnet and smashes the windscreen before the attack

The stab wound suffered by the driver, who was stuck in traffic and had his window down at the time of the violent attack

On Monday, comedian Michael McIntyre was robbed of his 15,000 Rolex watch by a group of moped riders while he was picking up his son outside a London school.

Separately, Polish-born Arthur Waszkiewicz, 39, was charged yesterday with manslaughter following the mugging of a 100-year-old woman in Derby. He was remanded in custody.

Zofija Kaczan died in hospital on Wednesday after being attacked last month and her handbag snatched.
Arron Banks (pictured with wife Catya) had three meetings with Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko

Explosive new claims of Russian meddling in the Brexit referendum emerged last night as it was revealed that the millionaire who bankrolled the Leave campaign had a series of secret meetings with Vladimir Putin's UK envoy.

Arron Banks had three meetings with Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, fresh evidence shows, despite previously claiming to have had only a 'boozy lunch' with him.

Leaked emails written by Banks and his Leave.EU right-hand-man Andy Wigmore  both close friends of ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage  allegedly show they were in close contact with Russian officials throughout the referendum campaign and afterwards.

Former Ukip donor Mr Banks is also said to have given Russian officials telephone numbers for members of Donald Trump's presidential transition team, just days after he and Mr Farage visited Trump Tower in the wake of the shock US election result.

The cache of messages will be considered by the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, which is investigating Russia's attempts to subvert democracy with 'fake news'.

Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore last night set the stage for an electrifying hearing of the inquiry on Tuesday, vowing that they would give evidence to committee chairman Damian Collins about their emails being 'hacked'.

Mr Banks wrote on Twitter that the messages had been 'stolen' and added: 'At this rate I'll be attending @DamianCollins on Tuesday as planned!'.

He had previously vowed not to attend the hearing, branding the committee a 'partisan witch hunt' and accusing it of 'collusion' with pro-EU campaigners.

Mr Wigmore also tweeted Mr Collins yesterday: 'Fill your boots and all from #hacked emails, surely not legal? See you on Tuesday.' He tagged Mr Banks in the message.

Last night Mr Collins told The Mail on Sunday: 'The concern we have is there seems to be evidence of very close contact between Leave.EU and the Russian embassy during the referendum campaign, far greater than they have previously admitted to.

Banks and Nigel Farage meet President Donald Trump at the Trump Tower in NYC

'We will be questioning Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore about this.'

Tuesday's showdown will coincide with crucial votes in the Commons on Brexit. Theresa May will attempt to stop rebel Tory MPs defeating the Government by backing amendments that would keep Britain in the Single Market or a customs union with the EU.

The Government and the intelligence services are likely to face calls to investigate the new evidence of contact between the Brexiteers and Putin's officials.

Just last month MI5 chief Andrew Parker branded the Russian government the 'chief propagandist' in a campaign to undermine Western democracies.

Mr Banks, who is married to a Russian, has previously claimed his only contact with Russian officials came at a Ukip conference in 2015 when a man called 'Oleg' invited him to a private meeting with the ambassador.

'Our host wanted the inside track on the Brexit campaign and grilled us on the potential implications of an Out vote for Europe,' Mr Banks wrote in his book, Bad Boys Of Brexit.

He said 'diplomatic relations improved' when the Russians produced a bottle of vodka that had been 'made for Stalin personally'.

The new claims of closer contact between Mr Banks and Russia will raise fears among Leave backers that Brexit will be discredited in a welter of sleaze allegations.

Banks previously claimed to have had only a 'boozy lunch' with Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko (pictured)

The Government and the intelligence services are likely to face calls to investigate the new evidence of contact between the Brexiteers and Putin's (pictured) officials

Last week MPs took the rare decision to vote to order Dominic Cummings  mastermind of the official Vote Leave campaign  to give evidence to the same committee over claims that he broke election spending rules.

Mr Cummings, former confidant of Cabinet Brexiteer Michael Gove, had said he would not attend. There have also been claims that Brexit campaigners misused personal data obtained via controversial firm Cambridge Analytica in order to target voters.

The Electoral Commission watchdog is already investigating whether or not Mr Banks breached finance rules over Brexit campaign donations.

His meetings with Moscow's man in London are not the only suggestion of a Russian link to Brexit.

This newspaper exposed last year how the pro-Brexit Legatum Institute helped Mr Gove and Boris Johnson press Mrs May for a 'hard Brexit'.

Secretive billionaire Christopher Chandler, who founded the think-tank, angrily denied any Russian link.

But last month he was accused in the Commons of being a suspected Russian agent with links to money-laundering. Mr Chandler was said to be an 'object of interest' to the French, who suspected him of 'working for Russian intelligence'  claims he strongly denied.

But his attempt to shrug off another Russian link was undermined when it emerged that his brother Richard Chandler's company, Clermont, said in a pamphlet that the brothers placed their own director on the board of Russian energy giant Gazprom, then teamed up with Putin to launch a management coup. Clermont has since withdrawn the statement and said it was only a shorthand description of events.

Fake news commissar blamed the UK for Skripal affair

By Jonathan Petre

Delivering his carefully crafted taunts with perfect manners and a chuckle, he is eerily reminiscent of a James Bond villain.

Russias ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, has been a key part of the Kremlins disinformation campaign against Britain during the escalating war of words over the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

When Britain accused Russia of the attempted murder of former double agent Sergei and his daughter in Salisbury, he not only denied the claim but turned the tables by insinuating that British scientists could have been involved.

Russias ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, has been a key part of the Kremlins campaign against Britain during the escalating war of words over the Skripal incident

The suave 63-year-old diplomat suggested it was highly likely that British scientists had a supply of the military-grade poison Novichok at their nearby Porton Down chemical-warfare facility because they had identified the cause of the poisoning so quickly.

But MPs were unimpressed, accusing Mr Yakovenko of doublespeak and comparing him to Comical Ali, the former Iraqi propaganda chief, when they questioned him later in front of the Russia all-party parliamentary group.

Suggesting that UK security services were behind the incident in March, Mr Yakovenko said Russia had been blamed but British authorities admitted they had no suspects.

The UK saw Russia as enemy number one, he claimed, adding: The people dont buy this kind of policy.

But Tory MP Bob Seely told him: People treat you like they treated Comical Ali  someone who is great entertainment value who relies on conspiracy theories.

The legally trained deputy minister in Russias Foreign Affairs department, who has been ambassador in the UK since 2011, has also suggested Yulia was being manipulated by the British authorities after her release from hospital. But she replied she did not wish to avail myself of the services of the Russian embassy. Mr Yakovenko later suggested that Britain had kidnapped her and her father.

Among his other fake news triumphs was his embassys message to Russian tourists visiting Britain to be aware that British agents may plant foreign objects in their luggage.

Its embassy told visitors: Given the Russophobia in British society artificially imposed by the authorities, it is necessary to avoid conflict situations with the local population.

A Whitehall source said at the time: Were frankly astonished  it is pure fake news.
Donald Trump suffered a cringe-worthy moment when he greeted the US ambassador to Canada with an incredibly awkward kiss.

The hilariously misjudged kiss was caught on video as the president greeted officials after arriving in Quebec, Canada for the G7 summit on Friday.

Saying hello to US Ambassador Kelly Craft he held her arm and leaned in for a cheek kiss, but his lips failed to land on her cheek.

After landing in Quebec, Canada on Friday Trump greeted US Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft with a hilariously awkward kiss, pictured above together

The president shook her hand and went in for a cheek kiss, but hilariously failed touch her cheek and furiously pouted into the air instead

The president disembarked his plane Friday and was met by a line of officials who he greeted with a firm handshake.

But Trump saved the best for last and greeted Craft with a side kiss-turned-disaster when he failed to peck her at all, and puckered at the air instead.

Craft leaned, waiting for the kiss to land on her cheek, as the president furiously pouted.

Craft and Trump awkwardly bumped cheek to chin before moving on.

Speaking at the summit on Saturday, Trump called for Russia to be brought back into the G7, dismissing the annexation of Crimea as 'something that happened a while ago' which shouldn't stand in the way of peace.

The ambassador leaned in waiting for the cheek kiss, but when he failed to make contact they awkwardly bumped heads

Trump shook the hands of a long line of people who greeted him, but saved the peck for the Ambassador

'I have not spoken to Vladimir Putin for quite a while. It has been discussed and some people quite like the idea of bringing Russia back in,' he said.

'This used to be the G8, not the G7,' he added.

Soon after he headed out to Singapore where he will meet with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un later in the week.

'I will be on a mission of peace and will carry in my heart the hearts of millions of people, all over the world,' he said before his journey.

He described the meeting as a rare opportunity for Jong-un to do something 'great' for his people and the world and said he felt 'confident' he the talks would end well.

'I really believe that he's going to do something positive for his people, for himself, for his family,' he said.
President Bashar al-Assad has launched a furious attack on Britain, America and their allies, accusing them of deliberately prolonging the civil war in Syria.

Dismissing Theresa May as a colonialist and a liar, the Syrian leader claims Britain even helped stage Aprils notorious chemical attack in the suburb of Douma and that its actions are giving support to the Islamic State terror group.

Today, in a rare and defiant interview, a man widely regarded as a pariah for his repressive regime  and widespread accusations that he has used chemical weapons  refuses to accept an iota of blame.

Instead, he places responsibility for the duration of the seven-year conflict squarely at the feet of Britain and America. Western powers, he says, should get out of Syria and allow the bloodshed to end.

Assad is in an outspoken mood  and believes he has good reason to be confident. Today, for the first time in six years, his forces are in full control of the Syrian capital while, thanks to the support of Russian and Iranian allies, rebel fighters and IS are firmly in retreat.

Defiant: Bashar al-Assad talks to journalist Hala Jaber in his palace in Damascus last week

I have always said that in less than a year we can solve this conflict, its not complicated, he tells me. What has made it complicated is the external interference. The more we advance, the more support terrorists have from the West.

So, we think the more advances we make politically and militarily, the more that the West, especially the US, UK, and France, will try to prolong it and make the solution farther from the Syrians.

Today  in his first interview with a British journalist since 2015  we meet not in the main presidential palace but in a sitting room at the smaller Al-Muhajireen Palace, a relatively modest building in the heart of Damascus. Assad often works here and lives nearby.

Half a million Syrians have been killed since the conflict began in 2011, while 11 million have been forced from their homes in a country whose population stood at 23 million when the conflict began.

Silence has finally replaced the distant thuds of bombing and the roar of fighter jets above Damascuss suburbs.

Yet Assads success on the battlefield has done nothing to repair his standing in the West  not merely as an autocrat, with hundreds of Syrians killed and tortured, but as a man resorting to war crimes to cement his grasp on power. Is his pariah reputation justified?

Assad, in the same measured replies, claims that the support for him proves otherwise. The story youre talking about [is] that this is a bad president; hes killing his own people, and the world is against him, he says. But hes been in his position for seven years while hes fighting everyone in this world. Can you convince your readers of this? Its not logical. Its not realistic. This president is in his position because he has the support of his own people.

We are fighting the terrorists and those terrorists are supported by the British Government, the French government, the American and their puppets.

It is certainly quite a change for a man who was once embraced by the world as a young cosmopolitan leader when, at the age of 34, he became president.

The latest atrocity levelled against the Syrians was a suspected chemical attack on April 7 in Douma, the last rebel-held town in the eastern Ghouta region.

According to reports from the White Helmets, a controversial voluntary organisation, and rebels from Jaish al-Islam, a coalition of Islamist fighters, the Syrian military dropped bombs containing chlorine from helicopters. The reports suggested that as many as 42 were killed with scores of further casualties. Such claims were supported by videos uploaded by the White Helmets, which operate in rebel-controlled Syria, showing images of young children, allegedly choking, being hosed down with water.

Yet according to Assad it is all a pure hoax, a deliberate piece of fake news staged by Britain, France and America in order to justify the later airstrikes. The UK publicly supported the White Helmets that are a branch of Al Qaeda, he says.

We consider the White Helmets to be a PR stunt by the UK. So yes, definitely, it was staged by these three countries together and the UK is involved.

Today he insists no such attack took place, and claims this is supported by the evidence of Western journalists who visited the area and Syrias own intelligence information. It was a lie. After we liberated that area our information confirmed the attack did not take place, he adds. The British Government should prove with evidence that the attack happened, and then they should prove who is responsible. This did not happen.

Britain, America and their allies, in reply, say the authenticity of information on the alleged attack is unassailable.

Following the episode, the US, Britain and France launched airstrikes against Syrian research, storage and military targets to punish Assad for persistent violations of international law.

Not, says Assad, that Theresa May is in any position to lecture other world leaders. Britain and the US attacked Iraq illegally in 2003, he insists. [They] killed millions, caused mass destruction, let alone the number of widows and amputees.

Indeed, he provocatively accuses the UK of invading his own country in the manner of a 19th-century great power  in contrast with the Russian and Iranians who, he points out, were invited in.

This is colonial policy, thats how we see it, and this is not new. They have never changed this policy... that existed in the beginning of the 20th century, he says.

For the US, the UK and France [their presence in Syria] is illegal. It is an invasion, they are breaching the sovereignty of Syria. They dont accept anyone who has a different point of view.

The past five years have proved that I was right. Look at the terrorism spreading all over the world because the chaos that is supported by the West in Syria.

Syria is very independent in its political positions. We work for our national interests, were not a puppet state.

At first, Britains intervention against IS in Syria was limited to air strikes. They continue, but the mission has expanded into both training and supporting local allied troops, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are based in the countrys north and north-east.

British Special Forces are known to be on the ground in Syria. In March the Ministry of Defence announced its first fatality in the fight against IS  a special forces soldier killed by an IED.

I press Assad again on Syrias own responsibility for the conflict. This is a Syrian issue, he says angrily. We dont discuss it with the West. Its not the role of the West to tell us whos responsible in Syria, the president or the government or the army or terrorists. The West is not in a position to tell us, at the end. It interfered in a sovereign country and is responsible [for] the killing, regardless of its lies.

The West supported the war from the very beginning and it supported the terrorists. The West is responsible first of all.

Assads isolation from Britain is all the more pointed as he spent time here in the 1990s, living in London and training as an ophthalmologist at the Western Eye Hospital. London is also the city where his wife Asma was born and grew up, the daughter of Syrian parents.

He admits missing the city, but remains guarded. I lived in London, I learned as a doctor, he reflects.

Its impossible for you to live in a city and you dont feel there is a special link with that city or with the people you work with.

But you live sometimes in contradiction; that the same city that you like is the same country thats been attacking your country, which is not good.

How, I ask, would he like to be remembered in history?

It depends on which history, he replies. The Western history? Its going to be skewed; its going to tell lies and lies and lies.

Our history, which I care about, I hope will remember me as somebody who fought the terrorists to save his country, and that was my duty as president.

Iran and Russia, of course, have taken much the same view, and it is their support which has turned the tide of the war in his favour.

Both countries have been heavily criticised for their behaviour at home and abroad, but Assad is unrepentant, insisting that, unlike Britain, they are upholding international law through their presence.

Their politics, their behaviours, their values are not about interfering or dictating; they dont.

With the help of his allies, Assad has set his sights on regaining the areas of the country that remain outside his control  and retaking Syria as a whole.

It remains a formidable task, not least because the Syrian Democratic Forces, a large Kurdish militia group in north-east Syria, is backed by the US.

There are currently around 2,000 American troops in Syria providing training, arms and air support to the Kurdish militia and it is clear that the SDF, which holds the largest area of Syrian territory outside government control, remains the largest obstacle.

Despite warnings from the Pentagon, Assad says that he is willing to use force against them if necessary.
Norman Scott, his legs crossed, one arm thrown casually over the back of his crimson sofa, leans forward to ask his killer question.

So, were you really going to murder me all those years ago? he inquires of reluctant hitman Dennis Meighan, sitting next to him.

It is early morning in Mr Scotts Grade I-listed medieval longhouse on the edge of Dartmoor and The Mail on Sunday is witnessing an electrifying summit.

Getting answers: Norman Scott, right, talks to Dennis Meighan at his home on the edge of Dartmoor

More than four decades ago, Meighan was approached by an associate of former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe and asked to silence his former lover, Mr Scott. Exposure of their relationship in the early 1960s  when homosexuality was illegal  would have ended Thorpes career.

After agreeing a 13,500 fee  140,000 today  Meighan turned the job down and months later he confessed to police. Today, he has agreed to answer Mr Scotts questions as best he can. The two men have never met before.

The fire in the 11th Century stone hearth crackles and spits. A grandfather clock ticks soothingly as we await an answer. Elsewhere in the low-beamed room are photographs celebrating Mr Scotts previous incarnation as a male model. There are pictures of horses, his great passion, and a cluster of King Charles spaniels in Staffordshire china.

Meighan examines the back of his hands then looks Mr Scott dead in the eye. If he is squirming internally, he doesnt show it.

Thats what they wanted, to kill you, to shut you up, he says finally. My brief was to shoot you.

Would I have done it? I dont know, really. I was trying to work out how to get money off them without having to shoot you.

Mr Scott nods: I see.

Meighan: It was never personal.

Mr Scott: That makes me feel so much better.

Sarcasm aside, hearing this  and much more besides  confirms Norman Scotts long-held belief that Thorpe intended killing, rather than simply frightening him.

This was the defence advanced at Thorpes 1979 trial of the century when he was cleared of plotting to kill his former lover.

Dennis Meighan pictured on the left in the late 1970s and Andrew Newton on the right, the second hired hitman

Meighan revealed his extraordinary story to The Mail on Sunday in December 2013. He said he gave detectives details of the conspiracy in 1975 but was ignored. Instead, a false statement exonerating himself and the politician was apparently given to him to sign.

Our report led to a 2016 Gwent Police investigation  codenamed Operation Velum  into these claims which was dropped a year later.

One of the reasons the force cited for taking no further action was the death of Andrew Newton, the second hired hitman  who would have had knowledge of Meighans role. Only Newton hadnt died. This newspaper pictured him returning home from a shopping trip last week.

During their hour-long meeting on Friday, the two men revisited the murder plot and the often fantastical events leading up to it.

People will ask why I wanted to meet him [Meighan], when, after all, he was one of the men being paid to kill me, Mr Scott said. But how else can I start addressing unanswered questions surrounding Jeremy Thorpes role in this and the subsequent cover-up.

The police seem intent on distancing themselves from any further investigation. This is why I had to question Mr Meighan myself.

Mr Scott also asked Meighan about Newton and his motives  and the gun that Meighan supplied for the job. He gave it to Newton, who used it to shoot Mr Scotts dog Rinka. Mr Scott says he escaped only because the weapon jammed when Newton pressed it against his head.

And among the serious matters at hand, there was levity too.

Norman Scott, pictured left, and Jeremy Thorpe, to the right, both pictured outside Old Bailey court

First, the two men exchanged small talk. Its some place youve got here, says Meighan. Thank you, Im glad you like it, replies Mr Scott, ever the courteous host.

Meighan, a self-confessed former small-time criminal from West London, is a barrel of a man who could have featured in the 1980s TV comedy-drama Minder, which was filmed, he says, on my manor. In his youth, he enjoyed getting into fights down the Hammersmith Palais and he amusingly recounts a tale about pilfering lead from Kensington Palace while working as a roofer.

Was he nervous about being questioned by the man he once agreed to kill? Dont be daft, he retorts.

His arrival prompts a volley of barking from Mr Scotts dogs  four Affenpinschers, two English terriers and a rescued pug  which Mr Scott jokes are guarding me.

The two men exchange a cursory handshake then settle down on the sofa. Mr Scott is anxious to know what Meighan was told by Newton and the Thorpe associate  believed to be the Liberal leaders best man David Holmes  about the reasons for the hit.

They said youd been a naughty boy, says Meighan. Mr Scott replies: Theres only one naughty boy in this room. But go on, how had I been naughty?

Meighan: They said you had been talking about him [Thorpe] and going around upsetting him. They just kept going on and on. But I wasnt really interested in hearing it.

Previously, Meighan has told this newspaper that he went to Barnstaple, Devon, where Mr Scott was then living, intent on murdering him if the conditions were right.

Although he made a confession to this effect in 1975, police replaced it with a false statement exonerating him and omitting all mention of Thorpe. This was the cover-up Operation Velum investigated in 2016 but dropped a year later, only to briefly restart when they discovered Newton was alive before closing again last week when he said he couldnt help them.

Today, Meighan is more guarded and says his mission 43 years ago was only to have a look.

Meighan revealed his extraordinary story to The Mail on Sunday in December 2013

You went to Barnstaple, asks Mr Scott. Meighan says: Yeah. I went down there and went in the pub and ordered a light ale and of course everyone looked at me. You must have talked about London people coming after you?

Oh, yes! said Mr Scott, who had been warning for months that he feared a hitman would seek him out.

Meighan: When I walked in everyone shut up and started to look at me. I thought any stranger coming down here is going to stand out a mile. So I went back to London and told Andrew that I wasnt having it and said hed be daft to do it as well.

But it was clear Newton felt he had little choice but to take on the role of assassin. Newtons intentions at this juncture are of great interest to Mr Scott, as the former airline pilot has always claimed that he intended to only frighten him. He asks Meighan if he clearly felt Newton was going to go ahead and shoot me, and he replies: Yeah, he was going to shoot.

Mr Scott: And kill?

Meighan: Yes, he would have done. He was greedy. It was all about the money. Mr Scott sighs and shakes his head. The two men then discuss the terrifying events on a rainy night on October 23, 1975, when on a lonely road edging Exmoor, Mr Scott is certain he survived an attempt on his life.

On the way there, Newton, who pretended to be a private detective hired to protect Mr Scott, asked him to reach down and retrieve some matches from his briefcase.

In complying, Mr Scott unwittingly helped his would-be assassin by handing him a box of bullets.

There were two matchboxes, one contained what sounded like marbles, he recalled. Newton asked me to give him those as well but said there was another box which did contain matches.

Addressing Meighan, he asks: Did the gun you gave Newton [a 1910 Mauser automatic pistol] have small bullets, small enough to fit in a matchbox?

He is told that, yes, the model fired .25-calibre bullets.

I knew it! exclaims Mr Scott. Thats so interesting. It means I actually handed him the bullets used to kill Rinka and to try to kill me. I also remember getting into the car that night and seeing a huge book on Scientology. So was he a Scientologist?

Im not sure, replies Meighan. But he got involved in all sorts of silly things.

Meighan said the gun came from his private collection and was the only one that worked, adding: Mostly they were 17th and 18th Century

Mr Scott: How lovely... They are quite little guns with quite a long, what do you call it? Meighan: Barrel? Mr Scott: Yes, did you ever fire it? Meighan: No. Mr Scott seems gratified that his contention that the Mauser jammed when Newton held it to his temple and pulled the trigger is supported by Meighan. He says: The last memory of him [Newton] is of him shaking the gun in the car headlights, saying, F*** it, f*** it.

Meighan replies: Shaking it? That wouldnt have done much good. And to Mr Scotts consternation, he adds: He should have reloaded it really. Whether that would have done it, I dont know...

Mr Scott says: Well, it was lucky for me that it did jam. Im still here. But it was sad for Rinka... Another thing Ive often wondered is whether the gun had a silencer because I didnt hear a bang when he shot Rinka.

Meighan replies that it didnt have a silencer but would have made a crack sound.

Ah, I see, says Mr Scott.

It was a wild night so perhaps I wouldnt have heard it. Ive often wondered.

Rinka had jumped up at Mr Scott, thinking they were going for a walk, when the bullet hit her head.

Reflecting on what might have happened had the weapon been more powerful, he says: The bullet could have passed through Rinka and hit me.

So thank you for giving Newton a small-calibre gun.

Meighan: Dont mention it.

Of Meighans decision to go public with his claims of a cover-up, Mr Scott said: Im very grateful to you for telling the truth. This [meeting] is strange but Im desperate to find out anything that might keep the case alive, to finally sort it out. Theres so much corruption...

Meighan interjects: The trouble is so many people have died. Will it ever be sorted? Mr Scott says: We can only live in hope.

Additional reporting: Nick Constable and Mark Wood

A scandal that still captivates us all... an analysis by Ian Gallagher

Political scandal, the juicier the better, never fails to captivate the great British public. And few were more sensational than the Jeremy Thorpe affair, as the BBCs recent dramatisation starring Hugh Grant deftly proved.

One of the most extraordinary political tales of the 20th Century, it was rendered all the more intriguing by the stench of an Establishment cover-up, which grew ever more odorous as years passed.

Following a Mail on Sunday report in 2013, Gwent police launched Operation Velum to examine claims of corruption in connection with the original investigation into the plot to murder Norman Scott, the former Liberal leaders lover.

Dennis Meighan told us he was hired to kill Mr Scott on the instructions of a Thorpe associate. His confession was ripped up by police at the time and apparently replaced with one that exonerated both Thorpe and Meighan.

But instead of shining a light on who was behind this claim of frankly outrageous evidence tampering, Operation Velum instead went all out to prosecute Meighan.

Little wonder he kept his mouth shut when detectives tried to interview him again.

Crucially, during Meighans summit with Norman Scott last week, he made clear the murder plot was real. In particular, he is convinced that Andrew Newton, who replaced him as the hitman, would have killed Mr Scott but for a faulty gun.

Before Thorpes 1979 trial, Newton gave evidence for the prosecution and cut himself a deal that made him immune from prosecution. He now says he cant help Gwent police, who are now closing the corruption inquiry. Once again the trail had gone cold.

Mr Scott, meanwhile, who welcomed the renewed interest engendered by the BBCs A Very English Scandal, is looking for a new lawyer.

Ill never give up fighting for justice, he said yesterday.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 8)  Ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is not a party to the arbitration case against the builder of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

"CJ Sereno is not a party to the case, which is between the government and PIATCO. She was hired by government as a lawyer and she accepted the engagement in good faith," said lawyer Jojo Lacanilao.

He said the former Chief Magistrate should not be dragged into the issue on the decision of CA on this case because she was merely "one of the lawyers that helped the government win the case against PIATCO," he added.

Sereno's spokesman is reacting to the Court of Appeals ruling saying the fees paid to the government's private lawyers in its arbitration case are illegal. In its June 4 ruling, the appellate court's Special 11th Division affirmed the lower court's decision that in hiring of local and foreign lawyers, the government violated the "fundamental public policy" on the use of public funds.

It added the government irregularly procured the services of private lawyers including former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. The court said the process did not go through public bidding.

Sereno's earnings in the Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc.(PIATCO) case was one of the issues raised in her impeachment complaint for allegedly not paying the correct taxes.

The total cost of the arbitration proceedings amounted to USD 6 million including litigation expenses and attorney's fees.

The court ruled that there's no justification for the government to hire and engage the services of foreign law firms to represent it in the arbitration. It pointed out the Office of the Solicitor General is more familiar with Philippine laws than the foreign lawyers.

No doubt, it added, the government's arbitration costs and expenses were not only irregular an unnecessary but also "extravagant, excessive, and unconscionable."
Theresa May has sparked a fresh immigration row after ruling out major changes in the wake of the Windrush scandal.

She has set herself on a collision course with new Home Secretary Sajid Javid by appearing to reject an overhaul of how migrants are treated.

The Prime Minister said the public wanted to know that we are dealing with people who come to the country illegally.

Sajid Javid has disowned Mrs Mays pledge to create a hostile climate for illegal migrants by vowing instead to oversee a compliant environment

Her remarks come days after Mr Javid promised a fairer, more compassionate immigration system following the Windrush controversy, during which some Caribbean migrants who have lived in the UK for decades were told they were here illegally.

He has also disowned Mrs Mays pledge to create a hostile climate for illegal migrants by vowing instead to oversee a compliant environment.

But speaking en route to the G7 summit, the PM declined to say if changes were now needed to reform the system.

Mrs May, Home Secretary from 2010 until 2016, stressed that people living in the UK lawfully should not be caught up in illegal immigration controls as some of the Windrush generation were.

But she added: If you talk to members of the public, what they want to know is that we are dealing with people who come to the country illegally.
David and Victoria Beckham arriving at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle for the Royal Wedding

It was, for just a few brief hours, the love split that enthralled the nation.

And no one, it seems, was more surprised than the pair supposedly breaking up.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that when Victoria Beckham saw the social media rumours about her marriage, she jokingly asked husband David, who was away in America at the time: Are you divorcing me?

The designer, who was at home in London when she saw the bizarre claims  described as laughable and embarrassing by their representatives  was said to be bemused but cracked jokes about it with friends.

A friend of the couple said: Victoria was taken aback, but she found the whole thing very funny. They have had a sense of humour about this because its so ridiculous.

They are stunned that so many people have believed it, and also stunned that it so quickly got around. They spoke about it and laughed a lot. They have absolutely no idea where or how it started. Its quite the mystery.

The rumours began on Friday after Victoria, 44, posted a picture of herself on Instagram cuddling her six-year-old daughter Harper, with the caption: So much love.

Shortly afterwards, a high street bookmaker suspended betting on the pair divorcing.

David and Victoria Beckham are said to have found internet rumours of them divorcing

Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the Beckhams will show a united front next month when they appear as a family for the first time in an interview and shoot for Vogue magazine.

As part of celebrations to mark the tenth anniversary of Poshs troubled clothing label, she, David, 43, and their four children  Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper  will be interviewed for the cover feature.

Sources at Conde Nast, the publishing house which owns Vogue, say they expect it to be one of their best-selling issues.

One said: It is such a coup to get the whole family together for one really special interview. It will celebrate Victorias life as a businesswoman but also as a mother and a wife. Everyone is really excited, nobody more so than her.
Donald Trump was accused of snubbing Theresa May for the second time in 48 hours yesterday, as he charged other nations, including Britain, with robbing the US.

The US Presidents latest rebuff to the Prime Minister came when he failed to mention her name as he left the G7 summit after a blazing trade row with fellow world leaders.

Denying claims of a rift, Mr Trump said he got on well with Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau  but omitted to mention Mrs May.

It came a day after he refused to grant her a one-to-one meeting during the two-day event in Canada, and after Mrs May had arrived at the summit to reports that Mr Trump was tired of her schoolmistress tone.

Meanwhile, a photo of the US President in a stand-off with Mrs Merkel and other G7 leaders - including Mrs May - at the summit has gone viral.

The US President (pictured in a stand-off at the G7 in a photograph taken and posted by Angela Merkel's office which has gone viral) snubbed the PM as he PM

Theresa May's alleged 'schoolmistress' tone when speaking to Donald Trump is said to irritate the US president

Downing Street tried to gloss over the incident, making it clear that Mr Trumps controversial visit to the UK in July will not be scrapped  regardless of how hot the trade row with the US gets.

Number 10 sources said the US President was still welcome, stating: It will go ahead, it will happen and it will be great.

It was also said Mr Trump had reaffirmed his willingness to make a trade agreement, telling Mrs May privately: After Brexit, well do a deal.

But he lashed out again after he was criticised for slapping steep steel tariffs on the UK and other key allies  a move that has led to an EU threat to impose retaliatory tariffs on 2.4 billion of US imports.

The US president leaving the G7 summit. He said despite the rows with other world leaders he got on well with them but failed to include Theresa May

Warning EU leaders not to strike back, he claimed the US was like the piggy bank that everyone is robbing, adding: If they retaliate, theyre making a mistake.

Mr Trumps antics brought the curtain down on the most fractious G7 meeting in years. Trying to play down the rifts, the US President said: I would say that the level of relationships is a ten  we have a great relationship. Angela (Merkel) and Emmanuel [Macron] and Justin [Trudeau]  I would say the relationship is a ten.

But there was no mention of Mrs May and, despite name checking Mr Macron, the two leaders were seen in an extraordinary handshake tussle that the French president appeared to win.

In their meeting at the summit, Mr Macron gripped Mr Trump above the elbow before offering his hand.

Mr Trump took it and the pair pumped hands for around five seconds, during which the French president gripped his opposite number so strongly that it left an imprint.

He also winked cheekily as Mr Trump winced.

The incident prompted reports that it was the formers revenge for the way the latter brushed off a fleck of dandruff from his shoulder when they met in the US in April.

Donald Trump and Emmanuel Marcon shaking hands. The tightness of the French president's grip appeared to leave a mark on Trump's hand

Mr Trump, who left the summit early for talks in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, also ruffled feathers when he arrived late for a G7 meeting on boosting gender equality  to clear disapproval from Mrs Merkel and IMF boss Christine Lagarde.

And G7 leaders expressed dismay at Mr Trumps provocative call for Russia to be readmitted to the annual summit meetings, which comes in the wake of the Salisbury poison attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

He said: I think having Russia back would be a positive thing. We are looking for peace in the world  we are not looking to play games.

Despite Mr Trumps early exit, the summit, an annual gathering of the seven biggest economies in the West, was set to conclude last night with a joint communique.
Liberal billionaire George Soros blamed the Trump administration for the current woes in society, adding that 'everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong.'

The 87-year-old, who frequently donates to the Clintons, did not mince his words and accused the President of being 'willing to destroy the world.'

'The bigger the danger, the bigger the threat, the more I feel engaged to confront it,' Soros said Thursday in an interview with The Washington Post.

Geoge Soros claimed that with the Trump Administration, 'everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong'

The 87-year-old Holocaust survivor accused the President of being 'willing to destroy the world'

He had just finished an appearance at the Human Rights Watch conference in Zurich, Switzerland.

'So in that sense, yes, I redouble my efforts,' he added.

Soros was a charitable contributor to the Hilary Clinton campaign, and the billionaire has pushed for heavy donations to various campaign across the globe that push globalism.

But lately, he has been faced with a slew of attacks from the likes of Roseanne Barr to Vladmir Putin claiming things such as him being a Nazi sympathizer and controlling the Democratic Party.

Soros plans to spend roughly $15million in the 2018 elections but has already faced some rejections as several of his bids for district attorneys in California lost their elections on Tuesday

'It makes it very difficult for me to speak effectively because it can be taken out of context and used against me,' Soros stated.

Soros is still in shock that Trump won the election, something he didn't see happening.

'Apparently, I was living in my own bubble,' he said.

Soros plans to spend roughly $15million in the 2018 elections but has already faced some rejections as several of his bids for district attorneys in California lost their elections on Tuesday.

'We ran into a brick wall in California,' he added.

The billionaire describes Trump as a 'marcissist' who 'considers himself all-powerful.

Soros was a charitable contributor to the Hilary Clinton campaign, and the billionaire has pushed for heavy donations to various campaign across the globe that push globalism. The two pictured in 2004

He doesn't agree with fellow billionaire Tom Steyer's efforts to impeach Trump, only believing Democrats capable of doing so with the help of Republicans in Congress.

Soros refused to endorse any candidates for the 2020 Democratic primaries for president.

He was adamant, however, to voice his discontent for Senator Gillibrand of New York.

He felt that her work to push former senator Al Franken to resign after several women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct was 'in order to improve her chances.'

Soros, a native of Hungary, has made his fortune by managing hedge funs and betting on currency changes.

He has given away billions to groups promoting human rights and other liberal causes.
So far, the 'zero tolerance' policy, which prosecutes unlawful entry into the US, has separated more than 1,800 families

The incident occurred shortly after the Trump administration instituted a 'zero tolerance' policy on illegal immigration

Texas authorities believe that Munoz suffered a breakdown when he was separated from his family after entering the US illegally through the Rio Grande

He was discovered lying in a small pool of his own blood with an article of clothing tied around his neck

Marco Antonio Munoz, 39, was found dead on the floor of his Star County, Texas, jail cell on May 13

Marco Antonio Munoz, 39, was found dead on the floor of his Star County Jail cell on May 13

A Honduran father who was heartbroken after being separated from his wife and child at the US border killed himself while in custody last month.

Marco Antonio Munoz, 39, was found dead on the floor of his Star County, Texas jail cell on May 13, lying in a small pool of his own blood with an article of clothing tied around his neck.

Texas authorities believe that Munoz suffered a breakdown when he was separated from his family after entering the US illegally through the Rio Grande, according to a Star County Sheriff's report obtained by The Washington Post.

The incident occurred shortly after the Trump administration instituted a 'zero tolerance' policy on illegal immigration, which seeks to prosecute individuals arrested for unlawful entry into the US.

'If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It's that simple,' US Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters on May 8 while announcing the new White House initiative.

The incident occurred shortly after US Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Pictured: June 8,2018) announced the White Houses's new 'zero tolerance' policy on illegal immigration

The 'zero tolerance' policy, announced in early May, has separated more than 1,800 families (Pictured: Border Patrol search undocumented immigrants Feb. 2018)

'We don't want to separate families, but we don't want families to come to the border illegally and attempt to enter into this country improperly,' Sessions added.

Nearly one of every four Border Patrol arrests on the Mexican border from October through April was someone who came in a family, meaning any large increase in prosecutions is likely to cause parents to be separated from their children while they face charges and do time in jail.

So far, the policy has separated more than 1,800 families, according to The New York Daily News.

The Trump administration has taken a hard-line against illegal immigration into the US, a key campaign promise during the 2016 presidential election

A Border Patrol source who spoke to the Post said Munoz had crossed into the US on May 12 with his wife and three-year-old son.

They were apprehended shortly after their arrival in the small border town of Granjeno, Texas, which serves as a common crossing point for immigrants.

After being transferred to a detention facility, the Post reports that Munoz attempted to apply for asylum.

Border agents said Munoz 'lost it' after they informed him they would be separating him from his family, at one point law enforcement resorting to 'physical force to take the child out of his hands.'

The report stated that while Munoz had not attempted to hurt any of the Border Agents, he was described as being in a 'preassault' state because he was so agitated.

As one agent told the Post, he 'had the look of a guy at a bar who wanted to fight someone.'

Munoz remained combative for most of the evening, attempting to escape at one point during his detention.

'He yelled and kicked at the windows on the ride to the jail,' the agent added.

Munoz was booked into the Star County Jail at 9.40pm and placed in a padded cell, with guards checking on him every 30 minutes.

At around 9.50am the next day, a guard discovered Munoz unresponsive on the floor of his cell without a pulse.

The guard 'noticed a small pool of blood by his nose,' and 'a piece of clothing twisted around his neck which was tied to the drainage location in the center of the cell,' the Post reported.

Munoz's wife and son were later released from custody, according to the Post. It remains unclear if the family was allowed to claim his remains.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the border patrol, says they are working on new programs to help explain the separation process to the American people and individuals affected by the policy.
Advertising mogul Sir Martin Sorrell was facing a damning allegation last night that he used money from his former company WPP to pay for a prostitute

Advertising mogul Sir Martin Sorrell was facing a damning allegation last night that he used money from his former company WPP to pay for a prostitute.

After weeks of speculation, the authoritative Wall Street Journal reported that a probe into his conduct had investigated the claim. It is unclear what the inquiry had found, the paper said.

Sorrell quit as boss of WPP in April after the company began an investigation into his conduct. He strongly denies the claims. Rumours have swirled about what impropriety Sorrell was being accused of since news of the probe broke in early April.

It is an astonishing downfall for the man who founded WPP in 1985 and bestrode the ad industry like a colossus, earning, at his peak, more than 70 million in one year.

The Mail on Sunday understands that the allegation concerns the spending of several hundred pounds on a prostitute in Mayfair one evening last June.

Sir Martin is bound by terms of a confidentiality agreement he signed when he left WPP in April. He strenuously denies the allegations, which have been circulating in the City for several weeks. WPP had said it was investigating its former chief executive over an allegation of 'personal misconduct'.

Sorrell denies both sleeping with a prostitute and misusing company funds.

Sorrell denies both sleeping with a prostitute and misusing company funds. Pictured: Sorrell with his wife Lady Cristiana Sorrell

His spokesman said: 'He signed a non-disclosure agreement when he stepped down, which precludes him from discussing any of the circumstance surrounding his departure. He has rigidly adhered to this obligation and will continue to do so. As regards the allegations which have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Sir Martin strenuously denies them. He will be making no further comment.'

A friend added: 'He is pretty cheesed off about it, but there is not much he can say. But it has turned out to be a very murky, unpleasant business.

'He has no complaint about there being an investigation if there needed to be one, but he felt it was badly conducted.

'He doesn't want to sit down at the same table with those people on the board again. He feels that at the age of 73, with a second wife and a 15-month-old baby, he didn't want to put up with it. He thought, 'sod it, I'm out of here.' '

Sorrell has been told there is no written dossier about his behaviour but only a verbal report delivered to the board by US law firm Wilmer Hale. The company declined to say what its investigation had involved when Sorrell stepped down on April 14, walking away with 20 million in share options.

He is understood to have decided to quit WPP despite denying the accusation against him because of a breakdown in relations with the board.

Sorrell is thought to be worth 500 million. In 2005 he paid a then record divorce settlement of 29 million to his wife of 33 years, Sandra. He went on to marry economist Cristiana Falcone in 2008.
1. We, the Leaders of the G7, have come together in Charlevoix, Quebec on June 89, 2018, guided by our shared values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and our commitment to promote a rules-based international order.

As advanced economies and leading democracies, we share a fundamental commitment to investing in our citizens and meeting their needs and to responding to global challenges.

We collectively affirm our strong determination to achieve a clean environment, clean air, and clean water.

We are resolved to work together in creating a healthy, prosperous, sustainable and fair future for all.

Investing in Growth that Works for Everyone

2. We share the responsibility of working together to stimulate sustainable economic growth that benefits everyone and in particular those most at risk of being left behind.

We welcome the contribution of technological change and global integration to global economic recovery and increased job creation.

The global economic outlook continues to improve, but too few citizens have benefited from that economic growth.

While resilience against risk has improved among emerging market economies, recent market movements remind us of potential vulnerabilities.

We will continue monitoring market developments and using all policy tools to support strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth that generates widespread prosperity.

We reaffirm our existing exchange rate commitments.

We commit to promoting smart, sustainable and high-quality investments  such as in infrastructure  to boost growth and productivity and create quality jobs.

Economic Growth is fundamental to raising living standards.

We also recognize that economic output alone is insufficient for measuring success and acknowledge the importance of monitoring other societal and economic indicators that measure prosperity and well-being.

We are committed to removing the barriers that keep our citizens, including women and marginalized individuals, from participating fully in the global economy.

We endorse the Charlevoix Commitment on Equality and Economic Growth which reinforces our commitment to eradicate poverty, advance gender equality, foster income equality, ensure better access to financial resources and create decent work and quality of life for all.

3. In order to ensure that everyone pays their fair share, we will exchange approaches and support international efforts to deliver fair, progressive, effective and efficient tax systems.

We will continue to fight tax evasion and avoidance by promoting the global implementation of international standards and addressing base erosion and profit shifting.

The impacts of the digitalization of the economy on the international tax system remain key outstanding issues.

We welcome the OECD interim report analyzing the impact of digitalization of the economy on the international tax system.

We are committed to work together to seek a consensus based solution by 2020.

4. We acknowledge that free, fair, and mutually beneficial trade and investment, while creating reciprocal benefits, are key engines for growth and job creation.

We recommit to the conclusions on trade of the Hamburg G20 Summit, in particular, we underline the crucial role of a rules-based international trading system and continue to fight protectionism.

We note the importance of bilateral, regional and plurilateral agreements being open, transparent, inclusive and WTO-consistent, and commit to working to ensure they complement the multilateral trade agreements.

We commit to modernize the WTO to make it more fair as soon as possible. We strive to reduce tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers and subsidies.

5. We will work together to enforce existing international rules and develop new rules where needed, to foster a truly level playing field, addressing in particular non-market oriented policies and practices, and inadequate protection of intellectual property rights such as forced technology transfer or cyber enabled theft.

We call for the start of negotiations  this year  to develop stronger, international rules on market-distorting industrial subsidies and trade distorting actions by state-owned enterprises.

We also call on all members of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity to fully and promptly implement its recommendations.

We stress the urgent need to avoid excess capacity in other sectors such as aluminum and high technology.

We call on the International Working Group on Export Credits to develop a new set of guidelines for government supported export credits, as soon as possible in 2019.

6. To support growth and equal participation that benefits everyone, and ensure our citizens lead healthy and productive lives, we commit to supporting strong, sustainable health systems that promote access to quality and affordable healthcare and to bringing greater attention to mental health.

We support efforts to promote and protect womens and adolescents health and well-being through evidence based healthcare and health information.

We recognize the World Health Organizations vital role in health emergencies, including through the Contingency Fund for Emergencies and the World Banks Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, and emphasize their need for further development and continued and sustainable financing.

We recommit to support our 76 partners to strengthen their implementation of the International Health Regulations, including through their development of costed national action plans and the use of diverse sources of financing and multi-stakeholder resources.

We will prioritize and coordinate our global efforts to fight against antimicrobial resistance, in a 'one health' approach.

We will accelerate our efforts to end tuberculosis, and its resistant forms. We reconfirm our resolve to work with partners to eradicate polio and effectively manage the post-polio transition.

We affirm our support for a successful replenishment of the Global Fund in 2019.

7. Public finance, including official development assistance and domestic resource mobilization, is necessary to work towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, but alone is insufficient to support the economic growth and sustainable development necessary to lift all populations from poverty.

As a result, we have committed to the Charlevoix Commitment on Innovative Financing for Development to promote economic growth in developing economies and foster greater equality of opportunity within and between countries.

We will continue to invest in quality infrastructure with open access.

Given rising debt levels in Low Income Countries and the importance of debt sustainability, we call for greater debt transparency not only from Low Income Debtor countries, but also emerging sovereign lenders and private creditors.

We support the ongoing work of the Paris Club, as the principal international forum for restructuring official bilateral debt, towards the broader inclusion of emerging creditors.

We recognize the value in development and humanitarian assistance that promotes greater equality of opportunity, and gender equality, and prioritizes the most vulnerable, and will continue to work to develop innovative financing models to ensure that no one is left behind.

Preparing for Jobs of the Future

8. We are resolved to ensure that all workers have access to the skills and education necessary to adapt and prosper in the new world of work brought by innovation through emerging technologies.

We will promote innovation through a culture of lifelong learning among current and future generations of workers.

We will expand market-driven training and education, particularly for girls and women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

We recognize the need to remove barriers to womens leadership and equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of the labor market, including by eliminating violence, discrimination and harassment within and beyond the workplace.

We will explore innovative new approaches to apprenticeship and vocational learning, as well as opportunities to engage employers and improve access to workplace training.

9. We highlight the importance of working towards making social protection more effective and efficient and creating quality work environments for workers, including those in non-standard forms of work.

Expanding communication and collaboration between governments and businesses, social partners, educational institutions and other relevant stakeholders will be essential for preparing workers to adapt and thrive in the new world of work.

To realize the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI), we endorse the Charlevoix Common Vision for the Future of Artificial Intelligence.

We recognize that a human-centric approach to AI has the potential to introduce new sources of economic growth, bring significant benefits to our societies and help address some of our most pressing challenges.

Advancing Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment

10. We recognize that gender equality is fundamental for the fulfillment of human rights and is a social and economic imperative.

However, gender inequality persists despite decades of international commitments to eliminate these differences.

We will continue to work to remove barriers to womens participation and decision-making in social, economic and political spheres as well as increase the opportunities for all to participate equally in all aspects of the labor market.

Our path forward will promote womens full economic participation through working to reduce the gender wage gap, supporting women business leaders and entrepreneurs and recognizing the value of unpaid care work.

11. Equal access to quality education is vital to achieve the empowerment and equal opportunity of girls and women, especially in developing contexts and countries struggling with conflict.

Through the Charlevoix Declaration on Quality Education for Girls, Adolescent Girls and Women in Developing Countries, we demonstrate our commitment to increase opportunities for at least 12 years of safe and quality education for all and to dismantle the barriers to girls and womens quality education, particularly in emergencies and in conflict-affected and fragile states.

We recognize that marginalized girls, such as those with a disability, face additional barriers in attaining access to education.

12. Advancing gender equality and ending violence against girls and women benefits all and is a shared responsibility in which everyone, including men and boys, has a critical role to play.

We endorse the Charlevoix Commitment to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Abuse and Harassment in Digital Contexts, and are resolved to end all forms of sexual and gender-based violence.

We strive for a future where individuals human rights are equally protected both offline and online; and where everyone has equal opportunity to participate in political, social, economic and cultural endeavors.

Building a More Peaceful and Secure World

13. We share a responsibility to build a more peaceful and secure world, recognizing that respect for human rights, the rule of law, and equality of opportunity are necessary for lasting security and to enable economic growth that works for everyone.

The global security threats we face are complex and evolving and we commit to working together to counter terrorism.

We welcome the outcome of the international conference on the fight against terrorist financing held in Paris April 25-26, 2018.

Foreign terrorist fighters must be held accountable for their actions.

We are committed to addressing the use of the internet for terrorist purposes, including as a tool for recruitment, training, propaganda and financing, and by working with partners such as the Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism.

We underscore the importance of taking concrete measures to eradicate trafficking in persons, forced labor, child labor and all forms of slavery, including modern slavery.

14. Recognizing that countries that are more equal are also more stable, more peaceful and more democratic, we are resolved to strengthen the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

Gender-sensitive measures that include womens participation and perspectives to prevent and eradicate terrorism are vital to effective and sustainable results, protection from sexual and gender-based violence, and preventing other human rights abuses and violations.

15. We commit to take concerted action in responding to foreign actors who seek to undermine our democratic societies and institutions, our electoral processes, our sovereignty and our security as outlined in the Charlevoix Commitment on Defending Democracy from Foreign Threats.

We recognize that such threats, particularly those originating from state actors, are not just threats to G7 nations, but to international peace and security and the rules-based international order.

We call on others to join us in addressing these growing threats by increasing the resilience and security of our institutions, economies and societies, and by taking concerted action to identify and hold to account those who would do us harm.

16. We continue to call on North Korea to completely, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle all of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles as well as its related programs and facilities.

We acknowledge recent developments, including North Koreas announcement of a moratorium on nuclear testing and ballistic missile launches, a commitment to denuclearization made in the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration  assuming full implementation  and the apparent closure of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site on May 24 but reiterate the importance of full denuclearization.

The dismantlement of all of its WMD and ballistic missiles will lead to a more positive future for all people on the Korean Peninsula and a chance of prosperity for the people of North Korea, who have suffered for too long.

However, more must be done and we call on all states to maintain strong pressure, including through full implementation of relevant UNSCRs, to urge North Korea to change its course and take decisive and irreversible steps. In this context, we once again call upon North Korea to respect the human rights of its people and resolve the abductions issue immediately.

17. We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing behavior, to undermine democratic systems and its support of the Syrian regime.

We condemn the attack using a military grade nerve agent in Salisbury, United Kingdom.

We share and agree with the United Kingdoms assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation was responsible for the attack, and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.

We urge Russia to live up to its international obligations, as well as its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to uphold international peace and security.

Notwithstanding, we will continue to engage with Russia on addressing regional crises and global challenges, where it is in our interests.

We reiterate our condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea and reaffirm our enduring support for Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

We maintain our commitment to assisting Ukraine in implementing its ambitious and necessary reform agenda.

We recall that the continuation of sanctions is clearly linked to Russias failure to demonstrate complete implementation of its commitments in the Minsk Agreements and respect for Ukraines sovereignty and we fully support the efforts within the Normandy Format and of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for a solution to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

Should its actions so require, we also stand ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase costs on Russia.

We remain committed to support Russian civil society and to engage and invest in people-to-people contact.

18. We strongly condemn the murderous brutality of Daesh and its oppression of civilian populations under its control.

As an international community, we remain committed to the eradication of Daesh and its hateful ideology.

In Syria we also condemn the repeated and morally reprehensible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime and by Daesh.

We call on the supporters of the regime to ensure compliance with its obligation to declare and dismantle remaining chemical weapons.

We deplore the fact that Syria assumed the Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament in May, given its consistent and flagrant disregard of international non-proliferation norms and agreements.

We reaffirm our collective commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention and call on all States to support the upcoming Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) special Conference of States Parties and to work together to strengthen the ability of the OPCW to promote the implementation of the Convention.

We call upon those who have yet to do so to join the International Partnership Against the Use of Chemical Weapons.

We call for credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance in Syria, facilitated by free and fair elections held to the highest international standards of transparency and accountability, with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate.

19. We remain concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that could escalate tensions and undermine regional stability and the international rules-based order.

We urge all parties to pursue demilitarization of disputed features. We are committed to taking a strong stance against human rights abuse, human trafficking, and corruption across the globe, especially as it impacts vulnerable populations and we call upon the international community to take strong action against these abuses all over the world.

We welcome the recent commitments made by Myanmar and we pledge to coordinate efforts to build lasting peace and support democratic transition in Myanmar, particularly in the context of the ongoing Rohingya crisis, to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access and the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of refugees and displaced people.

We are deeply concerned about the lack of respect for human rights and basic democratic principles in Venezuela, as well as the spiraling economic crisis and its humanitarian repercussions.

We express our concern at the continuous deterioration of the situation in Yemen and renew our call for all parties to fully comply with international humanitarian law and human rights law.

20. Recognizing the threat Irans ballistic missile program poses to international peace and security, we call upon Iran to refrain from launches of ballistic missiles and all other activities which are inconsistent with UNSCR 2231  including all annexes  and destabilizing for the region, and cease proliferation of missile technology.

We are committed to permanently ensuring that Irans nuclear program remains peaceful, in line with its international obligations and commitments to never seek, develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.

We condemn all financial support of terrorism including terrorist groups sponsored by Iran.

We also call upon Iran to play a constructive role by contributing to efforts to counter terrorism and achieve political solutions, reconciliation and peace in the region.

21. We remain concerned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially in the light of recent events.

We support the resumption without delay of substantive peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at achieving a negotiated solution that ensures the peace and security for both parties.

We stress the importance of addressing as soon as possible the dire and deteriorating humanitarian and security situation in the Gaza strip.

22. Africas security, stability, and sustainable development are high priorities for us, and we reiterate our support for African-led initiatives, including at a regional level.

We reiterate our commitment to work in partnership with the African continent, supporting the African Union Agenda 2063, to realize Africas potential.

We will promote African capabilities to better prevent, respond to, and manage crisis and conflicts and to strengthen democratic institutions.

We reiterate our commitment to the stabilization, unity and democracy of Libya, which is key for the stability of the Mediterranean region and of Europe.

We support the efforts of the Special Representative of the UNSG Salame in pursuing an inclusive political process founded on his Action Plan and we encourage all Libyan and regional actors to uphold their constructive engagement as outlined in the June 2018 UNSC Presidential statement. We support the efforts of the Presidency Council and the GNA to consolidate State institutions.

Working Together on Climate Change, Oceans and Clean Energy

23. A healthy planet and sustainable economic growth are mutually beneficial, and therefore, we are pursuing global efforts towards a sustainable and resilient future that creates jobs for our citizens.

We firmly support the broad participation and leadership of young people, girls and women in promoting sustainable development.

We collectively affirm our strong determination to achieve a clean environment, clean air, clean water and healthy soil.

We commit to ongoing action to strengthen our collective energy security and demonstrate leadership in ensuring that our energy systems continue to drive sustainable economic growth.

We recognize that each country may chart its own path to achieving a low-emission future. We look forward to adopting a common set of guidelines at UNFCCC COP 24.

24. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union reaffirm their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement, through ambitious climate action, in particular through reducing emissions while stimulating innovation, enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening and financing resilience and reducing vulnerability, as well as ensuring a just transition, including increasing efforts to mobilize climate finance from a wide variety of sources.

We discussed the key role of energy transitions through the development of market based clean energy technologies and the importance of carbon pricing, technology collaboration and innovation to continue advancing economic growth and protect the environment as part of sustainable, resilient and low-carbon energy systems, as well as financing adaptive capacity.

We reaffirm the commitment that we have made to our citizens to reduce air and water pollution and our greenhouse gas emissions to reach a global carbon-neutral economy over the course of the second half of the century.

We welcome the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution titled 'Towards a Global Pact for the Environment' and look forward to the presentation of a report by the Secretary-General in the next General Assembly.

25. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union will promote the fight against climate change through collaborative partnerships and work with all relevant partners, in particular all levels of government; local, Indigenous, remote coastal and small island communities; as well as with the private sector, international organizations and civil society to identify and assess policy gaps, needs and best practices.

We recognize the contribution of the One Planet conferences to this collective effort.

26. The United States believes sustainable economic growth and development depends on universal access to affordable and reliable energy resources. It commits to ongoing action to strengthen the worlds collective energy security, including through policies that facilitates open, diverse, transparent, liquid and secure global markets for all energy sources.

The United States will continue to promote energy security and economic growth in a manner that improves the health of the worlds oceans and environment, while increasing public-private investments in energy infrastructure and technology that advances the ability of countries to produce, transport, and use all available energy sources based on each countrys national circumstances.

The United States will endeavor to work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently and help deploy renewable and other clean energy sources, given the importance of energy access and security in their Nationally Determined Contributions.

The United States believes in the key role of energy transitions through the development of market-based clean energy technologies and the importance of technology collaboration and innovation to continue advancing economic growth and protect the environment as part of sustainable, resilient, and clean energy systems.

The United States reiterates its commitment to advancing sustainable economic growth, and underscores the importance of continued action to reduce air and water pollution.

27. Recognizing that healthy oceans and seas directly support the livelihoods, food security and economic prosperity of billions of people, we met with the heads of state or government of the Argentina, Bangladesh, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Norway, Rwanda (Chair of the African Union), Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Vietnam, and the heads of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, to discuss concrete actions to protect the health of marine environments and ensure a sustainable use of marine resources as part of a renewed agenda to increase global biodiversity protection.

We endorse the Charlevoix Blueprint for Healthy Oceans, Seas and Resilient Coastal Communities, and will improve oceans knowledge, promote sustainable oceans and fisheries, support resilient coasts and coastal communities and address ocean plastic waste and marine litter.

Recognizing that plastics play an important role in our economy and daily lives but that the current approach to producing, using, managing and disposing of plastics and poses a significant threat to the marine environment, to livelihoods and potentially to human health, we the Leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the European Union endorse the G7 Ocean Plastics Charter.

Conclusion

28. We share the responsibility of working together to stimulate sustainable economic growth that benefits everyone, and, in particular, those most at risk of being left behind.

We would like to thank our citizens, civil society, the Gender Equality Advisory Council, the Formal G7 Engagement Groups and other partners for their meaningful input to Canadas presidency.

We welcome the offer of the President of France to host our next Summit in 2019 and his pledge to continue G7 leadership on our common agenda.
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Reclining in a rather plush business class seat, I was holding on tight to my comfort blanket and concentrating on one of my distraction techniques: naming an A to Z of fruit.

Id only reached elderberries when the British airways captain came to say hello.

My fear of flying is well documented and he wanted to make sure I was as comfortable as I could be aboard his Dreamliner from Nashville back to London Heathrow.

Kay is pictured here being given a tour of the Dreamliner flight deck. She flew on the 787 from Heathrow to Nashville and back

British Airways has recently joined forces with upmarket retailer The White Company to provide luxury bedding and amenity kits onboard. Pictured is the carrier's business class cabin on board the Dreamliner

Captain Hand was armed with his iPad, programmed with the planned route back across the Atlantic avoiding any pockets of turbulence. His calm, gentle reassurance was suitably soothing.

As Captain Hand shook my hand... and headed for the cockpit, I lessened the grip on my comfort blanket and began to tentatively explore the contents of the rather impressive sleep bag.

British Airways has recently joined forces with upmarket retailer The White Company to provide luxury bedding and amenity kits onboard.

There were lots of fun things that I hadnt seen before including a padded mattress topper for the seat, a soft day blanket and a duvet that was big enough for me to get lost under.

No, Kay isn't naked in this picture (left), it's just a very big White Company pillow. Right are some of the freebies dished out to passengers

I had several interviews scheduled for the moment I arrived back in Blighty so the second the seatbelt signs were switched off the attentive crew furnished me with a bottle of water and made sure I was ready for bed.

If I wanted to wake up for breakfast then I should let them know. If Id rather be nil by mouth til wed landed, that was absolutely fine too. The award-winning menu did look tempting but sleep time was at a premium.

The newly configured club world Dreamliner cabin means all the seats are suitably secluded, but for added exclusivity Id recommend seat 3E. Its a little cocoon sheltered from other passengers by the concertina screens the moment the safety briefing has finished. If thats already taken 3A and 3K are also winners, window seats and you dont have to clamber over sleeping fellow passengers when you need to visit the loo!

Kay explains that she got 'a padded mattress topper for the seat, a soft day blanket and a duvet that was big enough to get lost under'

All smiles: Kay is pictured here relaxing in the Concorde Room at Terminal 5 ahead of the flight to Nashville

BA is the only European airline to fly direct to Nashville, one of the fastest growing cities Stateside. Pictured is a Dreamliner about to touch down at London Heathrow

BA has had its fair share of criticism of late. Sometimes, rightly so. But with industrial action now firmly in its contrails, the airline has invested 400m focusing on the lucrative, premium cabin customer.

New routes have been added and the flag carrier is the only European airline to fly direct to Nashville, one of the fastest growing cities Stateside.

Few native Nashvilleans remain in the Music City making room for more than 100 people a day moving to the capital of Tennessee. There are plenty of Brits among them including the son of a Yorkshire rag and bone man, Andrew Clancey. His edgy boutique - Any Old Iron - has caught the eye of superstars including Beyonce and Lady Gaga.

Andrew says hes delighted with the introduction of the new direct route.

Nine hours out from London Heathrow and only around seven back to the capital. Not only does it make the return journey easier to Yorkshire, the five days a week route also brings plenty of curious travellers right to the heart of the city.

The transatlantic flights I took were absolutely rammed. Come soon and bring your dancing shoes.
Europe has some enthralling coastlines - and there is no better way to explore them than by foot.

But where to start? Allow TravelMail to guide you along a selection of some of the most magnificent coastal hikes, including a jaunt through the remotest corner of Iceland and a magical ramble along England's longest marked footpath.

Scroll down for six walks that will take your breath away.

EDGY WILDERNESS

Rugged beauty: Madeira's Ponta de Sao Lourenco offers sensational coastal walks

Madeiras finger-shaped peninsula, Ponta de Sao Lourenco, marks its easternmost point and offers a sensational six-mile hike, with plenty of ups and downs. In addition to passing high above rocky coves and along stark cliffs that plunge into the Atlantic Ocean, youll be surrounded by more than 200 species of flora and fauna.

Look out for dazzling displays of mauves, pinks and whites. There are views of sister island Porto Santo to the north and the serrated outline of Desertas Islands to the south-east.

HOW TO DO IT: Madeira Choice (madeirachoice.com, 01768 721040) offers four nights at the Quintinha Sao Joao in Funchal from 698 pp.

IBIZAS CELEB CIRCUIT

Stunning: Watch the sun set over the Es Vedra, a huge limestone rock on Ibizas south-west coast (above)

The six-mile Es Vedra walk snakes its way around Ibizas south-west coast. Start at tranquil Es Cubells, leading to expansive views of the bay and villa where actress Ursula Andress lived in the Seventies.

The road soon fizzles out, turning into a precarious path along the cliffside.

Youll be rewarded with the sight of Cala Llentrisca, a pristine cove accessible only by boat or foot. Take a quick dip here, before the path continues up the valley.

At the trails highest point, 1,200 ft above sea level, watch the sun set with the final rays illuminating Es Vedra, a huge limestone rock. Parts of the 1958 Hollywood South Pacific were filmed here.

HOW TO DO IT: Walking Ibiza (walkingibiza.com, 0800 088 5499) offers private Es Vedra walks from 200.

BRITISH COAST CALLS

Magical: Sunset from the South West Coast Path at Cape Cornwall near Land's End

The South West Coast Path, Englands longest marked footpath, stretches 630 miles from Minehead to Poole.

The whole thing would take a month or longer, but one of the most dramatic sections hugs the Exmoor coastline, from craggy Foreland Point to the Valley of Rocks via Lynmouth and Lynton. Its a glorious four-mile walk.

Because of its 19th-century origins as a coastguard patrol route to restrict smuggling, the footpath in places runs perilously close to the edge.

This is a magical corner of Exmoor. Legend has it that the spiky rock formations, with names such as Ragged Jack and Devils Cheesewring, are the work of the devil.

HOW TO DO IT: Bay Valley of Rocks Hotel, Lynton (bayhotels.co.uk, 01598 752349) has double rooms from 79 pp half-board.

WILD ICELAND

Natural beauty: Hornstrandir Nature Reserve (above) is situated on the northernmost peninsula of Iceland

In the remotest corner of Iceland, where Arctic foxes are increasing in numbers despite a harsh landscape, the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve provides spectacular walking country. This wilderness has few marked footpaths, so most visitors walk with a guide.

A boat crossing from the town of Isafjordur cuts through the choppy water en route to the deserted village of Saebol, the start of a ten-mile hike.

You may catch the wonderful display of minke whale breaching in the bays icy waters, particularly in summer. The last inhabitants packed their bags in the Fifties, leaving flora and fauna to thrive.

HOW TO DO IT: Discover The World (discover-the-world.co.uk, 01737 886275) offer a full days hike in Hornstrandir from 244 pp (June to August).

ITALIAN CLIFF HANGER

Sophisticated: The small village of Amalfi is known for its beautiful pastel-coloured houses

The sparkling Amalfi coastline, with its precipitous cliffs and pastel-coloured fishing villages, offers a world-class coastal trek: the eight-mile Walk Of The Gods. Carved into the high cliffs, the route goes west, offering astounding views towards the Bay of Salerno and island of Capri.

Passing under huge limestone cliffs and through forest and meadows, eventually you reach the hamlet Nocelle. Dont miss the old stairway fringed by wild flowers descending to sophisticated Positano.

HOW TO DO IT: Explore! (explore.co.uk; 01252 8836100) includes this walk in its Amalfi Coast Walking holiday  1,095 pp, including return flights, seven nights and most meals.

BEAUTIFUL CRETE BEACHES

Grab your walking boots: The Samaria Gorge in south-west Crete stretches for ten miles

Two hikers enjoying the great outdoors

The Samaria Gorge stretches for ten miles through the white mountains in south-west Crete and is arguably the islands most popular tourist attraction.

Start at Agia Roumeli  reached only on foot or by boat  and walk east from this tiny hamlet towards Loutro, another pretty fishing village.

As the path wriggles around the coast, a good spot to rest is Agios Pavlos, named after the small 10th-century Byzantine church built on the beach.

Its just one of many unblemished beaches along the route, before the eight-mile walk ends at Loutro.

HOW TO DO IT: Cachet Travel (cachet-travel.co.uk, 020 8847 8700) offers this walk in its seven-night Western Crete guided walking holiday, from 985 pp.
This bright, lively destination was recently named one of the worlds friendliest cities.

It matches the Scottish capital Edinburgh for top-class museums, and adds to its appeal with giant street murals, acres of green space, good food, music and the exquisite legacy of designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Gareth Huw Davies gives his top tips on how to spend a weekend in this sparkling city

DAY 1

Modern marvel: The Riverside Transport Museum was designed by Zaha Hadid

MORNING

Bustling, pedestrianised Buchanan Street is regarded by many as Britains finest shopping street. Many big names are here, occupying tall, proud Victorian buildings. Branching off it is Ingram Street, Glasgows answer to Bond Street.

If you come by train, your tour starts around here. Central and Queen Street stations are both nearby.

A good place to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), who created some of the citys most distinctive buildings, is his first creation  the former headquarters of the Glasgow Herald newspaper on Mitchell Street. Restored as The Lighthouse, it houses Scotlands Centre for Design and Architecture. Its worth a visit for an exhibition on Mackintosh, and to see the helix-shaped staircase.

Walk up Buchanan Street, past the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and turn left into the citys other famous way, Sauchiehall Street. A big attraction here, and a good place to stop for refreshment, is the Willow Tea Rooms and Salon de Luxe (willowtearoomstrust.org). It reopens on July 2, refurbished to Mackintoshs original design.

You could walk on west, but the route is across the busy M8. A more peaceful alternative is to take the subway  an attraction in itself and an easy way to get around the city centre and West End. Single tickets cost from 1.50 (spt.co.uk).

Go from Cowcaddens station two stops west to Kelvin Bridge, for Eusebi Deli and Trattoria (152 Park Road), my favourite place for focaccia or a slice of pizza. For an evening meal try their Pasta Laboratory (eusebideli.com).

AFTERNOON

Take a stroll south across Kelvingrove Park, created by Sir Joseph Paxton, better known for the Crystal Palace. On its far edge is one of great public art collections, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (glasgowlife.org.uk). Glasgow solved the problem of how to make museums and galleries appeal to all by making this and all its collections lively, inviting and free. Theres a suspended Spitfire, paintings by French Impressionists and the Glasgow Boys, Scottish wildlife, prehistoric animals, Egyptian relics, and yet more Mackintosh. Its a ten-minute walk to the new Riverside Museum of Transport (or take the 100 bus), designed by Zaha Hadid. This striking building, under a jagged, silvery roof, with a vast glass frontage on to the river, opened in 2011. Inside its a riot of trams, old cars, locomotives, a bike race high above your head, and war heroes.

Nearby is the new Science Centre, dominated by the 400ft-high Glasgow Tower, one of the worlds few fully rotating buildings.

A way to join up many of the sites Ive mentioned is on a sightseeing bus tour (citysightseeingglasgow.co.uk). The commentary on my bus from a real guide was wise, engaging and jolly.

Back in central Glasgow, find out why this is a Unesco-designated music city, the largest music economy in the UK after London. There are live performances every night, from Scottish Opera at Edington Street (scottishopera.org.uk) to rock and electronica.

I stayed the night at the Grand Central Hotel. Recently restored, it is one of the citys most beautiful buildings.

DAY TWO

Educational: The Science Centre is another major attraction for visitors to Glasgow

MORNING

The glittering Burrell Collection, one of Britains top galleries, is closed until 2020 for a makeover, so I recommend a trip out to the tranquil House For An Art Lover in Bellahouston Park.

It opened in 1996, inspired by the original plans of Mackintosh. To get there, take the train from Central Station to Dumbreck (six minutes). Then its a ten-minute walk.

After heading back to the city, take the City Centre Mural Trail. Street artists have brightened up tenements and hoardings around derelict land. Depicted on a massive scale are a fierce-looking tiger, a floating taxi, and a sunken Dalek in the Clyde.

Then squeeze in time for a tour of the Glasgow School of Art (gsa.ac.uk) in Renfrew Street for the exhibition of Mackintoshs furniture. The designers original building over the road, partly burned down in 2014, reopens next year.

A good lunch spot is McCune Smith Cafe (3 Duke Street), named after James McCune Smith, a student in the city and the first African-American to gain a medical degree. (mccunesmith.co.uk).

AFTERNOON

The Wellington statue with cone (above) - his mount even sports one too

Theres a different pulse to the citys East End. Begin with a laugh, and spot the traffic cone always adorning the Duke of Wellingtons statue, next to the Gallery of Modern Art, just east of Buchanan Street. In the 1980s a cone mysteriously appeared on his head. Ever since, whenever a cone is removed, a new one appears. His mount often gets one too.

Afterwards take the 263 bus to Glasgow Green, another of the great city parks. The big draw is the Peoples Palace, with an exhibition celebrating Glasgows industrial past.fsci

Continuing on, the next, and newest, East End attraction (take the CG1 bus from Megan Street to Sorn Street, then ten minutes on foot) is the remarkable Cuningar Loop Woodland Park, created from an urban wasteland in a loop in the River Clyde. It has paths, boardwalks and places to spot nature. (scotland.forestry.gov.uk).

Glasgow bursts with home-grown culinary talent. I like The Gannet (thegannetgla.com), housed in a once-derelict tenement building (1155 Argyle Street). Staff serve small bar plates and bigger dishes, at prices unthinkable in London. And all of the dishes contain Scottish ingredients only.

If The Gannet is full, there are plenty of alternatives. The Finnieston (1125 Argyle Street) is great for seafood and bespoke beers, and the Crabshakk (1114 Argyle Street), serves crab and lobster from the Western Isles.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)  President Rodrigo Duterte needs "more help" in understanding the South China Sea dispute, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Friday.

"There appears to be an urgent need for our President to require a fuller briefing from his people as shown, for instance, by his reactions to developments in South China Sea and, in particular, the West Philippine Sea," del Rosario said in a statement.

The West Philippine Sea areas lie within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the country, as stated in the July 2016 arbitral ruling.

Del Rosario said Duterte should consider consulting with Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, whose expertise on the South China Sea "is clearly unequalled."

Carpio was part of the Philippine delegation to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that argued for and won the country's case against China.

"Our President may want to consider having his people closely coordinate with the Acting Chief Justice on matters related to the South China Sea," Del Rosario said.

Carpio on Friday said the Philippines can file another case against China at the international arbitral tribunal over the alleged harassment of Filipinos fishing in Scarborough Shoal located within the Philippines' EEZ.

Del Rosario urged the Duterte government to work on submitting a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly requesting China and the international community "to abide and implement" the arbitral ruling.

China has refused to acknowledge the arbitral ruling and continues to claim almost the entire South China Sea. Duterte has repeatedly said the country cannot afford to go to war against China, but he promised to bring up the arbitral ruling with the East Asian giant during his term.

Why Duterte needs briefing

Del Rosario cited several instances when Duterte showed lack of understanding on the South China Sea and the Philippines' overlapping claims with China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

"The most recent illustration was the harassment of Philippine troops in Ayungin Shoal, of which the President had no knowledge," del Rosario said.

Duterte, in a June 6 press briefing, said he was not aware of the Chinese Navy's harassment of Filipino troops on Ayungin Shoal off Palawan.

This contradicts an earlier statement made by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano saying Duterte "had strong instructions" and the country filed a diplomatic protest citing the incident.

Del Rosario also expressed concern over Duterte's downplay of the country's loss of control over Sandy Cay, a disappearing sand bar, west of Pag-asa Island in the South China Sea.

"Our President seemed to dismiss Sandy Cay as merely a sand bar, not worth protesting," Del Rosario said.

He echoed Carpio's earlier statement that "if China acquires sovereignty over Sandy Cay, it can now claim Subi Reef as part of the territorial sea of Sandy Cay, legitimizing China's claim over Subi Reef and removing Subi Reef from the continental shelf of the Philippines."
She was an actress before launching a reality career on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

And now Kyle Richards has revealed her daughter Portia is looking to follow in her footsteps.

The 49-year-old television star recently talked toPage Six about how she feels when her 10-year-old goes out for auditions.

Dynamic duo! Before her stint on reality television, Kyle Richards was an actress first, and now apparently her daughter Portia is looking to follow in her footsteps. The duo are pictured in 2016

'Portia is the only one who wants to act and its very weird for me to take her to auditions,' admitted the mother-of-four.

'It takes me back in time, all [of] the sudden, Im my mom and shes me,' she said next, no doubt referring to her own acting career.

Kyle launched her Hollywood journey in earnest back in 1975, when she landed the role of Alicia Sanderson Edwards in the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie.

Real tears: She's known for her antics on the hit Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Iconic: Kyle launched her Hollywood journey in earnest back in 1975, when she landed the role of Alicia Sanderson Edwards in the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie

She would go on to star in numerous other shows, including the famed medical drama ER.

Portia seems to be enjoying the process according to her mom, who revealed that 'she just has such a good attitude about it and shes very good at it, shes screen tested [and] she gets callbacks all the time but she hasnt booked it yet so now I start getting like, is she going to start [getting] sad or nervous? But she just goes and doesnt even ask about it again so I think she thinks this is the job.'

Apparently the constant auditioning has actually been more taxing on Kyle, who has to wait with a group of other mother's while Portia is 'in the room.'

She has range! She would go on to star in numerous other shows, including the famed medical drama ER

'Ill take her to auditions and Im sitting with all these moms and its really awkward too because [theyll recognize me from] Housewives, so Im like, "hello," I get so nervous  Im embarrassed at how I act,' she conceded.

Meanwhile, Kyle is continuing pursuing her own path in Hollywood, as she served as producer on the new Paramount Network show American Woman.

The comedy is based off of her unconventional childhood growing up in the 1970s and stars Jennifer Bartels, Mena Suvari and Alicia Silverstone.
They're known for being a glamorous couple.

So it came as no surprise to see Faye Brooks, 30, and Gareth Gates, 33, were sartorially in sync as they attended the Diva Awards at The Waldorf Hilton Hotel in London on Friday.

Posing up a storm on the red carpet, the handsome couple worked their angles as they snuggled up to one another.

Two's company: Faye Brooks, 30, and Gareth Gates, 33, were sartorially in sync as they attended the Diva Awards at The Waldorf Hilton Hotel in London on Friday

Showing off her fabulous figure, Coronation Street beauty Faye oozed glamour in a strapless fishtail gown that clung to her every curve.

The nude garment perfectly complemented her bronzed complexion, whilst a pair of nude peeptoe heels boosted her petite frame.

Faye finished off the look by styling her glossy raven locks in loose waves that she slung over one shoulder, framing her pretty features.

Gareth also cut a stylish figure for the event, rocking a lilac crushed velvet suit that he teamed with black loafers.

Dressed to impress: Showing off her fabulous figure, Coronation Street beauty Faye oozed glamour in a strapless fishtail gown that clung to her every curve

Gareth and Faye met in 2012 when starring in West End musical Legally Blonde, the former Pop Idol star later divorced his ex wife Suzanne Mole, to whom he had been married with for four years.

Gareth denied accusations that he cheated on his wife but revealed in a statement released at the time of the split that the couple 'grew apart'.

The former flames, who had been an item for 10 years, raise their young six-year-old daughter Missy together.

Tanned and toned: The nude garment perfectly complemented her bronzed complexion, whilst a pair of nude peeptoe heels boosted her petite frame

Brunette beauty: Faye finished off the look by styling her glossy raven locks in loose waves that she slung over one shoulder, framing her pretty features

Faye and Gareth were no doubt enjoying the actress' downtime following her intense filming schedule and commitments to Coronation Street.

The brunette's character Kate Connor, who is loved-up with Brooke Vincent's Sophie Webster, is swept up in a secret love affair with Bhavna Limbachias Rana Nazir.

Faye narrowly missed out on a British Soap Award nomination for her role in the intense love affair earlier this month, while co-star Bhavna picked up a nod.

Dressed to impress: Gareth also cut a stylish figure for the event, rocking a lilac crushed velvet suit that he teamed with black loafers

The soap star confessed to the Evening Standard it is really important to be 'comfortable' with both of her co-stars as she has to kiss them 'a lot'.

She explained: 'We have to kiss a lot so to be comfortable with her is really important and I cant take that for granted.'

Faye, who has been a Corrie regular since 2015, divulged she is really proud they are telling 'real stories' on the cobbles.

Three's company! Faye and Gareth were joined on the red carpet by Blue star turned Hollyoaks hunk Duncan James - who also starred in Legally Blonde The Musical
Reality dating show Love Island has been accused of producing dumbed down content - but if last night's episode is anything to go by that couldn't be further from the truth.

In the hour-long episode, which aired on Friday night, the Islanders dipped into British politics and discussed Britain leaving the EU.

Student Georgia Steel, 20, kicked off the conversation by quizzing the group about their views on Brexit - before Liverpool model Hayley Hughes, 21, admitted she had no idea what it was.

Confusion: Fans mocked Hayley Hughes, 21, after she asked if Brexit would mean the UK would be left without trees

Ms Steel, from York, explained it meant the UK 'leaving the European Union', but Ms Hughes still looked baffled by the idea.

In the hilarious segment, Ms Hughes then asked if Britain leaving the European Union would result in the loss of trees.

'It would mean welfare, and things we trade with would be cutdown' Ms Steel explained.

Still seemingly confused by the entire topic, Hayley awkwardly asked: 'So that does that mean we won't have any trees?'

Layman's terms: Student Georgia explained it was about the UK 'leaving the European Union'

Ms Hughes, from Liverpool, admitted she had no idea what Brexit was

Often accused of being dumbed down, Love Island surprised fans last night when its female contestants discussed politics

There was a bit of hilarious confusion when West End dancer Samira Mighty misheard Ms Hughes and thought she said 'cheese' rather than 'trees'.

Ms Steel then suggested: 'Doesn't it mean it would be harder to go to Spain and stuff?'

A concerned Ms Hughes replied: 'So it would be harder to go on holidays?'

The group told her 'yes I think so', before a deflated Ms Hughes said: 'Oh I love my holidays.'

Fans watching at home were completely dumbfounded listening to the conversation and took to Twitter to poke fun at the contestants.

'Painful!'Taking to Twitter, one flabbergasted fan wrote: 'Watching the girls talk about Brexit on Love Island has made me lose brain cells' while another described the scene as 'tragic'

Fans watching at home poked fun at the contestants for their hilarious discussion about Brexit (Pictured, 20-year-old student Georgia Steel)

Misheard: West End dancer Samira Mighty mistook Ms Hughes 'trees' comment for 'cheese'

One fan wrote: 'Watching the girls talk about Brexit on Love Island has made me lose brain cells.'

'The girls on Love Island talking about Brexit are stressing me out!' said another, while a third wrote: 'The Brexit conversation on Love Island is the best thing I've seen all year'.

'Hayley not knowing what Brexit was is hurting my ears!!!! Please make it stop!'

'I don't think anything put me through more pain than watching that tragic political conversation'.

One fan believed things may have been different for Ms Hughes and her partner Eyal Booker if he overheard the conversation, writing: 'I defo believe that if Eyal would have heard Hayley's Brexit conversation, he would have chosen Kendall'.

Meanwhile, Adam Collard lived up to his bad boy status as he sent Kendall Rae-Knight home in an intense first eviction.

The 22-year-old from Newcastle left Ms Rae-Knight, 26, in tears after he dumped the shoe shop manager for Welsh solicitor Rosie Williams after admitting their relationship had 'run its course'.

Carrying on: Despite their previous rift, Eyal decided to stick with Hayley in order to 'get to know her better'

On being out of the villa first, Ms Rae-Knight told MailOnline: 'I am a little bit gutted to be out, obviously no one wants to be the first one out. I wouldn't change anything, I'm proud of all the decisions I made and I don't regret anything.'

Discussing her recoupling, she said: 'I don't look back with regret, I didn't pick Adam, he picked me, so I had no control over that. Obviously it wasn't the best situation for Niall [Aslsam], but we still got on as friends.'

Out of the final recoupling, only Niall and Adam chose not to return to their original match up, with Wes opting for Laura, Dr Alex choosing Samira, Jack picking Dani and Eyal sticking with Hayley, despite their previous rift.

But the islanders shouldn't remain too relaxed as three new hopefuls will enter the villa on Sunday - with models Megan Barton-Hanson, Charlie Frederick and LADbible presenter Josh Denzel certain to stir up some drama in the episodes ahead.
She introduced new boyfriend Stuart Earp to her parents last week.

And Gemma Oaten made her romance red carpet official as she joined her beau at the DIVA Magazine Awards in London on Friday.

Snuggled up to one another on the red carpet, the pair looked truly smitten as they posed for pictures.

Cute couple: She introduced new boyfriend Stuart Earp to her parents last week. And Gemma Oaten made her romance red carpet official at the DIVA Magazine Awards in London on Friday

It was no wonder Stuart couldn't seem to take his hands off Gemma as she looked sensational in a floral bardot dress.

Clinging to her curves and highlighting her tiny waist, the garment fell to just below the knee to also offer a look at her tanned and toned pins.

Gemma finished off the look with a pair of baby pink heels, whilst she styled her glossy golden locks in loose waves that framed her pretty features.

Blooming lovely! It was no wonder Stuart couldn't seem to take his hands off Gemma as she looked sensational in a floral bardot dress

The night out marked Gemma and Stuart's first red carpet appearance as a couple, having revealed their romance in April.

However, the loved-up pair were immediately hit with drama, as it was claimed that Stuart was cheating on his fiancee and partner of three years with Gemma.

Kerryann Clive, 23, told The Sun that she only dumped the actor after pictures emerged of the soap star with her boyfriend.

Dressed to impress: Clinging to her curves and highlighting her tiny waist, the garment fell to just below the knee to also offer a look at her tanned and toned pins

Calling her ex 'a liar' Kerryann says she messaged Gemma when she suspected the actress and Stuart were getting close when they starred in panto together.

She said: 'At that point we were still together. I ended it with him on Sunday because of how he has been and stuff.

'I had a feeling because he wasn't texting me that much and was always saying he was busy and so, I just thought it was best if we finished because his head was obviously somewhere else.

Blonde bombshell! Gemma finished off the look with a pair of baby pink heels, whilst she styled her glossy golden locks in loose waves that framed her pretty features

A source close to Gemma told MailOnline: 'Gemma was aware of Stuarts engagement up until December and he told her that he was single.

'If he not been single, Gemma would have categorically steered very clear. Understandably, Gemma is incredibly hurt and hugely upset by the situation.

'Shes got such a big heart and treats everyone with nothing but respect and warmth. She doesnt deserve to be at the receiving end of this.'
They began dating in secret after forming a relationship on The Apprentice last year.

Now Michaela Wain and Harrison Jones have gone public with their romance and have revealed they are expecting their first child together.

Michaela, 33, is five months pregnant, and debuted her baby bump as she supported her beau at the launch of his Equals Health company in London on Friday.

Proud new parents-to-be: Michaela Wain and Harrison Jones have gone public with their romance and have revealed they are expecting their first child together

Showing off her burgeoning bump, the radiant redhead donned a grey midi dress with wrap around detailing across the chest that hugged her pregnancy curves.

Opting not to wear her signature specs, the businesswoman looked virtually unrecognisable, but boasted a healthy pregnancy glow.

Harrison, 27, also looked stylish as he rocked all-black for the launch of his new business venture.

Speaking to The Sun at the event, Michaela revealed the couple are expecting a baby boy and said she was 'very happy' to be having another baby, as she also has a child from a previous relationship.

Michaela's baby news comes after she previously revealed she had suffered several miscarriages, and calls her eight-year-old son - also named Harrison - her 'miracle child'.

Bumping along nicely: Michaela, 33, is five months pregnant, and debuted her baby bump as she supported her beau at the launch of his Equals Health company in London on Friday

Dazzling: Showing off her burgeoning bump, the radiant redhead donned a grey midi dress with wrap around detailing across the chest that hugged her pregnancy curves

Glowing: Opting not to wear her signature specs, the businesswoman looked virtually unrecognisable, but boasted a healthy pregnancy glow

Overjoyed: Michaela revealed the couple are expecting a baby boy and said she was 'very happy' to be having another baby, as she also has a child from a previous relationship

Michaela and Harrison were the third couple to pair off after the most recent season of The Apprentice.

Winner James White was linked romantically to both Jade English and Joanna Jarjue.

And Andrew Brady is said to have had a fling with Anisa Topan, who was engaged at the time of filming. He is now engaged to Caroline Flack.

But both of them slammed these claims when speaking to MailOnline last November.

Business and pleasure: The pair have also launched a construction venture together

Cosy: It seems that, despite not winning the Lord Sugar's 250k investment for their businesses, The Apprentice's Harrison and Michaela have found another partnership

'These are not reports, they are rumours,' Anisa, 36, insisted, adding that she finds the whole scenario funny.

'Im happily married,' she went on. 'I am in PR - I represent very high profile peopl so I know what it's like when things are said about people in the public eye.

'My husband is the most amazing man, and it's not been hard at all to deal with these rumours.

'He and I have conquered mountains, rivers, terminal illness and death together. It's better to talk about this stuff than to not talk about it. I know me, I know him.'

Fling: Andrew Brady is said to have had a fling with Anisa Topan, who was engaged at the time of filming

Adding to this, Andrew said: 'It's all rumour  I couldnt possibly say where it's come from, I dont know. Im happily eating sweets.'

Candy tasting aside, the 26-year-old addressed his decision to keep quiet about it over the weeks, simply stating: 'Me making a comment about it makes it worse.'

At the time, Anisa and 'playboy' Andrew allegedly defied the show's strict sex ban and got together in the multi-million pound Notting Hill home the candidates were residing in during the series.

Earlier this year, the Surrey-based Anisa tied the knot with fiance Tristan, sharing a host of photos on social media along with the caption 'We got hitched!'
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Bachelor stars Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich tied the knot at a 16th-century Italian estate on Thursday night.

The pair, who met on the first season of Channel Ten's The Bachelor Australia, looked joyous as they said 'I do'.

Blonde beauty Anna, wearing a custom-made Steven Khalil gown, looked every inch the blushing bride.

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Happily ever after! Bachelor star Anna Heinrich tied the knot with her TV hunk Tim Robards on Thursday, in a lavish ceremony on a 16th-century Italian estate

With Anna's face hidden behind an ornate veil, the reality stars cemented their union at the Masseria Potenti hotel, among the olive groves of the Puglian countryside.

With Anna looking picture perfect on her special day, Daily Mail Australia takes a look at how the handsome couple compared to other Bachelor weddings around the world.

Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter

In 2003, Bachelorette couple Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter tied the knot in front of the cameras in a no-expense-spared $4 million extravaganza.

'I do': Anna and Tim were Australia's original Bachelor couple, having met on the reality show in 2013

Held at Rancho Mirage in Southern California's Palm Springs Valley, guests described the nuptials as 'surreal'.

The wedding venue was decorated with 30,000 roses, with some of the precious stems flown in from Holland and Ecuador at a cost of $250,000.

In true showbiz style, the wedding included $83,000 worth of custom-made Lehr & Black invitations, a $15,000 wedding cake and nearly 5,000 metres of pink ribbon.

Glitz and glam! Bachelorette couple Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter (above) tied the knot in 2003 in a $4 million extravaganza, which saw a 15,000 wedding cake

Despite the over-the-top celebration, the couple were a reportedly a picture of calm on the day, with bride Trista telling People magazine: '[People keep asking] How are you not freaking out?'

She added: 'We were both really calm because we both know this is right.'

After the nuptials, the couple honeymooned for 10 days in Fiji.

Elegant! American Bachelorette Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum wed in 2012 at the Langham Huntington Hotel

Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum

American Bachelorette Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum tied the knot in 2012 in a more subdued ceremony.

The pair exchanged vows at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena in front of 200 guests.

Far from the showbiz splendour of Trista and Ryan, the couple kept things elegant with monogrammed napkins and subtle personal touches.

Low key! Bachelor In Paradise stars Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert tied the knot at St. Regis Monarch Beach married in January 2016 in front of 150 guests

'The ceremony was simple, sweet and personal,' Ashley told People magazine at the time of the wedding.

Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert

In January 2016, Bachelor In Paradise stars Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert got hitched at St. Regis Monarch Beach in California.

Keeping it low key, the pair opted for a glamorous ceremony in front of 150 guests.

Sentimental! Bachelor in Paradise stars got hitched in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in August 2017

While drawing much less than the 23 million people who watched Trista and Ryan's wedding, the pair's nuptials were televised on Valentine's Day.

Blake Julian and Holly Durst

While not meeting on their seasons of The Bachelor franchise, former Bachelor Blake Julian met his wife, Holly Durst, on Bachelor Pad.

The pair had a very civil ceremony on Glassy Mountain Chapel in the US State of South Carolina, almost 3000 feet above sea level.

To have and to hold! Blake Julian and Holly Hurst had an elegant beach-side ceremony

The pair opted for a tasteful, rural ceremony in the stone chapel, leaving the TV glitz behind them.

Carly Waddell and Evan Bass

Bachelor in Paradise stars Carly Waddell and Evan Bass wed at holiday hotspot Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in August 2017.

The dialed down wedding was an elegant beach-side ceremony which was officiated by the franchise host, Chris Harrison.

The couple chose the spot as it was where they first met.
Jake Ellis has revealed how former Bachelorette Georgia Love reached out to him after his mother's death.

The hunky 31-year-old revealed the former reality star offered him support after he lost his beloved mother Robyn to cancer.

Reported in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, Jake was obviously touched by the support offered by the Channel Ten journalist, who he met on The Bachelorette.

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'She was really supportive': Bachelor in Paradise star Jake Ellis reveals how Georgia Love helped him while he was grief-stricken over his mother's death

'Georgia reached out and she was really good and really supportive,' he said, with Georgia having lost her mother the night before her Bachelorette finale.

Jake, who found love on Bachelor in Paradise with Megan Marx, suffered the heartbreak of his mother Robyn passing away a month after filming wrapped.

The handsome reality star added he flew straight to Brisbane to be with his mother, who battled cancer for 25 years.

Hard times! Jake said the Channel Ten reporter, who also lost her mother to cancer, offer comfort while he was grieving the loss

Former flames: Jake and Georgia met on The Bachelorette

'I spent every day with her until the end,' he said.

'My heart is still broken and it affects me every day.'

Georgia's beloved mother Belinda tragically passed away only one day after she chose Lee Elliott on the show's finale.

In the past, the 28-year-old has been candid about how the devastating loss affected her and her new relationship.

Sad goodbye! Jake lost his mother Robyn to cancer earlier this year, after her brave 25-year battle against cancer

Speaking on The Thinkergirls podcast in April, the Channel 10 journalist explained the visceral response she had to her mother's passing - and how Lee helped.

'Our second night as a couple was spent with him literally holding me as I screamed and shook for hours and hours and hours,' she started.

'I really can't imagine anyone else in the world having been like that with me then,' the brunette said of plumber Lee, 37.

'My heart is utterly broken': Bachelorette Georgia's mother Belinda (above) sadly passed the day after the show's finale

She admitted that it was 'really hard' on the couple's relationship and the pair had a 'very rocky first six months'.

The reality star confirmed her mother Belinda Love had died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 60, via an Instagram post in November 2016.

'My heart is utterly broken. Seven weeks ago we were sipping cocktails in Italy. Seven months ago you weren't even sick. How is it possible you're no longer here?' she wrote to social media.
Matt Damon's planned cameo in Oceans 8 was cut from the film.

The 47-year-old A-lister, who played conman Linus Caldwell in the previous three films in the Oceans series, was not seen in the finished film after previously confirming on multiple occasions he was primed to reprise the role.

The Boston native, speaking with the Toronto Sun in February, downplayed his involvement in the motion picture, which includes an all-star cast of female performers including Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, Awkwafina and Sarah Paulson.

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Cutting room floor: Matt Damon's planned cameo in Oceans 8 did not make it into the movie, months after he raised eyebrows with his remarks about the #MeToo movement

'Its just a very small cameo,' he told the newspaper. 'Im not really in the movie a lot ... this is a movie about the women.'

The star of films such as Goodwill Hunting, The Departed and The Bourne Identity said that he 'only worked for a day' on the movie, as he 'really wanted to support the project and support these awesome actresses.'

While it was not immediately clear what the reason behind Damon's removal was, he fell under fire after a December interview with Popcorn with Peter Travers in which he said there was a 'spectrum of behavior' in terms of sexual harassment in Hollywood.

'I think were in this watershed moment. I think its great. I think its wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories, and its totally necessary  I do believe that theres a spectrum of behavior, right?' he said. 'And were going to have to figure - you know, theres a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?'

Way back when: Damon appeared alongside George Clooney in 2001's Ocean's Eleven

Hat trick: Damon was flanked by Brad Pitt and Clooney in this shot from 2007's Ocean's Thirteen

Damon went on to say that there was an energy 'to kind of get retribution' in the wake of the multiple sexual harassment scandals aimed at Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men in show business, politics and media.

He brought up the cases of Al Franken and Louis C.K. in comparison.

'All of that behavior needs to be confronted, but there is a continuum,' Damon said. 'And on this end of the continuum where you have rape and child molestation or whatever, you know, thats prison. Right? And thats what needs to happen. OK? And then we can talk about rehabilitation and everything else.'

'Thats criminal behavior, and it needs to be dealt with that way. The other stuff is just kind of shameful and gross, and I just think ... I just think that we have to kind of start delineating between what these behaviors are.'

Ensemble: (L-R) Cate Blanchett, Awkwafina, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter and Rihanna posed at the NYC premiere earlier this week

The latest: Damon had filmed a scene for the movie, but it did not make it into the final cut

Following the interview, an online petition surfaced calling for Damon to be removed from the forthcoming film, amassing more than 28,000 signatures in what was dubbed as 'a stand against sexism' citing the Travers interview as well as a call he made to a New York Times reporter in 2004 vouching for Weinstein amid a later (toned-down) report calling into question the behavior of the film exec, who has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Damon denied trying to help Weinstein kill the story, telling Deadline, 'I would never, ever, ever try to kill a story like that ... it's not something I would do, for anybody.'

Damon's Ocean's alum Casey Affleck, last year's Academy Award winner for Best Actor, bowed out of presenting the Best Actress award at this year's Oscars following his settlement of a sexual harassment suit linked to the movie Im Still Here.
They joined forces for hit track Let Me Blow Ya Mind in 2001.

And 17 years later Gwen Stefani and Eve are blowing minds for a completely different reason.

The 48-year-old No Doubt frontwoman was posed up with the 39-year-old rapper as they reunited at the Moschino runway show event in Los Angeles on Friday.

Back together: Gwen Stefani and Eve reunited at the Moschino runway show event in Los Angeles on Friday

It took a while to get them here: They joined forces for hit track Let Me Blow Ya Mind in 2001

The two talented artists looked youthful as ever as they showed off their style at the star-studded fashion gala.

Gwen rocked a black LBD featuring a lacy detailing around the torso.

She added to the racy look with fishnet stockings and matching thigh-high suede boots.

Evergreen: The 48-year-old No Doubt frontwoman was posed up with the 39-year-old rapper

Stunning: Gwen rocked a black LBD featuring a lacy detailing around the torso

Gorgeous: Her signature platinum blonde locks were worn down as she topped off her natural make-up with a swipe of bright red lip

Beaming: She added to the racy look with fishnet stockings and matching thigh-high suede boots

Happy: Gwen took to Instagram to share this selfie

The Just A Girl hitmaker accessorized with multiple bracelets on one of her wrists, gold necklaces, and a black jacket with patches all over it.

Her signature platinum blonde locks were worn down as she topped off her natural make-up with a swipe of bright red lip.

Eve looked fantastic in a green double-breaste jacket with cutouts at the shoulder to show off her tattoos.

Monager: She was quite the social butterfly as she posed up with Kris Jenner

Fun: She posed with a juggling man on stilts

Vibes: The Just A Girl hitmaker accessorized with multiple bracelets on one of her wrists, gold necklaces, and a black jacket with patches all over it

She also sported a black mini dress with matching leather ankle booties.

Her long braided locks were worn down under a large bowler cap as she topped off her complimentary make-up with dark lip.

Gwen was not alone for the occasion as she was joined by her three sons 12-year-old Kingston, nine-year-old Zuma, and four-year-old Apollo.

Family fun: Gwen was not alone for the occasion as she was joined by her three sons 12-year-old Kingston, nine-year-old Zuma, and four-year-old Apollo

Just us: The family sat in the front row

There were plenty of stars at the gala as Paris Jackson was also at the event as she demonstrated her sartorial prowess once again.

The daughter of pop legend Michael Jackson opted to put her lithe legs on display in a rose colored frock that barely skimmed her thighs.

The garment also featured a black lace up portion below the bust, and a plunging neckline.

Stunner! On Friday Paris Jackson demonstrated her sartorial prowess once again as she attended a seasonal Moschino event

Black high heel boots completed her fashionable outfit.

Accessories included a small backpack covered in patches, a white motorcycle jacket slung over her right shoulder and a plethora of necklaces and bracelets.

Her caramel locks were parted roughly on the right, while a smokey eye, blush and some rose lipstick ensured the young beauty was ready for her turn in front of the cameras.

Of course, as Moschino is beloved by the A-list, numerous celebs were on hand to gawk at the new collection.

Not shy! The daughter of pop legend Michael Jackson opted to put her lithe legs on display in a rose colored frock that barely skimmed her thighs
MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris has paid emotional tribute to the late chef Anthony Bourdain.

Anthony, 61, was found hanged in his hotel room in the French village of Kaysersberg on Friday, prompting culinary figures around the world to pay their respects to him.

And chef George joined the ranks of well-wishers on Saturday, as he hailed TV star Bourdain as a 'legend' and a 'great man'.

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Tragic: Masterchef Australia judge George Calombaris has paid emotional tribute to the late chef Anthony Bourdain

He shared a black and white photo of a young Anthony in the kitchen on Instagram on Saturday.

In the caption, he penned: 'We can forget that at the end of the day we are all human.'

'This is sad. A great man we have lost. RIP legend. My thoughts are with you and your family. GC xxx.'

'Legend': He shared a black and white snap of a young Anthony in the kitchen and captioned it: 'We can forget that at the end of the day we are all human. This is sad'

Awful news: Anthony, 61, was found hanged in his hotel room in the French village of Kaysersberg on Friday, prompting culinary figures around the world to pay their respects to him

It comes after George's fellow MasterChef judge Matt Preston also paid his respects to the late star.

Matt, 54, wrote on Instagram: 'One of the best dining companions you could ever hope for, a wise counsel, and a legendary Trugo player to boot.'

He added: 'My thoughts are with his daughter and family. Vale @anthonybourdain.'

'One of the best dining companions you could hope for': It comes after MasterChef judge Matt Preston (pictured) also remembered his late friend Anthony Bourdain

The two enjoyed a friendship forged on a shared love of food and an appetite to explore the world. The two foodies became friends when Matt took Anthony out for dinner.

They cemented their friendship when the Australian native showed his New Yorker pal the culinary delights of Melbourne.

Matt starred in an episode of Anthony's docu-series No Reservations, which saw the pair explore the city's famous food culture, and enjoy a game of Aussie ball game trugo.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Hearald in 2012, Matt said of his companion: 'He is fantastic company, a brilliant raconteur.'

'He has a constant font of stories, he's travelled so well and he thinks very deeply about food. He's also very entertaining.'

Family: Anthony leaves behind 11-year-old daughter, Ariane, and actress girlfriend Asia Argento

Matt added: 'He has a chef's eye and a journalist's enthusiasm for discovering new things.'

The famous cook and TV personality hanged himself in his room at the Le Chambard hotel in Kaysersberg, France, where he was filming an upcoming episode of his CNN show Parts Unknown, according to French media.

His close friend Eric Ripert, owner of New York City's famed Le Bernardin restaurant, found him dead on Friday morning.

The late entertainer leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter, Ariane, who he shares with ex-wife Ottavia Busia.

Although it is yet unclear whether they were together at his time of death, the chef was thought to be dating Asia Argento, an actress he met filming a Parts Unknown episode in December 2016.

For confidential help in the US, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or click here

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)  Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana denied the allegations posed by an opposition lawmaker that the President ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to cease patrolling contested waters.

Magdalo Partylist Representative Gary Alejano, in a press conference earlier Saturday, said that he received classified information that President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered the AFP to cease patrols in the disputed territories in the South China Sea.

"No such order was given," Lorenzana on Saturday told CNN Philippines when asked about the allegation.

AFP Public Affairs Office Chief Col. Edgar Arevalo corroborated Lorenzana's statement.

"For the record, there is no such order coming from the Commander-in-Chief. As a matter of fact, our maritime and aerial patrols continue-contrary to such information allegedly received by the Partlylist Congressman," Arevalo said in a statement.

Alejano refused to name the specific sources of his information, but said that they were military and Palace officials.

These anonymous officials of the armed forces, Alejano said, had raised concerns over the order, which compromises the contested territory with China.

"Isn't that an impeachable offense," Alejano said on the alleged order.

Alejano also said that Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano had only filed one diplomatic protest against China, and not "dozens".

READ: Duterte gov't filed 'dozens' of protests vs. China's activities in South China Sea, officials say

The lawmaker said that there was only one note verbale, which was brought to the residence of Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua on May 28.

CNN Philippines' Rex Remitio contributed to this story.
She was known for her fiery personality on Married At First Sight.

And Ashley Irvin showed off her wild side once again on Saturday, as she attended the Stradbroke Day races in Brisbane.

Turning heads in a plunging ivory minidress, the 28-year-old flight attendant looked a tad bleary-eyed as she chatted animatedly to her friends.

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Having fun, Ashley? Married At First Sight's Irvin looks a tad bleary-eyed as she frolics in VERY plunging minidress at Stradbroke Day races

The blonde beauty certainly took centre-stage in her dress, which featured a flirty tulip skirt and a sheer underlay.

Sticking to a chic monochrome palette, she accessorised with a black feather fascinator and black strappy heels.

Styling her golden tresses in a sleek blowdry, Ashley framed her features with a bold slick of red lipstick.

Monochrome maven: The blonde beauty certainly took centre-stage in her dress, which featured a flirty tulip skirt and a sheer underlay

Chic: Sticking to a chic monochrome palette, she accessorised with a black feather fascinator and black strappy heels

Ashley's outing comes amid rumours that there could be a Married At First Sight all-stars season in the future.

Ashley and her season five MAFS co-star Ryan Gallagher both confirmed that they're keen to sign on should the rumoured spin-off go ahead.

Speaking to Perth Now last week, Ashley exclaimed: 'I would love to be a part of that. It's the first I've heard of it but count me in, absolutely.'

Preened to perfection: Styling her golden tresses in a sleek blowdry, Ashley framed her features with a bold slick of red lipstick

Snap-happy star: Ashley worked her angles as she showed off every inch of her revealing dress in her Instagram Stories

Reality star-turned-comedian Ryan, who was a fan favourite last season, agreed with Ashley.

Jo McPharlin, who failed to find romance with Sean Donnelly, previously told Daily Mail Australia that she'd happily sign on for an all-stars season too.

Returning to MAFS for an all-stars season could be awkward for Ashley, who was recently forced to deny rumours that she slept with Ryan off-screen.

'I have 100 per cent never slept with any of the MAFS people,' Ashley told Daily Mail Australia in May.
She has been storming the stage as an opening act for Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour.

And Camila Cabello pulled out all the stops once again on Friday night at Manchester's Etihad stadium on Friday night.

The former Fifth Harmony star, 21, set pulses racing in a skimpy monochrome ensemble as she opened the show.

Putting on a show: Camila Cabello pulled out all the stops for Taylor Swift's Reputation tour in Manchester on Friday night

Camila flaunted her endless pins in a pair of tiny lace-up shorts, while showing off her quirky sense of style with a elaborately designed striped corset.

Complete with sheer balloon sleeves, and an eccentric bow tie, the Havana hitmaker ensured all eyes were on her as she worked her magic on stage.

The songstress styled her glossy brunette locks into voluminous waves and enhancing her radiant complexion with heavy eyeliner and nude lipstick.

Leggy display: The former Fifth Harmony star, 21, set pulses racing in a skimpy monochrome ensemble as she opened the show

Energetic: The brunette beauty put on a spectacular show as she was joined by a talented dancer, who performed a series of back flips and jumps across the stage

Owning it: Flaunting her lithe legs, the X Factor star paraded her petite frame around the stage as she sung her chart-topping hits, including Never Be The Same and Real Friends

She's back and better than ever: Camila appeared to be in tip-top shape after she suffered from dehydration and was admitted to hospital

The brunette beauty put on a spectacular show as she was joined by a talented dancer, who performed a series of back flips and jumps across the stage.

The X Factor star also showed her dance prowess as she paraded around the stage as she sung her chart-topping hits, including Never Be The Same and Real Friends.

The Bad Things songstress is set to deliver another show-stopping performances at Manchester's Etihad Stadium alongside Taylor on Saturday.

Stunning: Camila flaunted her endless pins in a pair of tiny lace-up shorts, while showing off her quirky sense of style with a elaborately designed striped corset

Her return to the stage comes after she was forced to pull out of the Seattle leg of the tour.

Camila headed straight to the hospital following her performance at the Billboard Awards last month.

'So yesterday after my performance at the billboards, i was feeling really sick and ended up in hospital to get checked out,' she wrote on Twitter.

'They ran lots of tests and everything is fine, but the diagnosis was basically dehydration and I also have a low grade fever -the doctors have told me I really have to get rest otherwise i won't get better.'

Hitting the right notes: The X Factor star also showed her dance prowess as she paraded around the stage as she sung her chart-topping hits, including Never Be The Same and Real Friends

Camila is a former member of The X Factor's Fifth Harmony and split from the girl group back in December 2016 in pursuit of a solo career.

'It was as painful as a breakup, a five-year breakup,' she told Rolling Stone in an interview. 'I don't think there was ever a point where I was like, 'I want to leave because I'm the breakout star."

'If we were in the same situation now, it would probably be fine for everyone to make their own music while being in the group, because I think everyone understands now that you can't limit people. That's why people break free.'

She has since gone on to find international success as a solo artist.

According to the music outlet, Havana is Spotify's most streamed song by a solo female artist.
His wife moved him to tears as she delivered a touching speech while he collected his Lifetime Achievement Award earlier in the week.

And George Clooney couldn't have looked happier as he enjoyed a celebratory dinner at Hollywood's TAO restaurant on Friday night.

Clad in a navy jacket and casual jeans, the acclaimed actor, 57, looked undeniably handsome for his night out on the town.

Looking good: George Clooney, 57, couldn't have looked happier as he enjoyed a celebratory dinner at Hollywood's TAO restaurant on Friday night

Looking bronzed to perfection, George, who wed Amal in 2014, cut a solo figure as he headed to the upscale eatery.

He teamed his low-key, yet trendy ensemble, with a simple black tee and cool shoes.

Given his recent exciting week, the bearded hunk couldn't wipe the smile from his face.

His sighting comes after Amal Clooney, 40, moved her actor husband to tears on Thursday night, when she paid tribute to him as he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute at Hollywood's Dolby Theater.

Handsome: Clad in a navy jacket and casual jeans, the acclaimed actor, 57, looked undeniably handsome for his night out on the town

Trendy: Looking bronzed to perfection, George, who wed Amal in 2014, cut a solo figure as he headed to the upscale eatery

As the human rights lawyer took to the stage at the star-studded ceremony, she spoke publicly for the first time about the couple's one-year-old twins Ella and Alexander  and gushed about the 'joy' they give her.

She said of her Oscar winner husband: 'He is the person who has my complete admiration and also the person whose smile makes me melt every time. My love, what I have found with you is the great love I always hoped existed.

'And seeing you with our children, Ella and Alexander, is the greatest joy in my life. You fill our home with laughter and happiness and thats even before the children have worked out that "da-da" is Batman, a talking fox, and friends with Mary Poppins.'

Her rousing speech came just a day after the twins celebrated their first birthday. During the event, Amal also candidly confessed she had 'resigned herself to life as a spinster' before meeting the superstar five years ago.

Love: This comes after Amal paid tribute to husband George when he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute at Hollywood's Dolby Theater on Thursday

Happy home: The 40-year-old human right's lawyer gushed about the joy of sharing her life with her famous husband and their one-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander

The Beirut-born, Buckinghamshire-raised beauty said: 'I met George when I was 35 and starting to become quite resigned to the idea that I was going to be a spinster.

'Then we met and started hiding out in my London flat and very soon it felt like, no matter what happened, I would never want to be with anyone else.'

'I couldnt sleep when we were apart and Im told that I would display a particular grin and head-tilt when reading his text messages or the letters he would hide in my bag. Five years later, none of that has changed.

'He is the person who has my complete admiration and also the person whose smile makes me melt every time. My love, what I have found with you is the great love I always hoped existed.'

Kiss: The Buckinghamshire-raised beauty showered the Oscar winner with kisses at the event

Amal concluded: 'Im so proud of you, my love. Congratulations on this great honour that youre receiving tonight. Im proud of you, but I also know that when our children find out not only what you have done, but who you are, they will be so proud of you too.'

Her job as a wildly successful human rights lawyer has seen Amal speak in high-profile court cases around the globe, yet she confessed it was harder to speak about her husband to the room than in a court.

She said: 'Its somehow easier for me to address a court on behalf of a detainee, than to speak publicly as I am doing for the first time tonight about my husband. I do so out of immense pride of all he has achieved.

'Here are a few things you may not know about [George]. First, he is a gentleman. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word and in a way that seems so rare these days and perhaps even outdated.'

Course of life: During her candid speech, she also admitted that she'd resigned herself to life as a 'spinster' before she met the Hollywood superstar

'Everyone who knows him, even those who oppose him politically or who have quarrelled with him professionally, will tell you, he has not forgotten his Kentucky manners. On every set I visit, Im told by crew that George sticks up for the most vulnerable.'

Among the stars on hand for the speech were his close pals Cindy Crawford and Rande Crawford, as well as Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Diane Keaton, Cate Blanchett, Jane Seymour, Laura Dern and his former ER co-star Julianna Margulies.

Recently, George - who this week returned from a trip to Italy with his family - praised his 'remarkable' wife Amal for being an 'incredible' mother to their twins, who celebrate their first birthday in a few days time.

He said: 'Amal is sort of this remarkable human being, and now mother, which is something I suppose you should assume she'd be wonderful at as well, but when you see it in person it makes you feel incredibly proud - and incredibly small.'

Glamorous: The couple looked decidedly glamorous as they sat among a host of celebrity pals

And George previously revealed he is eager to instil good values in his children.

He explained: 'I have always felt a great sense of responsibility to other people in the world, but when you have children of your own, you realise you are responsible for their lives in a way you haven't been before.

'And you become conscious that you want to make an example of your own life that they will follow. I want to make sure my children understand they have been given things other children haven't been by accident of birth.

'They could just as easily have been born in Syria and their lives would have been completely different.

Close pals: Among the celebrities in attendance were the couple's close pals Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford, who were seen chatting away with Amal

'It's challenging to remind children who have been born into this glass of celebrity and money to have empathy for people who aren't as fortunate as they are. That's going to be Amal's and my job to teach our children, and it's an important one.'

George's honour highlighted his glittering Hollywood career, which has seen him handed eight Oscar nods, before landing best supporting actor for in 2005 for Syriana and best picture producer for 2012s Argo.

The dashing star shot to fame playing Dr. Doug Ross on TVs ER, before beefing up his acting credentials in movies including Three Kings, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Out Of Sight, the Oceans trilogy, Michael Clayton, The Descendants, Up in the Air, Gravity and Hail, Caesar!.

Atop his glittering acting CV, he has also directed films including Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night, and Good Luck and The Ides of March.

Tying the knot: The couple tied the knot during a romantic ceremony in Venice, Italy, in 2014
He is the latest younger squeeze of Katie Price after her heartbreaking split from husband Kieran Hayler.

And it has been claimed that personal trainer Kris Boyson reportedly posed for saucy photos for an X-rated website four years ago, according to The Sun.

In the alleged images on the adult website, the hunk is said to be posing nearly nude in more than 300 images.

New flame: It has been claimed that Katie Price's new beau, personal trainer Kris Boyson reportedly posed for saucy photos for an X-rated website four years ago, according to The Sun

Hunky: In the alleged images on the adult website from 2012, the hunk is said to be posing nearly nude in more than 300 images (above in 2018)

The reported shots, said to be taken in 2012 when Kris was 24, are accompanied by a caption which reads: 'He has great tan lines and a really cute butt from clearly lots of squats.'

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Katie for comment.

Katie, 40, went public with Kris last month and a friend of his said the hunk hopes their romance can go somewhere.

A source told the website: 'Kris loves the limelight and being linked to Katie is really good for him.

New love: The reported shots, said to be taken in 2012 when Kris was 24, are accompanied by a caption which reads: 'He has great tan lines and a really cute butt from clearly lots of squats'

'He loves thinking he's a celeb so this is right up his street."

Katie was previously left heartbroken by the infidelity of her third husband Kieran Hayler, from whom she finally split this year, despite taking him back after cheating with one of her best friends.

Glamour model Katie met Kris at Sheesh nightclub in Essex in early May, four months into his relationship with 22-year-old Katie.

The new relationship has so far has been a whirlwind.

They have both met the parents and Kris is even working closely with Katie's eldest son Harvey on a personalised fitness programme, she revealed this week.

The new couple were recently pictured holding hands while out in his Kent hometown, just days after they enjoyed a romantic trip to Belgium for her 40th birthday.

Katie also shared a photograph of a bouquet of red roses with a bottle of fizz which appeared to have been bought by her new love interest on the social media platform.

She captioned it as: '40 perfect roses [rose emoji] with sparkles in the middle for my 40th from someone whos actions speak louder than words (sic)'.

Katie has since revealed on her Instagram that she has been 'to hell and back' and has hinted at the 'truth' about what has really been going on in her life recently.
She jetted to the idyllic Puglian countryside with all her closest friends for her lavish wedding to Tim Robards.

And Anna Heinrich ensured she made the most of the getaway, showing no signs of pre-wedding nerves as she larked around with her bridesmaids ahead of the big day.

The 31-year-old criminal lawyer beamed as she posed up a storm in a scarlet bikini, before slipping into floral co-ords while partying with her sister Charlotte Heinrich.

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Just another day in the office! Bikini-clad Anna Heinrich (R) showed no sign of pre-wedding nerves as she larked around with her bridesmaids in candid snaps ahead of her big day

The blonde bombshell proved any last-minute workouts had paid off as she flaunted her enviably toned figure in the sizzling swimwear.

Shielding herself from the Italian sun, she accessorised with a chic wide-brim floppy hat and oversized square-frame shades.

She seemed to be in great spirits as she frolicked around with her pals at the Masseria Potenti hotel.

Loving life: The 31-year-old criminal lawyer seemed to be in great spirits as she posed in floral co-ords alongside her sister Charlotte Heinrich at a pre-wedding dinner on Wedmesday

Sunkissed: Shielding herself from the Italian sun, she accessorised with a chic wide-brim floppy hat and oversized square-frame shades wile larking around at the resort

Anna appeared equally relaxed on the morning of the wedding, and was seen sipping a glass of champagne as she got ready in a slinky lace-edged dressing gown.

As Australia's first Bachelor couple to get married, Tim and Anna pulled out all the stops for their fairy tale Italian wedding.

The reality stars welcomed their guests with a rustic floral reception at the Masseria Potenti hotel in the idyllic Puglian countryside, before treating their loved ones to a delicious Italian-inspired three-course banquet.

As festivities continued into the evening, their nearest and dearest cheered as the loved-up pair unveiled their showstopping first dance - full of unexpected lifts and twirls - to a cover of Frankie Valli's 1967 hit Can't Take My Eyes Off You

Getting ready! On the big day, Anna wore her golden tresses swept off her face in an elegant chignon and framed her features with taupe lipstick and subtly smokey eyeshadow

Practising for the first dance? Anna seemed to be in relaxed spirits as she danced around with a bridesmaid during breakfast

Sweet snaps shared by guests of the big day on Thursday showed Anna looking every inch the blushing bride in her couture Steven Khalil gown, as her father Les walked her down the aisle.

After saying their vows, Anna and Tim beamed as they walked out together hand-in-hand. They looked utterly smitten as they strode through pink confetti, while their friends clapped and cheered.

Tim, a 35-year-old chiropractor and model from Bondi, proposed to Anna with a '$173,000' ring in May last year while on holiday in Western Australia.

The lovebirds first met in 2013 during the first season of The Bachelor Australia. They moved in together in mid-2014, and are now based in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi.

Woman of the moment! Anna slipped into a slinky lace-edged dressing gown and got some Dutch courage with a glass of champagne as she got ready
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As Australia's first ever Bachelor couple to get married, Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich pulled out all the stops for their fairy tale Italian wedding.

The reality stars welcomed their guests with a rustic floral reception at the Masseria Potenti hotel in the idyllic Puglian countryside, before treating their loved ones to a delicious Italian-inspired three-course banquet.

As festivities continued into the evening, their nearest and dearest cheered as the loved-up pair unveiled their showstopping first dance - full of unexpected lifts and twirls - to a cover of Frankie Valli's 1967 hit Can't Take My Eyes Off You.

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Congratulations! As Australia's first Bachelor couple to get married, Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich pulled out all the stops for their fairytale Italian wedding

Sweet snaps shared by guests of the big day on Thursday showed Anna looking every inch the blushing bride in her couture Steven Khalil gown, as her father Les walked her down the aisle.

After saying their vows, Anna and Tim beamed as they walked out together hand-in-hand. They looked utterly smitten as they strode through pink confetti, while their friends clapped and cheered.

The wedding banquet consisted of seafood linguine and meatball orecchiette for starters, with sirloin steak for mains and a choice of tiramisu, ice-cream and ricotta tart for dessert.

The outdoor dining area featured rustic wooden tables decorated with white roses and candles. Instead of name-cards, the Robards chose to write their guests' names on tambourines suspended over their seats.

Here comes the bride! The criminal lawyer, 31, looked radiant as she walked down the aisle arm-in-arm with her father Les

Ecstatic couple! Anna and Tim looked overjoyed as they walked out after the romantic ceremony

Swing it! Their nearest and dearest cheered as the loved-up pair unveiled their showstopping first dance - full of unexpected lifts and twirls - to a cover of Frankie Valli's 1967 hit Can't Take My Eyes Off You

Sweet moment: The couple, who met on the first season of The Bachelor Australia in 2013, looked smitten as they said their vows

Stunning bride: Anna stunned in her couture, sleeveless dress by Steven Khalil that featured intricate beading and a tulle veil

The idyllic venue was given a touch of Italian charm thanks to stunning displays of cherries, peaches and strawberries spilling out of woven baskets.

Tim and Anna did not disappoint for their first dance, with the 35-year-old literally sweeping his new bride off her feet and twirling the 31-year-old in circles in his arms to a cover of the Frankie Valli classic Can't Take My Eyes Off You.

Anna looked absolutely gleeful as she spun around, her dress glittering in the romantic low light, before Tim gently placed her down.

Hop in, Tim! The besotted couple beamed as they sped away from the festivities in a retro red Fiat car

Easy does it! The guests looked on joyfully as Anna and Tim cut the extravagant four-tier wedding cake together

Stylish: Anna's sisters Andrea, 34, and Charlotte acted as bridesmaids. They made sure not to upstage their sister by wearing simple, low-cut white dresses with metallic barely-there heels

Family affair: Anna beamed as she walked down the aisle with her father Les, before posing for a sweet snap with her father and mother Judith (R)

As their guests watched on, the couple then kissed on on the dance floor as if they were the only two people in the world.

THE MENU Starters: Linguine with seafood and orrechiette with meatballs Main: Sirloin steak with herbs or Bream baked in foil with Mediterrenean scents Sides: Three grilled vegetables, baked potatoes with rosemary and salad Desert: A choice of tramisu, fruit tart, cake primitive, home-made ice-cream, ricotta tart with oranges and seasonal fruits Advertisement

Meanwhile, Anna's sisters Andrea, 34, and Charlotte acted as bridesmaids. They made sure not to upstage their sister by wearing simple, low-cut white dresses with metallic barely-there heels.

Anna's lookalike mother Judith exuded elegance on the day, flaunting her trim physique in a Grecian-inspired navy one-shoulder gown.

Criminal lawyer Anna, 31, showed no sign of pre-wedding nerves in the run-up to the ceremony as she hung out with her group of gal pals at the luxurious resort.

The blonde bombshell proved any last-minute workouts had paid off as she flaunted her enviably toned figure in a sizzling coral bikini with studded detail in one joyous snap.

Proving she hadn't scrimped on her holiday wardrobe, Anna later slipped into sizzling floral co-ords for a pre-wedding rehearsal dinner.

Fruity look! The ceremony was given a touch of Italian charm thanks to displays of cherries, peaches and strawberries in woven baskets

Idyllic venue: The outdoor dining area fit in perfectly with the rustic vibe of the Puglian countryside

From day to night: The romantic setting pictured before the banquet (L) and after (R) as speeches were given

Meanwhile, Tim revealed after their nuptials that Anna has taken his last name, gushing proudly on Instagram on Saturday: 'Introducing... Mrs Robards!'

Anna also shared a similar snap of the couple walking through the grounds of the Masseria Potenti hotel on the big day and wrote: 'MRS ROBARDS.'

Anna revealed the couple were initially keen to keep their wedding under wraps until the professional photos had been released.

'We're happy to share it later on, down the track, when we're ready,' she told Stellar magazine.

Idyllic venue: Tim and Anna exchanged vows at the Masseria Potenti, a 16th century Italian farmhouse repurposed into a sophisticated boutique hotel

Here come the boys! Anna's sisters Charlotte (L) and Andrea (R) posed with their partners and their father Les

Social butterfly! Anna seemed to be in great spirits as she mingled with her closest friends at the packed party

ANNA'S STEVEN KHALIL DRESS Anna wore a Steven Khalil gown on her wedding day. Featuring intricate beading and a tulle veil, the bride commanded attention as she walked down the aisle. The couture design appears to be from Steven Khalil's Spring 2019 Romance Ultime bridal collection and features a small ribbon around the waistline and a long train. All of the pieces in the ready-to-wear collection are available in-house and can be ordered within six months, with prices starting from $12,500. The collection, which Khalil says is for the 'ultimate romantic', uses exclusive wool crepe, innovative tulle techniques, custom beading and embroidery, as well as world class laces. Jaw-dropping design: Anna's couture gown appears to be from Steven Khalil's Spring 2019 Romance Ultime bridal collection and features a small ribbon around the waistline and a long train Whimsical creation: The collection, which Khalil says is for the 'ultimate romantic', uses exclusive wool crepe, innovative tulle techniques, custom beading and embroidery, as well as world class laces Advertisement

'We made a decision to put out some of our first photos on social media. For the day itself, we just want to keep it between us and our family and friends because it's a very important day for both of us,' she added.

Tim, a chiropractor and model from Bondi, proposed to Anna with a '$173,000' ring in May last year while on holiday in Western Australia.

The lovebirds first met in 2013 during the first season of The Bachelor Australia.

Anna beat out 24 other single ladies, including new Bachelorette Ali Oetjen, to capture Tim's heart.

Getting ready! Anna wore her golden tresses swept off her face in an elegant chignon and framed her features with taupe lipstick and subtly smokey eyeshadow

Practising for the first dance?Anna seemed to be in relaxed spirits as she danced around with a bridesmaid during breakfast

Woman of the moment! Anna slipped into a slinky lace-edged dressing gown and got some Dutch courage with a glass of champagne as she got ready

Sweet gesture! Anna became emotional as she read a card from one of her bridesmaids. In return for their bridesmaid duties, she gifted them personalised leather purses and pouches of jewellery

More than 1.2million people watched the Bachelor 2013 finale, which saw Tim declare his love for Anna on the clifftop of a Thai resort.

He said on the show: 'I love you. It feels so, so good to finally say it. I want to make you feel special every day. I can't wait to start the next part of our journey together.'

Tim and Anna moved in together in mid-2014, and are now based in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi.

Loving life! Criminal lawyer Anna, 31, showed no sign of pre-wedding nerves in the run up to the ceremony as she hung out with her group of gal pals at the luxurious resort

Making her fans green with envy! Anna and her wedding guests let off some steam on Saturday as they indulged in a pool party

Don't look down! Anna clambered on top of Tim's shoulders as the pair wrestled with another couple at the pool party

Making a splash! Anna and her bridesmaids donned matching green swimwear while Tim opted for tiny red Speedos (L), before the blonde beauty and her pals changed bikinis (R)

INSIDE THE MASSERIA POTENTI Tim and Anna exchanged vows at the Masseria Potenti, a 16th century Italian farmhouse repurposed into a sophisticated boutique hotel. Located among the olive groves and vineyards of the Puglian countryside, the four-star estate boasts a sun-drenched courtyard and a watchtower. In addition to this, guests have access to a swimming pool and a limestone-vaulted reception room filled with flowers. Those lucky enough to have been invited to the wedding stayed at the original outhouses, which have been converted into 17 rustic rooms. Heavenly! Tim and Anna exchanged vows at the Masseria Potenti, a 16th century Italian farmhouse repurposed into a sophisticated hotel All the rooms have their own fireplace, living space and private patio overlooking the gardens and swimming pool. The ornate beds are draped in luxurious Italian fabrics and decorated tastefully with antique wooden furniture. The villa is tucked away just outside the city of Manduria, which has a population of just over 30,000 people. Rooms start at $278 per night but the deluxe suites are believed to go for up to hundreds of dollars a night. Lavish hideaway: The villa is tucked away just outside the city of Manduria, which has a population of just over 30,000 people Advertisement

In April, Anna celebrated her last days as a singleton with a luxury 'La Dolce Vita' themed hen's weekend in Sydney that cost a rumoured $25,000.

Not to be outdone, Tim hosted a buck's bash in New South Wales' Hunter Valley, before flying business class to Las Vegas to celebrate with friends.

The couple arrived in Europe last week ahead of their destination wedding, sharing photos to Instagram in the lead-up to their big day.

They go way back! Anna and Tim met in 2013 during the first season of The Bachelor Australia (L). Anna beat out 24 other single ladies, including new Bachelorette Ali Oetjen, to capture Tim's heart
They are the young Royals who are known for their impressive style.

And Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie looked effortlessly chic as they rode in a carriage to celebrate Trooping The Colour in London on Saturday.

The stylish sisters looked relaxed and happy as they joined Sophie, Countess of Wessex, 53, and her daughter Lady Louise Windsor, 14.

Chic: Princesses Beatrice (above) and Eugenie looked effortlessly chic as they rode in a carriage to celebrate Trooping The Colour in London on Saturday

Green with envy: Eugenie (above) looked relaxed and happy as she joined Sophie, Countess of Wessex,53, and her daughter Lady Louise Windsor,14.

Beatrice, 29, exuded elegance in a blush pink shift dress, paired with a red wicker fascinator topped with a spiral design.

Her glowing make-up look featured smoky shadow and liner, with a fuschia lip.

Her chic sister Eugenie, 28, who is due to wed Jack Brooksbank in October, dazzled in a jade green dress with ruffle detail, and accessorised with a floral printed white hat.

Like her elder sister, she wore smoky eye make-up and finished her look with rose lipstick.

Regal: Beatrice, 29, exuded elegance in a blush pink shift dress, paired with a red wicker fascinator topped with a spiral design

The spectacular Trooping The Colour ceremony, in celebration of Her Majesty's official 92nd birthday, is a traditional summer spectacle watched by thousands.

The Queen, who recently had a successful eye operation to remove a cataract, will watch the Trooping ceremony from a dais in Horse Guards and later inspect the lines of guardsmen in their scarlet tunics and bearskins.

The annual event will see more than 1,000 soldiers taking part in the traditional display of pomp and pageantry. The colour being paraded this year is the flag of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who celebrates his 97th birthday on Sunday, has retired from official public duties and is not expected to attend.

Stylish: Her chic sister Eugenie, 28,who is due to wed Jack Brooksbank in October, dazzled in a jade green dress with ruffle detail, and accessorised with a floral printed white hat

The royal colonels, all on horseback, will accompany the Queen: Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards.

Riding in the ceremony for the first time will be the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

As with previous years, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall are expected to take part in the Queen's carriage procession.

The procession will be accompanied by a Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry, made up of Life Guards and Blues and Royals, in their silver and gold breastplates and plumed helmets.

The massed bands of the Household Division will provide musical backing during the day and also taking part is the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery who, following the parade, will fire a 41-gun salute in Green Park to mark the Queen's official birthday.

Poised: Like her elder sister, she wore smoky eye make-up and finished her look with rose lipstick

Chat: Eugenie smiled as she chatted with her aunt Sophie in the carriage

After the ceremony the royal family will head back to Buckingham Palace and gather on the balcony to watch the RAF flypast.

Among the 23 aircraft taking part are modern jets and historic aircraft, while the Red Arrows will be the finale.

Trooping the Colour originated from traditional preparations for battle. Colours, or flags, were carried, or 'trooped', down the rank so that they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.

In the 18th century, guards from the royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to 'troop the colours' and in 1748 it was announced that the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday.

The Queen's actual birthday was on April 21 when she turned 92.
It's one of the proudest moments of a father's life when he walks his little girl down the aisle on her wedding day.

And Anna Heinrich's father Les Heinrich had that honour at her wedding to Tim Robards on Thursday.

It was an emotional Les who appeared to be teary-eyed as he took the 31-year-old's arm and walked her towards her now-husband.

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Anna Heinrich's father Les sheds a tear as his walks The Bachelor star down the aisle at her lavish Italian wedding with Tim Robards

Les looked smart in a black suit and had an emotional expression on his face as he walked along with Anna by his side.

He added a checkered tie to the ensemble and wore round black-rimmed spectacles to complete the look.

Anna, with her veil over her face, appeared to be just as emotional as her dad.

Beautiful moment: Les looked smart in a black suit and had an emotional expression on his face as he walked along with Anna by his side

Les is close to Anna's groom and last year Tim took to Instagram to share images of Les during a night out together

The reality TV couple tied the knot in front of their loved ones during a beautiful Italian wedding ceremony on Thursday.

On Saturday, a video was shared of their romantic first dance.

The chiropractor literally swept his new bride off her feet, twirling her in circles in his arms.

Mates! Les is close to Anna's groom and last year Tim took to Instagram to share images of Les during a night out together

Stunning! The reality TV couple tied the knot in front of their loved ones during a beautiful Italian wedding ceremony on Thursday

The pair's first dance was to a cover of the Frankie Valli classic Can't Take My Eyes Off You.

The criminal lawyer looked absolutely breathtaking in her couture Steven Khalil wedding dress.

The lovebirds first met in 2013 during the first season of The Bachelor Australia.

Not bad! The criminal lawyer looked absolutely breathtaking in her couture Steven Khalil wedding dress




Kathleen Turner has revealed she avoided being 'preyed on' as a young actress by not living in Hollywood.

The 63-year-old screen legend says she didn't want to be part of a system that made her feel 'lesser'.

'I felt contempt for women in LA. It didn't make any sense. Why would I want to live in an environment that made me less?' she told The Daily Telegraph.

Skipped it: Kathleen Turner has revealed she avoided being 'preyed on' as a young actress by not living in Hollywood

Kathleen instead chose New York as her base, and therefore skipped, 'a lot of that crap women have to go through'.

The actress also believes that because her career blossomed quickly, she was not 'preyed on' like the young 'women who were hoping for opportunities'.

In 1977, then 23, Kathleen landed a role in sexy thriller Body Heat, and became famous overnight.

'Body Heat was a blessing because I went straight to being a leading actor and I didn't have to suffer any of this predatory male behaviour like many young actresses' she told The Guardian this year.

Fast fame: The actress also believes that because her career blossomed quickly, she was not 'preyed on' like the young 'women who were hoping for opportunities'

Lesser: 'I felt contempt for women in LA. It didn't make any sense. Why would I want to live in an environment that made me less?' she said

Big break: In 1977, then 23, Kathleen landed a role in sexy thriller Body Heat and became famous overnight

Star of classic silver screen hits Romancing the Stone and War of the Roses, Kathleen has long been considered one of the great bombshells.

Although she no longer wishes to be seen that way, she is also flattered by the title.

'It doesn't frustrate me that nearly four decades after that film I'm still referred to as a sexual icon. I got over that a long time ago,' she added.

Almost: Kathleen has also revealed just how close she once was to falling in love with her Romancing The Stone co-star Michael Douglas, 74

No deal! The acting legend told Loose Women that the stars were on the verge of an affair on set of the 1984 film, only Michael's wife of six years Diandra to make a visit to set

Kathleen has also revealed just how close she once was to falling in love with her Romancing The Stone co-star Michael Douglas, 74.

The acting legend told Loose Women that the stars were on the verge of an affair on set of the 1984 film, only Michael's wife of six years Diandra to make a visit to set.

'We're in the jungle, and I was feeling rather romantic toward Michael, he was separated from his wife and I was single,' she revealed.

'In walked his wife!' Kathleen revealed. 'At that time she was not his ex, that was that, you don't mess with other women's marriages.'

Long career: The legend has been a star of stage and screen for over 40 years




She was one of the veteran stars of The Real Housewives Of Miami.

But Joanna Krupa returned to her hometown Warsaw in Poland for the casting of the upcoming series Top Model on Friday.

Taking her hosting duties seriously, the 39-year-old exuded elegance in a strapless white jumpsuit which highlighted her impeccable figure.

Hosting duties: Joanna Krupa returned to her hometown Warsaw in Poland as she hosted the casting of the show, Top Model on Friday

The chic garment clung to Joanna's tiny waist before sheathing over her lithe limbs in the form of flared trousers.

Featuring gold detailing on the bust, the model oozed glamour as she took to the stage in the strapless number.

Sweeping her sleek blonde tresses to one side, Joanna complemented the look with subtle touches of make-up and a pale pink glossy lip.

Glam: The 39-year-old exuded elegance in a strapless white jumpsuit which highlighted her impeccable figure

Stunning: The chic garment, which featured gold detailing on the bust, clung to Joanna's tiny waist before sheathing over her lithe limbs in the form of flared trousers

Aside from her work demands, the actress is incredibly loved-up with her businessman fiance following the model revealing the news on social media back in March.

A spokesperson for Joanna told MailOnline: 'Yes they are engaged, that's all for now.'

It has been quite the whirlwind engagement as the news comes just eight months after Joanna split from her ex-husband Romain Zago, 45.

Natural beauty: Sweeping her sleek blonde tresses to one side, Joanna complemented the look with subtle touches of make-up and a pale pink glossy lip

The blonde beauty showed none of the devastating signs of heartache as she well and truly mended her heartache following the split.

The former flames finalised their divorce in August 2017, parting ways for good after four years of marriage together.

Shortly after their heartbreaking split, Joanna confessed she had frozen her eggs as she divulged her hopes to have children in the near future.

'You never know what life will bring,' she told Life & Style Magazine. 'What if that moment comes when you cant have kids? Thank goodness I froze my eggs.'
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)  Five consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) will be able to participate in the peace of talks with the government in the Netherlands in June.

The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 on Friday granted the motions of Benito Tiamzon, Adelberto Silva, Rafael Baylosis, Randall Echanis and Vicente Ladlad to be allowed to travel abroad.

CNN Philippines obtained a copy of the court order on Saturday, signed by Presiding Justice Thelma Bunyi-Medina.

The court said the consultants claim they have "indispensable" roles as part of the NDFP peace panel, which represents communist rebels in talks to end the Communist Party of the Philippines' nearly five decades of insurgency.

The court said informal talks will be held from June 22 to 26, while the formal peace talks are set to resume on June 27 to 30.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said the talks may formally resume in July, while NDFP Chairman Jose Maria Sison said it was initially scheduled for June 28.

The court set several conditions in allowing the NDFP consultants' travel. For one, they should personally and submit themselves to the authority of the court, giving their contact information in the Philippines and abroad.

"Once the peace negotiations are terminated, the respective bonds of the NDFP accused-movants shall be deemed automatically cancelled," the court ruled.

Tiamzon and Silva were also ordered to post a P100,000 bail, as their earlier bail bond was canceled when the court ordered their rearrest in January this year.

They were granted provisional liberty in 2016 to participate in peace negotiations, but the Justice Department requested their arrest after Duterte walked away from the talks in November 2017.

The NDFP consultants were charged with multiple counts of murder for allegedly killing civilians, whose bodies were discovered in 1986 in a mass grave in Leyte. The communist rebels claim these are trumped-up charges.
Australian actor Guy Pearce has opened up about rising to the role of fatherhood later in life.

The 50-year-old is a proud father to one-year-old son, Monte, who he shares with Game of Thrones actress Carice Van Houten.

And despite becoming a dad at an older age than most, the former Neighbours star loves gushing about his son just like anyone else.

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'I have never felt anything like that before': Guy Pearce, 50, gives fans rare insight into life as a father to one-year-old son Monte

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph's BW Magazine, he said: 'I have this little boy that looks at me and tries to tell me whether something is made of metal or it's made of plastic, and he looks at me and wants my approval.'

'I have never felt anything like that before... I'm glad I'm here today and experiencing that.'

The Momento star added that his friends - who are now parents to children in their teens and twenties - have wished him a hearty 'good luck'.

Proud parents: Guy and Game of Thrones actress Carice Van Outen welcomed Monte in August 2016

'He wants my approval': Guy gushed about bringing up his one-year-old son in a rare candid moment

Guy's love of fatherhood might come as a surprise to some, as he had previously brushed off the idea of becoming a dad.

During his 18-year marriage to ex-wife Kate Mestitz, the Hollywood star told The Guardian that he didn't 'need' babies.

'There are enough babies in the world. Besides, I don't think I would be good for babies,' he said in 2007.

After his split from Kate in 2015, the actor said he went through emotional turmoil, penning album The Nomad as a form of therapy.

But meeting Carice and falling in love with baby Monte would appear to have changed his mind.

Heartbreak: Guy split from his ex-wife of 18 years, Kate Mestitz, in 2015 (pictured)

Providing an insight into family life is a rarity for Guy.

He and Carice, 40, are private about their home life.

The couple prefer to keep a low profile at their home in Amsterdam, and have so far not shared any photos of him on social media.

Guy splits his time between the family home in Holland, his base in Melbourne and various filming locations around the world.
Their romance has gone from strength to strength since they were first spotting packing on the PDA in March.

And Megan McKenna and Mike Thalassitis looked closer than ever as they soaked up the sun in Mallorca, Spain on Friday.

The former TOWIE star, 25, and Love Islander Muggy Mike, 25, were the epitome of smitten as they chatted on a lounger before taking a dip in the sea.

Close: Megan McKenna and Mike Thalassitis looked closer than ever as they soaked up the sun in Mallorca, Spain on Friday

Busty: The former TOWIE star, 25, flashed her cleavage in a tiny string bikini

Stunning Megan flaunted her ample cleavage in a tiny string bikini covered in a metallic blue and red bikini.

The tiny top showcased her pert bust and taut midriff while the low-cut bottoms showcased her toned legs and peachy posterior.

The High Heeled Shoes hitmaker wore her caramel flecked brunette locks piled into a high bun while her pretty features were enhanced with a light dusting of make-up.

Toned: Stunning Megan flaunted her ample cleavage in a tiny string bikini covered in a metallic blue and red bikini

Wow factor: The tiny top showcased her pert bust and taut midriff while the low-cut bottoms showcased her toned legs and peachy posterior

Close: The High Heeled Shoes hitmaker wore her caramel flecked brunette locks piled into a high bun while her pretty features were enhanced with a light dusting of make-up

Sunkissed: Megan and Mike were perfectly in sync as they soaked up the sun together

Snap happy; Mike appeared to take a snap of his gorgeous girlfriend as she applied some lipgloss

Leggy: The star flashed her toned legs as she picked up her Louis Vuitton bag

Strapping: Handsome Mike showed off his hunky body and muscular legs in a pair of white swimming trunks

She accessorised with a pair of gold hoop earrings.

Handsome Mike showed off his hunky body and muscular legs in a pair of white swimming trunks.

The pair looked in the first throes of love as they snapped photos of one another before taking a romantic dip together.

Enviable: The stars looked flawless as they walked along on the beach

Chatty: The pair looked relaxed as they chatted on the sunloungers

Leggy: Megan and Mike cosied up in the surf as they sunbathed

Happy: The star looked stunning as she gazed lovingly at her beau

Close: Megan couldn't take her eyes off her hunky beau as they chatted

PDA; The reality pair looked healthy and happy as they chatted

Chilled: Mike rocked some dark shades as he lay back on a lounger

Mike caused uproar in the Hidden Hills villa on 2017's show after he was involved in a love triangle with Olivia Attwood and Chris Hughes.

During a heated recoupling ceremony, Chris branded the Londoner as 'muggy' which stuck amongst his fellow Islanders and the general viewing public.

The pair looked happier than ever as they arrived to the bash and their appearance comes after they defiantly hit back at split rumours in May.

Happy: Megan and Mike looked happy as they enjoyed a day in the sun

Sociable; The pair looked content as they enjoyed another sunshine holiday

Cute couple: Megan smiled at her hunky Love Islander man in the surf

Pout; Megan looked stunning as she donned a pair of futuristic shades

It was reported the pair were giving their romance another go last month, after their turbulent two-month relationship came to an end.

A source told The Sun at the time: 'They're talking again and they're back together. They wanted to make it work - after the split, they knew the relationship wasn't over, and started talking again.

'They really like each other and want to make things work. They're so on and off though - things are so volatile - that their mates are trying to stay out of it.'

The pair confirmed they were dating in March, and went on to enjoy an idyllic holiday together in Barbados.

Tanned: Megan flaunted her glowing tan as she relaxed with her beau

Application: The star slathered on some sun tan lotion as she sunbathed

Chillax; Megan looked radiant as she looked at her man's body

Smile: The beauty shot the look of love at her man as she chilled

Cute; Mike looked adoringly at her boyfriend as they sunbathed

Cheeky: Megan flashed a hint of her peachy posterior as she chilled out

However, they soon confirmed they had parted ways on social media earlier this month, and proceeded to remove all photos of each other on their respective pages.

Proving things to be turbulent, the couple were then pictured having a fierce row on the street after a night out in London.

Insiders claimed that Mike had accused Megan of flirting with other men, grabbing her arm and yelling at her when she attended his brother's birthday celebrations.

Meanwhile, Pete, 29, looked happier than ever as he was reunited with his TOWIE girlfriend following five weeks of filming Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls.
Controversial dating show Love Island Australia's target audience does not include the under-16s.

But on Sunday morning, it was reported that two local children entered the villa in Mallorca, where the Channel Nine show is filmed.

The Daily Telegraph alleged that two young boys got onto the property and even enjoyed a conversation with some of the show's contestants.

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Cover your eyes! Two young boys 'snuck into the Love Island Australia villa' in Mallorca to 'talk to the contestants'

However, a spokesperson for ITV Studios has since denied the incident occurred, when speaking to the publication.

'The Love Island Australia Villa in Mallorca, Spain is monitored by security 24/7. At no point have any unauthorised people breached this security,' the statement read.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Nine for comment, in relation to this story.

Sexy: Controversial dating show Love Island Australia's is not for young viewers

Love Island Australia has a Mature Adult (MA) rating.

This means the network can show adult content including footage of the contestants' private parts in 'non-sexual' situations.

In May, Channel Nine's Chief Classification Officer, Richard Lyle, explained what can be broadcast.

'The girls could go topless, and skinny dipping,' Richard told TV Tonight.

'The boys could have penis-shots, but no erections, which [are] seen as a sexual act.'

But as viewers of the sex-mad show have seen, the show still features intimate scenes.

Topless: Showing female contestants like Cassidy McGill sunbathing without a bikini top is OK according to Channel Nine

One of the show's dumped contestants, single mum Kim Hartnett, told News.com.au that some couples openly had sex inside the house.

But the footage could not be shown due to broadcasting restrictions.

The 22-year-old said: 'It's pretty obvious for the audience to know which ones are doing it.

Kim added that one unnamed couple were very obvious about their exploits.

'I think the first night they did it they full-on had an audience, everyone was sitting up and watching them,' she said.
James Marsden has joined the cast of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The 'Westworld' star will team up with director Quentin Tarantino and a star-studded cast for the upcoming motion picture, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

American Housewife's Julia Butters has also joined the cast, although their roles have not yet been revealed.

New role: James Marsden, seen in March, has joined Margot Robbie in cast of Manson movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

The casting news comes shortly after Al Pacino signed up for the film, his first collaboration with Tarantino.

Pacino will take on the role of Marvin Shwarz, a fictional Hollywood agent to Leonardo DiCaprio's character, former Western TV series star Rick Dalton.

Damian Lewis and Dakota Fanning have also signed up to the motion picture to play Steve McQueen and Squeaky Fromme respectively.

The film tells the story of Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) who are trying to make it big in Hollywood.

Star: Margot Robbie, seen in May, will play the murdered actress Sharon Tate in the new film

Tragic: Margot will play Sharon Tate, seen here in 1969, the year of her death

Dalton has a famous next-door neighbor, Sharon Tate, who was one of five people murdered by the infamous Manson Family cult in August 1969.

Margot Robbie looks set to play Tate, and Nicholas Hammond has signed up to portray director Sam Wanamaker, Emile Hirsch is to star as Jay Sebring - a hairstylist who was one of the victims in the murders - Luke Perry has scored the role of Scotty Lancer, and Keith Jefferson is Land Pirate Keith.

What's more, legendary director Tarantino is said to be keen to sign Burt Reynolds up to play ranch owner George Spahn.

Evil: The film follows the murders of the Manson Family, led by Charles Manson, seen in 1970

Speaking about the movie, the 55-year-old filmmaker recently said: 'It takes place during the 1969 Hollywood era at the height of the counterculture explosion, at the time of the hippie revolution.

'During the summer, little by little, block by block, we'll be transforming Los Angeles in the psychedelic Hollywood of 1969.'

The movie is set for release on August 9, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the Manson Family committing the LaBianca murders.
She's been flaunting her fab body on a sun-soaked trip to the Spanish island of Ibiza for the past few days.

And on Saturday, model Romee Strijd took to Instagram to share a snap of herself in a barely there, striped, string bikini.

The 22-year-old, who stands a statuesque 5ft 11ins tall, appeared to be posing with a beautiful coastal view behind her.

Fab view: Romee Strijd, who is enjoying a break on Spanish island of Ibiza, took to Instagram Saturday to share a snap of herself in a bikini in front of a mural, captioned, 'I love vitamin sea'

But it was, in fact, a gorgeously painted mural. 'I love vitamin sea,' the Victoria's Secret Angel jokingly captioned it.

She and her beau of eight years, Laurens van Leeuwen, who both hail from the Netherlands, have been enjoying a break at the luxury Hacienda Na Xamena resort.

They have been together since Romee was 15, long before she became one of the world's most famous models.

Hanging out: The 22-year-old and her beau of eight years, Laurens van Leeuwen, who both hail from the Netherlands, have been enjoying a break at the luxury Hacienda Na Xamena resort

They met through Laurens' younger sister, who has been one of Romee's closest friends since childhood, and they now live together in Manhattan.

Meanwhile Romee recently talked about getting her start in modelling after being scouted when she was just 14.

She recently dished to ElleUK.com that she didn't know that Fashion Week was such a 'big deal' when he started.

He's got pecs appeal: Romee has been with hunky Laurens since she was 15, long before she became one of the world's most famous models

The 22-year-old model graced the runway for major fashion houses including Louis Vuitton and Prada at Paris Fashion Week just a year later.

But the star says she was not nervous because, 'I didn't realize what a big deal it was.

'That was good for me. Once you start walking, you just focus on the end of the runway and everything else falls away.'
As Alexa Chung, Rita Ora and Cara Delevingne can attest, Lady Mary Charter is is the biggest party animal of their set  but has all that fun had a negative effect on her health at 31?

Mary has reportedly been a smoker since the age of 11 and last week she shared this image of her blood cells, declaring their clustered pattern shows she doesnt breathe enough or do enough exercise.

Happily, MoS doctor Ellie Cannon has ruled out any dangerous smokers complaint such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, saying: If someone has oxygen issues such as COPD, they may have changes in blood cells, but this is a snapshot of normal cells.

Lady Mary Charter, pictured, has reportedly been a smoker since the age of 11

Mary shared a photograph of her white blood cells on social media

Congratulations to Alice Bamford, who has had her second child at 42.

I can reveal she has named the baby girl Iris Camile.

Alice, daughter of JCB tycoon Lord Bamford, already has son Otis, two. Her mother Carole runs the organic Daylesford Farm in Gloucestershire and yesterday at her summer festival she hosted the Felix Project, Britains most dynamic new charity, which delivers surplus fresh food from shops and restaurants to vulnerable people.

Last week, its founder Justin Byam Shaw was invited to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Jet set queen Ellie Goulding weighed in on the Heathrow debate last week, declaring: Politicians have no right to decide future generations fate like this. Intent on destroying the world.

Yet only three days earlier, she had jetted in to the West London airport from New York.

Pop star Ellie, 31, is no stranger to flying, racking up the air miles as she travels around the world.

Calling her out, one fan tweeted: Was that before or after you got off a private jet I wonder?
Dozens of protesters have rallied in Melbourne in support of Sonia Kruger and incarcerated far-right British activist Tommy Robinson.

The Melbourne "free speech" rally was the first of four to be held nationwide over the weekend by the Australian Liberty Alliance, with Kruger currently under fire after calling for an Australian Muslim ban.

Robinson was recently jailed for contempt of court while reporting on a trial where reporting restrictions had been imposed.

"Tommy resonates with a lot of people. He's a working class man, he's like a typical Aussie. They (Australian supporters) feel like what he says is our future here too," organiser Avi Yemini told AAP on Saturday.

He told the crowd that "I, you, we all are Tommy Robinson".

"If that can happen to a man who stands up to defend our rights, it can happen to anyone."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)  Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said she will tag along her father in trips abroad to prevent him from kissing another woman.

"Next time, I will join the President's trips and will spend my own money -- just to make sure that the kissing incident will not happen again," Duterte-Carpio said Friday, according to a transcript sent by the Davao City Public Information Office.

She also said she thought of asking the Office of the Presidential Management Staff to send her invitations for the President "to make sure that Kris Aquino and Mocha Uson will not fight over PRD again." This drew laughter from the audience during the groundbreaking of Davao Occidental Provincial Capitol.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Margaux "Mocha" Uson got into a verbal spat with Aquino when she posted an old clip of Aquino's late father, former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. being kissed by female supporters, moments before he was escorted by soldiers out of a plane and assassinated in 1983.

President Rodrigo Duterte has received flak for kissing a Filipina on the lips during his official visit to South Korea on June 3.

The woman, who identified herself as Bea Kim, said there was no malice involved when Duterte kissed her in front of the Filipino community in Seoul.

The President also defended his antics towards women, saying kissing ladies was his style, even if other people found it distasteful.

He added he must have kissed 1,000 women during election campaigns, when he would offer them ballers in exchange for a smack on the lips.

Women's group Gabriela, however, slammed Duterte's move as "a disgusting theatrics of a misogynist president, who feels entitled to demean, humiliate or disrespect women according to his whim."
Two men have been accused of killing missing Queenslander Sam Price-Purcell but police suspect more people were involved.

The 25-year-old was last seen getting into a yellow Holden Commodore SS sedan in February 2015, similar to a car carefully combed through by authorities late last month.

A 29-year-old was on Saturday charged with Mr Price-Purcell's murder and misconduct with a corpse.

It comes days after his co-accused, Michael Jay Evans, fronted the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on the same offences.

Evans, 36, is further accused of setting fire to a Toyota Prado owned by one of his relatives, which police believe may have been used to move Mr Price-Purcell's body after he was killed.

During their hunt for clues at a Leyburn property where Evans once lived, police found guns and drug equipment.

They have also scoured a Helidon property linked to him where they suspect evidence was disposed of after Mr Price-Prucell was killed over a debt.

Authorities have not said how they suspect Mr Price-Purcell was murdered, but are continuing to hunt for others who may have been involved.
A resident has been rescued as 40 firefighters battled to put out a blaze at a home in the inner Melbourne suburb of West Footscray.

The fire broke out in the double-storey home on Saturday night. Fireys were forced to use their breathing apparatus to search the home and rescue an occupant.

The fire was brought under control in half an hour but a warning was issued for smoke in the area. MFB fire investigators will visit the site at first light on Sunday.
A man has died after his car crashed into a home in the Perth suburb of Waikiki.

The driver of the car, who was alone in the vehicle, was critically injured in the crash at 1.20am on Sunday and died at Rockingham hospital a short time later.

No one in the residence on Safety Bay Road was injured and the house sustained only minor damage. Police would like to speak to any witnesses who may have been driving in the Waikiki area around the time of the crash.
The NSW government is promising an extra $61 million to help the homeless over the next four years.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the money on Sunday, just over a week before handing down the 2018 budget, as part of a broader $1 billion package.

About a third of the funds will go towards helping the private and not-for-profit sector develop new programs to deal with homelessness.

Just over $10 million will be used for tenancy support and addressing issues of mental health, drugs and alcohol, plus about $9 million for additional transitional accommodation and $6.2 million to expand the 'staying home leaving violence' program to five new sites.

"Our homelessness strategy will ensure we are supporting people early to prevent homelessness, reaching out to rough sleepers proactively to get them housed and addressing complex issues such as mental health and drug and alcohol abuse," Ms Berejiklian said in a statement.
Bill Shorten insists giving Aboriginal people a voice to federal parliament won't result in people's backyards and clotheslines being subject to land rights claims.

The Labor leader is backing calls to give indigenous people a voice to the federal parliament and rejected Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's characterisation that it would be a third legislative chamber.

"It's about making sure when we make policies for first Australians they are involved in the decisions that affect their lives," Mr Shorten told Sky News on Sunday.

"What are people really afraid of? Are we afraid somehow ... talking to Aboriginal people about matters that affect them will see your backyard and Hills Hoist the subject of a land rights claim. That's rubbish."

He would like the advisory body to be elected, representative, regional and bottom up.

But the structure still had to be worked out.

He flagged a future Labor government would set up a truth telling commission.

Mr Shorten said all Australians should be aiming to pull themselves up by their boot straps.

"But if you don't own a pair of boots you can't pull yourself up by your boot straps."

The opposition leader has addressed the Barunga festival near Katherine in the Northern Territory this weekend.

Former prime minister Bob Hawke attended the event 30 years ago and promised a treaty 1990 but it was never achieved.
A Syrian woman evacuated from rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta seeks refuge at a shelter in the regime-controlled Adra district on outskirts of Damascus

Lebanon has accused the United Nations refugee agency of intimidating refugees to prevent their return to Syria and on Friday blocked residency applications for the agency's staff.

"Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Gebran Bassil issued instructions... to stop the requests for residency presented to the ministry and (those already submitted) for the UNHCR in Lebanon until further notice," a statement said.

"Bassil asked for the study of other progressive measures... in the case that the UNHCR is determined to pursue the same policy," it said.

Bassil late Thursday warned his country would start taking measures against the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees over allegations the agency was preventing Syrian refugees from returning home.

"We sent a mission that verified that the UNHCR is intimidating the displaced who wish to return voluntarily," he tweeted.

A UNHCR spokesperson responded by denying that the agency's staff were discouraging refugees from considering a return.

"We do not discourage or oppose returns taking place based on an individual decision," William Spindler told reporters.

"But in our view, conditions in Syria are not yet conducive for an assisted return, although the situation is changing and we are following closely," he said.

Lebanon has seen its water, electricity and waste removal infrastructure strained by the influx of Syrian refugees.

But international non-governmental organisations also say their presence has helped stimulate the economy.

In April, the UNHCR suggested that the government-organised return of 500 refugees was premature, explaining that it was not involved due to the prevailing humanitarian and security situation in Syria.

The world body's position infuriated Bassil, who warned Lebanon could "re-evaluate" the UN agency's work.

Lebanon is expected to soon have a new government after last month's parliamentary elections.

Syrian refugees are a recurring topic in Lebanon's political debate, but Bassil has taken a hard line and been the only leading politician directly attacking the UN.

Syria's regime has retaken more than half of the country since Russia intervened in 2015 on its behalf.

The war has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk warns that Trump poses challenge to rule-based international order

US President Donald Trump's attempt to overthrow or renegotiate a series of international agreements constitutes a threat to the post Cold War order, EU president Donald Tusk warned Friday.

"It is evident that the American president and the rest of the group continue to disagree on trade, climate change and the Iran nuclear deal," Tusk told reporters ahead of the G7 summit in the Canadian town of La Malbaie, north of Quebec.

"What worries me most, however, is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor, the US."

Earlier, before setting off for Quebec, Trump had exacerbated the already yawning gulf between his position and that of Washington's G7 allies by calling for Russia to be re-admitted to the body, despite its occupation of Crimea.

European officials at the summit were shocked by the idea, or dismissive, and Tusk, while admitting that it was hard to be surprised by Trump's pronouncements any more, said: "Let's leave the G7 as it is."

"Naturally we cannot force the US to change their mind," said Tusk, who is a former prime minister of Poland and is now president of the European Council.

"At the same time we will not stop trying to convince our American friends and President Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all, because it would only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist."

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)  Domeng intensified into a severe tropical storm hours before leaving the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Sunday morning, the state weather bureau said.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Domeng is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility tomorrow.

It was last spotted 640 kilometers east northeast of Basco, Batanes, packing winds of 90 kilometers per hour and gustiness of 115 kilometers per hour.

PAGASA earlier reported that Domeng continues to intensify with the southwest monsoon, bringing moderate to heavy rains in Luzon and the Visayas.

PAGASA said monsoon rains will fall in the next two days in Luzon and western Visayas, reminding residents to take appropriate actions against possible flash floods and landslides.

The weather bureau warned against sea travel onboard small sea crafts, especially in the eastern seaboards of Northern Luzon and western and central seaboard of Southern Luzon.

Monitoring the effects of the tropical storm, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported five incidents of collapsed riprap, flash floods, overflowed spillway and air mishaps in the CALABARZON, MIMAROPA and CARAGA regions.

Fortunately, there were no reported casualties.

Classes in 10 municipalities in CALABARZON, MIMAROPA and Region VIII have also been suspended due to Domeng.

The Philippine Coast Guard rescued a motorbanca carrying 44 passengers stranded in the Dinagat islands during the storm.
Leaders of the G7 participate in a working session of the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018; US President Donald Trump has shown skepticism and downright hostility toward multilateral institutions

For decades, multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization and Group of Seven were widely accepted by Western governments as the best way to shore up world order.

Now, with Donald Trump in the White House and his "America First" foreign policy echoed in rise of nationalist and populist movements in Europe, the cracks in the concrete are growing ever wider.

Whether circumventing the WTO by imposing tariffs on its signatories, withholding funds from the UN or going it alone at an ongoing G7 summit in Canada, Trump has shown his disdain for organizations where American leadership was once a given.

"What worries me most is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor, the US," European Council President Donald Tusk said in Quebec on Friday as the rest of the G7 awaited the arrival of Trump.

The US president's skepticism and in some cases hostility towards international institutions was evident throughout his electoral campaign, even at one state declaring the NATO military alliance "obsolete."

- 'Very unfair' -

While his views of NATO have softened -- at least in public -- since he took power in January last year, he has accused the WTO of having been "a disaster for us" and "very unfair" in its policing of global trade.

Similar arguments were used to justify the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, a painstakingly negotiated agreement that had been signed by every country bar Syria and Nicaragua by the time Trump announced his decision a year ago.

Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has warned that the world body's criticism of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital will lead to a reduction in its funding.

Around the same time that the United Nations was created in 1945 -- an organization headquartered in New York and which relies on Washington for the lion's share of its funding -- other multinational organizations also began taking root.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which began work in 1948, was the precursor to the modern-day WTO, which now has more than 160 members.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank both emerged from an agreement signed in 1944 at Bretton Woods in the northeastern US state of New Hampshire and soon became the main planks of the international finance system.

By tradition, the World Bank is led by an American while a European is at the helm of the IMF.

Multilateral institutions also began taking root on the other side of the Atlantic, including the Brussels-based NATO alliance which includes the United States and nearly all of Europe. Its birth came at a conference in Washington in 1949.

Its creation was followed soon after by the European Coal and Steel Community which initially included only six member nations but later morphed into the European Union, which is now a bulging club of 28 countries.

- Brexit looms -

That number should be reduced to 27 within the next 12 months when Britain leaves and the resentments towards the EU which prompted the British public to vote for Brexit are widespread.

Italy's new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who made his international entrance at the G7 summit, was propelled into office after the Eurosceptic Five Star movement joined a right-wing coalition in Rome that has evoked comparisons with Trump's rise.

French President Emmanuel Macron is among those who insist that multinational institutions are the best way to address grievances in the era of globalization as long as the bodies adapt and reform.

Ella Kokotsis of Toronto University's Munk School of Global Affairs said that Ronald Reagan also clashed with his peers at the start of his tenure in the White House four decades ago but he soon made common ground with his fellow Western leaders at the height of the Cold War.

But the differences appear more profound this time round.

"They (the other G7 leaders in the 1980s) were able to integrate Ronald Reagan into the fold quite quickly and he bought into the views of the rest of his G7 counterparts," she told AFP.

"Here we are seeing a different mood -- it's very unpredictable with Trump."
Dustin Johnson holed out for an eagle and nabbed six birdies as he built a 10-under par total of 130 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic

Dustin Johnson, tuning up for the US Open and aiming to regain the world number one ranking, fired a seven-under par 63 on Friday to grab the second-round lead at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

Johnson holed out for an eagle and nabbed six birdies as he built a 10-under par total of 130 at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.

Johnson had a one-shot lead over fellow Americans Ryan Blaum and Andrew Putnam.

"I feel like I'm playing really well," said Johnson, who lost the number one ranking to Justin Thomas last month after reigning for 64 straight weeks.

"I'm swinging the club well. I know if I can drive it in the fairway I'm going to give myself a good look for birdie. I felt like I did that pretty much all day.

"I hit a lot of great shots in there, had a lot of good looks at birdie."

Johnson opened with a birdie at the 10th. After bogeys at 12 and 13 he bounced back with birdies at 14 and 16.

He jump-started his round with an eagle at the first, where he holed out with a wedge from 111 yards.

Johnson's approach at the second left him less than a foot for birdie, and he added birdies at three, six and nine -- and needed only 24 putts in the round.

"I'm rolling it down the line I'm looking," Johnson said. "If I can get a good read and good speed, they're going to go in."

Blaum had seven birdies in a six-under 64 and as did Putnam as they shared second on nine-under 131.

Taiwan's C.T. Pan and American Wesley Bryan were a further stroke back and Brandt Snedeker was on 133 after a sizzling 62 that featured eight birdies without a bogey.

Snedeker, coming back this season after injury sidelined him for much of 2017, said it was encouraging to see his work paying off.

"Until you start seeing results, you start questioning what you're doing," he said. "You need to see these positive days, where it's, 'OK, I am doing the right stuff, and it's coming around. I'm not losing my mind.'"

Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson, trying to build momentum for a run at the US Open title that has so long eluded him, followed up his first-round 66 with an even par 70.

"It's tough to get the ball on the green if you don't drive it in the fairway," Mickelson said. "And around the greens it's tough because the rough is challenging. I made a few bogeys because I struggled with the difficulty around the greens.

"I didn't really have it today, but I was able to close out the round with a couple of birdies and get it back to even and I'm in a decent position."
Syrian children play among destroyed buildings in Kobane

After giving up on getting help from Syrian Kurdish authorities, Ahmed Saleh relied on relatives abroad to repair his home in Kobane after it was heavily damaged in a battle against jihadists.

Much of the border town along Syria's northern frontier with Turkey was left in ruins after US-backed Kurdish forces ousted the Islamic State group from it in early 2015.

Saleh fled to Turkey in the battle's early stages and came back a year later to find two of his home's three rooms destroyed.

"We returned to Kobane after the battles had stopped and were shocked by the huge destruction in the town," Saleh said.

The one-time shoe repairman hoped authorities would step in, but said he eventually "lost hope".

"We had to live in these homes and we weren't going to wait for these empty promises," said the 45-year-old.

Instead, he turned to family members abroad, who sent remittances.

"My son in Germany and my brother in Iraqi Kurdistan helped me so my children and I could return home," he said.

So far Saleh has spent the equivalent of $1,150 fixing up his house, little by little. All it needs now is a final coat of paint.

Other homes in his eastern neighbourhood of Butan have also been roughly restored. Bullet holes are still visible, but many walls have been re-erected and painted.

- 'No one helped us' -

Mohammad Naesan, who lives in the nearby Martyr Kawa district, repaired his one-storey house by hand and with his own savings.

"Our home was completely destroyed by IS," the 76-year-old Naesan told AFP, clutching a Koran and sitting on his front stoop with his wife and children.

"The municipality came and recorded all the damage to the buildings. But then they didn't do a thing," he said.

"No one helped us. Rebuilding was so expensive, and it cost me a lot."

Central government forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas in northern Syria in 2012, leaving local authorities to set up semi-autonomous institutions.

As IS began grabbing swathes of northern Syria it attacked Kobane in late 2014.

The four months of fighting it took to push the jihadists out pulverised about half the city, mostly in its north and east, said Anwar Muslim, the town's top official.

"Five thousand homes were destroyed in Kobane, about 70 percent of which have been rebuilt," Muslim told AFP.

He said remittances were crucial for rebuilding individual homes as authorities did not have the budget to help.

They focused instead on rehabilitating the gutted infrastructure, bringing water and electricity to residents, and rebuilding a dozen schools.

But power cuts and water shortages remain rampant and Muslim said he felt disappointed by the lack of support from the US-led coalition, the Kurds' key partner in the anti-IS fight.

"So far, the coalition hasn't provided any support despite us speaking dozens of times about the fact that, as we beat IS together, we should rebuild together," he said.

The coalition has provided funds to several areas recaptured from IS after Kobane to demine and rehabilitate infrastructure like bridges and water networks.

- 'Can't afford' it -

Today, Kobane's population stands at 250,000, down from 400,000 before the start of Syria's seven-year war, Muslim said.

"We're trying to create jobs, increase services, and open universities so people come back," he said.

While some have scrapped together the cash to revamp their homes, others say it is prohibitively expensive.

"We can't afford to rebuild," said Muslim Nabu, 32, a Kurdish language teacher who instead is renting a house.

Not only have authorities not helped, he said, but "the municipality collected money from people under the pretext it was for a building licence".

In one section of Kobane, the most heavily damaged, officials are intentionally refraining from rebuilding.

Authorities want to leave the northern sector as an open-air museum, a testament to their hard-fought battle against IS.

A row of scorched cars practically sizzle beneath the sun against a backdrop of gutted homes, which officials want to keep empty.

Muslim said compensation has been handed out for 258 of 500 affected homes.

Syrian women among destroyed buildings in Kobane

But residents say those plans are out of touch with their own painstaking efforts to clear rubble by hand and rebuild on their own dime.

Faydan Khaleel, who lives there with her husband and mother-in-law, said she had only just finished restoring their home.

"My husband worked for daily wages until we were able to rebuild and return to live here," said the 45-year-old, sitting cross-legged in the shade, a purple scarf pulling her hair back.

"But now they're saying they're turning it into a museum and we have to leave."

"They said they'd give us land as compensation, but we don't have the cash to build a home a third time."
Central Nigeria is in the grip of a conflict between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers -- the weapons influx has inflamed the violence, say specialists

A flood of illegal small arms has swamped Nigeria, bringing with it a surge of violence that has left hundreds dead.

Boko Haram Islamists, whose insurgency has killed at least 20,000 in the northeast since 2009, have long been reputed to have received weapons smuggled from North Africa.

But a recent influx of small arms is also fuelling violence in other arenas, including clashes between cattle herders and farmers in central states.

It is also adding to the plague of kidnapping and cattle-rustling by gangs in the north of the country, and of armed robbery and attacks on oil installations in the south.

"Without the firearms... we would not have the kind of violence of the magnitude we have today," Interior Minister Abdurrahman Dambazau said in January.

In April, Kano state police commissioner Rabiu Yusuf said the solution to illegal weapons was clear: "We need to put them out of circulation."

Doing that is a tall order, however.

The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament (UNREC) has said more than 350 million small arms and light weapons are circulating in Nigeria -- nearly two for every member of its population.

Nigeria accounts for some 70 percent of the 500 million or so weapons thought to be in West Africa, UNREC director Anselme Yabouri told a conference in Abuja in December last year.

Periodic seizures are made: on May 31, soldiers on patrol in the southwest intercepted three trucks carrying boxes of ammunition from Benin.

But with some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) of borders -- most of them porous -- Nigeria has struggled to stem the tide.

- Chad, Libya -

In Nigeria, there is no legal right to gun ownership and regulation is by the president. Civilians are banned from owning handguns, military rifles or machine guns.

Licences can be obtained from the police for double-barrel shotguns and hunting guns, but permission for this has been suspended because of the security situation.

President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed the 2011 fall of Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and its chaotic aftermath for the rise in the smuggling of prohibited arms.

"Sophisticated weapons" have found their way into the country, ending up in the hands of nomadic herders who previously carried only sticks and machetes, he said in April.

But security analyst Babaji Katagum said blaming the influx on lawlessness in Libya was a "restrictive explanation".

"Chad has for long been an important source of illegal weapons to Nigerian criminals, including Boko Haram," the former Nigerian Army captain told AFP.

Civil conflict has hit Nigeria's military partner in the regional fight-back against Boko Haram several times in the last 30 years.

Weapons from rebel groups have then ended up in Nigeria, said Katagum.

In 1998, troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad operated as a joint force against arms and drug smuggling in the Lake Chad area where their borders meet.

But it became clear that it was too small to police the vast northern frontier effectively, particularly after its mandate was later expanded to tackle Boko Haram.

An aerial surveillance unit -- the Air Border Guards -- was set up in 2007 comprising Nigerian immigration, customs and air force personnel.

But it was grounded just five years later by mismanagement and internal rivalry.

- Repeated seizures -

As well as overland routes, Nigeria's sea ports have been used by cartels to import weapons, by declaring containers as household goods or construction material to evade detection.

In September 2017, customs officers in the commercial capital, Lagos, seized 470 pump-action shotguns labelled as plumbing supplies in a container from Turkey.

That brought the number of weapons seized in the first nine months of last year to nearly 2,700, said the comptroller-general of customs, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali.

Last month, the head of Nigeria's federal police, Ibrahim Idris, said some 4,000 illegal firearms were recovered across the country in just three months.

Officials also publicly destroyed nearly 6,000 guns surrendered by about 3,000 kidnappers and cattle thieves as part of an amnesty in northern Zamfara state.

But Katagum said such discoveries were an "insignificant number" compared to the huge numbers of weapons in circulation.

"All these seizures are only an insignificant fraction of the huge flow of illegal weapons that pass through our ports into the country," a customs officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We don't have the capacity to check the contents of all cargo container imports -- we rely on intelligence and our instincts."
Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border on Friday, as weeks of deadly clashes with protesters continued

The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency meeting next Wednesday at 3:00 pm (19:00 GMT) to vote on an Arab-backed resolution on Gaza, the body's president Miroslav Lajcak announced Friday.

The resolution will condemn Israel, and will be similar to one vetoed by the United States in the Security Council last week, which called for protecting Palestinians from Israeli aggression, according to diplomats.

It comes as four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border on Friday, as weeks of deadly clashes with protesters continued.

Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly have no binding value, unlike those passed by the Security Council.

"We will work next week to get the maximum number of votes," a diplomat from a country that supported the measure told AFP.

Arab countries turned to the General Assembly in December after the US vetoed a Security Council vote on a resolution to condemn its decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Fourteen members of the Security Council backed the December resolution, though the US as well as the council's four other permanent members retain a right to veto.

The measure then received 128 votes out of 193 in the General Assembly.

A diplomatic source said the emergency meeting had been pushed by the Organization of Islamic States and the Arab League.

Several European countries have tried to dissuade Palestinians and Arab countries from demanding a vote in the General Assembly after last week's US veto.

- At least 129 Palestinians killed -

"Everyone told them not to do it," said a diplomat on condition of anonymity, arguing the resolution could be counterproductive if it doesn't receive at least as many votes as the one obtained in December on Jerusalem.

Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, condemned the planned resolution.

"It is unfortunate that instead of condemning the terrorists of Hamas, some countries are looking to satisfy their domestic political needs by bashing Israel at the United Nations," Danon said in a statement.

It is not entirely clear what form of protection the Palestinians of Gaza are seeking, from observers to a full blown peacekeeping force.

At least 129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests broke out along the Gaza border on March 30

Arab states have recently turned to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make proposals on this matter.

But according to a diplomat who asked for anonymity, he said he needed a mandate from the Security Council to look further into the issue.

On Friday, four Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers near the border fence during new clash-ridden protests in the blockaded enclave.

At least 129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests broke out along the Gaza border on March 30. There have been no Israeli casualties.

Protests peaked on May 14 when at least 61 Palestinians were killed in protests to coincide with the controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem

The Jewish state maintains a crippling blockade of Gaza it says is necessary to isolate Hamas.

Critics say it amount to collective punishment of the territory's two million residents.
Several transgender US military veterans laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, despite President Donald Trump expressing opposition to transgender Americans serving in the military

President Donald Trump has made clear his opposition to transgender Americans serving in the military, but that didn't deter transgender veterans from laying a wreath on hallowed ground: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Trump's July 2017 tweet that people who have undergone gender transition should not serve "in any capacity" in the US armed forces raised alarm throughout a movement that had been counting gains in recent years.

"We, as transgender people, bled like anyone else," Yvonne Cook-Riley, a US Air Force veteran and a spearhead of the transgender rights movement, told AFP after the Friday ceremony, as she walked a tree-lined path through rows of white headstones in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Vietnam war veteran was among a dozen members or friends of the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) who witnessed the somber ceremony at the marble sarcophagus on a hill overlooking Washington.

For years Cook-Riley, who began her transition after returning from Vietnam, advanced the cause of transgender rights.

She shared in the jubilation of the June 2016 announcement, under then-president Barack Obama, that ended the ban on transgender people serving openly in the US military.

The gay rights movement was ascendant too, and the marginalized transgender community was suddenly seen with a sympathetic eye. Just one year earlier, in April 2015, Caitlyn Jenner -- the former Bruce Jenner of 1970s Olympic decathlon fame -- had come out as a transgender woman.

Then Trump's tweet changed the momentum.

In March the president rolled back his blanket transgender ban, but his shift of responsibility to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis left open the prospect that people who have undergone gender transition treatment are still barred from serving.

Aside from Trump's announcements, Republican-controlled legislatures in 10 states introduced measures in 2017 restricting transgender individuals' access to gender segregated bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

"It scares the hell out of me, because somebody is going to get killed," Cook-Riley said, commenting on the current atmosphere.

Another icon of the movement, Phyllis Frye -- a former Army lieutenant and the country's first openly transgender judge -- said nothing less than a "Democratic takeover" of Congress in this year's mid-term elections will ease the community's difficulties.

"In November, people need to get off their butts and vote," she said.

Before the wreath-laying, Frye and Cook-Riley participated in a TAVA conference to help transgendered service-members gain greater access to appropriate health care.

Ironically the gathering took place in the same hotel as a conference of evangelical Christians pressing for more conservatism from politicians in Washington.

Some in the transgender gathering decided to wander over.

"How can it hurt?" mused Nella Ludlow, a clinical professor at Washington State University who once flew fighter jets for the US Air Force.

Ludlow, 56, playfully snapped selfies with a cardboard Trump cutout. But she also met some of the conservative attendees, and hoped their interactions "caused people to rethink" their impressions of transgender veterans.

- 'They deserve better' -

But her concerns for fellow trans service-members only amplified the seriousness of the wreath-laying.

Former US Army lieutenant colonel Ann Murdoch began her transition to a woman shortly after her military retirement in 2013

"They're serving their country, and they don't know, will they be fired six months from now?" Ludlow asked.

"I think they deserve better."

The number of transgender troops among the approximately 1.3 million active duty US service members is fairly small, with estimates topping out at 15,000.

With uncertainty about transgender troops simmering, several members of Congress this week wrote Mattis to "reject" his policy recommendations to bar transgender service except under limited circumstances.

"Today our military benefits from the service of thousands of transgender troops who fight in defense of our freedoms with honor and distinction," wrote House Democrat Joe Kennedy III in a letter signed by 120 other lawmakers.

Ann Murdoch, who retired from the US Army in 2013 and then began her transition, said the battle over transgender issues brought her to the wreath-laying, as a way to honor trans soldiers currently deployed and in harm's way.

"It was important for me to be here today, especially with all the political things going on," the 55-year-old said, dressed in a crisp uniform colored with medals and decorations.

As Murdoch spoke, an unknown woman walked up and shook her hand. "Thank you for your service," she said.
Afghan security forces patrol in Farah after recapturing control of the city from Taliban militants in May

The Taliban announced its first ceasefire in Afghanistan since the 2001 US invasion on Saturday, with a three-day halt in hostilities against the country's security forces that was greeted with relief by war-weary Afghans.

But the group warned the suspension of fighting for the first three days of Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, did not extend to "foreign occupiers", who would continue to be targeted by the militants.

The unexpected move came two days after the Afghan government's own surprise announcement of a week-long halt to operations against the Taliban.

It is the first time in nearly 17 years of conflict that the militants have declared a ceasefire, albeit a limited one.

"All the mujahideen are directed to stop offensive operations against Afghan forces for the first three days of Eid-al-Fitr," the Taliban said in a WhatsApp message to journalists.

But it added that "if the mujahideen are attacked we will strongly defend (ourselves)".

The Taliban said "foreign occupiers are the exception" to the order sent to its fighters around the country.

"Our operations will continue against them, we will attack them wherever we see them," it said.

Even a brief cessation of hostilities would bring welcome relief to civilians in the war-torn country, where they are paying a disproportionate price in casualties as a result of the conflict.

- 'Only three days' -

In recent years the resurgent militants, along with the Islamic State group, have stepped up their attacks on Kabul in particular, making it the deadliest place in the country for civilians.

"Only three days the Taliban are not killing us. The Taliban have won our hearts, if they strike a peace deal with the Afghan government, the Afghans will take them on their shoulders with love," Shah Jahan Siyal, a resident of Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad, wrote on Facebook.

Afghan security forces escort alleged Taliban fighters in Jalalabad

Dewa Niazai, a women's rights activist in the same province, posted: "Long live the Taliban! Finally we can breathe a deep sigh of relief on Eid days. I hope these three days of ceasefire turn to a permanent ceasefire."

But analysts were cautious, warning that the Taliban and its brutal arm the Haqqani Network could launch attacks on behalf of of the Islamic State group, which they are believed to have done previously.

"I don't think the Haqqani Network will be on board (with the ceasefire)," a foreign diplomat in Kabul told AFP.

"I wouldn't be surprised if some incidents happen and are claimed by Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Afghan political analyst Haroon Mir said it was "too early to be very optimistic".

"We don't know what will happen in the next few days or afterwards," he added.

President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday declared an apparently unilateral week-long ceasefire with the Taliban.

It would last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr", Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19.

The move came days after a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics in Kabul called for a ceasefire and issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and attacks.

An hour after the fatwa was issued, a suicide bomber detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people.

In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he also called for a ceasefire.

The insurgents did not officially respond, but announced the launch of their annual spring offensive in an apparent rejection of the plan, one of the most comprehensive ever offered by the Afghan government.

Last month, the Pentagon said that senior Taliban officials have been secretly negotiating with Afghan officials on a possible ceasefire.
Syrian pro-government forces celebrate their recapture of the eastern town of Albu Kamal from the Islamic State group in November, 2017

The Islamic State group had lost ground Saturday in a town on the Syrian-Iraqi border after pro-regime forces repelled a major attack the day before, a Britain-based monitor said.

Violent clashes were ongoing in Albu Kamal, which lies in the Euphrates Valley in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

"IS has retreated from inside the town to its western and northwestern parts" after pro-regime forces pushed back the jihadists, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Pro-government reinforcements had arrived, he said.

On Friday, IS used at least 10 suicide bombers in its offensive on Albu Kamal, swiftly taking several of its neighbourhoods, the monitor said.

It was the biggest attack on the town since the jihadist group lost it in November 2017, and the latest in a string of attacks by IS across Syria.

Neither Syrian state media nor the army reported Friday's attack on Albu Kamal.

The fighting in the town over the past 24 hours has killed 30 pro-regime fighters, the Observatory said.

These include 16 regime troops among them a general, as well as 14 non-Syrian combattants, notably Iranians and Lebanese Hezbollah movement fighters, the monitor said.

Twenty-one IS jihadists were also killed in that same period, including the 10 suicide bombers, according to the same source.

IS has ramped up its attacks against pro-regime forces since its fighters in May left their last bastion near Damascus under an evacuation deal with the regime.

IS in 2014 proclaimed a cross-border "caliphate" in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, but has since lost most of its territory to various military offensives.

Fighters of the US-trained Syrian Democratic Forces gather at the Al-Tanak oil field on May 1, 2018 as they prepare to assault the Islamic State group near Albu Kamal in parallel with a Russian-backed campaign by pro-government forces

Its presence is mostly confined to pockets of eastern Syria in the vast desert stretching from the country's centre to the border with Iraq.

Earlier this week, IS assaults in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor killed 45 pro-regime fighters.

On Thursday, IS jihadists also killed 22 pro-regime fighters in surprise attacks in the southern province of Sweida, a monitor said.
There has been discussion about holding a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Vienna

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed during a visit to Austria this week the possibility of Vienna playing host to a summit with his US counterpart Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday.

"It was mentioned that Vienna could be such a city" Peskov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti state news agency after being asked if Putin discussed whether the city could hold such a meeting when he met with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Tuesday.

Peskov's comments come a day after Trump called for Russia to be readmitted to the group of the world's leading nations, known as the G7, a step that would end Russia's international isolation over its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Speaking from China where Putin was attending a regional security summit, Peskov said that in their last telephone conversation on March 20 the Russian and US leaders had also mentioned possibly meeting in Vienna.

"You know, the two presidents discussed the necessity of holding such a meeting in their last telephone call. Including that Vienna could be such a city" for the summit, said Peskov.

He added, however, that no concrete agreements have been reached and no concrete discussions were underway.

Under the conservative Kurz, Austria has strived to act as a mediator between Russia and the West.

While the EU-state imposed sanctions on Russia over Crimea along with the rest of the bloc, Austria did not expel Russian diplomats like other Western nations following the March poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Britain, an attack London has accused Moscow of being behind.

"We have continued our cooperation even during difficult times," Kurz said after his talks with Putin on Tuesday.

Putin said in a Russian television interview that a meeting with Trump would be "useful."

"Dialogue may prove to be constructive," he said in the interview, the full version of which was released on Saturday.

He added that Russia was ready to "develop, deepen and normalise ties with the United States," noting that the next move was for Washington to make.

Putin indicated that he did not like "a lot" of the US authorities' decisions but praised Trump for his consistency.

"Trump fulfils his pre-election promises," he said.
Even a brief cessation of hostilities would bring welcome relief to civilians in the war-torn country

The Taliban announced its first ceasefire in Afghanistan since the 2001 US invasion on Saturday, with a three-day halt in hostilities against the country's security forces that was greeted with relief by war-weary Afghans.

But the group warned the suspension of fighting for the first three days of Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, did not extend to "foreign occupiers", who would continue to be targeted by the militants.

The unexpected move came two days after the Afghan government's own surprise announcement of a week-long halt to operations against the Taliban.

It is the first time in nearly 17 years of conflict that the militants have declared a ceasefire, albeit a limited one.

"All the mujahideen are directed to stop offensive operations against Afghan forces for the first three days of Eid-al-Fitr," the Taliban said in a WhatsApp message to journalists.

It is the first time in nearly 17 years of conflict that the militants have declared a ceasefire

But it added that "if the mujahideen are attacked we will strongly defend (ourselves)".

The Taliban said "foreign occupiers are the exception" to the order sent to its fighters around the country.

"Our operations will continue against them, we will attack them wherever we see them," it said.

Hours before Saturday's announcement, Taliban militants launched two separate assaults on Afghan security forces in the western province of Herat and the northern province of Kunduz, killing at least 36 soldiers and police, officials said.

Even a brief cessation of hostilities would bring welcome relief to civilians in the war-torn country, where they are paying a disproportionate price in casualties as a result of the conflict.

- 'Only three days' -

In recent years the resurgent militants, along with the Islamic State group, have stepped up their attacks on Kabul in particular, making it the deadliest place in the country for civilians.

"Only three days the Taliban are not killing us. The Taliban have won our hearts, if they strike a peace deal with the Afghan government, the Afghans will take them on their shoulders with love," Shah Jahan Siyal, a resident of Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad, wrote on Facebook.

Dewa Niazai, a women's rights activist in the same province, posted: "Long live the Taliban! Finally we can breathe a deep sigh of relief on Eid days. I hope these three days of ceasefire turn to a permanent ceasefire."

But not everyone was satisfied.

"We shouldn't be happy with just a three-day ceasefire," a woman in Kabul told AFP.

"It is not sufficient and our president also shouldn't be happy... We should reach for sustainable peace throughout the country."

President Ashraf Ghani welcomed the Taliban's move in a tweet from his official Twitter account. Defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told Tolo News he hoped the "ceasefire continues".

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, said in a statement he hoped the ceasefires would "serve as a stepping stone" towards peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

- Cautious optimism -

Afghanistan on Thursday declared an apparently unilateral week-long ceasefire with the Taliban

A Western analyst in Kabul told AFP the ceasefires were a "confidence-building measure" which, if successful, could help pave the way to the negotiating table.

But others were more cautious, warning that the Taliban and its brutal arm the Haqqani Network could launch attacks on behalf of the Islamic State group, which they are believed to have done previously.

"I don't think the Haqqani Network will be on board (with the ceasefire)," a foreign diplomat in Kabul told AFP.

"I wouldn't be surprised if some incidents happen and are claimed by Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Afghan political analyst Haroon Mir said it was "too early to be very optimistic".

"We don't know what will happen in the next few days or afterwards," he added.

Ghani on Thursday declared an apparently unilateral week-long ceasefire with the Taliban.

It would last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr", Ghani tweeted, indicating it could run from June 12-19.

The move was greeted with optimism from NATO, with General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, giving an upbeat assessment this week of the struggle against the Taliban.

"I have dealt with this for quite a number of years and personally, I sense a different set of conditions today, and perhaps more potential," he said in Brussels ahead of the Taliban ceasefire announcement.

Ghani's move came days after a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics in Kabul called for a ceasefire and issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and attacks.

An hour after the fatwa was issued, a suicide bomber detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people.

In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he also called for a ceasefire.

The insurgents did not officially respond, but announced the launch of their annual spring offensive in an apparent rejection of the plan, one of the most comprehensive ever offered by the Afghan government.

Last month, the Pentagon said that senior Taliban officials have been secretly negotiating with Afghan officials on a possible ceasefire.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)  The Slovakian Government will shoulder the expenses for the repatriation of the body of the Filipino mauled for protecting his female friend, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

The DFA, quoting a report from the Philippine Embassy in Vienna, said the family of overseas Filipino worker Henry John Acorda has accepted the offer of the Slovakian Government to bring his remains to the Philippines next week.

Acorda, a 36-year-old financial analyst, died from injuries he sustained for protecting a Filipina companion from being harassed by a local man in Bratislava.

The suspect is now in detention and is facing manslaughter charges, DFA said.

We would like to thank the Government of Slovakia for its kind gesture of offering to bring home our late kababayan and reuniting him with his loved ones here in the Philippines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement.

Ambassador to Vienna Ma. Cleofe Natividad said the repatriation is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 13.

She added that the Slovakian Government has offered to provide an aircraft to carry the remains and personal belongings of Acorda, his mother and two siblings.

Acordas death has enraged Slovaks, including Prime Minister Peter Pelligrini, who condemned the incident and assured that justice will be served.
Messages, candles and flowers at a makeshift memorial at the site where 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman was allegedly raped and murdered by an Iraqi asylum seeker in Wiesbaden, Germany

A failed Iraqi asylum seeker arrived by plane back in Germany on Saturday after admitting raping and murdering a teenage girl, Iraqi Kurdish officials and German media reports said.

"I am delighted the suspect sought by justice is back in Germany," said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer in a statement, adding he hoped Ali Bashar, 20, would now "rapidly" face trial.

Bashar is alleged to have strangled 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman after raping her in the German city of Wiesbaden.

He was detained in northern Iraq on Friday following an outcry in Germany after police hunting the fugitive admitted he had fled with his family.

Despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany, he was put on a Lufthansa flight to Germany from the Kurdish regional capital Arbil, German media reports said.

He was expected to face a remand hearing after landing in Frankfurt, the reports said.

The case has put renewed pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government over the decision to open Germany's borders at the height of Europe's refugee crisis in 2015, resulting in the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers.

Demonstrators held a minute's silence in cities across Germany on Saturday, notably in the teenager's hometown of Mainz.

On Friday, a senior official in the autonomous Kurdistan region had told AFP that authorities were working to transfer Bashar quickly back to Germany to face trial.

Handout picture released on June 7, 2018 by the Police of Wiesbaden shows Iraqi asylum seeker Ali Bashar, 20, suspected of the rape and murder of 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman

"During interrogation following his arrest, the young man originally from Kurdistan confessed to killing the German girl," said Tariq Ahmad, police chief for the Dohuk province of Iraqi Kurdistan.

"He said that the two of them were friends but that they had a dispute, and that he killed her when the girl threatened to call the police," Ahmad said.

Bashar arrived in Germany in 2015 along with his parents and five siblings.

He should have been deported after his request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

During this time, he got into trouble with the police on several occasions, including for fights, alleged robbery and possession of an illegal switchblade.

He was also among the suspects for the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl living in the same refugee shelter.

Seehofer said Bashar's return was but "small consolation" for the victim's parents who he said were in his thoughts.

"For the state of our society it is important these crimes be cleared up and that the suspects be brought to justice," he added.
The lookalikes shook hands and embraced on stage, hamming it up for fans who whipped out mobile phones

While access to the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be tightly restricted, hundreds of Singaporeans got the next best thing on Saturday when two lookalikes showed up at a downtown mall.

Hong Kong-based impersonator Howard X, who has attracted worldwide attention in recent months for his impression of Kim, appeared on stage with Trump lookalike Dennis Alan.

During a promotional event dubbed the "real" Trump-Kim summit, the men waved at shoppers as they walked through the crowded Bugis Junction mall.

The men have tie-ups with several local businesses and will also make an appearance at a seafood restaurant

The duo shook hands and embraced on stage, hamming it up for onlookers who whipped out mobile phones.

But selfies came at a cost: those wanting a souvenir shot had to download the app the pair were pushing, and pay Sg$15 ($11) for pictures with both lookalikes.

"Thank you for all the donations you have been making to North Korea, well, me. I really really appreciate it, because we are really cash-strapped," Howard X said as dozens lined up for their turn with him.

Chen Ziyang, 28, who was queueing for a picture, said the impersonators had "almost 99 percent resemblance to the real Kim and Trump".

Dubbed the "real" Trump-Kim summit, the men waved at shoppers as they walked through the crowded Bugis Junction mall for a promotional event

The men have tie-ups with several local businesses and will also make an appearance at a seafood restaurant.

Like the real-life leaders, fake Kim and Trump are no strangers to controversies of their own.

On Friday, Howard X said he was questioned for two hours by an immigration officer when he arrived at the city-state's Changi Airport ahead of the real summit on Tuesday.

When he previously appeared at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea with the same Donald Trump lookalike, he was escorted out by security after waving and dancing in front of North Korea's cheerleaders.
Yusra Mohieddin prepares Iftar for her family in the Nazzal neighborhood of Amman on June 8, 2018

Protests over a proposed tax hike might have shone the spotlight on economic hardships in Jordan, but the poorest in the kingdom's capital remain voiceless as they struggle to survive.

Gaunt men sit on the ground of a rubbish-strewn alley in Amman's Nazzal neighbourhood, absent the traditional lights and cheerful decorations that usually come with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

One the capital's poorest areas, the breaking of the daily fast in Nazzal is far from festive.

On the top floor of a dilapidated building, Yusra Moheiddine stands timidly at the door of her apartment, her daughter clinging to the hem of her black niqab robe.

"I'm ashamed," the mother mutters, of the impoverished conditions in which her family lives.

Mass protests against rising costs and the proposed new tax law have rocked Jordan in recent days as the cash-strapped government pushes austerity measures to slash the country's debt in the face of an economic crisis.

The authorities shelved the tax proposals in the face of public ire -- but for Moheiddine the victory for the demonstrators means little.

Her family of three survives on the five dollars (six euros) a day her sick husband makes collecting cans.

For them, their struggle has long been one of day-to-day survival.

- 'Sewage and insects' -

Since getting married, 38-year-old of Palestinian origin has lived in seven different apartments -- driven out each time by landlords tired of being shorted on the rent.

Holding her daughter in her arms, Moheiddine insists that the young girl "wants to be a school teacher when she grows up".

But the hurdles she'll have to overcome to do so may prove too much.

This picture shows a general view of east Amman and the Nazzal neighbourhood on June 8, 2018

As the summer sun dips below the horizon in the city of seven hills, millions of people gather over sumptious meals to break their daily fasts.

In Nazzal, this hard-up family break the fast with a yellowish porridge, garnished with a few pieces of cucumber.

Down the road, 37-year-old Rania lives with her husband and three children in a small house where "only sewage and insects dare go".

"In the winter, when it rains, we are drowned in sewage," she says, not giving her surname.

They've dug a hole in the corner of the yard to serve as a septic tank.

"I have to empty it every week, otherwise it's a disaster," said Rania.

In the house's only bedroom, torn foam mattresses are arranged side-by-side and the walls are splotched with mould stains.

- 'Where would I go?' -

"Everyone tells me to leave, but where would I go?" she asks.

Her husband makes a pittance selling corn on the cob and the family can't afford to live elsewhere.

On the neighbourhood's main streets, a bit more lively than the surrounding alleyways, shops reopen after dark -- as is customary during Ramadan.

Children line up to buy neon-yellow sugary drinks, girls stroll arm-in-arm, and groups of elderly men sit on plastic chairs earnestly discussing the world's problems.

Jordanians buy second-hand shoes in an open air market in central Amman on June 8, 2018

Jihad, a fruit and vegetable seller in his 50s, is fatalistic.

"Our turnover has dropped by more than 50% compared to last year, but I get it... who wants to buy a melon or a watermelon when he can't even buy bread?"

He doesn't believe the recent demonstrations will make much of a difference.

"Nothing will change. The only one who can save us is God," he said.

On the adjacent sidewalk, Abboud Agraba, dressed in a long beige robe, bursts into laughter.

"Don't believe a word they're telling you. We're happy here, we're not in need of anything. Rising prices? Taxes? Never heard of them," he said sarcastically, before his grin quickly faded.

"I have a degree in engineering, but I've been unemployed for years," he said.
The decision to suspend fighting for the first three days of Eid took many in the war-weary country by surprise

Afghans exhausted by a nearly 17-year war that is older than many of the country's citizens breathed a sigh of relief Saturday after the Taliban announced its first ceasefire since the 2001 US invasion -- but some remain wary.

The decision to suspend fighting for the first three days of Eid, the holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and a time when Muslims visit family and friends, took many in the war-weary country by surprise.

Afghans flooded Facebook with messages of hope that the unprecedented ceasefire, which came two days after the government's own unexpected announcement of a week-long halt to operations against the Taliban, could lead to a longer-lasting peace deal.

"It is a good move by the government and Taliban. Anyone who has lost someone to this war will welcome it," wrote Mohammad Najeeb.

Shah Jahan posted: "I hope this is a step towards peace. I also hope other terrorist groups such as Daesh don't disrupt it."

Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group, which has a relatively small but potent presence in Afghanistan.

Civilians have paid a disproportionate price in casualties as a result of the protracted conflict

"I still cannot believe they (the Taliban) accepted the ceasefire offer. This is the very first ceasefire I have witnessed since I was born," wrote Karwan, whose profile had only one name.

"For as long as I can remember it has been war, war, war."

Baktash Mobarez said the Taliban's announcement had "brought so much hope and happiness" to a country worn down by four decades of conflict.

"Imagine if one day all of the 20 terrorist groups active here stop fighting," he said.

But others expressed doubts over the Taliban's sincerity, pointing to the dozens of Afghan security forces killed in a spate of attacks claimed by the group in the hours leading up to the announcement.

- 'Three days is not enough' -

Militants launched two separate assaults in the western province of Herat and the northern province of Kunduz overnight, killing at least 36 soldiers and police, officials said.

The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on an Afghan military base in the southern province of Kandahar.

Casualties from suicide bombings and attacks were up 17 percent last year as the Taliban and IS ramp up assaults in urban areas

At least 23 soldiers were killed and another nine wounded in the raid, Shah Wali Kot district police chief Padshah Khan told AFP.

The casualty toll could not be immediately confirmed.

"It makes no difference, they have already started killing loads of people before the ceasefire," wrote Hashim Akbari.

"They have killed dozens of people in Herat and Kunduz in one day. They will kill more to make up for their ceasefire days."

A woman in Kabul told AFP that three days was not enough and instead "we should reach for a sustainable peace throughout the country".

Civilians have paid a disproportionate price in casualties as a result of the protracted conflict.

More than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in 2017, down nine percent from the previous year, UN figures show.

Some have expressed doubts over the Taliban's sincerity

But casualties from suicide bombings and attacks were up 17 percent last year as the Taliban and IS ramp up assaults in urban areas, particularly Kabul.

After many fits and starts with past peace initiatives, some Afghans pleaded for a higher power to resolve the conflict.

"May God turn this ceasefire into a permanent ceasefire between the Taliban and Afghanistan," Faridullah Talash wrote on Facebook.

"We are tired of war and bloodshed."
The Hammar Mushrif new Degassing Station Facilities site is seen inside the Zubair oil and gas field, north of of Basra, on May 9, 2018, a month before an Iraq-flagged oil tanker set sail for the US for the first time in three decades

An Iraq-flagged tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil has set sail for the US, the first such trip in nearly three decades, the oil ministry said Saturday.

Iraq, which has been ravaged by a series of wars since the 1980s, is the oil cartel OPEC's second biggest producer with 153 billion barrels of proven crude reserves.

"The Baghdad left Basra on Friday night headed for the United States. It is the first time since 1991 that Iraq is running its own oil tankers," oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Basra, in southern Iraq, is an oil-rich province.

Under late dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq went to war with Iran between 1980 and 1988 and invaded Kuwait in 1990, before being expelled by a US-led coalition.

Since an American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country has been blighted by long periods of chaos, culminating in a three-year battle against Islamic State group insurgents.

Infrastructure in Iraq, which depends on oil for 99 percent of revenues, was devastated but authorities have been looking to boost oil and gas output.

The country has leased four tankers and is expected to obtain three others at a later date.

In May, Iraq exported 3.49 million barrels of oil per day, according to the oil ministry.
Iraqi men and women buy food in an open air market in Mosul after breaking the fast during Ramadan on May 24, 2018, as the holy month has one on without major violence unlike previous years when it was rocked by deadly attacks

The number of Iraqi civilians killed in acts of violence since the beginning of the year has significantly dropped, largely due to defeat of the Islamic State group, United Nations and a monitor have said.

Reports released this week by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Iraq Body Count database there was an 80 percent drop in civilian deaths in the first five months of 2018 compared to the same period last year.

UNAMI said 477 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence since the beginning of the year compared to 2,014 in the first five months of 2017, a drop of 76.3 percent.

The number of wounded during the same period dropped from 2,977 to 939, a decrease of 68.4 percent, it said.

The London-based Iraq Body Count, which tracks violent deaths in the country, gave similar figures.

The number of civilian deaths from political and religious violence dropped from 7,708 in the first five months of 2017 to 1,818 during the same period in 2018 -- a decrease of 76.4 percent.

In May Iraq held parliamentary elections without any major security incident, a first since the 2003 US-led invasion and ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein.

And so far, the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which started in mid-May, has gone on without major violence unlike previous years when it was rocked by deadly attacks.

Iraq claimed victory over IS in December after pushing the jihadists out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014 and still clings to pockets of desert in war-torn Syria.
An Israeli drone flies near a Palestinian fire kite on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on May 14, 2018 as the army struggles to tackle the low-tech tactic

An Israeli aircraft fired a warning shot Saturday to deter a group of Gazans preparing to fly a balloon fitted with explosives over the border, in the first such case, the army said.

"The Israeli army spotted a group of Palestinians preparing balloons equipped with explosive devices to cause fires and serious damage on Israeli territory," it said in a statement.

"In response, an Israeli aircraft fired a warning shot near the group," it said, without elaborating.

The military said it was its first use of aircraft opening fire to deter Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip from launching fire kites and balloons over the border into southern Israel.

The kites have become a potent symbol of a wave of Palestinian protests that broke out on March 30 against Israel's crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza.

At least 129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since then, the majority as they approached the border fence where troops have orders to use lethal force to prevent any infiltration attempts.

The kites offer a safer way for Gazans to protest, inflicting economic losses on Israel while remaining far enough from the border to avoid being shot.

The Israeli army has been launching drones to damage or cut down the kites,

According to Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, of the more than 600 kites launched from Gaza so far, around 400 kites have been intercepted.
The announcement came two days after Kabul's decision to halt hostilities against the militants for a week

A successful ceasefire between Afghan security forces and the Taliban starting next week could help lay the groundwork for talks to end the nearly 17-year war, analysts said Saturday, but warned a peace deal was still a long way off.

After previous efforts to end the conflict stalled, the Taliban's surprise decision to suspend fighting for the first time could be a "stepping stone" in the protracted process, a Western analyst in Kabul told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The Taliban said Saturday its fighters would stop attacking Afghan security forces for the first three days of Eid, the holiday capping the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in a move largely welcomed by war-weary Afghans.

The announcement came two days after the Afghan government's own unexpected decision to halt hostilities against the militants for a week.

"This mutual ceasefire, if successful, can possibly inspire or encourage future, more substantial steps towards peacemaking," Borhan Osman, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, told AFP.

"Fighting has been the integral feature that has characterised the Taliban since the movement was born. A break from it, although very brief, represents an important departure from its modus operandi."

The Western analyst said a move by both sides to respect the ceasefire -- which is not guaranteed -- would send a signal that "we can do this". It would also show that the Taliban leadership is able to control its fighters.

The ceasefire could help build trust between the government and the Taliban, and provide "a very good stepping stone for further interaction", the analyst told AFP.

President Ashraf Ghani's ceasefire declaration on Thursday came on the heels of a fatwa issued by Afghanistan's top clerics branding suicide attacks "haram", or forbidden.

It also followed the Pentagon's announcement that senior Taliban officials had been negotiating with Afghan authorities on a possible ceasefire.

Afghan political analyst Haroon Mir said the Taliban's reciprocal, albeit shorter, ceasefire was "positive" for the Afghan people, but he cautioned that significant hurdles to peace remained.

"The question now is, is the US willing to accept negotiations with the Taliban?" Mir said.

Before Ghani's peace talks offer to the Taliban in February, which the group ignored, the militants had issued a letter calling on the United States to negotiate directly with them. Washington refused.

- 'Cautiously positive' -

Despite the ceasefire, fighting on the battlefield is likely to continue.

Both sides have vowed to retaliate if attacked and the Taliban's ceasefire does not extend to US-led NATO forces.

US Forces said they would step up the fight against the Islamic State group during the ceasefire.

There also are concerns that the Taliban's brutal arm the Haqqani Network, suspected of being behind many of the recent attacks in Kabul claimed by IS, could launch more assaults on behalf of the rival group.

"It's a wait and watch," a foreign diplomat in Kabul told AFP.

"I don't think the Haqqani Network will be on board (with the ceasefire). I wouldn't be surprised if some incidents happen and are claimed by Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Hours before Saturday's announcement, Taliban militants launched two separate assaults on Afghan security forces in the western province of Herat and the northern province of Kunduz, killing at least 36 soldiers and police, officials said.

The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on an Afghan military base in the southern province of Kandahar.

One Western diplomat said he was "cautiously positive" about the Taliban announcement.

"My sense is we have invested far more wishful thinking into this than we are likely to see," he said, adding the group traditionally wind down attacks over Eid.

Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington, DC said the Taliban had no incentive to stop fighting and it was "unreasonable to think that this brief truce can be a prelude to a reconciliation process".

But he said a ceasefire would at least give war-weary Afghans some respite from decades of violence.

Civilians have paid a disproportionate price in casualties as a result of the conflict.

More than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in 2017, down nine percent from the previous year, UN figures show.

But casualties from suicide bombings and attacks were up 17 percent.

"Given the horrific toll that conflict has taken in Afghanistan, any lull in fighting, even if only for 72 hours, is a good thing," Kugelman said.
Katumbi supporters wave banners urging "no to a third mandate" for President Kabila

Thousands of supporters of exiled Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi gathered Saturday in Kinshasa to hear a message from him demanding a united front for presidential elections scheduled for December 23.

The meeting of supporters of Katumbi's platform Ensemble (Together) passed off without incident.

Violence flared earlier this year when three rallies calling for President Joseph Kabila to step down led to more than a dozen deaths, while a UN report in March said a crackdown on demonstrations had led to a death toll of 47 from January 2017 to January of this year.

Katumbi appeared via Skype to address his supporters a day after the release of another anti-Kabila figure, former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, who won an appeal against an 18-year jail term for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Katumbi told supporters in an address over Skype there should be a single opposition candidate for December's twice-delayed presidential election

"We must do everything in agreement with your son and my brother Jean-Pierre Bemba, with Felix Tshisekedi, Vital Kamerhe and the others to present a common candidate at the presidential" election, Katumbi urged the crowd.

There was widespread applause as he told them that was the only way to "bar the path to a third (mandate) wanted by President Kabila," whose critics suspect he is plotting an illegal third term at the twice-postponed poll.

Escalating tensions over his intentions have fuelled protests and led to a deadly security crackdown.

- 'End suffering' -

Katumbi promised to "put an end to the suffering" of residents of Kinshasa if he is elected.

The crowd responded by chanting "we are waiting to elect you president of the republic."

Katumbi, who risks arrest if he returns to his homeland over accusations of real estate fraud, launched Ensemble in South Africa last March as a platform to oust Kabila, whose mandate formally ran out in December 2016, 15 years after he took power.

Meanwhile, the DRCongo's parliament has decided, almost unanimously, that nationals living abroad will not be able to vote in the December election to choose a successor for Kabila.

That rules out 16 million potential voters, according to figures from expats minister Emmanuel Ilunga.

The national electoral commission (CENI) is "incapable of organising voting for our compatriots abroad," said Henri Thomas Lokondo, a parliamentary deputy from Kabila's ruling People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) party, who confirmed Friday's parliamentary decision.

Like other African diasporas, the overseas Congolese nationals often vote for the opposition and have held protests in Paris and Brussels as well as being active on social media.

Congolese abroad were not allowed to vote in the two previous presidential elections.

Around 40 million voters are officially registered in electoral commission lists for the presidential, legislative and provincial elections on December 23.

Kabila took over from his assassinated father in 2001, and presides over a country with a dark reputation for corruption, poor governance and violence.

He has not clearly stated whether he will step aside despite appeals from the United States, France and Britain for him clearly to state that he will not seek re-election.

He was obligated to step down at the end of 2016 after he reached his two-term constitutional limit, but a constitutional clause has allowed him to remain in office until a successor is elected.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)  A fisherman who sailed amid the rains enhanced by Severe Tropical Storm Domeng was recovered dead off the coast of Malinao, Albay Saturday afternoon.

Authorities said the 24-year-old Aljun Camano went missing for two hours, prompting his family to alert the village.

Investigation revealed that around 2 pm, Camano and his brother went out fishing off the shore of Barangay Jonop.

He jumped to the sea to fix their net but did not immediately surface, the report said.

The local police coordinated immediately with the Philippine Coast Guard to hold a search and rescue mission but they were already too late.

Authorities reiterated its warning about the dangers of sailing and fishing activities amid inclement weather.

READ: Domeng intensifies into severe tropical storm
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - An Idaho utility has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contending the agency failed to act on a request by the state of Idaho to modify water temperature standards below a hydroelectric project where federally protect fall chinook salmon reproduce.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Idaho Power Company in U.S. District Court seeks to force the agency to act on a 2012 request by Idaho allowing warmer water temperatures in the Snake River below the Hells Canyon Complex on the Idaho-Oregon border.

Snake River fall chinook were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in the 1990s. A recovery plan released late last year by federal agencies identified the Snake River below the dams as the best spot for boosting the number of naturally reproducing spawning fish for the cold-water species.

Hells Canyon is a mile-deep (1.6-kilometer) canyon carved by the Snake River, much of it popular for recreation but inaccessible by road. The three-dam Hells Canyon Complex built from the late 1950s through the 1960s partially tamed the river.

Idaho Power in the lawsuit said the EPA is violating environmental and administrative laws.

"EPA's failure to take action is an intentional filibustering tactic designed to effectively deny approval," the company said.

EPA spokeswoman Suzanne Skadowski did not immediately respond Thursday to a phone message seeking comment.

Idaho Power cites studies by scientists with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries that concluded changing the water temperature standards would not harm salmon.

But the change could reduce the cost of electricity, the company said, saving customers up to $100 million over 50 years.

When the water temperature standards aren't met, Idaho Power must pay for mitigation for potentially harming fall chinook. The proposed temperature standard change would mean Idaho Power would have to pay for less mitigation, which involves improving habitat upstream of the dams with the goal of reducing water temperatures.

Specifically, the new proposed temperature standards would raise the allowable water temperature below the dams from 55.4 degrees to 58 degrees from Oct. 23 to Nov. 6.

Those two weeks are critical for fall chinook that are spawning and putting eggs in river bed gravel that might not survive if the water gets too warm.

Idaho Power said river temperatures under the current standard have never been met, with records going back to 1991. The company said the new standard wouldn't be met in most years, but the level of mitigation to pay would still be less than under the current standard.

Idaho Gov. C.L "Butch" Otter, a Republican, has also pushed for the new standard. In a Dec. 4 letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, he asked that the federal agency approve the proposed standards "so that it can become effective immediately."

But Chris Hladick, regional administrator for the EPA, responded on April 23 that the agency was focusing its efforts on coordinating with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and others to resolve relicensing details.

Idaho Power's 50-year license for the Hells Canyon Complex with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission expired in 2005, and it has been operating the dams under annual licenses renewed each August.

Brett Dumas, director of environmental affairs for Idaho Power, said the temperature standards are related to the relicensing but are also a stand-alone issue the company would like to get resolved.

On another front, Idaho Power in February petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review a 2017 decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dismissing the utility's request that it exempt the Hells Canyon Complex from an Oregon law requiring fish passage as part of relicensing. Idaho, meanwhile, has a law preventing wild fall chinook salmon from being transported above the dams.

That case has been put on hold while the two states and Idaho Power try to reach an agreement.

Idaho Power supplies electricity to nearly 534,000 customers in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The Hells Canyon Complex in a normal water year produces about 30 percent of the company's total annual power generation.
BALTIMORE (AP) - A former leader of a corrupt Baltimore police unit has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake handed down the punishment Thursday to 37-year-old former Gun Trace Task Force leader Sgt. Wayne Earl Jenkins of Middle River, Maryland.

Jenkins pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges including racketeering, robbery and falsifying records. Among a long list of other crimes, he admitted to giving stolen drugs to an associate who resold them, enriching both men.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows Wayne Jenkins. Jenkins, the former leader of the department's disbanded Gun Trace Task Force who pleaded guilty in a corruption case in January, is scheduled to appear at a sentencing hearing Thursday, June 7, 2018. (Baltimore Police Department via AP, File)

Jenkins was "putting poison into our community when he should have been protecting our community from that poison," Judge Blake said.

His defense attorney, Steve Levin, said Jenkins is "racked with remorse."

Jenkins' voice choked with emotion while he stood and addressed the packed gallery before receiving his sentence. Some in the gallery cried as he spoke.

"I've tarnished the badge," Jenkins said through tears.

He also apologized to Umar Burley, who he was pursuing when Burley crashed into another car, killing 86-year-old Elbert Davis, Sr. Heroin was planted in Burley's car after the crash. In Jenkins' plea agreement, he admitted to knowing about the planted drugs.

He also spoke directly to Davis' family members.

"From the bottom of my heart, I wish I could take that day back and not have stopped that vehicle," Jenkins said.

Shirley Johnson, Davis' daughter, also spoke during the hearing. "Our family's hearts are broken. We'll never be the same again," she said.

Jenkins is the second member of the disbanded task force to be sentenced. He led another specialized unit before joining the gun task force.

U.S. prosecutor Leo Wise said Jenkins ran both police units "like a criminal gang" and "the harm that he did is immeasurable."

After Blake handed down the sentence, Jenkins walked out of the court in handcuffs with his head down.

In his plea agreement, Jenkins admitted to seven separate robberies that took place over a span of several years. Some took place before he was part of the gun task force. Jenkins robbed hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash as well as drugs including cocaine and heroin from people he had detained or arrested.

In one robbery, Jenkins and other members of the gun task force stole more than $200,000 and two kilograms of cocaine.

Jenkins also admitted to stealing prescription medicines that had been looted in the aftermath of the riots that rocked Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.

He wrote false reports that concealed the fact that he and other members of gun task force had stolen cash, drugs and other property, filed fraudulent overtime reports and broke into homes.

On Thursday, Blake also sentenced former gun task force officer Marcus Roosevelt Taylor to 18 years in prison.

In May, Blake sentenced former Gun Trace Task Force leader Sgt. Thomas Allers to 15 years in prison. Allers had also been a leader of the corrupt unit and was its first former member to be sentenced.

Two former officers who were also part of the corrupt task force are scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

While the rogue officers had admitted to lying for years to cover their tracks, it's an open question as to whether the force's command structure had enough integrity to expose them. It was a federal investigation that brought them down.

Scores of cases involving the officers have been dropped and many fear criminals will go free.

David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who researches police behavior, called this week's sentencings a "low point" for the police department and the city.

"This is not only about finding and getting rid of some officers who were acting like criminals. It's about figuring out how the organization went wrong enough to allow them to operate for a long time and to be earning big applause from highers-up," Harris said.
Two members of a secretive evangelical church in North Carolina were charged Thursday with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in an alleged unemployment benefits scheme that former congregants have said was meant to keep money coming into the sect.

Marion Kent Covington, 63, and Diane Mary McKinny, 65, both of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Asheville.

Prosecutors say Covington and McKinny decided to lay off employees at Covington's business so they could collect unemployment benefits in 2008 when the company was struggling financially. But the employees continued to work at the company, Diverse Corporate Technologies. They later put the scheme into place at Covington's other business, Integrity Marble & Granite. Covington then put in place a variation of the scheme at Sky Catcher Communications, Inc., a company he managed, prosecutors say.

FILE - In this May 19, 2017, file photo, Brooke Covington, right, a member of the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindle, N.C., leaves a hearing at Rutherford County Courthouse in Rutherfordton, N.C., accompanied by her husband, Marion Kent Covington, far left, and attorney Joshua Valentine. Marion Kent Covington, 63, and Diane Mary McKinny, 65, two members of the secretive evangelical church in North Carolina, were charged Thursday, June 7, 2018, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in an alleged unemployment benefits scheme that former congregants have said was meant to keep money coming into the sect. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek, File)

The scheme resulted in more than $250,000 in fraudulent claims between November 2008 and March 2013, according to court records. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of at least $309,660. Both defendants will be arraigned on June 18.

Most employees were members of the Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, North Carolina. Prosecutors say Covington used his leadership position in the church to force them to comply.

No one responded to telephone messages left for Covington's attorney, Stephen Cash, and McKinny's lawyer, Charles McKeller, Thursday afternoon.

As part of an ongoing investigation into claims of physical and emotional abuse at the Word of Faith Fellowship Church in Spindale, North Carolina, The Associated Press reported in September that authorities were looking into unemployment-claims practices of congregants and their businesses.

Kent Covington spent eight months in a North Carolina prison in 1974 for breaking and entering, and larceny, and later joined the church. His wife, Brooke Covington, is one of the most trusted confidants of church founder Jane Whaley, who members consider a prophet.

By September 2009, several other businesses run by members of the church were also struggling financially so Covington and McKinny "promoted the fraud" to others, according to the indictment. At least five businesses implemented the scheme, the indictment said.

Two other ministers, Dr. Jerry Gross, 72, and his son, Jason Lee Gross, 51, pleaded guilty on May 25 to wire fraud related to unemployment benefits at a podiatry clinic in Forest City, North Carolina. As part of his plea deal, Jerry Gross agreed to cooperate with the government.

In September, 11 former congregants told the AP that dozens of church members filed bogus unemployment claims between 2008 and 2013 at the direction of church leaders. Former members said Whaley promoted the scheme as "God's plan" to help the businesses survive the economic downturn and keep money coming into the church.

The unemployment allegations were uncovered as part of the AP's ongoing investigation into Word of Faith, which had about 750 congregants in rural North Carolina and a total of nearly 2,000 members in its branches in Brazil and Ghana and its affiliations in other countries.

In February 2017, the AP cited 43 former members who said congregants were regularly punched and choked in an effort to beat out devils. The AP also revealed how, over the course of two decades, followers were ordered by church leaders to lie to authorities investigating reports of abuse.

AP later outlined how the church created a pipeline of young laborers from its two Brazilian congregations who say they were brought to the U.S. and forced to work for little or no pay at businesses owned by church leaders.

Those stories led to investigations in the U.S. and Brazil. In March, Brazilian labor prosecutors filed suit to close one of the churches and its school in Sao Paulo, saying its leaders "reduced people to a condition analogous to slavery."

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Read more about AP's Broken Faith investigation here https://www.apnews.com/tag/BrokenFaith

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This story has been edited to correct the spelling of McKinny throughout.
PRAGUE (AP) - Prague's zoo says its attempt to breed critically endangered white-belted ruffed lemurs is on the right track.

David Vala, the zoo's chief primate curator, said Friday that three lemurs born April 22 have been doing well.

Vala said: "We haven't won yet, but we already have the most difficult period behind us."

Baby of critically endangered white-belted ruffed lemurs feeds on fruits at its enclosure at the Prague zoo, Czech Republic, Friday, June 8, 2018. David Vala, chief primate curator at the park says the three lemurs that were born on April 22, have been doing well. He says: "We already have the most difficult period behind us." (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Vala said it was difficult to breed this lemur subspecies because they can become pregnant just one day a year and mothers tend to completely neglect their babies.

That was the case twice before with Fania, the mother of the three babies who have yet to be named.

The zoo says there are only 88 similar lemurs in captivity. Around 10,000 live in the wild in their native Madagascar, down by 80 percent in the last 21 years.

Two babies of critically endangered white-belted ruffed lemurs sit on a branch at their enclosure at the Prague zoo, Czech Republic, Friday, June 8, 2018. David Vala, chief primate curator at the park says the three lemurs that were born on April 22, have been doing well. He says: "We already have the most difficult period behind us." (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government will hold off for now on a plan to return to Syria an American citizen accused of fighting with Islamic State militants. His attorneys have called that a "death warrant" and asked a judge to block the move.

At a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan asked both sides for more information before ruling and set a hearing for June 20. She also encouraged the sides to try to find a mutually agreeable solution on the man's release.

The man has been detained as an enemy combatant for nine months, and his detention has become a test case for how the government should treat U.S. citizens picked up on the battlefield and accused of having ties to IS extremists battling America and its allies.

The Trump administration notified Chutkan on Wednesday that it would release the man, a dual American-Saudi citizen who has not been identified publicly by name, in Syria in "no sooner than 72 hours." The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the man, said the government's plan amounted to a decision to "dump an American citizen onto the side of the road in a war-torn country without any assurances of protection and no identification."

On Friday, Chutkan suggested some support for the government's proposal, telling ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz that Syria was where the man was before he surrendered. Chutkan asked: "Didn't he voluntarily take himself to Syria?" She asked what authority she had to "second-guess" the government's decision.

But Chutkan also expressed concern about the government's plan to release him to Syria, a country the government warns citizens against traveling to, and the fact he'd be released without a passport or other identification. Attorney James Burnham, representing the government, said the man didn't have a passport when he was arrested but that the government would explore whether it could give him some kind of identifying documents. Burnham said the locations the government proposed for releasing the man are safer than where he was picked up.

The man surrendered in mid-September to U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria. Court documents filed by the government say that when he surrendered he was carrying thumb drives containing thousands of files, including files on how to make improvised explosive devices and bombs. The ACLU says the man was in Syria to chronicle the conflict and was trying to flee the violence when he surrendered. Hafetz, the man's attorney, also expressed concern Friday that if released in Syria, the man could be again detained by Syrian Democratic Forces.

The man is currently being held in a U.S. military detention facility in Iraq.

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Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko
VALVIGNA, Italy (AP) - Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli said Friday the family-owned Italian fashion group has no intention of selling and that his elder son with co-CEO and creative director Miuccia Prada is being groomed to take over.

Bertelli said during the unveiling of a handbag production site near Florence that his 30-year-old son Lorenzo "is preparing so that one day he can become the head of Prada," assuming that once he has learned the ropes he also still has "the desire to do it."

Lorenzo started working in the communications department in September.

A view of Prada's new industrial headquarters and production site, in Valvigna, Italy, Friday, June 8, 2018. Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli said Friday that the family-controlled Italian fashion group has no intention of selling and that his elder son with co-CEO and creative director Miuccia Prada is being groomed to take over. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

While other Italian companies, including fashion brands, have sold when facing generational change, the 72-year-old Bertelli said "I have no intention to sell." Nor is he looking to expand the Prada Group, which also includes the Miu Miu fashion brand, Church's and Car Shoe footwear brands and the Marchesi pastry company, with fresh acquisitions.

He did not say when he or Miuccia, 69, would consider stepping aside.

"I think that retirement is tied to the physical and mental state of a person, and if one is efficient," he said, adding: "Retirement is a silly myth of a society that is old in principal."

Past examples show that the transition from the founding generation is not always a successful one, with the creative transition often the toughest.

The Gianfranco Ferre brand has virtually disappeared after a period of receivership and then purchase by a Middle Eastern group. Jil Sander, which Prada briefly held, has changed designers several times since Sander gave up control. Roberto Cavalli is on its second designer after the founder turned over control to a private equity firm.

Bertelli unveiled the new site in the Arno Valley where the fashion group develops the sought-after Prada and Miu Miu handbags and leather accessories.

The 32,000-square-meter site is integrated with pools of water and blooming jasmine, grapevines, pomegranate trees and other greenery both to improve the experience of its nearly 800 employees and to help the environment by absorbing 20 tons of CO2 a year, the CEO said. It is one of 10 Prada factories in Tuscany.

The handbag is key to Prada's success, comprising 60 percent of its revenues, with the rest split largely between ready-to-wear and footwear. Prada is forecasting a return to sales growth this year after several years of profit decline.

Bertelli said the best way for the brand to respond to trends is to completely control production sites. Prada owns 35 percent of its production sites, 80 percent of which are in Italy -- bucking what he said was the sector trend of outsourcing production.

He would not say how much the Valvigna plant investment cost, only saying that it was less than 70 million euros ($82 million) -- 2 million euros of which were for the greenery.

Like other fashion brands, Prada is targeting millennials, the generation born before 2000 and who are up to 35 years old now - encompassing the ages of Bertelli's two sons. They are responsible for 60 percent of Prada sales, and will inevitably tip the luxury market even more toward China, where there are 400 million millennials, compared with 80 million in the United States, he said.

After Gucci - owned by the French conglomerate Kering - unveiled to the investment community this week a video showing a robot making shoes, Bertelli said such production didn't fit his notion of luxury.

"To make a luxury product, like a handbag, it is not possible," Bertelli said, while conceding that it could be done for more casual footwear like sneakers.

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 13, 2013 file photo, Prada fashion group CEO Patrizio Bertelli, attends the 'Luxury' fashion summit in Milan, Italy. Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli says that the family-controlled company has no intention of selling and that his elder son with creative director Miuccia Prada is being groomed to take over. Bertelli said Friday, June 8, 2018 during the unveiling of a production site near Florence that his 30-year-old son Lorenzo "is preparing so that one day he can become the head of Prada,'' assuming that once he has learned the ropes he also still has "the desire to do it." (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

A man works at Prada's new industrial headquarters and production site, in Valvigna, Italy, Friday, June 8, 2018. Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli said Friday that the family-controlled Italian fashion group has no intention of selling and that his elder son with co-CEO and creative director Miuccia Prada is being groomed to take over. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Shoes and bags are lined up at Prada's new industrial headquarters and production site, in Valvigna, Italy, Friday, June 8, 2018. Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli said Friday that the family-controlled Italian fashion group has no intention of selling and that his elder son with co-CEO and creative director Miuccia Prada is being groomed to take over. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Items are lined up on shelves at Prada's new industrial headquarters and production site, in Valvigna, Italy, Friday, June 8, 2018. Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli said Friday that the family-controlled Italian fashion group has no intention of selling and that his elder son with co-CEO and creative director Miuccia Prada is being groomed to take over. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Patrizio Bertelli attends a press conference at Prada's new industrial headquarters and production site, in Valvigna, Italy, Friday, June 8, 2018. Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli said Friday that the family-controlled Italian fashion group has no intention of selling and that his elder son with co-CEO and creative director Miuccia Prada is being groomed to take over. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on sentencing of woman who kidnapped baby in 1998 from Florida hospital (all times local):

10:55 a.m.

A woman who stole a newborn from a Florida hospital two decades ago and raised the child as her own has been sentenced to 18 years for kidnapping. She will also serve five years concurrently on a charge of federal custody interference.

Gloria Williams was sentenced Friday for the kidnapping of Kamiyah Mobley in July 1998 from a hospital in Jacksonville.

The 52-year-old Williams testified at her trial that she wore scrubs to look like a nurse and put the infant in a bag and secreted her out of the hospital.

Williams raised Mobley - who grew up as Alexis Manigo - in South Carolina until her arrest in 2017. She didn't tell the girl of her true identity until the girl discovered she couldn't get a driver's license because she didn't have a valid birth certificate or Social Security card.

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A judge in Florida is scheduled to sentence a woman who was convicted of stealing a newborn from a hospital decades ago and raising the child as her own.

Gloria Williams faces up to 22 years in prison for charges related to the kidnapping of Kamiyah Mobley in 1988 from a hospital in Jacksonville.

The 52-year-old Williams testified that she wore scrubs to look like a nurse and put the infant in a bag and secreted her out of the hospital.

Williams raised Mobley - who grew up as Alexis Manigo - in South Carolina until her arrest in 2017. She didn't tell her of her true identity until the girl discovered she couldn't get a driver's license because she didn't have a valid birth certificate or Social Security card.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A lawsuit has been settled between police and a woman who was arrested for exposing her breasts during August's deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Daily Progress reported Thursday that the undisclosed settlement agreement was reached this week. The financial terms are confidential. But the officers acknowledge they were in the wrong.

Police arrested Morgan Hopkins on indecent exposure charges Aug. 12. She and others removed their shirts to protest society's differing treatment of male and female breasts.

The indecent exposure charge was later dismissed in Charlottesville General District Court

Hopkins' attorney, Jeff Fogel, said Virginia's indecent exposure statute does not differentiate between men and women and that nudity itself is not indecent exposure.

He said the offense requires either obscenity or an "appeal to the prurient interest."

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Information from: The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The former dean of the University of Southern California medical school is blaming mental illness for his drug use and partying with young criminals.

KABC-TV says Dr. Carmen Puliafito testified Thursday at a state medical board hearing that will determine whether he'll lose his medical license.

Puliafito gave up his dean's post in 2016 and was fired from the USC faculty the next year after the Los Angeles Times reported on his behavior.

Puliafito has acknowledged using methamphetamine while he was dean. The Los Angeles Times reported that he partied with criminals and was in the room when a 21-year-old prostitute overdosed.

At the hearing, Puliafito blamed his behavior on bipolar disorder. Puliafito also says he's been in rehab and hasn't used any illicit drugs for a year.
GALLOWAY, N.J. (AP) - Two-time champion Anna Nordqvist shot a 5-under 66 on Friday for a share of the first-round lead with Laura Diaz and Celine Herbin in the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Nordqvist won the 54-hole event in 2015 and 2016 on Stockton Seaview's Bay Course and finished second last year. Teeing off Friday in the afternoon when the wind was stronger, the 30-year-old Swede closed her bogey-free round with a birdie on the par-5 ninth.

"Honestly, I have a lot of good memories from here," Nordqvist said. "It's a place that makes me happy. I seemed to be striking the ball better today than for most of the year, so I was very consistent, gave myself a lot of chances. I was trying to stay patient out there and I'm very happy to post a good round."

Daniela Iacobelli hits over a bunker on the 11th hole during the first round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic golf tournament in Galloway Township, N.J. (Matthew Strabuk/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

The eight-time LPGA Tour winner is seeking her ninth career victory, has missed the cut in three of her last five events. She is currently 54th on the LPGA money list with more than $132,000 in earnings.

The 43-year-old Diaz made the field as an alternate. She played in the morning when the greens were smoother and the wind more benign and carded five birdies.

Her 12-year-old son, Cooper, was on the bag for her first competitive LPGA Tour round of the year.

"It's more special because I have my son with me," Diaz said. "It was great. He wasn't nervous. He was perfect. So it's a calming influence. I think I spent more time worrying about him."

Herbin, 35, birdied the final two holes.

Lydia Ko, In-Gee Chun and ANA Inspiration winner Pernilla Lindberg were at 67 with Sandra Gal, Su Oh, Beatriz Recari, Amy Yang and Wayne, New Jersey native Marina Alex. Defending champion I.K. Kim had a 68.

Shanshan Feng, at No. 4 the top-ranked player in the field, shot 69.

Leona Maguire, the former Duke star from Ireland, had a 69 in pro debut.

Lauren Coughlin hits toward the 18th green during the first round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic golf tournament in Galloway Township, N.J. (Matthew Strabuk/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

Dottie Ardina, of the Philippines, lines up a putt on the eighth green during the first round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic golf tournament in Galloway Township, N.J. (Matthew Strabuk/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)
TOKYO (AP) - North Korea's East Asia neighbors - Japan, China and South Korea - have a shared goal of denuclearizing the peninsula, but what may come out of Tuesday's summit in Singapore between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un has different and possibly conflicting implications for their security, economic and geopolitical interests.

Japan, still unable to meet Kim directly, is relying on Trump for almost everything from its security to an accounting of its citizens who were abducted decades ago by the North; South Koreans remain skeptical but also embrace hope that a positive outcome of the talks could push forward a Korean War peace treaty and further cooperation; and China, a U.S. rival that is increasing its regional presence, is seeking to continue exerting its influence on North Korea.

Here are the views and concerns of the three stakeholders:

FILE - In this April 27, 2018 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in embrace each other after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. North Korea's three East Asian neighbors - Japan, China and South Korea - have a shared goal of denuclearizing the North, but what may come out of Tuesday, June 12's summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un has different and possibly conflicting implications for their security, economic and geopolitical interests.(Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)

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WORRIED JAPAN

Japan, a U.S. ally whose diplomatic policies largely mirror Washington's, is relying on Trump because Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been unable to meet Kim. Japan worries about being marginalized by other regional players who have increased their interaction with North Korea. Abe doesn't want Trump to strike a compromise on North Korea's missile program that would leave Japan exposed to shorter-range missiles that do not reach the U.S. mainland, or would relieve pressure on North Korea before it takes concrete steps toward complete denuclearization. If Trump focuses on long-range missiles and a peace treaty, which might lead to a reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea, it would pose a security risk for Japan, analysts say. "That would put Japan in a very, very dismal position moving forward," said Stephen Nagy, an international relations professor at International Christian University in Tokyo.

The best scenario for Japan would be a commitment by Trump to diplomatic engagement to achieve North Korea's complete denuclearization and his help in getting the North to make progress on the abduction issue. Japan says at least 17 Japanese were abducted by North Korea to train its spies in Japanese language and culture. North Korea has acknowledged abducting 13 and allowed five of them to visit Japan in 2002, where all five remained. Families of the other abductees are getting old and many see the Trump-Kim summit as their last chance for a breakthrough in determining their fate. Japan hopes to hold talks with North Korea after a successful Trump-Kim summit, and Abe voiced his willingness to do so Thursday after meeting Trump in Washington. Japan says it would normalize diplomatic ties and provide economic aid as rewards for a North Korean commitment in both the nuclear and abduction issues. Unless Japan develops a new strategy in dealing with North Korea, a summit between Abe and Kim is not expected until considerably later, and North Korea, which can expect economic aid from China and South Korea, is seen as in no rush to turn to Japan.

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HOPEFUL BUT SKEPTICAL SOUTH

South Koreans have been split between hope and doubt after seeing the seesaw developments leading up to the summit. They hope that improved relations between the U.S. and North Korea would ease tensions, adding momentum for inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation. Some even speculate that Trump and Kim may discuss a peace treaty formally ending the 1950-1953 Korean War, replacing the current armistice. A peace treaty, however, would raise North Korea's long-time demand for a reduction or withdrawal of U.S. troops in South Korea. Skeptics say that's too much to consider and that the priority should be getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

The summit is only the start of a long process, but its success is "critically important" for South Korean President Moon Jae-in because he has made inter-Korea negotiations a centerpiece of his administration and has staked much political capital on the effort, said John Delury, an associate professor of East Asian Studies at Seoul's Yonsei University. He said a successful summit would create more room for the two Korean leaders to move forward on inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation. Reducing the threat of conflict is the initial goal, which could be followed by cultural, humanitarian and economic steps. Moon held talks with Kim in April at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two sides, getting Kim's initial offer of a summit with Kim.

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CAUTIOUS CHINA

Trump has long leaned on China to convince North Korea to moderate its actions despite protests from Beijing and some experts that China's influence may be overstated. But the success or failure of the summit will be seen by some as an indication of China's status as a major player in Northeast Asia, something Beijing has long craved. A positive outcome in Singapore may also ease pressure on Beijing in its simmering trade disputes with Washington and complaints over its militarization of disputed South China Sea islands.

Beijing wants to ensure its interests are preserved in the negotiations, namely that no outcome leads to a pro-U.S. united Korea and the stationing of potentially hostile troops along its border. In the near term, China has repeatedly called for a freeze in large-scale U.S.-South Korea military exercises in return for a halt to the North's nuclear and missile programs. Beijing also backs backs the North's call for a "phased and synchronous" approach to denuclearization, as opposed to Washington's demand for an instant, total and irreversible end to the North's nuclear programs.

China wants to see the Kim regime adopt Chinese-style economic reforms and has pressured South Korea to remove a U.S. anti-missile system that it regards as threatening China's nuclear deterrent.

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Associated Press journalists Jung-yoon Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on new charges against Paul Manafort (all times local):

10 p.m.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is calling newly filed obstruction charges "dubious allegations."

FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2018, file photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington. Special counsel Robert Mueller has turned up the heat on Manafort, threatening new criminal charges for witness tampering and asking a judge to put him in jail while he awaits trial (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, file)

Manafort's attorneys argue in newly filed court papers that he never asked anyone to provide false testimony.

They also say the allegations that he and an associate tampered with witnesses involved in his criminal case are based on "scant" evidence. The attorneys say Manafort was just maintaining his innocence in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

The court papers come just hours after a grand jury in Washington returned an indictment charging Manafort and a longtime associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The witnesses have told investigators that they believed Manafort and Kilimnik were trying to get them to lie about the nature of his Ukrainian political work.

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2 p.m.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has brought new obstruction charges against President Donald Trump's campaign chairman and a longtime associate who prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence.

The indictment was unsealed Friday against Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik just days after prosecutors accused the two men of attempting to tamper with witnesses as Manafort awaits trial on charges related to his foreign lobbying work.

The latest charges increase Manafort's legal jeopardy if he continues an aggressive battle with prosecutors, and could be an effort by Mueller to induce a guilty plea and secure the testimony of a critical campaign adviser to Trump.
SINGAPORE (AP) - The small island nation of Singapore, which prides itself on law and order, is feeling the pressure of more than 3,000 members of the press arriving for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The heavy media presence along with stringent security measures for the summit Tuesday has added to the frenzy unusual for the laid-back tropical state.

For over a week, journalists have been staking out Singapore's luxury hotels, airports and government buildings to catch a glimpse of officials involved in summit preparations.

In this June, 8, 2018, photo, a woman hits a custom-made pinata which has a photo of U.S. President Donald Trump at a Mexican restaurant in Singapore. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet at a luxury resort in Singapore next week for nuclear talks, the White House said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Unruly ones have already crossed red lines. Police said Friday they arrested two South Korean journalists from the national broadcaster KBS suspected of trespassing in the residence of the North Korean ambassador.

Another KBS journalist and an interpreter were also under investigation.

Responding to the arrests, South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom urged journalists from his country, where the free-wheeling press is a norm, to behave. He reminded them that Singapore exercises "very strict government power," which may not bend to diplomatic pleas.

KBS apologized for the incident in their Friday evening newscast.

The city-state is not used to a rowdy press. Most of the mainstream media are controlled by government-linked companies and independent news websites are wary of strict defamation laws that government leaders have used to silence critics.

Apart from journalists, authorities also have to contend with Kim and Trump impersonators.

On Friday, Kim impersonator Lee Howard Ho Wun was questioned by police when he arrived at Singapore's Changi Airport. Lee, who also uses the name Howard X, said he was told to stay away from Sentosa Island, where the summit will be held, and around Shangri-La Hotel, where Trump is expected to stay. Police banned loud-hailers, flags or banners over a meter (yard) long or wide in the two "special event areas."

Lee said the police asked if he had been involved in protests around the world, including those by pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, where he lives.

"I've never encountered this at any other country. I guess they could have deported me, but then the headline the next day would read 'Kim Jong Un gets deported from Singapore,' which I'm sure they wouldn't want," Lee said.

Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said that all travelers could be subjected to additional interviews and checks.

Later Friday, Lee was spotted at Merlion Park, a popular tourist spot, with Trump impersonator Dennis Alan. They were mobbed by passers-by and a group of around 25 journalists.

As the cameras clicked, the impersonators promoted a restaurant's chili-and-black pepper crabs and held up advertisements for an app - all within the sight of plainclothes police.

At the Mexican restaurant Lucha Loco, diners took a swing at Trump and Kim-shaped pinatas, which were filled with sweets.

Executive chef Nelson Burgos said the restaurant meant no harm. "We felt that it was a wonderful opportunity to get a little bit creative and have a little bit of fun," he said.

Some enterprising Singaporeans came up with risk-free ways to commemorate the meeting.

Caleb Lin, the co-founder of Miniature Stories, is selling T-shirts featuring Trump and Kim taking a selfie against the city's iconic skyline.

"Singaporeans are not known for being super crazy, so we thought it'd be quite fun to do a tongue-in-cheek T-shirt for the event," he said.

In this June 8, 2018, photo, Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonators, are swamped by members of the media and curious onlookers as they visited the Merlion Park, a popular tourist destination in Singapore. The small island nation of Singapore, which prides itself on law and order, is feeling the pressure of more than 3,000 members of the press arriving for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Apart from journalists, authorities also have to contend with Kim and Trump impersonators. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

In this June 8, 2018, photo, Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonators, are swamped by members of the media and curious onlookers as they visited the Merlion Park, a popular tourist destination in Singapore. The small island nation of Singapore, which prides itself on law and order, is feeling the pressure of more than 3,000 members of the press arriving for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Apart from journalists, authorities also have to contend with Kim and Trump impersonators. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

In this June 8, 2018, photo, Kim Jong Un impersonator, Howard X, who was questioned by police when he arrived at Singapore's Changi Airport is swamped by members of the media and curious onlookers as he visited the Merlion Park, a popular tourist destination in Singapore. The small island nation of Singapore, which prides itself on law and order, is feeling the pressure of more than 3,000 members of the press arriving for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Apart from journalists, authorities also have to contend with Kim and Trump impersonators. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Here's your look at highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.

This week's gallery includes women shopping for headscarves in Kuala Lumpur, a protester firing a homemade mortar during clashes with police in Nicaragua, and Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonators in Singapore.

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Women shop for headscarves at a Ramadan bazaar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday, June 8, 2018. During the holy month of Ramadan, a daily bazaar offers various selections of clothing, food, prayer mats and other religious items to Muslims who traditionally shop for new outfits to welcome the end-of-the-month Eid al-Fitr celebrations. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)

This gallery contains photos from the week of June 2-8, 2018.

See the latest AP photo galleries: https://apimagesblog.com

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Follow AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images

Visit AP Images online: http://www.apimages.com http://www.apimages.com/

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This gallery was produced by Patrick Sison in New York.

A Palestinian medic rushes to help a protester who was shot in the face with a teargas canister fired by Israeli troops near the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, on Friday, June 8, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are streaming toward the fence separating Gaza from Israel for a protest against the decade-long blockade of their territory. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Tens of thousands attend an annual candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park on Monday, June 4, 2018, to commemorate victims of the Chinese government's 1989 military crackdown on protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

The body of a victim is covered in volcanic ash from the Volcan de Fuego, or "Volcano of Fire," in Escuintla, Guatemala, on Monday, June 4, 2018. A fiery eruption in south-central Guatemala sent lava flowing into rural communities, killing dozens as rescuers struggled to reach people where homes and roads were charred and blanketed with ash. (AP Photo/Luis Soto)

A boy living in a makeshift home under a bridge carries Sampaguita flower garlands which he sells to supplement their daily income in metropolitan Manila, Philippines, Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Despite repeated warnings, some 20 families still live under the bridge as they wait to be given a chance to transfer to government relocation sites. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Sunlight illuminates the Swayambhunath stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. The ancient religious complex atop a hill is also known as the monkey temple. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

A Buddhist worshipper turns a prayer wheel inside a monastery in Dehradun, India, Monday, June 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

A masked protester shoots his homemade mortar in the Monimbo neighborhood during clashes with police in Masaya, Nicaragua on Saturday, June 2, 2018. More than 110 people have been killed in Nicaragua during clashes between forces loyal to President Daniel Ortega and opposition groups. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

A man carries a container of sea water past burning trash at the harbor in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, June 7, 2018. The charcoal vendor collected the water to keep the fire from burning his merchandise. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonators, Howard X, left, and Dennis Alan, jump together as they pose for photographs at Merlion Park, a popular tourist destination in Singapore, on Friday, June 8, 2018. Howard X said he was detained and questioned upon his arrival in Singapore on Friday, days before a summit between the North Korean leader and President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
QINGDAO, China (AP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says he would like to discuss the situation following the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking at the start of his Saturday's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Qingdao, China, Rouhani hailed close ties between Russia and Iran. Iran has an observer status in the SCO, and Putin said that Moscow would support the full-fledged Iranian membership.

Rouhani said that the U.S. exit from the nuclear agreement with Iran warrants an "important and serious discussion between our two countries."

Rouhani also hailed Russia-Iran cooperation in Syria, saying "our role in the region is quite significant." Russia and Iran have staunchly backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, helping turn the tide of war in his favor.
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis told leading oil executives Saturday that the transition to less-polluting energy sources "is a challenge of epochal proportions" and warned that satisfying the world's energy needs "must not destroy civilization."

The Vatican said Francis held a two-day conference with the executives as a follow-up to his encyclical three years ago that called on people to save the planet from climate change and other environmental ills.

Participants included the CEOs of Italian oil giant ENI, British Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Norway's Statoil as well as scientists and managers of major investment funds. Their remarks on the first day of the closed-door conference were not released by the Vatican.

Pope Francis meets a group of children who traveled on a special train from Milan and arrived at St. Peter's station at the Vatican, Saturday, June 9, 2018 as part of an initiative to give children living in disadvantaged areas of the country a day of joy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

While Francis lauded the oil executives for embedding an assessment of climate change risks into their planning strategies, he also put them on notice for their "continued search for fossil fuel reserves," 2 years after the Paris climate accord "clearly urged keeping most fossil fuels underground."

"Civilization requires energy, but energy must not destroy civilization," he implored.

Energy experts and those who advocate fighting climate change expressed doubts before the conference that it would amount to anything other than a PR opportunity for the companies to burnish their image without making meaningful changes.

In his remarks, the pope said he hoped the meeting gave participants the chance to "re-examine old assumptions and gain new perspectives."

Francis said that modern society with its "massive movement of information, persons and things requires an immense supply of energy." And still, he said, as many as one billion people still lack electricity.

The pope said meeting the energy needs of everyone on the planet must be done in ways "that avoid creating environmental imbalances, resulting in deterioration and pollution that is gravely harmful to our human family, both now and in the future."

Frances also recalled his own appeal in the "Laudato Si" encyclical for an energy policy "aimed at averting disastrous climate changes that could compromise the well-being and future of the human family, and our common home." That includes transitioning to efficient, clean energy sources.

"This is a challenge of epochal proportions," he said Saturday. "At the same time it is an immense opportunity to encourage efforts to ensure fuller access to energy by less developed countries ... as well as diversifying energy sources and promoting the sustainable development of renewable forms of energy."

The pope called for a "long-term global strategy to provide energy security," along with "precise commitments" to tackle the challenge of climate change.

He said it was "disturbing and a cause for real concern" that the levels of carbon dioxide emissions and the concentrations of greenhouse gases remain high despite commitments taken in the 2015 Paris accord to fight global warming.

He urged participants to use their "demonstrated aptitude for innovation" to address "two of the great needs in today's world: the care of the poor and the environment." He noted that the poor pay the highest price for climate change, often being forced to migrate due to water insecurity, severe weather and an accompanying collapse in agriculture.

"The transition to accessible and clean energy is a duty that we owe toward millions of our brothers and sisters around the world, poor countries and generations yet to come," the pope said.

Pope Francis meets a group of children who traveled on a special train from Milan and arrived at St. Peter's station at the Vatican, Saturday, June 9, 2018 as part of an initiative to give children living in disadvantaged areas of the country a day of joy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis meets a group of children who traveled on a special train from Milan and arrived at St. Peter's station at the Vatican, Saturday, June 9, 2018 as part of an initiative to give children living in disadvantaged areas of the country a day of joy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
BEIJING (AP) - Singapore's foreign minister says it's "all systems go" for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be held in the Southeast Asian city-state next week.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Saturday in Beijing after returning from North Korea that "things will start happening within the next 24 hours." He didn't provide details in his remarks to Singaporean reporters .

"I went there to make sure that everything was spick and span and in place, no last minute spoilers or difficulties," Balakrishnan said.

Singapore police officers patrol the grounds around the St. Regis hotel as traffic policemen start to barricade the roads surrounding it, on Saturday, June 9, 2018, in Singapore ahead of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Trump and Kim plan to meet in Singapore on Tuesday. It will be the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting U.S. president.

Balakrishnan had visited Washington earlier in the week and met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. He told reporters that Washington and Pyongyang are pleased with the arrangements and said he sees sincerity from both sides ahead of the talks.

"If a breakthrough is achieved, if peace comes, there will be a bountiful harvest, primarily of course within the Korean Peninsula but indeed for all the rest of us," he said.

The summit has fueled hopes in South Korea that the two leaders may weigh a formal declaration to end the Korean War. The 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, but not a formal peace treaty.
BAGHDAD (AP) - An Iraqi security official says three bombs have exploded in the northern city of Kirkuk killing a woman and wounding 18 others.

Brig. Gen. Ali Kamal said the blasts occurred late Friday night in three different places. He added that two of them did not inflict any casualties.

Kamal said Saturday that the blast in al-Quds street in central Kirkuk killed the woman and wounded 18 others.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts but the oil-rich city was targeted in the past in attacks carried out by the Islamic State group.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Four U.S. service members who were wounded in an extremist attack in Somalia that killed one special operations soldier have been treated and discharged, the U.S. military said Saturday.

A U.S. Africa Command statement said the four were in the care of the U.S. Embassy medical team in neighboring Kenya. They were awaiting transport "for additional medical evaluation."

The Pentagon said Staff Sgt. Alexander W. Conrad, 26, of Chandler, Arizona, died Friday of injuries sustained from what it called enemy indirect fire. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The names of those wounded were not released.

This was the first public announcement of a U.S. military combat death in Africa since four U.S. service members were killed in a militant ambush in the West African nation of Niger in October.

Friday's attack in Jubaland is likely to put renewed scrutiny on America's counterterror operations in Africa.

U.S. troops with Somali and Kenyan forces came under mortar and small-arms fire and one "partner force member" also was wounded in the attack about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, the U.S. military said.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which is based in Somalia and controls parts of the country's rural south and central regions, claimed responsibility. The group was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October that killed more than 500 people and raised concerns about al-Shabab's ability to build ever-larger explosives.

Friday's joint operation was part of a multi-day mission including about 800 Somali and Kenyan troops. The U.S. said its personnel had provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission.

"This area is called Sanguni, we came here to carry out a special operation designed to liberate this area that is still under the control of al-Shabab fighters," Lt. Col. Abdi Ibrahim with the Somali armed forces said Friday. "If God wills, we will chase them until we defeat them."

Associated Press video on Friday showed Somali forces firing weapons from atop pickup trucks in a muddy rural area, and an unidentified U.S. soldier speaking with local residents. A helicopter flew over the area.

President Donald Trump in early 2017 approved expanded military operations against al-Shabab, leading to an increase in U.S. military personnel to more than 500 and the launch of dozens of drone strikes. The U.S. had pulled out of the Horn of Africa nation after 1993, when two helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.

Another U.S. service member in Somalia was killed in May 2017 during an operation about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Mogadishu.

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The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, is holding its annual meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dallas. Here are some facts about the SBC:

SIZE:

The SBC consists of 47,272 churches with a total membership of about 15.2 million. Weekly attendance at worship services is about 5.2 million. Each church is a self-governing congregation that makes its own decisions on staffing, budget and programs.

DIVERSITY:

According to the latest SBC figures, 39,094 of the churches are predominantly white, 3,228 predominantly African-American, and 2,103 predominantly Hispanic. There are also churches for Korean, Native American, Chinese and other ethnic communities.

INSTITUTIONS:

The SBC oversees extensive missionary programs in the U.S. and abroad and operates six seminaries with a total enrollment of more than 21,000.

ANNUAL MEETING:

Each SBC church is allowed to send two "messengers" to the annual meeting. The messengers adopt a budget for ministry and missions, receive reports from the SBC institutions and vote on new resolutions. Also, a new SBC president will be elected in Dallas. The two candidates are North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear and Ken Hemphill, an administrator at North Greenville University in South Carolina.

HISTORY:

The SBC was formed before the Civil War in defense of slaveholders and has been trying to overcome its racist history. In 1995, on the SBC's 150th anniversary, the annual meeting adopted a resolution apologizing for condoning and perpetuating racism, and committed to eradicate racism in the SBC's ministry. In 2012, the SBC for the first time elected an African-American, Fred Luter Jr., as president.




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.
BOSTON (AP) - A majestic tall ship from Portugal is sailing back to Boston.

Sagres, a three-masted Portuguese Navy barque, is scheduled to return to Boston Harbor on Saturday afternoon. The ship will be open for public viewing through the weekend.

The 294-foot vessel is used for training in its home country, where it's a symbol of national pride.

Ship-watchers in Boston may remember Sagres for the distinctive red crosses that decorate 10 of its 22 sails.

The ship has visited more than 60 countries and circumnavigated the globe three times, most recently in 2010 during a voyage of approximately 35,000 miles. It last visited Boston about three years ago.

The Boston visit comes just ahead of Portugal National Day on Sunday, the nation's annual celebration of pride and heritage.
PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) - Authorities in Montenegro say a powerful storm has damaged dozens of houses and a hospital along the country's Adriatic Sea coast.

The storm that engulfed the Boka Kotorska bay area early on Saturday swept away part of the hospital's roof and blew out many of its windows.

Officials say about 50 houses and buildings have been damaged in all. The heavy wind also turned over cars, brought down trees and damaged two small planes at a local airport. Some parts of the area were temporarily left without electricity.

To the north in Slovenia, Prime Minister Miro Cerar on Saturday toured a southeastern region where apple-sized hail damaged roofs, crops and cars late Friday. Storms also hit Croatia and Bosnia.
Anthony Bourdain's culinary passions went far beyond the cuisine he put on a plate. He also was committed to the immigrant workers who toil in his and other kitchens throughout the restaurant industry.

Bourdain, who died Friday in France in an apparent suicide at age 61, was an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump's immigration policies and a fierce defender of Hispanic workers.

The chef, global traveler and author, whose popularity grew with his CNN series "Parts Unknown," often was the first to tip his hat to his employees from Central America or Mexico. He promoted his Mexican-born sous chef, the late Carlos Llaguno Garcia, to run two of his New York restaurants and complained loudly about the United States' "ridiculously hypocritical attitudes" toward immigration.

FILE - This Dec. 19, 2001 file photo shows Anthony Bourdain, the owner and chef of Les Halles restaurant, sitting at one of the tables in New York. On Friday, June 8, 2018, Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in France, while working on his CNN series on culinary traditions around the world. (AP Photo/Jim Cooper,File)

"Some, of course, like to claim that Mexicans are stealing American jobs," Bourdain said in 2014. "But in two decades as a chef and employer, I never had one American kid walk in my door and apply for a dishwashing job, a porter's position or even a job as prep cook."

During the 2016 presidential campaign season, Bourdain slammed Trump's promises to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally and build a wall along the Mexican border.

"If Mr. Trump deports 11 million people or whatever he's talking about right now, every restaurant in America would shut down," Bourdain said in an interview with SiriusXM radio.

Trump has said the wall is needed to keep immigrants and drugs out of the U.S. and his policies are designed to keep the country safe.

Julian Medina, the owner of eight Mexican restaurants in New York, said he and Bourdain crossed paths a few times at industry events.

"The Latino community was very important to him because in the kitchens of New York there are many Latinos," Medina said. "He supported that because he always worked beside a Latino and put Carlos in charge of his kitchen."

Saul Montiel, executive chef at the Mexican restaurant Cantina Roof Top in Manhattan, said Garcia, who died of cancer in 2015, always spoke highly of Bourdain. For an episode of Bourdain's Travel Channel show, "No Reservations," Garcia gave Bourdain a tour of his hometown, Puebla. Bourdain claimed all the best cooks in his New York restaurants came from there.

Montiel, who started in the business washing dishes 15 years ago, said Bourdain was "one of the few chefs that valued the work of the Latinos in the kitchen."

"There are many chefs," he said, "that never recognize the hard work of the Hispanics."

Mel Mecinas, an executive chef in Scottsdale, Arizona, who was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, remembers when Bourdain featured his home state on "Parts Unknown." He liked that Bourdain went to smaller villages and wasn't afraid to sit on the floor and eat, sampling traditional dishes such as tamales with mole negro sauce wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks.

"When he goes somewhere, he always finds the place where he can find the root of the culture," Mecinas said. "I was so impressed about how down-to-earth he is and his sense of humor."

Occasionally, Bourdain's penchant to spotlight minorities attracted a backlash. Last year, a blogger accused him of banning white chefs from getting exposure on a "Parts Unknown" episode on Houston's culinary scene. Bourdain responded on Twitter, calling it "shameful, dishonest race-baiting click bait."

Latinos weren't the only minority group that embraced Bourdain. Jason Wang, CEO of Xi'an Famous Foods in New York, planned to donate profits at all its locations on Friday to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

In a Facebook post, Wang said Bourdain's impact on his family's Chinese street food business was immeasurable. In 2007, Bourdain endorsed the Wangs' basement food stall, which served lamb noodle soup with hand-ripped noodles on "No Reservations."

The bump in business was swift. Wang and his father gradually went from that stall to six eateries. In 2015, Wang had the chance to relay his gratitude in person.

"I looked at him in the eyes and said, 'this is something we will always be thankful for Tony,'" Wang wrote. "And he simply replied, 'I'm just calling out good food like it is, that's all.'"

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Associated Press writer Claudia Torrens in New York contributed to this report.

A woman takes a photograph of a billboard for the CNN television show "Parts Unknown" with American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, Friday, June 8, 2018 in Atlanta. Bourdain, 61, was found dead in his hotel room in France on Friday, while working on the series which features culinary traditions around the world. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

People walk past a billboard for the CNN television show "Parts Unknown" with American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, Friday, June 8, 2018 in Atlanta. Bourdain, 61, was found dead Friday in his hotel room in France while working on the series which features culinary traditions around the world. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Officials in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila have confirmed the killing of a candidate for Mexico's Chamber of Deputies.

The state prosecutors' office says it is investigating a video circulated in local media showing a man approach ruling party candidate Fernando Puron at the end of an electoral debate Friday in the border city of Piedras Negras.

Coahuila Gov. Miguel Angel Riquelme did not comment on the video, but lamented the killing in a statement.

"He transformed his city, Piedras Negras, and distinguished himself by his fierce fight against crime during his tenure as mayor. He was also a fundamental factor in recuperating peace in Coahuila," he said.

Puron had served as mayor of Piedras Negras, which has been hard-hit by organized crime.

More than 20 candidates have been killed ahead of the July 1 elections.
NEW YORK (AP) - There will be floats, musicians and brightly colored costumes when the Puerto Rican Day Parade makes its way along Fifth Avenue this Sunday, as there always are.

But amid all the fun and celebration planned on Sunday, organizers and participants want to keep a spotlight on something serious - that months after Hurricane Maria roared over Puerto Rico, and as the next hurricane season arrives, the U.S. island territory is still struggling.

"This is a year where Puerto Rico has been devastated," said Louis Maldonado, chairman of the board that oversees the parade and its affiliated events. "We need to keep that part of the conversation."

FILE - In this June 11, 2017 file photo, a man rolls on a hover-board along Fifth Avenue during the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York. Amid all the fun and celebration planned for this years parade on Sunday, June 10, 2018, organizers and participants want to keep a spotlight on something serious. They want people to remember that months after Hurricane Maria roared through and as the next hurricane season arrives, Puerto Rico is still struggling. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Those watching the parade in person will see that in the marching contingents, including one made up of people who are on the U.S. mainland only because they were displaced from their homes on the island, he said.

The parade will also honor first responders and others who stepped up to help with both emergency efforts and ongoing recovery work, as well as recognizing David Begnaud, the CBS News journalist who has earned praise for his extended reporting about conditions on the island.

For those watching via the live broadcast, Maldonado said, there will be guests talking about the issues, as well as specific segments focused on particular issues, like the plight of teachers on the island or environmental issues.

This year's parade comes a year after a controversial one, when the parade organization's decision to recognize Oscar Lopez Rivera, a former member of a militant group responsible for a series of bombings, led some sponsors to withdraw their support and some politicians like Gov. Andrew Cuomo decline to take part.

Cuomo has been an outspoken proponent of the need to help Puerto Rico after the September storm and is expected to take part in this year's event.

"People have really turned the page on everything that happened last year," Maldonado said.

He also said that, at least on the parade board's part, this year's focus on the island's recovery needs would be about the issues, and "not about the politics."

President Donald Trump's administration has been criticized by opponents for its handling of the hurricane's aftermath; for instance, eight months later, full power has yet to be restored. A recent study from Harvard University estimated there were up to 4,600 more deaths than usual in the three months after Hurricane Maria, although some independent experts questioned the methods and the number in that study.

The official federal death toll is at 64.

At least one parade participant, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., said the parade needs to take a political tone. He and the group he is marching with plan to be in black T-shirts that reflect the Harvard study's estimate of the dead.

"It would be a missed opportunity this Sunday ... if we don't show an act of solidarity, an act of protest, an act of defiance," he said, "to let the world know we still have a president and Congress that still has not done right by 3.5 million Americans."

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Deepti Hajela covers issues of race, ethnicity and immigration for The Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dhajela. For more of her work, search for her name at https://apnews.com
PARIS (AP) - Fiji lost for the first time since March yet kept alive its bid for the sevens rugby world series title by reaching the Paris Sevens quarterfinals on Saturday.

Fiji is in a race to the title with defending champion South Africa in the series finale. The Fijians lead by seven points overall, and can clinch the series by making the final at Stade Jean Bouin.

Both teams surprisingly lost a pool match, Fiji to Kenya and South Africa to Scotland, but neither of the winners could use it to advance.

Kenya won 22-19 to end Fiji's 26-match winning streak across six tournaments.

Kenya led 15-0 after Collins Injera scored, set up Willy Ambaka, and Andrew Amonde dotted down in a rousing Fiji-type display. Fiji's Eroni Sau was yellow-carded to begin the second half and Erick Ombasa scored to make it 22-7, a gap too large to overcome.

Fiji could have been knocked out by New Zealand in its last pool game but was too good for its old rival by 26-17.

Fiji faces England in the quarterfinals on Sunday. New Zealand will meet the United States, Ireland takes on Canada, and South Africa faces Spain.

South Africa lost its opening pool game to Scotland 14-12, after Harvey Elms scored the tying try for Scotland and Robbie Fergusson made the conversion from wide out on the left after the hooter.

South Africa then had to come from behind three times to beat Russia 21-19, needing a late converted try by Seabelo Senatla. They handled Canada 28-0, effectively preventing Scotland from advancing.

Ireland, a surprise third in London last weekend, brought in six new players to make their world series debut, and made the quarterfinals yet again. The Irish even topped their pool and knocked out Australia 24-14.

In a late match, the U.S. came from 21-7 down in the last minute or so to score two converted tries, one while England was down to six men, and draw 21-21.

Meanwhile, Australia won the women's series by winning a remarkable semifinal against France 21-17.

After New Zealand won its semifinal by crushing Canada, Australia had to win its match to clinch the series. It led France 14-0 into the second half, whereupon France scored the next three tries to lead 17-14 with a minute left. Australia received a penalty deep in its territory and Emilee Cherry broke free to score. Australia and New Zealand play the final on Sunday.

Australia had to win
SAO PAULO (AP) - Brazilian police say a newborn girl miraculously survived after being buried alive for seven hours in the central state of Mato Grosso.

The Mato Grosso state police department said in an email Saturday that a 15-year-old gave birth earlier in the week, but believed the baby had died and buried her in the backyard of the indigenous family's house.

The police received an anonymous tip related to the burial and dug up the baby, who was hospitalized and said to be in stable condition.

The baby's grandmother and great-grandmother have been taken into custody pending an investigation.

Police questioned the 15-year-old mother and released her after a few hours.
WIGGINS, Miss. (AP) - Authorities say a school guidance counselor found dead at her home in Mississippi had been decapitated and that her son is charged with murder.

Stone County Coroner Wayne Flurry told news outlets Friday that the body of 51-year-old Sherry Johnson was discovered Wednesday at her house near Wiggins.

Flurry says Johnson's remains had been there for several days, and were found by sheriff's deputies who were asked to check on her. An autopsy could be completed by Monday.

County sheriff's Capt. Ray Boggs says 29-year-old Terrell Johnson was arrested on a first-degree murder charge.

Boggs says Johnson was jailed without bond. It's unclear if he has a lawyer.

Hattiesburg High School Principal Eric Boney says Sherry Johnson had worked at the school since 2014.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - Katie Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle at an outdoor meet in Northern California on Saturday with the world's fastest time this year.

The five-time Olympic champion touched first in 1 minute, 54.56 seconds in the TYR Pro Swim Series, beating her closest rival by nearly 3 seconds at the George F. Haines International Swim Center.

Ledecky is competing in her second meet since turning pro. Last month, she lowered her own world record by 5 seconds in the 1,500 free in Indianapolis.

She attends nearby Stanford University.
A retired Secret Service agent pointed out security vulnerabilities at a Florida high school two months before a gunman killed 17 people there.

Retired agent Steve Wexler pointed out unlocked gates, unlocked doors and no identification badges for students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, The Sun Sentinel of South Florida reported.

Wexler's children had graduated from the high school and he spoke regularly to classes about law enforcement.

He had previously offered to make security recommendations, and he was asked to conduct a 'site survey' of the campus last December.

Accompanied by an assistant principal, Wexler walked through the school with Post-it notes numbered 1 through 20.

A retired Secret Service agent pointed out security vulnerabilities at a Florida high school two months before a gunman killed 17 people there

He handed them out to staffers or stuck them to desks and doorknobs to point out their vulnerabilities.

Wexler said he presented his recommendations to four staffers at the school.

'I said, "This stuff is blatantly obvious. Youve got to fix this",' he said.

From that moment, Wexler said he never heard back from the district.

Florida's government has ordered the shooting be investigated by a state commission of inquiry.

The blue-ribbon panel will likely ask Wexler to give statements.

'Were aware of him,' said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who is leading the commission.

'Were interested in talking to him.'

A spokesperson for the school district told the Sun Sentinel that 'a school administrator did discuss security recommendations from an individual last year.'

Retired agent Steve Wexler pointed out unlocked gates, unlocked doors and no identification badges for students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Wexler spent 27 years in the Secret Service before retiring in 2014.

His two children graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, so he was known to teachers there.

Wexler was also a regular guest lecturer to classes. He would talk about the criminal justice system.

Wexler said he printed out the school's floor plan, bell schedule, and aerial map.

On December 13 of last year, he arrived early for his meeting in order to test the security on the grounds.

Wexler had previously offered to make security recommendations, and he was asked to conduct a 'site survey' of the campus last December. The image above shows parents waiting for news about their loved ones after initial reports of the shooting in Parkland on February 14

Wexler said he pulled into the parking lot through the open gate and sat there for 20 minutes, during which time nobody approached him.

He then took the assistant principal, Winfred Porter, on a short ride in his truck through the bus loop.

Wexler pointed out that the gate to the bus loop was open during midday.

'Why the heck was it unlocked?' Wexler said he wondered to himself.

Porter watched from afar as Wexler had no trouble getting into the school breezeway where students and staff would gather.

Wexler then entered an open back door which led to the administration building.

He then took yellow Post-it notes numbered 1 to 20 and handed them to each administrator or 'victim' would be gunned down if someone tried to commit a mass murder.

Wexler said he had no trouble roaming the premises and putting down Post-it notes unimpeded.

'Nobody challenged me,' he said.

'No one approached me  "Who are you?"'

Eventually, Wexler said he reached the office of Deputy Scot Peterson, the so-called 'Broward Coward.'

Peterson was forced to resign a week after the school shooting. He was filmed during the massacre standing outside for minutes while gunman Nikolas Cruz went on his shooting spree.

Wexler said that when he reached Peterson's office, Peterson had his back turned toward him while working on the computer.

He then turned to the assistant principal.

'Mr. Porter, I ran out of numbers. You want me to keep going?' he asked.

Wexler said he then made his recommendations to school officials, including locking the gates, giving students ID badges, doing regular active-shooter drills, and giving any adult the power to declare a lock down.

A frustrated Wexler said his recommendations appeared to fall on deaf ears.

Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz quickly glances up at the prosecutors during a hearing on April 27, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale

'Where on the food chain did that information die?' he asked.

'I tell them what to do and then they dont do it.

'If they didnt want to use the recommendation, why then would the school reach out to me?

'I said, "Keep the gates locked".

'If they just kept the gates locked the kid would have had to jump the fence and then it would have been more obvious.

'It didnt have to happen. Those kids didnt have to die.'

School administrators declined to comment on the specifics of Wexler's complaints.
SEATAC, Wash. (AP) - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and a roster of fellow Democratic politicians on Saturday decried the federal government's decision to separate young children of asylum seekers taken into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border from their parents indefinitely.

The administration is sending more than 1,600 immigrants - including some of those parents - to federal prisons amid a lack of space in other facilities. Inslee said six children were brought to a Seattle foster care facility after being separated from their families at the border. It's unclear where the parents are, but the governor's office said they are not in Washington state.

"We must understand this is not an accidental infliction of trauma on children," he said at a press conference before a rally that was attended by dozens of protesters. "It is an intentional infliction of trauma on children."

Maru Mora leads protesters on a march outside the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, Wash., on Saturday, June 9, 2018, to oppose the policy of separating children from their parents seeking asylum. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP)

The unnamed foster care center is the only facility in Washington that takes referrals from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Local officials couldn't say what obligation the state has to care for the children.

ICE said it was sending detainees to federal prisons in Victorville, California; La Luna, Texas; Sheridan, Oregon; and SeaTac, Washington. The agency said it needs more space due to a "surge in illegal border crossings and implementation of the U.S. Department of Justice's zero-tolerance policy."

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Seattle Democrat, said she met women being held at the SeaTac prison on Saturday who had come from 16 different countries. She said most of them are seeking political asylum from violence and rape against themselves or their children.

About half of them said they were separated from their children, who were as young as 6 years old, Jayapal said. "What's heartbreaking is they were not given any chance to say goodbye to their children, to explain what was happening," Jayapal said.

Inslee and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Thursday sent a letter to the Trump administration seeking more information, including where the children of the women are and when they can expect to see their children again. The letter came after the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project reported that as many as 120 asylum seekers had been transferred to the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions insists the policy of separating families is necessary to deter illegal border-crossings, and authorities say the decision to send people to prisons is a temporary one amid a shortage of beds.

"If you bring a child, it is still an unlawful act," Sessions said in a speech in Montana this week. "You don't get immunity if you bring a child with you. We cannot have open borders for adults with children."

But Ferguson, who successfully fought Trump's travel ban last year, said he may sue again to stop ICE from separating families at the border.

"Frankly, I'm not sure how Attorney General Sessions sleeps at night with a policy like this," Ferguson said.

King County Executive Dow Constantine said some of the detainees arrived at the county's Boeing Field on flights chartered by ICE. He said he's seeking to bar them from using the publicly-owned airport.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in California ruled that a lawsuit involving two mothers could go forward, saying that if the policy was being carried out as described in the lawsuit, it is "brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency." The judge said he would issue a separate ruling on whether to expand the lawsuit to apply to all parents and children who are split up by border authorities.

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Follow Sally Ho on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_SallyHo

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, addresses those gathered outside the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, Wash., on Saturday, June 9, 2018, after she met with asylum seekers inside. She said most of them are seeking political asylum from violence and rape against themselves or their children. At left is Gov. Jay Inslee. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP)

Protesters hold signs against the government separating asylum-seeking parents from their children outside the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, Wash., on Saturday, June 9, 2018. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP)

Attorney General Bob Ferguson addresses those gathered outside the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, Wash., on Saturday, June 9, 2018. He says he may file a lawsuit on the separation of children from their parents seeking asylum in the U.S. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP)

Gov. Jay Inslee forcefully states his position opposed to the federal government policy of separating asylum seekers from their children outside the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, Wash., on Saturday, June 9, 2018. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP)
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) - Austin Dillon and Daniel Hemric didn't have much time to battle for the lead after the final restart.

As long as one of them was in front when the rain came, Richard Childress Racing was going to win.

Dillon ended up beating his teammate Saturday in the rain-shortened NASCAR Xfinity race at Michigan International Speedway. The race was delayed around three hours at the start because of the weather, and there had been a threat of more rain for a while before the race was finally called after 91 of the planned 125 laps.

Austin Dillon (3) leads Daniel Hemric to the checkered flag behind the pace car while under caution during the NASCAR Xfinity series auto race, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in Brooklyn, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Dillon, in his No. 3 Chevrolet, fought with Hemric's No. 21 on a restart on the 89th lap, but the race went under caution again almost immediately because of the weather.

"We definitely needed that win for our Xfinity Series team," said Dillon, a Cup Series driver who won this year's Daytona 500. "It was great to have the 21 up there shoving me around. He had our back. If we didn't have the strategy, the rain coming, he was going to have a great shot to win also."

It was the ninth career Xfinity victory for Dillon, and his first in 2018.

Qualifying earlier in the day was canceled because of the weather at the 2-mile track. Kyle Busch started the race at the front based on owner points.

Like at last weekend's Xfinity race at Pocono, NASCAR used a restrictor plate package.

"My hats are off to NASCAR for looking at different packages for our product out there," Childress said. "Like everything, when you very first start running like this, I'm sure they'll tweak on it a little bit, but I was impressed by how close the field was. I looked up after quite a few laps, and nobody had been lapped."

Dillon seemed happy with the package as well.

"I think the competition is closer together, and I think there's a lot of driver skill left in it, truthfully," he said. "Just making the right moves, it's a real chess match out there, and putting yourself in a good position is very key."

Busch won the first stage, and points leader Elliott Sadler won the second. There were 10 cautions for 37 laps, including one from laps 81-88 after a multicar incident in Turn 2. The restart from that was all that was left before more bad weather arrived.

This was Hemric's highest finish of the season. He's been third four times. He didn't seem too upset about the race being called when it was.

"I promise the guy that's second is going to say they threw it way too early, and I'm that guy today," Hemric joked. "I applaud them for saving race cars and all that stuff, and get all these guys back home to their families tonight."

Cole Custer finished third, followed by Ryan Reed, Paul Menard and Busch.

Dillon is the 12th different winner in 13 Xfinity races this season. Cup star Brad Keselowski is the only driver to win twice.

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More AP auto racing: www.racing.ap.org .

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Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister

Austin Dillon burns out near the finish line after winning the NASCAR Xfinity series auto race, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in Brooklyn, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Crew members make their way back to the garage as rain falls before the NASCAR Xfinity series auto race, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in Brooklyn, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Plans to pedestrianise parts of Londons Oxford Street are off the table for good, Westminster Council has announced.

The council said it has withdrawn support for the scheme in a letter to residents on Thursday, following two public consultations.

We believe there is a very strong democratic mandate that the pedestrianisation scheme that was under consideration is not what local people want, it stated.

As a result, Westminster City Council has taken the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street off the table for good.

London mayor Sadiq Khan described the decision as a betrayal and said it poses a real threat to the future of the shopping area.

Oxford Street pedestrianisation

Council leader Nickie Aiken called for a rethink of the whole strategy and said the council will work on proposals to improve the district.

She added: Doing nothing to improve the area is not an option either if we are to maximise the potential benefits from the opening of the Elizabeth Line.

We must future-proof Oxford Street and the surrounding district so it remains the pre-eminent shopping district in the UK and maintains its crown as the nations high street in an ever-changing business and retail environment.

The measures were set to be implemented by December to coincide with the launch of Elizabeth line services, which is expected to boost visitor numbers.

Mr Khan said: This will be seen as a betrayal of the millions of Londoners and visitors to our city who would have benefited from making Oxford Street a safer, healthier and better environment.

All the main mayoral candidates agreed on the need for the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street at the last election, as did Westminster Council until today.

He added: This now poses a real threat to the future of Oxford Street, which could not be worse timed, coming on the same day House of Fraser announced they will be closing their Oxford Street store.
The Queen is known for her robust health.

Her son the Duke of York once described her as being incredibly fit for her age, and the 92-year-old monarch still rides her Fell ponies at Windsor, and drives, mainly around her private estates.

Royal Windsor Horse Show

She has called time on her overseas travels, leaving long-haul destinations to the younger members of her family.

But she still has a busy diary of events, and in 2017 carried out 296 engagements.

Audience at Buckingham Palace

In November 2017, the Prince of Wales led the nation in honouring the countrys war dead on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph.

It was the first time that the Queen, as head of state, had watched the ceremony from a nearby balcony, and was seen as a sign of the royal family in transition and an acknowledgement of her age.

Remembrance Sunday 2017

Just before Christmas 2016, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh both fell ill with heavy colds, forcing them to delay their trip to Sandringham by a day.

The Queen was not well enough to attend the Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church and also missed the New Years Day one.

She later described it as a particularly grisly mixture of cold and flu.

She turned 90 in 2016 and, the same year, used the lift rather than stairs to enter Parliament for the State Opening, avoiding the 26 steps of the royal staircase at the Sovereigns Entrance.

State Opening of Parliament 2016

Buckingham Palace said the modest adjustment to arrangements were made for the Queens comfort.

The decision was attributed to the Queen suffering from knee pain.

In 2014, the Prince of Wales stood in for the Queen for part of the Order of the Bath service to avoid her having to make an extra journey up and down some steep steps in full regalia.

In November 2013, the Duke of Cambridge stepped in to represent the Queen at an investiture ceremony after she suffered some mild discomfort with her ankle after a busy weekend of engagements including the service of remembrance at the Cenotaph.

Remembrance Sunday 2013

Her first hospital stay in 10 years came in 2013 when she was 86 after she suffered symptoms of gastroenteritis and missed an engagement in Swansea when she was due to present St Davids Day leeks to the 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh.

On March 3 2013, she was admitted to King Edward VIIs Hospital to be assessed.

A week of engagements, including a two-day trip to Rome, was cancelled.

The Queen spent one night in hospital and left thanking staff and smiling before being driven to Buckingham Palace to rest.

The Queen in 2013

It was thought her public appearances were back on track until Buckingham Palace announced on the morning of the Commonwealth Day Observance service on March 11 that she regrettably could no longer attend as she continues to recover following her recent illness.

It was the first Commonwealth Day Observance service she had missed in 20 years, the last occasion being when she had flu in 1993.

The Queen, who placed great importance to her role as Head of the Commonwealth, did however attend the Commonwealth Reception at Marlborough House on the evening of March 11 to sign the new Commonwealth Charter.

Buckingham Palace insisted it was just the tail end of the symptoms and that her condition had not worsened.

But the next day she cancelled her engagements for the rest of the week, with her son, the Duke of York, saying later that it was sensible not to risk her coming out, but that she was not ill.

Her illnesses have been few and far between over the years.

She has suffered from back pain, and also had operations to remove torn cartilage from both knees.

She caught measles when Prince Charles was two months old in 1949 and had to be separated from her baby son.

The first time the Queen was actually admitted to hospital was in July 1982 when she had a wisdom tooth extracted at the King Edward VII Hospital in central London.

The Queens no fuss approach to injury and illness was perfectly illustrated in 1994.

She broke her left wrist when her horse tripped during a ride on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The Queen with a broken arm

The break was not diagnosed until almost 24 hours later when her arm was X-rayed and set in plaster at a hospital.

It was the first time she had fallen in many years and the Queen had simply brushed herself down, remounted her horse and trotted on back to Sandringham.
The Irish Government is not obliged to allow unrestricted access to abortion during early pregnancy, campaigners said.

LoveBoth attempted to save the Eighth Amendment constitutional restrictions ahead of last months repeal referendum on grounds that protecting the unborns right to life was sacrosanct.

New legislation implementing the polls overwhelming two-to-one verdict in favour of making the procedure available will be implemented in the new year, the Taoiseach has said.

Ireland voted resoundingly to reform its strict abortion laws in last months referendum (Niall Carson/PA)

Caroline Simons, legal consultant to LoveBoth, said: We do not believe however that there is any obligation on the Government to legislate for unrestricted abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

When examined closely, providing abortion on such grounds would fly in the face of the Taoiseachs commitment that any new law would be restrictive and that abortion would be rare.

Ireland voted resoundingly to reform its strict abortion laws in last months referendum, paving the way for the removal of the Eighth  the constitutions all but blanket ban on terminations.

Health Minister Simon Harris is to draft legislation that would allow abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, subject to medical advice and a cooling-off period, and up to 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

Ms Simons urged the provision of counselling services ensuring women with unplanned pregnancies were aware of all alternatives to abortion.

She said pain relief should be administered to the baby prior to a termination if there was a risk of pain.

Doctors should strive to preserve the lives of babies born alive following the procedure, she said, and warned against prenatal discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or disability.

Provision should be made for the exercise of conscientious objection by healthcare professionals and by others working in healthcare facilities.

She said foetal remains should be disposed of in a fashion respecting the dignity of the unborn.

Pregnant women should have access to emergency care in hospital in case of complications, the organisation said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has been under pressure to intervene to liberalise Northern Irelands strict abortion laws following the Irish result.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where the procedure is banned except in exceptional circumstances.

Leo Varadkar has said the Dail may have to sit longer into the summer to facilitate the passage of new laws in the Republic.
Leave.EU funder Arron Banks has pulled out of a scheduled grilling by MPs investigating fake news.

The prominent Brexit campaigner was due to appear alongside colleague Andy Wigmore before the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on June 12 to answer questions about the use of targeted online advertising.

But he accused the committee of conducting a co-ordinated witch-hunt of Leave groups and said he and Mr Wigmore were no longer willing to appear at the hearing.

In a letter to chairman Damian Collins, Mr Banks alleged that the committee provided support to a pressure group pursuing legal action against Leave.EU in the US courts by providing it with early access to evidence from a witness in its inquiry.

Cambridge Analytica probe

He said he would be reporting the committee to the House authorities for collusion with the Fair Vote Project.

The move comes a day after the House of Commons voted to require the director of rival Brexit group Vote Leave, Dominic Cummings, to appear before the committee, after he rejected a summons from Mr Collins. Failure to do so could result in him being found in contempt of Parliament.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has also resisted requests to give evidence to the inquiry, despite being warned that he faces a summons if he ever visits the UK.

The Fair Vote Project claims that data was sent to the University of Mississippi and used in the Leave.EU referendum campaign. It has launched legal action in the US state and is seeking an injunction to prevent the university from destroying any data it holds.

Mr Banks said Fair Vote activists used testimony from witnesses to the committees inquiry as evidence in the court case, which is due to conclude on June 12.

And the millionaire businessman claimed that the committee released evidence early from a witness, a few days before the hearing in order to aid this group.

He said: We believe the actions of the committee amount to collusion with a pro-EU campaign group in order to create fake news.

I am sure you will appreciate the irony of the situation that a committee that is meant to be looking at the role of fake news on politics, is actively supporting the actions of such a partisan group.

We will be reporting yourself and the people involved to the appropriate House of Common authority for colluding with the Fair Vote Project and investigating whether the Parliamentary privilege you enjoy might be revoked as a result.

It is perfectly clear that the committee, which comprises only of Remain-supporting MPs, is conducting a co-ordinated witch hunt of Leave groups, involving the Electoral Commission and the ICO (Information Commissioners Office). You have called no witnesses from the Remain campaign or associated groups.

Mr Banks also said he was lodging a legal appeal on June 12 against Electoral Commission findings that Leave.EU broke spending rules during the referendum campaign.
Manchester City striker Olarenwaju Kayode has joined Shakhtar Donetsk for an undisclosed fee.

The Nigeria international, who was signed by City boss Pep Guardiola in a 3.5million deal from Austria Vienna last August, has signed a five-year deal with the Ukrainian champions.

The 25-year-old forward did not make a single appearance for City as he was immediately loaned out to Spanish club Girona before moving to Shakhtar in a similar deal in March.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola signed Olarenwaju Kayode last summer

Shakhtar general director Sergei Palkin told the clubs official website: Kayode will continue to play for Shakhtar.

We redeemed him from Manchester City and he has signed a five-year contract.

He proved himself well, Paulo (Fonseca, Shakhtar manager) is pleased with him.

Kayode scored three goals in eight games during his Shakhtar loan spell.
Rafael Nadal powered his way into the French Open final and then claimed he can still move up another gear.

Only Dominic Thiem stands in the way of Nadal and what seems an inevitable 11th Roland Garros title after a straight-sets pummelling of Juan Martin del Potro in the semi-final.

Ominously for Thiem, Nadal said: My feeling is I have a very difficult match against a player that is playing great. I know I have to play my best if I want to have chances.

France Tennis French Open

Sunday is the day to give my best, the day to increase even a little bit more the level. I hope to be ready to do it. Thats the goal.

World number one Nadal edged a tight first set against Del Potro, but then simply blew the fifth seed away.

It was swift and brutal. Del Potro had forced six break points during the first set but the Spaniard fended each one off.

Nadal, by contrast, had not had a sniff on Del Potros serve until, at 5-4, two swishes of his forehand forced two set points, the second of which he converted when the Argentinian netted.

Del Potro had required treatment on a hip problem suffered early in the first set and he visibly wilted in the second, raising his arms in mock celebration when he won a solitary game while already 5-0 behind.

Relentless Nadal broke to love at the start of the third, and as he moved on to match point an exhausted Del Potro paused for breath, bent double, as if he had been punched in the stomach.

He probably felt as though he had been, as Nadal completed a devastating 6-4 6-1 6-2 victory.

Del Potro insisted his hip had not troubled him during the match, instead putting the defeat down to one simple fact: His game is too good for me.

It will be a sentiment echoed by many others, on clay at least. Nadals record at Roland Garros now stands at 85 wins and two defeats.

One of those victories came against Thiem in last years semi-final and was, if anything, more comprehensive than this one. However, Thiem did beat Nadal on the clay of Madrid last month.

Earlier, Thiem needed to survive a nasty bout of the jitters to see off Marco Cecchinato and reach his first grand slam final.

The Austrian was in control of his semi-final against the world number 72, holding three set points in a tie-break for a 2-0 lead.

Watch the highlights of the match between Dominic Thiem and Marco Cecchinato. The Austrian won in straight sets 7/5 7/6 6/1.

More videos on https://t.co/L0wmcUhyym#RG18 pic.twitter.com/m5DDczUOmh  Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2018

However, having squandered one set point, he went in for a simple backhand volley winner only to dump it into the net.

The third quickly disappeared as well and Cecchinato had set points of his own, but Thiem finally put the Italian away before going on to win 7-5 7-6 (12/10) 6-1.

I think the big key was the second set because it was a close tie-break, said the 24-year-old.

I saved two set points and luckily I won it. It was 6-4 and the one thing I wanted to do was win the set  and I missed an easy volley at one moment which was not a nice feeling.

Cecchinatos catalogue of drop shots which helped account for Novak Djokovic kept Thiem on his toes throughout, but once the pivotal tie-break went the seventh seeds way Cecchinatos unlikely run was all but over.

His Paris heroics have not exactly been the uplifting tale they should have been, though.

Cecchinatos career has been hindered by his links to a match-fixing scandal; he was banned for 18 months in 2016 before having the suspension overturned. The 25-year-old has refused to answer questions on the matter throughout the fortnight.

Nevertheless, Cecchinato can look back on a breakthrough tournament  he had never won a match at a grand slam before beating Marius Copil 10-8 in the fifth set last week.

If Id won the second set I think it is totally different, the third set, he said. But after the loss, I went a little bit down mentally.
World number two Dustin Johnson shot a superb second round of 63 to take the halfway lead at the FedEx St Jude Classic on 10 under par.

The 2016 US Open champion made a slow start to his round after beginning on the back nine, wasting an opening birdie with dropped shots at the 12th and 13th holes, but righted the ship with a long birdie putt at the next and picked up another at the par-five 16th.

He holed out from 110 yards for eagle at the first and came within inches of repeating the feat at the next, settling for one of four birdies in a blistering second nine.

USAs Dustin Johnson holds the lead in Memphis (Andrew Matthews/PA)

 New leader! @DJohnsonPGA holes-out from 110 yards to tie the lead at -6.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/Dw5yNw0XNN  PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 8, 2018

Winning the tournament would take Johnson back ahead of Justin Thomas as world number one going into the US Open and his efforts earned him a one-shot lead over fellow Americans Ryan Blaum and Andrew Putnam.

Blaum redeemed a bogey at the first with seven birdies in a 64 and Putnam matched that effort as both seek a first win on the PGA Tour.

First-round leader Seamus Power of Ireland followed up an opening 65 with a 69, including a double bogey on the par-4 ninth.

Two-time Ryder Cup player Brandt Snedeker was three off the lead at seven under, one ahead of Chez Reavie with Brooks Koepka a further shot back.

Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson was four under after two birdies in his last three holes.
The incentives for the Burmese government need to change if it is to stop destroying the Rohingya, a former UN ambassador has said.

Samantha Power, who was US ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, also said there is a lack of diplomacy surrounding the crisis.

Speaking in Armenia at the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, the former adviser to Barack Obama said: An entire people has been systematically murdered, raped and deported from their country.

Rohingya crisis

Over half a million Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh.



Rohingya refugee children are in peril. Here's how you can help: https://t.co/Ws7JLo6i7Q https://t.co/VcFkDDskmA  United Nations (@UN) November 12, 2017

And no contact group has been formed, there has been no high level ministerial summit that I am aware of.

There has been humanitarian systems, the United Nations Secretary General has used his voice, but if you actually want to change the calculus of a government that has decided to expel and destroy a group, which it looks like the Myanmar government and military have decided to do, you have to change the incentives for them.

Right now they think the benefits of destroying the Rohingya population exceeds the costs.

The only way that gets changed is through dealing with their sources of revenue, and through them feeling such concerted and sustained diplomatic pressure, not just from the UN secretary general, or the high commission for human rights, but from a coalition of diverse countries  the neighbours, bringing in China.

Dont be overwhelmed by the big problems in the world,find small ways in your daily life to respond says @AmbassadorPower @auroraprize_ pic.twitter.com/QycTa3lAD4  sunitha krishnan (@sunita_krishnan) June 9, 2018

Asked what needs to happen in order for the situation to change, Ms Power said: Diplomacy and then changing the calculus of government which right now  like many governments around the world  feels a great sense of impunity.

Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in Burma, despite many of their families having lived in the country for generations.

They have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and forcing many to cross by land into neighbouring Bangladesh.
A man has appeared in court charged with the manslaughter and robbery of a 100-year-old widow who had her neck broken in a mugging.

Zofija Kaczan suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured cheek bone, in an attack on May 28 and died in hospital on Wednesday.

Arthur Waszkiewicz, 39, was charged on Friday and spoke only to confirm his name, address and nationality when he appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court on Saturday.

Derby robbery

Wearing a black jacket and grey jeans, Waszkiewicz looked at the floor throughout the 10-minute hearing.

Flanked by two dock officers, the Polish-born defendant was not required to enter any pleas.

Ms Kaczan, who was held in a Nazi training camp during the Second World War, was approached from behind, knocked over and had her green handbag snatched at 8.45am, close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton, Derby.

Derby robbery

It has been reported that she had left her home to go to a service at St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church where she attended daily services.

The bag, made of fake leather with gold clasps, was found at the junction of Moore Street and Normanton Road.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherds Bush, west London, was remanded into custody to appear at Derby Crown Court on July 6.
Rafael Nadal, the 10-times champion, takes on Dominic Thiem in the French Open final on Sunday.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at the main talking points surrounding their Roland Garros showdown.

Numbers game

Gracias por todo @rolandgarros !!! Hasta el ano que viene  pic.twitter.com/ty67BEEkxv  diego schwartzman (@dieschwartzman) June 7, 2018

Nadal is going for title number 11 at Roland Garros. Coincidentally, the only time he has looked in any danger was on day 11 when Diego Schwartzman, the 11th seed, took the only set of the tournament off him. Even then the Paris rain obliged and Nadal polished Schwartzman off the next day. Nadals astonishing French Open record currently reads: Won 85, lost two.

No contest

While Nadals dominance in Paris can never be doubted, this years inexorable march to the final has illustrated the paucity of genuine challengers, especially in the absence of Andy Murray and Roger Federer, and with Novak Djokovic being some way from his best after injury. That the second seed, Alexander Zverev, reached his first grand slam quarter-final this week says it all.

Fit and firing

Rafael Nadal last won Wimbledon in 2010

Nevertheless, Nadal has put his injury problems behind him and, despite having just turned 32, he looks as fit as he ever has. Injuries have hindered the Spaniards Wimbledon campaigns in recent years but assuming he comes through Sundays final unscathed he could yet mount an assault on the SW19 title he has won twice before.

Fighting chance?

Seventh seed Thiem is probably second only to Nadal on clay and must take confidence from two victories over the world number one on the surface in the last 13 months, including in Madrid just last month. Plus he insists the pressure is all on his opponent. Im not the one who has the pressure. I went a very long way now and I dont want to lose the final, he said.

First night nerves?

Nadal celebrates reaching the final of the French Open

Thiem reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros the previous two years, but this is the 24-year-olds first grand slam final. It will not have helped that, after beating Marco Cecchinato in the last four, the Austrian then had to watch Nadal demolish fifth seed and former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro to remind him of the enormity of his task.
UK ministers are failing to match the pace of the Scottish Government in the handover of new welfare powers to Holyrood, Scotlands Social Security Minister has said.

Jeane Freeman said the UKs Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has reneged on agreements and pushed back dates ahead of the first devolved benefit payments  a supplementary payment to increase Carers Allowance  this summer.

Ms Freeman wrote to Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey last month to express concerns after the DWP said it would no longer be able to meet an agreement to deliver necessary data on carers.

SNP spring conference

.@JeaneF1MSP: "Our new Social Security Act is the beginning  not the end. A start in building that social security system for Scotland  strengthening the foundations for an independent Scotland. Together we will deliver that  well make Scotland proud." #ScotlandCan #SNP18 pic.twitter.com/rhsmePNPgr  The SNP (@theSNP) June 9, 2018

She said the absence of the data would impact on the level of service the Scottish Government can provide.

Holyrood is taking control of 11 benefits, accounting for about 15% of current social security spend, roughly 3 million in total.

However, speaking at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Ms Freeman said the partial handover had left Scottish ministers relying on the DWP to provide the information, the data, the security codes, the processes that we need from them for each step that we have to take.

So it frustrates me hugely that the DWP are just not keeping up with us, she said.

Were setting the pace and they arent matching it.

Scotland comes bottom of their to-do list, and they have renegaded on agreements and pushed back on agreed dates to give us what we need.

Three times in as many months they have not provided all the detail we need on Carers Allowance meaning that we cant communicate with people the way we want to.

A four-month delay in passing over a computer code, and the casual off-hand notification of a one-year delay from an agreed date to abolish the bedroom tax at source.

Heres @JeaneF1MSP just before she spoke this morning, previewing day 2 of #SNP18. Dont miss a thing  get the SNP app here: https://t.co/0FcM4VSaqR pic.twitter.com/aYt1sLmmIb  The SNP (@theSNP) June 9, 2018

Our commitment as always has been to get the job done and to get it done well. Building a new public service that exemplifies the founding principles of dignity, fairness and respect.

Its time Esther McVey in the DWP stepped us matched us, and stopped standing in our way.

Ms Freeman also used her address to attack Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and her stance on welfare.

Shes the Tory chameleon with a policy change and a new soundbite to suit every occasion, she said.

Crocodile tears when she calculates she needs to look caring and hard-nosed right-wing ideology running all the way through.

Do you think Boris Johnson ever spoke up in Cabinet about the crisis people face when sanctioned for weeks and or months, neither has Ruth Davidson.

Do you think Jacob Rees-Mogg has ever given a single thought to the poverty caused by capping benefits, well neither has Ruth Davidson.

Do you think sitting for years in the Home Office, one of the top three ministers under David Cameron, Theresa May ever said introducing a rape clause is simply wrong, well neither has Ruth Davidson.

She added: Be clear, Westminster or Holyrood  the Tories are the Tories and they never ever put people first.
Britains richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe has had a bid for Chelsea rejected by fellow billionaire Roman Abramovich, according to reports.

The Daily Mail reported on Saturday that Ratcliffe, the founder, chairman and majority owner of chemicals firm Ineos, had offered 2billion to buy the west London club.

The Blues Russian owner Abramovich rejected the bid, according to the Mail.

Jim Ratcliffe is reported to have made a bid to buy Chelsea

Chelsea Football Club announces today that it has put its new stadium project on hold...



More: https://t.co/KelXpy9zgP pic.twitter.com/mofiocesAo  Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 31, 2018

The club announced at the end of last month that their plans to redevelop Stamford Bridge had been put on hold, which was interpreted in some quarters as Abramovichs response to delays over the issuing of a UK investors visa.

Ratcliffe was reported to be worth 21billion in the Sunday Times Rich List last month.

Ineos already owns Swiss side Lausanne-Sport.

A spokesman for Ineos told Press Association Sport in response to the Mail story: We cant comment on market rumour or speculation.

The 65-year-old, who grew up in a council house in Failsworth, Lancashire, was knighted in the Queens Birthday Honours List.
As the newlywed Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their first appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony together, heres a look at some of the historic royal balcony moments over the years.

Harry made his own debut on the famous frontage of the Queens London residence at a Trooping the Colour celebration in 1985.

Trooping the Colour 1985

He was just nine months old, and dressed in a pale blue romper suit.

Diana and Harry

He has been a frequent visitor over the years, including in 1987 when he gave a salute to passing guards during the Trooping ceremony at the age of two.

Prince Harry, in the arms of his mother the Princess of Wales, gives a salute on the palace balcony while watching the Queens Guards march past (Ron Bell/PA)

When Harry was three, he was photographed sticking his tongue out as he was carried by an unimpressed Diana after the 1988 parade.

In 2000, for the Queen Mothers 100th birthday, he was a fresh-faced 15-year-old when he joined the family for his great-grandmothers celebrations.

Queen Mother 100th birthday celebrations

And whatever best man Harry said to maid of honour Pippa Middleton after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges wedding, she only just managed to keep a straight face.

The Royal Wedding 2011

Harry is often seen livening up royal balcony appearances, chatting happily to his relatives.

Trooping the Colour parade 2014

Kates first outing on the Palace balcony came in 2011  on her wedding day  when she delighted crowds by kissing new husband the Duke of Cambridge.

The Royal Wedding 2011

Prince George made his debut in 2015 when he was nearly two.

He was dressed in the same blue romper suit with a white frill and buttons that his father William wore on the balcony as a toddler in 1984.

Trooping the Colour parade 2015

Princess Charlottes first appearance came in 2016, when she was 13 months old.

The Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, was seen on the palace balcony as a curly-haired toddler in June 1927.

She was only 14 months old and joined her parents, then known as the Duke and Duchess of York, and her grandparents, George V and Queen Mary, who shielded her with a large umbrella.

King George V and family at Buckingham Palace

In 1937, when her father was crowned George VI, Princess Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, wearing their own crowns, took to the balcony to wave at the crowds with their parents.

Coronation of George VI

In 1964, the Queen appeared on the balcony after the Trooping the Colour ceremony holding her 13-week-old son, Prince Edward.
A former Vatican diplomat faces trial this month on charges of possessing child pornography, the Holy See said.

Monsignor Carlo Capella was a senior official in the Vaticans Washington embassy before being recalled last year.

The priest was the subject of investigations by the Vatican and in the United States and Canada. He has been in Vatican custody since April.

The Roman Curia at the Vatican (Vatican Pool/CPP/IPA)

He was recalled after the US State Department notified the Vatican of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a diplomat in Washington.

In a statement on Saturday the Holy See said a formal investigation had been closed and Msgr Capella had been summoned to trial, with the first hearing scheduled for June 22.

It said the alleged offence was the possession and exchange of child pornographic material, with the aggravating circumstance of the large quantity involved.
Donald Trump accused the European Union of a brutal approach to trade with the United States and warned that retaliating to American steel tariffs would be a mistake.

The US president accused other states of robbing his country through their trade policies.

Despite being at odds with other countries at the gathering in Canada, Mr Trump rated his relationship with their leaders as a 10  naming Germanys Angela Merkel, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadas Justin Trudeau, but not the UKs Prime Minister.

Theresa May and Justin Trudeau

Theresa May has criticised the tariffs and also opposes Mr Trumps call for Russia to be readmitted to the group of leading industrialised nations.

But Mr Trump insisted it would be an asset to have Vladimir Putin back at the summit table.

The US has slapped a 25% tariff on imports of steel and 10% on aluminium from countries including the UK and the rest of the European Union.

In response, the EU is preparing new tariffs set to hit US exports ranging from jeans to bourbon whiskey.

Mr Trump, who was leaving the summit in La Malbaie early, told reporters the US needed protectionist tariffs because we are like the piggy bank that everyone is robbing.

Mrs May pleaded with fellow leaders to step back from the brink of a damaging trade war at a session of the summit on Friday night.

The UK is thought to have concerns about the European Commissions proposed package of 2.8 billion euro (2.46 billion) of tariffs on US goods.

Mr Trump said: If they retaliate they are making a mistake.

The US president also repeated his call for Vladimir Putin to join the other leaders around the summit table.

Some people like the idea of bringing Russia back in. This used to be the G8 and not the G7 and something happened a while ago where Russia is no longer in, he said.

I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in, I think it would be good for the world, I think it would be good for Russia, I think it would be good for the United States, I think it would be good for all the countries of the current G7.

I think the G8 would be better, I think having Russia back in would be a positive thing.

We are looking for peace in the world, we are not looking to play games.

PM @theresa_may attends the first working session of the #G7 which brings world leaders together to talk economic growth and the future of work and trade. pic.twitter.com/BRZI6rRWwK  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 8, 2018

Russia was thrown out of the group in 2014 over the annexation of Crimea.

The Prime Minister has been at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to build an alliance against Russia after the Salisbury nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

She said that before any such conversations can take place about readmitting Russia, the Kremlin needs to change its approach.

Mr Trumps strained relationship with the rest of the G7 was in evidence on Saturday when he arrived late for the opening session, with Mr Trudeau addressing a gathering that included an empty chair where the president was meant to be.

But despite the rows over trade and Russia, Mr Trump rated his relationship with other G7 leaders as 10 out of 10.

I would say that the level of relationships is a 10  we have a great relationship. Angela (Merkel) and Emmanuel (Macron) and Justin (Trudeau)  I would say the relationship is a 10.

Theresa May

Because of the divisions, it was unclear whether the gathering would be able to secure a joint communique agreed by all leaders setting out what had been achieved at the summit  something that has not happened since 2007.

Instead, a chairmans statement from the host Mr Trudeau could be produced, setting out what was discussed and where agreement had been impossible.

A senior UK Government source said: What matters is getting the substance right. At previous meetings this has been done in a number of ways, such as a chairmans statement.
French villagers who clubbed together to erect a lasting memorial to the crew of a British Second World War bomber which crashed on their main street have won praise from Dame Vera Lynn.

At Saturdays unveiling ceremony, a message from 101-year-old Dame Vera, the Forces Sweetheart, was read out in which she spoke of the sacrifices made by the crew of the doomed Wellington Bomber and the villagers killed on 13 April 1941.

The Wellington T2897 of 149 Squadron, which was on its way back from a bombing mission in German occupied France near Bordeaux, developed engine trouble after being hit by flak and crashed into the centre of St Sever Calvados.

The fireball from the disintegrating aircraft enveloped much of the villages main street and killed nine villagers, including a 15-month-old infant as well as five of the six crew on board.

A wartime memorial

Before the Wellington came down, one of the crew, Gunner Sgt Kenneth Rawlings, was ordered to bail out to try to help steer the Wellington away from the village by lighting a flare in a nearby field, but it all came too late as the aircraft hit the village. He was subsequently captured by the Germans and put into a POW camp in Poland.

The rest of the Wellington crew were killed. They were: Pilot Officer Ronald Morison, 23; Pilot Sgt Ernest John Holland DFM, 22; Wireless operator Sgt Ronald Hutchinson, 23; Pilot Sgt John Leo Westley, 23; and Gunner Sgt Walter Hugh Wilkinson, 21.

Witnesses spoke of the horror of that night, including one, Mme Bourgeois, who later recounted: The plane crash was really frightening. I will never forget this dreadful event on Easter Sunday 1941, I still see the street on fire and the fire brigade coming from several towns around including Vire, Villedieu and Caen to help out and also the human chain of townspeople passing buckets of water.

Reports at the time suggest that despite losing members of their own families, hundreds of people defiantly turned out under the eyes of the Germans to pay tribute to the courage of the airmen, who had been on a mission from RAF Mildenhall to destroy a Luftwaffe airfield in Merignac, the home of the FW 200 long range maritime bomber.

Last year, the villagers of St Sever decided to club together, some 77 years after the crash, to build the 1.5 metre memorial as a more lasting tribute to the airmens courage.

A wartime memorial

St Severs village historian Andre Laroze said a plaque in the main street where the plane came down would remain, but would be replaced by the memorial in the cemetery after agreement with the Mayor of St Sever, Jean-Pierre Nourry.

Mr Laroze explained: The work on getting permission for the 1.5 metre memorial has been undertaken by local people in their own time and expense and underlines the deep debt of gratitude that still exists among those liberated by the Allies, even though French families suffered casualties in the process.

The gesture has touched the heart of Dame Vera Lynn, who praised both the townspeoples generosity and kindness.

Dame Vera said: I was delighted to hear about the event you are organising in Normandy  it is a lovely idea to memorialise those brave airmen, and I am honoured to have been asked to contribute to this special occasion.

So many brave men fought for our freedom during the Second World War and we owe them a great debt of gratitude. It is so important that we never take their sacrifice for granted and events like this ensure we do not.

Dame Vera added: I thank all of the people of St Sever and the families of those airmen for their efforts, sacrifices and commitment to maintaining the memory of the past. I will be thinking of you all.

At Saturdays service the Mayor of St Sever, Jean-Pierre Nourry said that during six years of war, three aircraft came down in the area, but the one disaster which marked it out most vividly in the memories of townspeople was the crash of the Wellington, which destroyed the lives of nine villagers and their families.

He said: At the moment it is clear that at all levels we must act as guardians of liberty and fraternity. Let us continue the work of pioneers of the European Union, a structure which has brought us peace for over 70 years.

Let us hope that the sacrifice of these men for our freedom will not have been in vain. This stone placed on the site of the war memorial is a token of our respect and appreciation. It is also a means of not forgetting the past and of passing its message on to future generations.

At the service, children from a local school sang songs including the White Cliffs of Dover, and relatives of the crewmen read out tributes.

Anne Hutchinson, the niece of Sgt Ronald Hutchinson, said: All I knew about my uncle was that he died somewhere in France. Now, my brothers and I know more about him, and this is thanks to the generosity and kindness of the village for building this memorial so that my uncle and the other crew members will never be forgotten.

James Morison, a relative of Ronald Morison, said: Im very proud to he here today in commemoration of Ronald and other members of the plane that gave such sacrifices for the freedom of Britain and France.

After the war, Sgt Rawlings lived at 240 School Road, Yardley Wood, Birmingham, and became a Warrant Officer, marrying widow Peggotty Capell in Bournemouth in 1946.

A different fate awaited the farmer who was labelled a traitor by the villagers of St Sever after allegedly telling the Germans where Sgt Rawlings was hiding. He was executed by the French Resistance on D-Day in 1944.

The new memorial in St Sever carries the simple inscription: They gave their youth in St Sever so that peace could flourish in Europe.

Relatives from most of the families were traced last year after an appeal was launched in British newspapers and across social media.
US president Donald Trump put the cat among the pigeons from the start of the G7 summit in Quebec, suggesting that former member Russia should be reinstated.

Rows over trade followed, but Mr Trump maintains that he rates his relationship with the other leaders as a 10.

An image on German Chancellor Angela Merkels Instagram account shows a spontaneous meeting that resembles a stand-off.

Mrs Merkel and the IMFs Christine Lagarde were meanwhile left looking at an empty seat before the late arrival of Mr Trump to a Gender Equality Advisory Council breakfast.

Trump G-7

Trump G 7

Trump G 7

Trump G 7

On the streets of Quebec, anti-G7 protesters threw flares and confronted police.

Canada G7 Summit

Canada G7 Summit

In seemingly happier times, the G7 family poses for an official photograph.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has said all countries attending the G7 summit have signed a joint communique, despite sharp trade tensions with the US.

Mr Trudeau said the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan have reached agreement on consensus language.

US president Donald Trump recently slapped tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union, angering his counterparts before he arrived at the summit in Quebec.

The G7 team

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a media availability at #G7Charlevoix. https://t.co/8IFyOgXTuJ  CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) June 9, 2018

Some had predicted it would be difficult for all the leaders to reach any kind of consensus because of the sharp disagreements.

But Mr Trudeau said the leaders had rolled up our sleeves and settled on language they could agree to on a broad range of issues.
By J. Keeler Johnson ("Keelerman") Twitter: @J_Keelerman

Ten horses. Twelve furlongs. History waiting at the finish line.

Saturday's $1,500,000 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) promises to be one of the most anticipated races of the year thanks to the undefeated Justify, who will face off against nine rivals while seeking a rare sweep of the Triple Crown.

There's a lot to cover, so let's dive right in and take a look at each horse in the field....

#1 Justify

What a run it's been for Justify! In the span of 3  months, he's gone from an unraced maiden to an unbeaten three-time Grade 1 winner with victories in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Preakness Stakes (gr. I) under his belt. Along the way, he conquered the fabled "Apollo Curse" by winning the Derby without any racing experience as a two-year-old, and now he's poised to join stablemate American Pharoah as only the second horse since 1978 to sweep the Triple Crown.

No matter how you slice it, Justify is the horse to beat in the Belmont Stakes, even if he does have a few obstacles to overcome. With his eye-catching speed figures and proven ability to set (and survive) a fast pace, Justify holds a significant tactical advantage in the Belmont Stakes, and now that he's drawn the rail it would come as no surprise to see jockey Mike Smith send Justify straight to the lead and play "catch me if you can." That's a strategy that has worked for eight of the twelve previous Triple Crown winners, including each of the last five, and with relatively little early speed in this Belmont Stakes field, Justify should be poised to work out a perfect trip on the front end.

The main concerns are the possibility of a slow start and the possibility that Justify is starting to regress after his busy racing schedule. Although Justify has generally been pretty quick out of the starting gate, he is a big horse that needs to settle into a rhythm to run his best race, and even a moment's hesitation breaking from post one could be enough to shuffle him back through the pack if any of the other riders get aggressive, and racing behind horses in a pocket would be far from ideal for Justify.

As for the possibility of regression, there has been some concern among handicappers over the fact that Justify was all-out to win the Preakness Stakes by just a half-length while earning career-low Beyer and BRIS speed figures of 97 and 98, respectively. However, I think the close margin at the finish was more the result of Justify engaging the champion and Kentucky Derby runner-up Good Magic in an intense battle for the lead from start to finish, which left both colts a bit leg-weary in the homestretch.

It's a testament to Justify's ability that he won despite those circumstances, and while there's no guarantee that he has the stamina to stretch his speed over 1  miles, the extended distance should allow him to settle into a much more relaxed pace than in the Preakness or even the Derby, possibly setting him up for a return to the career-best speed figures he earned when securing an easy lead in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I).

Furthermore, all indications suggest that Justify has bounced out of the Preakness in good form. Ten days after the race, he threw down a bullet :46 4/5 half-mile breeze at Churchill Downs, which he followed up with five furlongs in 1:01 2/5 (out seven furlongs in 1:27 1/5) on June 4th. To me, regression from his busy racing schedule seems unlikelyif Justify loses the Belmont Stakes, I think it will be the result of a poor trip or pace setup, two factors that his tactical speed and versatility should give him every chance to avoid.

#2 Free Drop Billy

Free Drop Billy has accomplished a lot of his career, most notably defeating Bravazo by four lengths in the Breeders' Futurity (gr. I) last fall, but the son of Union Rags has gone 0-for-5 since then and might ultimately prove to be at his best as a miler. He's shown hints of possible stamina limitations this year and couldn't keep up with the fast pace despite a ground-saving trip in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), retreating to finish a distant sixteenth after attempting to stay within a half-dozen lengths or so of the early lead. He's trained up a storm since then at Churchill Downs and seems to be maintaining his form overall, so perhaps he just didn't care for the sloppy track in the Derby, but even drawing a line through his Derby effort, I think running 1  miles against this level of competition could be a tough task for Free Drop Billy.

#3 Bravazo

When trainer D. Wayne Lukas gets a talented horse into a rhythm, it can be wise to pay attention. Just think back to Oxbow, who entered the 2013 Belmont Stakes off of an upset win in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I). That effort followed a solid sixth-place finish with a tough trip in the Kentucky Derby, and while Oxbow was not a popular choice in the Belmont Stakeshe was sent off as the fourth choice at 10-1he outran expectations again to finish second in a strong effort.

In many ways, Bravazo is very similar to Oxbow. In addition to being bred along the same lines (both are by Awesome Again out of a Cee's Tizzy mare), Bravazo has emulated Oxbow by finishing sixth in the Derby with a poor trip and improving dramatically in the Preakness Stakes, in which he was beaten just a half-length by Justify.

As good as that effort looks at first glance, I actually think it's been underrated a bit. While the most visually impressive aspect of the performance was Bravazo's dramatic late surge in the final furlong (during which he closed 4  lengths on Justify), I was just as impressed by his performance in the early stages of the race, as he showed plenty of speed to track the pace in third place before dropping back a bit around the far turn. While it's difficult to say for certain since conditions were foggy, it appeared to me that Bravazo shifted to the inside on the far turn and may have been reacting to having mud kicked back in his face by the leaders. In any case, when he was steered back to the outside in the homestretch, he finished strongly to just miss catching Justify.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that I expect Bravazo to maintain his strong form in the Belmont Stakes, where the early speed that he showed in the Preakness should help him establish a good position racing reasonably close to the pace. From there, I'll trust that his pedigree and his fitness from racing and training (check out that 1:42 3/5 mile breeze on May 31st!) will put him right in the mix down the homestretch.

#4 Hofburg

Tapit has sired three of the last four Belmont Stakes winners, and his son Hofburg will likely be the second choice in the wagering when the field heads to post on Saturday. But will that make him an underlay in comparison to his actual chances of winning?

Trained by Bill Mott, Hofburg has accomplished a lot in four career starts, joining the Kentucky Derby trail with a runner-up effort in the Florida Derby (gr. I) before finishing seventh with a rough trip in the Derby itself. The trouble Hofburg endured was legitimate, as he got shuffled back at a key point on the far turn while repeatedly changing lanes and aiming for holes that just kept closing. When he finally got clear in the homestretch, he passed a half-dozen tiring rivals to finish seventh, beaten just 8  lengths while appearing to have something left in the tank.

On the other hand, by the time Hofburg got going in the Derby, the leaders were slowing down sharply (the final quarter-mile was timed in just :26.85 seconds), and aside from his traffic issues on the far turn, Hofburg actually got a pretty good setup in the Derby, saving ground while rating far behind the fast early pace. His Florida Derby effort was also enhanced by a fast pace; RacingFlow.com assigned the race a Closer Favorability Ratio of 97, indicating a race that strongly favored late runners. Despite rating farther off the pace than the eventual winner, Audible, Hofburg was unable to out-kick Audible through the homestretch and actually lost ground to that rival in the final furlong.

In many ways, Hofburg reminds me of recent Belmont Stakes runners such as Materiality, Ice Box, and Will Take Charge, who finished strongly after enduring poor trips in the Derby, only to falter in the Belmont Stakes. It's fair to wonder if their strong finishes in the Derby were actually the result of rating far behind the pace and passing tiring rivals when the race was essentially over.

I do respect what Hofburg has accomplished in a short period of time, but I suspect he'll be over bet off his troubled trip in the Derby, and as a deep closer, he may be left with too much to do in the Belmont Stakes, a race that tends to favor horses with tactical speed.

#5 Restoring Hope

On paper, it's hard to make a case for Restoring Hope having much of an impact in the Belmont Stakes. After all, the son of Giant's Causeway finished a distant twelfth in the Pat Day Mile Stakes (gr. III) last time out and has just one win from five starts dating back to last December.

But dig a little deeper, and Restoring Hope becomes a bit more interesting. He's not the fastest horse in terms of pace or speed figures, but he's a grinder in the truest sense of the word and put his strengths to use when running a very even race in the Wood Memorial (gr. II) two starts backhe was third at every call, staying closer to a fast early pace than most and finishing better than most while coming home 5  lengths behind the late-running Vino Rosso.

Trainer Bob Baffert has suggested that Restoring Hope will be sent to the lead in the Belmont Stakes to give Justify a target to chase, and while that seems less likely now that Justify has drawn the rail and may be committed to set the pace, there's still a chance that Restoring Hope finds himself racing close to a modest early pace, which could be a perfect setup for him. Irish War Cry, Destin, American Pharoah, Commissioner, Paynter, Ruler On Ice, Dunkirk, Da' Tara... over the last ten years, they've all finished first or second in the Belmont Stakes while never racing farther back than second at any call, with the common thread being that they took advantage of modest fractions and just kept going, with many of them starting at huge odds.

Restoring Hope might not be the most likely winner of the Belmont Stakes, but he's kept good company throughout his career and might not be out of the question to finish on the board at a big price.

#6 Gronkowski

Popular colt won two races on the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, but missed the Derby itself due to a slight illness and was subsequently transferred to the barn of Chad Brown. A son of the Australian-bred Lonhro, Gronwkowski brings a four-race wins streak into the Belmont Stakes and has a grinding style that could be well-suited to this distance, but then again, he's never run beyond a mile and will be making his debut on dirt. Those are significant question marks since Gronkowski's pedigree is geared more toward success on turf/synthetic tracks and at distances up to a mile. The Belmont Stakes could prove to be a stiff test for Gronkowski, and I have the feeling that he'll be over bet in relation to his actual chances of winning, making him a horse that I'll play against.

#7 Tenfold

This lightly-raced son of Curlin is bred to thrive at 1  miles and is bound to receive some play off his excellent third-place finish in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), where he was beaten less than a length by Justify. But for a couple of reasons, I hesitate to fully embrace Tenfold's chances in the Belmont. First off, trainer Steve Asmussen had Tenfold (and his other runners on Preakness weekend) equipped with special shoes to give them an advantage over the sloppy, sealed track, and judging from the resultsin addition to Tenfold's fine run, Asmussen won three main-track stakes races on Friday and Saturdaythe shoes appeared to do their job.

Furthermore, Tenfold received a great setup overall in the Preakness Stakes, rating off the pace early on before rallying into contention in the homestretch, after Justify was growing leg-weary from dueling with Good Magic. Even still, Tenfold failed to catch Justify and was out-kicked to the wire by Bravazo, who had stayed closer to the pace early on before briefly dropping back around the far turn.

If Belmont comes up wet on Saturday, Tenfold could be a major threat once again, and the fact that he's lightly-raced overall and still improving (no surprise given his pedigree) is appealing. He's definitely a candidate for inclusion in the exotics, but on a dry track especially, there are others I prefer a bit more.

#8 Vino Rosso

If anyone can upset Justify in the Belmont Stakes, I think it's this beautifully-bred colt trained by Todd Pletcher. As a son of Curlin out of the Street Cry mare Mythical Brideherself a half-sister to 2014 Belmont Stakes runner-up CommissionerVino Rosso's pedigree is packed with late-maturing stamina and he's long appeared to be the type of colt that could excel going 1  miles in the Belmont Stakes.

After kicking off his career with promising maiden and allowance wins at Aqueduct and Tampa Bay Downs, Vino Rosso seemed something like a work in progress during the winter, showing flashes of talent while finishing third in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (gr. III) and fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II). In both races, Vino Rosso showed decent early speed before dropping back around the far turn and re-rallying in the homestretch; the addition of blinkers in the Tampa Bay Derby seemed to result in a worse performance, though that may have been more the result of Vino Rosso being compromised by a slow pace than an adverse reaction to blinkers.

In any case, Vino Rosso improved significantly (while still wearing blinkers) in the Wood Memorial, rating behind a fast pace and accelerating strongly around the final turn to roll past the leaders and win going away by three lengths. He did benefit from a good pace setup, and he did give runner-up Enticed a couple of hard bumps at the top of the stretch, but overall this was a big step forward off his efforts at Tampa Bay Downs.

That performance made Vino Rosso a 14-1 shot in the Kentucky Derby, and although he never seriously threatened over the sloppy track, he nevertheless put in a mild late rally to finish ninth, beaten 10  lengths. It wasn't quite as flashy as the troubled trips endured by Bravazo (very wide while making a big mid-race move) and Hofburg (stopped repeatedly around the far turn as mentioned above), but it was subtly bad in that Vino Rosso raced wide throughout on a day when the rail was the best part of the track. Even just in terms of raw ground loss, Vino Rosso ran more than four lengths farther than Hofburg according to Trakus.

I don't think we've seen the best that Vino Rosso has to offer, but the Belmont Stakes could provide that opportunity. He's trained well since the Derby, most recently going five furlongs on June 1st in 1:01.55 with a three-furlong gallop-out that carried him through a mile in about 1:42 flat per clocker Mike Welsch of the Daily Racing Form. I love to see a good stiff gallop-out like that from Pletcher's Belmont contenders, and certainly no trainer has enjoyed more recent success in the third jewel of the Triple Crown than Pletcher. Since 2006, he's won the race three times and has sent out eight other runners to finish in the trifecta; in other words, over the last dozen years, Pletcher has trained 30% of the top-three finishers from the Belmont Stakes, an extraordinary record of success.

Call it a gut feeling, but I think Saturday is the day that we see Vino Rosso step forward with a career-best effort. Whether that will be enough to upset Justify is another question entirely, but at his 8-1 morning line price, I think he offers the best value in the race and is a must-use in all exotic bets.

#9 Noble Indy

Although Noble Indy was never a threat when finishing seventeenth in the Kentucky Derby, I think the combination of chasing a very fast pace while racing wide over an unfamiliar sloppy track was simply too much to overcome, so I'll draw a line through that effort and judge him off his previous form. That includes a gutsy win in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II), in which he pushed a fast pace and lost the lead before battling back to defeat a quality field that included Lone Sailor (fifth in the Preakness) and My Boy Jack (fifth in the Kentucky Derby).

My main concern with Noble Indy is that he could have difficulty working out an ideal trip in the Belmont. He's been most successful when pressing the pace, but trying to press Justify could be easier said than done (as Good Magic discovered in the Preakness), and if the Derby/Preakness winner fires his best shot, Noble Indy could have a tough time matching Justify's pace as the race goes on, leaving Noble Indy vulnerable to horses coming from a bit farther off the pace. Perhaps with this in mind, Noble Indy will race without blinkers in the Belmont Stakes, which could potentially help him relax farther off the pace like he did when third with a slightly troubled run in the Risen Star Stakes (gr. II). But even this trip could be problematic, as I'm not sure Noble Indy has the turn-of-foot to out-kick horses like Bravazo (who won the Risen Star) or Vino Rosso.

Overall, I respect Noble Indy's talent and determination, but I'll play against him in the Belmont Stakes.

#10 Blended Citizen

After initially gaining a reputation as a turf/synthetic specialist (thanks in large part to a late-running win in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes on Polytrack), Blended Citizen gave notice that he can be effective on dirt as well by finishing a good fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) before winning the Peter Pan Stakes (gr. III) at Belmont Park. The latter effort was eye-catching since Blended Citizen was able to stay within a couple lengths of the pace before grinding to victory in the final furlong, a running style that can be very effective in the Belmont Stakes.

On the other hand, Blended Citizen did benefit from the fact that the final three furlongs of the Peter Pan were timed in a slow :38.34 seconds, and the final furlong in particular:13.27aided Blended Citizen's late rally. The Peter Pan didn't look like the toughest race beforehand, and Blended Citizen's winning Beyer of 90 suggests the same thing. I suspect that Blended Citizen could find the waters a bit deeper in the Belmont Stakes, and while the 1 -mile distance might help his chances, I still wonder if he won't ultimately prove best on turf/synthetic tracks or against easier competition. I'm leaning against him in the Belmont.

Conclusions

In handicapping the final leg of the Triple Crown, I'm drawn to Justify and Vino Rosso and view them as by far the two most likely winners of this 1 -mile classic. For the purposes of multi-race wagers, I would be inclined to use them both in equal strength while betting them strongly in the exacta, trifecta, and superfecta.

If forced to choose one or the other for the purpose of having a "top pick," I would have to say Justify while offering the disclaimer that my "top pick" depends to some extent on what you value. I view Justify as the most likely winner, but his post time odds won't offer much in the way of wagering valuein fact, I think he'll be a bit over bet in comparison to his actual chances of winning, making him an underlay in the wagering. In contrast, Vino Rosso might not be as likely to win the race, but if he starts at his morning line odds of 8-1, that wouldin my opinionmake him the best win play in the race.

As for the rest, I think Bravazo has a big chance to finish in the top four again and is my clear third choice, with Tenfold being another with a shot to finish in the exotics, particularly if the track comes up wet. I'm against Hofburg for the most part and will attempt to beat him in the exotics, though I can't really argue with anyone who thinks he's sitting on a big race and I might include him on a few saver tickets.

Now it's your turn! Who do you like in the Belmont Stakes?

*****

Want to test your handicapping skills against fellow Unlocking Winners readers? Check out the Unlocking Winners contests pagethere's a new challenge every week!

*****

J. Keeler Johnson (also known as "Keelerman") is a writer, blogger, videographer, handicapper, and all-around horse racing enthusiast. A great fan of racing history, he considers Dr. Fager to be the greatest racehorse ever produced in America, but counts Zenyatta as his all-time favorite. He is the founder of the horse racing website www.theturfboard.com.
Tyson Fury clowned his way through his eagerly anticipated ring return at Manchester Arena, claiming victory when outclassed opponent Sefer Seferi was retired on his stool at the end of four wholly farcical rounds.

Fighting for the first time since he wrested the world heavyweight title from Wladimir Klitschko over two-and-a-half years ago, Fury gurned and showboated his way through much of the contest and earned a ticking-off from referee Phil Edwards.

Seferi, who had campaigned almost all his career as a cruiserweight, was never going to trouble the 6ft 9ins Fury by whom he was out-weighed by more than four-and-a-half stone, and the favourite was clearly capable of ending the fight at will.

Tyson Fury (left) claimed an easy victory

Cheered to the ring during a ring-walk which included a clip of Afromans Because I Got High  presumably a sly dig at the drug-testers who contributed to his period of inactivity  Fury turned on the full pantomime act in the opening three minutes.

If he looked a little more serious from the second round onwards, it still felt like something of a non-event as the limited Seferi tried in vain to even reach Furys head with his sluggish right uppercuts.

Sporadic thick right hands from Fury had Seferi on the back-foot in the fourth, and his corner evidently decided to spare him further drawn-out punishment when they summoned Edwards and withdrew their man at the end of the round.

Nevertheless, the manner of his win was rendered relatively redundant when compared with the battle he has had to shed more than eight stones as well as winning a much-publicised battle with depression.

His promoter Frank Warren is evidently intent on keeping Fury busy as he begins his long road back towards the top, and he is next scheduled to fight at Windsor Park in Belfast on August 18.

It would do him good to have few nights as facile at this one, with the majority of the aggression in the arena supplied instead by a small pocket of fans who sparked a brief brawl midway through the bout.

Seferis unsatisfactory withdrawal sent the boos  and the occasional drinks bottle  cascading down from the upper tiers, but for Fury at least, it is simply a case of reigniting a career that still promises much.

Meanwhile, Terry Flanagan failed in his attempt to emulate his hero Ricky Hatton and become a two-weight world champion on the undercard.

Flanagan suffered a split decision defeat to American Maurice Hooker for the vacant WBO super-lightweight title, with two judges favouring Hooker 117-111 and 115-113, and the third going for Flanagan 117-111.
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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. 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Camelot said: That was not Putin. The Russians were kicked out of the G8 by Obama because they invaded the Crimea. Click to expand...

Since, the Russians have cyber attacked our electoral system and your butt wipe wants to reward them by allowing them back into the G8. More evidence that Putin owns Don the Con. Get a clue. Click to expand...

Ukraine's claim to Crimea was dubious and tenuous from the outset! Remember they got this Russian-majority territory in 1954 because of a Soviet Premier- Kruschev playing games that didn't matter much since the republican governments had little more than symbolic powers until the Soviet Union collapsed. And after the collapse, Russia only agreed not to challenge the territorial boundaries as long as they were guaranteed control of their southern navy stationed in Sevastopol, and Ukraine respected minority rights. Back in 04, Putin was threatening to take Crimea back when that first 'Orange Revolution' Government declared their intentions to take control of that naval base. After this orange revolution in 2011 that overthrew an elected government, and the subsequent banning of 'minority' languages - Russian, Hungarian and Romanian, plus the banning of the Communist Party from participating in elections (the only party with support across ethnic boundaries, only a fool would think that Putin would just sit back and let Crimea fall. But the referendum afterwards should have ended that debate right there! The only way Ukraine could take Crimea is by ethnic cleansing of the territory...as they have tried to do with the Donbass territories in the east!Regardless, Russia is still in control of a lot of nuclear warheads, matching what the US has, and yet US led-NATO forces are practicing invasion drills on a continual basis all along Russia's borders today...that hasn't stopped under Trump. In the real Democratic Party a few decades ago, there were at least some voices concerned about the outbreak of nuclear war, now these same fucking Democrats who are always railing about how stupid and impulsive Trump is, are only happy when he's firing off missiles and threatening war with the world' other nuclear power!Got any proof of that yet? Assange says Wikileaks received the files by way of uploaded usb devices, and experts who work in this field, like NSA whistleblower - William Binney, claim the DNC leaks and Podestaleaks data transfers were too rapid to be internet hacks from across the street..let alone half way around the world in Russia, so they believe an internal leak and capture of the files is the real answer.All that computer stuff aside, what idiot Dems are saying is that the Russians revealed corruption in the Democratic Party which rigged the nomination process for Hillary Clinton! So, if this bullshit story was true it would mean that the Russians did you a favor!
Brief Structure Overview



The Kekistan Armed Forces are the federally funded forces of the People's Republic of Kekistan. It is divided into three branches: the Kekistani National Army, the Kekistani Reclamatory Fleet and the Kek Air Force.



The Armed Forces, formally known as the Kekistani Independence Army, or KIA, was founded on July 16th, 2015 as a response to the prophesied Donald J. Trump's announcement that he would be running to become President of the United States of America.



The Armed Forces have been in many engagements during the ongoing Great Meme War against the forces of the demon Hillary the Crooked and her allies including SJWs and Normies. One of the greatest of these engagements was the Presidential Election on November 8th, 2016 where the Armed Forces of Kekistan (with the aid of the Sitposting Shadow Corps) were able to secure the Presidency of God Emperor Trump through sitposting memes and trolling the mainstream media who had throughout God Emperor Trump's campaign slandered him and the Kekistani people.
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.
Zoom! The point just went right over your little head. You can post statistics all day long--numbers and polls--surveys and opinions. You can throw out the guilt, the videos, the photos and the religious claptrap....but NONE of that is relevant. *NONE* of that is relevant.



The only germane points are these: A baby cannot survive outside the womb. A baby requires the mother's body. Without the mother, there is no baby. Without the WOMAN, there is no baby.



Until MEN can carry a baby to term they/YOU need to shut it. My body. My choice. Your body. Your choice.

Don't like it?? TOO DAMN BAD.



The end.
You know that touchy-feely dogs will become the face of American women in the future.

. . . let me confess my shameful secret: I like looking at really beautiful women, including when they wear bikinis.



It feels so good to finally say that out loud for all to hear.



By Jonah Goldberg

June 8, 2018 | 7:20pm



https://nypost.com/2018/06/08/the-lunacy-of-kicking-beauty-out-of-the-miss-america-pageant/ The lunacy of kicking beauty out of the Miss America pageantBy Jonah GoldbergJune 8, 2018 | 7:20pm



By Avery Anapol - 04/19/18 09:48 PM EDT



Comey: Trump says Putin bragged about Russia having the 'most beautiful hookers in the world' | TheHill Comey: Trump says Putin bragged about Russia having the 'most beautiful hookers in the world'By Avery Anapol - 04/19/18 09:48 PM EDT

The Uninvited

laissez faire also laisser faire (noun)



1. An economic doctrine that opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free-enterprise system to operate according to its own economic laws.



2. Noninterference in the affairs of others.

The grant, made last November, refers to prostitutes as "female sex workers"--or FSW--and their handlers as "gatekeepers."



U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

By Edwin Mora



https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/us-will-pay-26-million-train-chinese-prostitutes-drink-responsibly-job CNSNews.comU.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the JobTuesday, May 12, 2009By Edwin Mora

p.s.
The California Coastal Commission sought to reach a compromise regarding Del Mars short-term rental ordinance at a meeting on Thursday, June 7, striking a middle ground between the citys tight limits on vacation rentals and the looser guidelines proposed by the commissions staff.

After listening to testimony from city officials, supporters of short-term rentals and those who backed the citys strict approach, the commission unanimously voted to recommend a 3-day minimum for rentals in the citys residential neighborhoods, and a maximum 100 rental days per calendar year.

Commissioners said they took that option to balance the need for affordable access to accommodations near the beach, with the citys desire to protect the character of its residential neighborhoods.

Del Mars City Council passed an ordinance last year establishing a 7/28 plan, meaning that homes in residential areas can be rented for a minimum seven-night stay, for a maximum of 28 days per year.

In response, commission staff recommended a three-night minimum and a 180-day cap on rental days per year. The commission must approve the ordinance because it would amend Del Mars local coastal program, a planning blueprint.

Commissioners said that generally, they would prefer to allow local government agencies to set such rules, but in this case they were concerned about the availability of affordable lodgings for coastal visitors.

We shouldnt have to be doing this. The problem is your policy is too restrictive, commission Chair Dayna Bochco told Del Mar officials present at the hearing.

Since the commission rejected the citys ordinance as submitted, the law wont take effect for now, said Amanda Lee, principal planner with the city. Instead, the city will have six months to either accept the commissions modifications, or pursue other options that the city will explore.

The city took its strict stance on short-term rentals in response to complaints from residents, who said the rentals were operating like mini-hotels in residential areas, causing such problems as noise, litter and parking shortages.

Owners of the properties, however, said vacation rentals have been happening in Del Mar for decades, that homeowners rely on the income, and that many families consider them an affordable option for a beach vacation.

Mayor Dwight Worden wrote in an email that the City Council and staff will be reviewing options for the city before deciding how to proceed.

The Commissions suggested modifications are not what we requested, but they did change their position at the hearing, moving in our direction. Beyond that, how their decision changes the lay of the land and what Del Mars options are is what we will be evaluating, Worden wrote.

In addition to needing Coastal Commission approval, the city is also facing three lawsuits from a group of homeowners opposed to the citys short-term rental ordinance.

Until an ordinance is approved, homeowners who have operated their properties as short-term rentals since before the city enacted a moratorium on new rentals in April 2016 can continue to do so.
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By Independent , June 08 , 2018





French President Emmanuel Macron has said that no leader lasts forever ahead of Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada as attendees look to take up more confrontational stance against US President Donald Trump in the wake of a trade spat that has left Washington isolated.





Mr Macron spoke alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday just a day before the summit in Charlevoix, Canada is to open up, saying that they will push back against Mr Trumps "America First" policies to keep the international order intact.

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By Yahoo , June 08 , 2018





Tehran (AFP) - Iran held its annual day of protest against Israel on Friday, determined to show defiance at a time of mounting pressure from the United States and its regional allies.





"The US, Saudi Arabia and Israel want to put Iran in a corner, but they don't know that with this action they are threatening their own security," said parliament speaker Ali Larijani, addressing a crowd in Tehran.

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By Daily Caller , June 08 , 2018





A prominent Iranian politician admitted that Iran knowingly facilitated the passage of al-Qaeda members who later carried out the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, potentially confirming allegations in a 9/11 Commission report.





Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a former diplomat, member of a politically influential Iranian family, and current international affairs assistant in the Iranian judiciary, made the comments in an interview with Iranian state TV on May 30, according to an Al Arabiya report. The interview translation was independently confirmed by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

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By Politico , June 08 , 2018





LA MALBAIE, Canada  Italys new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, broke sharply with the EU on Friday at his first international summit, and joined U.S. President Donald Trumps call for Russia to be reinstated to the exclusive club of industrialized nations.





Trump called for Russias reinstatement as he left the White House to travel to the G7 leaders meeting in Quebec.

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Turkey to allocate $3.7B for first indigenous car

Will have capacity of producing 200,000 cars, says science, industry and technology minister.

Turkey will allocate 3.2 billion ($3.7 billion) for its first domestically-produced car, Science, Industry and Technology Minister Faruk Ozlu said on Friday.

"WE WIL INVEST 3.2 BILLION"

"The basic parameters of the project were shaped. We will invest 3.2 billion. There will be a facility that has a capacity of producing 200,000 cars. There were five models of cars. As we thought since the beginning, the car will be electric one," Ozlu said, in a live interview with private news channel TGRT Haber.

"THIS WILL PROVIDE INDIRECTLY 20,000 JOBS"

Ozlu said the project will have a contribution of around 50 billion ($58.8 billion) to the gross national product in the long term. "Within this project, we will provide directly 4,000 and indirectly 20,000 jobs," he added.

The minister said they will catch the fancy of middle and upper classes, adding: "We are mostly thinking of a car in segments B and C. It will be cheaper than peers. We aim it to be at least five percent cheaper than its peers. We aim to produce a car that will be more qualified than its peers."





"THE PLACE IS NOT CERTAIN"

Last November, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the prototype of the first domestically produced car -- expected to be produced in Ankara -- would be ready in 2019 and enter market in 2021. "The place is not certain yet. Our aim is to unveil the prototype of the domestic car in 2019 and want to present it for sale in 2021," Ozlu said.

A partnership agreement to create the country's first indigenous car brand was signed on May 31. The manufacturing company was named Turkey's Automobile Initiative Group. Five local firms -- Anadolu Group, BMC, Kok Group, Turkcell, and Zorlu Holding with 19 percent of shares each -- and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) with 5 percent of shares will jointly lead the firm.
Bangladesh 130 for 4 (Shamima 43, Rahman 31, Duraisingam 2-19) beat Malaysia 60 for 9 (Duraisinga 17, Ahmed 3-8) by 70 runs

Bangla bash: Rumana Ahmed (left) and Khadija Tul Kubra in Belgaum, on their tour of India Annesha Ghosh / ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Beat two-time runners-up (Pakistan): check

Beat six-time winners (India): check

Qualify for maiden Asia Cup final: check



Heading into the tournament, Bangladesh were labelled underdogs likely to pull off an upset or two. On Saturday, with their 70-run rout of Malaysia in the last league game, they surpassed last edition's runners-up Pakistan on the points table and set up their maiden appearance in an Asia Cup final, where they will take on defending champions India.

On the penultimate day of what has been a momentous week for the side, in which they consigned both Pakistan and India to big-margin defeats , Bangladesh strangled hosts Malaysia to 60 for 9 in 20 in their 130-run defence. Vice-captain Rumana Ahmed starred with the ball, picking her second three-for of the tournament, after a 59-run opening stand between Player of the Match Shamima Sultana and Ayasha Rahman hoisted Bangladesh to 130 for 4.

While Bangladesh have preferred to chase mostly, Salma Khatun's decision to bat found validation in Sultana's 54-ball 43 that complemented Rahman's 31 off 27. After Winifred Duraisingam , the medium-pacer, separated the duo in the 10th over, Sultana stitched together a 27-run second-wicket partnership with Fargana Hoque. Duraisingam's second strike, in the 16th over, however, ensured Hoque's contribution was limited to seven.

A huge swell of impetus to the Bangladesh innings came via the 36 runs Sanjida Islam and and Fahima Khatun added at over 10 runs per over. Sanjida smashed 15 off 12 while Khatun peppered three fours en route to her 12-ball 26.

In reply, only three batsmen in the Malaysia line-up managed double-digit scores. Duraisingam top-scored with a 35-ball 17 as two run-outs, coupled with Ahmed's 4-1-8-3 which proved too strong for the opposition to muster a fight against. Malaysia's slow-paced surrender ended in a ninth wicket for the Bangladesh attack, in which five of the six bowlers employed returned at least one wicket each.
Written by ACM





*Strasbourg/Critical News-ViewPoint/- New Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's "flip-flop" on Russia's return back to a fully-fledged "G-8", instead of the current, curtailed and diminished "G-7", (provoked since 2014 by Former POTUS Barack Hussein Obama's "Miss Nuland"-monitored aufull Mess in Ukraine, previously a Peaceful and promising, European Culture Country), is not clear :



- Didn't the Italian People's large Majority vote to put, at last, an End to "Sanctions" against Russia, which Divided the European Continent and still Limit its Economic/Scientific and Technological Development, (as even the New Rome Government's explicitly Agreed Program reads) ?



- Why Turkey, which is notoriously accustomed to do very much Worse things than Russia, (from Genocides, to "Ethnic Cleansings", Military Invasions/Occupations, Massive and brutal Violations of Human Rights, local/regional and national Democracy trampled underfoot, Armed Bullying and War Threats, etc), is getting, these same years, instead of "Sanctions", on the Contrary, ...+3,5 Billions  in full Grants each Year, from EU Taxpayers' Money, (in addition to its "usual" 1 Billion , i.e. a bulk of more than +4,5 Billions  in yearly Grants), while also being still Invited to "G-20" Summits ?...



- Most Italian Newspapers were proudly publishing Frontpage Headline News on Conte's endorsement of US President Trump's call for Russia to get back Home inside a "G-8", when, suddenly, it was announced that, in fact, at the last minute, Conte would have yielded under pressure...



But Don Trump's earlier relevant statement also, significantly, stressed that, in fact, - "We have a World to run !"



And he, notoriously, said that, by a Double Coincidence :



- Both the Same Day that Deadly Islamist Terrorists of ISIL's Cowards who Target even innocent Civilian People, after a Recent Resurgence of a New Series of Bloody Attacks throughout Europe, in Afghanistan, etc., (since the Diversion provoked by Turkey's Military Invasion and Occupation of Syria's Kurdish Canton of Afrin on 2018), re-started anew to Invade and Occupy a City, near Syria's Borderline with Iraq;



- and at the Eve of the forthcoming, Crucial Singapore Summit with Northern Korea's Leader Kim Jong-un, scheduled for the 12th of June, from which depends if the World will manage to make an Historic breakthrough for Peace and stability, or fall back to an even more Dangerous Cold War era with the addition of unstable Nuclear Weapons' Tensions.



In such a Context, wouldn't a "traditional" fully-fledged "G-8", bringing Back Russia Together with the EU, USA, Canada and Japan, (if not, sooner or later, even a New ..."G-9", bringing In also China - as, inter alia, also f.ex. France had suggested as a Possible development, already as early as since the May 2011 "G-8" Summit in Deauville, during a Press Conference), be obviously Helpful in order to turn this mechanism into a Really "Global" one, and, eventually, give a Hand for a Succesful Preparation of that Crucial USA - N.Korea Summit, from which depends Global Peace and prevention of Nuclear Weapons' course threatening desastrous clashes ?



The Reply is naturaly "Yes", since this is, in practice, a Last Chance for Global Diplomacy among the Biggest Countries on Earth, (with the EU playing also a Useful Role in World Affairs), to try, all Together, to Help Save our Planet from UnPrecedented Risks of Nuclear Tensions and Threats.



Where is, these same Days, Russian President Vladimir Putin ? Visiting ...China, to meet with President Xi Jiping, inaugurate a High-Speed Train Link, etc. But, wouldn't it be Better, if these Leaders (notoriously Influent also vis a vis Northern Korea, etc), were, Now, Meeting and Exchanging Together with the EU, USA, Japan and Canada, etc., inter alia, also on How to Help, all Together, to Prepare a Succesful Negotiation and Deal with N.Korea's President Kim, on the occasion of the forthcoming, Crucial Singapore Meeting with USA's new President Don Trump, able to Safeguard World Peace ?



German Chancelor Angie Merkel, certainly, cannot forget that her initial Mentor, and Long-Time close Ally, the Historic former Chancelor Helmut Kohl, who playe a Key Role Both for the ReUnification of Europe after 1989, and EU Integration in the 1990ies, had notoriously Regretted and Criticized the Exclusion of Russia from the former "G-8" Summit format, (as f.ex. that of Heiligendam, back on 2007, that Merkel Chaired hershelf : Comp. "Eurofora" co-Founder's NewsReports from the spot, then Published mainly by "TCWeekly", etc).



Neither could, the French President Emmanuel Macron ignore his Historic predecessor, General De Gaulle's famous Plaidoyerie for "a Great Europe, extending from tha Atlantic Ocean, up to the Ural Mountains", and well beyond...



And the current "G-7" Host Country, Canada, also certainly canNot Neglect the Fact that, (in addition to Japan, etc), it's also, f.ex., ...Toronto City which is much Closer to Northern Korea's eventual Nuclear Rockets, than USA's Washington D.C. ...



So that, in fact, almost Everybody involved in those "Global" Summits, has, in one way or another, a Real Interest and Duty to become Helpful for World Peace, by contributing whatever is possible, appropriate and necessary for that Noble Aim, in real practice, hic and nunc.

(../..)
I would do a Google search for (company name) reviews and read what is out there and make your decision based on that (hint: none of the reviews for the companies that you mention are good)



You do realise that whilst the company might give you suggestions, you Cpunj will have to do all of the work (get education transcripts, pay to have them evaluated; get employment records; get police checks etc etc) while your advisor/consultant sits on their bottom and takes your hard earned  - those companies cannot and will not do any of that paperwork for you.



As for the advice that they might give, they cannot tell you anything that you cant find out yourself for free on the internet. They also cannot guarantee you success on your application (they have no inside information as to which way the minimum cutoff for Express Entry will go - only the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration and their office are party to this information) nor can they guarantee to get you a job before you arrive... in order for that to happen, youd likely have been targeted and head hunted by the company directly, as its expensive for employers to look offshore for new employees, as there is a process that they have to follow that takes time and money - for a low paying job, its highly unlikely that an employer would be willing to do it, if they can either delegate various aspects of the role to current staff or hire onshore employees (either Canadians or non-Canadians who have the unrestricted right to work any job) or students.



You did a Google search and found this place and have asked questions, so theres no reason why you cant do more Google searches for information and ask more questions here while you wait for your paperwork to be processed. You cant do anything with your application while you wait for your transcripts to be sent to you or while they are being evaluated, so you can use that time to do research and ask questions at places like this and other forums on the internet.



Good luck to you!
NOT many real estate agents can just drop into their clients home for a cup of coffee that is located within the vast Gascoyne region, or even the remote Pilbara or isolated Kimberley.

But Simon Wilding can  not only by being a real estate agent but also an experienced pilot who has his own aeroplane.

Simon is one of four directors of Ray White Rural WA and specialises in the sale of WA pastoral stations.

He travels hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometres to some of the States most remote stations about three times a year, either to take a look at a new property listing, visit current clients or check in with previous clients to see how they have made the property their own.

Simon has managed to incorporate his background and passion for agriculture and his love for flying with his successful rural real estate career, making him a sought-after selling agent who has expertise in selling pastoral properties.

The ability to fly saves weeks of travel each year, allowing him to spend more time with clients and market their properties more thoroughly.

As an agent I think its important to go and look at the property so I know what Im dealing with and Im probably the only rural agent that can get around the pastoral region so easily and quickly, Simon said.

I get to see more of the country, I get a good view of the property and its convenient.

I love working with rural people  the characters of the bush intrigue me and I love the camaraderie.

Simons passion for the country and pastoral industry stems from his background as a farmer with his agricultural roots going back to the second half of the 19th Century.

Thomas Wilding, Simons great grandfather, went to Northam as a convict in the 1850s, working as a blacksmith.

He managed to get hold of some land in the 1870s  about 10,000 acres (4046.9 hectares) which was certainly a lot for that time, he said.

He also became a builder  he was a pretty savvy man.

The Wilding family has been farming ever since, for four generations, and Simon owns about 1618ha of the family farm at Northam, producing cattle from a feedlot, Merino wool, as well as broadacre farming.

Seeking an alternative income, Simon entered the real estate industry in the late 1990s.

Farming is probably my first love; entering real estate was really a means to an end which became a business that I also love, he said.

I love the country and getting my hands dirty and I really enjoy working with animals, especially sheep and cattle, and I love shearing, the smell of the wool and the fast pace of the shearing shed in full swing.

Simons career in real estate started with IAMA Real Estate in 1998 and when that was purchased by Wesfarmers, he approached two of his current business partners from Ray White Rural WA  Steve Vaughan and Hugh Ness, and together they formed VNW Independent.

In July, 2017 VNW Independent partnered with Ray White to form Ray White Rural WA which Simon said was a major step forward for the business.

It enables us to have more interaction with corporate and offshore work, he said.

We can have more attention to detail and Ray White has a much bigger database than any other rural selling agent in the country, so it has given us a good umbrella to work under.

Ray White is probably the third or fourth biggest family-owned company in the world and it is still run by three or four family members with good people around them.

Simon usually allows about 12 months to sell a property so it can go through a season while on the market.

Since I have been in the industry I have seen a general upward trend in values and this last season, there has been strong growth and we (Ray White Rural WA) expect that to continue, he said.

The market is very strong with local and offshore interest and the agriculture sector is showing good returns.

Simon now has a drone to help with property marketing, and having only purchased it two weeks prior to his latest trip, he was still coming to terms with it.

Determined to get some aerial photographs of Winderie station, Simon spent about 40 minutes trying configuring the drone but the final result showed the effort was worthwhile.

Once Simon had the hang of his new toy he was buzzing across the homestead, the cattle yards and the shearing shed.

Prior to working in real estate, Simon worked as a mustering pilot for about 18 months in the late 1970s  again combining his love for farming and interest in flying.

He worked on a friends station around the upper Murchison area, getting a taste of the pastoral industry.

Free time in his early 20s was dedicated to flight training which started at Northam and finished at Jandakot.

With four decades in the air, flying is now second nature.

I had always wanted to be a pilot and have always loved flying and it first sparked my interest when I was in primary school and the super spreading aircraft would come to the farm  I used to watch them for hours, Simon said.

I love the challenge of dealing with the weather conditions  it is much more challenging than driving which gives me a buzz.

Its exhilarating when it all goes well, not that it ever goes wrong, but its all about making good decisions.

I love the feeling of flying, the view and the whole concept of it.

His current aeroplane is a Cessna 185 tail-dragger with a single engine that he bought six years ago.

Being a Cessna high-wing, it has good visibility and the ability to do short take-offs and landings on rough terrain, which is important for the work I do, he said.

Its a bit of a challenge for the flyer which is always fun.

As well as flying for work, he also flies regularly for leisure.

I also like doing aerobatics and formation flying which are challenging on top of the task of flying the aircraft, he said.

Last year Simon fulfilled a dream of training in a World War II Spitfire in England.

My tail wheel experience allowed me to fly the Spitfire and it proved to be a very graceful aircraft, Simon said.

It had a lot of power (2000 horsepower) so ground handling was a bit of a challenge.

I flew over the English Channel and operated from the Battle of Britain airfield in the south of England.

My dream is to go back and fly solo in the Spitfire.

It seems the fondness of flying runs in the family as Simons wife Penny and daughter Jess also enjoy the sky trips and his son Harry is a pilot for Qantas.

We (Harry and I) do trips together which is great  I really love sitting in the passenger seat while my son is flying me, he said.

When talking to Simon, its clear hes a man who really enjoys his job  helping people to buy or sell pieces of WAs pastoral country, perhaps to begin their dream to own a station, expand their operation, or close a chapter of their life to begin another.

Flying major distances to visit clients is a timely and costly exercise but it demonstrates Simons commitment to marketing the pastoral industry and giving justice to some of regional WAs most-prized land
OWNING a station has always been a dream of Josh Pumpas and almost two years ago he made it a reality with wife Jocelyn.

The couple decided to dive head-first into a new adventure of being agricultural business owners, not just by purchasing a farm property like most first-timers, but snapping up the 200,000-hectare Murgoo station at Murchison.

One of the oldest stations in the Murchison area, Murgoo was settled in 1873 and in its early days was a well-known Merino stud, as well as producing quality sheep and cattle meat.

Josh, Jocelyn and daughters Bella, 6, and Eliza, 4, moved to Western Australia from Victoria in June 2016, seeking more affordable land, particularly as they were trying to enter the market.

I have always wanted to own a station  I had been dreaming about it since I can remember and we wont be moving in a hurry, Josh said.

Jocelyn said the station life also suited her well with the peaceful open country and spending more time together as a family.

I like the isolation and having our own space away from it all, Jocelyn said.

The community is great and life is very flexible out here, particularly with home schooling the girls.

Having previously worked as a jackeroo and manager at various properties in New South Wales for F.S. Falkiner & Sons, including at Boonoke and Haddon Rig, Josh had accumulated plenty of experience running Merinos and managing livestock, specialising in Merino stud breeding.

I tended to the sheeps needs and worked with sheep every day for 20 years and at night would research and dream of breeding better sheep, he said.

I have taken the same approach at Murgoo, focussing completely on the stock.

The young couple runs 400 head of Droughtmaster cattle plus followers and 4000 head of Dorper and Damara crossbred ewes with their progeny.

Josh said he opted for these breeds of cattle and sheep for their suitability to the pastoral country as theyre gentle on the land, easy to handle and are low cost.

Going from a manager to sole owner, Josh said the biggest difference has been the cheque book, as well as the nature of the work.

Not having to worry about shearing, crutching and spraying is great  there are no deadlines and running costs are much lower, he said.

But then that time is now taken up with other things  we seem to always be busy.

The Pumpas purchased Murgoo through Ray White Rural director Simon Wilding, and said they were pleased with Simons service and the great condition of the station, particularly the fences, windmills and country.

Although it has taken a lot of work, time and effort, they have started to put their stamp on Murgoo, recently working on fences.

I have always specialised in livestock so having to tend to other station needs like grading, fencing and the homestead has been really difficult, Josh said.

An overall muster is done twice a year and takes the pastoralists about two weeks, including using a aeroplane and three to four people on motorbikes for about two days.

In between these musters, they also track stock when required in their program by mustering in paddocks around water points.

We are fortunate that Murgoo is extremely well fenced  the sheep and cattle are broken up into little lots and the country is fairly open country, Josh said.

So we have the ability to track them down off water for calf marking and the odd sales for which we use motorbikes.

Then twice a year we hire an aeorplane and several helpers on bikes to get a clean muster and to get an idea of numbers and have a tidy up.

Murgoos water supply is from about 70 windmills and the Sandford River flows through the property that provides a large floodplain during the wet season.

Upon first arriving to Murgoo, combatting wild dogs has been a priority for the Pumpas and with consistent baiting and trapping, luckily they havent felt a major impact on their livestock, but it is a very timely issue to manage.

Education for regional students has been under the spotlight with various State government decisions showing neglect to the schooling of some of WAs most remote students.

Since moving to Murgoo, Bella and Eliza have been home schooled by Jocelyn through the Meekatharra School of the Air (SOTA) and the girls could have been collateral damage of the proposed education cuts from last years budget which were later repealed.

If funding for SOTA had been cut, the girls would have had to do SIDE (School of Isolated and Distant Education) and who knows how well that would have gone, Jocelyn said.

Josh said the uncertainty of the live export market was a major concern for their operations.

It is 100 per cent of our sheep income and our cattle go to local and live export markets, so it would have a major affect on us, he said.

Station life doesnt just require dedication and resilience but a have-a-go-attitude can also be a valuable tool and Josh and Jocelyn have that down pat.

We are not afraid to take on a challenge and we are not afraid of failure, Josh said.

If it all fails and we have to go back to managing, then so be it.

I think our biggest challenge will be rainfall  we have had two good seasons which has been good, so we just need that to continue.

But rainfall is out of our control so we try to focus on things we can manage.

For many country people, its the Australian dream to buy a property to work the land and some livestock and as the saying goes, sometimes bigger is better  well this seemed to be the view in Josh and Jocelyns eyes.
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I love it when someone puts politics in the context of history. Grayson does that a lot, which is why I look forward to his campaign e-mails (like this one about Cola Di Rienzo , a 14th Century Roman). Miranda Carter didn't go back quite so far in heressay comparing Senor Trumpanzee to Kaiser Wilhelm II, What Happens When A Bad-Tempered Distractible Doofus Runs An Empire . Short answer: he ruins it. Slightly longer answer: he overthrown the world order to the detriment of his own country, precisely what Trump is doing right now. Wilhelm II inherited his right to rule. Although Trump didn't get nearly as many votes as his opponent and although the Kremlin helped put him in the White House, there were still something like 62,984,828 Americans who voted for him, 46% of the voters. And many of them still back him. Is it possible for someone with an average IQ to fall fir his con-man routine to back Trump. I didn't like Hillary either, but was shebad, compared to him?

One of the few things that Kaiser Wilhelm II, who ruled Germany from 1888 to 1918, had a talent for was causing outrage. A particular specialty was insulting other monarchs. He called the diminutive King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy the dwarf in front of the kings own entourage. He called Prince (later Tsar) Ferdinand, of Bulgaria, Fernando naso, on account of his beaky nose, and spread rumors that he was a hermaphrodite. Since Wilhelm was notably indiscreet, people always knew what he was saying behind their backs. Ferdinand had his revenge. After a visit to Germany, in 1909, during which the Kaiser slapped him on the bottom in public and then refused to apologize, Ferdinand awarded a valuable arms contract that had been promised to the Germans to a French company instead.





Not that this deterred the Kaiser. One of the many things that Wilhelm was convinced he was brilliant at, despite all evidence to the contrary, was personal diplomacy, fixing foreign policy through one-on-one meetings with other European monarchs and statesmen. In fact, Wilhelm could do neither the personal nor the diplomacy, and these meetings rarely went well. The Kaiser viewed other people in instrumental terms, was a compulsive liar, and seemed to have a limited understanding of cause and effect. In 1890, he let lapse a long-standing defensive agreement with Russia-- the German Empires vast and sometimes threatening eastern neighbor. He judged, wrongly, that Russia was so desperate for German good will that he could keep it dangling. Instead, Russia immediately made an alliance with Germanys western neighbor and enemy, France. Wilhelm decided he would charm and manipulate Tsar Nicholas II (a ninny and a whimperer, according to Wilhelm, fit only to grow turnips) into abandoning the alliance. In 1897, Nicholas told Wilhelm to get lost; the German-Russian alliance withered.





...Trumps tweets were what first reminded me of the Kaiser. Wilhelm was a compulsive speechmaker who constantly strayed off script. Even his staff couldnt stop him, though it tried, distributing copies of speeches to the German press before hed actually given them. Unfortunately, the Austrian press printed the speeches as they were delivered, and the gaffes and insults soon circulated around Europe. There is only one person who is master in this empire and I am not going to tolerate any other, Wilhelm liked to say, even though Germany had a democratic assembly and political parties. (Im the only one that matters, Trump has said.) The Kaiser reserved particular abuse for political parties that voted against his policies. I regard every Social Democrat as an enemy of the Fatherland, he said, and he denounced the German Socialist party as a gang of traitors. August Bebel, the Socialist party leader, said that every time the Kaiser opened his mouth, the party gained another hundred thousand votes.





...In fact, Wilhelm didnt accomplish very much. The general staff of the German Army agreed that the Kaiser couldnt lead three soldiers over a gutter. He had neither the attention span nor the ability. Distractions, whether they are little games with his army or navy, travelling or hunting-- are everything to him, a disillusioned former mentor wrote. He reads very little apart from newspaper cuttings, hardly writes anything himself apart from marginalia on reports and considers those talks best which are quickly over and done with. The Kaisers entourage compiled press cuttings for him, mostly about himself, which he read as obsessively as Trump watches television. A critical story would send him into paroxysms of fury.





During Wilhelms reign, the upper echelons of the German government began to unravel into a free-for-all, with officials wrangling against one another. The most contradictory opinions are now urged at high and all-highest level, a German diplomat lamented. To add to the confusion, Wilhelm changed his position every five minutes. He was deeply suggestible and would defer to the last person hed spoken to or cutting hed read-- at least until hed spoken to the next person. It is unendurable, a foreign minister wrote, in 1894. Today one thing and tomorrow the next and after a few days something completely different. Wilhelms staff and ministers resorted to manipulation, distraction, and flattery to manage him. In order to get him to accept an idea you must act as if the idea were his, the Kaisers closest friend, Philipp zu Eulenburg, advised his colleagues, adding, Dont forget the sugar. (In Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff writes that to get Trump to take an action his White House staff has to persuade him that he had thought of it himself.)





More sinisterly, Wilhelms patronage of the aggressive, nationalistic right left him surrounded by ministers who held a collective conviction that a European war was inevitable and even desirable. Alfred von Tirpitz, Germanys Naval chief-- who realized at his first meeting with the Kaiser that he did not live in the real world-- consciously exploited Wilhelms envy and rage in order to extract the astronomical sums required to build a German Navy to rival Britains, a project that created an arms race and became an intractable block to peace negotiations.





The Kaiser was susceptible but never truly controllable. He asserted his authority unpredictably, as if to prove he was still in charge, staging rogue interventions into his own advisers policies and sacking ministers without warning. You cannot have the faintest idea what I have prevented, his most obsequious aide, Bernhard von Bulow, complained to a friend, and how much of my time I must devote to restoring order where our All Highest Master has created chaos.





...The Kaiser wasnt singly responsible for the First World War, but his actions and choices helped to bring it on. If international conflict is around the corner, it would seem that you really dont want a narcissist in control of a global power. Wilhelms touchiness, his unpredictability, his need to be acknowledged: these things struck a chord with elements in Germany, which was in a kind of adolescent spasm-- quick to perceive slights, excited by the idea of flexing its muscles, filled with a sense of entitlement. At the same time, Wilhelms posturing raised tensions in Europe. His clumsy personal diplomacy created suspicion. His alliance with the vitriolic right and his slavish admiration for the Army inched the country closer and closer to war. Once the war was actually upon him, the government and military effectively swept the Kaiser aside. And the gravest damage occurred only after Wilhelm abdicated, in November of 1918. (He spent the rest of his life-- he survived until 1941-- in central Holland.) The defeated Germany sank into years of depression, resentments sharpened, the toxic lie that Germany had been robbed of its rightful victory in the war took hold. The rest, as they say, is history.
ABC studios issued an apology to its Indian fans after outrage over a recent episode of the network's crime drama "Quantico," which depicted Indian nationalists trying to frame Pakistan for a New York City terrorist plot.

The studio also defended the show's star, Priyanka Chopra, who appeared to be the target of much of the backlash from the June 1 episode titled, The Blood of Romeo.

"ABC Studios and the executive producers of Quantico would like to extend an apology to our audience who were offended by the most recent episode, The Blood of Romeo'," the network said in a statement released Friday.

The episode also sparked calls for a boycott of products from South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co, endorsed by Chopra, and other work by the former Bollywood actress.

While ABC apologized for the theme of the episode, the network defended Chopra's involvement and said, The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Priyanka Chopra, who didnt create the show, nor does she write or direct it. She has no involvement in the casting of the show or the storylines depicted in the series.

According to Reuters, some viewers even called for the Indian government to black out one scene in particular where Chopra, who plays FBI agent Alex Parrish in the series, finds a suspect with Hindu prayer beads and uses them as evidence to prove that the suspect involved in the planning of the nuclear attack is, in fact, an Indian nationalist.

"The myth of Hindu terror, by a fake story, enters American television with the help of Priyanka Chopra. Would any Pakistani actress betray Pakistan or Islam the way she betrays India and Hinduism?" David Frawley, a Hindu scholar based in the United States, tweeted about the controversial episode.

At the end of its statement, ABC pointed out that the drama series was not meant to depict true life or made with the intention of offending.

Quantico is a work of fiction. The show has featured antagonists of many different ethnicities and backgrounds, but in this case, we inadvertently and regrettably stepped into a complex political issue. It was certainly not our intention to offend anyone.

The 35-year-old Chopra, who is often celebrated as one of the few Indian actors to successfully cross over from Bollywood to Hollywood, has yet to publically comment on the recent controversy.
The cause of death for celebrity chef and CNN's "Parts Unknown" host Anthony Bourdain has been revealed.

According to the prosecutor of Colmar in France's Alsace region, Bourdain hanged himself in the bathroom of his French hotel room.

Prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny told The Associated Press on Saturday that the famed chef and host of the CNN series "Parts Unknown" used the belt of his hotel bathrobe to commit suicide on Friday.

Of the 61-year-old star's death, Rocquigny said, "There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment." He also said a medical expert had concluded there were no signs of violence on Bourdain's body.

The prosecutor said toxicology tests were being carried out, including urine tests, to see if Bourdain took any medications, to try to help his family understand if anything led him to kill himself.

On Friday, Bourdain was found dead of an apparent suicide in his hotel room. He was 61.

"It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain," CNN said in a statement. "His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time."

Bourdain's girlfriend, Italian actress Asia Argento, said in another statement, "Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine," Argento tweeted Friday.

The news of Bourdain's death comes after fashion designer Kate Spade died Tuesday after hanging herself in her New York City apartment.

Bourdain's death follows an alarming pattern of celebrity hanging suicide deaths in recent years.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Disgraced host Charlie Rose was fired from his CBS and PBS jobs, but he may still be welcome among some of the media elite.

Rose is reportedly included on the guest list for next months Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho.

The annual week-long retreat, where the media and finance worlds come together, is known for its lovely scenery and its potential for furtive deal-making, Vanity Fair reported.

If he attends, Rose -- who lost his "CBS This Morning" gig and eponymous public-television talk show over allegations of sexual misconduct -- would find himself in the company of media giants such as Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, CBS CEO Les Moonves, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and others, the magazine reported.

The news of Rose's possible re-emergence followed rumors that he was being considered for a #MeToo-inspired comeback series, a report said.

Page Six reported in April that producers pitched the idea of a show on which the likes of Louis C.K., Matt Lauer and others implicated in high-profile sexual misconduct scandals would be interviewed.

Editor and women's advocate Tina Brown, who ultimately passed on the idea, said at the Time 100 Gala that she was approached about co-hosting the #MeToo show with Rose.

But after word got out, social media users quickly posted their disapproval.

In May, a report revealed an additional 27 women had accused Rose of inappropriate sexual behavior over the years. A lawsuit filed that month by three former colleagues claimed the journalist sexually harassed female underlings and threatened their jobs.

Rose didnt respond to Vanity Fairs request to confirm whether he would attend the Idaho event.
A CNBC journalist on Saturday responded to President Trumps lengthy press conference in Canada by saying he was concerned about the presidents mental health -- the latest Trump-related health concern raised by media outlets.

CNBC correspondent John Harwood made the remarks on MSNBCs AM Joy. Mediaite first reported on Harwoods comments.



Trump used the press conference to take a hard stance on tariffs, warning allies not to retaliate against U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel. He also criticized past U.S. leaders for their handling of the crisis on the Korean Peninsula and trade -- something he has done multiple times before.

TRUMP SAYS US IS LIKE A 'PIGGY BANK THAT EVERYBODY IS ROBBING' ON TRADE



But Harwood was concerned.



I'll be honest as a citizen: I'm concerned about the president's state of mind. He did not look well to me in that press conference, he said. He was not speaking logically or rationally. It sounded as if he was making stuff up, saying China told me nobody's ever talked to us, saying, 'Oh, I talked to Justin Trudeau and can't believe he was getting away with so much trade stuff.'



Harwood said that that there was something about his affect that troubled the veteran journalist.



"I don't think those things are true. And he, there was something about his affect which was oddly kind of languid for him," he said. "I don't know what it means but he did not look well to me.



The radical assessment was given support by Mother Jones DC bureau chief David Corn, who said: If you were talking to me this morning the way we just heard Donald Trump talk, I would ask you if youd taken any medication, advise you not to operate any heavy machinery.



It isnt the first time, that members of so-called mainstream media outlets have encouraged speculation about the health of members of the first family.



In January, then-White House physician Ronny Jackson was slammed with an onslaught of questions on Trumps health in a bizarre press conference as White House correspondents asked about everything from whether he wears dentures to how to guage his mental health.



Recently, members of the media wrote pieces and sent out tweets musing about first lady Melania Trumps health and whereabouts, despite the obvious explanation that she was recovering from a kidney procedure.

MEDIA'S 'MELANIA MISSING IN ACTION' NARRATIVE TOOK TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME TO NEW HEIGHTS



CNN even aired a graphic of a calendar, placing question marks on each date since the first lady was last seen.



President Trump responded to the speculation by blasting the vicious media and accused them of pushing a sick narrative that she was living in a different part of the world, was really ill, or whatever.



Fake News is really bad! he added.

Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.


Rest in peace, Eunice Gayson.

The actress died on Friday, her team confirmed on her Twitter account early Saturday morning. She was 90. Gayson was best known as the first-ever Bond Girl in the 1962 James Bond film, "Dr. No," alongside Sean Connery. She is also the only Bond Girl to appear in two films in the franchise, as she starred in 1963's "From Russia With Love."

Sean Connery Makes a Rare Public Appearance at U.S. Open, Victoria Beckham Attends With Son Romeo

"We are very sad to learn that our dear Eunice passed away on June 8th. An amazing lady who left a lasting impression on everyone she met. She will be very much missed," read a statement on her Twitter account, as James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli also expressed their condolences.

We are so sad to learn that Eunice Gayson, our very first Bond girl who played Sylvia Trench in "Dr. No" and "From Russia with Love" has passed away," Wilson and Broccoli said. "Our sincere thoughts are with her family.

Anthony Bourdain, Famed Food Critic, Dead at 61

Gayson was born in Surrey, U.K. in 1928, and had a number of roles before making it big in "Dr. No" -- where she helped set up one of the franchise's most iconic lines.

In a scene at the Le Cercle Club, her character, Sylvia Trench, met Connerys 007 over a game of cards. She proposed they raise the stakes, and Bond said, I admire youre courage, Miss er? to which she replied, Trench. Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck Mr?

He replied: Bond. James Bond.

Gayson went on to star in TV series "The Saint" and "The Avengers."

'Sons of Anarchy' Actor Alan O'Neill Dead at 47
The son of late actress Farrah Fawcett faces charges including attempted murder resulting from a series of unprovoked attacks on randomly chosen men, authorities said.

Redmond ONeal, 33, who was Fawcett's only child, and is a son of actor Ryan O'Neal, is also accused of robbing a 7-Eleven store in Southern California, police told USA Today.

He has been behind bars for the past month as he awaits further court action. On May 8, ONeal was arrested on suspicion of using a knife while robbing a 7-Eleven store in Santa Monica, the newspaper reported.

One of the five alleged victims was found in a pool of blood with stab wounds to his face and upper body, while a second man was also seriously injured, police said.

ONeals alleged crime spree happened in the Venice and Palms neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles District Attorneys Office filed charges that include attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and battery, the report said.

ONeal already pleaded not guilty to the convenience store robbery and other charges, including possessing methamphetamine and heroin.

The suspect has a history of drug addiction, Fox News has reported.

An email seeking comment from his attorney wasnt immediately returned.

Fawcett, a former star of TV's "Charlie's Angels," died of cancer at age 62 in 2009.

Ryan ONeal, 77, is known for the films "Love Story" and "Paper Moon," which co-starred his daughter Tatum O'Neal. He also had a recurring role in the TV series Bones.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump said Friday he was saddened by Anthony Bourdains sudden passing  even though the salty celebrity chef regularly roasted him.

Bourdain committed suicide in France and the president was magnanimous in offering his condolences.

Yeah, I think its very sad. In fact, I want to extend to his family my heartfelt condolences. That was very shocking, Trump told reporters in Canada.

When I woke up this morning: Anthony Bourdain is dead. And I enjoyed his show. He was quite a character, I will say. But I just want to extend my condolences.

When I woke up this morning: Anthony Bourdain is dead. And I enjoyed his show. He was quite a character, I will say. But I just want to extend my condolences.  President Donald Trump

Yet televisions commander in chef made no secret of his hate of Trump. Bourdain had joked about poisoning the president, compared him unfavorably to fascists and mocked the size of his hands.

I will never eat in his restaurant, Bourdain told Eater shortly after Trumps election. I have utter contempt for him, utter and complete contempt.

I will never eat in his restaurant. I have utter contempt for him, utter and complete contempt.  Anthony Bourdain, referring to President Trump

Although Bourdain once said hes never sit down for a meal with Trump, he had second thoughts if Chinese food were served.

Trump would be interesting, he told Thrillist back in 2016, because watching him struggle with chopsticks would be pretty fking hilarious.

Bourdain wondered out loud: How does he even grab chopsticks with those little fingers?

Trumps critics have never let him off the hook over military deferments that kept him from dining in a mess hall in Vietnam.

Bourdain went as far as saying that Trump doesnt compare favorably to Italian army veteran and future dictator Benito Mussolini.

I mean, Mussolini served his country in combat and did a credible job, and I dont think you could say that about, you know, this guy, Bourdain told Business Insider in 2016.

The host of CNNs Parts Unknown dished dark humor last year when TMZ asked him: If Trump and Kim Jong Un were going to have a bit of a summit to try and mend relations and they wanted you to cater, what would you serve?

Hemlock, Bourdain deadpanned.

Politics aside, Bourdain said he could never trust any man who orders his steaks well-done, as the president has been known to do.

Donald Trumps ordering steak well-done with ketchup hurts me, the chef told Town & Country last year. I think thats a window into his soul.
One Georgia mother is warning others after her son contracted a rare disease from a tick bite.

On May 10, 5-year-old Mason McNair was staying with his grandparents in LaGrange, Georgia, when they noticed a tick inside of Masons belly button. The tick was promptly removed, but it got infected and very red around the entire bite, his mother, Danielle McNair, wrote in a Facebook post.

McNair promptly took Mason to the doctor, who prescribed him an antibiotic. But 10 days later, Masons symptoms worsened. The young boy was plagued with fatigue, diarrhea, fever, headaches and pain in his abdomen, according to his mother. On the last day of his medication, Mason also broke out in a rash from head to toe, McNair said.

At first, McNair thought it was a heat rash. But she soon realized it was not, as the red spots on Masons body worsened, becoming bigger and more visible.

Again, the worried mother took her son to the doctor, who told her the rash was possibly a delayed reaction to the antibiotic. But McNair wasnt convinced.

I was NOT satisfied with that answer and neither was my sister, who told me they needed to do a tick panel on him. I called back after doing my own research on tick-borne diseases and showed them what I had found on Rocky Mountain spotted fever, she wrote.

After investigating McNairs suspicion, Masons doctors confirmed the young boy did, in fact, have Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The condition is a bacterial infection that can lead to the amputation of limbs, hearing loss, paralysis and mental disabilities, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014, there were roughly 3,500 cases of the infection in the United States.

Soon after, Mason was treated with the correct antibiotic and he is now completely healthy, his mother wrote.

"This experience has by far been the most scariest situations our family has been through," McNair told Fox News. "Knowing what Rocky Mountain spotted fever can do to his body and that it can be fatal if not treated is just devastating."

McNair said she was thankful she did her own research and that Mason's doctors were willing to work with her to figure out what was wrong with her son.

"They have always been very open-minded doctors toward me. I am thankful that I did my own research though so that I was able to present it to them to figure out what is wrong with Mason," she said, adding that she's glad that her son's story has raised awareness about ticks.

"I dont think everyone is aware at how serious and life-threatening ticks can be," she said.


A combat medic claims he returned from Afghanistan to discover a conman had used his photos to catfish around 30 women and dupe them out of thousands of dollars.

US Army veteran Albert Lovato, 39, says pictures he posted on Facebook were stolen and used to create fake profiles on social media and dating sites. Posing as the uniformed dad-of-three, the scammer approached women around the world, including in the US, Canada, India, Costa Rica and the Philippines.

He says the impersonator showered them with compliments, lured them into a long-distance relationship and wooed them with offers of marriage to win their hearts. Then, in chats over Facebook Messenger, the fraudster spun lies about being injured in combat and his children back home being sick and asked them to send him money.

Lovato, who is married to 42-year-old landlord Jane Hamilton, was oblivious to the havoc being wreaked in his name until strangers began messaging him online early last year.

MODEL TAKEN HOSTAGE BY ABUSIVE BOYFRIEND SAVES HERSELF USING SELFIE OF BADLY BEATEN FACE

One claimed to be in love with him, another scolded him for breaking her heart, and a third revealed she had sent the man she believed to him a sum of money. In total Lovato claims he is aware of around 30 women who fell victim to the conman, many of whom sent him money.

The veteran said the news, which came shortly after he returned from deployment and following a battle with alcoholism and the death of a close friend, hit him hard.

Meanwhile, the accused conman flashed his newfound wealth around online, posting photos of watches and bundles of cash.

Lovato, of Denver, who is now studying to become a physician assistant, said: "For someone to do this after everything I had been through - I was really angry. I served honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan and this dude swooped in and took my name and face. He used all I have done in my life honorably for dishonorable means.

"Someone from a distant country is tearing me down. It's a feeling of helplessness. And thinking of what he did to those women is heartbreaking. To suddenly have a man who looks really good and is young and he tells you that he loves you; it's wrenching.

"These women were telling me they loved me. These people had formed relationships with me and I wasn't even in the country, he added.

Lovato joined the army in 2006 at 27 and was deployed to Iraq where he served with the military police in Baghdad during the Siege of Sadr City. When he returned to the US he worked at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., before being deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 to 2013.

TRAVEL BLOGGER GETS DEATH THREATS FOR POMPEII PHOTO

Lovato, who is dad to Sondra, 19, Trinity, 17, and Novia, 16, said: "I came home from Afghanistan and all these foreign women started contacting me through Facebook.

"I was like, What the heck? One said, Albert, I know you are in a relationship but I fell in love with somebody who said they were you. We were together ten months in a long distance relationship.

"Another woman sent a picture of my face and this girl and it says, I love you a lot. She said, I fell in love with you, I'm crying every day. He was targeting vulnerable women - single moms, older women and those who didn't have any self-esteem.

"These women were in love with me when they were contacting me and were hoping I could give them some sort of closure, and it breaks my heart to think of that."

It's unclear exactly how many victims there are, but said he has been contacted by around 30 women, many of whom sent the conman money - $300 or $400 a time.

In a message to him, one Indian woman who was affected said: "I'm broken I'm lost because I fall in love with you by mistake (sic)."

Another victim wrote: "You dropped off the face of the earth and never said anything. Now your (sic) in a relationship. I wish you well Albert. This time please stay truthful with this person."

Last July, Lovato was approached by Vivian Rita, 47, who had been contacted by the fraudster posing as Lovato in December 2016. The office assistant, who does not wish to disclose her last name, was initially taken in by his affection but alarm bells rang when the man promised to fly and see her and sent her a poorly photoshopped plane ticket.

She admits she sent $300 to the scammer after he pleaded with her to help pay for his electricity and was subsequently told by Western Union that it was a scam.

Rita, who has been single six years, confronted the fraudster who revealed himself as a man from Nigeria who had uploaded various photos of watches and bling online. She went on to track Lovato down after noticing his last name on one of the pictures the scammer had sent her and trawling through Facebook.

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Rita, of Toronto, Canada, said: "He messaged me and said he wanted to get to know me. I was thinking, Why would you want to get to know me?' He wooed me. It started very simply - he would say, How was your day? or, Just checking in on you?

"Then he started asking for money. He said his internet wasn't working and was saying, Please please please, I won't ask again. I did it once, but deep down I knew I should have listened to my gut. When I found out it was a scam I was livid that I fell for it.

"I was determined to find out who this guy was. I told him I knew he wasn't the person in the photos and said, Tell me the truth. He was saying, Please, stop. He finally confessed that he wasn't Lovato and then sent me a picture of himself. He said he wasn't s scammer, that he needed money for school and food. I said, You're a thief and a liar.

I'm doing this for other women. If I can save one person from falling into the trap then I've done my job."

Lovato and Rita did not report the scam to the police because, since the person responsible lives in Africa and his victims were scattered across the globe. They felt it was unlikely they would take action and they also fear that more than one scammer might be responsible.

Instead they began reporting the fake profiles to Facebook who investigated and deleted the accounts. Lovato also messaged one of the profiles directly to confront the person behind it, and screenshots show the man's bizarre reply in broken English, telling him: "Get lost you hungry lion."

Con artists have since targeted Lovatos military colleagues, prompting the dad to speak of his own experience in an effort to raise awareness.

"I just want to tell people to be careful with their military pictures because, at least in America, military people are viewed as heroic, strong and dependable. My Facebook profile was open at the time and now there is no way to get them back, Lovato said.

"I want to get the word out to other people to be careful."

This story originally appeared in SWNS.
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More than any other planet in the solar system, Mars has always inspired speculation that it once had life and perhaps still does  if not little green men, then at least microbes. NASAs much-hyped announcement this week about the Red Planet wasnt earth-shattering, but it certainly keeps such conjecture alive.

The latest discoveries come courtesy of Curiosity, a $2.5 billion spacecraft that landed on Mars back in 2012. In 2013, it discovered some organic molecules in the Martian soil; and in 2014, methane gas in the atmosphere.

Now, its instruments have revealed two other things: a puzzling seasonal ebb and flow of the planets methane gas levels; and the existence of additional organic molecules, this time in rocks billions of years old.

Ninety-five percent of the methane on Earth is generated by plants and animals  for example, rotting vegetation and animal flatulence. And organic molecules are, of course, the warp and woof of all life on Earth. So its tempting to conclude NASA has found evidence for life on Mars.

But methane gas and organic molecules have non-living origins as well  which the scientists at NASAs press conference were quick to point out. Methane gas and organic molecules are routinely generated by prosaic geological and chemical processes. So, in truth, the new revelations leave us no closer to or further from answering the burning question: Is there, or has there ever been, life on Mars?

Back in 1877 that tantalizing possibility was seriously raised by Giovanni Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer who claimed to see canali on the planets surface. Canali means channels, but people widely mistranslated it as canals  as in, Martian-dug waterways.

In 1894 Percival Lowell  the American astronomer who founded Arizonas famous Lowell Observatory  published elaborate drawings of the alleged canals, which he claimed Martians built to route water from the poles to the equator.

Lowells fantastical hypothesis inspired H.G. Wells to write The War of The Worlds, a novel about Martians invading Earth. We now realize, however, the canali were an optical illusion fueled by wishful thinking.

The mania didnt end there. In 1996 NASA scientists announced they had found evidence for fossilized microbial life embedded in a meteorite from Mars. The rock  named Allan Hills 84001, after the Antarctic location where it was found  generated as much media hoopla as Schiaparellis canali.

I covered the story for ABC News and was the only reporter allowed to actually touch the black, shiny rock with my gloved hands.

Today, many scientists doubt the veracity of the Allan Hills pronouncement. Which is to say, once again, a much-ballyhooed scientific pronouncement appears to have fallen victim to our stubborn fantasies about life on Mars.

How will history judge the latest NASA announcement? Stay tuned for revelations that will surely come from upcoming Mars explorers, such as NASAs Mars 2020 rover and the European Space Agencys ExoMars rover.

In the meantime, Curiositys latest discoveries underscore a remarkable reality. Mars, we believe, was once warm, wet, and possibly swarming with elemental life. Today, for various possible reasons, it is frightfully cold, dry, and seemingly lifeless.

At a time when we are arguing about climate change, therefore, NASAs announcement reminds us that Earths warmth is a cosmic blessing  one of the critical fortunes that make it possible for us humans to exist and endure.
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You know youre getting somewhere when your opponents are all attacking you in the same way.

So President Trump should feel a strong sense of satisfaction with a job well done after leaving the slightly pointless Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Canada on Saturday for another likely far more consequential summit in Singapore with North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un.

The U.S. presidents critics are all using identical language in their denunciations of his policy positions.

The complaints from U.S. allies over President Trumps trade policies is that these polices are unprecedented. They say he is undermining the rules-based international order.

That, as far as the global foreign policy establishment is concerned, is all you need to say. End of discussion. Notice that they dont actually engage with the substance of President Trumps arguments at all.

We hear these criticisms from the pompous pearl-clutchers of the international elite. These include:

? World leaders with their bland communiques carefully crafted by time-serving bureaucrats who think they really run the show.

? Arrogant and unaccountable corporate stooges who run globalist multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

? Self-regarding after-dinner pontificators of the Washington think tank circuit who float snootily over the real-world catastrophes engendered by their ideology without ever acknowledging that it may have even the slightest defect.

? The gullible commentators and journalists who unquestioningly lap up all this self-serving elitist Pablum while presenting themselves as fearless pursuers of the truth.

When I think of all these people piling on President Trump for daring to question their worldview, the pithy phrase of author Nassim Taleb comes to mind: IYI  Intellectual Yet Idiot.

These people remind me of my university professors at Oxford in the late 1980s. As part of my Philosophy, Politics and Economics course I was studying Communist Government in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and Economics of Communist Countries.

There was just one rather major problem. Thanks to President Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers unyielding leadership, the Soviet Union had been defeated in the Cold War. The Berlin Wall came down. Communist Government collapsed.

This left my expert professors at Oxford  most of whom had made their reputations and their living as Kremlinologists who could explain what was going on inside the old order  gasping like goldfish out of water as they were confronted by the reality of the new order.

These professor literally couldnt understand it or explain the new order. And I got the very strong impression that they were actually rather sad to see the old order collapse; disappointed to witness the people-powered revolutions that finally overthrew the brutal and corrupt authoritarian regimes in my home country of Hungary, in East Germany, and elsewhere across the former Soviet empire.

In exactly the same way, it seems to me today that the foreign policy establishment is so invested in the old, pre-populist way of doing things  the elitist world order that gave us untrammeled and unfair globalization  that they cannot see its flaws, instinctively reject any criticism of it, and fight to preserve it despite the manifest cruelties it has imposed on working people in the Western world.

Lets just take a look at that rules-based international order that the elitists are so anxious to defend.

In country after country, the old order made the rich richer and working people poorer as incomes went down and jobs went away. It ripped apart the social fabric, helping to destroy local communities and break apart families. It undermined faith in government and democracy, as citizens saw that it didnt matter who they voted for in actual elections  the same, elite-serving policies would be pursued regardless.

The rules-based international order isnt just unfair, as weve seen in relation to trade and tariffs, where the playing field is tilted heavily against America and permits rampant protectionism by the EU, Canada and others.

The rules-based international order is ineffective as well. It didnt stop Russia from invading Crimea and Ukraine. It didnt stop the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS. It didnt stop Iran destabilizing the Middle East. It didnt stop China from getting to the brink of world domination. Oh  and it didnt stop North Korea from getting nuclear weapons. But to the bitter chagrin of the foreign policy establishment, President Trump just might.

So yes, when President Trump confronts the failures of the rules-based international order directly, after decades of pusillanimous acquiescence by his predecessors, you could describe that as unprecedented.

But doing things that are unprecedented is the very definition of Donald Trumps mandate. Thats what he was elected to do. To shake things up. To change things. When you do something new, it is unprecedented. Thats literally what it means.

And yet the elites throw around that word unprecedented as a criticism. Nothing could be more revealing of their true beliefs: they actually loved the old order because they and their rich friends benefited from it. How disgraceful that they howl in protest when President Trump finally puts working people first.

Well be debating all this on Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT on The Next Revolution on the Fox News Channel  hope you can join us!
The Democratic National Committee adopted a new rule Friday aimed at preventing non-Democrats, such as independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, from seeking the partys 2020 presidential nomination, reports said.

The rule change, adopted at a DNC meeting in Providence, R.I., requires all candidates for the partys nomination to run and serve as Democrats, Yahoo News reported.

Some supporters of Sanders -- who caucuses with the Democrats despite declining to declare a party affiliation -- say the move was motivated by spite after Sanders gave Hillary Clinton a run for her money during the Democratic primaries in 2016.

But a source told Yahoo News it was actually part of a push to limit the power of so-called superdelegates -- which, ironically, has long been a goal of Sanders.'

Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, ultimately lost the nomination to Clinton when superdelegates from states he won chose not to vote for him at the party's 2016 convention in Philadelphia.

DNC Chairman Tom Perez on Tuesday floated a proposal to eliminate superdelegates on a presidential primarys first voting ballot, the Washington Post reported. Party leaders would vote only if the contest required a second ballot.

You had superdelegates voting for Hillary Clinton in states that I won pretty handsomely, Sanders told Post this week. And now there is agreement among Tom Perez and our people, and a lot of the Clinton people, to say we should reduce the number of superdelegates.

Still, the rule change left some Sanders supporters puzzled as to why Democrats would want to make their party less inclusive.

We just came off a devastating presidential loss in 2016, Mark Longabaugh, a senior adviser to Sanders 2016 campaign, told Yahoo News. It would seem to me the actual impetus would be to expand the Democratic Party. I, just for the life of me, dont see any motivation for this beyond personal spite.

"I just for the life of me dont see any motivation for this beyond personal spite.  Mark Longabaugh, senior adviser to Sanders 2016 campaign

A photo of a printout of the rule change was shared Friday in a Twitter message posted by DNC member Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

At the time a presidential candidate announces their candidacy publicly, they must publicly affirm that they are a Democrat, the printout says. "Each candidate must then affirm in writing that they: A. are a member of the Democratic Party; B. will accept the Democratic nomination; C. will run and serve as a member of the Democratic Party.

But Sanders may be protected from the change thanks to a resolution passed in his home state, by which he is considered a Democrat, for all purposes and [is] entitled to all the rights and privileges that come with such membership at the state and federal level, Politico reported.

DNC members will meet in August for a final vote on the proposal to eliminate superdelegates, Yahoo News reported.
Paul Manaforts legal team pushed back against Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday, after Mueller brought new obstruction charges against him in the Trump-Russia investigation.

The motion, released Friday, criticized Mueller's allegations that Manafort -- a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump -- had tampered with witness evidence, calling them a dubious plot intended to corruptly persuade Manaforts former business associates to perjure themselves at the upcoming trial in September.

The filing also argued against any effort by Mueller to revoke or revise the conditions of Manafort's pretrial release from prison.

Manafort is currently under house arrest, awaiting trials scheduled for Virginia and Washington, D.C., later this year. He has denied accusations that he committed financial crimes, including failure to report earnings from overseas lobbying work.

Meanwhile, President Trump on Friday dismissed any talk of pardoning Manafort or his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who is under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.

"They haven't been convicted of anything. There's nothing to pardon. It is far too early to be thinking about it," Trump told reporters.

The motion by Manafort's legal team maintained that Manafort's former Hapsburg Group did not do lobbying work for the United States and focused instead on promoting the idea of a Ukraine that is closer to Europe than to Russia and to recognize the path toward electoral and economic reforms.

The document played down the notion that an 84-second telephone call and a few text messages between Manafort and an unnamed associate  referred to as Person A  and two former business associates, was grounds for tampering with evidence.

The motion called Manafort's communication with associates irrelevant, innocuous and unsupportive of the conjured witness tampering claim. It also argued that Manafort's use of multiple phones shouldnt be grounds for suspicions, pointing out that he often traveled to regions where communications are routinely hacked.

Even major corporations (and the U.S. Government itself) preach caution in this regard, the motion stated.

The motion argued that Manafort has fulfilled his pretrial obligations for the previous eight months and requested the Court accept the recently submitted bail package as assuring his attendance, in the upcoming September trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Virginia Drye says shes frustrated  that people like her arent represented in her states legislature.

Im 19. Im a Republican and a woman, the Plainfield, N.H., resident told Fox News. Theres no representation of that in my district.

So Dryes taking action.

She filed her candidacy on Wednesday for state representative. And the bid to boost Republican womens representation in Concord is a family affair  her mother Margaret is running in an overlapping district for the New Hampshire House as well.

Mother-daughter duos in the legislature are rare. If they both win, Margaret and Virginia Drye will be the first mother and daughter serving at the State House at the same time in 16 years.

According to the elder Drye, the duo is trying to remedy the sparse number of Republican women in the legislature by leading by example.

If you look at the demographics of the [State] House, it is substantially aged and it is substantially male and a good portion of the folks are retired. Its nice to have a representation of the rest of the state at the State House making laws for us, said Margaret Drye, whos also running as a Republican.

In the Granite State and nationally, Republican women are underrepresented.

While New Hampshire earlier this decade became the first state ever to have an all-female congressional delegation (it currently has an all-female and all-Democratic delegation), its a far different story in the state legislature.

'Ive wanted to run for representative since I was 12.'  Virginia Drye

There are 118 women serving in the 400-member state House of Representatives, according to the latest count from the House speakers office. Seventy-nine are Democrats and just 39 are Republicans. There are seven women serving in the 24-member state Senate -- four Democrats and three Republicans.

Margaret is trying to increase the number of Republican women campaigning for office by running the Vesta Roy Excellence in Public Service Series, a decade-old state program that encourages Republican women in elected or appointed governmental and political positions, as well as volunteer and staff positions at all levels.

Slowly but surely we are building a large group of alumni from the program who are trained and ready to run for politics, Margaret Drye explained.

The program was named after the late Republican lawmaker Vesta Roy, the first woman to serve as both state Senate president and as acting governor of New Hampshire.

Drye said she made the Vesta Roy classes easier to attend for working women or women with families, adding we had an exciting class. A lot of them are running for representative.

One of those taking the classes was her daughter Virginia.

Ive wanted to run for representative since I was 12, Virginia explained. My friends are not surprised that Im running. Theyre not surprised at all, because I am political compared to most of my friends and theyre really supportive of that.

Also supportive is her older sister Annie.

I am actually not surprised that my sister is running. She is the most passionate person I know about politics, how the Constitution works, how the governments supposed to work, she said. And Im sure some of that is from working with my mom on campaigns in the past. Im proud of them.

New Hampshire GOP chairwoman Jeanie Forrester said the Dryer duo are both fantastic candidates and I think they are an inspiration to any Republican woman who would want to run for office.

Forrester, a former state senator who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2016, added that its about having the right kind of candidate run for office and those two certainly embody that.

Margaret, an emergency medical technician for four decades, said the states opioid crisis is a key issue for her campaign. Shes also emphasizing regulatory reform, and supports the drive by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu to reduce the states regulation.

The drug epidemic is also a key issue for her daughter. Virginia, who was home schooled, is a strong proponent of school choice efforts as well.

Its no sure bet either Drye will make it to the legislature. The districts theyre hoping to represent tend to slightly favor Democrats -- and the seats are currently held by Democrats. The state Democratic Party has sought to latch New Hampshire Republicans as a whole to President Trump, and recently blasted the governor's school voucher efforts as "outrageous."

Margaret and Virginia wont know until the end of the filing period on June 15 if the incumbent lawmakers in their districts are running for re-election.

Regardless, the mother-daughter duo are undaunted and both joked that they can save money by sharing campaign signs.
As many as 40 state-level Democratic parties may have been involved in a scheme to funnel as much as $84 million to Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign, a campaign finance lawyer contends.

Dan Backer, an attorney based in Virginia, has filed a lawsuit alleging that a plan was in place to circumvent campaign contribution limits set by the federal government, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

You had individuals giving $300,000, Backer told the newspaper Friday. Theyre not doing it because they care about Nevadas or Arkansas state party. Theyre doing it to curry favor with and buy influence with Hillary Clinton.

You had individuals giving $300,000. Theyre not doing it because they care about Nevadas or Arkansas state party. Theyre doing it to curry favor with and buy influence with Hillary Clinton.  Dan Backer, campaign finance attorney

Nevadas Democratic Party may become the latest pulled into a federal lawsuit that Backer has filed, the paper reported. Backer represents the Committee to Defend the President, a pro-Donald Trump political action committee that initially lodged a complaint in December with the Federal Election Commission, the report says.

Backer told the paper he filed his lawsuit because the FEC failed to meet a deadline for taking action.

He said the Hillary Victory Fund reported transferring more than $1.7 million to the Nevada Democratic Party between December 2015 and November 2016. But the party reported receiving only $146,200, which it transferred to the DNC.

The remaining $1.6 million was sent by the Hillary Victory Fund to the Nevada party and received by the DNC and never appeared on the Nevada partys reports, Backer contends.

But Nevada's Democratic Party disputed Backer's claims.

This is nothing more than a bogus political stunt feebly designed to distract from vulnerable Republicans disastrous agenda, Helen Kalla, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Democratic Party, told the Review Journal.

This is nothing more than a bogus political stunt feebly designed to distract from vulnerable Republicans disastrous agenda.  Helen Kalla, spokeswoman, Nevada Democratic Party

In Idaho, Democrats allegedly contributed $1.6 million to the plan in a series of 13 transactions, the Idaho Statesman reported.

But local party officials might have been unaware of how the money was being handled, the paper reported.

It is "reasonably possible the Idaho State Democratic Party had no prior knowledge of, or control over, these transfers because they were handled entirely by HVF, the DNC, HFA, [Hillary Victory Fund, Democratic National Committee, Hillary for America] and/or their treasurers," states the 101-page complaint that Backers group filed in December, the Statesman reported.

The Idaho Democratic Party did not respond to the newspapers request for a comment.

In Delaware, the state Democratic Party received $2.4 million from the Hillary Victory Fund over 11 transactions, then transferred roughly the same amount to the DNC, WXDE-FM radio reported.

The handling of cash in Delaware doesnt pass the sniff test, Backer told the station.

But Jesse Chadderdon, executive director of the Delaware Democratic Party, called Backers lawsuit yet another blatant example of hypocrisy from Donald Trump and his cronies.

Lets be clear, this is nothing more than a Beltway political stunt, Chadderdon told the station, led by the pro-Trump PAC 'The Committee to Defend the President,' one that's simply designed to distract Delaware voters.
President Trump on Saturday doubled down on his calls for Russia to be reinstated to the G-7 group of nations, saying that the group would be more meaningful if that country could be brought back into the fold.

I would rather see Russia in the G-8, as opposed to the G-7. I would say that the G-8 is a more meaningful group than the G-7, absolutely, he told reporters as he left the summit in Canada.

He later said that Russias return to the group would be an asset and that it would be a good move for peace in the world.



Were not looking to play games, he said.



Trump said Friday that Russia should be a part of the talks -- a move that was likely to find little agreement among the group. Russia was expelled from the group -- which now includes France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. -- following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Russia remains a thorny topic in the U.S., where investigators have been looking into how it may have sought to influence the 2016 election.



If the G-7 had moments of tension, on Russia and various trade issues, that energy seemed to have dissipated on Saturday when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that all the participating nations had still managed to reach a consensus and sign off on a summit communique on areas of common ground.

But at 7:04 p.m., Trump tweeted a message that appeared to reverse that.

Trump tweeted that he'd instructed U.S. reps not to endorse the comminque "as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!" He also took issue with an earlier news conference by Trudeau, which he said included "false statements," and stood firm in his contention that Canada "is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies."

He followed that up with another tweet soon after: "PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, US Tariffs were kind of insulting and he will not be pushed around. Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!"

Exiting the world summit, Trump had delivered a stark warning to America's trading partners not to counter his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. But Trudeau. the summit host, whose nation was among those singled out by Trump, pushed back and said he would not hesitate to retaliate against his neighbor to the south.

Trudeau later said he reiterated to Trump that tariffs will harm industries and workers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. He said unleashing retaliatory measures "is not something I relish doing" but that he wouldn't hesitate to do so because "I will always protect Canadian workers and Canadian interests."

Fox News Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump used a press conference at the G7 summit in Canada to double down on his tough stance on trade, telling reporters that the United States is like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing but promising that that is ending under his leadership.

Trump made the remarks before he departed Charlevoix, Canada, after meeting with world leaders. Trump had entered the summit amid a spat with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.

But Trump said that talks at the summit had been extremely productive about trade among other issues. Despite reported tensions surrounding the summit, Trudeau announced on Saturday that all seven countries had signed onto a summit communique, The Associated Press reported.

Trump said he didn't blame the other leaders for what he saw as an unbalanced trade relationship which hurts the U.S.

People cant charge us 270 percent and we charge them nothing, that doesnt work anymore, he said.



He said he believes other countries are now more committed to a fairer trade relationship.



I don't blame them, I blame our leaders, he said. In fact, I congratulate leaders of other leaders for so crazily being able to make those trade deals that were so good for their country and bad for the United States.



But he promised an end to the situation, and even warned of penalties for countries that do not remove trade barriers. He also said that the North American Free Trade Agreement could either be renegotiated, split up into separate trade deals, or the U.S. could pull out entirely.



We are like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing, he said. And that ends.



He warned that the U.S. will take any action necessary to defend Americans from unfair trade practices.



Despite the tension between Trump, Europe and Canada, the president has emphasized what he has described as strong relations. During a Friday meeting with Trudeau, who Trump has had an often uneasy relationship, he joked that his Canadian counterpart had agreed to cut all tariffs and trade barriers.



With Macron, on the back of a cozy meeting at the White House last month, Trump said they had a good relationship although he admitted they were having some issues on trade.

TRUMP KICKS OFF G7 SUMMIT WITH DINGS AT CANADA, EUROPE OVER TRADE POLICIES



Macron and Trudeau had criticized Trumps tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel into the country, with Macron suggesting that the U.S. could be excluded from a joint statement.



But on Saturday, the president warned other countries against ramping up measures in response to U.S. tariffs.

"If they retaliate, they're making a mistake," Trump said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Do a Google search for callow jerkwads and what do you find? Google itself.

We told you how thousands of their employees signed a letter protesting Google's work with Project Maven, an effort to make our drones more precise so civilian lives are spared. It's a good thing. Now Google has pulled out of the project under pressure from those workers. Apparently, doing anything connected to our military, which protects the lives of those same pasty workers at Google, is just bad for their brand.

But Google, you know what's bad for your brand? You. Your motto used to be "Don't be evil." But isn't what you just did kind of the opposite? And yet, while deciding not to help our military with their A.I., you invest fortunes in other countries' A.I. What do you think they're going to do with that? D-Day being yesterday, that's the opposite of good timing.

Now, I'm not going to call you traitorous. You're just scared. You're scared because, in this day and age, among your peers, helping Uncle Sam is helping the oppressor. Oh, you love the wealth but now dismiss those who enable and protect it. How removed you've become from the ideas your parents and their parents and their parents fought for.

The decision Google made is one, of course, that they can make. But it's foolish and harmful. As drones become an inevitable part of the defenses, and our enemies' offenses, Google made a choice. Maybe we should do the same.


This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," June 7, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The summit is all ready to go, subject always to change. You never know in this world.

I think I very well prepared. I don't like I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done. This will be at a minimum, we'll start with perhaps a good relationship, and that's something that's very important toward the ultimate making of the deal.

SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO: The complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is the only outcome that we will find acceptable. And North Korea has confirmed to us its willingness to denuclearize.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS: So pretty much everyone agrees that's not going to happen on June 12th. Let's bring our panel: Steve Hayes, editor in chief for The Weekly Standard; David Catanese, senior politics writer for U.S. News and World Report, and Matt Schlapp, contributor with The Hill. Gentlemen, welcome to all of you.

Steve, I'll start with you. The president's statement, I don't think I have to prepare very much, people are jumping on that. But he's always talked about the relational aspect of the negotiations. He's not traditional about the way he's handled this but it seems like he's move the ball further than just about any other U.S. president.

STEVE HAYES, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: It depends on how you look at it. The Bush administration went out of its way not to have not have face-to-face bilateral meetings with North Korea. And the time that it did, Christopher Hill who was the envoy did it without telling Condoleezza Rice at first because it was thought to be such a concession to the North Koreans. So he has given a lot because he's having the meetings.

And I think the kinds of comments the president is making have not been helpful. He deserves credit for changing the failed policy of the previous three administrations, no doubt about it. Different conversation. We are not outsourcing to China. That's helpful. The things he's saying now, that he doesn't need to prepare, the North Korea is committed to denuclearization, that this has been an open and honorable process, those things I think are not helpful. We should be clear with the North Koreans that they will denuclearize, we will verify it, it will be irreversible, and that's it. They have an opportunity to do this. This is their only opportunity to do it or we're walking away and they're in trouble.

BREAM: David, that's what he continued to say today. I will walk out at any point when I don't think we're actually going to get to that goal.

DAVID CATANESE, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: Look at far we've come. Last year he was calling him little rocket man and threatening their annihilation, and then today he said yes, we'll have him over to the White House and have a powwow. So look, a week could go by. He could have this summit and he can decide he's never going to deal with him again frankly.

I think the one interesting aspect that I'm focused on more is that we are not hearing as much about what North Korea gets out of this. What do they want out of it? And I think that is going to be a standard by which to measure this. We know what we want -- denuclearization. Pompeo said it today very clearly. What do they want? Are they just using Trump as a prop to stand next to? And how do we know what they want coming out of the meeting?

BREAM: The president talked about the economic benefit that he's hoping to get them all situated with, with China, with South Korea, with others he says has stepped up, but it sounds like, Matt, that's the part of the equation that they want and that they desperately need.

MATT SCHLAPP, THE HILL: What President Trump deserves a lot of credit for this ultimate pressure campaign. The idea that China believed that the president of the United States was serious.

The second issue is that by a lot a people's accounts, the Kims are out of money, or they are running out of money. They are in a different situation than they were in before. They actually need to have this go better because they have to have the spigot for the resources from China and other places get turned on again. So I'm very hopeful. I actually am very hopeful that the president will walk away if it's a bad deal.

He doesn't have to do this immediately. If they need America's help and they need America to take the pressure off China, then he's got to get to a deal. And they've got to get to a deal. I'm happy we have a president who likes this kind of process. I think it actually plays to his strength. I'm not that worried that he will walk away from a bad deal. If he walks away from Singapore, the negotiations, I'm going to be good with it because I know we're going to go to step two.

BREAM: OK, let's see what the folks out there across America think. We have brand new FOX News polling. And there is one question, President Trump and Kim Jong-un meeting, who would get the better deal? Forty percent say Donald Trump, 30 percent say Kim Jong-un, 17 percent say neither or the same, 12 percent unsure. So Steve, at least the folks who answered this poll, the biggest number of them, the plurality of them think that if these two do sit down and go head and head, they have more confidence in our president.

HAYES: I hope they are right. The Kims have won with three previous American presidents I would say, and every time we have sat down with them, they have been broke. They've been on the verge of going broke. And one of the things that's given them lifelines again and again and again is U.S. concessions, preemptive U.S. concessions. We have offered them time and again for promises of denuclearization. They haven't denuclearized obviously or we wouldn't be having these conversations.

I don't think China has been necessarily a good partner in this. I think China has been an uneven partner. They have put pressure on. At times it's been helpful. They have also restarted flights or announced that they're going to restart flights between Beijing and Pyongyang. We also have the Syrian question which I think is a pretty significant question. North Korean state TV announces that Bashar al-Assad, the history of proliferation between North Korea and Syria, wants a meeting and will potentially be getting a meeting with Kim Jong-un. That is an obvious provocative step here. If North Korea were truly committed to bettering relations with the United States and the civilized world, they wouldn't be doing things like that less than two weeks before this meeting.

BREAM: You're itching, Matt.

SCHLAPP: Yes, I'm just going to say, the people I talked to, I dial back into my former Bush administration colleagues from the NSC and other places, and they do believe they are in a financial situation like they've never been in before and the situation with China is different. And I think the dynamics, Trump deserves some of that credit for the change in the dynamics, but he also gets some of the benefit from the fact that the dynamics are different than they've ever been before. So I think this is a unique moment in history.

CATANESE: It's hard to believe denuclearization is what they are going to agree to. I think the comments from the president --

SCHLAPP: Then they're not getting a deal.

CATANESE: But how do we know? And are there steps in place? He is saying I don't need to prepare. It's all attitude. You've got to lay out, what are the deliverables out of this meeting that you are going to get from him, not just their word, but are you going to be able to go around their country, find where their nuclear weapons are? Are you come to an agreement on monitors? Is he just going to trust that Kim Jong-un's word, and then what happens after that?

BREAM: I can't imagine they get to that level of detail in this first meeting, so maybe it is about the relational aspect of trying to get to those.

SCHLAPP: Just quickly remember what John Bolton did at the State Department. He did arms control. And I am so appreciative that he is there. I guarantee that he's going to be in the president's ear every single moment and is making sure we can do exactly what you described.

HAYES: But it's important, just on the preparation question, it's important for a world leader, particularly the leader of the world's superpower, to go into a meeting knowing the history of these negotiations, knowing the history of the relationship so that when he hears something that's been said time and again, he's not hearing it for the first time and it's not tempted to believe something that has been the basis of lies for three decades. That's a concern.

BREAM: Does it reassure you or worry you that Ambassador Bolton is part of the team, prepping him and getting them ready?

HAYES: I have said here before, I will say again I am happy that John Bolton is on one side of Donald Trump. I'm happy that Mike Pompeo is on the other side of Donald Trump.

BREAM: And the president tweeting today up a storm today, as he often does. "Isn't it ironic? Getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on trade. We have the worst trade deals ever made. Then off to Singapore to meet with North Korea and the nuclear problem. But back home we still have the 13 Angry Democrats pushing the witch hunt!" I think he's going to have to trademark that. There are capital A and capital D on "Angry Democrats." We are going to talk about that angle after this.

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A Florida man was arrested at the Southwest Florida International Airport for mid-flight battery against a flight attendant in the high skies, reportedly calling her a racial slur and too big for this job.

On June 8, NBC 2 reported that Gregory Alexander was arrested at the airport for his unruly behavior during the flight. It remains unclear at this time what airline the 82-year-old was flying.

Apparently, the North Fort Myers man approached the unnamed staffer from behind while she was serving drinks to other passengers, aggressively poking her in the back and demanding that she move as well as calling her a racial slur, the outlet reports.

TSA SEARCHES 96-YEAR-OLD WOMAN IN WHEELCHAIR IN VIRAL VIDEO, SPARKING OUTRAGE,

"You're too big for this job; you're too fat, overweight, Alexander taunted the flight attendant after she asked for him to stop. He then proceeded to walk around her.

Upon landing, he was charged with battery and interference with aircraft operations before being booked in Lee County Jail.

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Southwest Florida International Airport did not immediately return Fox News request for additional comment on the story.
A minor traffic stop in New Jersey took one state trooper back down memory lane  27 years back, to be exact.

Trooper Michael Patterson stopped retired New Jersey police officer Matthew Bailly on June 1 over a minor motor vehicle violation in Kingwood Township. During the stop, Patterson learned that Bailly was retired from the same town in which he'd grown up.

Small world, yes. But it was about to get even smaller. Bailly, being familiar with the area, asked the young trooper where he'd lived. To his surprise he recognized the address because 27 years ago he responded to a call there, where he delivered a baby named Michael.

It was years ago. It was the first baby I delivered, Bailly can be heard saying to Patterson on body cam footage.

At the house? Patterson asks.

In the bedroom, oh yeah. By myself, Bailly replies.

That was me, that was me!

Bailly replies incredulously, Get the hell out!

On Oct. 5, 1991, Bailly was dispatched to a home on Poe Place in Piscataway; a mother had gone into labor while shopping, police said in a Facebook post. She barely made it home, where she was carried inside by Pattersons father. Balliy then showed up, and delivered the baby after being talked through the procedure by a doctor.

Nearly three decades later, the pair finally met during that routine, fateful traffic stop.

Patterson and his mother later visited Bailly and his wife at their home to top off the remarkable reunion.
A thousand illegal immigrant detainees arrived at a federal prison outside of Los Angeles, California, in busloads as part of the Trump administrations plan to expand the use of detention during its crackdown on illegal immigration, FOX 11 reported.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is overseeing the transfer at the Federal Correction Complex in Victorville that has angered immigrants rights groups.

For the first time, the US Government is going to be putting immigration detainees in federal prison, therefore treating them like criminals, Derek Loh, an immigration lawyer with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told the FOX affiliate.

The use of federal prisons and other facilities by the Bureau of Prisons is intended to be a temporary measure until ICE can obtain additional long-term contracts for new detention facilities or until the surge in illegal border crossings subsides, a spokesperson for ICE said Friday.

Union leaders at the prison also said they are concerned about safety and medical attention, given their small staff.

The number of apprehended immigrants at the southwest border has steadily increased since President Trumps first few months in office, while overall apprehensions remain at historic lows.
A man whom authorities described as the second in command of the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood in Texas was sentenced Friday to life in prison for torturing and killing a man over a $600 dispute.

Michael Lynn Rogers, 48, known as "Texas Mike," was convicted of murdering of Alberto Gonzalez, 34, using a power drill to bore holes into Gonzalez's head, chest and abdomen, authorities said.

To ensure that jurors could leave safely, more than 15 bailiffs were present in the courtroom, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The altercation happened in July 2016, authorities said. Gonzalez had gone to Rogers house in West Dallas. Other gang members, including White Knights, and Tango Blast  which consists entirely of Hispanics  were there as well.

Things went awry when Rogers began hitting Gonzalez, whom he accused of taking money from his wallet. Gonzalez reportedly denied doing so.

A White Knight then bashed Gonzalez' legs with a hammer, police said. Another member started hitting Gonzalez on the head with a beer bottle.

Then Rogers then retrieved the power drill and used it on Gonzalez, whose body was later dumped and set on fire next to a lake near Rogers' home.

Click here for more from the Dallas Morning News.
After a central Indiana teacher found herself in the line of fire during last years Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 58 people, she rode away in her taxi unscathed by a bullet but mentally shaken.

Eight months later and this time at her place of employment, Shelly Alexander, a special education assistant at Noblesville West Middle School, found herself again in an active shooter situation when a 13-year-old student opened fire at a central Indiana middle school May 25, wounding a student and a teacher, The Herald reported.

Her seemingly irrational fears of loud sounds being gunshots had come true.

When Alexander heard a commotion outside her classroom, she immediately started downplaying the situation, telling herself it was just a drill for the end of the year, but when it was announced over the loudspeakers, she had a choice to make.

I knew as a leader in the building, I had to turn that [panic] to purpose, Alexander told The Herald. I had to turn my pain and worry into motion, basically. I had to protect.

The Las Vegas massacre survivor sheltered her students inside a locked classroom before ushering them to safety. The shooter was on another floor, and seventh-grade science teacher Jason Seaman, who was shot three times, is credited with helping to stop the attack.

While Alexander huddled with her students outside she tried to hide her panic and grief, managing flashbacks of Las Vegas, where she said she felt very alone trying to process everything but this time the community is going through it together, she told The Herald.

Through counseling and other self-care methods, Alexander has been encouraging others in her community to heal from the shooting.

Theres been times where I didnt think I needed a counselor or I didnt want to go to my appointment, but then always afterward it was such a relief and I was so glad that I went, Alexander said. I think my job is to make sure the staff knows there is help out there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Justify won the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, earning him the coveted Triple Crown.

The historic win makes Justify the 13th Triple Crown champion and the first to claim the title since American Pharoah did it in 2015.

Prior to his victory, the thoroughbred had a spotless 5-0 record in his brief career and had won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

Winning by 1 3/4 lengths, hall of fame jockey Mike Smith and Justify defeated nine other competitors as they crossed the finish line in the 1 1/2-mile race. Justify is the first Triple Crown winner to face that many rivals at Belmont.

Race horse Gronkowski, who is named after and partially owned by Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots, took second place and Hofburg placed in third. Justify was challenged momentarily at the top of the stretch and then drew off the roars of a crowd of 90,000 viewers.

Justify's trainer Bob Baffert became the second trainer to win the Triple Crown twice - he also won in 2015 with American Pharoah.

Smith, 52, is the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown.

Fox News' Jennifer Earl and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Latest on a wildfire in southwestern Colorado (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

Authorities have ordered more people to evacuate near a growing wildfire in southwestern Colorado.

The evacuations underway Saturday were along a 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) section of a county road about 8 miles (12.9 kilometers) north of Durango. Fire managers couldn't immediately say how many homes were included.

Deputies were going door to door, telling people to leave.

The Durango Herald reported more than 1,600 other homes have already been evacuated.

The fire has burned nearly 14 square miles (35 square kilometers) since it ignited on June 1. Authorities said no homes had been damaged or destroyed.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for most of Colorado on Saturday, signifying high fire danger.

___

12 p.m.

A wildfire that prompted evacuations from about 1,300 homes in southwestern Colorado has grown to nearly 14 square miles (35 square kilometers).

Authorities said Saturday that hot, dry weather this weekend could make things harder for crews trying to control the fire north of Durango. It was 10 percent contained.

Fire managers say no homes have been destroyed.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said Saturday that smoke has reached unhealthy levels in La Plata County as far south as the Colorado-New Mexico border.

The area includes the communities of Durango and Hermosa and the Southern Ute Reservation.

The fire started June 1 but the cause hasn't been determined. It comes amid a severe drought in the Four Corners area where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet.

___

10:45 a.m.

Health officials have issued an air quality alert in southwestern Colorado because of heavy smoke from a wildfire.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said Saturday that smoke has reached unhealthy levels in La Plata County as far south as the Colorado-New Mexico border.

The area includes the communities of Durango and Hermosa and the Southern Ute Reservation.

Officials say the smoke should begin to lessen and move northeast later Saturday.

The fire has burned more than 11 square miles (29 square kilometers) and prompted the evacuation of up to 1,300 homes. No homes have been destroyed.

The fire started June 1 in the San Juan National Forest but the cause hasn't been determined. It comes amid a severe drought in the Four Corners area where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet.

___

9:25 a.m.

Emergency responders say they've kept a week-old wildfire in southwestern Colorado from destroying any houses so far.

The Durango Herald reports that no homes had been lost by late Friday to the fire, which has blackened more than 11 square miles (29 square kilometers).

As many as 1,300 homes have been evacuated.

The fire started June 1 in the San Juan National Forest but the cause hasn't been determined. It comes amid a severe drought in the Four Corners area where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet.

Traffic is restricted on U.S. Highway 550 because of heavy firefighter activity.

More than 680 firefighters and several aircraft are on scene. The fire is only 10 percent contained.
An 8-month-old pit bull in California is being hailed a hero after she alerted her family of a fire in their apartment complex  and then saved their 7-month-old daughter by pulling her by her diaper.

When flames broke out at the apparent complex where Nana Chaichanhda lives in Stockton, Calif., her pup Sasha, who was outside, quickly jumped to action, and began to bang on the back door.

"I open it and she runs in and starts barking at me like crazy and I was like, 'OK, this is weird. This is not like her,' Chaichanhda told FOX40.

After seeing the flames begin to ravage part of the apartment complex, Chaichanhda went to get her 7-month-old daughter. When she entered the room, however, Sasha was already trying save the young girl.

She had already had my baby by the diaper and was dragging her off the bed," she told FOX40. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, what are you doing?'"

Thanks to Sasha, the family made it out of the apartment unharmed. But the damage from the fire has left Chaichanhdas apartment uninhabitable, according to FOX40

For the time being, Chaichanhda, her baby, Sasha, as well as her cousin whose apartment was also impacted by the flames, are staying with an aunt who also lives in part of the complex that was not affected by the fire.

The Stockton Fire Department told FOX40 that they are still investigating the cause of the fire.

"It meant a lot. I owe her everything, Chaichanhda said of Sasha. If it wasnt for her, I would have still been in bed and things could have taken a worse turn.
A Floridian and his monkey were both taken into custody Friday after the man drove a stolen vehicle into a ditch.

Cody Hession, 23, was arrested after police say he took a car from his best friends stepmom without her knowledge, Fox13 reported.

After he crashed the car, Pasco County Sheriffs Office officials said, they finally caught up with Hession and noticed that he had a passenger.

Monk, a 4-year-old capuchin monkey, was seen in police body cam footage clinging to Hession s chest.

Before being taken into custody, Hession was allowed to say one final goodbye to his furry friend. The monkey can be seen hugging and holding on to his owner.

Deputy Zachary Dendler told Fox13 that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience; despite his surprise, he couldnt help but want to pet the monkey.

Police say that Hession did not have a permit for the monkey. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was called to the scene and Monk was transported to the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary.

Hession could face additional charges for not having a permit. FWC officials told Fox13 that his application for a permit was denied back in January.

According to officials, Monk was found in great condition.
Six illegal immigrants from Mexico were found Monday tightly packed inside cabinets that were being transported over the border in Laredo, Texas.

Laredo Border Patrol agents, assigned to the checkpoint at U.S. Highway 59, discovered them after a service canine alerted the agents to the possible presence of concealed humans and/or narcotics in the truck.

The driver of the truck, a U.S. citizen, was arrested at the checkpoint and then turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for prosecution.

Customs and Border Patrol said the incident highlights the dangers illegal aliens face at the hands of smugglers, placing them in dangerous conditions.

The six Mexicans were trapped inside the large cabinets with no way to escape, as the cabinets were tightly packed with ratchet straps on the outside.

This rescue illustrates how Border Patrol works not only to enforce laws, but to protect the sanctity of life along the border, said Greg Burwell, Laredo Sector Assistant Division Chief. We will always work diligently to disrupt and degrade criminal organizations that constantly put peoples lives in danger. Also, we will do whatever it takes to save lives and prevent people from being subjected to dangerous, deplorable situations.
Viral videos of bloody skirmishes between right-wing activists and self-described anti-fascists have drawn national attention to Portland, Oregon  a city of storied political activism that has struggled to keep the peace at dueling rallies illustrating a microcosm of the nation's political division.

Tensions erupted most recently this month when members of the so-called "antifa" movement showed up at a march organized by a right-wing group called Patriot Prayer.

As police tried to keep order, fist fights broke out in a string of downtown parks fringed with aspen trees and dotted with plaques honoring Portland's founders and fallen World War II soldiers.

Videos from the conflict on social media show one man being knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly as he covers his head with his hands. In another, a man lying on the ground is dragged away from a group of attackers, his face bloodied. In a third, two men  including one wearing homemade body armor  take swings at a third man who is backed against a wall with his arms raised.

Police made four arrests June 3 in and around the parks, which have become gathering places for dissent in this liberal city already known for near-weekly protests.

And in this city that patiently waits out traffic jams caused by protests, residents wondered how free speech had turned so violent.

Protesters here traditionally have demonstrated together for their causes. But over the past year a different type of political activism has shattered the unanimity normally seen among demonstrators, said longtime Portland resident Jon Baldivieso.

"It obscures better forms of political speech," he said. "It feels different when protests are more one-sided and not skirmishes between ideological factions. ...I've got very low patience for physical confrontation."

What is happening could be an expression of a deep sensitivity to a dark chapter of the city's history that's bubbling up as the rest of the country, too, becomes more politically polarized.

In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan had a strong presence in the city and by the 1980s, Portland was a hot spot for white supremacist groups, earning it the nickname "Skinhead City."

One of the most infamous attacks in Portland's racial history occurred in November 1988, when an Ethiopian immigrant was beaten to death by three white supremacists from the California-based White Aryan Resistance in front of his apartment.

The city was also the home base for Volksfront, a now-defunct white separatist organization founded in 1994, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

While Patriot Prayer isn't considered a white supremacist or hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, its members march alongside right-wing groups promoting free speech rights by rejecting political correctness, said Ryan Lenz, an SPLC spokesman.

Those marches have drawn a forceful reaction from a left-wing movement known as the antifa that is dedicated to rooting out neo-Nazis and white supremacists, he said.

The 10-year-old group Rose City Antifa is one of the most organized of these loosely affiliated groups in the nation and also one of the oldest.

Individual antifa members remain anonymous, but the group's public Facebook page issued a call for members to show up June 3 to confront the "rising tide of fascism and the forces of structural and insurgent white supremacy" in Portland.

"If you think about it, Portland is home to this extreme leftist perspective ... but at the same time it is home to very hardcore racist groups going back to the skinhead groups," Lenz said.

Patriot Prayer has also held marches and rallies in many other cities around the U.S. West that have drawn violent reactions. But the Portland events have taken on outsized significance because of the stabbing deaths a year ago of two men who came to the defense of two young black women  one in a hijab who were being harassed on a light-rail train by a Patriot Prayer sympathizer.

The man charged in the deaths, Jeremy Christian, was filmed making the Nazi salute at a Patriot Prayer rally a month before the killings.

Christian, who has pleaded not guilty, later told investigators he was not motivated by racism but was drunk and wanted to "do his free speech thing" when he shouted racist and anti-immigrant slurs on the light-trail train before the stabbings.

In the aftermath, Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson organized a pro-Trump free speech rally that attracted thousands from both sides to downtown Portland.

The ensuing chaos shut down much of the city's core and police arrested more than a dozen people amid widespread fighting.

Gibson, who is half Japanese and lives in Vancouver, Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, said his followers are not racist but want the right to express themselves safely in a city that's very liberal. He hopes to put on another rally as soon as next month in an attempt to promote confrontation.

"We're way more diverse than any of these far-lefters, who are mostly white men," Gibson said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. The marches are intended to "stir the pot. It's to get people to oppose us, to violently oppose us."

Many Portland residents say they love their city's reputation for political dissent but are dismayed it has become a spotlight for violence.

At a park dedicated to a city founding father, accountant Mack Stilson used his lunch break to run through a set of bluegrass songs on his mandolin as a tour group strolled by snapping selfies and bike commuters whizzed past.

"This is sort of like an arena for their battles and I have a lot of trouble putting any weight behind it," he said of the protesters.

He added: "You can say whatever you want to say, whether you're extremely conservative or extremely liberal, and I think this town should be open to both. That's kind of what this town is all about."
A U.S. special operations soldier was killed and four U.S. service members were wounded Friday in an "enemy attack" in Somalia, the U.S. military said.

It was the first public announcement of a U.S. military combat death on the African continent since four U.S. service members were killed in a militant ambush in Niger in October.

President Donald Trump shared his condolences in a Twitter message Friday evening.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of our serviceman who was killed and his fellow servicemen who were wounded in Somalia, Trump tweeted. They are truly all HEROES.

U.S. troops with Somali and Kenyan forces came under mortar and small-arms fire in Jubaland, Somalia around 2:45 p.m. local time, U.S. Africa Command said in a statement.

The joint-coalition forces had been conducting an operation against al-Shabab militants about 217 miles southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, when the attack occurred, the statement said. The operation aimed to drive out the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab from contested areas.

Three of the four U.S. service members were transferred for medical treatment while the fourth received medical care on the spot, the Washington Post reported.

Al-Shabab claimed credit for the attack, the SITE Intelligence Group said in a statement Friday.

The U.S. has about 1,000 special operations personnel in Africa. The last killing of a U.S. service member in Somalia was in May 2017 during an operation about 40 miles west of Mogadishu, Stars and Stripes reported.

Trump approved expanded military operations against al-Shabab in early 2017, leading to an increase in U.S. military personnel to more than 500 and the launch of dozens of drone strikes.

Al-Shabab, linked to al Qaeda, seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. It was pushed out of Mogadishu in recent years but continues to control rural areas in the south and central regions.

Late last year U.S. drone strikes also began targeting a small presence of fighters linked to the Islamic State group in Somalia's north.

Somali officials have said civilians have been killed in more than one joint U.S. military operation with Somali forces. Earlier Friday, the U.S. Africa Command issued a statement in response to allegations that civilians had been killed in a May 9 operation, saying a "thorough review" found the allegations to be "not credible."

The October attack in Niger raised questions in Washington about the U.S. military presence across Africa as the Trump administration focuses counterterror efforts on a range of groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

A Pentagon investigation into the Niger attack, parts of which were made public last month, found multiple failures but none that directly caused the ambush by Islamic State group-linked fighters.

The investigation has already triggered changes in the way military activities are carried out in Niger and elsewhere in Africa, including giving teams the option to use heavily armored vehicles and beefed-up firepower.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The first group of migrants to arrive in Italy since a populist government took office is at the center of a spat between Italy's new interior minister and fellow EU member Malta.

Some 230 African migrants landed in Calabria on Saturday after receiving authorization from the Interior Ministry. But before their ship docked, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini lashed out at Malta for allegedly denying the vessel permission to port.

The Maltese government denied the accusation late Friday, saying it "adheres to its obligations at all times."

A spokeswoman for Sea Watch, the private organization operating the recue ship, told Italian news agency ANSA that the coordination of rescues "is not the competence of NGOs."

Giorgia Linardi says many of the passengers were dehydrated from their journeys and the wait for port authorization.
Saudi Arabia says it will host a meeting among several Gulf Arab countries to offer support to Jordan after it faced mass protests over the kingdom's economic problems and its plans to tax its citizens.

The Saudi Royal Court said the meeting Sunday in Mecca would include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

A statement early Saturday on the state-run Saudi Press Agency said the meeting would "discuss means of supporting Jordan to overcome its current crisis."

That likely means cash from the oil-rich nations to Jordan, which has experienced an economic downturn. Rising unemployment has hurt Jordan's economy, as has taking in a large number of refugees from war-wracked Syria and Iraq.

Jordan's King Abdullah II has replaced the country's prime minister over the protests.
Singapore's foreign minister says it's "all systems go" for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be held in the Southeast Asian city-state next week.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Saturday in Beijing after returning from North Korea that "things will start happening within the next 24 hours." He didn't provide details in his remarks to Singaporean reporters .

Balakrishnan told reporters that Washington and Pyongyang are pleased with the arrangements and said he sees from both sides "a desire, a willingness to escape the constraints that have applied for the last seven decades."

Trump and Kim plan to meet in Singapore on Tuesday. It will be the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting U.S. president.
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President Donald Trump cast his Tuesday summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un as a "one-time shot" for the autocratic leader to ditch his nuclear weapons and enter the community of nations, saying he would know within moments if Kim is serious about the talks.

Trump said Saturday he was embarking on a "mission of peace," as he departed the Group of Seven meeting in Canada to fly to the summit site in Singapore. Saying he has a "clear objective in mind" to convince Kim to abandon his nuclear program in exchange for unspecified "protections" from the U.S., Trump acknowledged that the direction of the high-stakes meeting is unpredictable, adding it "will always be spur of the moment."

"It's unknown territory in the truest sense, but I really feel confident," he told reporters. "I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people and he has that opportunity and he won't have that opportunity again."

"It's a one-time shot and I think it's going to work out very well," he said.

The meeting will be the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Unlike traditional summits between heads of state, where most of the work is completed in advance of a photo-op, U.S. officials say the only thing certain ahead of these talks will be their unpredictability.

Raising expectations in advance of the meeting, Trump said the outcome will rely heavily on his own instincts. The U.S. president, who prides himself on his deal-making prowess, said he will know "within the first minute" of meeting Kim whether the North Korean leader is serious about the nuclear negotiations.

"I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen. And if I think it won't happen, I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time," Trump said.

"This is a leader who really is an unknown personality," Trump added of Kim. "People don't know much about him. I think that he's going to surprise on the upside, very much on the upside."

The Kim sit-down comes as Trump's international negotiating skills have faced their toughest tests to date with mixed results. Tensions flared at the G-7 summit between Trump and U.S. allies over his protectionist economic policies and decisions to exit the Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate accord.

Trump rated his relationships with U.S. partners as "a 10," though erstwhile allies spent much of the weekend directly challenging Trump's policy positions.

As he looks to the Kim meeting, Trump is taking a high-stakes risk in hopes of containing the increasingly challenging national security threats from North Korea's advanced nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Seeing Nobel Peace Prize laurels and eyeing potential to show up his critics at home and abroad, Trump is granting Kim the international legitimacy he's long sought in hopes of securing a legacy-defining accord.

"He could take that nation with those great people and truly make it great," Trump said. "That's why I feel positive, because it makes so much sense."

Trump also praised the North Koreans, saying they have been "really working very well with us" during preparations for the summit, even though Trump had canceled the summit last month following a recent period of what he called "tremendous anger and open hostility" from the North Korean government. But then Trump did a quick pivot, signaling almost immediately after scrapping the meeting that he was open to going ahead with it after all.

Delegations from both countries then launched into a frenetic period of negotiations that are expected to culminate with Tuesday's meeting.

"So far, so good. We're going to have to see what happens. I very much look forward to it," Trump said.

Still, questions remain about what a deal on the North's nuclear weapons could look like.

Trump has said he believes Kim would agree to denuclearization  and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday he had received Kim's personal assurances to that effect  but the two countries have offered differing visions of what that would entail. Despite Kim's apparent eagerness for a summit with Trump, there are doubts that he would fully relinquish his nuclear arsenal, which he may see as his guarantee of survival.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials have assessed the North to be on the threshold of having the capability to strike anywhere in the continental U.S. with a nuclear-tipped missile  a capacity that Trump and other U.S. officials have said they would not tolerate.

Trump reiterated his promise Saturday that the U.S. "will watch over and we'll protect" Kim and his government in return for him giving up the nuclear program. He also indicated that South Korea, China and Japan would be prepared to invest in the North to boost its besieged economy.

___

Lucey reported from La Malbaie, Quebec. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
A Vatican court has indicted on child pornography possession charges a diplomat recalled from Washington last year amid ongoing investigations in three jurisdictions.

The Vatican said in a statement Saturday that Monsignor Carlo Capella, who was the No. 4 official in its Washington embassy, would face a trial starting June 22.

Capella, a high-ranking priest in the Vatican's diplomatic corps, was the subject of investigations by the Vatican and in the United States and Canada. He has been in Vatican custody since April.

The Vatican recalled him after the U.S. State Department notified it in August of a "possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images" by a diplomat in Washington.

Canadian police have said Capella allegedly uploaded child porn from a social networking site over the 2016 Christmas holiday.
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Concert on the Bundeskunsthalle roof : Mariachi band opens GA Sommergarten

Bonn The choreographer and guitarist Miguel Angel Zermeno and his band Alma de Mexico will open the GA Sommergarten event program on Sunday morning. The Mariachi concert promises to be good fun.

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The image is well known from many Hollywood movies: Mexican musicians in black trousers and embroidered jackets play cheerful songs. What sounds like a cliche isnt one. The development of the modern Mariachi and the film industry of the 1930s to 1950s often went hand in hand, explains Miguel Angel Zermeno.

Zermeno was born in the metropolitan region Guadalajara, where the Mariachi bands in their current form came into fashion. He was already interested in music and dance as a child. At 14 he received a scholarship for the Casa de la Cultura de Celava - which wasnt well received by his family and friends: Mariachi is one thing, but contemporary dance isnt considered masculine in a country which is still very machismo. But Zermeno chose his own path. He founded the Las Fiestas event company in Bonn in 2005, and later the ensemble Alma de Mexico. Zermeno plays bass guitar and percussion.

The latter not only with his hands. Mariachi wear cowboy boots usually with hard soles, because the style developed from the one of the rancheros who used to wear hardwearing clothing in the desert. The boots create a certain sound, similar to tap dance but stronger. Thats why the rhythm always comes from a certain move, like in a dance.

The indigenous traditions of Mexican natives find their place in the music as well as in the Flamenco of Spanish immigrants. Like everything in Mexico, Mariachi music is a mix of different factors, says Zermeno. It has the spice of old influences but also the glamour of the Mexican film era.

The concert takes place on Sunday from 11.30am until 2.30pm. The admission is free. There is a lift for people with walking disabilities.

Other Sommergarten concerts include:

July 1: Marco Marchi and the Mojo Workers (Blues/Jazz)

July 15: Le Clou (Cajun)

July 29: Patricia Gomero (Latin)

August 12: Brass Neva Sankt Petersburg (Jazz)

August 26: Hop Stop Banda (Russian Folk)
The Visionary by Maria von Heider-Schweinitz : Thieves steal valuable painting in Bonn

BONN A valuable painting was stolen from a private home in Bonn on Wednesday. The piece called The Visionary (Die Seherin) by painter Maria von Heider-Schweinitz is worth several thousand Euro.

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The police are asking for help in the search for the painting by Maria von Heider-Schweinitz called The Visionary (Die Seherin). According to the officers, unknown thieves removed the 1941 painting from a private home. It is said to be worth several thousand Euro.

The craft piece measures about 90 x 105 centimetres including the frame.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of the painting or if it was possibly offered to you for purchase, please contact the police at 0228/150.
I Buried 20 People In The Desert- Nigerian Deportee Makes Shocking Confession (Photos)

bohlah at 9-06-2018 01:02 PM (3 years ago) (m)

A Nigerian deportee who just arrived from Libya has given a startling confession at T.B. Joshuas Church in Lagos, painting an alarming picture of the death toll of African migrants seeking to illegally enter Europe.

A Nigerian deportee who just arrived from Libya has given a startling confession at T.B. Joshuas Church in Lagos, painting an alarming picture of the death toll of African migrants seeking to illegally enter Europe.

Efe Alimi, an Edo State indigene, revealed how he had participated in the mass burial of 5,300 bodies in a single day on the Libyan shore, decomposing remains of those who had drowned while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.





Most of the bodies washed up on the shore had decayed. When we picked them up, their flesh peeled away to the bone. Some were without ears, eyes or Bosom s. All were my African brothers and sisters, he recollected in a shocking revelation posted to T.B. Joshuas official Facebook Page.



According to Alimi, the bodies were dumped into a mass grave, crushed by excavators and then covered by the Libyans who had picked him and a group of other migrants to do the dirty job.



Alimi travelled to the North African nation via Niger in 2013. 29 embarked on the dangerous journey through the Sahara Desert but only 9 reached Libya.



I actually buried 20 people in the desert,Alimi recalled, adding that he only survived by drinking urine after they were stranded for five days without food or water.





After an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Italy in 2017, he was imprisoned in an underground dungeon for one year before the intervention of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), who facilitated his return to Nigeria.



Another deportee, Johnson Imonigie, equally shared distressing details of how the makeshift boat he was in capsized en route to Italy. 121 were on board and 87 drowned.



Even prior to his attempt to cross the ocean, Johnson had been kidnapped and sold into slavery three times in Libya.



During his incarceration, one of his close friends was beaten to death in his presence.



They decided to beat me on my manhood, he vividly recalled. I cant even begin to describe the pain. I was there the day they hit my friend there so hard he actually died.





On Tuesday 5thJune 2018, 171 Nigerians were voluntarily deported from Libya, over 90 of them deciding to visit Joshuas famed Church in search of aid.



Hearing their plight, Joshua and his Emmanuel TV Partners gave the group N3m ($8,500) to help them start their lives afresh in Nigeria.



The news comes on the heels of the United Nations imposing sanctions on six leaders of human trafficking networks in Libya. Efe Alimi, an Edo State indigene, revealed how he had participated in the mass burial of 5,300 bodies in a single day on the Libyan shore, decomposing remains of those who had drowned while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.Alimi travelled to the North African nation via Niger in 2013. 29 embarked on the dangerous journey through the Sahara Desert but only 9 reached Libya.After an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Italy in 2017, he was imprisoned in an underground dungeon for one year before the intervention of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), who facilitated his return to Nigeria.Another deportee, Johnson Imonigie, equally shared distressing details of how the makeshift boat he was in capsized en route to Italy. 121 were on board and 87 drowned.Even prior to his attempt to cross the ocean, Johnson had been kidnapped and sold into slavery three times in Libya.During his incarceration, one of his close friends was beaten to death in his presence.he vividly recalled.On Tuesday 5thJune 2018, 171 Nigerians were voluntarily deported from Libya, over 90 of them deciding to visit Joshuas famed Church in search of aid.Hearing their plight, Joshua and his Emmanuel TV Partners gave the group N3m ($8,500) to help them start their lives afresh in Nigeria.The news comes on the heels of the United Nations imposing sanctions on six leaders of human trafficking networks in Libya.

Post Reply I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist Posted: at 9-06-2018 01:02 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero

crocatum at 9-06-2018 01:28 PM (3 years ago)

(m) more will still go, what we need to understand is that people with white skin, think people with dark skin are inferior, may sub human, sub standard, whether this people are arabs, europeans, isrealites or asians.



fact 2, as the world progresses, they dont like that our population is also expanding, thus they would like to control it.



fact 3: Realities have not really changed, in the future, we may become subject to the dictation of our former colonial masters, because they are already planning how to manage Africa for US.



fact4. We must learn from other african countries, who are expanding their economy in other areas, so they become highly independent and masters of their destiny, if we don't use our head, others will use us. Posted: at 9-06-2018 01:28 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac more will still go, what we need to understand is that people with white skin, think people with dark skin are inferior, may sub human, sub standard, whether this people are arabs, europeans, isrealites or asians.fact 2, as the world progresses, they dont like that our population is also expanding, thus they would like to control it.fact 3: Realities have not really changed, in the future, we may become subject to the dictation of our former colonial masters, because they are already planning how to manage Africa for US.fact4. We must learn from other african countries, who are expanding their economy in other areas, so they become highly independent and masters of their destiny, if we don't use our head, others will use us. Reply

EDDYPRINCE at 9-06-2018 01:39 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Nigerians are the problem to their self in Libya. Posted: at 9-06-2018 01:39 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero Nigerians are the problem to their self in Libya. Reply

proly at 9-06-2018 07:21 PM (3 years ago)

(f) Nawooo no be small thing happen for this libya Posted: at 9-06-2018 07:21 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Nawooo no be small thing happen for this libya Reply

fineboy77 at 9-06-2018 08:05 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Quote from: EDDYPRINCE on 9-06-2018 01:39 PM Nigerians are the problem to their self in Libya.

Tell me about it What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 9-06-2018 08:05 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Tell me about it Reply

paulsmit at 9-06-2018 09:07 PM (3 years ago)

(m) IT will not be possible to buried people in the desert based on the condition of the desert. The desert is very unconditional to even dig the ground, haul or rest for few minuses. The place is very hot, very dry that you can't even open any ground, and very windy and humid that can suffocate any living things including human being in a very short time. So burying people in the desert is a lie. Don't believe him. Anyone that being around desert will know exactly what I am talking about. Posted: at 9-06-2018 09:07 PM (3 years ago) | Upcoming IT will not be possible to buried people in the desert based on the condition of the desert. The desert is very unconditional to even dig the ground, haul or rest for few minuses. The place is very hot, very dry that you can't even open any ground, and very windy and humid that can suffocate any living things including human being in a very short time. So burying people in the desert is a lie. Don't believe him. Anyone that being around desert will know exactly what I am talking about. Reply

paulsmit at 9-06-2018 09:07 PM (3 years ago)

(m) IT will not be possible to buried people in the desert based on the condition of the desert. The desert is very unconditional to even dig the ground, haul or rest for few minuses. The place is very hot, very dry that you can't even open any ground, and very windy and humid that can suffocate any living things including human being in a very short time. So burying people in the desert is a lie. Don't believe him. Anyone that being around desert will know exactly what I am talking about. Posted: at 9-06-2018 09:07 PM (3 years ago) | Upcoming IT will not be possible to buried people in the desert based on the condition of the desert. The desert is very unconditional to even dig the ground, haul or rest for few minuses. The place is very hot, very dry that you can't even open any ground, and very windy and humid that can suffocate any living things including human being in a very short time. So burying people in the desert is a lie. Don't believe him. Anyone that being around desert will know exactly what I am talking about. Reply

osarobo62 at 9-06-2018 09:37 PM (3 years ago)

(m) these liars are over blowing their ordeal to garner sympathy from the church members Posted: at 9-06-2018 09:37 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Reply
damyti at 9-06-2018 07:32 PM (3 years ago) (m)

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Sunday, June 10, embark on a two-day working visit to Morocco.

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Sunday, June 10, embark on a two-day working visit to Morocco.

This was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who said the presidents visit is about strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries particularly in the area of agriculture.



The visit, which is at the invitation of His Royal Majesty, King Mohammed VI, will see the two leaders discuss socio-economic matters affecting their countries, following prior engagements in December 2016, during the official visit of His Majesty to Nigeria, he stated.



In Rabat, discussions will focus on strengthening existing agreements on the fertilizer industry, education cooperation, the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project and establishing a basic chemical platform to harness Nigerias vast natural gas resources and support Moroccos diammonium phosphate industry.



It is noteworthy that following the signing of a collaboration agreement between Nigeria and Morocco in December 2016 to revive the abandoned Nigerian fertilizer blending plants, 14 plants have been revitalized so far under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI); with a total capacity of 2.3 million MT of NPK fertilizers.



The president will be accompanied on the trip by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State and other senior government officials. This was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who said the presidents visit is about strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries particularly in the area of agriculture.he stated.

Post Reply Posted: at 9-06-2018 07:32 PM (3 years ago) | Upcoming
Toto Wolff has rejected rumours Mercedes might be shaping up to buy Force India.

The rumour emerged not only after boss Vijay Mallya stepped down from the Force India board, but when Esteban Ocon hinted he had moved over for Lewis Hamilton in Monaco.

"I spoke with Esteban and there was no order," Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, told Sky Italia in Montreal.

"The only interest is that he has a good race. Ok, there are some 'family teams' for each team, but each driver wants to do the best race for himself," he added.

"Force India is a customer that we know well, but at the moment there is no plan to buy it," he added.

Force India, meanwhile, insisted that Mallya stepping down from the board does not change "business as usual" at the Silverstone based team.

Speaking to Sky Italia, Wolff was also asked about the seat alongside Lewis Hamilton for 2019.

He said: "I like how Valtteri (Bottas) is working and also Ricciardo is a fast and great driver, but today we are focused on the drivers we have."

(GMM)
Robert Kubica has admitted tensions are showing behind the scenes at Williams.

The once-great British team is having an awful 2018 season, having lost key engineers Ed Wood and Dirk de Beer and also set to lose main sponsor Martini.

"The impact on the team? We're obviously having quite a difficult start to our year," Claire Williams said in Montreal.

Reserve driver Kubica agrees, telling Sky Italia: "Let's say it like the politicians. Our season is a bit uphill.

"It's not easy to solve it. In the race in Monaco there were good signs, but then there were problems with overheating. We cannot even manage to solve the small problems at the moment."

When asked about the atmosphere behind the scenes, the Pole answered: "There is a rule in F1 that if things are all good, they're good from the engineers to the caterers.

"But if you go two seconds down ..."

Claire Williams continued: "We have a really strong technical team back at Grove who are working really hard and really cohesively, and that's the most important thing.

"Everyone just has their head down and is trying to get us out of the trouble we're in at the moment," she added.

(GMM)
A TOP boss at the BBC has made a Commander of the British Empire.

Tim Davie, who lives in Peppard, was given the honour for services to international trade.

He is chief executive officer for BBC Studios, the largest commercial subsidiary of the BBC.

It was formed in April 2018 by the merger of BBC Worldwide and the BBCs principal production arm and is the home for the corporations commercial production and distribution in the UK and around the world.

All its profits are reinvested into the BBC for the benefit of the licence fee payer.

Other roles held by Mr Davie in his time at the state broadcaster include chief executive officer of BBC Worldwide, acting BBC director-general and director for audio and music.

He was previously vice-president for marketing and franchise for PepsiCo Europe. He read English at Cambridge University and from there joined Procter and Gamble.

Mr Davie is also a member of the BBC Executive Board, chairman of Comic Relief, a trustee of the Tate gallery and a trustee of the Royal Television Society.

He is married to Anne and they have three sons, James, William and Edward.

Meanwhile, a weapon systems operator based at RAF Benson has been made an MBE.

Master Aircrew Mark Bradley received the honour for more than 20 years service as part of the Chinook force.

He has completed more than 20 deployments in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan

He joined the RAF in 1995 as a Weapons System Operator and has amassed more than 6,000 hours flying on the Chinook, including more than 1,000 hours as a crewman instructor.

MAcr Bradley current work with the support helicopter standards and evaluation team at RAF Benson. His role involves ensuring high standards are maintained by crews operating all helicopters in the joint helicopter command.

He said: I really cant believe this. Being in the RAF has been the most fun and rewarding 23 years of my life and to be awarded an MBE is an honour.

I have to thank my wife, Jenny, close friends and colleagues for all of their support.
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Home Search ICH The Great March of Return has Exposed Israels Brutality and Apartheid By Kevin Squires June 08, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Politicians mealy-mouthed condemnations and crocodile tears are the order of the day. Instead, people should answer the call from Gaza for solidarity protests, writes Kevin Squires. People ask my father what I am doing here, and without getting a salary. He tells them I am proud of my daughter, she provides care to the children of our country. In our society women are often judged. But society has to accept us. If they dont want to accept us by choice, they will be forced to accept us because we have more strength than any man. The strength that I showed as a first responder on the first day of the protests, I dare you to find it in anyone else . The Israeli army intends to shoot as many as they can. Its crazy and Id be ashamed if I was not there for my people. These words were spoken by Razan Al-Najjar, a 21-year-old Palestinian medical student and paramedic volunteering on the front line of the Great March of Return in Gaza. They would be some of the last words she ever uttered; on Friday June 1st she was murdered, shot in the chest by an Israeli occupation sniper while tending to a wounded protester. Her young life, full of hope and defiance, cut down mercilessly  the latest victim of Israels seven decades of oppression of the Palestinian people. Razan is just one of the more than 120 unarmed Palestinian protesters shot dead in the Gaza Strip over the past ten weeks. She joins the pantheon of martyrs, approaching 10,000 since the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The protests, dubbed the Great March of Return by the grassroots civil society coalition that has organised them, have seen families camp out near the militarised border between Gaza and Israel. There have been weekly protests as Palestinian refugees, forcibly exiled for seventy years, attempt to exercise a fundamental and inalienable right: the right to return to their homeland. Routinely referred to in the Western media as clashes, the protests usually involve heavily-armed Israeli snipers firing into crowds of mostly unarmed young Palestinians. Those Palestinians that are armed are those who dare to hurl rocks and stones at armoured troops, relying only on the smoke from burning tyres to veil themselves from the snipers. That only a single Israeli soldier has been slightly injured, while over 13,000 Palestinians have been wounded, gives an idea of the balance of forces in these clashes. An indication of the scale of Israels repression can be found in the fact that over 3,500 people have been wounded by live fire alone. Israeli troops are firing directly into crowds of people. By way of comparison, Bloody Sunday in Derry saw 14 people killed while 28 were injured by bullets. The Sharpeville Massacre in Apartheid South Africa saw 69 killed and 289 suffering gunshot wounds. Israel, correctly from its point of view, hates and fears these protests precisely because they highlight the colonial and apartheid nature of that state. Israels violent repression reminds us that that state is built upon the continual mass murder and exclusion of the indigenous Palestinians. As Israel and its allies celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the state  a feat that required the forcible expulsion of two thirds of the Palestinian population  not 50 miles down the road Israels forces were busy killing 52 people in Gaza to ensure Palestinians continued exile. The response of the international community, including Ireland, to the gunning down of pro-democracy protesters has been characteristically weak. Mealy-mouthed condemnation and crocodile tears, but no action to hold Israel to account for these  or any other  violations have been the order of the day. The Trump regime even chose this as the time to move its embassy to Jerusalem, in contravention of international law, numerous UN resolutions, and its own longstanding policies. The US has also used its veto on the Security Council to block two attempts at UN criticism of Israels repressive policies. Showing solidarity This shameful and dangerous inaction means its more important than ever that we internationals listen to the voices from Palestinian civil society crying out for liberation; voices like the organisers of the Great March of Return that cut across factional divisions; voices like the leadership of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which have mapped out a strategy for internationals to show practical and effective support and solidarity for Palestinians. One of the calls that has emerged from Gaza is for solidarity protests to take place, and the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and our colleagues in groups like Academics for Palestine, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, Gaza Action Ireland and Students for Justice in Palestine have answered this call, organising many protests around Ireland over the past two months. Today, June 5th, we answer the call once again in Dublin to mark the 51st anniversary of Israels occupation and illegal colonisation of the West Bank and Gaza. We will be gathering at 6pm at the Spire on OConnell Street, joining our colleagues in London and Paris. In Belfast, Limerick and Celbridge other actions will be taking place. We ask you to listen to the calls from Palestine and, for Razan the young paramedic and all the other Razans who have been shot down as they protest for their rights, we ask you join us to show your solidarity as Palestinians continue their heroic struggle for equality, justice and freedom from Israeli apartheid. Kevin Squires is National Coordinator of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign. To find out more about their work and for a list of upcoming events and actions see www.ipsc.ie. This article was originally published by " LookLeft Magazine " - The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. ====== In a rare interview weeks before she was killed by an Israeli sniper, Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar tells us about her life as a volunteer field medic in Gaza pic.twitter.com/T2EyxGjscK  TRT World (@trtworld) June 3, 2018 Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. We ask that you treat others with respect. Take a moment to read the following - Comment Policy - What Or Who is Information Clearing House and Purpose and Intent of this website: It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.
In Heated Interview, Putin Says "Ask The State Department About Soros"





By Tyler Durden

June 08, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a tense interview to Austria's ORF television channel which at times got so heated, he spoke in German to ask host Armin Wolf to let him finish his answers.

The interview was held ahead of Putin's Tuesday meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache during a trip to Vienna, the first since Putin's March inauguration to his second consecutive term (and fourth term in total).

After several interruptions by Wolf, Putin asked the host to "be patient," before switching to Wolf's mother tongue of German to ask him to put a cork in it. Seien Sie so nett, lassen Sie mich etwas sagen (Please be so kind as to let me say something), said Putin.

When the topic of troll farms came up, Putin said that Moscow "has nothing to do" with them, adding that claims by Western media that a single Russian businessman, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was able to influence the US election.

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Prigozhin and Putin are associates, however Putin said he has no knowledge of his online activities. The Russian president then brought up George Soros as an example of the double standards being applied to those accused of meddling in foreign affairs.

"There are rumors circulating now that Mr. Soros is planning to make the Euro highly volatile," Putin said quoted by RT. "Experts are already discussing this. Ask the [US] State Department why he is doing this. The State Department will say that it has nothing to do with them - rather it is Mr. Soros' private affair. With us, it is Mr. Prigozhin's private affair. This is my answer. Are you satisfied with it?"

* * *

MH17

Putin said that Russia has been blocked from participating in the ongoing international investigation into the 2014 downing of flight MH17, which Russia has been recently blamed for. Russian experts "have been denied access to the investigation," said Putin, while Russia's arguments are "not taken into consideration" because nobody "is interested in hearing us out."

Ukraine, meanwhile, has been given access to the probe.

* * *

North Korea

On North Korea, Putin says that the prospect of a full-scale military conflict with Pyonyang would be "dreadful," considering that the two nations are neighbors - and some North Korean nuclear test sites are located near the Russian border.

Although Russia pins great hopes on the personal meeting between [US] President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the path to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is a two-way road, Putin explained. If the North Korean leader is backing up his intentions with practical actions, for example, giving up new tests of ballistic missiles, new nuclear tests, the other side should reciprocate in a tangible manner, he said, calling regular US military drills in the area counterproductive. -RT

* * *

Crimea

During perhaps the most heated moment in the interview, Putin was asked under what conditions Russia would hand Crimea back to Ukraine, to which the Russian president firmy stated: There are no such conditions and there can never be.

Crimeans overwhelmingly voted to rejoin Russia in a hotly contested 2014 vote that the West considers illegitimate and rigged. Putin stressed that the annexation happened after an "unconstitutional armed coup" in Kiev, and it was the Crimeans who decided their own fate.

Crimea gained independence through the free will of the Crimeans, expressed in an open referendum, not as a result of an invasion by Russian forces. -Vladimir Putin

Following the annexation, Putin said the first thing we did was increase our contingent to guard our Armed Forces, our military facilities, because we immediately saw that they were being threatened, adding that the mostly Russian population in Crimea "sensed danger, when trains started bringing aggressive nationalists there, when buses and personal vehicles were blocked, people naturally wanted to protect themselves.

"The first thing that occurred was to restore the rights that Ukraine itself had issued by granting Crimea autonomy."

* * *

Topless Putin

Once the conversation settled down, Putin was asked about his famous bare-chested photos from various vacations and outdoor activities - to which the Russian president replied: You said half-naked not naked, thank God, Putin joked. When I am on vacation I see no need to hide behind the bushes, and there is nothing wrong with that.

This article was originally published by " ZeroHedge " -

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.

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June 08, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - One day after Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa declared that her government would continue blocking WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange from all communications and deny him any personal visitors, she was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly. Today marks 10 weeks since Ecuadors government deprived Assange of his rights, which it is obliged to honour after granting him political asylum in its London embassy in 2012.

The UN vote in support of Espinosa was a substantial 128, versus 62 for the only other nominee, Hondurass UN ambassador Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake, and two abstentions. The vote suggests that the United States did not energetically intrigue on behalf of Honduras. Washington was believed to favour Honduras because its right-wing government supported the provocative relocation of the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

There is little doubt that the treatment of Assange by Ecuadors governmentand behind it, the small countrys corporate eliteis the outcome of pressure and threats by the US and other powers. Washington is demanding Assanges head as the price of restoring relations. CIA director Mike Pompeo, now US secretary of state, asserted last year that WikiLeaks was a non-state hostile intelligence agency, due to its publication of documents exposing the operations of US intelligence.

Assange is being used as a bargaining chip in sordid negotiations between the US and Ecuador. On June 4, US Vice President Mike Pence met with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno. Amid the stepped-up persecution of Assange, Pence issued a statement lauding their discussion on opportunities to reinvigorate the bilateral relationship between the two countries. In words dripping with imperialist deceit, he said they would work together to protect and promote freedom and build prosperity, security and democracy.

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Such freedom does not include freedom of speech or freedom of the press. Such democracy does not include the right to expose or oppose the crimes of American imperialism or other capitalist governments. The Orwellian freedom espoused by Pence means submission and subservience to the control of the worlds wealth by a minuscule financial and corporate oligarchy.

Morenos evidently friendly discussion with Pence, and Espinosas victory in the UN, follow Morenos own attacks on Assange and democratic rights last week.

On May 30, Moreno again hinted that Ecuador will renege on the political asylum that the previous government granted to the WikiLeaks editor in 2012. Moreno declared that Assange could remain in the London embassy only on the condition that he accept a permanent ban on speaking out about politics or intervening in the politics of other countries.

Espinosa stated on Monday that such flagrantly anti-democratic terms were not a matter of censorship. In reality, Assange has been delivered an unacceptable ultimatum. Unless he renounces the mission of WikiLeaks, which is to publish and comment on whistleblower leaks that expose government and corporate criminality and abuses around the world, he will be forced out of the embassy to be arrested and imprisoned by waiting British police on a bail-related charge.

Assange defied the terms of his bail in June 2012 and sought asylum from Ecuador because his life was in danger. The sole motive behind efforts to extradite him to Sweden, to purportedly answer questions in an investigation into allegations of sexual offenses, was to silence him while Washington sought his extradition to stand trial on espionage charges that potentially carry the death penalty.

After years of delay, in late 2016 the Swedish police and prosecutors agreed to Assanges repeated offer to be questioned in London. It belatedly took this action after a December 2015 ruling by the UN Working Party on Arbitrary Detentions.

That ruling stated: The Working Group considered that Mr. Assange has been subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty detention was arbitrary because he was held in isolation during the first stage of detention and because of the lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr. Assange.

The ruling concluded: The Working Group also considered that the detention should be brought to an end and that Mr. Assange should be afforded the right to compensation.

In May 2017, Sweden finally abandoned its investigation. Assange was still unable to leave the embassy, however, because the British government of Prime Minister Theresa May insisted it will seek his imprisonment for jumping bail. Moreover, it refused to rule out continuing to hold him in custody while his legal defenders fought protracted court action against a US extradition warrant.

With each passing day, the danger facing Julian Assange increases. For six years, he has been confined inside a small building with no access to direct sunlight. He has been denied medical and dental treatment for serious conditions. Now he has been inflicted with the additional pressure of being prevented from continuing his work as a journalist, and denied outside communication or contact, even with his family.

The vindictive operation underway is intended to either force Assange to voluntarily leave the embassy, or create conditions in which Ecuador evicts him via claims he has violated its terms.

Crucial demonstrations and vigils have been called to defend Assange. They must be understood not as one-off protests, but the renewal of a determined campaign to win his freedom, especially if he is forced into a British prison and faces a protracted legal struggle against extradition to the US.

The movement that is required will be built by the most determined fight to independently mobilise the social force that has the power to win Assanges freedom: the international working class. It will not be built by appeals to the ex-liberal and ex-left organisations and trade union apparatuses that have aligned themselves with their own ruling classes and governments.

Around the world, millions of working-class people are entering into immense struggles for their social right to decent living standards, education and health care, and against the persecution of refugees and immigrants, police-state policies and the threat of war. These struggles are inseparable from the fight for democratic rights, including an end to Internet censorship and the defence of a free, critical and independent media, such as WikiLeaks.

Every effort must be made to break the silence imposed by the official political and media establishment and raise awareness of the immense implications of the effort to destroy WikiLeaks and railroad its editor into a prison cell or worse.

Again, we urge readers of the WSWS to turn to the workplaces, factories, campuses and high schools to fight for maximum participation in the demonstrations and vigils demanding Julian Assanges immediate and unconditional freedom.
We are all BDS





The left must begin preparing for life in a new political reality, with Israeli citizens and Palestinian subjects in one apartheid state



By Dmitry Shumsky

June 08, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Based on the map of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria, it is clear that the attempt to implement the mega-annexation plan of stolen Palestinian land blocs, recently proposed by MK Eitan Cabel (Haaretz in Hebrew, May 25), would lead to a dramatic escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Applying Israeli sovereignty to the bulk of the settlements, which from the beginning were built as blocs to ensure that a Palestinian state would never be established, would permanently dash the Palestinians hope of ever winning national independence, and would greatly increase their daily oppression and humiliation.

As a result, the Palestinians understandable resistance to national servitude under Israel will be more violent than in the past until it develops into the mother of all intifadas. It is reasonable to assume that Israels response to such developments will be more lethal than ever, and may even include expelling part of the Palestinian population and tightening the noose of military rule around the necks of those who escape the fate of transfer.

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When the resident of the White House is obligated to messianic evangelicals who support the occupation of the land of the Bible by the people of the Bible; when the European Union is weak and divided from within, and when Russia, as usual, refuses to lift a finger on behalf of the Palestinians, the scenario of a second Nakba, or at least some sort of ethnic cleansing, is unlikely to exact too high a price from Israel. It may even pass without a particularly harsh international response.

Indeed, in view of these international circumstances, which benefit the occupation and apartheid in Israel/Palestine, and given the apparent support for the right wing governments annexationism among Labor Party members who identify with Cabels plan  to which the Israel-lovers of Yesh Atid will surely subscribe  the scenario of annexation-apartheid-expulsion doesnt seem all that unrealistic.

This means that the remnants of the left that oppose the occupation and the settlements must begin preparing for life in a new political reality, one in which there is no longer a semblance of temporary military rule over the occupied Palestinian territories, but a South African situation for all intents and purposes, with Israeli citizens and Palestinian subjects in one apartheid state.

In such a reality, the left will no longer have the excuses to explain why it should not publicly, openly support boycotts of and sanctions on Israel until it releases the Palestinian people from national enslavement in their own land. On the contrary, if this horror scenario materializes, every decent Israeli who sees how the state that Theodor Herzl imagined as a model of justice and equality between Jews and non-Jews becomes a bastion of military-theological colonialism will have to stand behind the boycott, divestment and sanctions program. This would necessarily require a reform of the movements goals: from BDS unacceptable attempt to destroy the self-definition of the Israeli Jewish nation, to a demand to realize both Israel and Palestines equal rights to self-determination.

It would be better, however, for the Israeli anti-colonialist left not to wait until apartheid in the occupied territories is legally validated by the Israeli occupier and its evangelical ally. The left must now produce an organized civic group that, out of patriotic concern for Israels national-moral image and for the Zionist enterprise, will begin to publicly and forcefully denounce Israels terrorist policy against the Palestinian people, and make its voice heard both domestically and in the international arena.

This article was originally published by "Haaretz" -

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.

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June 08, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has traditionally been in the 'western' camp. It is politically attached to the United Kingdom and the United States as well as to Saudi Arabia and other Sunni majority Gulf states. The Jordanian King Abdullah II has in the past been hostile to Iran. He was to first to publicly stoke fear of a 'Shia crescent'. But the new Saudi and U.S. plans for 'peace' with Israel are a threat to Jordan and to King Abdullah's personal legitimacy. He needs to change his position. Provided with the right incentives Jordan could, eventually, join the 'resistance' side with Iran, Syria and Hizbullah.

The country ruled by King Abdullah has nearly ten million inhabitants but is relatively poor. It has few natural resources. The generally well educated population attracted some foreign investment in its industry. Many Jordanians work abroad and send remittances. But all that is not enough. The country needs foreign subsidies to keep its standard of living.

The King of Saudi Arabia derives legitimacy from his title as "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in Mecca and Medina. The King of Jordan springs from the thousand year old great Hashemite dynasty. He heads the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (Foundation) and is the custodian of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. This responsibility is the only prominent function left for the Hashemite family. It is the source of King Abdullah's legitimacy.

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The changes in Saudi Arabia's policy towards Israel and the Zionist 'peace plan' the Trump administration develops create a new situation for Jordan. It is put under immense economic pressure to agree to these plans.

Jordan took part in the war on Syria. While Turkey provided support for the "rebels" attacking Syria from the north Jordan played a similar role in the south. Weapon and ammunition supplies from Saudi Arabia and Qatar were shipped through Jordan and smuggled into Syria. The country welcomed the families of the 'rebels' as refugees and provided medical support. The "southern operation room" of the 'rebels', run by the CIA, was hosted in Jordan's capital Amman.

Jordan receives some $1.2 billion per year in military and economic aid from the United States. In earlier years it additionally received $1 to 2 billions from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States. That still was not enough to compensate for the burden of the war. Since 2011 Jordan's public debt increased from 70% to 95% of its GDP. Its budget deficit this year will likely top $1 billion.

This year Saudi Arabia held back. It gave no money for Jordan. With Trump ruling in Washington the U.S. payments are in doubt. Jordan took out a $723 million IMF loan but it came with strings attached. The IMF demands austerity from the Jordan state. Since the beginning of this year taxes on basic food staples increased by 50 to 100 percent. There were five increases of fuel prices. Electricity and water prices were also hiked. All that was not enough. Since last year the Prime Minister of Jordan worked on a new income tax law which would double the number of people who have to pay income tax. It would also introduce harsh measures against tax evaders.

Since May 30 Jordan has seen daily protests, seemingly over rising costs of living and the new income tax law. The protests were led by 33 trade unions who called for a general strike. The call for a strike was followed by many and the protests attracted quite large crowds. They demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister and an end of the income tax plans. Such protests are not especially extraordinary. The usual solution for such a situation is known.

After a few days of protests King Abdullah fired Prime Minister Hani Mulki who had insisted on the tax law. Usually that would have been enough. The people would go home, the law in question would be tweaked or abolished and the government would muddle through.

But not this time. The demonstrations continue. They now include chants against the monarchy. This is unusual. Very unusual.

The economic situation and the income tax law may not be the only explanation for this civil strife. There are rumors that the Saudis, or the CIA, are behind them.

On May 18 the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an extraordinary summit in Turkey to protest against Israel's atrocities in Palestine and Trump's plans for Jerusalem. Many heads of states took part including the President of Iran and the Emir of Qatar. Saudi Arabia and its Emirate ally sent only lower level delegations. The Jordan King had been asked (machine transl.) not to attend the summit. He went anyway:

King Abdullah of Jordan told the Istanbul summit that he rejected any attempt to change the status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites.

That comment went against the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. It went against the Saudi-U.S. 'peace plan' which will hand Jerusalem to the Zionists. But even more important from a Saudi point of view was this picture.

King Abdullah not only shook hands with Iran's President Rohani but the two also held the first top level talks between Jordan and Iran in 15 years:

The Iranian and Jordanian heads of state have reportedly held a brief meeting on the sidelines of an special summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey.

...

King Abdullah II is a pro-Western monarch but Ammans ties with the US and Saudi Arabia have recently been shaken over the issue of Palestine. Riyadhs reported coziness to Israel has worried Jordan which is in charge of the major Muslim shrine complex on the Temple Mount, the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Trump administration and the Saudi Clown Prince Muhammad bin Salman want Jordan to agree to their 'peace plan' with Israel. The Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem would come under Israeli control and would be endangered. Jewish fanatics plan to build a 'third Jewish temple' over the Al-Aqsa mosque. (There is no proof that a first or second temple was ever there.) Any such agreement thus threatens the legitimacy of the Hashemite King.

The lack of financial support from Saudi Arabia and the unusual demonstrations in Jordan are supposed to put pressure on King Abdullah. The Saudis and the U.S. want him to submit under the dirty deal they made with the Zionists. If Abdullah does not go along with the Saudi/U.S. plans he will have to leave. If he goes along he will lose his legitimacy.

There is one alternative. King Abdullah could change sides. He can ask Iran (or Qatar? Or maybe even Russia?) for financial support. A few billions will do. They could come in the form of industrial investments. In exchange for such economic support he would have to commit to the 'resistance' side. He would have to stop his support for the war on Syria. He would have to lower his relations with Saudi Arabia and take a stronger position against Israel.

But Saudi Arabia is still a neighbor of Jordan and rich. Many Jordanians work there. The U.S. protects Jordan from Israel. It is thus unlikely that Abdullah would openly take such a big step towards Iran. But there are probably ways and means to slowly move into a more neutral position.

Wherever the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have started conflicts and wars - in Iraq, Lebanon, Qatar, Yemen and Syria - Iran has won. The Saudi pressure on Jordan might have a similar effect.
Appeasement as Global Policy

June 08, 2018 " Information Clearing House " -

The world is riven with class conflicts in Latin America, political conflicts between the Anglo-Americans and Russians, and economic conflicts between Washington against Europe and Asia.

The conflicts have called into question the capacity of ruling elites to promote growth, to secure international stability and to foster global as co-operation.

To understand the underlying source of conflicts it is essential to identify and unmask the underlying political and economic interests which spread and deepen class, regional and global confrontations.

Latin America: Reforms Which Deform

In recent decades throughout Latin America, rulers have spoken and demanded reforms as essential to stimulate and sustain growth and foster equity and sustainability. The reforms involve implementing structural changes which require large scale privatization to encourage entrepreneurship and end state corruption; deregulation of the economy to stimulate foreign and domestic investment; labor flexibility to free labor markets and increase employment; and lower business taxes. According to the reformers all this will lead to free markets and promote democratic values.

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Over the past thirty years, ruling elites in Latin America have carried out IMF and World Bank structural reforms in two cyclical periods: between 1989-1999 and more recently between 2015-2018. In both cas

es the reforms have led to a series of major economic, political and social deformations.

During the first cycle of reforms, privatization concentrated wealth by transferring public means of production to oligarchs, and increased private monopolies, which deepened inequalities and sharpened class divisions.

Deregulation led to financial speculation, tax evasion, capital flight and public- private corruption.

Reforms deformed the existing class structure provoking social upheavals, which precipitated the collapse of the elite led reforms and the advent of a decade of nationalist populist governments.

The populists restored and expanded social reforms but did not change the political and economic deformations, embedded in the state.

A decade later (2015) the reformers returned to power and restored the regressive free market policies of the previous neo-liberal ruling elite. By 2018 a new cycle of class conflicts flared throughout Brazil and Argentina, threatening to overturn the existing US center free market order.

Anglo America Russophobes as Fake Miracle workers; the Post Christ Resurrections

As part of the propaganda campaign to discredit and isolate Russia, the UK and the Ukraine, stalwart flunkies of Washington, accused Moscow of assassinations by poison and bullets. Both alleged victims appeared live and well in due time!

On March 4, 2018, the Prime Minister of the UK Theresa May claimed that Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by Russian secret agents. Foreign Secretary Boris Bobo Johnson called the poison, the most-deadly agent known to man (sic)  Novichok. According to Terry and Bobo the poison kills in 30 seconds. Two months later Sergei and Yulia were seen taking a stroll in a park.

The fake charges were promoted by the entire Anglo-Americans mass media. The UK proceeded to charge Putin with crimes against humanity , backed additional diplomatic and economic sanctions, increased military spending for homeland defense and urged President Trump to take forceful action. Once the victims rose from the dead the media never questioned the regimes claim of a Russian conspiracy planned at the highest level.

The UK scored a few trivial merit points from Washington, which, however, did not prevent President Trump from slapping a double-digit tariff on British steel and aluminum exports (with more to come)!

The Ukraine joined the line of toadies trying to secure President Trumps approval by cooking up another Russian murder plot. This time Ukraine leaders claimed Kremlin agents assassinated one Arkady Babchenko, an anti-Russian journalist and self-proclaimed exile in Kiev.

On May 29, 2018, Arkady was found murdered or so said the Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and repeated, embellished and circulated by the entire western mass media.

On May 31, a wide-eyed Arkady turned up alive and claiming his resurrection was a planned plot to catch a Russian agent!

Western regimes systematic use of lies, plots and conspiracies are central to the imperial drive for world power.

In Syria, the US accused Damascus of using poisonous gas against its own people in order to justify NATOs terror bombing of Aleppos civilian population!

In Libya, Obama and Clinton claimed President Gaddafi distributed Viagra to his armed forced to rape innocent civilians, precipitating the US-EU terror bombing of the country and rape and murder of President Ghaddafi.

The question is whether western leaders will seek papal recognition of CIA directed resurrections to coincide with Easter?

Appeasement and Trumps Triumph of Will

EU kowtowing to President Trumps grab for global power, has only aroused his desire to dominate their markets, dictate their trade relations and defense spending. Trump tells the EU that his enemies are theirs.

Trump believes in the doctrine of unilateral trade and deals based on the principle that the US decides what you sell, how much you pay, and what you buy. The giant French oil multinational Total, which had promised to invest in Iran ,submitted to Trump and withdrew from its agreement and turned a deaf- ear to the French President

President Macron facing US tariffs on French exports bent his knee to Trump. Paris would support joint efforts to reduce overcapacities, regulate subsidies and protect intellectual property. Trump heard the ring of the EU begging cup and imposed tariffs and demanded more

The EU vowed to retaliate to Trumps tariffs by . . . sucking up to Trumps trade war with China. The European Commission (EC) announced it was launching a case against . . . China! Echoing Trumps allegations that Beijing was committing the crime of insisting (forcing in EU rhetoric) foreign investors transfer technology as part of the basis for doing business.

Trump turned on Mexico and Canada, his flunky allies in NAFTA by slapping both with tariffs.

Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was dismayed after wining and dining Trump in an embarrassing charm offensive, Trump ate, drank, and slapped a tariff on steel and aluminum and threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In response Trudeau cited Canadas century and a half military support for US imperial wars. To no avail!

For Trump, the past is the past. Its time to move ahead and for Canada to buy American.

And when Trudeau talked of imposing reciprocal tariffs on US exports, Trump countered by threatening to break all trading agreements. At which point Trudeau proposed further negotiations.

Trumps tariff on Mexican steel and aluminum exports evoked the robust response of a true Treaty lackey  the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto claimed negotiations were continuing and US companies were involved!

The harder Trump pushed, the greater the retreat of his EU and North American allies. Facing rhetorical retaliation from the EU, Trump tweeted German Prime Minister Merkles nose out of shape, by threatening to slap Germany with car tariffs worth $20 billion dollars.

The German Prime Minister and the head of Volkswagen broke ranks with the EU, and forgot all talk of retaliation and EU unity. They embraced negotiations and proposed bilateral trans-Atlantic agreements based on Trumps terms!

Trump is not improvising, nor is he erratic. He wields power; he knows that his competitors spinelessness is accompanied by mutual back-stabbing and he is exploiting their appeasement, by encouraging their belly crawling.

President Trump exhibits a will to power.

Appeasement in the nineteen thirties allowed Germany to defeat and occupy Europe. President Trump ,in the 21st century. is defeating the EU and conquering its markets.

Conclusion

The language of politics is the politics of dominant world powers. Trumps reforms have deformed all past and present treaties,alliances and agreements in his drive for world domination.

While the UK and the Ukraine run errands, fabricating Russian assassinations and resurrecting victims, Trump has his eyes on the prize; the worlds biggest markets  the EU and China.

Yes, Trump may thank the Canadians for dying for US wars in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, but he tells Prime Minister Trudeau  business is business Justin, now bend over and sing, God Bless America.

The same goes for Theresa May and Boris Johnson: close your eyes and enjoy watching our tariffs close steel mills now and auto plants tomorrow.

Trump knows his prostrate allies. He moralizes: the more you screw them the better they like it!

Thats the Trump doctrine. And its not only his personal views: the stock market loves it; the Silicon billionaires and the manufacturers are cashing in on protection at home and free markets overseas.

Trump will be entertained by the quartet of Trudeau, Macron, Merkel and May who will perform an original composition; Making America Strong in a World of Wimps.
. Dead in the Water How Israel committed the cold blooded murder of US sailors. June 8, 1967: USS Liberty attacked by Israel in international waters During the Six-Day War, 06 08, Israel attacked and nearly sank the USS Liberty belonging to its closest ally, the USA. Thirty-four American servicemen were killed in the two-hour assault by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats. BBC Four Investigative Report: Broadcast Saturday 17 May 2003 Video Runtime 69 Minutes Israel claimed that the whole affair had been a tragic accident based on mistaken identification of the ship. The American government accepted the explanation. For more than 30 years many people have disbelieved the official explanation but have been unable to rebut it convincingly. Now, Dead in the Water uses startling new evidence to reveal the truth behind the seemingly inexplicable attack. The film combines dramatic reconstruction of the events, with new access to former officers in the US and Israeli armed forces and intelligence services who have decided to give their own version of events. Interviews include President Lyndon Johnson's Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara, former head of the Israeli navy Admiral Shlomo Errell and members of the USS Liberty crew. See also: Lyndon Johnson ordered cover-up : A former navy lawyer who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former president Johnson and McNamara told those heading the navy's inquiry to "conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary." New charges vs. Israel in '67 ship attack: Coming now, the evidence becomes part of a controversy over Israelis influence in Washington and whether it has tilted the Bush administration toward Jerusalem. More on this topic New comment section added June 08, 2018 Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. We ask that you treat others with respect. Take a moment to read the following - Comment Policy - What Or Who is Information Clearing House and Purpose and Intent of this website: It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. HOME COPYRIGHT NOTICE
It is no more news that Wizkid and Shatta Wale are sworn enemies so one can only wonder how the Ghana meets Naija 2018 musical concert would play out today, as Wizkid storms Ghana.

The international act amongst others like Mayorkun, Mr Eazi etc on the Nigerian side and Stonebwoy, Kidi, Kuami Eugene, Patapaa, on the Ghanaian side are scheduled to perform at the event.

Shatta Wale, one of the famous artiste in Ghana at the moment who had featured in the past editions to the surprise of most fans was missing Is it because Wikid is on the list? most questioned because rumors went around that, Wizkid as part of his condition to be part of this years edition requested Shatta to be omitted before he represents.

However, Nana Aba Anamoah, the newscaster who is relatively close to the organizers, seems to have given a hint as to what to expect from this years edition.

In a tweet, the mother of one dropped a hearsay, indicating that, Shatta Wale is the surprise act for tonight.

She wrote;

My boy @shattawalegh, I hear say you be special guest for Ghana meets Naija. I beg waaaa bring along the gringo hat. I wan take complete my Shada! #GhanameetsNaija18

With the current speculation, if indeed Shatta Wale represents, fans would be concerned as to how he will react when he sees Wizkid and vice versa.

What if they get to share the stage together?
Ifu Ennada who has been up and about promoting her new haircare line took to her Instagram page to pour encomiums on Alex, revealing how the words Alex said to her recently put her in order as she acknowledged her good and friendly heart.

The actress wrote:

This one is a motivational speaker. A real Amazon. Young but mighty. Alex is truly unusual.

I was running mad with operations for @beautifuennadaselling out comes with alot of workloadbut her words have put me in order.

Alex is one of the sweetest people I know. Shes there for everyone if you open up to her. Shes far more intelligent than her age and ahead of her time.

I have a sister in @alex_unusual . God bless you dear. I love you so much.

The Enugu state born was perplexed about the gesture and took to the comment section to reply.

She wrote:

Leave a Comment

comments
Here is what Nollywood actor Mike Godson said about his encounter with a couple disturbing him with sensual sounds on board of an international flight.

On this flight, a man in his 60s was making funny adult sounds behind my seat. I suspected something was going on but wasnt sure, bcoz the lights were turned off! I stood up pretending i was going to use the lavatory and suddenly they both began to snore like they had been sleeping all the while.

Please if you are the type that makes a funny sound with your woman on board a flight, could you kindly wait until the flight reaches its destination so you can have your woman all to your self? Bcoz some people like my self dont sleep when such happens on board! My ears become very very sensitive to any type of sexual weird sounds around me, just to identify the people involve when the plane lands.
Nollywood producer and actor, Tchidi Chikere and his wife, actress, Nuella Njubigbo held their white wedding in Lagos today.

The wedding ceremony between Tchidi Chikere and Nuella Njubigbo took place at Catholic Church of Transfiguration, VGC, Lagos.

Here are photos below;

Nollywood actress, Nuella Njubigbo and popular producer cum director, Tchidi Chikere held their traditional marriage in 2014, after the film maker got separated from his estranged wife, Sophia.

In a statement she issued through her publicist, BigSam Media, Nuella said, she was following her heart. Her statement read;

Let me start by confirming some of the rumours you may have heard. Yes, the traditional marriage rites between Tchidi Chikere and I will be performed (today) soon. This, was not the way we imagined or planned it, but as they say, nobody has a crystal ball to tell where or who we end up with. Life is a dice.

At the time the controversies surrounding his separation/divorce from his ex wife was going on, I definitely was not in that space where some story writers said, I was. I was busy doing other things with my life, other preoccupations, a relationship (I thought would lead to marriage), and my acting career. Things happened, my relationship packed up and we went our separate ways. I moved on.

Tchidi and I have always been friends.We trade in the same career, but we never crossed that line (we never dated), not to talk of me getting pregnant for him ( Im presently not pregnant as still being written) sometimes Its really tiring confirming or refuting some of these rumors. I know some naysayers would still believe what they have made up their minds to believe and stick to it; But the truth is, I am not making this statement for those set of people, neither am I making it to get people on my side. This statement goes out to those who love me and truly care about me and the way I live my life, and to my very reliable and supportive fans who have been asking questions and deserve to know the truth. In the past two years, Tchidi and I worked more, we got closer and more friendly. We were both single and I began to understand and see the real him. Needless to say that I also began to really, really like this real person I was getting to know more and more with every passing day.

Then it happened, our hearts clicked. Well, may be the flying rumours contributed to this, and made me look more his way, or it could have been part of life we have no control over. Suffice this to say, he proposed to me a while ago and after very careful thought and consideration on every side I said yes. Would I say no because of what people would say and damn where my heart led me to? Just like Bill Cosby said, the key to failure is trying to please everybody. I chose not to take that route, instead Im following my heart. My heart is remarkably at peace with this decision, and I am willing to take this leap of faith which every married woman has taken.

Where this love will lead me I cannot say, I am not God, but, I have hope, faith and believe that it will lead me to a good place. Every one of us in this life deserves a chance to be happy. I am taking my own chance. This is the only statement I am making on this matter, any other one after this is not from me. I cant help what people say or write, but please be careful about what you listen to or read and believe. For those who wish me the best, I wish the very best, for those who dont, I leave you to God who sees and knows all things.

-Gistreel
Ocherome Nnanna, the Chairman Editorial Board of Vanguard Newspaper has turned heads with his careless statement.

This has caused the media company to release its official statement on the hateful and tribalistic speech.

Vanguard has disassociated itself from Ocherome Nnannas viral comment and reminded the general public of its brand promise to deliver the news as it is, without favour or contempt for a particular tribe.

Without disclosing details as to the sanction or punishment which awaits or currently meted on Nnanna, the newspaper pledged its commitment to serve the public, as it noted that his comment was private and indeed unnecessary.

Check out the statement here:

Where Nnanna stated that Yorubas are sophisticated morons;

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According to trending report, a witch which reportedly disguises as a cat, was k-illed yesterday morning, in Oke Afa area of Lagos State, after it was spotted in the bonnet of a car taken for repair at a mechanic workshop.

The witch was killed by its victims after the mechanic raised an alarm after spotting it sleeping peacefully inside the bonnet, claimed that they had been having many sleepless nights due to the evil manipulation of the cat.

The incident brought many residents of the area to the scene. Here are photos below;

In an interview few years ago, Chief David Edebiri, the Esogban of Benin Kingdom in Edo State, who oversees operations of witches and wizards among other traditional functions spoke to Vanguards Niger-Delta Life on his role as the departmental head of witches and wizards in the monarchy.

Power of witches

Chief Edebiri disclosed that unknown to many, witches run government and once they make decision, it is binding all over without the people knowing how. The Bini chief, who recalled that witches were very vicious before now in the kingdom, said a traditional parliamentary action was endorsed by our great, great grandfathers to put together a group, which he (Edebiri) is presently the leader, to tame their excesses.

Deactivation of witches

He said: What I am doing as the Esogban is a social service to the community. It was enacted by our great, great grandfathers. When you hear of witch-hunt in England, France, if anybody is suspected to be a witch, the person will be burnt alive and destroyed, similar things were happening here, but the elders now said no, instead of killing these people or sending them to the evil forest, why not look for a way to reform them and bring them back to the society.

Higher power

I think that was why this structure was put up. It was a legislative action for social development of the people. When these people come here, because of predominant superior power, they confess that they are witches or wizards and confess all the destructions that they have been involved in, Edebiri asserted. His words, Then we look for a way to discipline them. You cannot remove them from being a witch or wizard, but after coming here they can be disabled from committing havoc or using the power for any dangerous thing.So when these people were brought like that and they were disabled, they will be taken back to the society and no one will call them wizards again. First, their coven will not admit them anymore, secondly that power has been completely taken away from them.

How I acquired my power

Asked where he acquired the authority he uses to tame suspected witches and wizards, Chief Edebiri, Ah, it is the power of God Almighty and that of the Oba of Benin (laughter). We have averted much havoc that these people would have caused in Benin Kingdom.

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The Vietnamese leader was welcomed at the airport by Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Dominic LeBlanc, officials from Quebec State and Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Nguyen Duc Hoa.



The G7 Outreach Summit will be held in Charlevoix, Quebec on June 8th and 9th with the participation of leaders of the worlds seven advanced economies, namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, and several guests, including Vietnam.

The agenda of this years summit focuses on gender equality and women empowerment, investment in inclusive growth, preparations to adapt to job placements in future, cooperation to respond to climate change and protect oceans, and the building of a more peaceful and safer world.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (front, second, left) is welcomed at Jean  Lesage Airport in Quebec (Photo: VNA)



In addition to participating in the G7 Outreach Summit, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will attend a display of smart technology for the future at the Laval University and meet with leaders of Quebec State.

He also plans to attend and address a Vietnam - Canada business seminar and meet with leaders of several countries participating in the G7 Summit and the G7 Outreach Summit.

On June 10th, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will welcome and hold talks with his Vietnamese counterpart.

Vietnam and Canada established diplomatic ties in 1973 and began the exchange of high-ranking delegations since 1994. During a visit by Vietnams Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in September 2014, the foreign ministers of Vietnam and Canada signed a Letter of Intent on consolidating and boosting bilateral relations. In September 2016, when Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion visited Vietnam, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation in seven fields mentioned in the Letter of Intent, with a focus on trade-investment and education-training.

On the occasion of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus official visit to Vietnam in November 2017, the two countries issued a joint statement on the establishment of their comprehensive partnership, which set forth basic principles for bilateral relations along with orientations and measures to foster bilateral partnership in the seven fields of politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, development cooperation, defence-security, culture-education, science-technology, and people-to-people exchange.

Vietnam is currently Canadas biggest trade partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with bilateral trade reaching nearly USD5 billion in 2017. Canada ranks 14th among 112 nations and territories investing in Vietnam with 149 projects worth a total of USD4.1 billion.

Recently, Canada announced official development assistance (ODA) for a project to develop cooperatives in Vietnam, another to help the country respond to climate change and two others on food safety.

Bilateral cooperation in education and training is enjoying strong growth, with the number of Vietnamese students in Canada rising twofold in the past 10 years to 12,000, the largest among ASEAN countries./.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), though shrimp export in the first four months grew by 13.8 percent annually to over USD1 billion, the April figure dropped by 0.4 percent year-on-year, reaching over USD275 million.

Last year, while shrimp export to countries surged, it fell by 8 percent from 2016 in the US market, partly due to high anti-dumping tax.

In early March, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced preliminary results of anti-dumping tax on Vietnamese shrimp during the 12th period of review from February 1st, 2016 to January 31st, 2017, amounting to 25.39 percent, much higher than the previous reviews.

Though lawyers discovered DOCs miscalculations and preliminary results only serve as a reference, the ruling worried both sellers and buyers.

Source: VNA



In April 2018, shrimp was added to the SIMP by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Accordingly, shrimp importers must fully abide by SIMPs requirements by December 31st, 2018.

Specifically, they must be US citizens with International Fisheries Trade Permit from NOAA, declare necessary data to ensure legal imports. Such data must be kept within two years.

VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said the US has high demand for aquatic products, especially shrimp. It imports nearly 600,000 tonnes of shrimp for domestic consumption.

However, Vietnams shrimp export to the US only accounts for 10 percent annually, or around 60,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, Vietnam could ship 150,000 tonnes to the country so that firms need to improve quality and competitiveness to expand their market share.

VASEP has recently sent a document to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development suggesting measures for sustainable shrimp production and export. It asked the government to heed high-level diplomatic activities so that the US could rapidly lift trade barriers, especially anti-dumping taxes on shrimp./.


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In a recent interview with reporters from Vietnam News Agency in Canada, Bobiash said relations between the two countries have been developing in various fields from politics and diplomacy to trade, education and people-to-people exchanges.

One of the biggest milestones in the bilateral ties was the official visit to Vietnam by Prime Minister Trudeau in 2017, during which the two nations leaders signed an agreement to lift bilateral ties to a comprehensive partnership.

This year, Vietnam and Canada are celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

The invitation of Prime Minister Trudeau to Prime Minister Phuc to attend the summit demonstrates the desire of Canada to boost better relations with Vietnam, Bobiash said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) hosts a banquet for Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his official visit to Vietnam in 2017 (Photo: VNA)



The Vietnamese community in Canada now numbers more than 240,000 people and they have made active contributions to the local economy, he said.

There are a lot of cooperation opportunities in education with the increasing number of Vietnamese students in Canada.

The official also expressed his impressions of Vietnams economic growth  which is estimated at more than 6 percent annually.

The Southeast Asian country has a strongly growing middle class and big demand for made-in-Canada products.

Bobiash said he is willing to back win-win trade ties between the two countries.

Two-way trade exceeds 6 billion CAD at present, he said, adding that Vietnam is an important market for Canadian goods such as buckwheat, canola oil, farm produce and aquatic products.

Vice versa, Canada imports a lot of outsourced products from Vietnam such as mobile phones and electronic equipment.

The official affirmed that the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that Vietnam and Canada are members will open up opportunities for the two countries to exchange trade of their products.

The CPTPP will expand two-way trade flows by reducing tariffs on Canadian exports, particularly agricultural products. It will also create an equal playing ground for Vietnamese exports, he said, adding the opening of markets for each other is a win-win solution that facilitates trade.

According to Bobiash, a number of important topics will be discussed at the G7 Outreach Summit, affecting all nations in the world, not only Canada and other G7 members.

He pointed to two most relevant topics to Vietnam including ocean and climate change and building a safer and peaceful world.

Cooperation between Vietnam and Canada will bring mutual benefits especially when promoted within the framework of the CPTPP and the comprehensive partnership agreement signed between their leaders in November 2017 in Vietnam, he added./.
UPDATE: A statement from the Lake County District Attorney's office has shed more light on the accidental shooting incident on Thursday.

Deputies received a 911 call around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday for a request of medical assistance at a house on Bowens Lane in Silver Lake. When the deputies arrived, they found a 13-year-old boy that had been shot in the chest. Although responders tried administering CPR, the boy died at the scene.

Investigation by the Lake County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) and Oregon State Police (OSP) revealed that the gun was fired by another 13-year-old boythe victim's best friend. Evidence points to an accidental shooting, but the DA's office says that the investigation is ongoing at this time.

(Updated as of 4:15 p.m. on Friday, June 8)

CHRISTMAS VALLEY, Ore.  The communities of North Lake County are coming together after the accidental shooting death of a 13-year-old boy on Thursday.

Although few details have been officially released regarding the incident, Executive Director Trace Wonser of the Lake District Wellness Center confirmed that the shooting death was considered accidental, calling it a "terrible event."

"The Lake District Wellness Center staff send our support, thoughts, and prayers to the Christmas Valley community regarding the recent tragedy," Wonser said in a statement.

Staff with the North Lake Clinic in Christmas Valley announced on Friday that they would be opening their doors both Friday and Saturday afternoons to provide "free and confidential" mental health services to those affected by the tragedy.

Wonser also said that the Wellness Center would be sending trained clinicians to Christmas Valley on Monday to provide support for anyone in need.

Meanwhile, the North Lake School District announced that they would be picking up students for a gathering on Monday, offering counseling and activities to help students through the grieving process.

This is a developing story, and we will be updating the article as more information on the incident emerges. Quoted Facebook posts from North Lake Schools regarding details on the mental health services and District response may be viewed below.

From North Lake School District:

"North Lake School is providing an opportunity for our youth that have been impacted by the death of one of our own students to come together to share memories, thoughts and just have time to be together as classmates. We will have counseling available and other activities to help the grieving process. Lunch and snacks will be provided. This will take place at the school on Monday June 11, from 10-2 pm.

We will provide transportation from our three communities. Buses will pick up students at single sites, at the local post offices in Fort Rock, Christmas Valley and Silver Lake. Pickups will start at 9:30 am at each site. At approximately 2:00 pm buses will leave the school to return students to the same locations."

From Hayley Roark:

"For any teens or adults who need someone to talk to that are affected by the recent tragedy in North Lake county... We will be providing Mental Health Services at the North Lake Annex on Friday June 8 between the hours of 1 and 5:30 pm and Saturday June 9 between the hours of 12 pm and 4 pm. These services will be free and confidential, no appointment necessary. The address is 87127 Christmas Valley Hwy. Christmas Valley Oregon.

For after hours services please call 541-947-6021. Teens can also contact the Oregon Youth Line through text - Teen2Teen 839863 or call 877-968-8491."
MEDFORD, Ore.  The apparent suicides of celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade may be recent and notable, but they also serve to highlight an issue that affects people from all walks of life, every day, all across the world.

However, there are always places to go and people to speak to for help.

Locally, Jackson County mental health officials want to remind members of the community that there are endless resources for anyone struggling with mental illness or suicidal thoughts.

Jackson County Mental Health has therapists available 24/7. They will see anybody who walks in, regardless of insurance, they can be free based on the individual's need, and services can also be reached over the phone.

Meanwhile, Jackson County Mental Health Services will host a suicide prevention training on Tuesday. They aim to focus on how a community can react in a healthy way after a suicide, and prevent more from happening. They will also provide resources for survivors of suicide. The training is set for 1-5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12 at the Health and Human Services building on S Holly Street.

According to the Center for Disease Control, Oregon has seen almost a 30 percent increase in suicides since 1999. Those statistics are worst in rural counties.

There are several things to watch for in a person who may be suicidal:

- Talking about committing suicide.

- Having trouble eating or sleeping.

- Drastic changes in behavior.

- Withdrawing from friends.

- Giving away prized possessions.

Veterans are one of the groups most affected by suicide. The Veterans' Administration (VA) says that about 20 veterans commit suicide per day, and 70 percent of veterans who take their lives are not regular users of the VA.

Here are some important phone numbers:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

National Crisis Text Line: 741741

Jackson County 24-Hour Crisis Hotline: 54-774-8201
Mehmed Ozkan, rector of Bogazici University, addresses the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 8, 2018. A photo exhibition was held on Friday at Istanbul's Bogazici University to showcase the achievements made by the Chinese city of Shanghai in its reform and opening up over the past 40 years. (Xinhua/He Canling)

ISTANBUL, June 8 (Xinhua) -- A photo exhibition was held on Friday at Istanbul's Bogazici University to showcase the achievements made by the Chinese city of Shanghai in its reform and opening up over the past 40 years.

A total of 78 photos were on display, highlighting the progress made by Shanghai, China's top economic center, in the fields of urban construction, culture, education, technology and economy.

Shanghai was twinned with Istanbul as sister cities in 1989, while Bogazici University co-established a Confucius Institute with Shanghai University in 2008, as part of the cooperation between the two cities.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition, Mehmed Ozkan, rector of Bogazici University, said that the exhibition shows how successful the Chinese city has been in implementing the policy of reform and opening up in the past four decades.

He said his university did not select Shanghai by coincidence, because the city was known as a gateway of China to the rest of the world.

Jin Donghan, president of Shanghai University, highly spoke of the joint researches, exchanges of students and faculty, and many other activities in the field of language teaching and cultural exchange carried out through the Confucius Institute in the last decade.

Ying Yong, mayor of Shanghai who is on a visit to Turkey, Huseyin Eren, adviser to the Istanbul mayor, and Chinese Consul General in Istanbul Cui Wei also attended the opening ceremony.

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A girl smiles under a large rainbow flag during the gay pride parade in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, June 9, 2018. People taking part in the gay pride parade in the Romanian capital demanded more rights and acceptance for same-sex couples. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
It is part of the cooperation between businesses in the Netherlands and Lam Dong to develop sustainable agriculture. The signing is within the framework of the Dutch Day in Da Lat, featuring a series of event to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Under the new agreement, Rijk Zwaan will perform research and breeding activities to create new vegetable varieties. It will also share knowledge with local growers and other stakeholders to maximise the potential of its vegetable varieties and contribute to the overall improvement of the vegetable growing industry. The Dutch company also aims to help develop protected cropping and enable growers to reduce the use of agrochemicals through improved pest and disease resistance and using new growing techniques such as hydroponics.

Rijk Zwaan is investigating the possibilities of establishing a research and development centre in Lam Dong that could contribute to the selection and development of new varieties which meet the needs of growers and consumers in Vietnam.

Lam Dong's agricultural sector is set to join the evaluation of Rijk Zwaan's new vegetable varieties research and make recommendations to ensure that the best vegetable varieties are put into production, as well as organising seminars and training courses to transfer advanced cultivation techniques.

Lam Dong and Da Lat have been praised by the Dutch side as an agriculture hotspot, supplying vegetables and flowers to big cities in Vietnam. Since the arrival of foreign firms, Lam Dong has emerged as a leading example for hi-tech agriculture, with nearly 50,000 hectares under hi-tech agricultural methods which amounts to 18% of the provinces land for production.

The panel discussion at the talk on sustainable food production in Vietnam held in Da Lat on June 8. (Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Vietnam)

The same day, a talk show on sustainable food production in Vietnam was held in Da Lat under the theme Where does our food come from?  Dutch solutions for sustainable food production in Vietnam. The event offered a chance for Dutch and Vietnamese businesses to exchange experiences in applying Dutch technologies and techniques in the context of Vietnam to boost the training of human resources in the fruit and vegetable sector and promote solutions for the sustainable development of vegetables and flowers.

Earlier, the Dutch Day in Da Lat kicked off with a meeting between Vice Chairman of Lam Dong province Peoples Committee, Pham S, and a delegation of Dutch companies operating in the province led by Consul General of the Netherlands, Carel Richter.

Vice Chairman Pham S stressed that Lam Dong approved a plan on sustainable agriculture production chains, aiming to have 90% of the chains products consumed through contracts. From the Dutch side, Richter informed Pham S about the progress of the R&D farm on vegetable breeding and seed production of the Rijkzwaan company, as well as the development of Fresh Academy with its exclusive training on agricultural practices and agribusiness. As the worlds second biggest exporter of agrofood the Netherlands will continue to share its knowledge and experiences with Vietnam and with Lam Dong in particular. Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to working alongside each other for mutual benefits.

A range of activities will be held in Da Lat this weekend under the Dutch Day, such as a flash mob dance from Dutch Lady dairy company, a large bike ride carrying the logo and messages of the 45 years celebrations with about 100 participants creating an orange spring flowing around Xuan Huong lake, a pop-up museum with 16 masterpieces by Dutch painters, along with other activities like mini quiz, food tasting, and story-telling.

The next destinations of Dutch Days will be Hai Phong in September and Can Tho in November.
The Vietnamese PM, who is on a State visit to the North American country from June 8-10, spoke to investors attending the Vietnam-Canada Business Roundtable held in Quebec, Canada on the afternoon of June 8 (local time).

Discussing Vietnams development, PM Phuc pointed out a series of Vietnamese economic records, such as its high economic growth, export-import turnover reaching US$425 billion, and foreign investment over US$37 billion in 2017. Vietnam is a large purchasing power market with average income at purchasing power parity of US$6,800. Foreign associations such as Eurocham, Jetro, Amcham and Kocham consider Vietnam a priority investment destination in ASEAN. Many transnational corporations choose Vietnam as a strategic manufacturing hub to connect to global supply chains.

He said he hoped that the Quebec business community in particular and the Canadian business community in general will be active partners in Vietnam's development process, adding that in March Vietnam and Canada signed and are ratifying the CPTPP. Accordingly, Vietnam commits to eliminating nearly 100% of its tariff lines, of which 65.8% will be marked down to zero immediately upon the CPTPP taking effect, creating favourable conditions for Canada's major export items to Vietnam, including salmon, beef and lobster.

The PM said that Vietnam is speeding up the restructuring of its economy, especially the restructuring of State-owned enterprises, including important ones operating in aviation, electricity, oil and gas, telecommunications and transport infrastructure.

"I think this process is a good opportunity for international investors, including those from Canada and the city of Quebec, to buy shares and become strategic shareholders of Vietnam," PM Phuc said, giving the example of the Vietnamese authorities recent issuance of an investment licence for a solar energy project worth US$150 million in Ninh Thuan province with the participation of Canadian investors.

The Vietnamese top leader affirmed that Vietnam considers Canada as an important partner in the Americas. The two countries' economies have great potential, which are highly complementary to each other rather than competitive, he affirmed.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc calls for further Canadian investment into Vietnam. (Photo: VGP)

PM Phuc also pointed out that the current bilateral trade turnover of over US$6 billion has not met the demand and US$3.5 billion in investment has not met the capacity of Canadian investors in Vietnam. He expressed his hope that Quebec, a world famous city with many famous investors, would have many projects in Vietnam in the near future. "The Vietnamese government and people are always open to welcoming you and creating the conditions for you to succeed," he pledged.

Welcoming PM Phuc and Vietnamese businesses to Quebec, the citys mayor, Regis Labeaume, discussed his city and its business communitys dynamism, which opens up opportunities to cooperate with Vietnamese enterprises. In particular, he highlighted Canadas strengths in electronics, energy, environment, materials, financial services, life sciences and start-ups.

Vincent Joli-Coeur, Vice Chairman of the National Bank of Canada, praised Vietnam's reforms and innovations over the past 30 years. He also expressed his optimism about the economic development and investment opportunities in Vietnam.

At the event, PM Phuc directly responded to questions from Canadian businesses and witnessed the exchange of bilateral cooperation in science, technology, aviation, education and training between the two sides.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc witnesses the exchange of cooperation agreements between the two sides in the areas of science, technology, aviation, education and training. (Photo: VGP)
JUNCTION CITY, Ore. -- A high school student is accused of threatening gun violence against his classmates, although he told authorities it was all just a joke.

Police say staff at Junction City High School contacted them late Friday afternoon. They allegedly showed investigators a Snapchat photo of the male student posing with a gun.

The caption on the photo allegedly read: "Don't come to school tomorrow."

Police say they immediately went to the suspect's home and said the student was cooperative. He reportedly told investigators that the photo was a joke and he had no intention of harming anybody.

Police said the weapon in the photo turned out to be an air-powered BB gun.

The student was arrested and taken to the Lane County juvenile detention center on charges of disorderly conduct and harassment.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Officials in Oregon's most populous county have filed a lawsuit against the administration of President Donald Trump, saying they aim to protect funding for sex education programs.

The lawsuit, filed Friday by Multnomah County in U.S. District Court, seeks to broadly block new guidelines from being used to distribute federal sex education funds, alleging they promote abstinence-based programs in violation of federal and state laws requiring funding go to programs proven to work.

If successful, the lawsuit could result in an injunction blocking the new guidelines nationwide, stopping them from being applied to any county or group asking for money from the program's main funding source.

The Department of Health and Human Services distributes the funds and is the main target of the lawsuit. A statement on the agency's website said the new guidelines would help fund more programs.
EUGENE, Ore.  A man accused of attacking his parents, setting their house on fire and mowing down pedestrians in Eugene and Springfield has been found fit to stand trial.

Three people and two dogs were killed in the rampage Michael Bryant is accused of going on in November 2015.

On Friday, Lane County Circuit Court Judge Ilisa Rooke-Ley ruled Bryant is now able to aid and assist in his own defense based on a psychological evaluation from Oregon State Hospital.

Bryant has been in the institution since July 2016 when he was found unfit to stand trial due to a psychotic disorder. His psychiatrist and other hospital staff want him to remain in Oregon State Hospital for now because they believing moving him to jail would jeopardize his mental competency.

On November 15, 2015, police said an ongoing dispute between Bryant and his parents erupted into violence in their home in the 1400 block of Kellogg Street in Springfield.

Officers said he attacked his parents, killing his father, Jefferson Bryant, and their two dogs, and injuring his mother, Elizabeth Bryant. They said he then set the house on fire.

Bryant is accused of then stealing his parents car and striking and killing Richard Bates in Springfield. Police said he then hit a couple in Eugene, killing Marc Sanford and injuring Lorre Sanford.

A trial date has not been set yet for Bryant, who has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, animal abuse and arson.

A hearing is set for July 19, but prosecutors said Bryant may not return to Eugene from the hospital for that proceeding.
UPDATE: City officials with Manly say people can resume using water normally after 3pm.

MANLY, Iowa  Residents of Manly and Nora Springs are being asked to reduce water usage.

The towns say there are issues with the sanitary sewer system backing up due to flooding.

They are asking residents to reduce the water usage until further notice.

Storm coverage: Flooding photos in north Iowa.

Storm coverage: Drone footage captures Mason City flooding.
Flood Warning

Areas Affected: Cerro Gordo

NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa)

The National Weather Service in Des Moines has issued a

* Flood Warning for... Cerro Gordo County in north central Iowa...

* Until 130 PM CDT Saturday.

Storm coverage: Flooding photos in north Iowa

Storm coverage: Residents in Manly, Nora Springs asked to reduce water usage

Storm coverage: Flood warning in effect until Saturday

Storm coverage: Drone footage captures flooding

Storm coverage: 3 rescued from Mason City apartment complex

Storm coverage: 2 Mason City apartment complexes evacuated

* Doppler radar and automated rain gauges showed that heavy rain had fallen over the area last night and early this morning with widespread rain totals of 2 to 4 inches across the county with close to 6 inches in a few places in the northeastern part of the county. Cerro Gordo Law Enforcement and media reports show flooding ongoing in Mason City with impacts expected to continue through the afternoon and possibly into tonight.

* Some locations that will experience flooding include... Mason City, Nora Springs, Rockwell, Mason City Municipal Airport, Clear Lake, Ventura, Thornton, Plymouth, Meservey, Swaledale, Rock Falls, Burchinal, Portland, McIntosh Woods State Park and Clear Lake State Park.

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.

Flash Flood Warning

Areas Affected: Cerro Gordo; Worth

NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa)

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 PM CDT FOR SOUTHERN WORTH AND CERRO GORDO COUNTIES... At 1020 AM CDT, local law enforcement reported several county roads closed with a few county roads washed out. Widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain has fallen over this area with isolated amounts around 5 inches. Flash flooding is occurring in some locations already. Rain is beginning to end over the western part of the warned area and will end in the next hour or so over the rest of the warned area. Despite this, flooding may continue until later this morning or early this afternoon. Some locations that will experience flooding include... Mason City, Nora Springs, Manly, Rockwell, Mason City Municipal Airport, Clear Lake, Ventura, Thornton, Plymouth, Fertile, Kensett, Meservey, Grafton, Hanlontown, Swaledale, Rock Falls, Burchinal, Portland, Bolan and McIntosh Woods State Park. This includes Interstate 35 between mile markers 178 and 209.

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.

Flood Warning

Areas Affected: Floyd; Mitchell

NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa)

...A FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 500 PM CDT FOR MITCHELL AND FLOYD COUNTIES... Although rain has ended in parts of northern Iowa, area creeks and streams remain high in parts of Mitchell and Floyd Counties. Rock Creek and Slough Creek are just some of the waterways that are experiencing flooding this afternoon. An estimated 3 to 5 inches of rain has fallen. Some secondary roads are closed or have water over them. Never cross a flooded roadway. The good news there will be a break in the rainfall going into this evening.

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Excessive runoff from heavy rainfall is causing flooding of small creeks and streams, country roads, farmland, and other low lying spots.
ALBERT LEA, Minn. -- Albert Lea Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Laskowske tells KIMT that the lifespan of fire stations is around 30-50 years, and the Albert Lea fire department is in its 51st year at their current station.

Mankato-based company Brunton Architects and Engineers gave the fire department an artist rendering of the new station's design this week.

The firefighters collaborated with the company in the design process to make sure they have everything they need, including a larger apparatus bay, office spaces, and possibly an emergency operation room.

"We want to make sure we're getting everything we need for the next 100 years so we're not having to, 10-15 years from now, asking for an addition, asking to remodel, things like that. We want to make sure we're getting all the stuff in there for the future, " explains Laskowske.

There are still some tweaks that need to be made to the design and the city needs to decide between two locations for the new station site before they can move forward with the project.
According to official statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the total value of goods exchanged between Vietnam and the G7 (including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States and Canada) in 2017 reached US$113 billion, up 9.5% over 2016 and accounting for more than a quarter of the total import and export turnover.

The total export turnover of Vietnamese enterprises to the G7 market reached US$78.98 billion, an increase of 8.4% (equivalent to US$6.13 billion) compared to a year ago, and accounted for 36.7% of Vietnams total export turnover.

In the opposite direction, the total value of goods imported from the G7 member countries was at US$34.03 billion, an increase of 12.3% and accounting for 16% of the total import turnover.

In trade with the G7 in 2017, Vietnam enjoyed a surplus up to US$44.95 billion, greater than the import of goods originating from the G7.

According to the department, Canada, the host country of the G7 Summit this year, ranked seventh in the G7 group and 24th out of more than 200 trading partners of Vietnam in 2017.

In recent years, Canada has always been among Vietnams 25 largest trading partners. In 2017, the total value of imports and exports between Vietnam and Canada reached US$3.52 billion, an increase of 15.3% against the performance in 2016.

In particular, Vietnam's exports to Canada reached US$2.72 billion, up 2.4% over 2016, accounting for 1.3% of the total export value of the country, while imported goods from Canada reached nearly US$800 million, a sharp increase of 102.3% over 2016, accounting for 0.4% of the total.

Statistics from the General Department of Customs in recent years show that Vietnam has always enjoyed a trade surplus over Canada. The figure steadily increased during the 2011-2016 period. However, in 2017, the trade surplus decreased due to the sharp increase of imports from this market. Specifically, Vietnams strongest surplus to Canada was in 2016 with US$2.26 billion but the surplus shrank to US$1.92 billion a year later.

In the first four months of 2018, the total value of exports and imports between Vietnam and Canada reached US$1.12 billion, up 3.3% over the same period in 2017, in which export turnover reached US$820 million, down 0.6%, and imports at US$303 million, up 15.9%.
ALBERT LEA, Minn. -- DFL- endorsed governor candidate Representative Erin Murphy met with members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, Save Our Hospital, and other community members outside of the Albert Lea Mayo Clinic Health Systems hospital to talk about issues such as rural healthcare.

"I think their work is powerful on behalf of this community. I think it's leading, nation-leading in fact fighting for a community asset like a hospital," comments Murphy on the work of those involved in SEIU and Save Our Hospital.

SEIU member Leslie Kaup attended Murphy's meeting and said, "I feel like it's really important that we support candidates who support us and support our values."

SEIU has endorsed Murphy for governor.

KIMT also reached out to republican Minnesota House Representative Peggy Bennet to get her perspective on rural healthcare. She gave us this statement: "I commend any governor candidate for recognizing the need to support rural health care, especially in areas like ours where we are experiencing first-hand both access and affordability issues. I do however have concerns about policies Rep. Murphy has supported that would hurt rural health careif her plans are anything like the Governor's MinnesotaCare plan, rural hospitals would see lower reimbursement rates which would threaten the viability of smaller hospitals. That would be a step backwards for healthcare in rural communities."
Flash Flood Warning

Areas Affected: Cerro Gordo; Worth

NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa)

The National Weather Service in Des Moines has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for... Worth County in north central Iowa... Cerro Gordo County in north central Iowa...

* Until 1000 PM CDT Saturday.

* At 359 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Radar has estimated up to two inches of rain have already fallen. Flash flooding is expected to begin shortly.

* Some locations that will experience flooding include... Mason City, Nora Springs, Manly, Rockwell, Mason City Municipal Airport, Rice Lake, Clear Lake, Ventura, Thornton, Plymouth, Fertile, Kensett, Grafton, Hanlontown, Joice, Swaledale, Rock Falls, Burchinal, Portland and Bolan. This includes Interstate 35 between mile markers 181 and 212.

Flooding is occurring or is imminent. It is important to know where you are relative to streams, rivers, or creeks which can become killers in heavy rains. Campers and hikers should avoid streams or creeks.

Flash Flood Warning

Areas Affected: Floyd; Mitchell

NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa)

The National Weather Service in La Crosse has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for... Southern Mitchell County in north central Iowa... Floyd County in north central Iowa...

* Until 700 PM CDT

* Thunderstorms approaching the area could produce copious amounts of rain during the next couple hours. With heavy rain in this area earlier this week, flash flooding could occur very quickly late this afternoon.

* Some locations that will experience flooding include... Charles City, Rudd, Floyd, Marble Rock, and Colwell. Additional rainfall amounts of 2 inches are possible in the warned area.
At the function, which was also attended by the leaders of several leading Canadian and Vietnamese enterprises in the fields of banking, aviation, agriculture, manufacturing and digital technology, PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam always pays great attention to developing its relations with Canada.

He expressed his delight at the growth of their bilateral ties, with expanded cooperation in trade and investment. He stated that the Government of Vietnam has created favourable conditions for Canadian and Vietnamese firms to strengthen their partnerships.

The leaders of the Canadian businesses lauded the rapid economic growth of Vietnam as having created abundant opportunities for investors. They showed their interest in a number of promising areas in Vietnam, including infrastructure, manufacturing, and agricultural product processing.

Canadian Governor General Julie Payette showed her respect to PM Phuc by joining in the working lunch with him immediately after hosting a reception for the Vietnamese leader.

Former PM Chretien held that Canada and Vietnam shared high potential in fostering their collaboration, and hopes the two governments back enterprises to strengthen cooperation and seek investment and business opportunities in each others country.

Later the same day, PM Phuc had a meeting with Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), during which he lauded the role of the OECD in supporting and giving consultations to Vietnam in socio-economic development and fulfilling its tasks as the Chair of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Year in 2017.

He reiterated the Governments strong determination to undertake reforms, asking for assistance from the OECD in policy consultation and experience sharing in key areas, thus helping Vietnam to effectively build and implement socio-economic development strategies.

For his part, Gurria congratulated Vietnam on successfully completing its role as the host of the APEC 2017 and thanked the country for closely coordinating with the OECD over the past few years. He also welcomed the drastic measures that PM Phuc has applied to build a facilitative Government, improve competition law, and develop urban areas sustainably.


Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Hai Phong Nguyen Van Tung introduced the potential and strengths of the over 100-year-old port city with more than 2 million people and per capita income of US$3,500 per year.

The spearhead industry of Hai Phong is port, shipbuilding, and services. Total goods handled by the port expand 15% per year averagely, reaching 41.9 million tonnes in the first five months of this year, up 17% over the same period last year, noted Tung.

He said he hopes the Federated States of Micronesia will strengthen cooperation with Hai Phong in maritime economy, especially shipbuilding, sea medical development, and wastewater treatment.

The two sides should exchange delegation, while sharing experience and design specific and efficient cooperation programmes, Tung said.

The same day, the Federated States of Micronesia delegation also visited Pha Rung Shipyard Company in Minh Duc town, Thuy Nguyen district, and toured the Bach Dang Giang historical relic site.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Monday to meet ahead of the president's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the White House said.



Trump and Abe spoke by phone after the U.S. leader canceled his June 12 meeting with Kim, citing "open hostility" from the regime, and then put it back on track.



They "confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," the White House said in a statement.



"The President and Prime Minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."



If held, the Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore will focus on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program. Tokyo has urged Washington to also address the issue of North Korea's short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, which pose a direct threat to Japan, and the unresolved abductions of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang decades ago.



U.S. officials have been in meetings with their North Korean counterparts on the inter-Korean border and in Singapore, raising expectations the summit will be held as planned. (Yonhap)




By Kim Jae-kyoung



SINGAPORE  Two South Korean journalists will be expelled from Singapore Saturday for trespassing into the residence of the North Korean ambassador to Singapore, according to multiple sources, Saturday.



They arrived in Singapore a week ago ahead of the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12.





Police check a car entering the Shangri-La Hotel at the hotel's entrance on June 3. Singapore has tightened security arrangements in and around the Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un summit venue and hotels ahead of the June 12 meeting. / Korea Times photo by Jeong Min-seung
By Kim Rahn



Japan seems to be desperate to get involved in the ongoing nuclear negotiations among the two Koreas and the United States, amid concerns that it has been sidelined in talks ahead of the historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea.



The situation may have resulted because of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hawkish stance toward Pyongyang, as Japan was the only neighboring country that put maximum pressure on the North before having dialogue, even after the reconciliatory atmosphere began.



Abe had a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Monday, and agreed to meet soon before Trump's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, June 12.



Abe may either visit the U.S. before participating in the G7 meeting to be held in Canada, June 8 and 9, or have a summit with Trump in Canada on the sidelines of the gathering.



The two met in Florida, April 17 and 18 as well ahead of the April 27 inter-Korean summit.






By Kim Yoo-chul



Bithumb, Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has joined international initiatives to toughen regulations on cryptocurrency trading by banning the use of its platform in North Korea, Iran and nine other countries.



The cryptocurrency exchange announced it will take additional measures to ensure anti-money laundering compliance with the country's laws.



"Bithumb has shut down all trading operations in 11 countries including Iraq, Iran, North Korea and eight others due to potential money laundering, terrorism funding and other illegal activities which may pose a threat to the global financial system," Bithumb spokesman Choi Yong-soon said.



Choi said the latest measure is mostly aimed at increasing transparency in the exchange's operations, while complying with all regulatory measures.



"The new rule went into effect May 28. Bithumb will take additional steps to make crypto-trading much more transparent," Choi said, adding the exchange will mandate overseas investors to pass an identification verification process if they want to trade crypto assets listed on the exchange.



All named countries are on the Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCT) list made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body that combats money laundering. The NCCT is a list of countries the FATF believes don't have sufficient laws to prevent money laundering.



In a statement, Bithumb added it will no longer accept new investors and users from the 11 NCCT-blacklisted countries, and in addition will disable all accounts of existing users June 21.



The announcement came months after local prosecutors searched Bithumb's headquarters on suspicion of tax evasion, though no criminal activity has yet to be proven. Earlier, the United States asked the financial authorities in Korea, China and Japan to join forces to investigate unregulated exchanges and to check their anti-money laundering records.



The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) welcomed Bithumb's decision and said it was talking with other agencies to soften regulations on cryptocurrency policies.



"The Bank of Korea reached a consensus to view digital tokens as financial assets but not as currencies. The latest step by Bithumb seems to have been encouraged from recent money laundering cases in Japan, wherein millions of dollars were flushed out for illegal activities through anonymous cryptocurrencies named Monero and Dash," an official said.



As a follow-up measure, Bithumb will strictly comply with the government-set "5.5.7 Regulation," in which the FSS mandates a financial institution hire at least 5 percent of its staff as IT experts and 5 percent as data privacy employees, while allocating a minimum of 7 percent of its budget for data protection.



"Twenty-one percent of our employees are IT experts, while the portion of employees managing data privacy policies is 10 percent. Bithumb was spending 8 percent of its total budget on various data protection activities," Choi said.



Bithumb is the world's fifth-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.


By David Tizzard





"Fire! Fire!"



It's OK, we're not in a crowded theatre so the above is completely acceptable.



Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s decision in Schenck v. the United States, which judged that the defendant's opposition to the draft during World War I was not protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, still reverberates around society. The question, whether it relates to a baker and sexual proclivities, a pug dog and its tricks, or the various cumberworlds we experience online, still reaches out to us 100 years later.



What can and cannot be said?



As an absolutist, one might reason that anything might be said. Voltaire's apocryphal quote, "I do not agree with what you say, but I shall defend to the death you're right to say it," should be one of the cornerstones of any truly modern and functioning society. We do not, nor should not, prevent others from speaking merely because we disagree with them or because we are offended by what they say.



Education and caring mothers used to teach us that sticks and stones may break our bones, but names, they would never truly hurt us. They were just rather harmless insults thrown about and never to be taken too seriously. A game to be played on the hill of Areopagitica.



And yet in the blink of an eye we have moved from the great debates of Athens, bypassed Milton, Paine and Mill, and now live in a world of trigger warnings, micro-aggressions, no-platforming and various other neologisms that make one want to finally break out the aforementioned twigs and pebbles and set about doing some actual damage. Decency, of course, prevents us from doing so but the point remains real. Why are we no longer saying what we want to say?



Stephen Fry recently took part in a debate on political correctness with a public figure at the center of much of the current controversies, Jordan Peterson. They were rather interestingly on the same side. Before attending to the Jungian-influenced psychologist, let us first address Mr. Fry.



He lamented rather cogently that many around him had simply given up on the idea of speaking their mind. They were too worried, he continued, that the public  not the law, remember  the public might find them having contravened the current acceptable norms and were therefore in need of a rather unbridled and vehement dressing down. The leftist thought police or a social media mob would be quick to knock on one's door or bang their twitter handle. People have thus become afraid to speak, he rallied because there was no longer much debate between a wide assemblage of opinions, but instead a homogenization of thought. Yet freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. We are, after all, all fallible, are we not?



Onto Mr. Peterson then who, along with a whole host of other figures, has been elevated into the public consciousness rather abruptly and some might say unnecessary. With Ben Shapiro, Brett and Eric Weinstein, Dave Rubin, Joe Rogan and many others that have been labeled part of the "Intellectual Dark Web," Jordan Peterson has seemingly sidestepped mainstream media and found millions willing to listen to his lectures and ideas through the use of social media and user-controlled content. And for everyone that has found value in his work, there are many more that take great umbrage with his views. So much so that measures are taken to prevent him and the aforementioned cohorts from speaking at various public events.



But really? In the wider context of things, are the ideas of a previously unknown Canadian professor who has read Jung, Nietzsche and Freud and likes talking about the Bible that troubling to people that he must be no-platformed? His words are neither sticks nor stones. They are merely that: words. Some are interesting; some not so much. To attempt to categorize everything he says under one convenient umbrella term, however, merely brings to mind Soren Kierkegaard's cromulent observation: People much prefer free speech to free thought, because the latter would mean they would actually have to think.



The point is we are not fit to control the speech of others. We may of course warn them that their utterances may have rather dire social consequences should they continue; however, providing that they are delivered with no direct violence or physical harm to others, we do not have the right to stop them saying what they might. And in this list of people that we may not stop from speaking I include religious extremists, holocaust deniers, communists, Everton supporters, fans of Justin Bieber and those that use the phrase "I could care less."



Despite how awful and frankly distasteful the above are, we simply do not have the grounds on which we might prevent them from speaking their minds. Consider J.S. Mill's arguments put forward in his brilliant work "On Liberty." As humans we are fallible and therefore have no way of truly telling whether what they say is right or not. What is right and what is in good taste has been clearly demonstrated to have changed both according to the times and the places in which utterances are made.



Thus, we are left with two options. Perhaps what they say is true and therefore it must be allowed to be said. Conversely, even if we know deep down that what they say is false, it must still be expressed for it will provide greater clarity to the real truth in comparison.



As someone tasked with the responsibility of teaching a generation of university undergraduates each year, I impress on them Aristotle's maxim as much as I can: It is truly the mark of an educated mind if one can entertain an idea without accepting it. And that should echo out into society a little bit more than it is doing at the moment.



Yes, people might say things that you find intolerable, offensive or damn right dastardly. But neither you, nor anyone else, is the master of another's thoughts. And nor should you be. You have the right to say and think whatever you want. But, remember, so does everyone else.



David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University and host of TBS eFM's cultural radio show "A Little of a Lot." The show can be heard every Sunday from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on 101.3 FM or downloaded via online platforms such as iTunes and Podbang.


U.S. President Donald Trump / AP



By Doug Bandow





The summit almost certainly is going to happen. Neither party can afford to cancel this late. How best to make it a success?

We know the result will not be denuclearization as defined by the U.S. We will not implement the so-called Libya model, collecting North Korea's nukes, despite what National Security Adviser John Bolton said.



So what is the objective? Said President Donald Trump after announcing that the summit was on: "It's a process. We're not going in and sign something on June 12 and we never were. We are going to start a process. And I told them today: take your time. We can go fast, we can go slowly."



It makes one wonder: who is this person, and where is the president who threatened to unleash "fire and fury" on the Korean peninsula?



Process can be helpful. Still, process is only a means to bring about a substantive result. So what should the latter be?



First, contra the president, the two leaders should sign something, even if just a short, but specific promise by the U.S. to end what might be considered "hostile policy" toward North Korea in return for Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearize, specifically eliminate the North's nuclear weapons and entire atomic infrastructure.



Second, Washington should seek to make permanent the North's freeze on nuclear and missile tests. That commitment would be easy to police and would limit the reach of missiles and inhibit the improvement of nuclear weapons.



Third, President Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un should declare that they view the Korean War to be over and agree to negotiations that include the other major combatants, South Korea and China, to forge a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.



Fourth, the president should propose a move toward diplomatic relations. That would not be a reward; the objective would be to create a routine communications channel, while creating an outpost for learning more about what long was accurately termed the Hermit Kingdom.



Fifth, Washington would explain that expanding an American mission into a full-scale embassy would depend on North Korean officials being willing to engage on a range of political topics, including human rights.



Sixth, on landing in Singapore the president should announce an end to the ban on Americans traveling to the North. At the meeting he should offer to initiate a liberal visa policy for North Korean visitors, who would be invited to come to America for sports, cultural, educational, and other purposes. An internal, organic transformation led by North Koreans would be far better than an outside attempt to impose regime change.



Seventh, the president should override his "alliance forever" advisers and indicate his willingness to withdraw U.S. troops from and close America's "nuclear umbrella" over South Korea in return for denuclearization. It is an important objective worth making significant concessions. Moreover, denuclearization would eliminate any need for a U.S. garrison in the South.



Washington should simultaneously encourage the Kim government to engage both the ROK and Japan, since their support would add to the success of a shift toward a more peaceful environment. At the same time, the U.S. should discuss the future of the Korean peninsula with China. Nevertheless, the Trump administration should encourage a more cooperative Beijing by indicating that the latter need not fear an American attempt to turn the peninsula into another military outpost in a regional containment system.



President Trump deserves credit for taking the risk of meeting Kim Jong-un. The president even was right to step back from demanding immediate denuclearization, since expecting too much could have resulted in a catastrophic summit break-down, returning the two countries to a sort of dangerous confrontation which dominated last year.



Making the summit a success will involve process, as the president suggested, but also will need to address the right substance as well. The president still might fall short of a Nobel, but he could help defuse one of the world's hot spots. And that would be an accomplishment worth celebrating.

Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He is author of Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World and co-author of The Korean Conundrum: America's Troubled Relations with North and South Korea.
Outdoor's excursion 1900-1910



By Robert Neff



As a cyclist in Seoul, I can attest that riding can be dangerous.



Motorists and pedestrians in bicycle lanes and even fellow cyclists taking selfies, watching dramas on their smartphones or not paying attention all make riding more of an adventure than it should be. But what was riding like in Seoul in the late 19th century?



Seoul streets were filled with obstacles: Small shops jutted out into the main thoroughfares; sewage ditches lined the roads; small, half-naked children raced about in play; drunks staggered about; merchants hawked their goods from impromptu stands set up wherever they could find space; porters with heavy burdens on their backs and water-carriers with enormous buckets forced their way through the crowds, and soldiers and policemen marched through the streets with self-importance, making a bike ride in Seoul an accident waiting to happen.



Encounters with pedestrians were mixed. Some people "invariably stop and laugh and jest at the, to them, strange spectacle," wrote Horace Allen, but noted that others gave him encouragement and complimented him on his ability and speed.



Some cyclists deserved condemnation rather than compliments. Upon their "noiseless steeds" they seemed to take fiendish pleasure in startling "listless" pedestrians as they passed them "like the wind"  their hapless victims' "fright laughable to behold."



But frightening people could have disastrous consequences. According to Allen, women were "the greatest trouble to the bicyclist" in Korea; "covered up with their veils they can see but little, and if let alone they could be easily passed, but just as one is about to get safely around one of them, some officious person in the rear calls out to her to get out of the way, this she promptly does by jumping right into the machine, for a Korean woman will never look before she leaps."



When an accident did occur between the women and cyclists, the Korean men would quickly apologize and assure the rider that the fault lay with the female pedestrian who had "'meant no harm' by getting run over."



Allen cautioned that the good nature of the Korean public should "not to be imposed upon by the fast riding of wheels through the crowded streets. There are good places enough where one may let out and set a good spin, without endangering the limbs of women and children by scorching through the crowded streets."



But pedestrians weren't the only dangerous encounters in the streets.


During the visit, Ky attended and delivered a speech at a seminar on historical memory and cultural heritage of the International Convention of Radio and Television in Varadero from June 7-9.

He and Alfonso Noya Martinez, President of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), signed a cooperation agreement, during the framework of the International Convention of Radio and Television.

The sides inked their first cooperation pact in 2013. Their new deal was said to add new terms and contents, including the exchange of programmes on politics, economics, social affairs and culture, joint work in reporter training, exchange of high-ranking leaders, and joint production of radio and television programmes.

After the signing ceremony, the VOV and ICRT leaders began their discussion. They stressed their determination to realise the agreement via regular liaison, and to drive their collaboration toward effectiveness in contribution to Vietnam - Cuba relations.

Attending the signing ceremony and discussion, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Nguyen Trung Thanh said the pact will build on outcomes of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongs March visit to Cuba in promoting Vietnam - Cuba trust and comprehensive cooperation.
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Kim is expected to fly into Singapore's Changi airport, Reuters news agency said, citing an unidentified source.

The two leaders are expected to discuss how to get rid of DPRK's nuclear weapons in exchange for diplomatic and economic incentives from the United States.

According to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, US President Donald Trump is ready to provide Pyongyang with the security assurances it seeks if the regime takes steps to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

The top US diplomat also said, however, that relief from economic sanctions will come only after the full denuclearization of the DPRK.

Singapore will host the summit between US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un on June 12, the first bilateral summit to be held since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Both delegations from US and DPRK have been in the small city-state nation since the end of May preparing for the historic June 12 meeting, which the White House said on June 5 would take place at the Capella Hotel, a five-star luxury resort on Sentosa Island.

As a host country, the city-state gears up for upcoming historic US - DPRK summit.

Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan visited the DPRK at the invitation of his counterpart Ri Yong Ho on June 7-8.

The DPRKs Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho met with his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, and they exchanged in-depth views on further developing bilateral relations between the two countries ahead of the DPRK-US summit.
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) Several Missouri democrats gathered Friday night at the Pony Express Museum for the kick-off of Northwest Democrat Days.

Speakers included Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway, Missouri Democratic Rural Caucus Chair Cydney Mayfield, Missouri Representative Pat Conway and more.

A big focus of the night's speeches was on the upcoming elections in August and November. However, a majority of the speakers also brought up the topic of dark money in Missouri's government.

"If you think that money is not what has caused so much of the controversy and corruption and disputes to the point where we can't get along than you don't see the whole picture. It's 100 percent," Pat Conway, State Rep. (D-10), said during his speech.

Galloway also brought up corruption in Jefferson City, saying a lot of it began under former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens.

According to Galloway, bipartisan calls for the former governor's resignation had been coming in for almost the past five months. She said Greitens only resigned after "he was ordered to produce phone and other records involving secret communications about dark money and his secret donors."

"Under Eric Greitens, government itself was up for sale to the highest bidder," Galloway said. "In Eric Greitens, the secret donors had the loyalty that they were looking for - someone who would resign from office before ever giving them up."

Mayfield, however, steered her speech in a different direction. After the recent suicides of famous fashion designer Kate Spade and famous chef, storyteller and TV host Anthony Bourdain, Mayfield addressed the issue of mental health.

"We have a mental health crisis here in America. We have an issue that has been brewing. It knows no race, no gender, no boundaries and no economic condition. It is a foe to everyone," Mayfield said.

After the speakers, local democratic candidates running for a state senate or state representative seat that were in attendance were recognized.

Northwest Democrat Days will continue on Saturday. Guest Speakers will include U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and former Secretary of State Jason Kander, among many others.

Saturday's event will run from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. at Callison Hall. Tickets are $45.
The Port of Qingdao. [Photo: China Plus]

A little over a year ago, a fully automated container terminal began operation in the Chinese port city of Qingdao, using only robots and machines to load and unload shipping containers.

Now the terminal, the first of its kind in Asia, has already set a world record in automated efficiency, with the expansion of a second terminal underway.

The Qingdao New Qianwan Container Terminal, with a total shoreline length of 2,088 meters, began operation on May 11th, 2017.

Visitors to the terminal will very quickly realize this is not a traditional port powered by manual labor by any means.

Rows of automatic and gigantic stacking cranes are moving fast but also orderly, with their robotic arms lifting and dropping containers with perfect precision.

On the ground, automated vehicles are busy transporting the containers from one location to another.

The only sounds one can hear are from the movements of the machines, with no human workers in sight.

The only staff here are the managers and monitoring staff, who work out of the control room.

"The entire operation is computerized and digitalized. There are no human workers sending commands in the backroom. This design goes along with China's industrial revolution and the 'Made in China 2025' strategy," explains Yang Jiemin, a deputy general manager at the terminal.

Artificial intelligence is heavily used, almost in every single aspect of operations at the terminal.

Work plans are generated automatically, replacing tedious human calculation. Various devices and machines are assigned to different job sequences, based on the specifications of ships and containers.

Intelligent Quality Control can automatically scan the ships' contour and design the best operation paths.

Through laser scanning and positioning, the program can locate the four corners of each container, which also means the stacking cranes can work in complete darkness and operate 24/7.

The robot arms on the cranes can then accurately grab the containers and put them onto the 38 driverless trucks.

The trucks, working with over 20,000 underground transponders, can automatically transport the containers to desired locations. Laser anti-collision systems and ultrasound sensing systems ensure the safe and smooth operations of these trucks.

The trucks also know when it is time to go for a recharge and will do so automatically.

Then the containers are again picked up, stacked and put on trucks to be transported out of the terminal.

Even the final gate inspection is automatic, with information of each container checked and detected by a radioactive process.

Yang Jiemin says the automated process, which is powered by electricity, also benefits the environment and ensures the workplace safety of the staff.

"This operation model represents the future development trend of container terminals. The first advantage of our terminal is that it's green. Traditionally, terminals have relied heavily on human labor and diesel engines. Our terminal does not have any emission pipes, achieving zero emission and sustainability. Secondly, it's very safe. We have no workers on site. The machines and our staff in the control room are completely separated," says Yang.

The total investment in the automatic terminal was around 3 billion yuan, or 468 million US dollars, which is only 75% of the cost required for such ports built in other countries.

The construction plan and the design of the intelligent operations were independently developed by Chinese researchers.

The R&D process, along with construction from scratch, took around three years, compared with up to eight years conventionally.

Two berths at the terminal only require nine monitoring staff in the control room to function properly, compared to 60 workers at traditional terminals.

Labor costs have been reduced by 70%, while efficiency has increased by 30%.

Since operations began in May 2017, the port has serviced more than 660 ships, transported around 800,000 shipping containers.

The work efficiency per truck has increased by 55% in a year, while the cost per container has decreased by 48%.

"Our efficiency has increased notably in the past year. When we first opened, our machines could handle 26.9 containers per hour to the current average of above 33 containers per hour. It has completely surpassed the efficiency of any traditional terminals, marking the first time an automated terminal has surpassed their traditional counterparts in terms of efficiency. On April 11th, we achieved an average efficiency of 42.9 containers per hour, which set the current world record," says Yang.

The terminal has been recognized both domestically and internationally for its quality and innovation.

It won the Highest Efficiency Award of Automated Terminals at the Automation Summit 2018 this past March in London.

The terminal is part of the Port of Qingdao, which is the largest container port in northern China, with the highest number of shipping routes out of all the seaports in the country.

The port services 175 shipping routes, 65 connecting ports in countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

Qingdao is the host city of the 2018 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

The Port of Qingdao services ten shipping routes to SCO countries and seven routes to countries that are SCO observers or dialogue partners.

Qingdao also serves a crucial role under the Belt and Road Initiative, as the only Chinese city to act both as a sea port and a rail transportation hub. Many railway routes connect Qingdao to other Chinese cities, as well as destinations in central Asia and beyond.

"The Port of Qingdao offers 37 inbound freight train routes, including 25 to designations within Shandong Province, eight to elsewhere in China and four international routes. Outside of Shandong, the trains travel to places including Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Xining, Urumuqi, Yinchuan and Chengdu. International routes travel out of China from port cities including Arshaan and Manzhouli. Currently, we have charted our development path to support the Belt and Road Initiative and boost sea-rail combined transportation. From 2015 to 2017, the Port of Qingdao had ranked No. 1 among all Chinese sea ports in terms of sea-rail combined transport volume. Last year, we transported more than 776,000 containers, and this year, we expect to see more than one million containers," explains Leng Bing, a logistics official with the Port of Qingdao.

The automated terminal at the port is expected to play an important role in achieving that goal.

Yang Jiemin says beyond that, the technologies used at the terminal could greatly impact the future of all automated ports around the world.

"Representatives from many European ports have visited us and found inspiration from our technologies, including those used in vehicle recharging. I believe that in the future, construction of all automatic ports around the world will reference our key technologies at the Port of Qingdao. We have carried out meaningful and valuable exploration and innovation for the entire industry," says Yang.

Yang Jiemin says that the automated terminal had already become profitable during the first quarter this year.

Phase Two of its development, which also includes two berths, has now begun construction and will be completed in two years.

Yang Jiemin says even more advanced technologies will be used in the next step of the terminal's growth.
Im books editor Carolyn Kellogg; welcome to the LA Times books newsletter for Sat. June 9.

THE BIG STORY

In the darkly funny short story collection Fight No More by Lydia Millet, Angelenos  some strange, some egotistical, others in peril  struggle over real estate. Almost all of the characters suffer acutely sharp forms of estrangement and alienation, writes Leah Mirakhor in our review, finding refuge in some combination of online porn, reality television, marijuana, self-help, sex and secrets.

Lydia Millets new book is Fight No More. (Jade Beall )

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I hope youre in the mood for short stories, because we review another stellar collection this week. Its Florida by Lauren Groff. Slow-motion emotional crises are underway with hurricanes on the horizon and snakes underfoot: the environment is powerful, unsettled and threatening fragile human relationships, writes Mark Athitakis in our review.

Lauren Groffs new book is Florida. (Kristin Kozelsky )

FROM OUR CRITICS

The child of Mexican farmworkers, Critic at Large Rigoberto Gonzalez grew up in a California household of 19 people. He became a writer and moved to New York; his brother Alex returned to Mexico. Both were diagnosed with a similar neurological disorder around the same time, as he recounts in his new memoir, What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of Brotherhood. Read our excerpt here.

Rigoberto Gonzalez (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

BESTSELLERS

Two books enter our fiction bestseller list this week. The first, at No. 1, is Stephen Kings The Outsider, a new novel in which the investigation into the death of a murdered child leads to a man who is convinced hes innocent. Also entering the list, at No. 4, is Last Stories, the final collection from Irish writer William Trevor. Read our review by Scott Bradfield.

In its first week on our nonfiction bestseller list, starting out at No. 9 is Robin by Dave Itzkoff, a biography of the comedian and Emmy- and Oscar-winning actor who died from suicide in 2014.

You can find all the books on our bestseller lists here.

Robin Williams in 2009 (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times )

FAREWELL, ANTHONY BOURDAIN

Anthony Bourdain, who died from an apparent suicide Friday in France, was a wild and passionate chef in Manhattan when he accidentally turned into an author  he told me the story of how Kitchen Confidential came about when I talked to him in 2011, and I shared it here. He was a great writer, but on TV, he really found his voice.

Arts writer Carolina Miranda, who recently joined Bourdain to talk about street food in Los Angeles, used to go to his restaurant Les Halles, but had never met him until this year. Bourdain was cantankerous. He was funny. He was curious, she writes. He was a charismatic writer. And in person, he was razor-whip sharp, ready to drop cultural references high and low like a string of word bombs.

About Parts Unknown, his award-winning CNN series, television critic Robert Lloyd writes, it is a history lesson and a news bulletin. It acknowledges the ill with the good but lives in hope  sometimes unspoken, often stated  that better things are ahead and that they will be delicious. It is an anti-nationalist project steeped in local pride: All localities, it suggests, are worth knowing, and every culture, worth respect.

Opinion columnist and fellow food and culture writer Gustavo Arellano wrote of Bourdains ability to reach working-class people, particularly Latinos, because he lacked typical foodie pretense. Bourdain tackled politics and culture and history and music with ease and genuine curiosity because his muse was working-class people and the food that they sweat over making and smile while eating, Arellano writes. He broadcast their hopes and fears and joy with a depth and warmth that the mainstream media still really doesnt bother to learn or seek out.

And Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold writes, I met Bourdain for the first time in 2001  he interrogated me about an L.A. Times review Id written of Oki Dog a few years earlier, and why I was sending him to an iffy Los Angeles neighborhood to eat pastrami burritos and whether the hot dog wrapped into a tortilla with fried cabbage said more about L.A.s changing demographics or about my dubious taste.

In reading these pieces, its clear to me that that all of us writers were inspired by Bourdains passion, intelligence, curiosity and desire to tell stories well. He will be missed.

Anthony Bourdain is seen filming Parts Unknown in Brazil in 2014. (Mario Tama / Getty Images )

Thanks for reading.

carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com

@paperhaus
President Trump alienated the United States closest allies at the Group of Seven summit in Canada with his aggressive trade declarations and surprising suggestion that Russia be readmitted to the exclusive club of major economic powers  and then, after departing early, went on Twitter to blow up the agreement forged at the meeting.

Trump exited the Quebec resort Saturday where the group had gathered, leaving other world leaders whipsawed and uncertain about their future relationship with the U.S., to head to Singapore for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday.

Trumps actions added to the anxiety of longtime U.S. allies, who are alarmed to see him lashing out against them while he is advocating for Russian President Vladimir Putin and cozying up to Kim.

Ill be on a mission of peace, Trump told reporters before heading for Air Force One to fly to Asia.

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But his mission at the Canadian summit appeared to be chaos. And it didnt stop when he left, as he later publicly backed out of his agreement to join the other six nations in signing a communique outlining shared principles at its conclusion. He blamed the host of the summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for the U.S. withdrawal, calling Trudeau very dishonest & weak after he criticized White House trade policies at the summits closing news conference.

Trump had earlier rattled top allies in the G-7 with startling statements such as a proposal that all the nations drop all their tariffs and trade restrictions even as he has risked a global trade war by imposing U.S. tariffs on a variety of products.

I dont know if they were surprised with President Trumps free-trade proclamation, but they certainly listened to it and we had lengthy discussions about that, Larry Kudlow, Trumps top economic advisor, told reporters.

Trump denied he was leaving the summit early because of tensions within the group and said his relationships with the other leaders is a 10.

But in his comments to reporters he ripped into his G-7 counterparts, saying the U.S. is like the piggy bank that everybodys robbing, and that ends. He vowed to control Irans nuclear ambitions with or without them and warned other members to drop their trade barriers with the U.S.

Its going to stop or were going to stop trading with them, Trump said. If they retaliate, theyre making a mistake.

Trudeau, who hosted the G-7 at a resort in Charlevoix, Quebec, told reporters that the summit was a success.

But he acknowledged that Trump, who at that very moment was tweeting warnings from Air Force One to Canada and other nations not to retaliate against his trade actions, did not leave happy.

If the expectation was that a weekend in beautiful Charlevoix, surrounded by all sorts of lovely people, was going to transform the presidents outlook on trade and the world, then we didnt quite perhaps meet that bar, Trudeau said.

Trudeau said he and Trump clashed on trade, and he vowed that Canada would go ahead with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products on July 1 if steel and aluminum tariffs arent dropped.

I have made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing but it is something that we absolutely will do, because Canadians, were polite, were reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around, he said.

The U.S. and Japan refused to sign onto an agreement to take steps to address plastic pollution in the oceans, reflecting continuing tension between the Trump administration and Americas allies over climate change and other global environmental challenges.

But Trudeau said all seven nations had agreed to sign the communique, which outlined a shared commitment to work on a variety of economic, social, environmental and security issues. The language on trade was general, with an acknowledgement that free, fair and mutually beneficial trade and investment  are key engines for growth and job creation and a promise to develop new rules where needed to foster a truly level playing field.

On climate change, the communique noted that all the nations except for the U.S. reaffirm their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Trump later tweeted that he was pulling his support for the communique.

Based on Justins false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market! Trump wrote.

The communique that Trump ultimately decided not to sign also included a slap at Russia, calling on Moscow to cease its destabilizing behavior to undermine democratic systems and its support of the Syrian regime.

Trump skipped sessions on climate change and clean energy, as well as a working lunch to discuss protecting the worlds oceans, to depart early on Saturday.

Heading into the Quebec meeting, the U.S. already had strained relations with leaders of the other nations in the G-7  Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan  because of Trumps decision to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and his threats to extend trade levies to automobiles from those nations.

Trump justifies the tariffs by accusing other nations of taking advantage of the U.S. in trade. He argues that the levies will force other nations to lower their own barriers for American goods.

But the U.S. imposes tariffs and quotas of its own to protect certain products, particularly tobacco and sugar. Trumps decision to bypass the World Trade Organization, set up to arbitrate tariff and other trade disputes, risks causing other nations to retaliate with protectionist measures that could damage the world economy.

Last year, Trump pulled the U.S. out of a sweeping Asian trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, struck by President Obama. He is threatening to walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which is being renegotiated at Trumps behest.

Both Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, who talked with Trump privately in separate meetings Friday, were sharply critical of him leading up to the G-7 summit.

Trudeau called Trumps U.S. national security justification for steel and aluminum tariffs  which implies Canada is a threat  insulting and unacceptable.

Trump told reporters Saturday that a renegotiated NAFTA would have to contain a sunset provision allowing the deal to expire after several years. Trudeau responded at his news conference by saying Canada would not agree to a sunset clause.

The presidents suggestion that Russia be readmitted to the group also did not go over well.

Something happened a while ago where Russia is no longer in. I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in, Trump told reporters Saturday.

Russia was expelled from what at the time was the Group of Eight in 2014 after invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea.

Now, I love our country. I have been Russias worst nightmare, Trump said. But with that being said, Russia should be in this meeting.

Although Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte backed the idea, other G-7 leaders dismissed it. In the U.S., key Democrats and some Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, strongly objected to allowing Russia back into the group of advanced economies.

Trump told reporters Saturday that some people like the idea of bringing Russia back in.

But Trudeau told reporters he did not support it, saying he told Trump that it is not something we are even remotely interested in looking at this point.

Trump, when pressed on whether he would require Russia to give up Crimea as a condition, indicated he wouldnt, noting, They spent a lot of money on rebuilding it.

Crimea was let go during the Obama administration. He allowed Russia to take Crimea. I may have had a much different attitude, Trump said. With that being said, its been done a long time.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera

UPDATES:

5:50 p.m.: This article has been updated to reflect President Trumps statements backing out of the communique he had just signed.

4:20 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional quotes and details from the G-7 summit.

This article was originally posted at 9:35 a.m.
The sudden re-appearance of a frayed suitcase connects a Nigerian American immigrant with long-suppressed emotional baggage in the West Coast premiere of fast-rising playwright Mfoniso Udofias Her Portmanteau at Boston Court Pasadena.

Its a masterfully written, superbly staged drama that defies preconceptions and expectations with a deeply felt perspective on immigration and the unforeseen complications of an identity split between the American melting pot and a rich African heritage.

That cultural rift is elegantly drawn in the opening scene, the meeting between Nigerian traveler Iniabasi (Dele Ogundrian) and the American-born half sister, Adiaha (Omoze Idehenre), whos late to pick her up at the airport. The stony silence with which Iniabasi meets Adiahas flustered excuses leads the latter to believe her guest can only converse in Ibibio, the Nigerian dialect Adiaha understands but cant speak. Naturally, Iniabasi speaks fluent English  only the first of Adiahas faulty assumptions to be challenged.

The real source of Iniabasis hostility becomes apparent only when their mother, Abasiama Ufot (Joyce Guy), finally shows up at Adiahas apartment.

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Parenting does not come easy to Abasiama, a middle-class Nigerian who came to America not out of desperation but to obtain a degree in biology. For reasons depicted in Udofias previous play, Sojourner, Abasiama chose not to return to Nigeria with her former husband and the newborn Iniabasi; Adiaha was the fruit of her equally complicated second marriage.

Abasiama is the matriarchal figure at the heart of both Her Portmanteau and Sojourner  and both are part of a projected nine-play, multigenerational chronicle of the Ufots, although calling it a family drama would be like saying August Wilsons Pittsburgh Cycle is about a neighborhood.

Thats not an idle comparison. Playwright Udofia, a first-generation Nigerian American, is a skilled dramatist and an eloquent writer. From Abasiamas double-stacked word emphasis (praising her smartsmart grandson) to Iniabasis poetic way of judging elapsed years (Ive been aging her with my time then) and incisive outsiders critiques (Being polite is the American way of lying), Udofias dialogue delights with a quirky mix of foreignness and familiarity.

As this fractured family grapples with vast differences in distance, time and culture, it faces a universal challenge: The wishful stories we create for our lives have to give way to harder truths before healing can begin.

I can pretty much guarantee three things about the experience of seeing this play. The first is that because of the dual language and passing references to events told elsewhere, you will miss some details.

The second is that you wont miss anything important, because director Gregg T. Daniel and his terrific cast never lose their grip on the underlying language of the play  authentic emotion without sentimentality.

The third certainty is that while you may go in thinking youll be seeing a play about a someone elses family, by the end youll be thinking about your own.

         

Her Portmanteau

Where: Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends June 30

Tickets: $20-$39.

Info: (626) 683-6801, www.BostonCourtPasadena.org

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.
Who will win this years Tony Awards? Is there any chance Mean Girls can edge out The Bands Visit and SpongeBob SquarePants? Will Harry Potter and the Cursed Child take home the most trophies?

Heres a quick rundown of key contenders from the plays and musicals with the most nominations heading into the ceremony Sunday. For some hints of what the Tony hosts have planned, read our interview with Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban. You can follow along as the L.A. Times covers the Tonys live, posting winners as theyre announced and reporting from backstage starting at 5 p.m. Pacific.

Mean Girls

Nominations: 12

Key races: Best musical, book (Tina Fey), costume design (Gregg Barnes)

Tina Feys stage adaptation of her 15-year-old film proved a nimble refresh with nods to texting, sexting, tagging and hashtagging. Read more about how the wit, wisdom and one-liners of Mean Girls have made Fey the front-runner to win best book. MORE ON TINA FEY

Tina Fey takes bows with the cast of "Mean Girls." Noam Galai / Getty Images

SpongeBob SquarePants

Nominations: 12

Key races: Musical, lead actor (Ethan Slater), featured actor (Gavin Lee), director (Tina Landau), costume design and scenic design (both David Zinn)

Bizarre. Thats how Ethan Slater describes all the attention hes receiving for his Broadway debut in the musical based on Nickelodeons cartoon series. Read why the actor, 25, is one of the favorites heading into Sunday night. MORE ON ETHAN SLATER

Ethan Slater flies high in "SpongeBob SquarePants." Joan Marcus

Angels in America

Nominations: 11

Key races: Revival of a play, featured actor (Nathan Lane), featured actress (Denise Gough), director (Marianne Elliott)

It is full of anxiety, paranoia, desperation, terrible isolation and doom, said the woman wrangling all that anxiety, paranoia, desperation, isolation and doom. Read how Marianne Elliott could become the first woman to win Tony directing honors for the third time. MORE MARIANNE ELLIOTT

Marianne Elliott appears at the Olivier Awards in London in April. John Phillips / Getty Images

Rodgers & Hammersteins Carousel

Nominations: 11

Key races: Revival of a musical, lead actor (Joshua Henry), lead actress (Jessie Mueller), featured actress (Lindsay Mendez and Renee Fleming)

How does Lindsay Mendez feel about being part of a racially diverse cast that makes late-1800s Maine look like America today? I probably feel a little bit more strongly about that because I happen to be Mexican, said the actress, a Norwalk native who talked with The Times about breaking out in a star-filled cast. Q&A WITH LINDSAY MENDEZ

Lindsay Mendez appears in "Carousel." Julieta Cervantes

The Bands Visit

Nominations: 11

Key races: Best musical, lead actress (Katrina Lenk), lead actor (Tony Shalhoub), featured actor (Ari'el Stachel), director (David Cromer) and score (David Yazbek)

Tony Shalhoub is the big name in the cast, but audiences soon discover the heart of The Bands Visit beats in Katrina Lenk. Read why its a star-making performance from an actress who rose from L.A.s theater scene. MORE ON KATRINA LENK

Katrina Lenk and Tony Shalhoub star in "The Band's Visit." Matthew Murphy

My Fair Lady

Nominations: 10

Key races: Revival of a musical, featured actor (Norbert Leo Butz), featured actress (Diana Rigg), director (Bartlett Sher), scenic design (Michael Yeargan)

The era of Times Up and #MeToo might seem like the wrong time to revisit My Fair Lady, the 1956 Lerner & Loewe classic about a professor who bets that he can transform a working-class girl into a young woman of high society. But without changing a word of the original text, actress Lauren Ambrose forged a Fair Lady for a new generation. LAUREN AMBROSE INTERVIEW

Lauren Ambrose stars with Harry Hadden-Paton (and Allan Corduner in the background) in "My Fair Lady." Joan Marcus

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Nominations: 10

Key races: Play, director (John Tiffany), featured actor (Anthony Boyle), costume design (Katrina Lindsay), choreography (Steven Hoggett)

Harry Potter brought his broom, and hes ready for a sweep. Cursed Child is expected to take home a heap of Tonys on Sunday, and one race to watch is choreography, where Steven Hoggett may beat the song-and-dance of musicals to become the rare winner from a play. MORE ON STEVEN HOGGETT

Steven Hoggett makes stage magic with swirling capes and flying bodies in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." Matthew Murphy

Once on This Island

Nominations: 8

Key races: Musical revival, director (Michael Arden)

His immersive production includes a stage covered in sand and a goat in diapers that saunters past the audience. The scrappy crowd-pleaser Once on This Island is the latest vision of Michael Arden, who proved why he continues to be a young director to watch. MORE ON MICHAEL ARDEN

Michael Arden appears at the Tony Honors for Excellence party in New York. Bryan Bedder / Getty Images for Tony Awards Pro

The Iceman Cometh

Nominations: 8

Key race: Lead actor (Denzel Washington)

In an ordinary year, Denzel Washington might have been a favorite. But this is no ordinary year. Washington finds himself competing against acclaimed performances by Andrew Garfield, Tom Hollander and three-time Tony winner Mark Rylance. Read why Washington remains Icemans best hope for Tony glory. MORE ON DENZEL WASHINGTON

Denzel Washington stars in "The Iceman Cometh" Julieta Cervantes

MORE COVERAGE:

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.
Its Tony Awards weekend. And the Hammer Biennial and Ojai Musical Festival are in full swing. Im Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, and were knee-deep in early summer culture happenings. Heres whats going down:

AND THE TONY GOES TO...

The Tony Awards are Sunday. Well have full coverage as the stars arrive and during the show. Meanwhile, we have an abundance of stories in Sunday Calendar and beyond to let you know what you can look for on Broadways biggest night:

First up, our arts staff has put together an excellent rundown of the races to watch and the front-runners to beat. Los Angeles Times

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And to help you keep score, Jessica Gelt has helpfully compiled the complete list of Tony nominations. Los Angeles Times

Times theater critic Charles McNulty looks at six standout performances in small roles that stole the spotlight. Each is nominated and McNulty writes about why they might be more deserving of the Tony over more high-profile actors. Los Angeles Times

Hosting the Tonys ceremony this year at Radio City Music Hall are Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles, who are self-professed theater nerds and good friends too. Ashley Lee talked with the pair about their hosting duties. As for following last years Tonys host Kevin Spacey, Groban said, I think we have to light some sage! Los Angeles Times

Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles, hosts of the 72nd annual Tony Awards. (Cliff Lipson / CBS )

For best book of a musical, the front-runner is Tina Fey for her Broadway adaptation of Mean Girls, which has a whopping 12 nominations (matched only by SpongeBob SquarePants this year). Contributor Erika Milvy breaks down Mean Girls Tony prospects. Los Angeles Times

Tina Fey takes her bows with the cast of Mean Girls on Broadway. (Noam Galai / Getty Images )

My Fair Lady has 10 Tony nods, including its star, Lauren Ambrose, who has been nominated for lead actress in a musical  and has helped the musical find a voice for a new era. Contributor Ashley Lee talks with Ambrose about the production, which is favored to win the Tony for musical revival. Los Angeles Times

Lauren Ambrose as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. ( Joan Marcus )

Also up for 10 awards on Sunday is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, including one for choreographer Steven Hoggett. Patrick Pacheco talked with Hoggett about his fourth Tony nomination (after Once, Rocky and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). Los Angeles Times

The revival of The Iceman Cometh has eight nominations  and Denzel Washington copped one for lead actor, a category that will be hotly contested. Jessica Gelt looks at the race that pits Washington against Angels in Americas Andrew Garfield. Los Angeles Times

Speaking of Angels in America, the plays director Marianne Elliott is up for a Tony. Times arts editor Craig Nakano reports on the British director, who was also behind last years The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Los Angeles Times

Marianne Elliott, director of Angels in America. (Helen Maybanks )

Times contributor Patrick Pacheco talks with Ethan Slater, the former high school and college wrestler nominated for a lead actor Tony for his turn as the title sponge in the musical version of SpongeBob SquarePants. Los Angeles Times

Pacheco also talks with Michael Arden, nominated for directing the musical Once on This Island, which is up for eight Tonys. Los Angeles Times

Lindsay Mendez, nominated in the featured actress in a musical category for Carousel, talks with The Times Daryl H. Miller about her path to Broadway coming up through Southern Californias community and local theater scene. The Norwalk native says that working on the star-studded Carousel has been unbelievable. Los Angeles Times

 Plus, every awards show needs a writer, and Times contributor Daniel Vaillancourt talks with Dave Boone, the award-winning writer of awards shows. Los Angeles Times

 And because too much Tonys is never enough, Bruce Springsteen will be at the awards on Saturday. In addition to a rare TV performance, hell be accepting a special award for his autobiographical show Springsteen on Broadway. Los Angeles Times

Bruce Springsteen will perform at the Tony Awards. (Chris Young / Associated Press )

Whew!

GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

Tony-winning director Joe Mantello (who was just nominated for another Tony for his direction of Edward Albees Three Tall Women) is teaming up with actors Zachary Quinto and Jim Parsons to bring the history-making gay drama The Boys in the Band to Broadway. Times theater critic Charles McNulty sat down with Mantello and Quinto to discuss the glories and perils of bringing back this important work of theater. Says Quinto: Id be a fool not to come along for the ride. Los Angeles Times

Director Joe Mantello, left, and actor Zachary Quinto at the Booth Theater on Broadway. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

McNulty also reports on the emotionally stirring stage adaption of Khaled Hosseinis novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, now on view at the Old Globe. The play has some shortcomings related to storytelling, he notes, but the narrative casts a potent spell. Los Angeles Times

OJAI HAPPENINGS

Times classical music critic Mark Swed is at the Ojai Music Festival, where he caught the opening day. This began with a violin performance by the festivals irrepressible director Patricia Kopatchinskaja among tombstones and wrecked pedestals, set in a happy picnic area with squealing children. It continued at Libbey Bowl for what Swed describes as a glorious, life-affirming performance of Beethovens Violin Concerto by Kopatchinskaja and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Ojai, he reports, which is recovering from last years fires, was just the right setting in which to ponder the meaning of renewal. Los Angeles Times

Patricia Kopatchinskaja performs Luigi Nonos La lontananza nostalgica utopia futura during a community concert at the Ojai Music Festival. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

Plus, Times contributor Rick Schultz speaks with composer Michael Hersch about the elegy he composed to a close friend who died of ovarian cancer  a work that will premiere at Ojai. Los Angeles Times

FOCUS ON SCHUMANN

And because Mark Swed is a busy man, he also took in a performance of Das Paradies as part of the L.A. Phils Schumann Focus festival. Staged by Peter Sellars and directed by Gustavo Dudamel and featuring projections and a piece of highly unusual sculpture, the show could have been rote. But guess what? writes Swed. Das Paradies is a magical masterpiece. Los Angeles Times

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Schumanns Das Paradies und die Peri. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times )

A BIENNIAL FOR OUR TIME

The Hammer Museum has unveiled its latest Made in L.A. biennial and Times art critic Christopher Knight reports that its the best one yet. The artists  33 of them who range in ages from 29 to 97  were chosen with a keen attention to the resonance of their work within our socially disturbed time. But rather than presenting political agendas, he notes, this is art that, for the most part, feels acutely attuned to our beleaguered moment. Los Angeles Times

A detail from Linda Starks Self Portrait with Ray, 2017, at the Hammer Museum. (Hammer Museum )

Knight also reviews a new show of Iranian art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition, titled In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art, features 125 works by more than 50 artists. While it contains some engaging works, Knight says the show can feel topically insular and unengaging. The integration of objects from other eras, however, inject it with some compelling points of entry. Los Angeles Times

AN ARTIST FINDS HIMSELF

Jessica Gelt reports on a stirring show of works at the Autry Museum of the American West: a retrospective of the paintings of Rick Bartow, a half white, half Wiyot painter who used art to exorcise the demons of Vietnam and alcoholism. The Autrys chief curator, Amy Scott, says Bartow, who passed away in 2016, was part of a generation of American Indian artists who pushed outside of the bounds of expectations and definitions that have been imposed upon them. Los Angeles Times

A series of 2005 paintings by Rick Bartow at the Autry Museum of the American West. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times )

ON THE BORDER

The theatrical trio Culture Clash has updated its work Bordertown, first staged two decades ago, and is presenting at the Pasadena Playhouse as Bordertown Now. The work is based on interviews conducted by Culture Clash founders Ric Salinas, Herbert Siguenza and Richard Montoya. The show, writes Times reviewer Margaret Gray, was a comedy  but its depiction of the Arizona desert as a brutal, lawless, lethal no-mans-land came as a shock to audiences. Los Angeles Times

Ric Salinas, from left, Richard Montoya and Herbert Siguenza in Bordertown Now. (Philicia Endelman )

R.I.P. ANTHONY BOURDAIN

The world is mourning the loss of chef, writer and TV host Anthony Bourdain.

My colleagues Stephen Battaglio and Andrea Chang have an obituary. In the meantime, Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold discusses how Bourdain tore down the wall between steaming kitchens and cozy dining rooms, while Gustavo Arellano looks at the ways Bourdain put a spotlight on the Latino labor that can be found sweating over just about every restaurant stove.

And there is his cultural impact, too. Television critic Robert Lloyd wrote on the rare beauty of his CNN show Parts Unknown, a program that showed that true luxury is in the learning and the company, in being human among humans and earthy upon the Earth. And I write about the broader cultural lens with which Bourdain framed food: someone who was more interested in pulling the camera back and revealing foods social and cultural contexts.

Anthony Bourdain, in 2001, when he was executive chef at Les Halles in New York City. (Jim Cooper / Associated Press )

I had the great honor of appearing with Bourdain in an episode of a recent web video series devoted to Los Angeles. To hear Fridays news was crushing. Mr. Bourdain, you will be profoundly missed. Explore Parts Unknown

IN OTHER NEWS

 Irving Sandler, a key art critic who chronicled the art and exploits of the Abstract Expressionists, has died at 92. New York Times

 As Earl Rusty Powell prepares to retire from the National Gallery of Art, Glenn Dixon asks who will take this stodgy museum into the future? Washingtonian

 Lauren Halsey, who has an installation on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Hammer Museums new biennial, talks about how her architecture studies and other elements influence her work. Art in America

Lauren Halsey, we still here, there (detail), 2018, at MOCA. (Zak Kelley / MOCA )

 How photographer Robert Capa captured D-Day. Artsy

 A show that is about all things Jim Henson. Bring on the Grover puppet! Los Angeles Times

 Bending gender in ballet. New York Times

 A sense of self comes from the mirror in which you see yourselfand it also comes from gathering information about how others see you. Anna Deveare Smith on Black Panther. New York Review of Books

 Even as militant attacks get closer, the Malian town of Djenne continues its tradition of replastering its mud mosque  whose roots lie in the 13th century. Roads & Kingdoms

 Alexandra Lange on architectures hidden women. New Yorker

 And a fascinating story on how mobile homes became immobile. 99% Invisible

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Because I could use a little humor: the ginger cat who has been digitally inserted into art history. Bored Panda

Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter 

carolina.miranda@latimes.com

@cmonstah
Twitter, Facebook, Trump, Daum, Bee and Barr

Mary McNamaras perspective piece [Please Stop Calling Them Social June 4] links Roseanne Barrs dumb racist tweet to the power of social media but fails to address the inaction on the part of the national media to step up in an unbiased way. Barr compared Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape and the media went ballistic.

Yet, none of the media criticized columnist Meghan Daum when she labeled all men as apes. Then, on television, Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump a word that most men dont like to use. Since Bee and Daum are getting away with their comments, one has to begin calling the inaction of the press selected feminism.

Mark Walker

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Chino Hills

::

No one has mentioned another valid reason Barrs show Roseanne was canceled by ABC after her racist tweet. The shows premise, and the reason it carried such cultural weight, was that it intended to show that President Trumps supporters were not awful people. This family had political differences and they could work through them and enlighten one another. Barrs own actions disproved this.

Christina Gilmore

San Diego

::

Trumps hypocrisy in the Bee controversy is business as usual for him. He has condemned Bee for her use of a word and suggested that she be fired. But it wasnt long ago that Trump invited gun fanatic Ted Nugent to be honored at the White House. Nugent famously called Hilary Clinton the same word in an infamous 1994 magazine interview. I guess Trump has forgiven him.

Bob Lentz

Sylmar

::

Barr rightfully lost her show  why does Bee still have hers? Bad behavior is unacceptable. This is common ground, and it applies to all.

Ed Salisbury

Santa Monica

::

Trumps outrage at Bees slur against Ivanka Trump is actually yet another interesting case of hypocrisy. Trump did not disavow Nugents use of the same word against Clinton, or criticize his followers use of the word during his campaign. I guess it matters only when the word is used for a member of your own family. I hope The Times, as an unbiased reporter of the news, will place this in the broader perspective.

Henry Hespenheide

Hermosa Beach

Patricia Heaton, right, and Eden Sher in ABCs The Middle. (Michael Ansell / ABC )

::

I liked what TV critic Robert Lloyd wrote about The Middle [Saying Bye to a Reliable Friend, May 22]. I loved the show and always thought the characters were very real and relatable. I will miss them so much. And while Im at it, Ill miss Rosanne. I think that the writing was superb and that each character was pretty compelling and believable. I dont watch many sitcoms, because I find them artificial, contrived, morally bankrupt and, worst of all, unfunny.

Barbara Foster

Tustin

Remember Danson the dancing DA?

Ted Danson (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

I read with pleasure Emily Zemlers article on Ted Danson [Turns Out, TV Is His Good Place, June 3], where he reflected on his past roles, but I was surprised there was no mention of the role that introduced him to most of us, the dancing DA in the film Body Heat. It was a supporting role, but it showed all the talents that Danson would display subsequently. He just gets better with age.

Wendy Dytman

Los Angeles

::

I liked the notes from Danson on his older performances, but I cant believe nobody mentioned his magnificent supporting performance in Body Heat, the incredible 1981 film noir directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Danson added some wonderful lightness to this otherwise intense movie.

Michael Goodman

Northridge

A solo act is not the same

Donald Fagen, co-founder of Steely Dan, performs with the group at the Forum in Inglewood on May 30, 2018. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

Regarding Steely Dan Finds a Way to Shine [June 1]: Im sure that Donald Fagen put on a nice show the other night at the Inglewood Forum. But calling himself and his accompanying musicians Steely Dan is just plain wrong. Steely Dan was never anything more than a duo (Fagen and Walter Becker). Even in their heyday, the two men interchanged musicians at the drop of a hat. Now that Becker has passed on, Fagen should drop the Steely Dan name altogether and bill himself as a solo act.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

Wont you come home, theater critics?

As a longtime subscriber with an interest in local theater, I am sick and tired of having precious space spent on reviews of out-of-town productions [Angels in America Flies on Its Actors Wings, May 30]. If I want to read a review of a New York production, I can read about in a New York publication. Likewise for anything in London, Chicago or Northern California. The Times coverage of local theater continues to be abysmal. Why do you spend scant resources on covering an out-of-town revival when so many local productions are ignored?

Deborah Klugman

Los Angeles

A comic walks into Golden Gate Park

As a former San Francisco comedian, I enjoyed Chris Bartons article on the San Francisco comedy festival Clusterfest [How Clusterfest Proves Comedy Is More Relevant Than Rock, June 1]. Although the article mentioned other national and international comedy festivals that had inspired it, I was surprised there was no mention of San Franciscos annual Comedy Day. Since 1981, nearly 1,000 of the worlds funniest comedians have performed free of charge for more than 500,000 people in Golden Gate Parks Robin Williams Meadow. (Williams was a major supporter and performer there.) Comedy Day also provides outreach programs. Comedy workshops teaching conflict resolution through the use of humor are available for Bay Area public schools throughout the year. Comedy Day performers have included Dana Carvey, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Ellen DeGeneres, Kevin Pollak, George Wallace, Janeane Garofalo and Eddie Izzard.

Mark Miller

Los Angeles

The conversation continues online with comments and letters from readers at latimes.com/calendarfeedback

ALSO

With a racist tweet, Roseanne Barr not only lost a job but also silenced a vital voice: Roseanne Conners

Jon Stewart defends Samantha Bee in return to stand-up at San Franciscos Clusterfest

The Trump era may have raised the stakes, but Clusterfest (and comedy) goes on

calendar.letters@latimes.com
Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday blocked the parole of a 63-year-old woman whom prosecutors dubbed a black widow because she had her husband killed.

Brown denied the release of Susan Lee Russo a year after he commuted her life sentence, which allowed her a chance at parole. A parole board in January recommended that she be freed.

Russo was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the 1994 slaying of 43-year-old David Russo. He was a U.S. Navy chief petty officer serving at Lemoore Naval Air Station, south of Fresno.

She is still a public safety risk who has more work to do, Brown decided.

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A parole board investigation into her claims of being battered by her husband came back inconclusive after Brown commuted her sentence last year.

Russo arranged to pay her boyfriend $100 to kill her husband so she could collect benefits as his surviving spouse, including a nearly $1 million insurance policy, authorities said. She let the boyfriend and an accomplice into her home, where they shot her husband and disposed of his body, they said.

When he commuted her sentence, Brown said there was evidence that Russo was frequently physically abused by her husband, and she said she was heavily using methamphetamine, including with her husband.

In my thinking I was protecting myself and my children from an abusive husband and father, Russo said in her handwritten 2012 clemency petition.

But her daughter Devon Russo, who was 2 when her father was killed, called her mother a master manipulator who she said made up the story that she was abused by her husband. Devon Russo said in a public letter that she and her sister were totally blindsided by Browns decision to allow their mother a chance at parole.

The Democratic governor decided to reject that parole after nine Republican lawmakers as well as Fresno County law enforcement officials objected to his commutation. Russos daughters, who were in another bedroom during the killing, said their mother is still dangerous.

Im standing before you today in a position no ones child should ever be in. Im a daughter asking for her mother to not be allowed home, Jamie Guarino told the parole board.

She was 12 when she heard noises and peeked out her bedroom door, she said.

I saw my father get shot. I heard the bullet go through the pillow, she said. She said she later heard her mother and boyfriend having sex in the bed they just killed my dad in.

Shes still a threat to everyone, Guarino said. My dad doesnt get to come home, so why should she?

State Sen. Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) called Susan Lee Russo a psychopath who has a history of manipulating people for her own purposes. His letter to Brown was signed by eight other Republican legislators.

Russos accomplices also were convicted. She was convicted of seeking to solicit the murder of one of them after she was arrested.
The Los Angeles County elections chief said Friday that he was seeking an independent review after more than 118,000 people were left off voter rosters this week.

State and county leaders had demanded answers after the massive error led to confusion and frustration at the polls. The foul-up affected roughly 2.3% of registered voters across the county and 35% of its polling places.

Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan said it was critical to get an independent assessment of what had occurred.

He also said he couldnt rule anything out, including hacking, to account for the missing names.

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Theres nothing to indicate initially that there was anything malicious, Logan said. But we need to exhaust everything.

Offering more details about what happened, Logan said it appeared that corrupted data resulted in some voters names not being printed out on the rosters sent to polling places.

Election workers perform several checks, including making sure that the names printed on the rolls match those in the database, Logan said. Obviously the quality control steps that are in place didnt identify this issue, so we need to identify what was insufficient in this process, he said.

According to election officials, the immediate priority is to speed up the processing of provisional ballots that were cast by voters who showed up at their polling places and discovered they were not listed on the roster.

Letters will be sent to voters telling them that their provisional ballots were counted, the office said, and some may also receive emails and robocalls.

Some voters described confusion at the polls Tuesday as workers grappled with the missing names: County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said that one of her aides had to ask five times for a provisional ballot before receiving one. Poll workers initially had told the woman to try voting at another precinct, Kuehl said.

Election officials pledged Friday to provide a full report and accounting of the issue and corrective action as requested by the Board of Supervisors and the Secretary of State.

On Thursday, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national nonprofit, also sent a letter to Logan expressing concerns about the missing names.

The letter asked Logan to provide detailed information, including what poll workers were told prior to election day regarding use of provisional ballots, and whether the affected voters have been informed that their names have been restored to the rosters.

Logan said in a statement Friday that it was critical to get a comprehensive analysis with reported findings, recommendations and evaluation to bolster the security protocols employed in future elections and to provide a fuller explanation to elected officials and the public.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith

Times staff writer Emily Alpert Reyes contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

7 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan.

This article was originally published at 5:20 p.m.
Los Angeles police shot and critically wounded a robbery suspect during a confrontation inside the emergency room of a Boyle Heights hospital early Saturday, authorities said.

The shooting occurred about 5 a.m. at Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital in the 1700 block of East Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, police said.

The unidentified man, who was described as being in his 20s, was later transferred to L.A. County-USC Medical Center, which has a trauma unit. He was listed in critical condition.

Los Angeles Police Department gang officers arrested the man Friday night in connection with a robbery in Lincoln Heights, said Officer Mike Lopez. Prior to being booked, the man said he needed medical attention and police arranged for an ambulance to take him to Adventist for treatment.

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Around 5 a.m. this morning, a struggled ensued with the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, Lopez said.

No officers or hospital staff were injured in the incident, he said.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia
When Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled his yearly budget in April, he promised major progress in an area long neglected by City Hall: reconstruction of the citys worst roads.

Garcetti called for the city to more than double the amount of money it spends on repairs to D- and F-ranked streets, where pavement is so damaged that it frequently needs to be rebuilt  typically at a cost of $1 million or more per lane mile.

Yet a major portion of that work cannot happen unless the City Council increases the fee charged to utilities that rip up and repair the citys streets. And in recent weeks, business leaders have been pushing back on the idea.

Garcettis spending plan calls for the city to collect $70.7 million in Street Damage Restoration Fees in 2018-19, up from the $8.3 million budgeted for the current year. About $30 million of that new revenue would be spent to repair L.A.s worst roads, with additional money going to maintain streets that are still in decent condition.

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The plan has drawn written objections from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, AT&T and others, who say it needs more public vetting.

The Central City Assn., a group that focuses heavily on real estate development, warned city lawmakers that the fee increase would have a disproportionate effect on housing construction downtown, where streets are being torn up to provide utility hookups for new residential buildings.

We do not want to see the Street Damage Restoration Fee become a means by which downtown  becomes the primary funding source for road reconstruction throughout Los Angeles, Jessica Lall, the groups president and chief executive, wrote in a letter in May.

About 25% of L.A.s streets, or about 7,000 lane miles, are considered to be in poor condition, according to the citys most recent evaluation.

The Street Damage Restoration Fee was created in 1998 to help the city offset the cost incurred when utilities cut into public streets. Public works officials say those cuts, even when they are refilled, cause pavement to degrade at a faster rate, forcing the city to make additional repairs.

Although businesses have been the most vocal, the biggest effect could ultimately be felt by the Department of Water and Power, which frequently performs work on underground water pipes and electrical lines.

If the increase is approved, the city-owned utility is expected to spend nearly $38 million annually on street damage fees, according to an analysis prepared for city lawmakers.

Department of Water and Power crews carve into Tampa Avenue in Tarzana after a water main break in 2017. The DWP could pay $38 million annually to rip open public streets under a proposal heading to the City Council. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

The DWP, whose board is composed of mayoral appointees, has voiced no public objections to the proposal. But Jack Humphreville, a frequent critic of city spending, called the increase a revenue grab by the citys elected officials  one that will result in higher bills for DWP customers.

Theyre ramrodding this thing through, and the ratepayers are going to get hosed, said Humphreville, who belongs to the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, a group that appears before lawmakers each year to present its views on the city budget.

Humphreville questioned whether the fee increase is aimed at making up for funds lost when Garcetti and the City Council agreed to scale back the amount of money the DWP pays the city each year to balance the budget. The reduction was part of a legal settlement backed by lawmakers last year.

Garcetti and other city officials say theres no connection between the rise in the street damage fee and last years reduction in the DWP payment. They say officials have spent years studying the need for the city to recoup all of the costs incurred when utilities dig trenches on public rights-of-way.

When utilities and telecom companies cut into our streets, they should be the ones paying to fix the damage, Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar said in an email to The Times. Right now, the city has to cover more than 90% of what it costs to fully restore the street after the work on an underground pipe, cable or gas line is done.

Comisar said Garcettis proposal was spurred by a 2014 audit from City Controller Ron Galperin, which concluded that the city had missed out on up to $190 million in damage fees from utilities that performed street work since 1998.

In that report, auditors concluded the fee had not been calculated in a way that reflected all of the costs borne by the city from utility repairs.

Its been 12 years since this [fee] has been reset, so we have to catch up, said Kevin James, a Garcetti appointee who presides over the Board of Public Works, which recommended that the fee be increased and reworked. I agree with the controller  we should have done it years ago, but we didnt.

Still, the City Council is hedging its bets on whether the city will receive all of the fee revenue planned by the mayor for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.

When they approved Garcettis budget May 21, city lawmakers ensured that more than $19 million in repairs planned for D- and F-rated streets cannot move ahead without another council vote  a move designed to ensure the money is available to pay for the work.

Some council members have declined to commit themselves to the fee hike envisioned by the mayor, saying that they want to study it more closely.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled his budget for 2018-19 in April, calling for a huge increase in revenue from the fee charged to companies that rip open city streets. Under his proposal, the fee would generate $70.7 million next year, up from $8.3 million. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

The fee for ripping up residential streets ranges from $5.18 to $7.78 per square foot, depending on how recently a street has been repaired. Under the proposal heading to the council, it would be increased to $8.24 per square foot, Comisar said.

On major streets, such as Sunset, Wilshire and Venice boulevards, the fee would be raised to $19.44 per square foot. That fee currently ranges from $14.18 to $21.26, depending on when the most recent repairs occurred.

Business groups have also questioned Garcettis push to change the way the street damage fees would be charged. Under the proposal, utilities would pay a fee not just for an area where a trench is dug, but for any part of the street that sits within 5 feet of that trench.

City officials say that when a trench is cut and refilled, nearby soil underneath the street shifts, reducing support for the pavement. That causes it to become weakened over time, requiring more frequent repairs, they say.

Garcettis appointees on the Board of Public Works have also suggested that council members look at charging the damage fee to Southern California Gas Co. Such a step would require the negotiation of a new franchise agreement, mayoral aides say.

The gas company has argued that imposition of the fee would lead to higher construction costs that would ultimately be absorbed by its ratepayers.

Simply put, these additional fees are passed along to our customers and have the potential to significantly impact new businesses or homes requesting utility service, Geoffrey Danker, manager of franchise, fees and planning for the utility, wrote in a letter to city lawmakers.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Twitter: @DavidZahniser
Downed power lines owned by PG&E and falling tree limbs largely were responsible for setting off the deadly siege of fires that ripped through Northern Californias wine country in October, Cal Fire investigators said Friday.

The findings covered a dozen blazes in Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Humboldt, Butte and Mendocino counties  three of which accounted for a combined 19 deaths.The report did not address the origin of the Tubbs fire, which took 15 lives and wiped out entire neighborhoods in Santa Rosa. The overall death toll from the wine country firestorm was 44.

Cal Fire investigators have referred alleged violations of state law by PG&E in eight of the 12 fires to the district attorneys in the respective counties for review.

Its in the D.A.s hands to take it further, Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said.

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Lawyers for hundreds of property owners who have sued PG&E said Cal Fires findings bolstered their contention that the power companys failure to trim trees and maintain equipment properly were to blame for the deadliest series of fires in state history.

Had PG&E maintained that equipment and trees, as it was required to do under California law, then these deadly and life-changing fires never would have occurred, attorney Bobby Thompson said.

PG&E issued a statement Friday evening defending its pruning and safety record and pointing instead to climate and other environmental changes as the backdrop to the deadly firestorms.

Based on the information we have so far, we continue to believe our overall programs met our states high standards, PG&Es statement said. Years of drought, extreme heat and 129 million dead trees have created a new normal for our state that requires comprehensive new solutions.

The fires broke out Oct. 8 and 9 as hot, dry winds raced through the region; the result was more than 170 separate blazes that forced the evacuation of 100,000 people, burned at least 245,000 acres and destroyed 8,400 homes and buildings, officials said. Widespread failures of emergency warning systems were reported, exacerbating the confusion and panic and prompting a push for new safety protocols.

Included in Cal Fires findings:

 The Redwood fire in Mendocino County was caused by trees or parts of trees falling onto PG&E power lines; nine people died in the fire.

 The Atlas fire in Napa was caused by a tree falling into a power line. Six people lost their lives.

 The Sulphur fire in Lake County was caused by the failure of a PG&E power pole, which brought lines and equipment down to the ground.

 The Cherokee fire in Butte County was caused by tree limbs contacting PG&E power lines.

 The 37 fire in Sonoma County was electrical and stemmed from PG&E distribution lines.

 The Blue fire in Humboldt County was caused by a PG&E power line conductor separating from a connector and falling to the ground.

 The Norrbom, Adobe, Partrick, Pythian and Nuns fires merged in Sonoma and Napa counties and were the sites of three deaths. The Norrbom fire was caused by a tree falling into PG&E power lines.

 The Adobe fire was caused by a eucalyptus tree falling into a PG&E power line.

 The Partrick fire was caused by an oak tree falling into a power line.

 The Pythian fire was caused by a power line that fell down after PG&E attempted to restart it.

 The Nuns fire was caused when the broken top of tree hit a power line.

 The Pocket fire was caused by an oak tree top breaking off and hitting power lines.

The alleged violations referred to district attorneys concerned the Sulphur, Blue, Norrbom, Partrick, Pythian, Adobe, Pocket and Atlas fires.

Investigation continues into the Tubbs and other California fires that burned in October and December, and Cal Fire will release reports as they are completed, officials said.

Plaintiffs lawyer Michael Danko said victims are recovering slowly, but many will never be the same.

They were woken up in the middle of the night, driven out through garage doors in their underwear, watching in their rearview mirror as their house burns, Danko said. For some people this changes their lives forever.

gholland@latimes.com

Twitter: @geholland

UPDATES:

8:30 p.m.: This article was updated with report details, lawyer comments and a statement from PG&E.

This article was originally published at 5:15 p.m.
An office tower for Los Angeles city workers to replace Parker Center, the former LAPD headquarters, would cost about $700 million to build, according to a new report.

A previous city-commissioned analysis said the office tower would cost $483 million, but that figure didnt account for rising construction costs or so-called soft costs, which include design work and project management. These costs were included in a more complete analysis of the project in a report released last month.

The report also estimates $32.3 million in costs for the demolition of Parker Center and predesign work, which isnt included in the $700-million figure.

Led by City Councilman Jose Huizar, the council backed a plan last year to tear down Parker Center, the 1955 building named for controversial former Police Chief William Parker, and erect a new office tower.

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Officials say the tower, which would rise 27 to 29 stories, would provide centralized office space for Los Angeles city workers now based in other downtown buildings. The city could then sell its unused office buildings or end leases at sites it doesnt own, the report said.

The citys Municipal Facilities Committee, which oversees capital projects and includes a representative from Mayor Eric Garcettis office, recommended a development approach last month for the new building that includes hiring a private party to oversee construction, financing, operations and maintenance.

Under that scenario, construction would cost about $708 million. Adding in operations and maintenance costs for 30 years, and financing, the total price tag would be $915 million to $943 million in current dollars, according to the report.

Several City Council committees are expected to consider the panels recommendations in the coming months.

Despite the projected costs, Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, a committee member, said in an interview that she expects the numbers to change. Were not going to know until we go out to bid, she said.

The citys decision to raze Parker Center angers some groups, including the Los Angeles Conservancy, which argues the Midcentury Modern building is a significant structure and that the citys police history should be preserved. The Los Angeles Police Department moved into new headquarters at 1st and Spring streets in 2009.

In its earlier estimate, the city said it would cost $590 million to retrofit and preserve Parker Center and build the tower next door  excluding design work, rising construction prices and other costs. The conservancy launched its own analysis, which found that this same work could be completed for at least $100 million less.

The conservancy accused the city of using inaccurate cost estimates to justify knocking down the building, which the city denied.

Separately, the Coalition to Preserve L.A. and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced plans last month to launch a ballot initiative that seeks to convert the building into housing for homeless people.

If the initiative were to qualify for the ballot, it is unclear when it would go before voters. The city plans to start demolishing Parker Center later this year and finish by December 2019, according to the report.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith
The son of actor Ryan ONeal and the late Farrah Fawcett was charged Friday with attempted murder and assault in what police called a series of violent and unprovoked attacks in Venice Beach and Palms.

In the most serious incidents, Redmond James ONeal allegedly stabbed a man in the side near the Venice boardwalk on May 4, then later that night stabbed another man, inflicting serious wounds and cuts to his face, neck and upper body, police said.

ONeal, 33, had been arrested May 8 on suspicion of armed robbery after a heist at a 7-Eleven store. He matched the description  red-haired with distinctive tattoos  of the man in the earlier attacks, police said.

ONeal has a history of drug arrests dating to 2005. In 2008, authorities charged him and his father on suspicion of felony drug possession after Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies conducting a probation search of the actors Malibu home said they found methamphetamine on Redmond and in his fathers bedroom.

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Ryan ONeal, 77, was nominated for an Oscar for the 1970 movie Love Story, starred in Paper Moon and Barry Lyndon and more recently had a recurring role in the TV series Bones.

The latest case was investigated by robbery detectives with the Los Angeles Police Departments Pacific Area. Redmond ONeal also was charged with battery, making a criminal threat and brandishing a knife. He remains in the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, records show.

gholland@latimes.com

Twitter: @geholland
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III ramped up the pressure on Paul Manafort on Friday, releasing a new indictment accusing President Trumps former campaign chairman of obstructing justice and conspiring to do so by contacting potential witnesses in his case.

Manafort was already facing two rounds of previous indictments, starting in October, with nearly two dozen charges of financial crimes, including tax evasion and bank fraud related to his lobbying for Ukraines former pro-Russian government. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to face trial in Virginia next month and in Washington later this year.

Manaforts legal team defended him in a court filing Friday evening, saying the allegations come nowhere near conduct that would qualify as tampering.

Mr. Manafort asked no one to provide a false affidavit or false testimony at trial, or perjure themselves, and he has not given  nor offered to give  any potential witness anything in exchange for false testimony, the filing said.

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The latest indictment also levies the same obstruction charges against Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner who Mueller alleges has ties to Russian intelligence. Kilimnik had not been previously charged.

According to Mueller, Manafort and Kilimnik tried to convince two public relations professionals who had previously worked with them to provide false information about Ukrainian lobbying. Although prosecutors said the advocacy included work in the United States  which would be a violation of federal law because it wasnt disclosed  Manafort and Kilimnik allegedly wanted the men to say the lobbying took place only in Europe.

Mueller first detailed the witness tampering allegations in a court filing Monday in which he asked a judge to reconsider whether Manafort should be allowed to remain free while awaiting trial. If the judge agrees with Mueller that Manafort violated the terms of his release, the former Trump aide could be sent to jail until his trial concludes.

A hearing has been scheduled for next week.

Manafort has not been charged with any crimes related to the Trump campaign or Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But the latest indictment is a reminder that hes facing an avalanche of accusations that could send the 69-year-old to prison for the rest of his life.

Renato Mariotti, a lawyer who worked for nine years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago and has been writing about the case, noted that Muellers prosecutors have extensively documented the charges against Manafort and appear to have built a powerful case.

Unless Manafort is expecting a pardon from Trump, Mariotti said, he should be pleading guilty, now.

Alex Whiting, a Harvard Law School professor and former federal prosecutor who has written about the special counsel case with Mariotti, said Mueller is moving forward by the book.

There is no overcharging, no nefarious strategy, he said. This is how its done day in, day out, in federal court.

Manaforts lawyers said there was no reason for a judge to revoke his pretrial release.

The Court should not condone such heavy handed gamesmanship by the Special Counsel when there is no reason to believe that the latest charge has somehow increased the risk of flight in this case, they wrote.

Prosecutors said Manafort and Kilimnik began attempting to tamper with witnesses after Richard Gates, another former business partner and Trump campaign aide, pleaded guilty in February to charges of conspiracy and lying to federal agents. As part of his plea deal, Gates is cooperating with the special counsel investigation.

Manafort and Kilimnik repeatedly contacted their former colleagues in an effort to secure materially false testimony concerning the activities of the Hapsburg group, a collection of former European politicians helping promote Ukrainian interests, according to Mondays court filing.

Manafort began calling one of the public relations people, who avoided him, the court filing said. Manafort later followed up with a message about the Hapsburg group on an encrypted app.

We should talk. I have made clear that they worked in Europe, he wrote.

The target of Manaforts outreach became concerned that he was being asked to provide false testimony and provided the messages to prosecutors.

Kilimnik followed up with his own messages to the two public relations people and urged them to talk with Manafort, according to the court filing.

Basically P wants to give him a quick summary that he says to everybody (which is true) that our friends never lobbied in the US, and the purpose of the program was EU, Kilimnik wrote.

The outreach continued until the end of February, and then restarted in April, according to the court filing.

My friend P is looking for ways to connect to you to pass you several messages, Kilimnik wrote. Can we arrange that.

Manaforts lawyers said he had done nothing wrong.

Mr. Manaforts disagreement with the Special Counsels theory  and the freedom that he, and any defendant in this country, has to express those views  does not provide a basis to revoke or revise the current Release Order, they wrote in the court filing.

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Twitter: @chrismegerian

UPDATES:

7:45 p.m.: The article has been updated with a response from Manaforts legal team.

3:10 p.m.: The article has been updated with reaction from legal analysts.

This article was originally published at 1:35 p.m.
To the editor: Like op-ed article writer Mark Kurlansky, I was also a 19-year-old campaign volunteer in 1968. I worked for Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota.

It is understandable that the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy inspires nostalgia, and that a slain leader acquires a saintly quality. But the fact is that McCarthy was the only Democrat who had the courage to run against President Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War.

Kennedy announced his candidacy only after Johnson withdrew. If we are going to ask what if questions, perhaps we should wonder if the Vietnam War would have ended sooner if Kennedy hadnt split the antiwar vote.

Stephen Reed, Diamond Bar

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To the editor: I was 14 years old in June 1968 when RFK was assassinated after winning Californias Democratic presidential primary. Part of his campaign was based on ending the Vietnam War, and we all know the end of that story.

In lieu of Kennedy we got President Richard Nixon. And we continued the stupidity of our Vietnam misadventure, with about 21,000 Americans dying there under Nixon. The cynicism of Nixons secret plan to end the war is a painful memory for me.

Now, 50 years later, we have gone from Kennedys idealism to President Trumps pathology of materialism dressed up in the disguise of a successful businessman. America has far to go to realize what RFK thought this country could become.

Bob Teigan, Santa Susana

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Gabriel Fernandez should have turned 13 earlier this year. Instead, his mother and her boyfriend have been sentenced, respectively, to life in prison and death for the boys torture and murder in 2013, when he was 8.

Since Gabriels death, the abuse suffered by the young boy and the numerous missed warning signs by child welfare workers in Los Angeles County have prompted expressions of outrage by our letter writers. The countys Department of Children and Family Services has borne the brunt of this criticism over the years, but with the sentencing Thursday of Pearl Sinthia Fernandez and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, most of our letter writers have expressed their deep sadness over the situation generally or directed their anger at the two people who were supposed to care for Gabriel.

Weve heard a lot from our letter writers over these last five years about Gabriel, sometimes even in response to articles that do not mention his case but touch on topics related to child welfare and abuse. Its safe to say that the 8-year-old Antelope Valley boy who suffered unspeakable harm occupies a place in our readers consciousness  and that this will not be the final time his name is mentioned on the letters page.

Mary Novak of Altadena wants Los Angeles County to protect children more aggressively:

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Please, can we take some immediate simple measures to protect children at risk?

While I understand that the social workers in the countys Department of Children and Family Services have large caseloads and that reforms are in progress, a full-time paramedic should be assigned to the agency and be part of any child welfare assessment. If a paramedic says there is some evidence of abuse or neglect, then the child will be evaluated by a medical team, regardless of the opinion of the caseworker or the law enforcement officer who happens to be on the scene.

This is an area where there is no room for mistakes.

Scott Hughes of Westlake Village compares Gabriels circumstances to his mothers and her boyfriends:

So the mother gets life in prison without the possibility of parole and the boyfriend who tortured and killed Gabriel gets sentenced to death. Poor Gabriel got nothing.

This case tears my soul apart. Why are humans so awful?

Mindy Taylor-Ross of Venice dismisses the mothers defense:

Sweet, little Gabriel didnt have a chance against his evil mother and her boyfriend.

The mothers defense that she was abused and had the verbal comprehension expected of a child in the second grade does not make sense. Even a 7-year-old child with a second-grade education ought to know the difference between right and wrong, especially in a case like this. The mothers low intelligence is not a valid defense for how horribly this child was treated.

Temecula resident Susan Stann hopes the sentences will be carried out:

After five long years, there may finally be some justice for Gabriel Fernandez. I just hope the sentences for his mother and her boyfriend pan out  meaning, she actually lives the rest of her life in prison and he is executed.

Sadly, even that would not bring the poor child back.

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Newsoms budget proposes $3 million for Alzheimers research, brain task force By Melody Gutierrez Amyloid plaques, shown here in human brains, are a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. (UCLA School of Medicine) Gov. Gavin Newsom will call for the creation of a brain health task force and dedicate $3 million annually from the states general fund to Alzheimers disease research in the budget proposal he will release Thursday, a source close to the administration said. The money for Alzheimers research would target the new grants at understanding why the disease is more prevalent in women and people of color. Former California first lady and Alzheimers activist Maria Shriver pushed for the funding to be included in the state budget. Shriver said in a statement Wednesday that the funding would make California the first state to make understanding our brains a priority. The states former first lady, whose late father Sargent Shriver was diagnosed with Alzheimers, founded the Womens Alzheimers Movement, an advocacy group raising awareness about womens increased risk for developing the disease. In 2011, she wrote a comprehensive assessment on the disease, to which Newsom  then mayor of San Francisco  contributed a portion called What one city is doing. This is personal to me, just like it is to millions of California families, Shriver said. Alzheimers is one of the largest medical, social and economic crises in our state, and of our time. I am so proud that, once again, California is leading the way. Wiping out Alzheimers is going to require bold thinking, and there is no doubt in my mind that California is home to bold thinkers who can make this happen. Facebook

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Gov. Gavin Newsom orders reinvention of troubled California DMV By Patrick McGreevy A line of people stretches around the South L.A. location of a California Department of Motor Vehicles Office on Aug. 7. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered an overhaul of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has been plagued by hours-long wait times at field offices, computer crashes and voter registration errors involving tens of thousands of customers. Just a few days after taking office, Newsom appointed a top advisor to a new DMV Reinvention Strike Team to revamp the beleaguered agency over the next six months. By any metric, California DMV has been chronically mismanaged and failed in its fundamental mission to the state customers it serves and the state workers it employs, Newsom said in a statement, adding Its time for a reinvention. The governor appointed state Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer to lead the strike team with a goal of modernizing the agency and enacting changes that improve customer satisfaction, employee performance and transparency. Newsom also ordered an accelerated review of initial findings of an ongoing audit ordered last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. The action was welcomed by lawmakers who have been critical of the DMV, including Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield). The egregious management failures of the DMV have been self-evident, which is why I have been calling for new leadership and a comprehensive independent audit of this troubled state agency over and over again as the problems grew significantly worse, Fong said. Last summer, Californians seeking new driver licenses complained of wait times of four to six hours at DMV offices, which the agency blamed partly on snafus caused by a rush of people trying to get Real IDs, a new identification card design required for airline passengers starting in late 2020. Delays were also blamed on computer crashes at DMV offices as the agency struggled to update its aging automation systems. The DMV also admitted that there were an estimated 23,000 errors as people either were unknowingly registered to vote or mistakes were made in their registration status as part of the states new motor voter program. The agency registered to vote as many as 1,500 people with legal U.S. residency but no citizenship. Last month, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto retired from the agency. Legislators were angered earlier this week when the DMV said it needed an additional $40 million to prevent the return of long lines at its field offices. In addition, the agency has been under fire for issuing driver licenses in the last year that do not comply with the federal Real ID standards requiring two forms of identification by applicants. Facebook

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California police unions are preparing to battle new transparency law in the courtroom By Maya Lau Just as a landmark police transparency law is going into effect, some California police agencies are shredding internal affairs documents and law enforcement unions are rushing to block the information from being released. The new law, which begins to unwind Californias strictest-in-the-nation protections over the secrecy of law enforcement records, opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. But the lawsuits and records destruction, which began even before the law took effect Jan. 1, could tie up the release of information for months or years, and in some instances, prevent it from ever being disclosed. The fact that police unions are challenging this law is on some level not surprising, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, one of the principal supporters of the new law. They have a long history of fighting tooth and nail against transparency. Read More Facebook

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Secretary of State Alex Padilla begins second term with challenge to ensure every Californian is counted By Jazmine Ulloa Secretary of State Alex Padilla takes the oath of office as his family stands by his side on Monday in Sacramento. (Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times) Secretary of State Alex Padilla was sworn in for a second term on Monday, saying he would continue the battle to protect the right to vote at a time when voter suppression efforts, online disinformation campaigns and interference from foreign adversaries have polarized the public and threatened to undermine trust in U.S. elections. I am doubling down on our fight here in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C., to defend our democracy, he said. Working on the front lines with so many of you, I know that our collective resolve has never been stronger. But the loudest applause came when Padilla promised to fight back against the Trump administrations changes to the U.S. census, saying he will ensure every Californian gets counted. Padilla, a former state senator and Los Angeles City Council member from the San Fernando Valley, led the cause for a new motor voter registration law in 2015, and a new system for online business registrations. But the programs have had experienced problems: More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by the state DMV, the agency reported last year. On Monday, Padilla said he would continue to push back against false claims of voter fraud in California and pointed to the states voter turnout as proof that his office was involving more people in the democratic process, a promise he made when he was first sworn in four years ago. More than 12.7 million voters cast ballots in the Nov. 6 midterm election, representing roughly 65% of the states registered voters, the highest number of any midterm election since 1982, according to state certified results. I made that promise based on a shared belief that we are a stronger democracy and a better California when we hear all voices from all corners of California, and when those voices are not just heard but counted, Padilla said. Facebook

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Ricardo Lara, Californias first statewide officeholder to come out as gay, sworn in as insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara on the floor of the state Senate in 2016. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Ricardo Lara took the oath of office as California insurance commissioner on Monday, pledging action to boost healthcare coverage and combat climate change. Lara, a Democrat from Bell Gardens, is the first elected statewide officeholder in California who has come out as gay. He began his speech in downtown Sacramento by thanking LGBTQ leaders who came before him and celebrated the occasion. Today, because of you, weve shattered the pink ceiling, Lara said. In his inaugural speech, Lara announced the creation of an executive position in his office to address climate change. There is no other industry that has the necessary expertise to ensure that California is prepared to mitigate and reduce risk to our communities and our environment, Lara said. Our planet cant wait. Im ready, and I hope you are too. Lara served as a state legislator and in 2017 introduced a bill to create a single-payer healthcare system in the state. He promised to work with new Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand coverage across California. Lara was sworn in by retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who declared unconstitutional Californias Proposition 8 gay marriage ban. State Sen. President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) was on hand for the ceremony along with multiple other state lawmakers. Facebook

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New California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis says she will help expand access to universities in the state New Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, center, is shown in June talking with attendees at the Power to the Polls rally in Sacramento. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) More Californians should be given access to public universities, Eleni Kounalakis said as she took the oath of office Monday to become the states first woman elected lieutenant governor. Kounalakis was given the oath of office by Gov. Gavin Newsom, her predecessor in the job, who pledged they would work together. As lieutenant governor, Kounalakis serves on the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees, she noted in a speech at her swearing-in ceremony at the main Sacramento Library. In that role, she said, she will be committed to expanding access to affordable public higher education here in our state. Its wise, its smart and it is the best way to address our rapidly changing digital economy. Kounalakis is former president of a development company founded by her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, and served during the Obama administration as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary. In November, she won her first run for statewide office. Also attending the ceremony were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Facebook

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California meets Dutch Newsom, who steals the show at his fathers inauguration By Taryn Luna Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his inaugural address while holding his youngest son, Dutch. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) In the California political world, all eyes were on Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday until his 2-year-old son stole the show. Dutch, the youngest of four children in the Newsom brood, climbed onstage in the middle of his fathers inaugural address in a tent outside the Capitol on Monday. The unplanned moment saw the 51-year-old governors big day interrupted by the toddler, bringing levity to the ceremony. Newsom was recounting Gov. Jerry Browns last inaugural speech and reference to the Sermon on the Mount, a biblical story about two men who built separate homes on sand and rock, when Dutch approached his father, a pacifier in his mouth and blanket in hand. Now more than ever we Californians know how much a house matters and children matter, Newsom said, improvising as he scooped the boy into his arms. The governor kissed Dutch on the cheek and held him for several minutes as he continued with the speech. This is exactly how it was scripted, Newsom joked. Newsom eventually put his child down and Dutch walked to the edge of the stage before retreating behind the podium to hide from his mother, First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The crowd roared. Siebel Newsom was able to briefly divert her son only for him to return to the stage minutes later. She grabbed him again and this time, the crying toddler did not reemerge. When fires strikes, when kids cry and the earth shakes, well be there for each other, Newsom said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who said the moment humanized Newsom, threw cold water on any theories that Dutchs cameo was planned. No, I know it was not, Garcetti said with a laugh after Newsoms speech concluded. I could see that look of absolute abject terror [on Newsoms face]. Weve all been there. Kids always think its about themselves and theyve proved it. California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) agreed. I worked in early childhood education for 20 years and theres no way you can ever get a child to do anything when you want them to do it, Rendon said. Facebook

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Fiona Ma takes oath as Californias new treasurer By Liam Dillon State Treasurer Fiona Ma. Fiona Ma took the oath of office in Sacramento on Monday as the states 34th treasurer, promising to boost Californias economy. Ma previously served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in the state Assembly and on the California Board of Equalization. I want to thank everyone for entrusting me with this important job. I understand my role here as your state treasurer is to build that financial wall around California so that we will remain the fifth-largest economy, Ma said in brief remarks. That is my promise to you. California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye administered the oath to Ma. Following the ceremony, Ma held an ice cream social for guests. On Wednesday, she will host a public event in San Francisco to celebrate her swearing-in. State Treasurer Fiona Ma takes the oath of office. (Liam Dillon / Los Angeles Times) Facebook

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Expectations are high for newly sworn-in state schools chief Tony Thurmond Tony Thurmond shakes hands with retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco after taking the oath of office. (Melody Gutierrez / Los Angeles Times) Tony Thurmond took the oath of office as Californias state superintendent of public schools on Monday, promising a labor-friendly agenda before the teachers, students and Democratic officials who filled an auditorium at McClatchy High School in Sacramento to watch him being sworn in. We cant close the achievement gap without a great teacher at the head of every class, Thurmond said Monday to applause. We have to make sure we provide quality compensation and support to our teachers and our classified staff and all the educators who support our kids. Thurmond, a Bay Area Democrat who served in the state Assembly, won a hotly contested and expensive race with the help of labor leaders against charter school executive Marshall Tuck. The race took several days to sort out after Tuck held an initial lead in early returns on election night before falling behind thereafter. Thurmond was sworn in Monday by retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco. He was joined on stage by labor rights leader Dolores Huerta and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount). Thurmonds former colleagues in the state Assembly took turns praising him and promising to be an ally in improving schools. Many said they expected Thurmond would be a strong leader focused on improving student outcomes. We know we are going to work hard to give you the money you need and the budget you need to fully fund education and our schools so we can put our money where our mouth is and make sure our children have everything they need, Assemblywoman Connie Leyva (D-Chino Hills) said. As state superintendent, Thurmond will oversee the education of 6.2 million students at 10,000 schools. Thurmond was a member of the West Contra Costa County School Board and a Richmond city councilman before he was elected to the state Assembly. Tony is the right man at the right time to fight the federal, Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos anti-child, anti-education, anti-civil and -human rights agenda, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said. Tony is going to do that for us. Facebook

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State Controller Betty Yee takes oath of office with call for more affordable housing and healthcare State Controller Betty Yee California Controller Betty Yee took the oath of office Monday for a second term, saying she still has work to do addressing problems that include a lack of affordability in housing, healthcare and higher education. A San Francisco native, Yee is the chief financial officer of California  the fifth-largest economy in the world  having first won election to the post in 2014 before winning reelection in November. No region is spared from the widening inequality and increased poverty that plague our state, fueled by the lack of affordable, stable housing, the cost of healthcare and transportation, limited educational opportunities, student loan debt, displacement caused by disasters and more, she said. Yee was administered the oath of office by California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento before an overflow crowd that included state Senate leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. As a public official it is about governance that delivers results and stays accountable while upholding the underlying value of dignity for all, Yee said. Facebook

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California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra begins new term promising to fight Trump policies California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra on Monday took the oath of office for a new term, saying he would continue his role as a leading challenger to Trump administration actions that he believes are counter to the states interests. Becerra, a former 12-term congressman, has become a national opposition figure to Trump, having sued the federal government 45 times since he was appointed as the states first Latino attorney general in 2017. Weve been a little busy stopping the dysfunction and insanity in Washington, D.C., from infecting California, Becerra told an audience during a swearing-in ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento. Whether its the criminals on our streets or the conman in the boardrooms or highest office of the land, Becerra said, the California Department of Justice, well, weve got your back. Becerra won his first statewide election as the states top cop in November, two years after he filled the post vacated when predecessor Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. He has peppered the Trump administration with lawsuits challenging federal policies on healthcare, the U.S. census, the environment and immigration. Our state builds dreams, not walls, he said in a direct criticism of Trumps proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Just last week, Becerra led a coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general in announcing an appeal of a federal judge in Texas that ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The ACA has been the law for nearly a decade and is the backbone of our healthcare system, Becerra said last week. This case impacts nearly every American  workers covered by employers, families, women, children, young adults and seniors  so we will lead the ACAs defense as long and far as it takes. Facebook

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California Democratic Party Vice Chairman Daraka Larimore-Hall announces bid to lead group By Christine Mai-Duc Daraka Larimore-Hall. (Dominic Parisi / Courtesy of Daraka Larimore-Hall) Daraka Larimore-Hall, a top official at the California Democratic Party, said Monday hes running to replace former chairman Eric Bauman, who resigned abruptly in November after being confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct. Larimore-Hall, a longtime state party activist and former chairman of the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara County, was one of the party leaders who urged Bauman to resign following the allegations. In an email to supporters announcing his bid, he urged both structural and cultural change at every level of our Party. He also repeated his call for a top-to-bottom investigation of the allegations, the party and its culture. In a Times investigation, 10 party activists and staff members said Bauman made crude sexual comments and engaged in unwanted touching and physical intimidation in professional settings. In order to be where we need to be for 2020, we have to confront the culture of abuse and fear that allowed someone to behave in such a vile way for so long, Larimore-Hall said in an interview. We cant brush it aside or think that our activists or our candidates or our donors are going to forget about this overnight. Larimore-Hall said his first priority would be to fully investigate the allegations and restore rank-and-file confidence in the partys leadership. The second would be to refocus the party on political priorities as the 2020 presidential election nears. The Bauman episode, Larimore-Hall said, threatens to derail the Democrats plans to help defeat President Trump and keep the seven congressional seats gained in the midterm elections. Its definitely a crisis, Larimore-Hall said. But the component parts  the energy, the enthusiasm, the volunteers, the infrastructure  its still there. We just need to direct it toward something. Larimore-Hall was elected vice chairman of the state party in February following Baumans razor-thin victory over Bay Area activist Kimberly Ellis. Ellis has announced another bid for the chairmanship and former state Senate leader Kevin de Leon is also mulling a run. The vote will take place at the partys May convention in San Francisco. Facebook

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Newsom will vow to seize this moment, and swipe at Trump in Monday inaugural address By Melanie Mason Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family attend an Inauguration Family Event at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Building on the theme of California exceptionalism that defined his campaign, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will depict the state as a guardian of progressive values and a counterweight to President Trump in his inaugural address Monday, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks. What we do today is even more consequential, because of whats happening in our country, read the excerpts obtained by The Times. Peoples lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe  they all hang in the balance. The country is watching us. The world is waiting on us. The future depends on us. And we will seize this moment. The speech casts Californias political stakes in a decidedly national scope, promising an agenda that will unify and be an example to the rest of the country. It contrasts the governing goals of Newsom, a Democrat, with that of Trump, the incoming governors perennial foil. We will offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House, the excerpts say. Our government will be progressive, principled, and always on the side of the people. Newsom campaigned on an ambitious and wide-ranging platform, promising sweeping solutions on housing, healthcare, education and other issues that rank among Californians top concerns. In the weeks after his election, he struck a more muted tone, taking pains to emphasize his fiscal caution and need for patience in achieving those goals. The inaugural excerpts indicate a return to lofty pledges. While Newsom will vow to prepare for uncertain times ahead by building budgetary reserves and paying down debt, the prepared remarks quickly turn to a vow to be bold. Newsom has already floated several proposals for his first budget that carry significant price tags, including a nearly $2-billion plan to boost early childhood development for low-income families and a dramatic expansion of paid family leave from six weeks to six months. When asked for a preview of his inauguration speech during a news conference Sunday evening, Newsom predicted pundits would criticize his address as short on specifics. Well, of course, Im at an inaugural, Newsom said. But Ill be very detailed in the budget, a few days later. And then we will architect, in much more nuance and detail, in state of the state. I really see this as three opportunities  to communicate over the next few weeks our agenda, our vision for the state. Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report. Read More Facebook

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Newsom-hosted benefit concert raises nearly $5 million for wildfire victims By Taryn Luna Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom speaks at a concert to benefit wildfire victims at the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) On the eve of the gubernatorial inauguration, Californias political class rubbed elbows in Sacramento for a benefit concert hosted by Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and headlined by the rapper Pitbull. Newsom told the crowd gathered at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday evening that the fundraiser brought in nearly $5 million for the California Wildfire Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that supports the families of fallen firefighters and communities affected by wildfires. You know, a lot of folks feel anxious about not just politics, but government, Newsom said on stage before introducing the rapper and activist Common. But those firefighters, they are the antidote to the fear and cynicism; they are the manifestation of why government matters and why you should care. Top sponsors, including Salesforce, Kaiser Permanente and other interest groups, paid up to $1 million each to support the cause and curry favor with the new administration. Nathan Click, a spokesman for Newsom, said organizers sold more than 7,000 tickets. Several state lawmakers attended the concert alongside Capitol staff, lobbyists and business types, who mingled on the floor of the arena and offstage in private VIP areas. The rock band X Ambassadors and a duo called the Cold Weather Sons from the town of Paradise, which was destroyed by fire in November, were among several performers who entertained the crowd during the four-hour event. The California Rises concert is the final in a series of festivities held Sunday to celebrate the inauguration of Californias 40th governor. Earlier in the day, Newsom attended a private brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum and his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront. Newsoms inauguration is set to begin at 11 a.m. Monday on the steps of the Capitol. Facebook

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Inauguration fever hits Sacramento as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom prepares to take office By Phil Willon Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom holds his son, Dutch, as he and his family attend an inaugural event at the at the state Railroad Museum Sunday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Incoming Gov. Gavin Newsom doesnt officially take the oath of office until Monday, but the parties celebrating his inauguration were in full swing all day Sunday. Newsom and his family were mobbed by well-wishers at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront in the afternoon, where his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families. He just has charisma. Hes able to really connect with people, said Rosielyn Pulmano, an attorney from Elk Grove who came to see Newsom with her husband, two sons and her niece. I think he cares about working Californians and a lot of their issues. Newsom arrived with his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and their four young children, and the governor-elect spent a good deal of his time wading through crowds, taking selfies with supporters and signing autographs as music boomed in the background. As the family toured the inside of the museums locomotives and the bevy of exhibits, Newsoms two-year-old son, Dutch, was wide-eyed, impressed by all the train cars and seemingly a little overwhelmed by the crowd. Newsom said that for his son, all that was missing from the museum was Thomas the Train, popular fictional locomotive in childrens books and cartoons . If theres one thing I can contribute to Sacramento maybe its getting a Thomas the Train exhibit for the two years olds, Newsom joked when talking with reporters afterward. Newsom said he wanted to include such an event in his inaugural festivities to highlight families and children, whose wellbeing will be among the top priorities of his administration. Youll see that not only as a preamble to the inaugural and the budget that well be submitting next week, but I think itll be a big part of the administration, Newsom said. The museum event followed a private, high-dollar brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum. A steady rain failed to dissuade as many as 200 guests who sipped wine and dined on chicken and salmon while waiting for a photo with Californias new first couple. Seen at the event were representatives of some of the states most powerful political interests, among them organized labor, healthcare companies and tribal gaming interests. A few other high-profile guests attended, too, including Larry Baer, CEO of the San Francisco Giants, and Erika Jayne, a singer and cast member of the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Im excited to see someone like Gavin  young, vibrant  taking over the state and leading us into the future, Jayne said after attending the brunch with her husband, attorney Tom Girardi. Hes got a lot of great plans. Attendees said the event, which was closed to reporters and held under a tent in the museums outdoor atrium, did not include prepared remarks by Newsom. Among those seen leaving the event were representatives of AT&T, the California Medical Assn., Uber, Kaiser Permanente and the State Building and Construction Trades Council. A fundraising invitation obtained by The Times offered bundled tickets to all of the inauguration events, including those on Sunday and the Monday ceremony, ranging in price from $25,000 to $200,000. The money will be collected by a committee specifically organized to pay for Newsoms inaugural weekend. Sundays festivities are scheduled to end with a benefit concert headlined by Pitbull at the Golden 1 Center, home of the NBAs Sacramento Kings, to raise money for the victims of Californias recent deadly wildfires. Among the attendees at @GavinNewsoms pre-inaugural leadership brunch: Real Housewife of

Bev Hills @erikajayne. Im excited to see someone like Gavinyoung, vibranttaking over the state and leading us into the future. Hes got a lot of great plans. pic.twitter.com/561NHiy2XQ  Melanie Mason (@melmason) January 6, 2019 Facebook

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As Newsom inaugural events begin, he unveils more state budget promises on education and paid family leave Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, seen here last April, will propose new state budget efforts on paid family leave and education subsidies. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Californias incoming governor, who must send his first state budget plan to the Legislature this week, has already signaled a significant new focus on programs to help families and children from infancy to college. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom campaigned on a platform that included a number of child-focused efforts specifically aimed at helping lower-income families. The price tag for the initial efforts is expected to approach $2 billion  a cost paid out of an unrestricted tax revenue windfall that could be one of the largest in state history. Newsom may also seek help for families through new subsidies paid by California employers. The governor-elect is expected to propose a dramatic expansion of paid parental leave  from six weeks to six months  according to an internal document provided by a source close to the Newsom transition team, first reported on Sunday by the New York Times. The document doesnt offer a full explanation for how the program will be funded, saying instead that the budget will set a goal of ensuring that all newborns and newly adopted babies can be cared for by a parent or a close family member for the first six months. Employers across the state are currently assessed a payroll tax that helps offer a subsidy to parents who temporarily leave their job to care for a newborn. Newsoms plan, according to the document, would pay for some of the new costs by shrinking the mandated cash reserve of the state fund that administers the program, allowing more of the money to be paid in benefits. The increase in paid leave would not all happen at once but instead be phased in over a multi-year period. A task force to help implement the expanded care plan is also envisioned, according to the document. It would determine whether two parents could split the six months of paid leave and whether an extended family member could be enlisted to help care for the child of a single parent over the six-month period. The incoming administrations focus on young children will also include $1.8 billion in new spending on early childhood education programs, with a particular focus on training childcare workers and pushing for more California schools to offer full-day kindergarten. Those costs, according to an overview memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times, are considered to be a one-time expense while leaving the long-term costs of the effort to be determined later. More community college students would get free tuition under a third initiative expected in the new governors budget plan. Newsom will propose spending $40 million to offer a second year of tuition-free college to California students, according to an outline provided by a transition official, first reported by Politico. Students are already eligible for a single year of paid tuition under a plan agreed to by Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers in 2017. The incoming governor embraced the idea of free community college during the 2018 campaign as part of a broader focus on additional investments in higher education. Education is an economic development strategy, Newsom said at a higher education forum last spring. We need to significantly increase the investment from the general fund of this state on higher education. Theres no greater higher return on investment. Whether the proposal would be targeted to students based on a familys financial need is unclear. Many low-income students are already eligible for fee waivers at community colleges. The new governor must submit his full state budget plan to lawmakers no later than Thursday. Facebook

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Gavin Newsom and his family decide Sacramento is the place to be The Old Governors Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will move his family into the mansion. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family will give up the Marin County life and move to the Victorian-style governors mansion in Sacramento after he takes the oath of office Monday. Newsom and his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had debated whether or when to relocate to the state capital since his election in November. The couple have four young children and expressed reservations about moving in the middle of a school year. To best serve the people of California while also maximizing family time together, the Newsoms have therefore decided to move to Sacramento, said Newsoms spokesman, Nathan Click. On Monday, they will move into the Governors Mansion  along with their four children, their two family dogs, and their family bunny rabbit  and reside there for the immediate future. The Newsoms currently live in Marin County. Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Ann Gust Brown, moved into the grand house in 2015 after it underwent $4.1 million in renovations to update electrical and plumbing systems, as well as to remove lead-based paint and install a fire sprinkler system and other security features. The mansion was built in 1877 and has been home to 14 governors, but before Brown it had not housed a California governor for nearly half a century. The state bought the mansion from a wealthy Sacramento hardware merchant, Albert Gallatin, in 1903 for $32,500. It was one of the few California homes at that time to have indoor plumbing. Facebook

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Newsom announces top labor, business liaisons as he prepares to take office Julie Su will be secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency for Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday named two advisors on issues related to the California economy, each recognized for their expertise on business and labor. The incoming governor will appoint Julie Su as secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and Lenny Mendonca as chief economic and business advisor and director of the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development. Su, 49, has served as state labor commissioner under Gov. Jerry Brown since 2011 and has led an office tasked with the enforcement of Californias labor laws. She won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2001 and previously worked as a civil rights attorney representing low-wage workers. In her new position, Su will be tasked with coordinating the work of several workforce departments in state government, including those that administer unemployment benefits and oversee the relationship between agriculture workers and employers. Mendonca, 57, has been a longtime advocate for rethinking government operations as co-chairman of the nonprofit organization California Forward. Previously, he was partner at McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm. While he will be a key advisor to Newsom on the states economy, Mendonca will also lead the office often referred to as Go-Biz, designated as a high-level way to encourage job growth and economic development. In his new role, Mendonca will help ensure that California is rolling out the welcome mat to current and future California businesses and growing a sustainable economy for every Californian, said a statement from the Newsom transition team. Newsom will take the oath of office as governor Monday. He has previously selected key advisors on the state budget, legislative affairs and the executive branchs wide array of agencies and departments. Facebook

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Joshua Groban, aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, sworn in to California Supreme Court By Taryn Luna California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban gives remarks after he is sworn into the court by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. (Taryn Luna) California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban, a lawyer and longtime aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, was sworn into the states highest court Thursday in Sacramento. The ceremony marked Browns fourth appointment to the state Supreme Court and gave the seven-member bench a Democratic majority. We live in a highly chaotic, ever-changing and ever-confusing world, Groban said in prepared remarks at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building. But Im happy to report that Im joining an institution whose fundamental purpose, at core, is to provide stability and consistency amidst this chaotic place we live. I look forward to doing that with a sense of reflection, respect, fidelity to the law and compassion. None of Browns appointees, Groban included, have judicial experience. Groban served as legal counsel to Browns 2010 gubernatorial campaign and joined the administration as a senior advisor to the governor, overseeing the appointments of some 600 judges over the last eight years. Prior to working with Brown, Groban, 45, practiced law for more than a decade. In perhaps his final public appearance before his successor, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, takes office next week, Brown pushed back on notions that he stacked the court. I dont want this to be known as a Brown court, the governor said before administering the judicial oath of office. First of all, the so-called Brown appointments do not agree with themselves and nor should they. They are individuals. They will differ. Its not anybodys court. The governor called the court a high calling and said Groban possesses the values for the job. Probably, next to my wife, Ive talked to no person as much as Ive talked to Josh Groban, Brown said. I think youve talked to him more, Californias First Lady Anne Gust Brown interjected. I cant tell you what the hell hes going to do, Brown later quipped. I warned him, dont screw up, at least not at first. Facebook

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California campaign watchdog agency seeks law barring use of campaign funds to fight harassment claims Former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). ( (Steve Yeater / Associated Press)) Elected officials accused of harassment or discrimination would be barred from using political contributions to cover their legal defense costs under legislation proposed by Californias campaign watchdog agency. The state Fair Political Practices Commission has agreed to pursue a law change to clear up confusion after an attorney for one former state lawmaker argued political funds could be used in such legal defenses. Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said putting a prohibition into the law would provide some much needed clarity. As chair, I would like to show the public their lawmakers are held to a standard that is above reproach, Germond said in a statement. People dont give money to campaigns for lawmakers to use it to defend their own bad behavior, so lawmakers shouldnt be able to use it in that manner. The issue came up a year ago when an attorney for former Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) sought a formal opinion from the FPPC after the Senate launched an investigation that later concluded Mendoza likely engaged in a pattern of harassment against female aides. Mendoza resigned in February under threat of expulsion by the Senate. In a Jan. 10, 2018, letter, Cassandra Ferrannini, an attorney for Mendoza, wrote to the FPPC that she believed Mendoza should be allowed to establish a legal defense fund able to defray his legal expenses in defending himself against the allegations. The use of campaign funds for attorneys fees under these circumstances would fall squarely within the scope of legislative matters, since it involves the alleged conduct of a legislator with regard to legislative staff that he supervised, Ferrannini wrote. The commission staff originally issued an advice letter that said Mendoza may use campaign and legal defense funds to defend himself from claims of sexual harassment that arose directly out of his activities or status as a candidate or elected officer. But the panel later rescinded the letter after some members questioned using campaign funds to fight sexual harassment claims. That left uncertainty about what was allowed, which Germond said could be cleared up by a new law. The FPPC is still looking for a legislator to carry the bill, a spokesman said. Facebook

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Californias landmark police transparency law takes effect after court denies police union effort to block it California Supreme Court building (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) A new state law allowing the public disclosure of internal police shooting investigations has gone into effect after the California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a bid by a police union to block it. The law opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. challenged the law last month, asking state Supreme Court justices to decide that the law only apply to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. The court rejected that request Wednesday, allowing members of the public to seek all applicable records held by police departments. Union president Grant Ward said in a statement that his organization was disappointed with the decision and is now seeking other legal options. We feel this is a statewide issue and should be considered accordingly, Ward said. Last month, the city of Inglewood authorized the destruction of more than 100 police shooting investigations and other records in advance of Jan. 1, when the disclosure law was scheduled to take effect. California law requires police departments to keep such records for five years, and Inglewood City Council voted to destroy records older than that. Mayor James T. Butts has said the decision had nothing to do with the new law. In Los Angeles, Police Chief Michel Moore has said that complying with the new disclosure rules could take hundreds of thousands of hours of work. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of the transparency law, has said she has no immediate plans to propose changes to it. Facebook

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Few complaints of racial profiling are sustained by police agencies in California, state panel finds CHP Officer J. Nelson stands outside the office of Gov. Jerry Brown as activists in 2015 support requiring the tracking of police stops. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Law enforcement agencies in California sustain few citizen complaints of racial or identity profiling, according to a report Wednesday by a state panel set up to help reduce bias in policing. The states Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board recommended in its annual report that law enforcement agencies improve training and adopt clear guidelines for tracking and reporting data on who is stopped by officers. The panel said that 453 law enforcement agencies in the state received 9,459 civilian complaints in 2017, including 865 complaints alleging racial or identity profiling. Of the racial and identity complaints that reached a disposition that year, 1.5% were sustained, 14.6% resulted in officers being exonerated and 83.9% of complaints were not sustained or were determined to be unfounded, the report said. A clearer picture of the issue is expected from a 2015 law that requires police agencies to report demographic data on all detentions and searches. The first reports by the eight largest agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, are due to be submitted in April. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, whose office oversees the board, said tracking of all detentions and searches will be helpful to understand the scope of the issue. The Boards recommendations will help make our law enforcement agencies more transparent and promote critical steps to enhance, and in some cases, repair the public trust, Becerra said in a statement Wednesday. Facebook

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California housing crisis podcast: What Minneapolis decision to end single-family zoning might mean for California A view of downtown Minneapolis in 2014 (Stephen Maturen / Getty Images) Theres a national movement brewing to roll back zoning rules in cities that only allow one house on a plot of land. The epicenter of that movement is Minneapolis, which passed a plan last month to eliminate single-family zoning citywide and let landowners build duplexes and triplexes on residential property. On this episode of Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast, we talk about the reasons why Minneapolis leaders took this action, including their desire to combat a history of racial exclusion and spur more housing density to fight climate change. We also debate how Minneapolis decision might affect housing politics in California. Our guest is Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender, who helped shepherd the new zoning rules to passage and a former San Francisco city planner. The episode also crowns 2018s Avocado of the Year  the most ridiculous story exemplifying Californias housing woes  and includes our predictions for the most under-the-radar important themes in housing politics in 2019. Gimme Shelter, a biweekly podcast that looks at why its so expensive to live in California and what the state can do about it, features Liam Dillon, who covers housing affordability issues for the Los Angeles Times Sacramento bureau, and Matt Levin, data and housing reporter for CALmatters. You can subscribe to Gimme Shelter on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Facebook

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How young immigrant Dreamers made flipping control of the House a personal quest By Jazmine Ulloa Gabriela Cruz, who was brought to the U.S. illegally when she was 1, couldnt vote, but in the final hours before the Nov. 6 election, she was making one last run to get people to the polls. The sun was setting in Modesto when she found Ronald Silva, 41, smoking a cigarette on a tattered old couch behind a group home. He politely tried to wave her off until she reminded him he had a right that she as an immigrant without citizenship didnt have. It could really make a change for us, said Cruz, 29. Read More Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose almost $2 billion for early childhood programs (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Seeking to frame his new administration as one with a firm focus on closing the gap between children from affluent and poor families, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose spending some $1.8 billion on an array of programs designed to boost Californias enrollment in early education and child-care programs. Newsoms plan, which he hinted at in a Fresno event last month, will be a key element in the state budget proposal he will submit to the Legislature shortly after taking office Monday, a source close to the governor-elects transition team said. The spending would boost programs designed to ensure children enter kindergarten prepared to learn, closing what some researchers have called the readiness gap that exists based on a familys income. It would also phase in an expansion of prekindergarten and offer money to help school districts that dont have facilities for full-day kindergarten. The fact that hes making significant investments with his opening budget is really exciting, Ted Lempert, president of the Bay Area-based nonprofit Children Now, said Tuesday. Whats exciting is the comprehensiveness of it, because its saying were going to focus on prenatal through age 5. A broad overview document reviewed by The Times on Tuesday shows that most of the outlay under the plan  $1.5 billion  would be a one-time expense in the budget year that begins July 1. Those dollars would be a single infusion of cash, an approach favored by Gov. Jerry Brown in recent years. Most of the money would be spent on efforts to expand child-care services and kindergarten classes. By law, a governor must submit a full budget to the Legislature no later than Jan. 10. Lawmakers will spend the winter and spring reviewing the proposal and must send a final budget plan to Newsom by June 15. Though legislative Democrats have pushed for additional early childhood funding in recent years  a key demand of the Legislative Womens Caucus  those actions have typically come late in the budget-writing season in Sacramento. Quite frankly, to start out with a January proposal that includes that investment in Californias children reflects a new day, state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said. The governor-elect will propose a $750-million boost to kindergarten funding, aimed at expanding facilities to allow full-day programs. A number of school districts offer only partial-day programs, leaving many low-income families to skip enrolling their children because kindergarten classes end in the middle of the workday. Because the money would not count toward meeting Californias three-decades-old education spending guarantee under Proposition 98, which sets a minimum annual funding level for K-12 schools and community colleges, it will not reduce planned spending on other education services. Close behind in total cost is a budget proposal by Newsom to help train child-care workers and expand local facilities already subsidized by the state, as well as those serving parents who attend state colleges and universities. Together, those efforts could cost $747 million, according to the budget overview document. An expansion of prekindergarten programs would be phased in over three years at a cost of $125 million in the first year. The multiyear rollout would, according to the budget overview, ensure the system can plan for the increase in capacity. Lempert said the Newsom proposal is notable for trying to avoid the kinds of battles that in recent years pitted prekindergarten and expanded child care against each other for additional taxpayer dollars. The reality is we need to expand both simultaneously, he said. Another $200 million of the proposal would be earmarked for programs that provide home visits to expectant parents from limited-income families and programs that provide healthcare screenings for young children. Some of the money would come from the states Medi-Cal program, and other money from federal matching dollars. Funding for the home visits program was provided in the budget Brown signed last summer; the Newsom effort would build on that. Emphasizing a policy area with broad appeal in his first state budget could reflect Newsoms political sensibility about the challenges ahead. Democratic lawmakers and interest groups will be especially eager to see how Newsom addresses the demand for an overhaul of healthcare coverage in California  especially after a 2017 effort to create a single-payer, universal system fizzled. The path forward on healthcare is complex and costly, making early childhood education a more achievable goal in the governor-elects early tenure. Newsom is likely to face considerable demands for other additional spending. In November, the Legislatures independent analysts projected that continued strength in tax revenues could produce a cash reserve of some $29 billion over the next 18 months. Almost $15 billion of that could be in unrestricted reserves, the kind that can be spent on any number of government programs. Kim Belshe, executive director of the child advocacy organization First 5 LA and a former state health and human services secretary, said the initial Newsom budget proposal suggests the next governor will focus on a comprehensive approach to improving outcomes for children from low-income families. School-ready kids deserve quality early learning, strong and well-supported families, and access to early screening services, Belshe said. Newsom understands the whole child, multifaceted needs of our kids and is clearly ready to lead. Mitchell, the chair of the Senate budget committee, said shes eager to see the details of the governor-elects proposal to determine whether it might signal the beginning of an even broader expansion of early education efforts. Similar efforts have been hindered by a lack of money and ongoing debate over which services to help children 5 and younger need state funding the most. Universal preschool, in particular, has been debated for more than a decade. California voters rejected a ballot measure to fund a full prekindergarten system in 2006. Its clear theres a new movement afoot trying to engage on investment for universal preschool, Mitchell said. How we invest, and how we prioritize that investment, is going to be a great conversation for the coming months. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: A final conversation with Gov. Jerry Brown No Californian has served longer as governor, signed more laws, granted clemency to more felons or waged more high-profile campaigns than Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown will leave behind a unique legacy when he packs his last belongings for the trip from the governors mansion in Sacramento to his Northern California ranch. His final two terms in office could be his most consequential. The governor reviewed some of the more notable moments from the past eight years in a far-reaching interview with The Times on Dec. 22. This weeks podcast episode includes extended portions of that conversation. Facebook

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A sagging economy could doom a 2020 ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes, Gov. Jerry Brown says Gov. Jerry Brown, at his Colusa County home on Saturday, said a ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes could struggle in 2020. (Randall Benton/For The Times) An effort to remove commercial property in California from the tax limits imposed by the landmark Proposition 13 could be felled by an economic slowdown, Gov. Jerry Brown said. In a Saturday interview with The Times at his Northern California ranch, Brown said liberal activist groups that have successfully placed the proposal on the November 2020 statewide ballot shouldnt read too much into early poll numbers showing support for the plan. That isnt as easy as you think, Brown said. Because youre going to be in a downturn of the business cycle. And youre talking many kinds of business. And the cost of doing business in California is already high. The ballot measure would allow counties to more frequently assess the market value of commercial property in California than allowed under Proposition 13, a 1978 ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to place strict limits on assessing property values and taxation for both homeowners and businesses. An analysis of the new measure, which qualified in October for the 2020 ballot, estimates it could bring in some $10.5 billion a year in new tax revenue. The business community will fight it, Brown said. And the minimum wage, the family leave, the environmental rules  business[es] have left California, thats going to be the big argument. And I think thats something you really have to think a lot about. The governor, who leaves office early next month due to term limits, declined to either endorse or oppose the ballot measure. He said Californias economic health in two years time could be a key factor in how voters weigh the proposal. Well be in a recession by then, Brown said. So its anybodys guess. Facebook

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Inglewood to destroy more than 100 police shooting records that could otherwise become public under new California law By Jack Dolan Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times) The city of Inglewood has authorized the shredding of more than 100 police shooting and other internal investigation records weeks before a new state law could allow the public to access them for the first time. The decision, made at a City Council meeting earlier this month, has troubled civil liberties advocates who were behind the state legislation, Senate Bill 1421, which takes effect Jan. 1. The law opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The legislature passed SB 1421 because communities demanded an end to the secrecy cloaking police misconduct and use of force, Marcus Benigno, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said in a statement. Inglewood PDs decision to purge records undermines police accountability and transparency against the will of Californians. California law says police departments must retain records of officer shootings and internal misconduct investigations for five years. The city of Inglewood, however, had kept records longer than that, including case files of police shootings dating to 1991. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of SB 1421, intended for her bill to allow public access to all qualifying records held by a department, no matter the date of the incident. Inglewood City Council approved the destruction of records that have been in the police departments possession  more than 100 cases  longer than required by law. The city staff report and council resolution describing the action makes no mention of the new police transparency law. Instead it says the affected records are obsolete, occupy valuable space, and are of no further use to the police department. It added the traditional method of destroying such records is to shred them. It is unclear whether the records have since been destroyed. A spokesman for the Inglewood Police Department along with Inglewoods city manager, attorney, clerk, four council members and Mayor James T. Butts, a former Santa Monica police chief, did not respond to requests for comment. Inglewoods City Hall is closed the last two weeks of December. The Inglewood Police Department has a reputation for secrecy and using excessive force. In 2008, the departments officers fatally shot four men in as many months, three of whom turned out to be unarmed. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe and found significant flaws in the way the department oversaw use-of-force cases and investigated complaints against officers. Civil rights advocates still question why Inglewood police opened fire on a couple found sleeping in a car in 2016, killing them both. California police have a long history of shredding records to avoid scrutiny of their actions. In the 1970s, the LAPD famously destroyed more than four tons of personnel records after defense attorneys began requesting them as part of criminal cases against their clients. The move resulted in the dismissal of more than a hundred criminal complaints. In response, the Legislature demanded that records be preserved but then took other measures, supported by police unions, to ensure the public had very little access to them, making California the most secretive state in the nation when it comes to police misconduct. Skinners legislation begins to unwind those laws, which have been on the books since 1978. No video or audio of the Dec. 11 council action is available on the citys website and neither are meeting minutes or any record of the decision. A city spokeswoman, Courtney Torres, confirmed that the council had voted in favor of the police records purge, and said all the relevant reasons for the decision were included in the city staff report. The Jan. 1 implementation for SB 1421 has prompted other police officials to act. A police union in San Bernardino is asking the state Supreme Court to determine that Skinners bill only applies to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner earlier this month warning that complying with the law in regard to older records in the departments possession could take hundreds of thousands of work hours. Facebook

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Federal officials question California DMVs process for issuing Real IDs (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has notified the California Department of Motor Vehicles that its process for providing residents with federally recognized identification cards is not adequate. DMV spokesman Armando Botello said Friday that 2.3 million residents who received Real IDs under the current process will have to submit additional documentation when their cards are renewed in five years but will be able to use them in the meantime. The DMV is developing a way for residents to submit more documentation online or via email to comply with the stricter federal requirement, he said. But some state legislators are upset about delays in notifying them of the problem and say Homeland Security could eventually require additional documentation provided by current holders. The DMV has known for a month that millions of Real IDs theyve been dolling out are potentially invalid, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) said. The DMVs only hope is that the Department of Homeland Security takes pity on California and gives the DMV more time to fix this mess. Real IDs are a new kind of driver license and identification card that federal law will require legal residents to present when boarding domestic flights or visiting military bases and other federal facilities starting Oct. 1, 2020. The DMV has only been requiring one form of documentation, including a current lease or utility bill, to verify the residence of a card applicant. But the federal government said in a Nov. 21 letter to the agency that two such documents are needed. On Friday, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto released a letter defending the current process but said her agency will start requiring a second document to prove residency in April. In order to minimize confusion among our customers, the CADMV will work to inform individuals who have been issued a Real ID under the current process that their card will be accepted for official federal purposes, even if their renewal occurs after the October 1, 2020, final enforcement date for Real ID, Shiomoto wrote to the federal agency. Legislative officials worry there is still a possibility that those issued Real IDs in the past might be required to present a second document to have their cards designated as compliant. The more complex process for obtaining Real IDs has led to hours-long waits for customers at DMV field offices this year, although wait times have been reduced recently by an increase in staffing. Shiomoto last month announced that she is retiring amid problems with the motor voter registration system and after the governor ordered an audit of her agency in response to the long wait times. On Friday, Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron of Escondido blasted the DMV for waiting a month to tell legislators of the problem. This is unacceptable and flies in the face of security for our citizens, which is what Real ID was created for in the first place, she said in a statement. Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom taps Keely Bosler to be his finance director Keely Bosler, the director of the California Department of Finance, will continue in that role under Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (California Department of Finance) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday appointed Keely Martin Bosler as director of the California Department of Finance, continuing the role she has served under Gov. Jerry Brown since August. Bosler will become Newsoms chief fiscal advisor, and will play a pivotal role in shaping Newsoms spending plan for the state that will lay the foundation for his top policy priorities. Newsom must roll out his first budget plan within days of taking office on Jan. 7. Californias brighter future depends on a strong, stable fiscal foundation, Newsom said in a statement released Friday afternoon. Keely is an accomplished public servant of sound fiscal judgment. She understands that state budgets are more than numbers on a page  they are value statements affecting the fate and future of millions of families reaching for the California Dream. We are fortunate to have her on our team. Prior to being appointed finance director, Bosler served as Browns cabinet secretary for two years and, before that, as the chief deputy director for budget in the Finance Department for three years. Earlier this year, Brown picked Bosler to lead an audit of the Department of Motor Vehicles, which had come under fire for long wait times at DMV field offices and numerous computer problems, including errors in the new motor voter program that registered Californians to vote. As we have discussed, long wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles do not reflect the high standards of service that Californians expect from their state government, Bosler wrote in a letter in September to DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. The audit is still ongoing, but Shiomoto has since announced she will retire at the end of the year. Facebook

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Californias legislative analyst, after decades of nonpartisan research for lawmakers, calls it a career Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, who has led the state research unit since 2008, will retire on Dec. 31. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Only five people have led the independent research office of the California Legislature since its creation in 1941. And each of them has had a pretty simple mantra to live by in reviewing public policy proposals and government programs: Call it like you see it. The job of any analyst, to me, is you maintain that nonpartisanship, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said. Taylor, 65, will retire from the post at the end of December after a four-decade career with the research team that began, as he likes to tell it, just after the passage of the landmark property tax rollback, Proposition 13, in 1978. He became the leader of the office, with the title of legislative analyst, in October 2008. Two months later, state government found itself in arguably the worst fiscal crisis in its history  a projected shortfall that ultimately grew to $42 billion by the following winter. There were forces beyond our control, Taylor said of that time. But dont underestimate the policy changes that were made afterward. Those changes, most notably a boost in taxes paid by high-income earners and a robust state budget cash reserve fund, have helped lead to successive years of fully funded government services. The state is projected to have some $24 billion in reserves by the end of the current fiscal year. Taylor announced his intention earlier to step down this year. Leaders from both houses of the Legislature select the analyst, who leads a staff of almost five dozen researchers. The office provides in-depth reports on pending legislation, as well as on broader policy topics like education and healthcare, and produces an independent analysis for every proposed ballot measure. A succession of lawmakers and governors alike have praised or panned the work of the Legislative Analysts Office based on their own political worldview. Taylor said his staff is mindful that they work for legislators, but try to ignore the rhetoric that follows the release of a major report. People are going to do what theyre going to do with our information, he said. They dont always like it, but they appreciate that we give them our best advice. Taylor oversaw a transformation in the way the Legislative Analysts Office distributes its information, embracing the release of research reports through social media instead of relying on traditional printed copies and journalist roundtable events. But he said the work of the researchers has remained largely unchanged through the decades. Having an independent take on things, I think, is good for the Legislature, he said. No replacement for Taylor has been announced, which means a short transition for his eventual successor before Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom sends his first budget proposal to lawmakers in early January. Taylor, who lives in the Sacramento suburbs, said he will honor the tradition of his predecessors in stepping away from public policy debates in order to give the new analyst space to lead the team as he or she sees fit. He said he hopes to travel in the coming years and spend time with his children who have moved to the East Coast. Forty years in state government, Taylor said in why he was stepping aside now. Isnt that enough? Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown sues to save California sentencing laws By Don Thompson, Associated Press (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown sued Thursday to protect one of his signature actions in office, a voter-approved measure that allows most prison inmates to seek earlier release and participate in rehabilitation programs. His administration filed a lawsuit challenging a pending 2020 initiative that seeks to toughen criminal penalties as part of an effort to roll back reforms adopted by voters within the last decade. Browns lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court contends the measure lacked enough valid signatures to overturn a previously approved constitutional amendment. County officials and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla certified the signatures in July but said they were submitted too late to qualify for last months election. The lawsuit names Padilla and the ballot measures official proponent, Nina Salarno Besselman, president of the advocacy group Crime Victims United. Padilla said the measure exceeded the required roughly 366,000 valid signatures, equal to 5% of votes cast for governor in 2014. Browns lawsuit says he used the wrong threshold. It says changing the state Constitution requires 8%, or more than 585,400 signatures. That makes the pending initiative more than 150,000 signatures short, the lawsuit says. Hes wrong, said Jeff Flint, a spokesman for the campaign backing the measure. He predicted a judge will be reluctant to reject a measure that already has qualified for the ballot. The secretary of state told us how many signatures are required, and thats how many we collected, Flint said. Padillas office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The measure would reverse reforms adopted by voters through Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 57 in 2016. Proposition 57 allows most inmates to seek earlier paroles, and Proposition 47 reduced some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The combination has helped keep Californias inmate population below a population cap set by federal judges. Corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said the measure gives corrections and parole officials broad discretion to protect our communities and fashion a rational system of rehabilitation and punishment. This new initiative unlawfully seeks to supplant the departments constitutional authority to implement these critical reforms to our criminal justice system. The pending initiative would shorten the list of crimes that qualify for earlier parole and change some theft crimes from misdemeanors back to felonies. It would also increase the number of crimes for which DNA is collected, a list that was limited when some crimes went from felonies to misdemeanors. Those supporting the tougher penalties say easing criminal penalties has increased the number of dangerous criminals on the streets, but those backing the changes say they have helped reduce mass incarceration and rehabilitate convicted criminals. Facebook

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California Supreme Court orders records unsealed in pardon of ex-state Sen. Roderick Wright Former state Sen. Roderick Wright (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) The California Supreme Court has granted a request to unseal court records involving Gov. Jerry Browns decision last month to pardon former state Sen. Roderick Wright for felony convictions involving lying about living in his legislative district, officials said Thursday. The court order was in response to a request by the nonpartisan First Amendment Coalition, which argued that the public has a right to know what information went into the governors decision to grant clemency to Wright. This is an important victory for public access to court files involving the exercise of executive clemency, said coalition spokesman Glen A. Smith. We are gratified the court has recognized that these decisions should be subject to the same public access rules that apply to other judicial records under California law. The court gave Browns office until Jan. 2 to redact confidential material before giving the court documents that can be released to the public. The court files submitted by the governors office include letters of support for a pardon and an internal review of Wrights case. The court denied a motion to unseal the records of all clemency cases but left open consideration of requests on other individual cases. Browns office is currently evaluating the courts decision, said spokesman Brian Ferguson. The governor argued against unsealing records in a recent court filing that said confidentiality is consistent with historical practice and is supported by state law. In pardoning Wright on Nov. 22, the governor wrote: He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law abiding citizen. Facebook

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California political watchdog agency fines BART, urges prosecution over using public funds for campaign A Bay Area Rapid Transit train leaves the station in Oakland in this 2013 file photo. (Ben Margot / AP) Californias state political watchdog agency on Thursday imposed a $7,500 fine against the Bay Area Rapid Transit District and called for a possible criminal or civil prosecution over allegations the district used public resources to campaign for a 2016 bond measure. The state Fair Political Practices Commission levied an administrative fine against BART for its failure to disclose spending on YouTube videos, social media posts and text messages to promote Measure RR, which authorized $3.5 billion in general obligation bonds. Though the panel lacks authority to seek criminal charges over the misuse of public funds, it also urged county district attorneys in the BART service area and the state attorney general to pursue possible criminal or civil charges over the spending of taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes, Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said. It is the concept of misusing public funds that I think we all here are very disturbed about, and we want to send a warning and not create a precedent that is a minor, little slap on the wrist, Germond said, adding that the referral to criminal prosecutors would further send a message that this is wrong. Commissioner Brian Hatch also called for the state Legislature to consider granting the FPPC power to go after public agencies that spend taxpayer money on campaigns. Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) called on the agency to increase the fine to the maximum level of $33,375. The proposed $7,500 fine represents a slap on the wrist for a very serious violation of the law and the publics trust, Glazer said in a letter to the panel. In supporting the fine recommended by the staff, Germond said BART has agreed to pay the penalty. Somebody did something wrong and they have admitted it, she said. A staff report said there were factors in favor of a fine below the maximum. Although the Commission considers BARTs violations to be serious, the absence of any evidence of an intention to conceal, deceive, or mislead; the voluntary filing of the delinquent campaign statement; and the absence of a prior record are mitigating, the report said. Facebook

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California police union seeks state Supreme Court review of new law disclosing internal investigation records Los Angeles Police Department officers. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A police union is asking the California Supreme Court to block the release of internal officer investigations before a new state law takes effect next year. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. filed a petition Tuesday asking justices to rule that only investigations of incidents that occur after Jan. 1 would be available under the law  and not those the department has on file from years prior. The litigation comes after this years passage of Senate Bill 1421, which opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department has told the union it intends to make available in response to public records requests all the information it has. The union is very concerned about any plans to retroactively apply Senate Bill 1421, Grant Ward, the unions president, said in a statement. We believe retroactive application violates our members rights and we hope the California Supreme Court will consider the serious issues raised by our legal challenge. The bills author, Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), does not agree with the unions interpretation. She has said her legislation should apply to all the records in a police departments possession because the law simply declared that affected records were no longer confidential. If the record exists, its disclosable, Skinner said. A decision on what records will be available under the law is key to how far-reaching it will be. If the court restricts access to incidents that occurred prior to 2019, those cases will not be subject to public scrutiny. The police union in San Bernardino County is not the only one raising concerns about the law. Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner expressing concern that his agency would be overwhelmed if the law required the department to disclose older incidents. Even if the law only applied to the previous five years, Moore wrote, it could take nearly 300,000 hours of work to comply with its provisions. The LAPD operates with a guiding principle of Reverence for the Law; as such, we will diligently comply with SB 1421, Moore wrote. We maintain, however, that a retroactive implementation of SB 1421 will be exceptionally burdensome and would require significant reallocation of front-line investigative personnel. Skinner said if complying with the law becomes untenable for law enforcement agencies that maintain records for a long time, she would consider modifications. But she said agencies did not raise this concern during discussion over the bill. SB 1421 went through multiple committee hearings, multiple floor debates, extensive opportunity for all parties to weigh in on concerns with its structure, she said. That was not an issue that was raised by law enforcement at the time. Facebook

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Gov. Brown warns of backlash for Republicans in 2020 if Obamacare repeal is upheld Gov. Jerry Brown at the National Press Club in April. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Gov. Jerry Brown warned Republicans on Tuesday that repeal of the Affordable Care Act would devastate the partys political chances in the 2020 election. Brown, speaking at a Sacramento Press Club event moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton and Brown family historian Miriam Pawel, said a federal judges ruling last week to strike down the 2010 law  if upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court  will build such a backlash that the Democrats will not only take over the Senate, theyll win the presidency and will win with the kind of momentum, particularly on the issue of healthcare, that [the law] will be replaced probably with something even better. The governor, who leaves office in less than three weeks, said he did not believe the ruling by a Texas judge would ultimately prevail. I think the decision will probably be overturned, Brown said. Few states have embraced the law championed by former President Obama more than California, both through its healthcare exchange, Covered California, and by expanding access to government-funded services under Medi-Cal. Some 12 million Californians now receive healthcare through Medi-Cal, and Brown said a final ruling affecting the federal dollars that subsidize that care would be a serious blow. California would not be able to afford it without the subsidy, the governor said. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks (acuna-hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses, and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors, and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles and San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks. (Acuna-Hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Californias DMV director announces retirement amid problems with motor voter program (Kent Nishamura/Los Angeles Times) The director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles will retire at years end with a number of questions unanswered about the implementation of a major voter registration system and long wait times experienced by customers for much of the past summer. Jean Shiomoto will not continue in her current role as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom takes office, and announced to staff several weeks ago her intent to retire at the end of the year after 38 years in state service, spokesman Armando Botello said in an email to The Times on Friday. Newsoms transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on who might lead the department in 2019. Shiomoto was appointed DMV director by Gov. Jerry Brown in the fall of 2013, having served in prior leadership roles with the department. DMV officials have been sharply criticized by lawmakers in recent months for delays in serving customers at its field offices across the state. Last week, DMV officials revealed errors in registering California voters for the November election  mistakes that followed a series of problems in the rollout of the states new motor voter registration system. Secretary of State Alex Padilla last week said he had lost confidence in Shiomotos leadership as a result of the voting registration problems. Facebook

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New law could break the stalemate over housing on the site of a near-vacant Cupertino mall By Liam Dillon For more than a decade, developers have tried to build new housing on the site of an all-but-empty mall in Cupertino, a city in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to Apple headquarters. A well-organized group of neighbors, upset about traffic, building heights and the potential loss of the communitys suburban lifestyle, turned away every plan. Now, for the first time, the stalemate might be broken  thanks to a decision made in the state Capitol. In an effort to address Californias housing affordability problem, legislators passed a law last year that requires cities and counties to approve housing projects if they comply with local zoning rules and other standards, forcing some resistant communities to agree to new homebuilding. In September, the city of Cupertino, citing the state law, approved developer Sand Hill Property Co.s proposal to build an office park and more than 2,400 homes where the Vallco Shopping Mall sits. Read More Facebook

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Local government was a last bastion for struggling California Republicans. Not anymore By Mark Z. Barabak Theres no shortage of watery metaphors to describe the disaster that befell California Republicans this midterm election. A blue wave. A Democratic tsunami. But the most apt may be a flood, with the casualties steadily rising as the vote count climbed in the days and weeks following Nov. 6. Eventually half the GOP congressional delegation was washed away, along with the entire slate of statewide Republican candidates. In Sacramento, Democrats claimed 29 of 40 state Senate seats and seized three-quarters of the 80-member Assembly  the largest number since 1883, when Chester A. Arthur was serving in the White House. Read More Facebook

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For the Republicans left in Californias Legislature, fewer lawmakers will have to do more work By John Myers From January to late summer every year, the California Legislature is a perpetual motion machine. And in the new year, the people most likely to struggle in keeping up will be Republicans, vastly outnumbered but still responsible for representing millions of the states residents. There are 22 standing committees in the state Senate, plus at least a dozen more subcommittees or special committees. And after Novembers election, only 11 Republican senators will be left to divvy up the work. To the victors go the spoils. To the vanquished go the extra assignments. Read More Facebook

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Californias DMV failed to finish registering 329 new voters before November election (Los Angeles Times) Officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles said Friday that the agency failed to send information for 329 new voters to state elections officers in time for the November election, the latest revelation in a string of mishaps regarding voter registration. Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded with a blistering letter, calling on Gov. Jerry Brown or Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom to replace Jean Shiomoto, the DMV director. The Director of DMV has lost my confidence and trust, Padilla wrote. In all, the agency revealed that 589 mailed voter registration records that should have been processed under election deadlines werent sent to Californias secretary of state until late November, including forms from 260 drivers who had intended to update their address on existing voter registration records. The DMV had been instructed to not send registration forms that came in after Oct. 22, but the voters in question had forms that were postmarked before the deadline. In some cases, when the postmark wasnt legible, the agency said, documents inside indicated the voter had intended to finish their registration in time for the Nov. 6 election. The DMV recognizes the pause in transmittals was an error and affected the timing of the registration of the 589 individuals referenced above relative to the November election, Shiomoto wrote in a letter to Padilla on Friday. The pause was due to a misunderstanding on the part of the department, for which we take responsibility. Those who were trying to update their address for voter registration would not have been blocked from casting ballots. But officials said its unclear whether any of the 329 new voters were able to participate in the election. Shiomoto said in her letter that DMV will work with elections officials. The errors were not related to previous DMV mistakes about registering voters, problems associated with the rollout of the states new motor voter law. In those cases, multiple registration forms were sent to local elections offices for some voters, some people were assigned the wrong political party preference and others who are noncitizens were incorrectly placed on the list of registered voters. DMV officials have yet to respond to questions posed by The Times over the last several weeks about who knew of those mistakes and when. Facebook

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Newsom appoints a labor advocate and a former staffer as his chief deputy Cabinet secretaries By Taryn Luna A labor advocate and a San Francisco political operative have accepted positions in Gov.-elect Gavin Newsoms new administration. Angie Wei, a Capitol insider with deep ties to organized labor in California, will serve as a chief deputy Cabinet secretary with a focus on policy development. As a legislative director and chief of staff at the California Labor Federation, Wei has represented more than 1,200 unions and 2.1 million workers in Capitol fights over a host of policy issues, including drug-pricing transparency and paid family leave. The governor-elect also tapped Jason Elliott, a policy advisor to Newsom during his time as mayor of San Francisco and a chief of staff to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, as another chief deputy Cabinet secretary overseeing executive branch operations. Elliott and Wei will serve under Ana Matosantos, Newsoms previously
Voters in Californias 32nd Senate District faced something quite rare in politics last Tuesday: Two elections for the same job. But did they know it was the same job?

The results so far are, to put it bluntly, baffling. And they serve as a reminder that the electoral system depends on voters making careful selections.

For the record: In an earlier version of this article, Rita Topalians last name was misspelled Tapalian.

To understand whats going on in this Senate district centered around the Gateway Cities region of Los Angeles County including Norwalk and Whittier, lets start with the political turmoil. The district used to be represented by Democrat Tony Mendoza, whose term in office would have ended this fall.

The only thing special about California special elections is the cost to taxpayers 

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Mendoza abruptly resigned in February after allegations of sexual harassment, charges he disputed even as the Senate was prepared to vote to expel him. That triggered a special election to fill the remaining months in Mendozas current term. And it happened so late that it ended up on the June 5 primary ballot  the same ballot where voters considered candidates for a new four-year term in the Senate.

So one seat in the Senate, two separate terms, and thus two separate elections on the same day. Eleven candidates  nine Democrats and two Republicans  ran in both races, largely believing the winner of the special election would be able to go to Sacramento early and get a jump on the work.

But its not working out that way according to returns through the end of Friday: The vote totals in the two Senate District 32 races are quite different.

Both the special and regular elections show Republican businesswoman Rita Topalian in first place, while different Democrats came in second. Again, though, these are the exact same candidates for the exact same job.

Topalian got almost 22,000 votes in both races. In the special election, Democrat Vanessa Delgado is in second place. But in the normal primary, she was third, trailing Democrat Bob Archuleta by almost 2,000 votes.

Legislative contests were first tests of #MeToo at the California ballot box 

The most likely explanation is that the names were in a different order in each race because state law treats these as two separate elections. Ballot order is randomized in every race, as research shows a slight advantage for names at the top or bottom of a list.

Archuleta, the mayor of Pico Rivera, was at the top of the ballot for the full-term Senate election and leads all Democrats. But on the special election list, he was listed seventh and currently is in fourth place.

Mendoza, unmoved by calls to step aside, decided to run in both races. He was listed at the top of the ballot for the special election and has more votes in that race  more than 12,000  than in the regular primary, with fewer than 9,000.

Perhaps the ballot design could have been more clear about things, but it does label both races as for the 32nd Senate District. And so some blame must rest with voters if they didnt realize the same names were in both races  just in a different order.

Of course, people could have just stopped voting. The early vote suggests fewer people cast ballots in the special election, which came next on the ballot.

If these numbers hold among Democrats  who have a 27-point registration advantage in the district and are highly likely to win each race  were in for a very strange moment in time. Because Topalian didnt win a majority of votes, an Aug. 2 runoff looks likely for the election to fill Mendozas remaining term, where the winner would serve only for about three weeks before the Legislature adjourns for the year on Aug. 31. But a different Democrat on the November ballot for the new term in office could mean a completely different senator would serve the next four years.

john.myers@latimes.com

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In a time when most people read books via a tablet or e-reader, two local nonprofits hope to bring children back to a time when publications were more tangible.

In May, the Burbank Sunrise Rotary and Burbank Noon Rotary clubs unveiled a little free library in Mountain View Park in the Rancho District, the first of four take-a-book, leave-a-book repositories the service clubs will be donating to Burbank.

The other little free libraries will be built in Johnny Carson Park, Robert E. Lundigan Park and Vickroy Park by the end of this month.

Phyllis Cremer, president of Burbank Sunrise Rotary, said each service club received $2,000 in community grants from Rotary International to pay for the little libraries.

The two organizations turned to Douglas Chadwick from the Literacy Club, a local nonprofit that has built more than 75 free libraries throughout Los Angeles and the country, Cremer said.

Janice Lowers, secretary for the local Sunrise Rotary club and a member of the Burbank Parks and Recreation Board, said she had been wanting to undertake this community project for several years, and now that the little libraries are being built, she hopes they will promote literacy among children in the community.

Id love to see a little library in every park, she said. Parks are a perfect place for families to gather, and having the books available there [is] going to encourage reading. That foundation of literacy is really what makes life so much more accessible for a child moving forward.

Lowers added that the clubs have received about 700 books so far and will be putting them in the little libraries when needed.

Cremer, a student support specialist at Loyola Marymount University and former vice president of student development at Woodbury University, said she remembers visiting her local bookmobile when she was a child and being able to hold a book.

It is that tangible sensation that, Cremer said, many people have lost over the years, adding that it is time for people to go back and pick up a physical copy of a book every once in a while.

Though she understands the benefits of having reading material readily accessible through digital formats, Cremer said it is important for people and children to take a break from their often fast-paced lives, and what better way to do that than with a book.

Theres something about slowing yourself down and taking a book and being quiet for a while, she said. I think were not allowing ourselves to do that.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Terra Laguna Beach, a new on-property restaurant for the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters, will introduce its new executive chef, Jenny Messing, and its premiere menu in time for festival season with an official opening July 6.

The restaurant will feature California cuisine, a new bar menu of cocktails and mocktails, and seasonal brunch items.

In the fall, Terra will serve as an event venue, offering space for private parties and events with customized catering menus. In November, the restaurant will close for renovations and re-open in May 2019.

Taco Bell to serve frose drink in Newport Beach cantina

Taco Bell Cantina, 2121 W. Balboa Blvd., Newport Beach, will test-market an alcoholic drink called Berry Frose Twisted Freeze. The location is one of two Taco Bell Cantinas  the other is in Chicago  serving the so-called frose this summer.

The cost is $7.99 for a 16-ounce beverage with a 2-ounce pour of Charles & Charles rose. Without the wine, the drink is called a Beach Berry Freeze.

Hoag receives awards for heart failure and stroke care

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian received the American Heart Assn./American Stroke Assn.s Get With the Guidelines Heart Failure and Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards.

The awards highlight the hospitals commitment to providing patients with heart failure or suffering a stroke the most appropriate treatment.

Newport Jeweler to host grand opening

Newport Jeweler, 2043 Westcliff Drive, Ste. 101, Newport Beach, will host a grand opening from 4 to 5 p.m. June 27. For more information, call (949) 535-0222 or visit newportjeweler.com.
Community members are invited to attend a workshop at the Senior Center in Huntington Beach Wednesday to learn about efforts to provide some relief for residents who say jet noise has damaged their quality of life.

The 12-member Air Traffic Noise Working Group, which includes council members Patrick Brenden and Barbara Delgleize, will share potential political, legislative and legal paths to address increased airplane noise in the community.

Huntington Beach residents have complained about noise since the Federal Aviation Administration implemented flight path alterations in 2017.

The changes are part of the FAAs Southern California Metroplex project covering the regions airports, including Long Beach and John Wayne. The agency said the changes would shore up inefficiencies, save fuel and reduce carbon emissions and flight delays.

Group members have held meetings with residents and city officials to discuss potential solutions to air traffic noise since the panels creation in January. The group is also tasked with establishing a working relationship with federal aviation and local airport officials and assessing opportunities for lawsuits.

The group has made some progress.

In April Mayor Mike Posey asked county and federal representatives to address aviation noise related to the FAAs regional air traffic system, describing Huntington as an epicenter for heavily concentrated new landing and flyover patterns.

That same month Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) asked JetBlue to retrofit some of its planes to help minimize noise.

JetBlue spokesman Philip Stewart confirmed the airline received and is reviewing the letter.

Rohrabacher also proposed four amendments to the FAAs annual reauthorization bill that he said would ease aircraft noise in Orange County. The amendments failed on a 375-37 vote in the House of Representatives.

Other House amendments calling on the federal government to take steps to reduce the noise and health effects of commercial air traffic passed.

Wednesdays meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Parkside Room at 18041 Goldenwest St. For information, call (714) 536-5202 or email antonia.graham@surfcity-hb.org.

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscella
One person was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and three others were treated by paramedics after a rollover crash in Huntington Beach on Friday afternoon, authorities said.

Huntington Beach fire officials received a report of a crash involving two vehicles in the 6300 block of Beachview Drive at about 3:10 p.m., said Battalion Chief Eric McCoy.

When authorities arrived, they found a Toyota Prius overturned in the middle of the residential street.

Huntington Beach police are investigating the cause of the crash.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
The Newport Beach City Council will consider sending a letter in support of a congressional bill that could give more local control, and grant more federal restrictions, over sober living homes when it meets Tuesday.

Councilman Scott Peotter asked the city to formally support the bill. But City Manager Dave Kiff was split on whether to submit a letter that would support all elements of the bill, introduced May 9 by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) under the name Restoring Community Oversight of Sober Living Homes Act of 2018.

The proposed law would amend the federal Fair Housing Act to allow a city to limit placement of  or even ban entirely  recovery facilities, in spite of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and would prohibit federal funds be used for facilities or services that arent sited in compliance with local laws.

The bill removes substance use disorder treatment services as an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act, meaning that insurance carriers would no longer be required to cover recovery.

Kiff said the citys legislative platform supports greater local control over the placement and management of sober living homes and other group accommodations in residential areas.

But stripping substance abuse treatment from ACA requirements is not consistent with the platform or the citys role in advocacy for or against issues, Kiff wrote in a staff report.

He added that members of Congress access insurance benefits through an exchange similar to Covered California, where it appears that every available plan has both inpatient and outpatient substance use disorder treatment as a covered benefit.

Further, mental illness and substance abuse tend to co-occur, he said, meaning that giving input on whether to cover rehab services may be outside of our wheelhouse.

The bill, which was introduced late in the legislative session, has been referred to the House Judiciary and Energy and Commerce committees, but has not been heard.

Costa Mesa needle exchange program

City leaders are also suggesting a stronger take on a proposed needle exchange service in nearby Costa Mesa.

The Orange County Needle Exchange Program has submitted an application to the California Department of Public Health to operate a mobile needle exchange in four cities after the program, which formerly operated from a homeless encampment at the Santa Ana Civic Center, was shut down.

The Costa Mesa site would be bounded by West 18th Street, West 16th Street, Monrovia Avenue and the outer border of the Armstrong petroleum building  a light industrial area that borders Newport on its northwest side. The proposed service would also stop in Santa Ana, Anaheim and Orange.

Parents from Newports Carden Hall private school, about half a block outside of the proposed boundaries, have asked the city to oppose the service in the area. Pacifica Christian High School and Coastline Community College are also in the immediate vicinity.

In a draft letter to the state, Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis offered significant concerns.

In offering my concerns I am not expressing an opinion about the merits of clean needle exchange, he wrote. While I am not a public health official, I can certainly understand the goal of avoiding transmission of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C. My concern is the proximity of this program to many school age children, and how the interaction of the programs clients to these schools parents, students and teachers may not be a positive one.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors registered its opposition to the program on Tuesday.

2018-19 budget approval

In other business, the City Council is set to vote on its $336.8 million 2018-19 budget.

The proposed fiscal year budget includes $209.3 million in operating expenses out of $215.6 million in operating revenues from the key general fund. The new fiscal year starts July 1.

Harbor Department organization

The city will also revisit the idea of a new standalone Harbor Department. The council continued the item last month, saying it needed more review.

The proposed department would report to the city manager and be a combination of harbor operations, which handles on-the-water issues, such as mooring management and code enforcement, and harbor resources, which handles permitting and other land-use functions.

Currently, harbor resources is a unit of the Public Works Department; harbor operations is under the assistant city manager.

Tuesdays council meeting starts at 4 p.m. with a study session, followed by the regular session at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD
Californias attorney general Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing two food manufacturers  one based in Newport Beach and the other in Utah  of selling toddler formulas with illegally high levels of lead.

Graceleigh Inc., the Newport Beach company, and Nutraceutical Corp., based in Park City, Utah, are accused of violating Californias Proposition 65, which requires businesses to warn customers about exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. The complaint also accuses them of violating the states laws against unfair competition and false advertising.

There is nothing more important than ensuring the safety of our children, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a Sacramento news conference. Its a parents worst nightmare to learn you may be feeding your child something that may actually threaten their health.

Graceleigh sells a goat milk formula for toddlers called Sammys Milk Free Range. In California Justice Department testing, the formula contained lead levels more than 15 times the states allowable amount, Becerra said.

Nutraceutical sells a variety of products, including body washes and vitamins. The companys Peaceful Planet Toddler Supreme, a rice protein powder, contained lead levels more than 13 times the allowable amount, Becerra said.

The milk and powder formulas also exceeded the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations more lenient acceptable exposure levels, Becerra said.

Neither company returned emails and calls seeking comment.

The companies pulled the products out of California after cease-and-desist letters were sent last week, the state Justice Department said. Ten district attorneys in California, including Orange Countys Tony Rackauckas, joined the lawsuit.

When parents give their toddlers formula, they need to have peace of mind that the product they are giving them is safe and free of lead, Rackauckas said in a statement. In fact, these formulas were targeted for sale to the most health-conscious parents. By continuing to protect food safety, we hope to keep our citizens, especially vulnerable children, safe.

Violators of Proposition 65 are subject to a $2,500-per-day fine. Violating the unfair competition and false advertising laws carries a fine of up to $2,500 per violation, according to the suit.

The FDA accused Graceleigh in 2016 of not properly testing one of its Sammys Milk baby food products for a type of bacteria that could be fatal to infants. The company recalled the product.

High levels of lead adversely affect a developing childs brain and have been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and aggressive behaviors, said Dr. Daniel McCrimons, a Sacramento-based pediatrician who spoke at Thursdays news conference.

Dr. Timur Durrani, an associate professor at UC San Francisco who also spoke, recommended that parents who bought the products stop using them and take their children to their primary care providers.

Durrani said providers occasionally use medication to treat lead exposure but that medical treatment isnt usually necessary.

Millman writes for the Los Angeles Times. Daily Pilot staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report.
One person was hospitalized after an apartment building in La Crescenta caught fire on Thursday, authorities said.

The person suffered smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in a three-story building at 3155 Montrose Ave., according to Anita Shandi, a spokeswoman for the Glendale Fire Department.

She said firefighters responded to the blaze around 1:30 p.m. and were able to keep it contained to the first-floor unit, where it originated.

The fire was extinguished within 22 minutes of firefighters arriving on the scene, Shandi said. Crews from the Burbank and Los Angeles County fire departments assisted in the effort.

Its unknown what caused the fire, and the incident remains under investigation.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
The Talibans announcement Saturday of a temporary cease-fire did more than offer hope in war-weary Afghanistan for a quiet Eid al-Fitr, one of the most important holidays in the Islamic year.

It also added momentum  however tenuous  to efforts to launch a peace process that could finally end nearly 17 years of fighting.

Two days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared an eight-day pause in hostilities against the Taliban beginning June 12, at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, the insurgent group made a reciprocal pledge to cease fighting government forces for three of those days.

The decision was made in order to make Eid days and nights happy for the people of Afghanistan, the group said in a statement.

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The Taliban said that the cease-fire later this month would not apply to U.S.-led NATO forces and that it would continue to defend itself against attacks. The group continued offensive operations in the hours before the announcement too, with Afghan defense officials saying Saturday that Taliban attacks had killed 40 members of the security forces in northern and western Afghanistan in the preceding 24 hours.

We hope this will be the beginning of Afghan-led and Afghan-owned direct peace negotiations between the government and the Taliban. Sayed Ehsan Taheri, spokesman for the High Peace Council

But by the intractably violent standards of Afghanistan, the Talibans first cease-fire pledge was cause for hope, and the timing seemed to present an opening for talks to prolong the break in hostilities.

That the Taliban chose their unilateral cease-fire to coincide with the Afghan governments announcement is a cautious step toward public cooperation with the government on peace, said Ahmad Shuja, an Afghan analyst and editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Public Policy Review.

Many Afghans believe the governments cease-fire pledge came at the urging of the United States, which is searching for a way out of the war after sending thousands more troops last year to bolster Afghan forces.

On Thursday, a senior State Department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said the U.S. and its allies were focused on  trying to find the right formula that enables us to reduce [military] operations, and that comes from a political settlement.

A spokesman for the High Peace Council, the Afghan body tasked with handling outreach to insurgents, said the government welcomed the Taliban announcement.

We hope this will be the beginning of Afghan-led and Afghan-owned direct peace negotiations between the government and the Taliban, said the spokesman, Sayed Ehsan Taheri. We hope trust is built on both sides for the extension of the cease-fire for peace talks and negotiations.

The Taliban have long denied participating in official peace efforts, at least openly, and declined to comment on Ghanis most recent offer, extended in February, to grant amnesty for militants who renounced violence and recognized the governments authority.

The insurgent groups shadowy leadership based in neighboring Pakistan  not wanting to be seen by their rank-and-file fighters as negotiating with the enemy  has publicly accused the government of not being serious about peace and of being a stooge of U.S.-led foreign forces.

Yet even as the Taliban have wrested more territory from the grip of the government  35% of Afghans live in areas controlled or contested by insurgents, according to a recent report by the Pentagon inspector general  the growing toll of their attacks on civilians has weakened their lofty claims of aiming to liberate Afghans from what they describe as U.S. military occupation. Supporters of the Islamic State militant group also have carried out deadly attacks separate from the Taliban.

In recent months, a peaceful protest movement that sprang from Helmand province, the Talibans heartland, has been marching north and gathering support from Afghans of many provinces and ethnic communities in a call for talks between the government and insurgents.

Dubbed the Helmand Peace March, the strength of the protest caught both the government and the Taliban off guard. Their demands were echoed last week by the Afghan Ulema Council, a group of leading religious scholars who issued an edict in Kabul condemning the war and declaring suicide bombings as sins under Islam. (An Islamic State suicide bomber later attacked the gathering, killing at least seven people.)

The Helmand Peace March is the most significant grass-roots peace effort to emerge from Taliban-held areas, a desperate cry for peace in a region ravaged by conflict, Shuja said.

With growing anger over civilian casualties directed at both the Taliban and the government  especially following an airstrike by Afghan forces in April that reportedly killed dozens of civilians  the Helmand march could give both sides a justification to engage in more confidence building measures around peace, Shuja said.

Afghan military officials also were being cautiously optimistic. Gen. Muhammad Radmanish, defense ministry spokesman, said Afghan forces had carried out operations against militants on Saturday but military leaders were pleased the Taliban had responded to the government cease-fire.

We hope that theyll take the cease-fire deal to their fellow fighters and respect the Ulemas decision, the peoples will and the country, as the government does, Radmanish said.

Yet many remained skeptical. Retired Gen. Atiqullah Amarkhail dubbed the tit-for-tat announcements a political game, with each side trying to win public favor.

The Taliban felt sidelined and worried about being isolated, Amarkhail said.

Mahmoodullah, a 23-year-old university student in Kabul who goes by one name, said the first Taliban cease-fire in nearly two decades of fighting was praiseworthy, but said the pause in hostilities would collapse if Pakistan and other supporters of the Taliban did not crack down on the group.

The government declared a cease-fire and got a positive response from the Taliban for the first time in 20 years, Mahmoodullah said. This shows that if the regional and international supporters of the Taliban would stop interfering, well witness peace very soon.

Special correspondent Faizy reported from Kabul and Times staff writer Bengali from Port Louis, Mauritius.

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Shashank Bengali is South Asia correspondent for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @SBengali
The rest of the worlds media may be fixated on the meeting here between President Trump and North Koreas Kim Jong Un, with headlines and details about the high-stakes nuclear summitry.

But on Saturday, with three days to go, the top item on the website of the Korean Central News Agency, the government-run media that is the only legal news outlet in North Korea, focused on Kims visit to a glitzy new seafood restaurant in the capital, Pyongyang.

Indeed, the KCNA has largely remained silent on the summit since May 24, when it ran a strongly worded statement from Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui threatening to walk away from the talks.

That led to a weeklong diplomatic roller coaster. First Trump canceled the meeting, then he met for 90 minutes with an envoy from Pyongyang, then he put the summit back on, saying all was forgiven. Behind the scenes, U.S. and North Korean diplomats raced to iron out logistics and an advance framework for the summit.

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KCNA has made only passing reference to Kims planned meeting with Trump even as it gave detailed reports about his meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

While hundreds of journalists from around the globe are descending on Singapore for the summit, its not clear how or even if KCNA will cover the event. The cautious approach reflects the sensitivity of how the U.S.-North Korean talks will be perceived internally, Korea watchers said.

Theyve got to ease the domestic audience into whats going to happen, said Michael Madden, founder of the website NK Leadership Watch. Theyre creating the conditions domestically in terms of ideological indoctrination for this to be a success.

Madden said that after Trump and Kim meet, the most important thing to watch is not what KCNA says but what it leaves out about any agreement or commitment resulting from the talks.

Like Miles Davis, its not the notes you play but the notes you dont play, he said.

With little contact between the North Korean public and the outside world, and no polling in the police state, gauging domestic reaction to the summit is difficult, if not impossible. Limited glimpses of internal reaction come from Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that relies on sources within North Korea.

Lee Sang Yong, editor in chief of Daily NK, said their sources reported a crackdown on communication with the outside world in recent weeks, as well as increased signal-jamming, making cell connections in the border region with China more difficult.

Municipal officials and the police have received orders to strengthen control over the population, the site quoted one source as saying. They have been told to focus particularly on collecting information about the popular response to the upcoming summit.

Lee said reactions within North Korea appeared split between the emerging middle class and marginalized average citizens. Those with business interests spoke of optimism for increased trade opportunities and investment with the potential lifting of sanctions, Lee said, while those with little contact with the outside world seemed puzzled at talks with a sworn enemy state.

Americans were supposed to be wild dogs, never to be trusted, he said.

For some in North Korea, warming relations with Washington and any concession of nuclear weapons may be a tough sell, said Balbina Hwang, a visiting professor at Georgetown University and a former senior advisor at the State Department.

The entire society and nation has essentially been told, You and your children and your parents have starved yourselves  in order to sacrifice for our country to survive because the world, and especially the U.S., will annihilate us,  she said. This is the entire raison detre of how this society has not fallen apart.

But any wariness will be offset by seeing a North Korean head of state for the first time on equal footing with an American president, analysts said.

Its going to make [Kim] look respected and powerful.  Hes setting these ambitious goals and actually coming through on them, said Jenny Town, a research analyst at the Stimson Center think tank and managing editor of 38 North, a respected academic analysis site on North Korea.

These kinds of messages do resonate with the segment of the population he cares most about: the elite, moneyed class, especially some of the younger generation, she said.

North Korea, she said, is skilled at disciplined domestic messaging to spin events in a light favorable to Kim and his government.

For instance, the reported demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site was framed domestically as a gesture of strength after North Korea had achieved its nuclear goals, Town said.

Similarly with the Trump-Kim summit, Pyongyang is probably holding off on informing its domestic audience until it has a victory to report, she said.

Theyre going to report when there are results and pictures, when they have a solid narrative, she said. Theyre not going to raise expectations. Theyre going to control the narrative and make sure it fits whatever objective they have.

More important domestically than a detailed agreement or commitment from the summit may be the photos and video of Kim standing shoulder to shoulder with the president of the United States, pictures likely to be broadcast around the globe.

This is a meeting that will have great optics for him in terms of legitimacy, said Bridget Coggins, associate professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara. As far as the domestic messaging goes, she said, this is very much a Kim initiative, and the U.S. is acquiescing.

Coggins said there also could be a very practical reason for not giving away too much information about Kims travel plans away from North Korea.

There are a lot of people out to get him, she said. That makes good sense in terms of coup-preventing.

MORE ON THE SUMMIT:

Kim Jong Un, the perfect dictator, gets ready for the spotlight in Singapore

Trump backed out of G7 communique to avoid show of weakness before North Korea summit, Kudlow says

Summits are tricky: Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan each learned the hard way

victoria.kim@latimes.com

For more California news, follow me on Twitter @vicjkim
Four Palestinians protesters were killed and about 100 wounded on Friday, in the 11th consecutive week of clashes along the border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.

According to the Gazan ministry of health, more than 600 Palestinians were injured overall, most suffering the effects of tear gas and 117 wounded by live fire from Israeli troops.

A 15-year-old identified as Haitham Mohammed al Jamal was killed on the border east of the Gaza city of Khan Yunis

About 10,000 people participated in largely peaceful protests in about five sites along the border, according to the Israeli military. The military had prepared for demonstrations similar to those that took place on May 14, when more than four times as many Palestinians flocked to the border and 62 were killed on the day the United States relocated its embassy to Israel to Jerusalem.

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According to Palestinian authorities, 127 people have been killed in the weekly rallies that started on March 30.

On Friday, shots were fired from the Gaza protests at an Israeli army post and several grenades were lobbed at troops stationed on the border. Dozens of kites and helium balloons bearing Molotov cocktails and incendiary devices were lofted into Israel.

As a senior officer of Israels southern command toured the border with about a dozen journalists, protesters attempted to breach the fence marking the boundary. Look! the officer exclaimed. That is exactly what we cannot allow!

Despite the international outcry provoked by the high number of Gazan deaths, Israel says it will protect its territory and use all means allowed by international rules of engagement.

Fridays event was a disappointment for Hamas, the Islamist militia that rules the Gaza Strip. Hamas had called for a million-man march to mark the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the 51st anniversary of the Six-Day War, considered a national catastrophe by Palestinians.

In particular, Hamas urged West Bank Palestinians to hold solidarity marches. This call went unheeded, as it has since the start of the Great March of Return movement, an indication of the challenges Hamas faces in spreading its appeal even among Palestinians.

Almost 200,000 Muslims prayed Friday at Jerusalems Al Aqsa Mosque without incident, according to the Israeli police.

Since the start of Ramadan, a month of daytime fasting, Hamas has attempted to deepen its popularity among Gazans by inviting them to evening meals alongside the border and offering free transportation back into residential neighborhoods after nightfall.

In an indication of Hamas precarious political and financial predicament, no meal was offered Friday, and buses transported protesters away from the border at the early hour of 6 p.m., about 90 minutes before the end of fasting.

Among the protesters Friday was Khaled Abu Ataya, 47, whod been in the Malka area, near Gaza City, with his wife and five children since 2 p.m. Five hours later, he noted that the financial ability of our brothers who are organizing the Great March of Return is decreasing, so the protesters are leaving the camp early to break their fast at home.

Nearby, Taghreed Barawi, 26, her face covering by a kaffiyeh, the traditional checked Palestinian head scarf, said, We are here every Friday. We didnt use to commemorate the international Jerusalem Day. We only used to commemorate Nakba and Naksa, days on which Palestinians commemorate military setbacks to Israel.

But we are grateful for Irans financial and political support. They are doing more than other Islamic countries that should support us.

You cowards! she shouted at Israeli soldiers a few hundred yards away. Get out of there and come here!

She assisted others in igniting piles of tires, by now a regular feature at the Gaza protests.

Early in the day, in anticipation of a massive wave of protests, the Israeli army destroyed several tents set up in the Al Awda refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip, and Israeli drones set fire to tires Palestinian youths had amassed near the border to ignite during the marches.

The army also dropped leaflets warning residents not to approach the fence or try to attack Israelis. The leaflets urged Gazans not to let Hamas turn you into a tool to serve its narrow interests. Behind these interests stands Shiite Iran, whose goal is to inflame the region for the sake of its religious and ethnic interests.

Friday also marked Quds Day, Irans annual venting of anger at the Islamic Republics foes. This year demonstrators expressed solidarity with Palestinians and denounced the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

One week ago, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Irans principal proxy and a rival to Hamas, launched an intense daylong barrage of rockets and mortars against Israel, which retaliated with airstrikes against Hamas and Islamic Jihad military sites.

Following Fridays protests, the Israeli military prepared for a possible renewal of armed hostilities, but the peace held.

Quietly, Israel appears to be considering measures intended to better conditions in Gaza, a blockaded territory of 2 million people.

The Israeli Cabinet meeting on Sunday is scheduled to consider a wide-ranging program to improve the economic and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, including the possibility that Gazan workers will be permitted to work in Israel, after a decade in which access has been denied.

Next Fridays rally will fall on the Muslim holiday of Eid al Fitr, a joyful time marking the end of Ramadan. Hamas official Ismail Radwan, visiting the protests east of Gaza City on Friday, said, The return marches came to defend the right of the Palestinians to return to their towns and villages, which they abandoned more than 70 years ago, and rejected plans to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Special correspondents Salah and Tarnopolsky reported from Gaza City and Nahal Oz, Israel, respectively.
Hundreds of Taiwanese people living in the United States, including many in Los Angeles, have gotten chilling telephone calls in recent months from scam artists falsely claiming to represent government agencies and aggressively demanding payments to settle problems, the Taiwanese government warns.

Although the reports suggest the motive is fraud, officials in Taipei have not ruled out a political cause. The callers speak with mainland Chinese accents, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee said.

The fraudsters often claim to be representatives from Chinese or Taiwanese government agencies and demand bank transfers to clear cases involving back taxes, kidnappings or health insurance irregularities. The cases are fake, and the bank accounts involved belong to private people rather than government agencies.

Callers sometimes allege issues such as errors on visa or passport application documents, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles said in a statement in January.

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Taiwans representative offices in nine U.S. cities have received reports of the calls.

New York and Los Angeles are big cities with ethnic Chinese populations, so Im afraid its easy for fraud networks to reach their targets there, Lee said Tuesday at a news conference in Taipei, noting that Chinese speakers who are not Taiwanese had also gotten calls. If you randomly make calls, youll easily reach an ethnic Chinese person.

The scams are sometimes successful. Losses have ranged from $1,000 to a life savings of $660,000, police investigators in Taiwan said.

If the person called asks for details, whoever is on the other end of the line will become very harsh, and sometimes elderly people get really scared, Lee said. Some Taiwanese in the United States have received email threats, too, he said.

The number of reports surged in May, Lee said, and the office in New York once took 300 distress calls in one day.

In Los Angeles, the governments Taipei Economic and Cultural Office has received nearly 100 reports of these phone calls since January, office spokesman Kent Yang said.

Fraud rings led by Taiwanese but employing mainland Chinese typically work in Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of Europe where setup costs are low and locations hard to trace, police said. They normally look for victims in China.

Those networks may be calling the United States from overseas or using bases in the United States as police in the other countries catch on, said Liao You-lu, a criminal investigation professor at Central Police University in Taiwan. Ethnic Chinese in the United States also tend to have more money than potential victims elsewhere, and speak Chinese like the fraudsters, he said.

Some Taiwanese in Southern California said they had taken calls claiming to come from a local Chinese consulate or other Chinese government bodies. Some report getting robocalls over the last year.

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, though the two sides have been self-ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s. Over the last two years China has used military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who disputes Beijings view that both sides fall under a single flag.

The tense relations between Beijing and Taipei could influence how any fraud cases are prosecuted.

The Beijing government, citing its sovereignty claim, has asked that third-party countries send any Taiwanese suspects to China, where they face stiffer prison sentences than Taiwanese courts might hand down. Hundreds of Taiwanese suspects have been sent by other countries to China since 2016  over the Taiwanese governments protests.

Its unclear whether the United States would send Taiwanese suspects to China, Liao said. Because China is getting ever stronger in catching these people, theyre going to other countries where its safer, he said.

If U.S. police agencies catch Taiwanese behind the suspicious calls, Beijing will probably ask Washington that they too be sent to China, said Raymond Wu, managing director of the Taipei-based political consultancy e-telligence. Thats always been [Chinas] position, and they will likely continue. A refusal in Washington would add to Sino-U.S. political frictions, he said.

Taiwans representative offices have turned over the reports to U.S. police agencies, Lee said. The offices do consular work and organize trade and cultural events. Because Washington recognizes Beijing over Taipei diplomatically, Taiwan is not allowed to set up formal embassies in the United States.

Jennings is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Frank Shyong in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Trump says he sees a familiar opportunity in North Korea: real estate

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the construction site of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area. (Korea Central News Agency)

In an hourlong news conference after his summit Tuesday with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, President Trump went off on a tangent near and dear to his heart: beachfront real estate.

Trump said he laid out for Kim a potential prosperous future for the communist nation when foreign investment starts pouring in  but only if it relinquishes nuclear weapons.

Watching U.S. videos of North Koreas recent ballistic missile tests, Trump said, he saw the countrys beautiful coastline and its development potential.

You see that whenever theyre exploding their cannons into the ocean, right? I said, Boy, look at the view. Wouldnt that make a great condo behind? Trump told reporters.

Think of it from a real estate perspective, Trump said he told Kim, who runs an impoverished country where the government owns all the real estate.

North Korea already has in the works a coastal tourist area on its east coast in Wonsan, which is also a missile testing site. The Wonsan-Kalma tourst area is slated for completion in April.

Trump said he tried to get Kim to see that real estate development, not nuclear weapons, offered the path to a promising future.

You know, instead of doing that, you could have the best hotels in the world right there, Trump said he told Kim.

Trump may get the chance to show Kim what he has in mind.

He said he hopes to invite Kim to America at the appropriate time, and he has invited many foreign dignitaries to his Florida golf club and beach resort, Mar-a-Lago.
To walk through Zarqa, the rundown industrial heart of Jordan and its second largest city, is to see the countrys problems in miniature.

Here, cars roll carefully over potholed roads, while pedestrians pick their way around garbage that municipal cleaners clear every so often. On the citys outskirts, industrial waste and sewage gather in a foul-smelling, black-colored pit locals have dubbed The Pepsi Pool.

Weve gotten used to sewage, to garbage.  All this has become routine, one public schoolteacher living in Awajan, a drab, low-income suburb of this city, said in an interview Thursday.

And they still want more taxes? said the soft-spoken Sameh Hyasaat, 36.

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Hyasaat was referring to a controversial tax bill that has become a symbol of what many have called a policy of impoverishment exercised by the government against the countrys working class.

That sense of anger and injustice, exacerbated by a series of austerity measures, drove tens of thousands into the streets of Jordan last week.

Protesters celebrate as Jordans new prime minister, Omar Razzaz, announces withdrawal of a disputed tax reform in Amman, Jordan, on June 8, 2018. (Andre Pain / EPA / Shutterstock )

King Abdullah II, the countrys monarch, not only canceled the increases but also dissolved the government of now former Prime Minister Hani Mulki.

By Thursday, the newly appointed prime minister, Omar Razzaz, pledged that his Cabinets first act would be to withdraw the troublesome tax bill.

But the victory is a temporary reprieve: With state coffers running on empty, and faced with a bloated public sector as well as pressure from its creditors, the consensus is that Razzaz can do little more than delay the unpopular measures that felled his predecessor.

It seems we are trapped, said Jawad Anani, an economist who had served as the countrys deputy prime minister for economic affairs in past governments.

Nowhere are the economic ills plaguing Jordan more apparent than in Zarqa.

Asked about the citys financial health, Khaled Othman, the office manager of Zarqas mayor, winced before delivering a recitation of complaints.

We have a debt of almost $50 million. Our annual budget is $46 million. The deficit and the debt means we cant offer most services, he said.

The municipality had pared down expenditures, canceling funding for cultural clubs and national celebrations, while directing money at critical issues such as street repair and cleaning. Still, its barely enough.

Meanwhile, Othman said, 88% of the municipal budget goes for salaries.

The law mandates we spend no more than 50, maybe 55% at the most, he said. But we employ 4,800 people here. And I can tell you, we dont need two-thirds of them.

Not all of Jordans problems are self-created; many are a function of its neighborhood.

When the Arab Spring uprisings first began in 2011, Jordan seemed primed to share the same fate as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria, where long-entrenched governments fell before chaotic revolutions.

But the kingdom remained stable even as Syrians, fleeing the war raging in the country, streamed across the border into Jordan by the hundreds of thousands.

Still, the regional strife kept tourists away, and merchants lost their traditional export routes through Syria and Iraq.

Jordan also was squeezed by the loss of its traditional sources of support.

In the past, the kingdom, an arid country with few resources, had relied on the largesse of both the U.S. and Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia. The U.S., which views Jordan as a top regional ally in the fight against Islamic State, had upped its grant to the kingdom to more than $6.4 billion earlier this year.

But Jordans refusal to join Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen, and reported differences regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, meant that no money was forthcoming from Riyadh.

Meanwhile, the size of the countrys debt, in proportion to its economy, skyrocketed by more than 30% by the time Mulki came to power in 2016.

He tackled the slide toward insolvency by overseeing a series of unpopular moves, including the lifting of subsidies.

Fuel prices have inched upward and now are 50% more expensive than in the United States. Electricity costs are up 55%, and the price of bread has doubled. The hikes made Amman the Arab worlds most expensive city in 2017, according to the Economist magazine.

Jordanians buy secondhand shoes in an open-air market in central Amman on June 8, 2018. (Ahmad Gharabli / AFP/Getty Images )

The proposed tax increase was another component in a series of fiscal reforms imposed by the International Monetary Fund, which in 2016 gave Jordan a three-year line of credit worth $723 million.

It aimed to lower the minimum taxable income, more than doubling the number of people subject to taxes. But it proved to be one measure too many. Protesters from the countrys middle and lower classes came together in a rare display of anger.

Led by 30 labor unions, people called for the laws withdrawal. They raised signs reading #Manaash, meaning, We dont have [money].

When Mulki refused, the protests called for the governments dissolution, though they stopped short of calling for the downfall of King Abdullah.

Despite the victory celebrations, the anger persists. In Zarqa, it is easy to see why.

With less than a week until the end of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, markets normally would be flooded with shoppers. Not so this season, said Yasser Qadri, 35, the owner of an electronics shop in Zarqas downtown district.

People have no money. Theres no movement in the market. Normally you couldnt even find a place to stand, but look around, he said, giving a dismissive wave around his empty shop.

Abdullah Hyasaat, Samehs 29-year old brother and a former policeman who now works as a merchant, agreed.

You tell me about Syria, that we dont want to become like them with a revolution? Here, its worse than Syria. We have security, yes, but everything else is worse, he said.

Many complain about government corruption, an endemic problem that costs Jordan vast sums. Growth, meanwhile, has stagnated, stubbornly hovering around a meager 2% to 3% since 2011.

The IMFs demand for fiscal reform is untenable, Anani said.

You cant reconcile ... fiscal reform and growth, he said, adding that he hadnt seen a single new company appear on Ammans stock exchange for almost a decade.

The countrys only hope, Anani said, is to negotiate a new deal with its creditors, putting them off while focusing on restructuring and development, not fiscal reform.

On Thursday, the IMF said it would work with Jordan on a review of its loan program.

What wont work, Anani said, is putting extra burdens on people. We need to change the model. It wont work any other way, he said.

On Saturday, a glimmer of hope appeared. The Saudi royal court issued a statement saying it would join Kuwait, the UAE and Jordan in a summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.

King Salman, the court said, called the meeting to discuss means of supporting Jordan to overcome its current crisis.

Bulos is a special correspondent.

Twitter: @nabihbulos
A bird's eye view of Qingdao. (Photo from Peoples Daily online)

Recently US President Donald Trump's "drunken fist" on trade issues has dazzled the world. Its allies have all been affected. Grievances and anger enshroud the West. Many of Trump's practices are like "drunk driving," which is destroying the global trade regulations and inviting chaos to the world economy.

Coinciding with the 44th G7 summit that is convening in Quebec, Canada, the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit will kick off this weekend in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.

The G7 is a "melee" where the US became a target for criticism. In contrast, the SCO is exceptional and features friendship and mutual trust.

The SCO was founded 17 years ago and has become a model international institution in stabilizing international relations and enhancing interconnection.

It emphasizes equality and coordination in solving world issues. This feature distinguishes it from its other counterparts. In this big family, everyone calmly discusses the core issues of different concerns and many countries want to join in.

Today, by joining hands with the Belt and Road Initiative, the SCO can provide the strongest impetus for world economic growth and the largest market for Western technological products and services. Its development potential cannot be overlooked.

The Belt and Road Initiative was launched by China but was open to all countries, enterprises and personnel with similar interests and desired to create wealth for the benefit of all people. In this regard, no one wants to be excluded or abandoned. Many entrepreneurs scramble for an "invitation letter" from China, hoping to grasp this opportunity.

Under such circumstances, Chinese companies need to stay calm and be cautious when making every decision. In particular, rash decisions should be avoided.

At present, many industrial parks that have been completed or are under construction in countries along the Belt and Road are seeking investment and resources. Chinese companies can achieve their safe and sustainable development only if they work closely with the local governments and have the support of other countries' businesses, so that all profits can be shared across the board.

The Belt and Road Initiative should be implemented gradually, otherwise it will turn wild and benefit neither side.

When the world economy seems to fall into a mess and all parties are wrestling for discourse power, China seizes its "steering wheel" firmly and focuses on economic construction, striving to thrive in chaos.

There is an ancient Chinese saying that "There must be peace and order after the chaos." Thanks to China's role as a mainstay, the chaotic era will not last for long, and the order will resume in the shortest time. The SCO should be the force controlling the chaos and maintaining order.

Bai Juyi, a renowned Chinese poet in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), said: "Sages pursue profit, but they are for the benefit of all people; saints seek wealth, but for prosperity of all humankind." This phrase can annotate today's Belt and Road Initiative well.

Even the ancestors of China had such noble ethical pursuits, similar to those of people of today. The Belt and Road Initiative is trying to achieve "benefiting and enriching all."

The author is a senior fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.

Source: Peoples Daily/Global Times
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), will create new business opportunities for Pakistan. (Photo from Global Times)

Will Pakistan become a pragmatic bridgehead for China's cooperation with Europe? It may be too early to say yes, but the country's broad potential has attracted great attention.

The EU pays great attention to strategic partners in the Middle East, especially to Islamic countries that are grappling with social unrest. Pakistan is one of the countries with the largest Muslim populations, so although it's not in the Middle East, it sometimes takes on a subtle role in Middle Eastern affairs.

Pakistan's relations with the Middle East and some former states of the Soviet Union make Pakistan an attractive country to invest in. European companies have long had their eyes on the region. If China and Europe can work toward closer cooperation in Pakistan, it will be of great significance for promoting regional political stability and economic growth.

The Silk Road Economic Belt is envisioned as several routes connecting China to Europe. To push forward the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative, there must be plans to set up logistics hubs along the routes. Pakistan is a key point along just those routes, and it is likely to become an interchange station connecting China and Europe.

China's B&R initiative is not just about big infrastructure networks. The initiative isn't important only to China and the European nations at the end of those routes. It also has an impact on countries and regions along the routes such as the Middle East, some former states of the Soviet Union and Pakistan.

Trading, warehousing and logistics networks as well as electricity and other infrastructure must be established to allow those markets to gain sustainable benefits from facilitating regional economic integration. Economies along the routes are becoming more open to tripartite cooperation, a new type of economic cooperation model in which two or more countries cooperate and step up investment in third-party countries. China and Europe can strengthen their economic cooperation in Pakistan and other countries in the region.

Major powers sometimes turn the global economy into a geopolitical game as they snatch strategic resources such as crude oil, but tripartite cooperation under the B&R initiative can offer a platform for them to shake hands.

Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain is scheduled to visit China on Saturday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. It is expected that the two countries can reach a broader consensus on economic issues such as tripartite cooperation.

Source: Peoples Daily/Global Times
Organizations & Institutions Trooping the Colour Live Stream from The Mall, London

Trooping the Colour

09.06.2018 07:53:21 - Watch the Trooping of the Colour Queen's Birthday parade live streaming from The Mall, London



(live-PR.com) - The Trooping of the Colour Parade takes place every year on the Queen's official birthday, drawing huge crowds to London to watch the display of colour and pageantry.



You can watch the whole parade live streaming online here:



www.myworldevents.com/parade/trooping-the-colour.html



Trooping the Colour



The parade has been taking place for many years now, but the addition of a live stream to the TV broadcast coverage - The Trooping of the Colour Parade takes place every year on the Queen's official birthday, drawing huge crowds to London to watch the display of colour and pageantry.You can watch the whole parade live streaming online here:Trooping the ColourThe parade has been taking place for many years now, but the addition of a live stream to the TV broadcast coverage brings the arade to a much wider global audience, with there always being a huge amount of interest in such a traditional and spectacular spectacle.



The parade takes in some of London's most well known landmarks, starting at Buckingham Palace, travelling both ways down the broad expanses of The Mall with a show and display on the Horse Guards parade in between.



Parade History



Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Consequently, regiments would have their ensigns slowly march with their colours between the soldiers' ranks to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments' colours.



Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has also marked the official birthday of the British sovereign. It is held in London annually on a Saturday in June on Horse Guards Parade by St. James's Park, and coincides with the publication of the Birthday Honours List. Among the audience are the Royal Family, invited guests, ticket holders and the general public. The ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC within the UK and is also shown in Germany and Belgium. The BBC coverage is also now widely available online, making a global audience available to watch via various online and mobile media.



The Queen travels down the Mall from Buckingham Palace in a royal procession with a sovereign's escort of Household Cavalry (mounted troops or horse guards). After receiving a royal salute, she inspects her troops of the Household Division, both foot guards and horse guards, and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Each year, one of the foot-guards regiments is selected to troop its colour through the ranks of guards. Then the entire Household Division assembly conducts a march past the Queen, who receives a salute from the saluting base. Parading with its guns, the King's Troop takes precedence as the mounted troops perform a walk-march and trot-past.



Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Consequently, regiments would have their ensigns slowly march with their colours between the soldiers' ranks to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments' colours.



Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has also marked the official birthday of the British sovereign. It is held in London annually on a Saturday in June on Horse Guards Parade by St. James's Park, and coincides with the publication of the Birthday Honours List. Among the audience are the Royal Family, invited guests, ticket holders and the general public. The ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC within the UK and is also shown in Germany and Belgium.



The Queen travels down the Mall from Buckingham Palace in a royal procession with a sovereign's escort of Household Cavalry (mounted troops or horse guards). After receiving a royal salute, she inspects her troops of the Household Division, both foot guards and horse guards, and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Each year, one of the foot-guards regiments is selected to troop its colour through the ranks of guards. Then the entire Household Division assembly conducts a march past the Queen, who receives a salute from the saluting base. Parading with its guns, the King's Troop takes precedence as the mounted troops perform a walk-march and trot-past.

brings the arade to a much wider global audience, with there always being a huge amount of interest in such a traditional and spectacular spectacle.The parade takes in some of London's most well known landmarks, starting at Buckingham Palace, travelling both ways down the broad expanses of The Mall with a show and display on the Horse Guards parade in between.Parade HistoryTrooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Consequently, regiments would have their ensigns slowly march with their colours between the soldiers' ranks to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments' colours.Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has also marked the official birthday of the British sovereign. It is held in London annually on a Saturday in June on Horse Guards Parade by St. James's Park, and coincides with the publication of the Birthday Honours List. Among the audience are the Royal Family, invited guests, ticket holders and the general public. The ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC within the UK and is also shown in Germany and Belgium. The BBC coverage is also now widely available online, making a global audience available to watch via various online and mobile media.The Queen travels down the Mall from Buckingham Palace in a royal procession with a sovereign's escort of Household Cavalry (mounted troops or horse guards). After receiving a royal salute, she inspects her troops of the Household Division, both foot guards and horse guards, and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Each year, one of the foot-guards regiments is selected to troop its colour through the ranks of guards. Then the entire Household Division assembly conducts a march past the Queen, who receives a salute from the saluting base. Parading with its guns, the King's Troop takes precedence as the mounted troops perform a walk-march and trot-past.Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Consequently, regiments would have their ensigns slowly march with their colours between the soldiers' ranks to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments' colours.Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has also marked the official birthday of the British sovereign. It is held in London annually on a Saturday in June on Horse Guards Parade by St. James's Park, and coincides with the publication of the Birthday Honours List. Among the audience are the Royal Family, invited guests, ticket holders and the general public. The ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC within the UK and is also shown in Germany and Belgium.The Queen travels down the Mall from Buckingham Palace in a royal procession with a sovereign's escort of Household Cavalry (mounted troops or horse guards). After receiving a royal salute, she inspects her troops of the Household Division, both foot guards and horse guards, and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Each year, one of the foot-guards regiments is selected to troop its colour through the ranks of guards. Then the entire Household Division assembly conducts a march past the Queen, who receives a salute from the saluting base. Parading with its guns, the King's Troop takes precedence as the mounted troops perform a walk-march and trot-past. Author:

Martin Kerrigan

e-mail

Web: http://www.myworldevents.com

Phone: 0035799813173 09.06.2018 07:53:21 -

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.
Egypt's newly appointed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has started consultations to form a new cabinet and is expected to be sworn in next week, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Cabinet sources said that Madbouly is expected to finish forming the new government next week and will be sworn in before Eid El-Fetr, which is expected on Friday 15 June.

The sources said that the new cabinet will include between 17 to 20 new ministers, mostly from service ministries.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi appointed Madbouly on Thursday as the country's new prime minister, a presidency statement said, two days after the government of outgoing prime minister Sherif Ismail submitted its resignation.

Ismail submitted his resignation two days after President El-Sisi was officially sworn in as the head of state for a second term until 2022.

The move came in line with a political tradition that the cabinet should resign at the beginning of a new presidential term.

Madbouly, 52, was minister of housing, urban utilities and urban communities in Ismail's cabinet.

He served as interim prime minister from November 2017 to the end of January this year, while Ismail received medical treatment abroad.

He was appointed minister of housing in February 2014 in the cabinet of then-prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, and kept his position when Ismail was appointed as premier in September 2015.

Madbouly is an architect and urban designer who served as the director of the UN's HABITAT Regional Office for Arab States from 2012 until 2014.

He also served as chairman of Egypts General Organisation of Urban Planning from 2009 until 2011.

Since assuming the office of housing minister, Mabouly has overseen a number of projects to build affordable housing as well as develop new cities, including the new administrative capital east of Cairo and New Alamein on the Mediterranean coast.

Madbouly has taught urban development and housing in at least two Egyptian universities, worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation, and worked on the strategic planning of Greater Cairo and several governorates across the country.

Madbouly holds a PhD in urban planning from Cairo University and a postgraduate diploma in urban management from the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies in Rotterdam.



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From left: Brandon Briones, fuels marketing implementor of Pilipinas Shell; Mark Genesis Bulalong, nephew of winner ; Ruchineec Bulalong, Shells Choose Your Own Adventure winner; Mary Joy Calugas, daughter of winner ; Llex Denia, district manager - Mindanao; and Jerome David, territory manager (Pilipinas Shell).

For 56-year old fish vendor Ruchineec Bulalong, her lifes journey is all about working hard for the family. Taking over the family business when she was just 15 years old after her father died, Bulalong, of Sigaboy, Gov. Generoso, Davao Oriental, did not have it easy. Through hard work and determination, she was able to successfully manage the fish vending business that her father left behind, allowing her to take care of all the needs of her mother and send four of her eight siblings to school. My other siblings did not want to study and went into farming instead. The rest help me in the market, Bulalong said. Her daily grind is no easy feat. She wakes up at 3 a.m., heads off to Tibanban to get the fish that she will be selling, then to the Shell gas station at Lapu-Lapu to fuel up their two service vehicles and then proceeds to deliver these to fish sellers at the public market in Tagum, Davao del Norte. Her workday ends at 5 p.m. Every single day since I was 15 years old, that was my daily routine, Bulalong said. Eventually, Bulalong was able to buy two farmlands in Tagum, Davao del Norte. One fine afternoon on April 13, Bulalongs daily routine had a happy twist. She was informed that she was the lone winner of a P1-million cash prize, tax-free, from Pilipinas Shell as their way of thanking their loyal customers.I did not believe it immediately when they called me up but when I went to the Lapu-Lapu Shell station in Tagum City, I saw my name posted as the winner and thats the only time that I believed I won and I was very happy, Bulalong said.Bulalong revealed that Shell has been practically a partner in their business because theyve been fueling up exclusively at Shell for the last 45 years. Even when my father was still alive, we were already fueling up at Shell because he said its good for the vehicles engine. So even now that hes gone, we continue to have our delivery vehicles gassed up at Shell Lapu-Lapu station, Bulalong said. Bulalong recalled that since January, she has been given raffle coupons at the Shell gas station and despite the other exciting prizes to choose from, she has already set her eyes on winning the P1 million. I was determined to win the one million because I know that it could help us a lot in our business and in my future plans, she said. With her winnings, Bulalong plans to buy a coconut farmland.Aside from the cash prize, a number of world-class adventures were up for grabs in Shells Choose Your Own Adventure raffle draw. By simply gassing up with P1,000 worth of Shell Fuels from January 15 to March 15, nine other lucky customers won trips to either Disneyland USA, the South African Safari or the London F1 Grand Prix. The adventure of a lifetime starts with a single choice, having your tanks filled with Shell quality fuels, the truly world-class fuel preferred by millions in over 60 countries globally, said Anthony Lawrence Yam, Pilipinas Shell vice president for retail. He said this offer was only one of many exciting offers from Shell year-round.
Egypt's newly appointed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met on Saturday with several nominees expected to fill ministerial posts in the upcoming cabinet, two days after he was appointed by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to replace Sherif Ismail.

According to an informed governmental source, reported Al-Ahram Arabic website, Madbouly met several nominees to discuss their ideas on developing issues in their nominated ministries, with a full list of the names of the future ministers expected to be announced and presented to parliament within days.

In separate statements reported by Al-Ahram newspaper, unnamed sources in the cabinet said Madbouly is expected to finalise his nominees by Sunday, and then present them to the parliament.

The ministers are expected to be sworn into office by Tuesday at the latest, the newspaper reported.

The Al-Ahram website source said that the ministers who are expected to maintain their posts in the upcoming cabinet headed by Madbouly are the ministers of planning, electricity, finance, education, and social solidarity, due to the major efforts they have exerted in the recent period.

The source did not mention whether key ministers would be replaced or not, maintaining that Madboulys choices would be guided only by efficiency and advanced thinking.

On Thursday, El-Sisi appointed Madbouly, who served as housing minister in Ismails cabinet, as the country's new prime minister, two days after Ismail submitted the resignation of his cabinet.

The resignation was an expected move, coming two days after El-Sisi was sworn into office for the beginning of his second four-year term.

Madbouly had previously served as acting premier from November 2017 to January 2018 while Ismail was receiving medical treatment abroad for an unspecified ailment.

An architect and urban designer, Madbouly was appointed minister of housing in February 2014 in the cabinet of then-prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, and kept his position when Ismail was appointed as premier in September 2015.

Cabinet sources has said over the weekend that Madbouly is expected to finish forming the new government next week and will be sworn in before Eid Al-Fitr, which is expected on Friday 15 June.

The sources said that the new cabinet will include between 17 to 20 new ministers, mostly in service ministries.

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Egyptian officials have denied claims on social media that the Shia adhan, or call to prayer, was sounded at Cairos Al-Hussein Mosque, describing the reports as pure fabrication.

Egypts endowments ministry said on its official website that there is absolutely no truth to news on social media about a Shia call to prayer at Al-Hussein Mosque.

The Ministry of Religious Endowments runs mosques in Egypt in accordance with Sunni doctrine, and does not recognise Shia mosques or rituals.

The adhan differs slightly in Sunni and Shia doctrine.

The ministry stressed in its statement that the Shia adhan is forbidden in Egyptian mosques.

Al-Hussein Mosque originally dates from the 12th century; it holds particular religious significance for Shia Muslims, who believe the head of Prophet Muhammads grandson Imam Hussein, for whom the mosque is named, is buried there.

The mosque is often closed by Egyptian authorities on Ashoura, the day on the Islamic calendar when Shias mark the martyrdom of Hussein, for fear of sectarian tension.

Ashoura falls in September this year.

The vast majority of Egypt's Muslims identify as Sunni, although there are no official figures on the number of Shia in the country.

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Brett Doney, president and chief executive of the Great Falls Montana Development Authority http://www.gfdevelopment.org/ , was in Japan this year to attract investment.

Nippon Flour Mills of Japan is a major investor in Pasta Montana and has been adding processing lines, each costing millions of dollars.

Doney and others working on the state level believe foreign direct investment is the answer to bringing jobs back to the rural U.S. Although each investment may add a dozen jobs or so, thats important for a small community like Montana, according to Doney.

Suzuki said doing the legwork and personal networking to land opportunities outside Japan are crucial for Sakaes survival.

By YURI KAGEYAMA

https://www.apnews.com/5a4d21a0dca04048a706204f4963668d/As-trade-fears-grow,-US-states-reach-out-to-companies

***

Friends,

I know this is my second email blast today, but this is too good to hold and a great way to end the week!

We were interviewed by the Associated Press during our trip to Tokyo in April. Today, the AP issued a wire story that has already been picked up and run by the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Mail, Seattle Times, and 10 additional news outlets. The story begins with our friends down the road in Idaho Falls (who were in Tokyo the same time we were) and then goes on to include three paragraphs about our success with Pasta Montana and other Japanese-owned food processing companies. Great publicity for Great Falls Montana!!!

This is another result of the public relations effort we kicked off last summer.

Enjoy a beautiful Great Falls Montana weekend!

Brett Doney

[email protected]

http://www.GFDevelopment.org

1-406-750-2119
The revelation that federal prosecutors seized years worth of email and phone records from a New York Times reporter drew criticism on Friday from news organizations and press rights groups, which expressed outrage at the first known instance of the Trump administrations pursuing the private communications of a journalist.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called the move "a fundamental threat to press freedom." The Times, in its own statement, called the seizure "an outrageous overreach" and raised concerns about a chilling effect on journalists ability to report on the government.

By Michael M. Grynbaum
To get closer to the truth about immigration and refugees, Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins suggested starting with definitions.

"No immigrant goes through the kind of vetting process that refugees go through. No other," he said. "And so when you learn these definitions, you will see that, Oh my god weve been wrong. We just lumped everybody in one group and called them refugees. "

MATT HUDSON [email protected]

https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/helena-mayor-to-billings-crowd-know-differences-between-refugees-immigrants/article_464c12de-32ff-5377-8b95-4fba7ea5d8b7.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest
Livingstons Printing For Less (PFL) https://www.printingforless.com/ held a ceremonial groundbreaking event Friday for its new 55,000 sq. ft digital printing and fulfillment center.

The company plans to add 100 new employees once the new center is complete. Just this past year it added 80 new positions at its Livingston location.

"Were obviously optimistic about our own future because were investing millions in a new facility," said PFL Founder and CEO Andrew Fields.

PFL currently employs just under 300 people at its Livingston location who produce printed orders off their online site or work with customers on creating automated marketing materials.

By Mallory Peebles  MTN News

http://www.kbzk.com/story/38385245/livingston-company-expanding-plans-to-add-100-jobs

***

Montana Career Opportunities  Solutions Engineer, Director of Customer Success, Software Developer, VP of Marketing and more  PFL http://www.matr.net/article-82180.html
Philanthropies that focus on rural communities in Colorado, Oregon and Texas say they work more through organizers and "embedded staff" and less through gatekeeping program officers. "We no longer have program officers; we have community partners," says one foundation official.

By Betsey Russell
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will arrive in Cairo on Saturday evening to meet Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, in his first visit to Egypt as premier.

In an official statement, El-Sisis spokesman Bassam Rady said Ahmed will be in Egypt for two days and will talk to the president about various issues.

According to AfricaNews website, Ahmed is visiting Cairo after a visit to Uganda for talks with Egypts Sisi which will include the Nile Basin dynamics, regional security and trade.

The two leaders are scheduled to hold a press conference following their Sunday meeting, Rady said.

In May, an Egyptian delegation to Addis Ababa comprised of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and acting head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate Abbas Kamel formally invited Ahmed, who took office in April, to visit Cairo.

The invitation came after Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan reached an agreement on the next steps to reconcile their differences on the under-construction Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, following months of stalemate in negotiations between the three countries.

Over the past seven years, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have held several rounds of talks on the dams anticipated impact on Nile water resources.

Egypt has repeatedly voiced concerns that the rate of filling the reservoirs of the GERD could reduce its share of Nile water, which Ethiopia denies.

During the negotiations, the parties agreed to five new points and renewed their commitment to the earlier Declaration of Principles, which was signed in Khartoum in March 2015.

The three countries agreed to have the involved parties sent their comments on the initial technical report to the French technical consultancy firm which issued it, hold a tripartite summit meeting every six months, and establish a joint investment fund and establish an independent scientific group to reconcile their differing views on the dam.

A tripartite meeting will be held in Cairo in the presence of representatives of the consultancy firm to discuss the responses to the inquiries sent by the three countries.

That meeting will be followed by another tripartite meeting with firm representatives in Cairo on 18-19 June.

Ethiopia hopes to be able to export electricity generated by the dam, which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa.

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Egypt's Fayoum security directorate said in a statement on Saturday it arrested three who were attempting to smuggle 41 individuals to a different country.

The directorate explained that security forces acted on intelligence that three men from the governorate of Fayoum, aged 32, 35, and 48, were recruiting youths as illegal migrants to be smuggled out of the country, with the help of individuals in the city of Matrouh in north-western Egypt for a fee of EGP 12,000 each.

Police apprehended the men while transporting the migrants in vehicles in ambush patrols, and referred them to prosecution.

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Egypt's new MP Mostafa Madbouly has studied the possibility of reducing the number of ministries from 33 to 24, sources at the cabinet told Al-Ahram daily newspaper on Saturday.

According to unnamed sources in the cabinet, Madbouly has decided on his final list of cabinet ministers, which will include new ministers as well as some ministers who were part of former PM Sherif Ismail's cabinet.

Egypt's new prime minister was tasked on Wednesday with forming a new cabinet after the resignation of Ismail, who headed the cabinet since September 2015.

Egypt's parliament has agreed on the list of ministers compiled by Madbouly, according to informed parliament sources.

A new cabinet must be sworn in by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, according to the Egyptian constitution.

The swearing in is expected by Tuesday at the latest, the newspaper reported.

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Frances initiative on Libya ended in the Paris Declaration, but little else

French President Emanuel Macron succeeded in bringing together, for the first time, four key Libyan leaders representing different political and regional factions in the war-torn country: Commander of the Libyan National Army Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, Speaker of the House of Representatives Aquila Saleh, Chairman of the Presidency Council of the Government of National Accord Fayez Al-Sarraj and speaker of the High Council of State Khaled Mishri.

The summit in Champs-Elysees on 29 May was also attended by high-level representatives from around 20 countries as well as from the Arab League, the UN, the EU and the African Union.

The three-hour summit explored ways to revive the stalled political process and resolve the protracted crisis in Libya, and culminated in the Paris Declaration which calls for the unification of Libyan government institutions and legislative and presidential elections by 10 December.

Critics, however, fear that the French-led process could backfire and undermine the political settlement process.

The international summit in Paris on Libya was not greeted warmly by Libyas neighbours and by the UK, the US and Italy in particular, due to divergent views on how to re-engineer the situation in Libya in a manner conducive to reaching a lasting settlement to the Libyan crisis.

In addition, there is intense rivalry between foreign powers who are keen to advance the roles of their local Libyan partners in order to secure their own interests in the country.

Some in Rome have charged that Paris had taken advantage Italys preoccupation with its governmental crisis in order to advance its own interests in Libya at the expense of Italys.

Others hold that the Paris initiative is overly optimistic and ambitious given the current conditions in Libya.

It was not long before the meeting between the key Libyan players began to show signs of failure.

The summit was to culminate in a Paris Accord, but the French presidency was soon forced to change it to Paris Declaration when the participants refused to sign the document they produced collectively on the grounds that they needed to consult with their respective bases.

Then they effectively backed out of the declaration in meetings with the French media afterwards. Both Saleh and Mishri told France 24 TV that they refused to recognise any process that undermined the gains they realised during the past four years.

Salehs and Mishris remarks are a strong sign that the major Libyan factions will refuse to compromise and that they will continue to take advantage of the conflicting stances of regional and international powers on Libya.

This is the first time that Libyas neighbours, in spite of their generally divergent views, agree with the US, Britain and Italy on how to move forward with the Libyan political process.

They all share the view that there has to be a political settlement first, before proceeding to elections which Paris insists on holding before the end of this year.

Nevertheless, Paris does have the backing of the UN special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, who is eager to salvage the stalled Libyan political process after having to abandon portions of his own plan for Libya which ran aground on the intransigence of local parties and the divergent views of foreign parties over the substance and aims of the plan.

Salame had hoped to broker agreements over amendments to the Libyan National Accord, signed on 17 December 2015, preparatory to creating a new government that would oversee the rest of the interim period through general elections.

Regional and international parties uncomfortable with the Paris Declaration fear that any new initiative for resolving the Libyan situation will backfire in the absence of a political settlement and that this will lead the Libyan factions to further entrench themselves in their adversarial positions with the support of outside powers which have so far sheltered them from having to commit to any understandings, including the 2015 Skhirat agreement.

Washington was the first to signal its reservations concerning the French unilateral step, even though Paris took pains to offer reassurances by modifying the final wroding of the declaration so as to provide for the need to ratify the constitution so as to hold elections, if possible on a constitutional base. The US insists that a political settlement and constitutional framework must be reached before elections are held.

The day before the summit convened in Champs-Elysees, the US removed Libya from its list of non-cooperative nations and informed the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, based in Tripoli, of this step.

Then, on 31 May, Stephanie Williams, charge daffaires of the US Embassy in Tripoli, and US Marine Corps General Thomas Waldhauser, commander of US Africa Command, met with Al-Sarraj in Tripoli as a sign of support for his government.

The two American officials also held meetings with Libyan Chief-of-Staff Abdul-Rahman Al-Taweel, commander of the Presidential Guards Colonel Najmi Al-Nakua, Interior Minister Abdel-Salam Ashour and other military and security officials as a further assurance of Washingtons commitment to supporting the Tripoli-based government established by the Libyan National Accord.

Williams and Waldhauser said that their visit represents a true strengthening of the US-Libya strategic relationship, as was reported in a communique released by the US embassy in Tripoli and AFRICOM.

Italian officials, for their part, underscored the need to avoid a proliferation of initiatives on Libya so as not to undermine UN-led efforts. Commenting on the Paris summit, Italian Ambassador to Libya Giuseppe Beroni said that his country had worked with the UN to carry out Salames plan and it was committed to working together with all international partners to carry out the commitments outlined in the Paris Declaration in order to help Libyans reach a comprehensive solution.

He added, regarding the details of the political process and the date for elections, the Libyans will determine them.

They know that dialogue and a comprehensive reconciliation are in Libyas interests. Alluding to the French initiative, he also cautioned against divisions and unorganised initiatives that will contribute to renewed deterioration.

The current situation in Libya is deceptive. Outside forces involved in the crisis are convinced that they have reached a point where they have sufficiently secured their interests and they are not prepared to alter the status quo for fear of jeopardising their investments in domestic factions.

Also, local armed conflicts over wealth and power have worked to generate a protracted social conflict which makes it difficult to speak of a solution at present without further consideration of how to lay the groundwork.

Regional and international forces should, therefore, open opportunities for local initiatives to mend the political and social fragmentation through confidence building measures and other such steps that would pave the way to broader initiatives that would contribute to a genuine settlement process.

As for international initiatives, they are not useful in the current phase, in view of the intractable domestic polarisation and regional and international competition over Libya, and will undermine UN-led efforts against a backdrop of intensely volatile conditions.

Therefore, the current focus should be on remedying the repercussions of domestic conflict through a series of ground-up social and economic measures to promote reconciliation and to stimulate investments in health, education, infrastructure and social services, thereby alleviating the intensity of polarisation, which poses the gravest threat to the political settlement process.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 7 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: No deal yet

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As the end on the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia nears, the government has released a group of political activists and initiated a cabinet reshuffle

Saudi women will be legally allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia from 24 June, and in parallel with this long-awaited event the authorities in the kingdom have released a group of political activists on a temporary basis with Saudi King Salman also ordering a limited cabinet reshuffle and the establishment of a new ministry for cultural affairs.

According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), eight activists accused of contacting anti-regime organisations have been released, while nine others remain in detention. The activists have confessed to the charges, the SPA reported the office of the Saudi prosecutor-general as saying.

The statement said the detainees had admitted recruiting elements to obtain secret information that could harm the kingdom, in addition to offering financial and moral support to anti-regime elements.

It did not provide information on the detainees, however, and the Saudi press did not give the names of those released or still detained.

The prosector-generals office said that of the 17 men and women detained, five women and three men had been released pending further investigations. Still in detention are four women and five men against whom there is conclusive evidence, it said.

Last week, the UN requested the Saudi government to provide information on the detained activists and to guarantee their legal rights. At the same time, the kingdoms religious police warned against groups and individuals who are against the security and stability of the kingdom.

International media reports have said that the arrested women were advocates for the right of Saudi women to drive. The US had earlier hailed the Saudi decision to reverse the countrys ban on women driving, but the recent arrests risk harming the kingdoms image as it enters into a period of reform.

The latest batch of released detainees puts the total number freed at 12, most of whom are women.

Western diplomats who have served in the Gulf said the arrests could have been aimed at calming conservative currents in the kingdom unhappy with the present reforms, according to the Reuters news agency.

Others said the arrests were a message directed to liberals in Saudi Arabia not to raise the ceiling of their demands beyond what the authorities dictate.

Those questioned by Reuters said the Saudi reform process would not now take a step back, however. They said the process was important politically because it pulled the kingdom away from extremist groups.

It was also in the interest of Saudi Arabia economically because it was preparing the kingdom to receive much-needed investments to diversify its economy, long dependent on oil revenues.

At the same time, King Salman announced a limited cabinet reshuffle that included changes in the ministries of labour and social development and the introduction of a ministry of culture to the Arab worlds most conservative state.

Businessman Ahmed bin Salman Al-Raghi was appointed minister of labour. According to a government statement, the ministry has been charged with creating 1.2 million job opportunities by 2022 in order to alleviate youth unemployment and lower it from 12.8 per cent to nine per cent.

More than 60 per cent, or 24 million people, of the oil-rich kingdoms population are young. Many believe this youth majority is supportive of the reform process initiated by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.

The choice of Al-Raghi, an influential banker and head of the Saudi Chamber of Commerce, as minister of labour aims to create trust among investors and in international financial circles.

After a spate of arrests that targeted princes, powerful businessmen and a number of former and present ministers on corruption charges in recent months, rumours have spread that foreign investors have been wary about venturing into the Saudi market.

However, the anti-corruption campaign was hailed by many in Saudi Arabia who never expected the princes to be subjected to the law.

For months, Saudi social media sites were full of messages approving of the crown princes measures against corrupt elements in the kingdom.

Some requested that the officials and princes not be discharged and be taken to court instead. However, the Saudi authorities later released most of those detained on corruption charges after settlements that brought in $107 billion to the countrys treasury, according to figures released by the Saudi prosecutor-general.

Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al-Farhan has been appointed the new minister of culture.

Previously, cultural affairs were part of the Saudi Media Ministry, and the new culture portfolio is believed to further support the kingdoms path to reform.

Al-Farhan graduated from the Faculty of Law at the King Saud University in Riyadh, where the crown prince also earned his degree. He was founding chairman of the Royal Committee in the Al-Ula governorate, which was established in July 2017 to manage archaeology and tourism in the Medina area.

Al-Farhan has also been head of the Saudi Establishment for Research and Marketing since December 2015, where he signed agreements to develop archaeological sites in Al-Ula with the French government, the Arab World Institute in Paris, and Harvard University in the US.

He is a member of many organisations working in the cultural sector and wanting to develop this sector vital for the reform process.

Saudi newspapers reported the news with the headline the kings eyes on culture. Especially after 1979, the cultural sector in Saudi Arabia has been of secondary importance, serving the interests of the conservative currents in the country that have manipulated religious edicts, the judiciary and education.

Today Saudi Arabia ushers in a new era, and I hope we will learn from the mistakes of our predecessors, said Turki Al-Hamad, a Saudi commentator who has long opposed conservative policies and supports the reform measures.

Seminars, literary dialogue and cultural activities were condemned for decades by the extremists who controlled society. Finally, the cultured now have a home.

Now we can develop our cultural festivals, such as the Jenadriyah [a two-week event held near Riyadh] and the folk heritage festivities of King Abdel-Aziz, he said.

Some years ago Saudi Arabia restored a number of its archaeological sites that were then included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Saudi intangible heritage such as handicrafts and traditional building methods in the areas of Asir and Al-Ahsa were also added to the UNESCO List.

Extremist elements in the kingdom are thought to oppose the development of cultural and archaeological monuments in the country, especially if they include statues, carvings or paintings of royal figures.

The SPA reported that a royal decree has been issued to establish a Royal Society for Environmental Affairs to aid the kingdoms endeavours to create green technologies and encourage environmental tourism. Saudi Arabia is one of the worlds largest emitters of carbon dioxide.

This weeks reshuffle also included a number of deputy ministers in the ministries of the interior, communications, transportation, energy, industry and mining.

New heads for the Royal Authority of Jebeil and the King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energy were also appointed.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 7 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: Saudi reforms continue

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The halting of a number of Al-Hayats print editions has spurred questions on the future and fate of printed news in the Arab world and beyond

The news, last week, that Al-Hayat newspaper had ceased publication of its print edition in the UK, Egypt and Lebanon took many of its followers by surprise.

A statement on its website reassured readers that they would still be able to access a PDF version of the newspaper by clicking on the special icon on our website.

On 2 April, Al-Hayat reported on its front page that members of the Dar Al-Hayat board of directors met in late March to discuss developments in the audio-visual media and journalistic industries that have led to a decline in advertising revenues and a shift from print to digital publications.

The meeting concluded with the decision to halt publication of the print edition. It was stressed that this measure was taken in the framework of the restructuring policy adopted by the board of directors which calls for the closure of the newspapers bureaus in Beirut and London.

The fate of the Cairo bureau has yet to be determined.

The restructuring process will unite all efforts in a single newsroom, the Dar Al-Hayat office in Dubai, the Dar Al-Hayat statement said, adding: We are currently combining human and financial resources to provide the high-quality content that is the mark of the companys publications.

The Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat was founded in Lebanon in 1946 by Kamel Mrowa. In 1990, Saudi Prince Khaled bin Sultan bought the newspaper with a 30-year usufructuary licence. It was not until 1996 that circulation of the newspaper was permitted in Saudi Arabia.

Known for its liberal editorial policy and high-quality reporting, Al-Hayat, which means life in English, grew into one of the most eminent and respected Arabic language newspapers in the Arab region and abroad.

Such qualities, together with its considerable resources, enabled it to attract many of the most eminent reporters and commentators in politics, economics and culture.

Such was the influence that the newspaper acquired that it contributed to shaping political decision-making in the Arab region.

Therefore, the decision to halt its print edition and close some of its offices not only stirred speculation over the future of the printed press around the world, it also raised the question as to whether there was a connection between this decision and the sweeping political changes that have been taking place in Saudi Arabia since the rise of Prince Mohamed bin Sultan to the throne.

Sources contacted by Al-Ahram Weekly deny any such connection and insist that the measures are part of a streamlining process that Al-Hayats board of directors initiated three years ago.

Contrary to the impression that some people have, Al-Hayats decision to stop the print edition is not surprising at all. It had notified its readers of this intention on several occasions, Mohamed Ali Farhat, managing editor of Al-Hayat in Beirut, told the Weekly.

He also noted that the print edition is still being published in Saudi Arabia and Dubai where there is good advertisement support compared to other Arab countries.

All major international newspapers had to take the bitter medicine of halting print editions and restructuring their offices, and Al-Hayat was no exception, Farhat said.

Still, the newspaper managed to make the PDF version available free-of-charge out of commitment to its readers who have retained their faith in the newspaper and its content.

Farhat estimates that the streamlining policies will save Dar Al-Hayat about $2 million a year.

What about the rights of employees?

The management has been engaged in negotiations with employees for months. It is expected that about 90 per cent of the employees in the Beirut office will be able to carry on, on the basis of temporary contracts in accordance with which employees do not receive social security coverage.

Another group will continue work from their homes and will continue to obtain their regular salaries.

According to the managing editor of the Beirut office, Al-Hayat management had settled matters with the employees in the London bureau while the question of the fate of the employees of the Cairo bureau has been deferred until the end of August.

In its abovementioned statement, Al-Hayat stressed that the rights of our employees are guaranteed in accordance with the legal procedures and regulatory systems in effect in each country.

The director of Al-Hayats Cairo bureau, Mohamed Salah, also insists that the decision to halt the print edition came as no surprise.

The office is working at full capacity in spite of the halt of the print edition, he told the Weekly, adding that he had no information as to whether the Cairo office would continue or would eventually share the fate of its London and Beirut counterparts.

The Cairo bureau is still performing its duties, he said. Nevertheless, Al-Hayat was not immune to the difficult circumstances affecting the printed press around the world. Weve had some financial difficulties which we are sorting out, he explained.

Two months ago, the newspaper had to cease publication of the Cairo edition for five days. That had to do with a debt that was settled with Al-Ahram Establishment.

Ultimately, it was the rising cost of paper in Egypt that led to the decision to completely halt the print edition in Cairo as part of the restructuring process and the conversion of Al-Hayat to the system of digital journalism.

Salah, in his interview with the Weekly, explained that this process had begun two years ago. A number of steps had preceded the decision to halt the print editions and close the offices in Beirut and London.

The most significant were the plan to develop the website and the launch of Hayat Press, a service that adapted the newspaper to social networking journalism or citizen journalism, which is to say it enables numerous individuals to contribute to writing and feeding the news through a social networking platform. It is like an interactive news agency and it is part of the single newsroom operated out of Dubai.

In Salahs opinion, Al-Hayat is something of a trailblazer. The process that Al-Hayat has embarked on points the way for the press throughout the Arab world.

The losses that have accrued to the Egyptian printed press in recent years are a sign that it will meet the same fate as the Al-Hayat print editions.

But Al-Hayat, alone, had the courage to announce that it was heading into the future. That future meant changing the ways in which people read and interact with the news, which requires expanding into social networking journalism and encouraging readers to interact with the digital press.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 7 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: Al-Hayat slashes print editions

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Israeli occupation forces killed four Palestinians and wounded hundreds of others on Friday with live fire and tear gas used against protesters at the Gaza border, medics said.

The protests tapered off around sunset when many demonstrators left border camps for the evening meal that breaks their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Palestinians killed on Friday were three adult men and a 15-year-old boy, Gaza medics said. Of 620 people wounded, 120 were from live fire, they said.

Friday's deaths bring the total number of Palestinians killed at the Gaza border to 124 since protests there began on March 30, including 60 people killed in a single day last month, when the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem after recognising the city as the Israeli capital.

Palestinians also want the capital of a state there, and most countries say the city's status should be resolved in future peace talks.

Israel's deadly tactics in confronting the protests have drawn international condemnation.

Palestinians say the protests are a popular outpouring of rage against Israel by people demanding the right to return to homes their families fled or were driven from on Israel's founding 70 years ago.

Israel says the demonstrations are organised by the Islamist group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian United Nations envoy condemned the Friday killings and said that representatives of the Arab Group and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had asked the president of the U.N. General Assembly to resume an emergency session to discuss a resolution aimed at protecting Palestinian civilians.

The General Assembly meeting was called for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Wednesday.

The resolution, Ambassador Riyad Mansour said, would be similar to a Kuwaiti-drafted resolution that last week received enough support to pass a vote in the Security Council but was vetoed by the United States.

Mansour said the U.S. veto triggered the request and that Fridays violence "adds to our argument and to the urgency of providing international protection" to Palestinian civilians.

Among those wounded on Friday were an Agence France-Presse photographer and a 23-year-old man who was on life support after a tear gas canister penetrated his face, medical officials said.

The Israeli army said that it had repelled around 10,000 Palestinians who converged on five points of the border.

Organisers in Gaza said that the protests will continue in the coming days and weeks. They had tagged this Friday's demonstrations as the Friday of Jerusalem to commemorate the 1967 war in which Israel captured East Jerusalem, with the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Around 2 million people live in Gaza, most of them the stateless descendants of refugees from what is now Israel.

Israel besieged Gaza strip since 2007, citing security reasons, which has caused an economic crisis and collapse in living standards there. Israel launched three wars 2008, 2012 and 2014, against the strip resulted more than 5000 people killed.

On Thursday Israel dropped leaflets in Gaza urging Palestinians not to take part in protests or try to breach the fence on Friday, "and not to allow Hamas to use you for its narrow factional interests, which Iran is inspiring".

At one location on Friday, at least two Palestinians fired guns at an army post and others threw grenades or used helium balloons and kites to fly flammable materials or explosive devices over the border, the occupation army said.

There have been no Israeli casualties from the more than two months of confrontations.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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The Afghan Taliban on Saturday announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Muslim Eid holiday in the middle of June, their first offer of its kind, days after the government declared an unconditional ceasefire of its own.

The militants said foreign forces would be excluded from the ceasefire and that operations against them would continue. They also said they would defend themselves against any attack.

"Members of the Taliban should not participate in public gatherings during the Eid festivities because the enemy could target us," they said in a statement.

The presidential palace welcomed the announcement and said it hoped it can lead to lasting peace. Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan's Ambassador to neighbouring Pakistan, described the announcement as an "important step towards prospects for peace".

"Hope the pleasure of shedding no Afghan blood in Eid becomes so overwhelming that rest of year is also declared as Afghan Eid," he said on Twitter.

The Taliban attacked security outposts in the Zawul district of western Herat province on Friday night, killing 17 troops and wounding several, Jelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

It was not clear exactly when the ceasefire would begin, as Eid starts when the moon is first sighted, but Afghan calendars mark Friday June 15 as the end of Ramadan.

Eid is the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar when families visit each other's homes, enjoy feasting and in Afghanistan tend graves of fallen loved ones. The Taliban, seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster at the hands of U.S.-led troops, have launched attacks during Eid in the past.

"In three days, maybe the unity of Taliban insurgents will be put to test," a European diplomat told Reuters. "If different factions dont accept the ceasefire, then attacks will continue."

Political Process

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban on Thursday, until June 20, but excluding other militant groups, such as Islamic State.

Ghani's decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul.

The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban and Ghani endorsed the recommendation.

Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war. Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory.

The Taliban's announcement comes as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to sit down to a summit in Singapore on Tuesday, something few people would have predicted just months ago when threats between the two sides were at their most bellicose.

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YPSILANTI TWP., MI - A man who was arrested within a few minutes of a bank robbery involving a pellet gun Wednesday afternoon is facing two felony charges.

Kevez Waters, 26, of Ypsilanti was arraigned on charges of bank robbery and armed robbery Friday, June 8, in Washtenaw County District Court.

Waters is accused of robbing the Key Bank at the intersection of Washtenaw Avenue and Hewitt Road while armed with a pellet gun that looked like a real firearm, police said.

Police believe Walters entered the bank with the pellet gun and demanded cash about 2:24 p.m., June 6.

After being handed an undisclosed amount of money, the suspect fled the bank on foot and employees called police, police said.

Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies already near the bank at the time of the robbery spotted Waters at about 2:31 p.m. near the intersection of Eastlawn Avenue and Brookside Road, two blocks away, and arrested him without incident, police said.

Prosecutors noted during Waters' arraignment he was caught in possession of the pellet gun and the exact amount of cash that was stolen, along with a GPS tracker hidden in the cash.

Bond was set at $75,000 without the option to pay 10 percent to a bondsman, as Waters was already on bond at the time of the incident for an unrelated unarmed robbery case, records show.

A preliminary examination is scheduled for June 26. Both robbery charges are punishable by up to life in prison.

He is currently lodged in the Washtenaw County Jail.
Detroit police say they stopped chasing a vehicle that fled a traffic stop when speeds became dangerously fast, but the driver continued, eventually crashing into a Detroit church.

The car erupted in flames and the passengers, four men, escaped and were hospitalized with nonfatal injuries.

The driver, Ahmed Nagi, 26, of Lackawanna, New York, who remains hospitalized, is accused of driving on a suspended license with marijuana and a concealed gun in his car.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office on Friday, June 8, charged Nagi with two counts of second-degree fleeing and eluding, two counts of driving on a suspended license and causing serious injury, two counts of reckless driving causing injury, carrying a concealed weapon, five counts of felony firearm and driving while license suspended or revoked.

Police say they observed Nagi make two traffic violations before they turned on their emergency lights and attempted to make a traffic stop.

"It is alleged that Nagi briefly stopped and fled the location at a high rate of speed," the prosecutor's office said. "Officers terminated the pursuit when the vehicle speeds became too high ... Nagi continued to flee and crashed his vehicle into a building located in the 9500 block of Stoepel before it erupted in flames."

Photos of the crash show the vehicle struck Obedient Missionary Baptist Church.

Witnesses told the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, a watchdog organization, that police were still in pursuit when the car crashed, and hadn't terminated, as the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said.

"The Coalition continues to be concerned about the prevalence of police car chases, especially in the neighborhoods where people walk and children play," coalition spokesman Kenneth Reed said. "In this incident ... we once again call on Chief (James Craig) to release both the dashcam video and the officers' names and history of participation in such cases.

"In the past ... Chief James Craig has refused to release this kind of information. The Detroit taxpayers that support these public servants' salaries deserve complete transparency from DPD."

Detroit police have not identified the officers or released video from the crash.
UPDATE: Salmonella illnesses linked to pre-cut melons made at Indianapolis facility

MICHIGAN -- Health officials have issued an advisory about a salmonella outbreak linked to pre-cut melons sold at certain stores in the Midwest.

Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development supervisors say 32 people in Michigan have become ill because of the outbreak. Other states also have reported illnesses - including Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio - with 28 sickened outside of Michigan.

The outbreak is believed linked to pre-cut melons, including fruit salad mixes with melon, sold at Walmart and Kroger stores. An advisory was issued Friday, June 8.

Most of those infected with the salmonella strain bought pre-cut melons, including cantaloupe, watermelon, or a fruit salad mix with melon, at one of the stores, according to state officials.

Health officials advise anyone who has recently purchased a pre-cut melon from the stores to not eat it.

Walmart and Kroger have removed the cut melon products from their stores and area cooperating with a Centers for Disease Control investigation.

People need not avoid whole melons.

The illnesses reported so far began on April 30 with the last instance reported May 28.

Salmonella exposure usually involves symptoms of diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after being exposed to the bacteria.
MICHIGAN -- Health authorities have narrowed the source of a salmonella outbreak to a melon facility in Indianapolis.

In an update to an advisory issued Friday, June 8, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on Saturday indicated that pre-cut watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and fresh-cut fruit medley products from Caito Foods LLC was the likely source of salmonella illnesses for 60 people, including 32 in Michigan.

The melon products have been recalled, but authorities advise consumers not to eat pre-cut melon products produced at Caito Foods and packaged in clear, plastic clamshell containers. They were distributed to Costco, Jay C, Kroger, Payless, Owen's, Sprouts, Trader Joe's, Walgreens, Walmart, and Whole Foods/Amazon.

The products were sold in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
HANOVER TWP., MI - A home was destroyed and a 15-year-old dog lost in a fire Saturday, June 9.

Firefighters were dispatched about noon Saturday to 524 Maitland Drive, said Hanover Township Fire Chief Jeff Heath.

Heath said the fire was initially reported as a bedroom fire, but then his department received reports of an explosion, and that the house was fully involved.

There were no injuries to report, Heath said. A state fire marshal was investigating the scene, he said. A cause of the fire has not yet been determined, Heath said.

Hanover Township Assistant Fire Chief Dale Jordan said when his department arrived, flames were 20-30 feet above the roof. He called the home a "total loss."

Erika LaFountain said she was one of three people inside the residence when the fire took place. She said her dog, a 15-year-old chihuahua, was lost in the fire.

LaFountain called it a scary experience that "happened so quick."

"I'm just glad we're all alive," LaFountain said.

Other departments at the scene included Liberty Township Fire Department, Somerset Township Fire Department, Moscow Township Fire Department, Pulaski Township Fire Department, Parma-Sandstone Fire Department, Concord Fire Department and Spring Arbor Township Fire Department.

Michigan State Police and Jackson County Ambulance were also at the scene.
BROOKLYN, MI - A handful of 4 year olds dream about becoming a race car driver when they grow up.

For Metamora native Vinnie Miller, his grandparents asked if he wanted to start right away.

"They just came home one day, I was sitting on the couch and they were like 'Hey, how would you like to race?'" Miller said. "And I was like, 'I don't really know, I'm young.'"

Sixteen years later, he's hooked. And one step away from NASCAR's top level.

Miller drives the No. 01 JD Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series - which is like the Triple-A of stock car racing. He returns home this weekend for Saturday's LTi Printing 250 at Michigan International Speedway, seeking his first career win.

Throughout his young career, the 20-year-old Miller has looked up to now-retired NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. Miller compares his driving style to the aggressive nature of Stewart's.

"I always looked up to Tony Stewart. I just kind of liked his attitude. Kind of like rebel, 'Don't screw with me on the track,'" Miller said. "If you want respect on the track, you have to earn it."

After moving down to North Carolina to jumpstart his racing career, Miller got a part-time job at a fish store - where he met his idol Stewart.

"He actually came in and bought a fish tank and I was actually the guy who actually got to go out to his house and install it," Miller said. "I went out there and did that, we got talking about racing."

Starting as a 5-year-old kid, Miller started racing in quarter midgets. He grew up racing at tracks like Owosso Speedway and battled kids like Cup Series driver Erik Jones.

"I was always right there running with (Jones)," Miller said. "I was close to him. I'd beat him some weekends, he'd beat me some weekends."

Miller graduated from Brandon High School in Ortonville, while the slightly elder Jones grew up in Byron - both near Flint.

Miller's current team doesn't have the high budget other teams have - his average finish this year is 28th and top finish is 17th. But with a restrictor plate package being tested at MIS this weekend, Miller believes he has a shot to run up front.

"I think we'll be right there with those big guys running up front. And I think we'll have a chance to do something spectacular," Miller said. "To get the win at Michigan, I think I'd be kind of speechless. I wouldn't really know what to say. I'd be super stoked."

Miller has some mixed memories of MIS in the past.

Last year, he raced in the ARCA Racing Series event at the track. He crashed fighting for the lead, but fought his way back to a 10th-place finish. He was also stung by a bee and fought high levels of carbon monoxide in his car.

He said he's lucky he didn't pass out.

"I was racing the last 30 laps of the race with one eye open at a time. And I had a carbon monoxide poisoning of I think 23 points," Miller said. "When I hopped out of the car, I did not feel well. And I was also ready to go fight people."

Living less than two hours from MIS, Miller has about 30 friends and family coming to support him for his race.

"That'd be one hell of a victory lane photo," Miller said.
'We're like the piggy bank everybody is robbing,' the US president said at a press conference shortly before leaving the gathering of the US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan

U.S. President Donald Trump railed against trade practices he called unfair to the United States at a Group of Seven nations summit where leaders agreed on Saturday to fight protectionism and reform the World Trade Organization.

"We're like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing," Trump said at a press conference shortly before leaving the gathering of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan. "It's going to stop now or we'll stop trading with them (other nations)."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged differences between the United States and the six other members of the G7 remained, but said a joint statement on trade was expected to be issued at the end of the two-day summit in La Malbaie, Quebec.

"For us, it was important that we have a commitment for a rule-based trade order, that we continue to fight against protectionism and that we want to reform the WTO," Merkel told reporters.

Germany along with other European Union members, Canada and Mexico were stung last week when Trump imposed tariffs on imports of their aluminum and steel to the United States.

The German leader said there was broad agreement among G7 leaders that tariffs and other trade barriers should be reduced. "These are jointly shared principles, although the pitfalls lie in the details," she said.

"For us, it was important that we have a commitment for a rule-based trade order, that we continue to fight against protectionism and that we want to reform the WTO," Merkel said.

Trump, who repeated that the tariffs are meant to protect U.S. industry and workers from what he describes as unfair international competition, said he had suggested to the other G7 leaders that all trade barriers, including tariffs and subsidies, be eliminated.

He denied that the summit had been contentious, a remark that contradicted what one G7 official described as an "extraordinary" exchange on Friday.

Trump repeated a list of grievances about U.S. trade, mainly with the EU and Canada, a French presidency official told reporters.

"And so began a long litany of recriminations, somewhat bitter reports that the United States was treated unfairly, that the trading system was totally unfavorable to the United States, the American economy, American workers, the middle class," the official said.

"In short, a long, frank rant which is undoubtedly very unusual in this kind of formats," the official added.

French President Emmanuel Macron responded in a "courteous but very firm tone" to present the European side of the story, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chimed in as well, the official said.

Trump left before the end of the summit on Saturday. He will fly to Singapore to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which he described as a "mission of peace."

Apart from trade, there also was disagreement over the G7's position on climate change and Trump's suggestion that Russia be re-admitted to the group.

Russia was suspended in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Merkel said on Saturday there must first be progress on a Ukraine peace plan before there is any talk about readmitting Moscow.

Trump's presidency has been clouded by a federal investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by his campaign. Both Moscow and Trump have denied the allegations.

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Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef and citizen of the world who inspired millions to share his delight in food and the bonds it created, was found dead in his hotel room Friday in France while working on his CNN series on culinary traditions.

He was 61.

CNN confirmed the death, saying that Bourdain was found unresponsive Friday morning by friend and chef Eric Ripert in the French city of Kaysersberg.

It called his death a suicide. Bourdain's assistant Laurie Woolever would not comment when reached by The Associated Press.

Widely loved and rarely afraid to speak his mind, he mixed a coarseness and whimsical sense of adventurousness, true to the rock 'n' roll music he loved.

Bourdain's Parts Unknown seemed like an odd choice for CNN when it started in 2013 - part travelogue, part history lesson, part love letter to exotic foods. Each trip was an adventure. There had been nothing quite like it on the staid news network, and it became an immediate hit.

Fellow celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey tweeted that he was "stunned and saddened" at the news, adding that the 61-year-old had "inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food".

Former US President Barack Obama also gave his condolences.

"He taught us about food - but more importantly its ability to bring us together, to make us a little less afraid of the unknown."

Bourdain's death comes days after the suicide of fashion designer Kate Spade in New York.

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The embassy of India in Egypt hosted its annual iftar banquet at the headquarters of India House in Zamalek on 6 June, continuing a long tradition of celebrating the two countries shared culture and strong bonds of friendship.

In his welcome address, the Charge dAffaires Dr. Vinod Bahade conveyed warm greetings from the people of India on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

Dr. Bahade explained that prayer and fasting are common to many religions in India and that Ramadan is the time when the countrys Muslim community, the second largest in the world, comes together in prayers, charity, feasting and fasting.

He also highlighted Indias respect and tolerance towards different religions due to the countrys diversity.

Dr. Bahade highlighted the rich influence of Islam in everyday Indian life, including in music, fashion, festivals, customs and traditions.

He also pointed out that the Indian city of Kerala is home to one of the oldest mosques in the world, the Cheraman Juma Mosque. Built around 629 CE, it stands as an example of the integration of Islam into Indian history and culture, Bahade explained.

Egypts Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Khaled Sarwat and former Deputy Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Mohamed Hegazi attended the occasion, as did Vice President of the Egypt-India Friendship Association Nadia Jerdini and members of the organisation.

Also participating in the iftar were representatives from Egyptian political parties and armed forces, as well as business people, Indian students of Al-Azhar University, and prominent cultural and media figures such as actress Dina Abdallah andPR expert Mona Zaki.

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The British Council announced in a conference on Sunday the launch a EGP 30 million programme to support social enterprise and the creative economy sector in Egypt.



Called Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies, the two-year programme will stimulate sectors of the economy that mix culture, creativity, technology and entrepreneurship by supporting projects that improve the lives of marginalised members of society.

Egypt was chosen alongside four other countries: Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, and South Africa, to take part in the initiative.



The project will operate on three main levels of intervention.

The first will bring together key government actors, national institutions, academia and relevant organisations to work towards promoting the creative economy and social enterprise sector.

The second will work with social and creative businesses and organisations to understand and develop the market in Egypt and the third will provide grants to individuals to kick-start projects.



The programme will provide funding for projects that empower women and girls, foster youth employment, support people with disabilities and engage with other marginalised groups.



During the launching the project, Ahmed Fouad, the head of Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies at the British Council, said, The creative economy has been described as the engine of the modern economy. As we move away from oil as a driver for economic development, some have described creativity as the next fuel for the economy in the future.

By supporting young, creative and social entrepreneurs and working with policymakers and intermediaries to create an ecosystem in which they can thrive, our programme takes a whole-system approach that will help mitigate poverty, inequality and joblessness for young people, promote womens empowerment and support marginalised groups, Fouad added.



The programme will collaborate with the governmental and business sectors to better understand the state of the social and creative economy, the barriers to its development and to offer recommendations to support long-term, inclusive growth.



During the conference, Acting Director of the British Council in Egypt Alex Lambert stated, By launching this new programme in our 80th year in Egypt, the British Council can demonstrate how our work is still extremely relevant to Egyptians in the 21st century, adding, This programme aims to build on our previous projects in the social and creative sectors over the past years, as well as building on existing initiatives carried out by other organisations and partners in these sectors.



We are offering expertise, funding and partnerships with Britain to help stimulate exciting new economic areas in Egypt. By focusing on creativity and marginalised groups, we continue to demonstrate the core values of the British Councils work as a cultural organisation that focuses on people and opportunities, Lambert explained.

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Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []
The government has announced ambitious plans to modernise Egyptian education with Japanese help

Changes to the education system are the first step to reforming the human mind in the new Egypt and the new Middle East. This is simply to sum up the answer to the question of who the new citizen is and how he can be created.

In the past, ideas in books were sometimes simply memorised, but today things are changing, and discoveries and inventions have been non-stop. The language itself has changed to keep up with the recent technologies and not just in space science.

The English philosopher Bertrand Russell, the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950, once said that it was essential to develop human thought to guarantee the future of humanity. We are now living in the 21st century when Russells views are even more essential.

He saw the need to pay attention to technological education, but he hoped that cultural education would also occupy an important part of the curriculum such that people would become global citizens.

Russell said that the interplay of cultural with technical education was a blending of knowledge with wisdom, and that culture could help to prevent narrow-minded tendencies resulting in short-sighted policies.

The ultimate objective of education was to prepare people to be good citizens, he said, underlining the need to teach technology and culture.

In Egypt, the government has announced a new project to teach 20 million pre-university students in line with its 2030 Vision.

Minister of Education Tarek Shawki has spoken of the need to modernise education and the curriculum to keep pace with global developments and to promote digital knowledge to cope with what is happening globally.

He has said that a new education system will be introduced among students at Japanese-run schools in Egypt and that Egyptian teachers will be trained by Japanese personnel.

While there are some 57,000 schools in Egypt, including 49,000 public and 7,000 private ones, the philosophy of the new system will be different in that it will seek to integrate science, mathematics, history, geography and Arabic within a multidisciplinary package in the primary stages, along with English, religion and sports.

English will be taught from kindergarten in all public schools, and up to grade 12 science and mathematics will be taught in English.

Teaching English in the new system will be in parallel to teaching the curriculum as a whole, with scientific and mathematical terms being taught in Arabic and English.

There has been controversy among specialists, parents and teachers about this new educational experiment and how to prepare teachers and schools themselves.

Journalist Abbas Al-Tarabili has said we should give the minister the opportunity to try out his ideas, keeping him in position until results are seen.

He claims that this could be Egypts last chance to save its educational system and for Egyptian students to regain their former strengths.

However, Hossam Badrawi, a well-known educational expert, has said that the strategy needs complementary steps to develop a plan for its implementation and its links to various components including the ministry, international donors, the private sector and NGOs.

Development plans need to set specific time periods, clear plans and strict systems for monitoring, evaluation and accountability.

The need to reform Egypts schools and the priority of its application mean that we must support the government in its efforts, however. Financing will be a main concern, and this will require the waiving of other priorities and the support of institutions such as the World Bank.

Mohamed Abul-Ghar, a well-known politician, has said that the reforms should be implemented in a limited number of schools first because we do not know if all schools are well prepared.

Is the Internet available and fast enough to download the curriculum? Have teachers been trained in the use of tablets?

Education is a priority for all Egyptian families, regardless of economic level, and all Egyptian families aim to give their children a proper education.

It is thus important to enter into a serious dialogue with the community, as this could uncover defects in government plans, alerting the wider public before the new programme starts.

Are the interests of Egyptian children at risk from the programme? Psychologists have tried to define intelligence as the ability of individuals to understand, invent and engage in the purposeful direction of behaviour.

In other words, intelligence has to do with the overall ability of the individual to act purposefully, to think logically and to deal effectively with the environment.

Linguistic intelligence is the ability to think through words, and logical intelligence has to do with the ability to solve problems. Imagistic intelligence is the ability to imagine things in three dimensions.

Musical intelligence is the ability to understand harmony. Physical intelligence is the ability of the mind to control the body, and environmental intelligence is the ability to combine work or study with pleasure.

A friend of mine asked me recently what I thought we lacked the most. Awareness, I answered.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 7 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: Education as a stepping stone

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By PTI

NEW DELHI: Gangster Rajesh Bharti and three of his associates were killed today while eight police personnel were injured in a major encounter in south Delhi's Chhatarpur area, police said here.

More than 100 rounds were fired by the gang members and the Delhi police's Special Cell in the shoot-out, they said.

The deceased were identified as the gang's kingpin Rajesh Bharti, Sanjeev alias Sandeep Vidroh, Umesh alias Don and Viresh Rana alias Bhiku.

One of the criminals, who was injured, was identified as Kapil.

Haryana and Delhi police had announced a reward of Rs one lakh on Bharti head, PS Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said.

Rajesh Bharti and Vidroh had escaped from the custody of Haryana Police around one-and-a-half years ago.

Bharti's gang was also referred to as Kranti Gang.

4 criminals killed & 8 policemen have sustained injuries, 6 of these policemen have suffered bullet injuries. We'll give further details in a while: Pramod Singh Kushwah, DCP (Special Cell) on encounter b/w Delhi Police Special cell & Rajesh Bharti Gang in Chhatarpur area #Delhi pic.twitter.com/CcGpfTlUcY  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Earlier, the gang members were mostly active in Haryana, but in the last one year, they had been carrying out crimes in Delhi.

The Special Cell had been tracking the gang for the last six-seven months.

Today, the team learnt that they would be coming to Chandan Hola village in Chhatarpur and a police team of the Special cell's Northern Range, comprising 30 police personnel, was stationed on the route they were expected to take while leaving from a farmhouse, where they had assembled.

ALSO READ | Rajesh Bharti's Kranti Gang used to leave pamphlets to boast 'supremacy' after committing criminal acts

The Special Cell's Northern Range team was supervised by Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell).

"Our team had been tracking the gang and had been carrying out raids at their hideouts. The gang members were involved in extortion activities and contract killings in the national capital," Yadav said The gang members, numbering around eight, were spotted coming from a farmhouse in two cars- a Ford Endeavour, bearing a Haryana registration number, and a Hyundai i-20.

They were asked by the police team to surrender but they started indiscriminately firing at the police team, said the officer.

More #visuals from the spot: 5 criminals and 6 police personnel injured in an encounter between the Special cell of #Delhi Police and Rajesh Bharti Gang in #Delhi's Chhatarpur pic.twitter.com/9miTjTQQpm  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

The police team retaliated and four persons were shot dead, while one sustained injuries and admitted in AIIMS Trauma Centre.

The others managed to escape.

Eight policemen - head constables Girdhar and Kuldeep, constable Gurdeep, sub-inspectors Krishan Kumar, Raj Singh and Bijender, assistant sub-inspectors Hari Chand and Jagat Singh - were injured.

Girdhar's condition is serious since he sustained bullet injuries in his neck and is currently under treatment at AIIMS Trauma Centre, said the DCP.

Gurdeep received two bullet wounds.

Krishan Kumar received two bullet wounds on his elbow and Raj Singh sustained injuries to his left arm.

Bijender was shot in his right arm.

Hari Chand was injured in the leg.

Jagat Singh and Kuldeep did not sustain bullet injuries.

Five sophisticated weapons, including two .30 bore Star pistols, and several live rounds were recovered, said the officer.

The gang members had converged at a farmhouse, belonging to one Sanjeev, who is absconding.

It is still not clear whether he was accompanying the gang members at the time of the encounter.

The Ford Endeavour car seized belonged to him.

Police recovered 40 fake numberplates from the Hyundai i-20 car.

The police are yet to establish its ownership.

In the last one month, the gang had committed criminal activities in south Delhi, including robbing two Fortuner SUVs from Vasant Kunj area on May 18 and 19.

In July last year, they had killed a man in Dwarka and thrown pamphlets claiming that they are members of Rajesh Bharti gang.

Vidroh was wanted in connection with that case.

He and Umesh too had a reward on their head.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: JNU student leader Umar Khalid has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police that he and Gujarat's Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani had received death threats from a man who identified himself as fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari, a senior official said today.

Khalid tweeted that he has asked for police protection.

"Filed a complaint with @DelhiPolice regarding Ravi Pujari's death threat to Jignesh and me. He said that I am on his HIT LIST! I have asked for police protection, given the fact that this is the same person who had previously also issued similar threats of killing me in Feb 2016 (sic)," he said.

"Filed a complaint with @DelhiPolice regarding Ravi Pujari's death threat to Jignesh and me. He said that I am on his HIT LIST! I have asked for police protection, given the fact that this is the same person who had previously also issued similar threats of killing me in Feb 2016 (sic)," he said.

Third death threat to Jignesh in the last 3 days. This time, the person threatening to kill Jignesh mentions that I am also on his list. Death threats to journalist, activist & any critic of the govt is now becoming the norm. This is sinister. https://t.co/snjJoGCy68  Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) June 8, 2018

Yesterday, Khalid approached the police with a complaint over the threats and a case was registered, the police official said, adding that they are investigating the matter.

The student leader said that he was informed by Mevani about the threats, and he has not received any call himself till now.

"Mevani has been receiving death threats for the last two-three days. In one of the calls he received, the caller had mentioned my name too. He had mentioned that if we don't stop giving speeches we would be killed.

"Mevani informed me and I approached the police. A case has been registered and they said that they will do a threat assessment and take a call on providing police protection," Khalid told PTI.

Mevani too had alleged yesterday that he has received death threats from Pujari. When asked whether the calls were being received in relation to the arrests made by the Pune Police on June 6 in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, he said, "I am not aware about the context. Pujari has not mentioned that he was calling in that context. I don't feel it is a coincidence that the calls (to Mevani) started coming from that day (the arrests were made)."

Elgar Parishad, organised to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle, was held on December 31 at Shaniwarwada. It was attended by Mevani, Khalid along with Rohit Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh President Prakash Ambedkar.

In 2016, Khalid's father Syed Qasim Illyas Rasool had filed a police complaint, claiming that he has received a phone call "threatening to kill" his son if he doesn't leave the country.

This incident had happened when the police was looking for Khalid in connection with the sedition case filed against him, former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly organising an event against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Guru was hanged in 2013.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning departed for China's Qingdao to attend the two-day long 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

On Friday, the Prime Minister posted a message regarding the summit on his official Facebook account.

"The SCO has a rich agenda for cooperation, ranging from fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promoting cooperation in connectivity, commerce, customs, law, health and agriculture; protecting the environment and mitigating disaster risk, and fostering people-to-people relations," Prime Minister Modi said.

He also said he would be holding multiple meetings with the heads of various SCO member states on the sidelines of the summit.

This will be India's first participation in the summit as a full-time member of the organisation. India, along with Pakistan, became the full-time member during Astana summit in June 2017.

Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping apart from holding meetings with various other participating leaders.

With 8 members, SCO represents approximately 42 percent of the worlds population, 22 percent of the land area and 20 percent of the GDP. #SCO focusses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation & enables India to engage with Central Asian countries. pic.twitter.com/iMm8TIdH80  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

Further, the member-countries, including India, Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, are expected to sign the Qingdao Declaration.

The declaration will hold details of the significant mechanism for resisting the global terror activities.

The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation that focuses on strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states and promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, and making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

The SCO has two sub-divisions including Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) and SCO Secretariat.
By PTI

QINGDAO: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Secretary General Rashid Alimov today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed various issues relating to the bloc's activities and India's contributions to it.

The meeting came hours after Modi landed in this picturesque coastal city of China's Shandong province.

"On the eve of #SCOSummit, Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Rashid Alimov calls on the PM @narendramodi. SCO Secretary General said that India is contributing greatly to the organisation since it became a full member of SCO in 2017. #IndiainSCO," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

On the eve of #SCOSummit, Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Rashid Alimov calls on the PM @narendramodi. SCO Secretary General said that India is contributing greatly to the organisation since it became a full member of SCO in 2017. #IndiainSCO pic.twitter.com/aYYeGPYwl0  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

During his meeting with Modi, Alimov conveyed to him that the International Day of Yoga would be celebrated at the SCO Headquarters in Beijing on June 16.

Yoga for mind and body! International Day of Yoga will be celebrated at SCO Headquarters in Beijing on 16 June as conveyed by Secretary General SCO Alimov during his meeting. A yoga enthusiast, he is seen striking a yoga pose at a yoga centre during his visit to Delhi last month pic.twitter.com/4YPPgbSpdt  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping last year.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP.

India was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.
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Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
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Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Former President Barack Obama joined a chorus of celebrities and public figures in mourning the tragic and sudden death of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.



"'Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.' This is how Ill remember Tony," Obama tweeted on Friday. "He taught us about food  but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. Well miss him."



The 61-year-old award-winning chef and author died in an apparent suicide and was found unresponsive by a friend on Friday morning in his hotel room in the Alsace region of northeast France, where he was filming an episode of his CNN series "Parts Unknown," the network confirmed.



Bourdain appeared to have hanged himself, according to Christian de Rocquigny du Fayel, the prosecutor of Colmar in Alsace region, southeast of Kaysersberg.



Obama famously appeared on a 2016 episode of "Parts Unknown" during the then-president's visit to Hanoi, Vietnam and he shared a photo on Twitter of the pair drinking beer and dining together.



At the time Bourdain shared a photo of their encounter and tweeted, "Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer"  words that Obama referenced in his tribute.



Bun Cha Huong Lien, the restaurant where Obama and Bourdain talked life and politics over a meal of noodles and beer, has become a popular tourist destination and the owners even enshrined their table in a thick glass frame. Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
(Newser)  A Korean hiker survived for six days in the Australian bush after falling 60 feet down a steep ravine. Twenty-five-year-old Joohee Han had hiked to the summit of Mount Tyson in Queensland, and took some pictures before she slipped and fell. She was knocked unconscious for five hours. When she came to, she crawled to a rocky waterfall and stayed there. "She couldn't actually proceed any farther and she had no way to get back out, and that's where she stayed for days," a Queensland Ambulance flight paramedic told ABC. She didnt have food, but she had a raincoat, which kept her warm.

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No one at a youth hostel in Cairns where she was staying alerted authorities because Han had mentioned that after the hike she was heading out of town for the weekend. Fortunately, she had been working in Tully, south of Cairns, for a banana farmer, and one of the farmers staff noticed that she hadnt shown up for work. The employee went looking for Han at the youth hostel, only to discover that her belongings were still there and sounded the alarm. Eventually, Hans screams led rescuers to her location, and she was lifted out of the ravine by a helicopter. She was actually in really good condition, said the paramedic. She was in good spirits." (This hiker survived for three days in California's Joshua Tree National Park after falling from a boulder.)
(Newser)  A person has died while attending the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee, reports the AP. Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves confirmed a body was found Friday morning at a festival campground. The sheriff's office has identified the man as 32-year-old Michael Donivan Craddock, of Mount Juliet, Tenn. Coffee County sheriff's spokesman Lucky Knott says officials are investigating the cause of death but foul play is not suspected.

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Craddock was found dead inside a vehicle, reports USA Today. Graves said dozens of people have been treated for heat-related issues at the festival, which began Thursday in Manchester and runs through Sunday. This is the 13th death at the music and arts festival in its 17-year history, officials said. Festival headliners include Eminem, Muse, and the Killers.

(Read more Bonnaroo stories.)
(Newser)  A museum studying Soviet prison camps said Friday it has discovered a secret Russian order in 2014 instructing officials to destroy data on prisonersa move it said "could have catastrophic consequences for studying the history of the camps." Up to 17 million people were sent to the Gulag, the notorious Soviet prison camp system, in the 1930s and 1940s, and at least 5 million of them were convicted on false testimony. Case files of the Gulag prisoners were often destroyed, but their personal data was kept on registration cards, which are still held by police and intelligence officials. Moscow's Gulag History Museum said Friday it has discovered a classified 2014 order that instructed Russian officials to destroy the registration cards of prisoners who had reached the age of 80which now would include almost all of them, reports the AP.

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The museum's archive expert, Alexander Makeyev, told the Interfax agency they discovered that the cards had been destroyed in one region, the remote Magadan in the Far East, home to some of the Soviet Union's biggest deadly prison camps. Repressions perpetrated under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin left a profound scar on the Russian nation, destroying lives and displacing millions. But in recent years, under President Vladimir Putin, Russian officials have made efforts to play down Stalin's terror, hailing the Soviet leader for building a new economy and helping the Soviet Union win World War II. The Gulag History Museum said Friday it has appealed to the Russian presidential human rights council to look into the classified order.

(Read more Soviet gulag stories.)
(Newser)  Florida failed to perform national background checks on thousands of applications for concealed-weapon permits for over a year, the Tampa Bay Times reports. According to a year-old state investigation, in February 2016 the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stopped using a national database to approve such applications. The worker overseeing background checks, Lisa Wilde, couldn't log into the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check Systema problem that persisted until another employee noticed it in March 2017. The state has since fired Wilde and says any improper applications from that time were revoked. Wilde did report the log-in failure, investigators say, but failed to follow up.

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Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a strongly pro-NRA Republican running for governor, released a statement calling Wilde "deceitful and negligent" and said that 365 applications requiring further review from that time "resulted in 291 revocations." But the Florida Democratic party is accusing Putnam of "gross mismanagement" that likely "put the lives of thousands of Floridians at risk," quotes the Orlando Weekly. The background-check bungle coincided with the Pulse nightclub shooting, which took 50 lives, and a historic uptick in Florida concealed-weapons applications. The state saw 134,000 requests in the fiscal year ending in June 2015, followed by an unprecedented 245,000 applications in 2016 and 275,000 in 2017. (Read more Florida stories.)
(Newser)  The man who co-founded Pixar and is seen as the creative force behind blockbusters such as the Toy Story and Cars franchises will soon be out of a job at Disney. John Lasseter, 61, has been on leave from parent company Disney since November after allegations of improper workplace behavior surfaced, including his propensity to wrap up everyone he meets in long bear hugs. Disney announced Friday that Lasseterwho previously acknowledged and apologized for his "missteps"will shift into a vague consulting role through the end of the year and then depart for good, reports the New York Times. Disney execs were wrestling for months with whether to allow Lasseter to return, but Deadline reports on a "gathering sense" among employees that he would not have been welcome.

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Disney chief Bob Iger issued a statement that praised Lasseter for "reinventing the animation business, taking breathtaking risks, and telling original, high quality stories that will last forever, and Lasseter issued one of his own thanking Disney and saying he's "extremely proud" of his work but that it's time to move on. Despite the positive public comments, the move amounts to what the Los Angeles Times describes as "a dramatic unraveling of one of the most storied careers in animation." The story notes that hugs were just a part of the problem, with female employees at Pixar alleging that Lasseter and other senior execs turned a blind eye to a corporate culture rife with crude jokes and inappropriate touching. (Actress and screenwriter Rashida Jones left Toy Story 4 and complained about Pixar's unequal treatment of women.)
(Newser)  The White House has been largely tight-lipped on the surgery that Melania Trump had on May 14 beyond saying the first lady "underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition." On Friday President Trump elaborated via a handful of sentences. As he departed for the G7 in Canada, CNN reports he gestured toward the White House and said, "First lady's great, right there. She wanted to go [to the G7 and then on to Singapore]. Can't fly for one month, the doctors say. She had a big operation, that was close to a 4-hour operation. And she's doing great."

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His statement had the New York Times looking for more insight; it spoke to doctors who said an embolization procedure generally wouldn't take more than two hours, but that if the president were referring to the entire pre- and post-op prep and treatment, four hours wouldn't be unreasonable. The first lady's office said on Friday that the embolization was the only procedure Melania had during her five-night stay at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Added rep Stephanie Grisham, "The statement I put out on May 14 was correct. Mrs. Trump had a successful embolization procedure. She cannot travel internationally yet, and is doing great." (Read more Melania Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Bruising for a fight, President Trump barreled into the Group of Seven summit Friday, seemingly ready to confront longtime US allies over a burgeoning trade dispute. Trump joined the leaders of major industrialized nations in the Canadian resort town of La Malbaie in Quebec after days of escalating conflict over new US tariffs he slapped on imports of steel and aluminum. However, while Trump sounded adversarial in pre-departure commentssuggesting that Russia be allowed back into the grouphe did seek to lower the temperature after his arrival, per the AP. He bantered easily with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, joking that the neighboring leader had "agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers."

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Trump also emphasized a "good relationship" with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying they sometimes have a "little test" on trade, but predicting a positive outcome. Still, the fundamental differences remained clear. Trump again railed against trade deficits with other countries and repeated that he may pursue separate negotiations with Canada and Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump showed up late and will leave early on Saturday, heading to Singapore for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Asked if Trudeau was upset he'd be leaving Canada early, Trump joked, "He's happy."

(Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Tucked within a much larger New York Times piece on the death of Anthony Bourdain are a few quotes from someone close to the paper and even closer to the late chef. Gladys Bourdain, who worked as an editor at the Times, says her son's suicide was totally unexpected and that she is completely unaware of what would have pushed him to it.

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"He is absolutely the last person in the world I would have ever dreamed would do something like this," she says. "He had everything. Success beyond his wildest dreams. Money beyond his wildest dreams." She says she did speak with Eric Ripert, who found Bourdain dead Friday morning in France, and that he described Bourdain's recent mood to her as "dark." Read the Times' full piece here. (Read more Anthony Bourdain stories.)
(Newser)  The eruptions of Hawaiis Kilauea volcano and Guatemalas Fuego volcano are both devastating but in very different ways, reports the New York Times. The Kilauea eruption has been a slow-motion disaster, steadily destroying homes for a month but presenting little threat to people, while the Fuego eruption has been faster and fiercer, killing more than 100 thus far. Scientists say the volcanos have different underlying geology and magma viscosity. "The magma at Kilauea is quite runny, which means the gasses can easily escape," a volcanologist tells National Geographic. "At Fuego, the magma is stickier and more viscous." Fuego is belching what's called a "pyroclastic flow," a fast-moving noxious cocktail of rock and gas with temperatures topping 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, per CNN.

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By contrast, Kilaueas lava flow is moving so slowly that people can easily walk away from it. "Lava flows rarely kill people," one volcano expert tells the Times, but "you will not survive a pyroclastic flow." The volcanos proximity to population centers has also made a difference: Kilauea is located in a national park, while Fuego is near densely populated areas that were quickly overtaken by ash and gas moving at more than 400 mph. Both regions will be uninhabitable for years, but according to one analyst, Fuego poses the additional challenge of volcanic mudflows that occur "when the loose debris mixes with rain/river waters." (Read more volcano stories.)
(Newser)  The son of two famous Hollywood actors is accused of conducting a crime spree in Southern California that left one man stabbed in the face and lying in a pool of blood, USA Today reports. Police say Redmond O'Neal, the son of actor Ryan O'Neal and late actor Farrah Fawcett, indiscriminately assaulted five men between May 2 and May 5, seriously injuring two of them. He had been arrested on May 8 for allegedly robbing a 7-11 store in Los Angeles, USA Today notes, and police noticed something: A violent crime spree in the area suddenly stopped. Now O'Neal is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of battery, and one count of brandishing a knife.

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In one case, Redmond allegedly got angry May 2 when someone "appeared to look at him," then punched him and tried to strike with a broken glass bottle before fleeing, police say. In another, a surveillance camera caught someone who looked like O'Neal leaving the area where a victim received "significant and serious stab wounds and cuts to his face, neck, and upper body" on May 4, per police. Redmond's half-sister Tatum O'Neal told People three years ago that "he's got addiction problems so bad that it breaks my heart. I love him, but I have never seen a more scary side of addiction. Nobody knows what to do with Redmond. From what Ive seen, there is no way hes going to survive." (Read more assault stories.)
(Newser)  An Iowa teenager was murdered in Mexico after being returned to his birth country by the US government, CNN reports. Manuel Antonio Cano Pacheco, 19, had DACA status, a family, and worked as a mechanic while attending high school. "He was really happy in Iowa," his mother says. "It was the only home he knew." But two misdemeanor convictions, including a DUI while speeding, brought the father of a 1-year-old boy to the attention of immigration authorities, the Des Moines Register reports. Ultimately he opted for voluntary deportation on April 10 rather than face the penalties of full deportation, like not being allowed to return for several years, says a US Immigration and Customs spokeswoman.

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Pacheco went out one night with a cousin's acquaintance in north-central Mexico, and both were murdered; Pacheco had his throat slit. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," says Juan Verduzco, a friend in Iowa. Verduzco describes Pacheco as a positive, kind person who fell into depression when his father was imprisoned on drug offenses a few years ago. "Things were going downhill," Verduzco says. "I didn't know what to do about it." Pacheco's mother, who brought him to the US without a visa at age 3, says the family is "devastated" but didn't attend the Mexico funeral because her other children have no passports. Pacheco's fate is not uncommon in Mexico, where violent cartels still reign and gangs prey on deportees from the US, the Dallas Morning News reported last year. (Read more deportation stories.)
(Newser)  The world's first "Bond girl" has passed away at the age of 90, Variety reports. Eunice Gayson, who played Sylvia Trench in Dr. No and From Russia With Love, died Friday, according to her official Twitter feed and Bond film producers. She was "an amazing lady who left a lasting impression on everyone she met," her feed says. "She will be very much missed." She also helped Sean Connery overcome nerves to deliver his most iconic Bond line in Dr. No, the BBC reports. Encountering the British spy at Le Cercle Club casino, Gayson's character introduces herself, saying, "Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr...." But Connery apparently struggled to say the next line.

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"He had to say Bond, James Bond," says Gayson, "but he came out with other permutations like Sean Bond, James Connery. 'Cut! Cut! Cut!'" Director Terence Young suggested Gayson take Connery for a drink, and when they returned the Bond actor said it smoothly. The Trench character was slated to become a regular character in Bond films, but Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton nixed the plan. Another tidbit: Gayson's voice isn't heard in either of her Bond films because, like many Bond girls of that era, her words were voiced over by voice actor Nikki van der Zyl. British-born Gayson went on to star in classic TV series like The Saint and The Avengers over a 50-year career, per the Daily News. (Read more obituary stories.)
(Newser)  California police arrested a woman Thursday who allegedly accused men of domestic violence in order to rob their homes when they were arrested, the Mountain View Voice reports. Police say Sunmee Kim, 44, filed charges against a man she called her fiance, claiming he had attacked her at their home in the small city of Mountain View. She wouldn't give her full name and had no noticeable injuries, police say, but they briefly arrested the manwhich apparently enabled her to rob his house. On further investigation, police learned she had allegedly pretended to be kidnapped in Los Angeles in 2009 to get a man to pay ransom, and pulled the domestic abuse/robbery scam in Irvine a few years later.

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She was arrested in Palo Alto on Thursday for outstanding warrant charges in Los Angeles and Orange counties. "She was sentenced in Orange County for almost the exact same crime and then she disappeared for about five years," says a Mountain View police spokeswoman. "This isn't something that happened out of happenstance. We're thinking her (modus operandi) is pretty prolific." She has also served time behind bars after conning men in Southern California seven years ago, CBS Los Angeles reports. Using aliases, Kim apparently meets men on a Korean dating website and gets close to them before running her scam. In one case, an Irvine man sued police for $150,000, saying they failed to verify her claims before arresting him and allowing his place to be robbed. (Read more California stories.)
Mumbai:

Cash-crunched Air India, which delayed salaries for three months in a row, has sought an additional funding of around Rs 2,000 crore from the government to tide over the situation, a senior company official said.

The airline is expecting these funds next month when the government moves the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2018-19 in the Monsoon session of Parliament, the official said.

The national carrier has already received more than Rs 26,000 crore of the 10-year Rs 30,231-crore bailout package announced by the former UPA government in April 2012.

We have requested the government to restore equity infusion in the airline, which was stopped because of the proposed disinvestment. We are seeking an additional Rs 2,000 crore funds to deal with the present situation, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Air India had been receiving on an average Rs 3,000-4,000 crore funding per year from the government till the financial year 2013-14. However, the amount got substantially reduced after that.

For 2018-19, the carrier was allocated only Rs 650 crore in view of the privatisation plan, which failed badly last month as the government did not receive even a single bid to acquire the 76 per cent stake on offer in the airline.

It (the issue of additional funding) will be decided when the first batch of Supplementary Grants for Demands come up in the Monsoon session of Parliament next month, the official said.

Amid cash crunch, during which Air India also had to defer staff salaries, the airline borrowed Rs 6,250 crore from various banks between last September and this January.

The carrier has already approached banks and financial institutions seeking Rs 1,000-crore working capital loans, which it want to avail within this month, in one or more tranches.

Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu yesterday had said the future course of action for Air India disinvestment process will be decided by the group of ministers.

He said that all alternatives will be discussed by the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM), headed by Union minister Arun Jaitley.

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New Delhi:

Delhi's notoriousA gangster Rajesh Bharti was killed in an encounter with Delhi police's special cell on Saturday. Apart from Bharti, three more members of his gangA were also killed in the encounter, which broke out in Fatehpur Berias Chanan Hola village.

Bharti, one of the top 10 wanted criminals ofA Delhi had Rs 1 lakh bounty on his head. The police wereA hunting for him for the last few months after he fled from the custody of Haryana police.

On Saturday, the special cell officers intercepted him inA Fatehpur Beri and askedA to surrender along with his men. However, Bharti and his menA opened fire at policeA and a fierce gun battle broke out, according to Delhi police.

During the encounter, 35 rounds of gunfire were fired from both sides. Four policemen were alsoA injured in theA gunbattle. Police recovered a huge cache of weapons, including semi-automatic pistols, from an SUV in which Bharti and his men were traveling.

From murder to extortion andA carjackingA to robbery,A Bharti had as many as 25 criminal cases registered against him in several police states across in Delhi and Haryana.A
New Delhi:

A massive fire broke out inside a commercial building in Mumbai's Fort area on Saturday morning. Over a dozen firefighters were rushed to the spot to extinguish the level-4 fire inside Patel Chambers.

At least two fire brigade personnel got injured after a part of the building collapsed due to the fire.

The official from the fire department said that the fire started at around 4 am in the ground-plus-five-storey building, which was unoccupied for the past nearly five years.

Luckily, no one was trapped inside the building when the fire broke out, the official confirmed, adding that the cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

"Two firefighters had minor injuries, rest everybody is safe. We deployed 16 fire engines, 11 tankers, and 150 fire officers, the situation is under control. Cause of the fire is a matter of investigation as the building was completely vacant," Mumbai's chief fire officer told the reporters.

This was the second major fire in Mumbai in this month. Earlier on June 1, a massive fire had engulfed Scindia House near Income Tax office in city's Ballard estate. In the blaze, five persons were trapped but rescued with minor injuries by firefighters after an hours-long operation.
New Delhi:

ABC studios has apologised for its brush with a complex political issue in the Blood of Romeo - the latest episode of the Priyanka Chopra-starrer Quantico, which shows Indian nationalists planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Manhattan ahead of a summit on Kashmir.

'The Blood of Romeo drew huge flak from Indian fans of the show. They slammed Priyanka of being a part of the storyline that shows India in the negative.

ABC Studios and the executive producers of Quantico would like to extend an apology to our audience who were offended by the most recent episode, The Blood of Romeo, the network said in a statement.

The fans also lashed out at the writers for lack of understanding and wading into troubled waters of India-Pakistan.

... Quantico is a work of fiction. The show has featured antagonists of many different ethnicities and backgrounds, but in this case, we inadvertently and regrettably stepped into a complex political issue. It was certainly not our intention to offend anyone, the statement further read.

The producers said Priyanka was not to be blamed for the episode as she did not have a creative control over it.

The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Priyanka Chopra, who didnt create the show, nor does she write or direct it. She has no involvement in the casting of the show or the storylines depicted in the series, the statement read.

Priyanka, who became the first Indian actor to play a lead role in an American TV series, portrays FBI agent Alex Parrish on the show.

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New Delhi:

Opposition Congress and NCP in Maharashtra on Saturday questioned the governments claim that Maoists were planning to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in "Rajiv Gandhi-type incident".

Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam described the claims of Modi's assassination an attempt to "gain sympathy" in a time when his popularity was declining.

It needs to be investigated whether this info is correct or not and this is also true that Mr Modi is habitual of spreading such false info to gain sympathy particularly when his popularity declines, Nirupam tweeted.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has also raised suspicions about the claims of such a conspiracy and described them as "publicity stunt" and an attempt to divert attention from issues related to the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

The information should have been probed first instead of citing it as a ground to seek remand. It goes on to show that there is an attempt to do a publicity stunt, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged.

Early on Friday, Pune police had arrested five persons for alleged Maoist links. During the investigation, police found a letter from the house of one of the five suspected Maoists. In the letter, the ultras had mentioned a Rajiv Gandhi-type incident to assassinate Modi, according to Pune police.

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New Delhi:

With the Congress-JDS government engaged in an intense bargaining for ministerial berths in Karnataka, BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa on Saturday claimed that several disgruntled leaders are eager to join his party.

"Several disgruntled young leaders from Congress and JD-S are eager to join the BJP," the state BJP chief said.

Yeddyurappa was addressing his party workers on Saturday and further added that it is their responsibility to induct those MLAs, who are unhappy with the coalition government and their style of administration in Karnataka.

The BJP is ready to welcome those disgruntled MLAs, who are willing to join the BJP, thereby strengthening the party in every constituency.

"How long this government will function is a different matter, but without aspiring for the seat of power, let us all 104 members work as successful opposition with our good work," the former Karnataka CM was quoted by PTI as saying.

Read | Karnataka Cabinet: Rahul Gandhi's talks with disgruntled MLAs remain unsettled, next meeting on June 12

Earlier, the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party following May 12 election in Karnataka, staked claim to form the government in the state.

However, the Yeddyurappa-led government fell eight seats short of the majority mark of 112 and was directed a floor test to survive in the state.

On May 19, minutes before the floor test, Yeddyurappa quit as the Karnataka CM, paving the way for the Congress-JDS post-poll coalition.

Read | Karnataka Cabinet: Injustices has been done over portfolio allocation, says Mallikarjun Kharge

Post that, the Congress-JDS combine, which had the support of 116 members in the Karnataka Assembly, formed the government in the state, under the leadership of HD Kumaraswamy.

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New Delhi:

Amid Congress's protest against inequity during Karnataka cabinet expansion on June 6, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday accepted that injustice has been done with several party members while allocating portfolios in the newly-sworn in Congress-JDS government.

Though several Congress leaders are not happy with the portfolio allocation procedure on Wednesday, they will stand united with the party, Kharge added.

"Even those who complain that they are upset on not getting the Home Ministry, say that we will stay loyal to the party and have no plans of leaving it," Kharge claimed days after CM HD Kumaraswamy distributed portfolios in the Karnataka Cabinet.

"But injustice has been done to us and it should be corrected," the senior Congress leader stated.

To save constitution & democracy, we have to sometimes make sacrifices. Some members are dissatisfied & the high command & their representatives will definitely talk to them about it. They are also aware of the reason behind the decision: Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/h2SWtOQwDt  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Kharge further went on to add that MLAs have made compromises for the allocation of berths between the JDS and the Congress and it was a well-thought decision to save constitution and democracy.

"To save constitution and democracy, we have to sometimes make sacrifices. Some members are dissatisfied & the high command & their representatives will definitely talk to them about it. They are also aware of the reason behind the decision," he was quoted as saying.

Even those who complain that they are upset on not getting the Home Ministry,say that 'we will stay loyal to the party & have no plans of leaving it, but injustice has been done to us & it should be corrected':M Kharge, Congress on distribution of portfolios in #Karnataka cabinet pic.twitter.com/pgNfziZIno  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met disgruntled Karnataka MLAs led by state party leader MB Patil in Delhi but the talks remained inconclusive.

Read | Karnataka cabinet: Rahul Gandhi meets disgruntled Karnataka MLAs, but no solution yet

Earlier in the day, supporters of Karnataka Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy staged a protest outside Bengaluru's Town Hall demanding ministerial berth for him in the state cabinet.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday expanded his cabinet, after intense bargaining for ministerial berths.

He distributed portfolios to 25 ministers in the state. Out of these, 14 members are from the Congress while nine from the JDS and one each from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha.

He kept the key Finance ministry for himself, along with energy. Congress leader and Deputy CM G Parameswara were given the Home Ministry, along with Youth Empowerment.

Kumaraswamy sparked controversies after he allocated the Higher Education portfolio to JD-S minister GT Devegowda, who has studied till Class 8. However, the chief minister on Saturday dismissed the question saying "What have I studied? I'm working as the chief minister".

Read | Karnataka Cabinet Expansion: Kumaraswamy ministry expanded, 25 members inducted

The Congress dropped several key members, who were a part of the previous Siddaramaiah government. MB Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, HK Patil, Tanvir Sait, Shamanur Sivashankarappa and Satish Jarkhiholi were among those ministers, who were upset for leaving them out.

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New Delhi:

Amid Congress-JDS cold war over portfolio allocation in Karnataka cabinet, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met a group of disgruntled MLAs under the leadership of MB Patil in Delhi but the talks to solve the differences remained inconclusive.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president Dinesh Gundu and new cabinet minister Krishna Byre Gowda were present in the meeting.

Following his meeting with the Congress chief, Patil said, "I shared my views with Rahul Gandhi and explained the state's situation. I have not demanded anything".

"I am not alone, many friends are together with me. I will share with them what happened in the meeting and then decide next plan of action," Patil added.

Talking about the latest developments Gowda said, "We are trying to resolve the differences. The process is on at the moment. No decision has been taken yet". The consultations are still underway with state leaders, he added.

Read | Karnataka Cabinet Expansion: Kumaraswamy ministry expanded, 25 members inducted

Meanwhile, a group of dissatisfied senior Congress leaders along with several other MLAs have also called for a meeting on Tuesday. The next plan of action will be decided after the meeting with the MLAs, who are unhappy with the Cabinet expansion, that took place on June 6.

Senior Karnataka Congress leaders & several other MLAs have called for a meeting on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/e2DXTh6zET  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Amid this political tension, Karnataka Gadag minister HK Patil said, "Our workers are unhappy and protesting, under that circumstances how can you be happy? I will take up their feelings to high command and convey what they told me".

The discontented Congress leaders, however, have no plans to quit the Congress and promised to stay loyal with the party.

Read | Karnataka Cabinet: Injustices has been done over portfolio allocation, says Mallikarjun Kharge

The JDS-Congress cabinet was expanded on June 6 with the induction of 25 new ministers, after intense bargaining for ministerial berths.

The much-awaited exercise has caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the coalition while supporters of some of the ministerial aspirants staged protests.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other world leaders on Saturday took part in the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China. This is the first time that India participated in the two-day-long Summit as the full member of SCO.

Post delegation-level talks, PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed two bilateral agreements on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. While the first MoU was regarding Brahmaputra River the other one was on the export of rice from India to China.

China's Ministry of Water Resources and India's Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and, Ganga Rejuvenation signed the first MoU. Going by the agreement, China will now provide hydrological information to India regarding the Brahmaputra River during the flood season.

The second MoU was signed between China's General Administration of Customs and India's Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare. Under the agreement, the 2006 Protocol on Phytosanitary Requirements for exporting rice from India to China has been amended to include the export of non-Basmati varieties of rice from India.

Read | Maoist plan to assassinate Narendra Modi in 'Rajiv Gandhi type' incident averted

Following the exchange of MoUs, President Jinping accepted PM Modi's invitation to have a similar informal summit in India in 2019, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said in a media briefing on Saturday.

"It was a substantive meeting; President Xi Jinping began by making a positive assessment of Wuhan summit. He described it as 'a new starting point' in our bilateral relations. PM described it as 'milestone in our relations'," Gokhale was quoted by media as saying.

"New people to people mechanism will be set up. On the Indian side, it will be headed by EAM Sushma Swaraj and on the Chinese side, it will be headed by state council and foreign minister Wang Yi. The first meeting of this mechanism will be held later this year," the Foreign Secy concluded.

#WATCH: MEA addresses media on PM Modi's first day of his visit to Qingdao https://t.co/s4vVIcOSRo  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Read | Claims of PM Modis assassination plot an attempt to gain sympathy: Congress

A special event by Chinese artists was also witnessed by all the leaders, along with Modi on sidelines of the two-day annual SCO summit.

In 2001, the SCO was founded at a Shanghai Summit by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members in 2017.

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New Delhi:

Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeeds Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) would contest on more than 200 seats in the July 25 general elections in Pakistan. Saeed, however, has decided not to run for Parliament.

The JuD has launched its own political outfit Milli Muslim League (MML) but it could get registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

After it failed to register its own party MML with the ECP, the JuD, a front for the Lashkar-e- Taiba militant group, will contest the upcoming Pakistan general elections under a dormant political party named Allah-u-Akbar-Tehreek (AAT).

MML president Saifullah Khalid and AAT chief Ehsan Bari have agreed to field joint candidates on the platform of ATT in the upcoming elections. Under the seat adjustment agreement, the MML will field more than 200 educated candidates. They will contest the elections on the AATs election symbol chair, PTI quoted Ahmad Nadeem, an MML spokesperson as saying.

Members and activists of JuD have started taking nomination papers from the election commission.

When asked if the Mumbai terror attack mastermind also plans to contest elections, Nadeem responded in negative.

No ... Hafiz sahib has no such plans at the moment. The MML is taking part for the first time in the general elections and hopefully, we will make to the parliament, he said,

The AAT is like a dormant political entity which was registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan by a local citizen named Ehsan. In Pakistan, several political parties have such dormant entities to fight elections in case of any issues related to their mainstream party.

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New Delhi:

Prime MinisterA Narendra ModiA on day one of the 2018 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit held extensive delegations level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Qingdao on Saturday.

During the meeting, Modi and Xi had detailed discussion on bilateral and global issues which will add further vigour to the India-China friendship after their "milestone" informal summit in Wuhan.

Met this year's SCO host, President Xi Jinping this evening. We had detailed discussions on bilateral and global issues. Our talks will add further vigour to the India-China friendship," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

India and China signed several agreements, including one on Brahmaputra river. This is India's first-ever meeting of the Council as a full member of SCO.

Here are the highlights of day one of 2018 SCO Summit:

#05:01 PM:A PM Narendra Modi met President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and held a bilateral meeting with him on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China's Qingdao.

#04:50 PM:A India and China signed agreements in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and President of China Xi Jinping in China's Qingdao.

India and China signed agreements in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and President of China Xi Jinping in China's Qingdao. pic.twitter.com/eRT5MI2v36 a ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

#04:30 PM: Modi holds delegation level talks with SCO members:A Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the delegation-level talks with other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in China's Qingdao city on the sidelines of the summit.

#04:00 PM:A Qingdao: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders also held a bilateral meeting.

Qingdao: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders also held a bilateral meeting. #China pic.twitter.com/fVGC0IFiAD a ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

#03:30 PM Modi meets SCO general secretary:A On the eve of SCO Summit, Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Rashid Alimov calls on the PM Narendra Modi. SCO Secretary-General said that India is contributing greatly to the organisation since it became a full member of SCO in 2017.

On the eve of #SCOSummit, Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Rashid Alimov calls on the PM @narendramodi. SCO Secretary General said that India is contributing greatly to the organisation since it became a full member of SCO in 2017. #IndiainSCO pic.twitter.com/aYYeGPYwl0 a Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

#02:15 PM: Modi receivesA warm welcome in China:A Ni hao Qingdao! Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly welcomed on his arrival for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the beautiful port city of Qingdao. India is looking forward to contributing towards a successful outcome from the Summit.

Ni hao Qingdao! Prime Minister @narendramodi warmly welcomed on his arrival for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the beautiful port city of Qingdao. India is looking forward to contribute towards a successful outcome from the Summit. #IndiainSCO pic.twitter.com/QhoMY6g2Is a Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

#02:10 PM: Modi reaches Qingdao:A Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Qingdao city in China's Shandong Province on Saturday afternoon to attend two-day 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit.

#09:30 AM: What isA Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or SCO:A With 8 members, SCO represents approximately 42 percent of the worldas population, 22 percent of the land area and 20 percent of the GDP. SCO focusses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation & enables India to engage with Central Asian countries.

#08:30 AM: PM Modi departs for Qingdao, China:A An early morning start! PM Narendra Modi heads to Qingdao, China for the annual meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on 9-10 June. This is India's first participation as a full member of the Council.

An early morning start! PM @narendramodi heads to #Qingdao, China for the annual meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on 9-10 June. This is India's first participation as a full member of the Council. #IndiainSCO pic.twitter.com/mhHl4O47h2 a Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

#08:00 AM: Hello and welcome to the News Nation live updates. Today PM Modi will be in the Chinese city of Qingdao to attend the 18th SCO summit. Modi termed the summit a anew beginninga for India. During the meeting, he is likely to at hold bilateral talks with Chinese PresidentA Xi JinpingA on the sidelines of the event. Stay with us as we will bring all the latest updates from the Qingdao SCO Summit.

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New Delhi:

The US embassys latest health alert, the second in two weeks, for China over a mysterious illness has revived fears of a rumoured sonic weapon that first surfaced after a scare involving American diplomats and their families in Cuba two years ago.

Doctors examined the staff, who fell ill after hearing strange sounds at a consulate in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, with several workforces evacuated to the US and at least one diagnosed with brain trauma.

The new cases eerily echo the odd noises and subsequent illnesses suffered by 24 US diplomats evacuated from Cuba since 2016, deepening a baffling medical enigma. But the incident also poses a diplomatic conundrum - how to respond to what some fear may be a deliberate attack against Americans by shadowy foes on Chinese soil.

According to a New York Times report, US officials have privately raised questions about whether China or Russia, might have separately or in tandem targeted the diplomats. Washington has so far taken care not to implicate Beijing, which has told US officials it is investigating the incident.

Read | Hafiz Saeed not to contest Pakistan general elections, JuD to run for over 200 seats

"Until they are certain of the cause, it seems premature to make accusations," said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I don't think the US is calling it an 'attack'."

It is in stark contrast to the US handling of the Cuba case when the State Department lashed out at Havana for failing to protect its diplomats.

As a rising superpower, Beijing possesses significantly greater clout than impoverished Havana, with the cases coming at a precarious moment in US-China relations.

Ongoing talks to avoid a full-blown trade war are balanced on a knife-edge, and Beijing's cooperation is likely to be key if hopes for North Korea's denuclearisation ahead of next week's summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un are to be realised.

Read | Hafiz Saeed-led JuD issues open death threat to PM Modi; instigates followers to wage Jihad

Still lacking proof to support allegations against Cuba, US officials could also be facing up to claims there were no "sonic attacks" after all.

Although the American victims heard strange noises -- described as static or the sound of metal sheets waving -- studies have cast doubt on the "acoustic weapon" hypothesis.

(With inputs from agencies)

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The main man behind a multi-million dinar mall project in Hidd has blamed red-tapism for the delay in commencing the project.

Bahrain Outlet Mall board of directors chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was refusing to grant necessary licences to start the construction work in the largest commercial complex in Hidd area in Muharraq.

The ministry claims that the land on which the complex will be built comes under the Bahrain International Investment Zone in Hidd area, which is dedicated to industrial and office buildings only, he said.

Shaikh Mohammed said the construction of Bahrain Outlet Mall was scheduled to begin at the end of this year. However, obstacles from the Ministry of Commerce and others such as the Municipality and the Electricity and Water Authority resulted in its freezing.

The land allocated for the project is 108,000 square meters, which has been leased to Bahrain Outlet Mall. The company will work towards obtaining required licences and approvals.
A bedridden Bahraini man who lives in a ramshackle house in Karzakkan village is pleading with authorities to provide him a housing unit in the same area or help him renovate the house. Hassan Habib, 65, is a retiree who lives in a dilapidated house with his wife, son and daughter. He says his repeated pleas to authorities have fallen on deaf ears.

Its dangerous to stay in this house. Its a risk to our lives. We want to move out, but theres nothing I could do. I spend my pension on my treatment and the other expenses necessary for us to survive, says Habib.

Habib and his family were offered space at Dar Al Karama Centre for Social Care (shelter) but he rejected the offer as the shelter had entry and exit times and he thought that would adversely affect his family members freedom of movement.

Habib also missed the opportunity to apply for the Ramshackle Houses Renovation Programme offered by the government to assist citizens suffering from similar situations. The programme no longer exists.

Tribune spoke to areas representative to Parliament Dr Jameela Al Sammak, who confirmed that she had taken up the matter with the highest authorities, demanding immediate interference to offer respite to Habib and his family.

The condition of the house is terrible. The walls are cracked and unstable. The walls of the house could collapse Family seeks helping hand Bedridden Bahraini man seeks authorities help to provide a new housing unit on the family members at any moment.

We must remember that a patient suffering from a special medical condition is living there. The family must move out of the house at the earliest, Dr Al Sammak said. The MP said she urgently referred the matter to the Northern Area Municipal Councils Presidency, which informed that providing the man with a housing unit or renovating the house doesnt come within its jurisdictions.
Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Registrations and Corporates, Ali Makki, said yesterday that plans were underway to restructure new Commercial Register (CR) fees but the decision will be only adopted after taking all stakeholders into confidence.

This came during a discussion session organised by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday on the decision to raise fees for CRs and to discuss the reasons behind the move.

Second Deputy Chairman of the chamber Mohammed Kooheji said the Chamber is against the new fees, but we have no choice but to devise a number of solutions and mechanisms in a way that does not affect the interests of traders.

For his part, businessman Darwish Al Mannai suggested that business fees should be in accordance with the size of an organization. Fees for a small workshop and a large factory should not be the same, he said.

Furthermore, Mohammed Kooheji said: The chamber will take all the views and proposals, noting that the chamber was racing against time to finish the study on the impact of the new fees on businesses.
An Iranian TV interview has detailed dealings between Iran and Al Qaeda before and after 9/11 attacks on the United States of America and reveals Iran agreed not to stamp passports of Al Qaeda members in transit so they would still be able to enter Saudi Arabia. Mohammed Javad Larijani, the international affairs assistant in the Iranian judiciary, has revealed his country helped members of Al Qaeda to pass through its territory.

The interview, which aired on Iranian state TV channel on May 30, has been heavily circulated by anti-regime activists on social media. In the interview, which was translated by Al Arabiya, Larijani detailed the Iranian regimes relations with Al-Qaeda and how Iranian intelligence supervised the passage and relocation of Al Qaeda members in Iran.

The lengthy report of the 9/11 commission, which was headed by figures such as Lee Hamilton and others ... queries Irans role in the issue ... a group of reports stated that Al Qaeda members who wanted to go to Saudi Arabia and other countries such as Afghanistan or others, and who entered Iranian territories by land or by air, asked the Iranian authorities not to stamp their passports (and told them) that if the Saudi government knows theyve come to Iran, it will prosecute them.
Airbnb says it has been obliged by Japanese authorities to cancel thousands of bookings ahead of the introduction of new rules.

New regulations on privately-owned temporary lodgings go into effect on Friday next week. People running such businesses without registering them will be fined, and providers such as Airbnb will be prohibited from listing unregistered hosts.

The Japan Tourism Agency says Airbnb has brokered about 40,000 bookings for the latter half of June and they suspect most are for unregistered properties.

The company has set aside 10 million dollars to compensate affected users by offering full refunds and coupons that can be used on its website.

But Chinese travelers, who top the list of foreign tourists visiting Japan, are unhappy. On Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, Airbnb users have expressed frustration and shock with the decision. Some say they cannot book a hotel room with the refund. - NHK
Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito has said he wants to present a "silver medal" to Crown Princess Masako to express his appreciation for her support over 25 years of marriage.

"While facing difficulties, she continues various efforts and supports me and Aiko, our daughter, and I am very thankful for that," the Crown Prince said in written answers to questions from reporters on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary on Saturday.

"In addition to the 'effort prize' and 'gratitude prize' I gave her on our 10th wedding anniversary, I want to present a silver medal this time," the Crown Prince said.

The Crown Princess said, "I would like to tender my cordial thanks to the Crown Prince as he has always been kind and helped me since I fell ill." She receives treatment for stress-related illness.

On a question about what score should be given to the Crown Prince, she said she may present a letter of gratitude as Empress Michiko did to Emperor Akihito on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary.

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Japan's main international hub, Narita Airport, will start using facial recognition technology at immigration gates to shorten screening time and improve security.

The Immigration Bureau demonstrated the technology to the media on Friday ahead of its debut next Monday.

The gates compare a traveler's passport photo with an image taken on the spot. When the 2 images match, the gates open automatically.

Until now, one official has been assigned per gate. The bureau says a single official will now be able to handle 6 gates.

The bureau initially plans to use the gates for Japanese nationals returning home and to assign more staff to screen the growing number of overseas visitors.

Facial recognition gates are to be introduced at 4 other airports across Japan later this year.

A record 28.7 million foreign tourists visited Japan last year. The figure is up nearly 20 percent from a year ago.

Immigration authorities hope that the gates will help reduce the waiting time for visitors. - NHK
Police in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, said Friday they have arrested a 40-year-old man on suspicion of fatally stabbing a 60-year-old man on the street in December last year.

According to police, the suspect, Akihiko Oishi, has denied the charge and quoted him as saying he has no memory of the incident, Fuji TV reported.

The crime occurred at around 11:30 p.m. on Dec 12 in Minami Ward. Police said the victim, Takayuki Matsuoka, an office worker, suffered stab wounds to his abdomen. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

An eyewitness told police that Matsuoka was involved in a scuffle with another man, who began wielding a knife. After stabbing Matsuoka, the assailant ran to a bicycle and rode away in the direction of Zama. - Japan Today
Police in Japan have arrested a man suspected of stabbing 3 passengers on a Shinkansen bullet train. One man died and 2 women were wounded.

The attack occurred on Saturday night, when the train operated by Central Japan Railway was traveling west in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

Police say a man with injuries to the neck was transported to hospital but was pronounced dead. Doctors say the injuries to the 2 women are not life-threatening.

The train stopped at Odawara Station, allowing police to go onboard and arrest Ichiro Kojima on suspicion of attempted murder.

The 22-year-old suspect told investigators that he was irritated and picked the targets at random. Officers say it could have been a premeditated act, as the suspect was carrying multiple bladed objects.

The train was carrying about 880 passengers when the attack took place. Most of them changed to another train to continue their trip. - NHK
The Senator representing Kogi West at the National Assembly, and Chairman Senate Committee in FCT. Mr. Dino Melaye has said that his par...

The Senator representing Kogi West at the National Assembly, and Chairman Senate Committee in FCT. Mr. Dino Melaye has said that his party the All Progressives Congress (APC), is sick.Melaye speaking on Channels Television on Friday said I know the APC is sick There is no doubt that the APC is sick.He also said Definitely I would be contesting on the platform of a political party, since the issue of independent candidature has not been signed by the President. But to tell you if it is APC or any other political party, for now I cant say.I dont have a problem with my party but my party may have a problem with Nigerians, because of the way it is presently being run. I know the APC is sick There is no doubt that the APC is sick.
President Muhammadu Buhari has invited the major stakeholders in the struggle for the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election to the posthumous investiture of the acclaimed winner of the election, Chief Moshood Abiola, as the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic.Late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, will also be honoured post-humously with the Grand Commander of the Order Niger alongside Abiolas running mate, Babagana Kingibe, at an event slated for the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.According to a statement on Friday by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, on Friday, those invited to the event include Kingibe, Abiolas family members, Fawehinmis family members and key players of June 12 struggle.Mustapha listed the key players of the struggle to include members of the National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party, including states chairmen and secretaries at the time of the annulled election; state governors elected on the platform of the SDP; former Presidents of the Senate  Iyorchia Ayu and Ameh Ebute -and former Speaker Agunwa Anekwe along with principal officers of the National Assembly elected on the platform of the SDP.Other invitees are Speakers of the State Houses of Assembly elected on the platform of the SDP; all chairmen of the States Traditional Councils from the six South-Western States; Prof. Wole Soyinka; Mr. Femi Falana (SAN); Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Chief Bisi Akande; Ms. Ayo Obe; Bayo Onanuga (The News); Kunle Ajibade (Tempo); Nosa Igiebor  (TELL); Kayode Komolafe (Media Hope 93); Senator Janathan Zwingina (DG, Hope 93); Frank Kokori and Prof. Humphrey Nwosu.Also invited are President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogora, principal officers of the National Assembly and all state governors.Invitation letters have been dispatched. However, should the invitation arrive late, this publication serves as a formal invitation, the statement added.
The Federal Government has dismissed former President Olusegun Obasanjos allegation of frame-up and impending arrest as groundless and t...

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the government response in Lagos today, saying the Buhari Administration will not be distracted by frivolous allegations from any quarter, especially those cleverly choreographed to divert attention from a widely-acclaimed presidential proclamation and to shore up support for a waning and egotistical cause.The Minister said the administration is too busy trying to clear the mess of 16 years and build on its unprecedented achievements over the past three years than to waste its energy and time on framing up anyone or dwelling on issues that are not grounded in fact.He said while those who have skeletons in their wardrobes should be afraid, even of their own shadows, innocent persons need not worry about any investigation, whether real or imagined.This administration will never engage in a frame-up of innocent citizens. That is neither in the character of President Muhammadu Buhari nor in that of his administration. Only the guilty should be worried. To paraphrase an African proverb, a man who has no wife cannot lose an in-law to the cold hands of death.The administration is also strongly committed to the tenets of democracy, including freedom of speech and the right to dissent. But we understand that those who, in their time, were untethered to those principles would find it hard to believe, Alhaji Mohammed said.The Minister said it was curious that the frame-up and witch-hunt allegations came a day after a major presidential proclamation reversing some past acts of injustice was made, to the relief and acclamation of a long-expectant nation.Apparently, the impact of this proclamation was too much to bear by those who, through acts of omission or commission, helped to deepen the wounds inflicted by the blow of injustice that followed the annulment of an election that was widely acclaimed to be free, fair and credible, hence they felt the need for a red herring that will distract the nation.Added to that is the frustration brought about by the fact that the contraption they have so much hyped as a freeway to power has failed to gain traction. Faced with this double tragedy, even the strongest of men may begin to succumb to a figment of their imagination. They may start crying wolf where there is none, he said.Mohammed said the unprecedented achievements of the Buhari Administration are also enough to cause sleepless nights, with the attendant symptoms that include phantasm, for those who had better opportunities to make the country great but floundered on the altar of narcissism.Obasanjo alleged that the government is planning to arrest him over his hard stance against the government.In a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo said he got credible intelligence that his name has been placed on the security watch-list and there is a plot to assassinate him.The former President however insisted that he would not be cowed into jettisoning his divine mandate to protect the rights of Nigerians.According to the statement, part of the ground design was to seize the former Presidents international passport and then throw him in detention to prevent him from further criticizing the President.Obasanjo also said another plot being hatched against him was to cause the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to re-open investigation into the activities of his administration using false witnesses and documents.This will be a re-enactment of the Abacha era in which Chief Obasanjo was one of the principal victims, he added.Ordinarily, we would not have dignified these reports with a response but for the fact that many of these informants are not known for flippant and frivolous talks.This government has demonstrably exhibited apathy, and in some cases, encouraged by its conduct, daily loss of lives and property in many states of the country, the office cannot be indifferent.We are currently in a nation where the Number Three citizen is being harangued and the Number Four citizen is facing similar threat within the same Government they serve.There is a groundswell of our nationals that live in fear that they could be hounded, harassed, maimed or even killed as the battle for 2019 takes this worrisome dimension.
Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief Moshood Abiola, as ex-President and begin the process of restructuring the country.The governor, who spoke during a media chat on Friday at the Government House, Yenagoa, however, commended Buhari for immortalising Abiola with the highest award of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.He reasoned that though the award was belated, the gesture would partly address the wrongs of the past and strengthen the nations democracy.Having bestowed the highest award only reserved for Heads of State, Presidents, Dickson called on Buhari to declare Abiola as President that was never sworn in and urgently sponsor an executive bill to the National Assembly to legitimise it and back it up by an Act of Parliament, when passed into law.He said that declaring June 12 as Democracy Day, giving national honour to Abiolas running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe as well as giving posthumous national awards to Abiola and the late legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi , were in order.The governor, however, called on the President to show the same political will and patriotism showed on June 12 on the critical issue of restructuring Nigeria.According to him, the President should ensure that Nigeria is restructured with power devolved from the centre to the federating units and fiscal federalism enthroned to guarantee balance, peace, prosperity and stability in the country.He said a restructured Nigeria would address the dysfunctional system, over concentration of power at the centre, pseudo-federalism and the expropriation of the resources of the Niger Delta.He stressed that those championing the cause of restructuring were the real patriots, saying that Buhari would etch his name on the sands of time and become a Nigerian hero of all times, if he restructures the country.Dickson also urged the President to honour a former Chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, with a national award for his uncommon courage and commitment to the conduct of transparent elections in June, 1993.Dickson said, I commend the President for the courage to immortalise the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election with the highest national honour of GCFR as well as declaring June 12 as Democracy Day.Having honoured Abiola with the highest award only reserved for presidents or heads of state, I urge him (Buhari) to declare Abiola a president that was never sworn in, and then go a step further to gazette and sponsor a bill to the National Assembly to legitimise his proclamations backed by law.He should also honour the then Chairman of National Electoral Commission, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, for the courage to conduct a transparent election for what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.As member of House of Representatives, I co-sponsored a bill to immortalise MKO Abiola to address the wrong done to Abiola and our democracy. So, I believe by the Presidents proclamation, he continued from where we stopped and in my opinion, it was the right thing to do.
On Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari announced the conferment of the Grand Commander of the order of Niger (GCON) on Gani Fawehinmi,...

Grand Commander of the order of Niger (GCON) on Gani Fawehinmi, the late human rights lawyer. On Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari announced the conferment of theGrand Commander of the order of Niger (GCON) on Gani Fawehinmi, the late human rights lawyer.





GCON is the second highest national honour in the land.





Buhari also honoured the late MKO Abiola, presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 election, with the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), the highest honour in the land and Baba Gana Kingibe, his running mate, with GCON.





In his lifetime, Fawehinmi was a vocal critic of the government, both military and civilian. Different military regimes incarcerated him but his fire of activism did not die.





There have been different reactions to the conferment of the award by Buhari. While Mohammed, his first son, described it as a welcome development, adding that the family had been looking forward to it, Fatai Ibu-Owo, chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the National Conscience Party (NCP), said Fawehinmi would have rejected the award if he were alive.





In 2008, the late President Musa Yaradua awarded the lawyer the Officer of the order of the Federal Republic (OFR), but Fawehinmi rejected it, citing many years of misrule since independence.





This is the first government in Nigeria to honour me with the national award. Obviously, this government must have considered my activities in the last forty-three years before deciding to give the national award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). From my own standpoint and perception, my struggles and crusades include:





I have had time after the publication to think deeply whether to accept or reject the honour, Fawehinmi had said in a statement.





approved the honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) given to me by the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I thank the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umam Musa YarAdua. I thank the federal government of Nigeria and I am very grateful to the Council of State whichapproved the honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) given to me by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.





In the course of my struggles over the decades for the above ideals, I have been subjected by various governments to all traumatic travails and persecutions.





Lamenting the poor state of the countrys health sector, Fawehinmi said the country had not lived up to expectation.





Today, I am seventy years and eight months old and 1 am struck down by lung cancer for which I have been receiving medical treatment outside my country because my country Nigeria has one of the poorest medical services in the world but one of the richest countries in the world in terms of oil revenue, he had said.





My decision to either accept or reject the national honour of the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) will depend on how far the Nigerian nation through Nigerian governments tried to achieve some listed goals.





He accused the government of YarAdua of not fighting corruption and protested the removal of Nuhu Ribadu, pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).





In the light of the above, I cannot accept the honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). Whether now or in the life beyond, how can I wake up in the morning and look at the insignia of honour bestowed on me under a government that persecutes anticorruption efforts, particularly those of Nuhu Ribadu?





A government that covertly and overtly encourages corruption has no honour in its arsenal of power to dispense honour. Consequently, I reject the dishonour of officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) termed honour given to me by the Federal Government.




Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, said on Saturday that former President Olusegun Obasanjo should be ready to clear his name of any ...

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, said on Saturday that former President Olusegun Obasanjo should be ready to clear his name of any allegation levelled against him.The governor also asked the ex-President to stop raising alarm on plot to arrest him by the Federal Government.He said: Nigerians are being humiliated every day by President Muhammadu Buharis regime which he (Obasanjo) helped to enthrone.Some of us have gone through trials before and we are not afraid of trials even today.The governor, who insisted that Obasanjo deserves whatever humiliation he was getting from President Buhari, said the President can go ahead and arrest the ex-President if he desires but should remember that what goes around comes around.He wont be President forever too. After all, they have been intimidating and humiliating former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Fayose said.The governor referred to Page 96 of Obasanjos book, My Watch, where he wrote I prefer him (Buhari) to jail me than Jonathan to return to destroy this nation, noting that since the ex-President himself said he preferred to be jailed by Buhari and worked for his enthronement, the President can hasten his arrest and imprisonment.In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said: When other Nigerians were at the receiving end of President Buharis dictatorship, Obasanjo was going in and out of the Presidential Villa.Where was he when Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) was arrested and detained since 2015 despite court orders for his release? When over 1,000 members of the Nigerias Islamic Movement were killed in Zaria and their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, arrested and dumped in detention since 2016 despite of court orders, what did Obasanjo do?Where was Obasanjo when armed men of the DSS invaded the Ekiti State House Assembly and abducted one of its members? Did Obasanjo travel out of Nigeria when judges were being arrested in the night in a Gestapo manner?
Former Minister of Aviation and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Femi Fani-Kayode has called on the National Assembly to forget the ultimatum given to President Muhammadu Buhari to meet their demands but impeach him right now.In a tweet on Wednesday, Fani-Kayode said the ultimatum is too late and that the lawmakers should stop playing games with the president.Fani-Kayode whose wife, Precious, recently gave birth to a set of triplets (all boys) explained that President Buhari had committed a lot of impeachable offences, adding that now is the time to impeach him.Read Fani-Kayodes tweet below:The ultimatum given to @MBuhari by the NASS is too little,too late. You do not warn a snake before you crush its head. You simply take your aim and strike it with one powerful and lethal blow. @MBuhari has committed many impeachable offences.Stop playing games! Impeach him NOW!These are the conditions President Buhari must fulfill before the 2019 election to avert impeachment, according to the lawmakers.1. The Security Agencies must be given marching orders to curtail the sustained killing of Nigerians across the country and protect lives and properties of Nigerians as this is the primary duty of any responsible Government;2. The systematic harassment and humiliation by the Executive of perceived political opponents, people with contrary opinions including Legislators and Judiciary by the police and other security agencies must stop;3. There must be strict adherence to the Rule of Law and protection for all citizens by the President and his appointees;4. The President must be held accountable for the actions of his appointees and must be ready to sanction those that carry out any act which will ridicule or endanger our country and democracy;5. The Government should show sincerity in the fight against corruption by not being selective . It should also prosecute current appointees that have cases pending against them;6. The sanctity of the National Assembly should be protected and preserved bythe Federal Government of Nigeria by not interfering in its business and prosecuting those who invaded the Senate to seize the mace;7a. National Assembly should liaise with International Communities through the IPU, APU, ECOWAS, CPA, Parliament, Pan African Parliament, EU, UN, US congress and UK Parliament to secure our democracy;b. Democratic elections must be competitive and inclusive by removing the present reign of fear and intimidation particularly as we approach the forthcoming 2019 elections;8. The National Assembly will work closely with Civil Society Organisations, Trade Unions and NGOs to further deepen and protect our democracy;9. The President must take immediate steps to contain the growing level of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria especially now that we have advantage of the oil price having risen to $80 per barrel;10. Both chambers of the National Assembly hereby pass a vote of confidence on the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the entire leadership of the National Assembly;11. we reaffirm our earlier resolution of vote of no confidence on the Inspector General of Police who does nothing other than preside over the killing of innocent Nigerian and consistent framing up of perceived political opponents of the President and outright disregard for constitutional authority, both executive and legislative;12. Finally, the National Assembly will not hesitate to evoke its Constitutional powers if nothing is done to address the above resolutions passed today.
Of course, by now you must have heard or read that President Muhammadu Buhari has declared June 12 as the new Democracy Day when the nations democracy will be celebrated every year. He has also honoured the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, Chief Moshood KO Abiola, a post humous award of Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR).Ordinarily, this would be a good thing, but the antecedent of the President and the timing of his gesture leaves room for doubt. Such an act, coming eight months to the 2019 elections, suggests that the President is playing on the sentiments of some Nigerians and selling them a dummy. How do I mean? Well, let us look at the facts and only the facts.Last week, Nigeria celebrated nineteen years of uninterrupted democracy. But Nigeria, as an independent nation is 57 (58 this year). So, why are we not celebrating 57 years of uninterrupted democracy, as a country like Kenya or Tanzania will soon celebrate?The simple answer is that democracy was twice interrupted by Nigeria, otherwise this year, we would have either celebrated 58 years of uninterrupted democracy or 39 years. The fact that democracy is not so old in Nigeria is because of two men-Nzeogwu/Ifeajuna, who interrupted democracy in 1966 and Muhammadu Buhari, who interrupted it in 1983.If then Major General Muhammadu Buhari had not toppled President Shagari, June 12 would never have happened and Abiola May still be alive and could have still become President through democratic means. It was the military that Buhari brought into power that annulled June 12 and jailed Abiola till he died. Last week, instead of celebrating 19 years of democracy, it could have been 39 if Buhari did not topple Shagari!By attempting to gain political capital from declaring June 12 Democracy Day, what President Buhari is doing is attempting to profit from his own criminality of toppling a democratically elected government and arresting the democratic and economic growth of Nigeria. Think where we would have been had Buhari not overthrown President Shagari and installed a military junta whose medicine was worse than the cure.But, it is not surprising. A man who gave dead people political appointments will definitely have no qualms in exploiting a dead man whose life he never added value to. But whose death he wants to extract value from! While Abiola was in Abachas prison, Buhari was in Abachas parlour enjoying and preparing for Abachas self-succession!Only two weeks ago our President revealed to us that Sani Abacha was his mentor. The man he most admires amongst Nigerias former rulers and most likes to be like. One week he praises Abiolas jailer, Abacha, the next week, he shows his hypocrisy by remembering Abiola.Nigerians seem to forget that Buhari only accepted to serve in Abachas government AFTER Abacha jailed Abiola. That shows acquiescence to what Abacha did. Do we have such short memories to forget that several persons in Abachas administration resigned the minute he threw Abiola in jail, such as Ibru and Onagoruwa?Not only did Buhari still serve Abacha after he jailed Abiola, he continued to serve Abacha even after Kudirat was murdered! He continued to serve him after Rewane was murdered. He even continued to serve him in death by saying Abacha never stole. I have never come across a man so desperate for power and yet he does not know what to do with it!When Abiola was alive, you offered him no help whatsoever. You wined and dined with his tormentor. You watched as he destroyed Abiolas business. You continue to celebrate Abacha in death and exploit Abiola in death. How can you honour a man whose life you dishonoured? You have forgotten when you were praising Abacha as the next best thing after sliced bread. Now Abiola is your best thing because of elections. We were born at night, not last night! We will not forget your Sai Abacha in 1998.Buhari only accepted to honour Abiola just BEFORE the 2019 elections for one reason and one reason only, he thinks the Southwest is gullible. To the Yoruba, I urge you to do what Bola Ige said in 1998-take their money but vote for who you want.The summary of the matter is that President Buhari is a joke. In desperation for the Southwest vote. Now that the election is months away he pulls this stunt. He forgets that the Yoruba are sophisticated voters!Even the statement declaring June 12 as Democracy Day betrays President Buharis intellectual deficiency and proves he is surrounded by inept aides.The Executive Order that he signed states as follows:The first time this (military handing over power to a democratically elected President) happened was on October 21st, 1979.Even a primary school student knows that the first time the military voluntarily handed over power to a democratically elected civilian President was on October 1st, 1979 not on October 21st, 1979. How can a President with eight media aides and 4 speechwriters not know what a primary school pupil would know? This is what you get when you elect a man with certificates of dubious origins and location! In 2019, we need a President who is educated enough to spot such a simple error!Here is a President who claimed Nigerian youths are lazy, yet he does not know what a Nigerian youth would know. I bet you that if you go to the nearest secondary school to you and ask them when the military first handed over power to civilians, they would give a correct answer. Yet Buhari and his eight media aides cant!President Buhari complained that Nigeria youths are lazy and illiterate, but how can he blame them? The President is himself the problem. How can Buhari inspire youths to go to school when he cant even produce his school certificate?A barefooted man cannot advertise shoes! And as for Osinbajo who said four years is not enough to deliver on the promises he and his boss made, I can only say that when an office is too big for you, you complain that four years is too small. A bad workman blames his tools. How long has Donald Trump been in office? Yet see all he has accomplished. Even 100 years is not enough for a clueless government.But then again, even if you cannot fulfil all your promises in four years, at least you should be able to fulfil some of them. How can you be in office for three years and yet you cant boast of one project that you have initiated, started and completed in three years! Really?And that is why nobody in the Buhari administration is willing to take the #BuhariChallenge.The only way the Buhari administration can take or even win the #BuhariChallenge and name one project that Buhari has initiated, started and completed in the last three years is if they include lying as a sport in the Olympics. If they do, Lai Mohammed and Garba Shehu will win gold and silver for Nigeria! Other than that, I dont see any reasonable possibility that this administration can take the Buhari Challenge.And One Last Thing:In his last interview before he died, Justice Mustapha Akanbi asked President Buhari and the EFCC to investigate those listed in my Looters List. The best way to honour Justice Akanbi should not be an empty statement from an empty President. It should be by honouring his last known request.
Ochereome Nnanna, chairman, editorial board of Vanguard Newspapers, has come under heated criticism over a veiled reference to people of the...

Ochereome Nnanna, chairman, editorial board of Vanguard Newspapers, has come under heated criticism over a veiled reference to people of the Yoruba ethnic group as sophisticated morons.

Nnannas comment followed the reactions to President Muhammadu Buharis conferment of GCFR on late MKO Abiola, presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.





While some welcomed the development, others described it as a move to woo the south-west into voting for Buhari in 2019.





One Areh Sunday, a journalist and aide to Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta state, took to Facebook to share his opinion on the issue.





I used to think the south-west was very sophisticated. I was wrong. They are the most gullible. They fall for every poisoned carrot dangled before them, Sunday wrote on Facebook.





Responding to the post, Nnanna wrote: Sophisticated morons, more like.

He was bombarded with uncomplimentary messages not long after he dropped those words.





Most of those who reacted to Nnannas comment accused him of not being careful with his choice of words despite holding a high office.





Some even demanded his resignation.





Below are some comments:

If @vanguardngrnews does not remove Ochereome Nnanna as Chairman of its Editorial Board, I will instruct my company & every organisation I am associated with to stop buying Vanguard NP. pic.twitter.com/IR31K9oATK June 9, 2018

Lemme quickly correct something in this, Ive confirmed the said comment of the Chairman, Editorial Board of @vanguardngrnews , OCHEREOME NNANNA was not made in an editorial but on a Facebook thread posted here but yes it was made by him. pic.twitter.com/fOm7Ka0Tk5 June 8, 2018

A comment by Ochereome Nnanna has justified attacks on Igbos. Attempt to apologise makes it worse. Nigerian is irredeemable.  Obunike Ohaegbu (@ObunikeOhaegbu) June 9, 2018

https://t.co/3owu8t6IYZ @vanguardngrnews if someone with many years of experience as Ochereome Nnanna cannot engage in discussion without abusing an entire tribe, then he doesn't deserve his place in your organization. His statement is shameful and a huge discredit to @vanguardngrnews June 9, 2018

https://t.co/3owu8t6IYZ @vanguardngrnews if someone with many years of experience as Ochereome Nnanna cannot engage in discussion without abusing an entire tribe, then he doesn't deserve his place in your organization. His statement is shameful and a huge discredit to @vanguardngrnews June 9, 2018



Hours after the storm on social media, Areh took down his post but the screen shots remained in circulation. Hours after the storm on social media, Areh took down his post but the screen shots remained in circulation.





In a bid to douse the tension, Nnanna apologised, saying he never mentioned any ethnic group.





In my comment to a friends post I never mentioned the name of any ethnic Group. Beware of blackmailers. I am a free mind, Nnanna said.

My people, just calm down. I cant call any ethnic group dirty names. Coolu tempah. I hold you all in high regard. Let it go.

But people are still commenting on the issue. Yoruba is of the three major ethnic group in Nigeria.




The management of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has set up an investigative panel to look into allegations of sexual harassment against...

The management of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has set up an investigative panel to look into allegations of sexual harassment against Olusegun Awonusi, a professor of English Studies at the University.





In a statement signed by the Universitys Director of Students Affairs, Prof Tunde Babawale, he called on anyone, particularly staff and students of the institution, to volunteer any information they feel could help in the investigation.





Awonusi, who was the former Vice-Chancellor of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, Ogun State, was accused of harassing female students and threatening to fail them if they refused his advances.





The statement reads: The University of Lagos Management has set up a Fact Finding Panel to investigate the allegation of sexual harassment involving a Lecturer in the University published in various social media platform.





The panel has commenced investigation into the allegation and is requesting the members of the University of Lagos community (Particularly Staff and Students) who have useful information on this specific allegation and any other one that could aid its assignment to submit memoranda to the panel.





The memoranda should be addressed to the Secretary, Fact Finding Panel on the Allegation of Sexual Harassment involving a Lecturer in the University, c/o Registrars Office, 5th Floor Senate Building, University of Lagos.





The memoranda, in sealed envelopes, should be submitted from Monday 11th to Friday 15th June, 2018 in the Registrars Office. Confidentiality of response is assured.




Some members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN ) burnt flags of the US and Israel in Abuja on Friday, sparking tension.

Some members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN ) burnt flags of the US and Israel in Abuja on Friday, sparking tension.





Chanting songs and waving flags, the IMN members said they were protesting the killings of their members in Palestine.





The protest marched from the National Mosque to the Julius Berger roundabout in the capital city.





Armed policemen mounted strategic positions to possibly prevent a breakdown of law and order.





Free Zakzaky; were among the inscription on their placards. Down To America; Free Palestine; FreeFree Zakzaky; were among the inscription on their placards.





The mob later converged under the bridge, where they displayed the flags of the two countries and set them ablaze.





Human and vehicular movements were disrupted along the popular Wuse market during the protest.





Many people also scuttled to safety when they sighted the aggrieved IMN members.





On different occasions, the sect members have clashed with the police while demanding the release of Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, their leader.




The African Democratic Congress, which has been adopted by Obasanjo, has warned the Federal Government that it will shut down the Presidential Villa if Obasanjo is harmed.The Chairman of the ADC, Chief Okey Nwosu, said this during a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday.Nwosu said having failed to deliver on its campaign promises, the Buhari-led government had resorted to hounding opposition members into submission.He said when Obasanjo was supporting Buhari during the run-up to the 2015 general elections; he was described as an advocate of change by Buhari and his supporters, but the same man was now being treated as a criminal because he was speaking against the government.READ ALSO: National Assembly should impeach Buhari immediately to rescue Nigeria Fani-KayodeThe ADC chairman said, What we are witnessing is the desperation of a failed government. When you have mediocre persons that are not focused on handling state power, they often go to dictatorial levels to try to achieve their aim but this time, the people of Nigeria and God are on our side and we will do what our country needs.President Obasanjo cannot be touched. When in 2014 and 2015, he was in the vanguard of trying to effect change because of the situation then, they were applauding him as the champion of a new Nigeria.Now that things have gone wrong in the area of security and economy and he is speaking out, they are now chasing the champion of new Nigeria. We will mobilise the whole of Nigeria to take over Aso Rock Villa if the government steps out of line.But two civil society organisations, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, said Obasanjo should be ready to face trial if there was any evidence of financial mismanagement traced to his administration.The SERAP Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, said the former Presidents alarm of a witch-hunt by President Buhari was unnecessary as the anti-graft agencies must carry out their statutory responsibilities.Mumuni said, The truth of the matter is that Buhari should not be the one to set the EFCC against anybody; the anti-graft agency should do its job, investigate allegations of crime against anybody and begin prosecution. That Obasanjo is crying foul will not stop the agencies from going after him, if indeed there are admissible evidences against him.I dont think we should listen to Obasanjo. Rather, we should let the EFCC do what is legally appropriate and prosecute anyone who is supposed to be prosecuted. If Obasanjo has a case to answer, he should be ready to have his day in court under the due process.Also the CDHR President, Malachy Ugwummadu, said, Obasanjo should not play to the gallery. For me, it will be a huge positive development if this government can muster enough courage to take on Obasanjo.If the government has credible information or evidence to take on Obasanjo, it will clearly show that all the people in the league of former presidents can be taken up.
A Mount Laurel mortgage lender avoided a $109 million fine Thursday after a long-running case against them was dropped by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney said in legal filing that PHH Corporation Mount Laurel did not violate the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act which bans kickbacks in exchange for referrals, AmericanBanker.com reported.

In 2014, PHH was accused by the CFPB of running a 15-year kickback scheme that enabled the company to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit payments. CFPB said the mortgage lender collected illegal payments for referring business to mortgage insurance companies.

The CFPB sought a fine and restitution.

In 2014, an administrative law judge ruled that PHH violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act's ban on kickbacks for referrals and the company was ordered to pay more than $6 million.

Former CFPB director Richard Cordray overruled the judge's decision in 2015 and ordered PHH to pay $109 million. PHH then sued CFPB.

In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the fine, saying the agency's application of the Real Estate settlement act was unconstitutional and violated PHH's right to due process.

PHH decided not to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, which left it in the hands of Mulvaney and the CFPB.

John Czwartacki, the CFPB's chief communications officer, told the New Jersey Law Journal that Thursday's dismissal of the case is a "matter of housekeeping."

"This dismissal just ends this embarrassing chapter that was premised on then-Director [Richard] Cordray's questionable legal theories, which never should have been pursued, and that the D.C. Circuit rightly rejected in January," Czwartacki told the Law Journal.

PHH said it was pleased with the dismissal.

"We are extremely gratified to have this matter fully resolved as a result of Acting Director Mulvaney's decision to dismiss this case," according to the statement. "Today's Order is consistent with our long-held view that we complied with RESPA and other laws applicable to our former mortgage reinsurance activities in all respects."

In February, Ocwen Financial Corporation announced it was buying PHH for $360 million in a deal that is expected to be finalized later this year.

While the company was able to avoid this hefty fine, in 2017, PHH and two of its subsidiaries agreed to pay $74 million to settle claims that they violated standards for underwriting government-backed mortgages.

Over the past year, the Trump administration has stripped the CFPB of some of its enforcement powers. Mulvaney, President Trump's budget chief, is its director.

Mulvaney fired the bureau's 25 member advisory board Wednesday after remarks from some of its members that criticized his leadership. New members are expected to be appointed in the fall.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.
One of two people who were killed Friday when a box truck overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike in Newark was a 43-year-old from Brooklyn, police said Saturday.

Kakha Komckhidze died in the crash around 4:35 p.m. near mile marker 104.4, State Police Sgt. Jeff Flynn said.

The box truck was going south in the center lane when it veered right, hit a guardrail and overturned, trapping the driver and a passenger, Flynn said. He said both died, and he did not know whether Komckhidze was the driver or a passenger.

Flynn said the other person who was killed was from the country of Georgia. Police have not released that person's name because next of kin have not been notified.

Another passenger was able to get out of the truck uninjured, Flynn said.

The truck was the only vehicle involved in the crash, Flynn said, contrary to initial information police released Friday.

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Two people were killed Friday afternoon in a crash when a truck overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike, authorities said.

The State Police did not identify the people who were killed.

Police said the accident occurred at 4:35 p.m. at mile marker 104.4 in Newark.

Police said there were lane closures and delays in the area.

Serious crash @NJTurnpike SB MP 104.4 in Newark. Multiple vehicles involved. NJSP responded at 4:35 p.m. Multiple injuries. Lane closures. Expect delays. Plan alt. route. No additional info at this time. #alert  NJSP - State Police (@NJSP) June 8, 2018

The accident blocked the right lane and shoulder of the outer roadway south of Interchange 14 and Route 78, according to 511nj.

Avoid the Southbound NJ Turnpike truck lanes south of Interchange 14 this evening. There's a bad crash involving an overturned truck and a car with only 1 lane getting by. Big delays building in the truck and car lanes. Thanks to @wcbs880 listener Henry Webber for the photos! pic.twitter.com/5essNVQ31j  WCBS 880 Traffic & Weather together on the 8s (@wcbs880traffic) June 8, 2018

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Investigators are offering little information about a shooting involving an officer that occurred Saturday afternoon at the Deptford Crossing shopping center in Deptford Township.

Witnesses say the shooting began with a shoplifting attempt at Marshalls, but officials haven't confirmed details or provided information about injuries or arrests.

Sources indicate a police officer was transported to a hospital with injuries following the incident, which occurred shortly before 4 p.m. near the Marshalls store, but that the officer was not shot.

TV news camera footage shows a yellow tarp draped over an SUV that ran up on a median in the shopping plaza. The area was cordoned off with crime scene tape.

A woman who said she was in Marshalls at the time of the incident reported on Facebook that she saw two women and a man run out of the store with suitcases they apparently stole from the business.

Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Bernie Weisenfeld confirmed that they are investigating a shooting involving an officer, but he had no additional information.

Late Saturday night, he reported that there is no search taking place for a suspect and "no reason for concern about public safety."

Additional details should be released Sunday, he said.

An employee at the store referred all questions about the incident to a media relations firm representing Marshalls.

"I can confirm that we are aware of this incident and are fully cooperating with police," Marshalls spokeswoman Erika Tower said. "However, as it is a police matter, it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Deptford Twp Gloucester Co: Heavy Police Activity in the Deptford Crossing Shopping Center off of Clements Bridge Road. Based on early reports this is the scene of a police shooting. BeAlert. pic.twitter.com/q9BmPWEVWH  First Responder (@911__ICE) June 9, 2018

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.
A Bayonne woman and her daughters are part of a joint complaint filed by 14 women against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging they were illegally targeted at the Newark Liberty International Airport because they were wearing hijabs.

Meriem Bendaoud, an assistant biology professor at New Jersey City University, alleges in the joint complaint that she, her twin daughters, and the group of other women -- all Muslim -- were stopped by Transportation Security Administration agents and screened for additional security, they say, because they wear traditional Muslim headdresses.

"This was an experience that is still hard for me to go back to and remember. It was very shocking," she said. "I needed to speak up about it."

In December, Bendaoud and her 19-year-old twin daughters, Sara and Amina, who are New Jersey Institute of Technology students, arrived at Newark Airport for a 7:10 a.m. flight to Chicago to attend the annual conference of the Islamic Circle of North America.

As they were waiting on line for general security clearance, they were pulled away and told to move to the front of the line.

TSA agents brought out a security dog to sniff her and her daughters' bags, but the women were told to stay for extra security screenings.

As they waited, more and more women wearing hijabs were brought to what Bendaoud described as a "cage" with four glass walls, where the 14 women were searched extensively in clear view of other passengers.

"That's what was horrifying -- the window was right there, with people walking past like we were in a zoo, taking videos, taking pictures," she said. "Some people were horrified, but others were laughing. It was very shocking."

Bendaoud remembers she and her daughters were shocked to witness the other girls, many of whom were young and unaccompanied by a parent, being searched to that extent in clear view of everyone.

"These girls didn't have their parents with them ... and they touched them in front of everybody," she said.

The complaint, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in May with the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, is calling for $100,000 in damages for each of the women, an official apology and mandatory diversity training for all TSA agents at the airport.

A spokesperson for the TSA referred comment to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights, which is reviewing the case. A DHS spokesperson cited a policy of not commenting on open complaints.

The head of the TSA, Bendaoud said, told her at the time that they typically used that security method for groups. "But I told them 'This is not a group! Check our flight passes, we have separate booking companies,'" she said.

The TSA kept the women for more than two hours, causing them to miss their flight.

"Two hours in front of people, treated like animals ... I couldn't believe they would do that," she said. "I felt violated."

"I just wish that never happens to anyone again," she added. "This cannot happen again, because that was clear cut -- pulling 14 women wearing hijabs? How do you explain that?"

Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
The Hudson County Democratic chair fight has landed in court, with allies of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and state Sen. Brian Stack suing the county Democratic organization to get a set of rules in place for next week's chair election.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Hudson County Superior Court, alleges that the Hudson County Democratic Organization is inviting "chaos, disorganization and mischief" by not giving committee members an agenda for Tuesday's meeting and not providing them with standard meeting rules.

Jersey City school board member Amy DeGise and Union City Mayor and state Sen. Brian Stack are vying for the Democratic chair gig, a dispute that is part of an intraparty war set off when Stack and Fulop said they would not support Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise for re-election next year (Tom is Amy's father).

Stack has requested that outgoing HCDO Chair Vincent Prieto, who is aligned with DeGise, "bring some semblance of order, regimen and fairness" to the HCDO meeting, requests Prieto has ignored, the lawsuit alleges. The plaintiffs are Fulop allies and HCDO committee members Jeff Dublin and Stephanie Daniels. Both are city workers.

"It is unnerving that this process, led by the HCDO and its bosses, lacks transparency, is rooted in secrecy and invites suspicion that this is all designed to confuse committee members when exercising their right to vote for the candidate of their choice," Stack said Saturday in a statement from his spokesman. "My supporters are outraged."

The plaintiffs want a judge to compel the HCDO to meet with Stack and DeGise prior to Tuesday's meeting to establish a set of meeting rules, order that the organization provide committee members with a meeting agenda and order that the HCDO create three committees required by Robert's Rules of Order.

DeGise's allies believe the lawsuit is a prelude to additional court action if Tuesday's vote does not go Stack's way.

"He's crying foul about the process and trying to muddy the waters with legal challenges and political spin," DeGise said in a statement from the HCDO's spokesman.

In a separate statement, Prieto said the meeting will be run as previous reorganization meetings have been.

"There are no official candidates for the position of chair until the nominations are opened to the floor at the meeting," he said. "All parties involved in this process are aware of these facts, and as chairman I am committed to operating a fair process that conforms to HCDO bylaws and all applicable state law."

The meeting is scheduled for Kearny High School, a location Fulop and Stack have said was chosen by the HCDO to keep turnout low among Jersey City committee members. Fulop and Stack believe most of that city's Democrats will vote for Stack.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY -- A Jersey City sex offender has been charged with violating the terms of his supervision for life under Megan's Law for failing to participate in a drug treatment program and failing give notice that his address changed.

Gary Rivera, 50, formerly of St. Lucy's Shelter in Jersey City, was to report to his parole officer on April 15 but never did, the criminal complaint says.

The complaint also says that Rivera was to participate in an intensive drug counseling program and he failed to enroll in any such program.

Finally, Rivera was discharged from the shelter for allegedly assaulting another resident. His parole officer said he went to the residence and viewed security video showing the assault, the complaint says.

At the time the warrant was signed on April 18, his whereabouts were unknown, the complaint says.

Rivera made his first appearance on the charges on Monday in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny. At the hearing, the state moved to detain him through the course of his prosecution.

A court official said that there was also a warrant for Rivera's arrest out of East Brunswick.
A simple case of a person not looking where they were walking escalated into an argument and then a pepper-spray attack on a Manhattan street, the New York Post report.

The incident -- in which three German tourists suffered minor injuries -- ended with a Jersey City woman being arrested Thursday, police told the newspaper.

Jessica Perez, 25, was charged with misdemeanor assault, unlawful possession of a noxious substance and criminal possession of a weapon, the report said.

Police said Perez was bumped into while crossing a midtown street, became angry and got into an argument with the trio -- two women and a man, the report said.

That's when Perez pulled the mace and sprayed the tourists, the report said.
An 80-year-old woman recovering from surgery was sexually assaulted in her hospital bed Wednesday by a man who apparently was wandering the halls of the Jersey City Medical Center, authorities said.

Jackie Burgess, 45, of Whiton Street, was charged with aggravated sexual assault and causing the woman pain by pressing on the leg that had recently undergone surgery, the criminal complaint says.

He is also charged with the burglary of another patient's room prior to the alleged sexual assault. Finally, he is charged with committing a lewd act for allegedly masturbating in his jail cell while being monitored on camera, the complaint says.

A spokesperson for the Jersey City Medical Center said the hospital had no comment on the matter at this time because it's an ongoing police investigation.

The 80-year-old told officials she woke to find a man touching her crotch and because she had a catheter, she thought it was a member of hospital staff. After he pushed on her leg, she realized he wasn't in hospital attire and she buzzed for a nurse, the complaint says, adding that he then walked out.

Police believe Burgess had earlier entered another patient's room and went into the private bathroom without permission. Burgess was arrested by hospital security and remanded to the Hudson County jail in Kearny.

Burgess made his first court appearance on the charges in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City Thursday via video link from the jail.

At the hearing, the state moved to detain him through the course of his prosecution. A detention hearing is scheduled for Tuesday before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.

After being told the charges against him in court, Burgess seemed surprised and said "Two counts of burglary?"
A 26-year-old West New York man has been charged with aggravated sexual contact on his wife and aggravated assault, officials said.

The victim told police the incident occurred last Saturday after the 64th Street man came home after a night out drinking and wanted to have sex, the criminal complaint says.

She said he became enraged when she refused and ripped off her underwear. The wife told police she then struck her husband with her cellphone and he punched her in the eye, the complaint says.

The wife told police her husband relented after she struck him in the face with an unknown glass object.She suffered a swollen left eye and temporary loss of vision, the complaint says.

The husband's father and other family members were in court when he made his first appearance on the charges on Monday in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.

At the hearing, he was ordered released on his own recognizance pending trial.

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Authorities are investigating a shooting involving State Police in which an armed man died Friday evening, hours after the 47-year-old allegedly fired off a round during a dispute in New York.

The police-involved shooting happened at about 11:35 p.m. in a secluded area along the Delaware River in Warren County, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal's office said in a statement.

The Attorney General's Shooting Response Team, which oversees all police-shooting probes, is investigating.

According to the preliminary investigation, Todd Gregory, of Coram, N.Y., was wanted in connection with a dispute in Long Island, where he was allegedly harassing a man and his family. Police say Gregory fired a shot at the other man's home and hit a car.

State Police saw Gregory's white pickup truck on Route 80 in Knowlton on Friday night after they got an alert from authorities in Suffolk County that Gregory was armed, suicidal and planned to engage police, according to the release.

Gregory refused to stop, and State Police lost sight of the truck, authorities said. After a search, the officers found the truck parked in a secluded area off Old Mine Road in Harwick Township.

As the troopers approached the car on foot, they heard a gunshot come from inside the pickup and one of the officers fired multiple shots into the truck, according to the release.

Gregory was found by police with a fatal gunshot wound, but it was unclear who fired the shot that killed the man.

Two rifles were found in the truck, authorities said.

No troopers were injured.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Can Americans still have a sensible and friendly political discussion across the partisan divide? The answer is yes, and we intend to prove it. Julie Roginsky, a Democrat, and Mike DuHaime, a Republican, are consultants who have worked on opposite teams for their entire careers yet have remained friends throughout. Here, they discuss the week's events, with prompts from Tom Moran, editorial page editor of The Star-Ledger.

Q. Let's start with Tuesday's primary results in New Jersey: U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., won, but 38 percent of Democrats voted for an unknown challenger who didn't spend a dime. Is it conceivable he'll lose in November?

Roginsky: Anything is conceivable, but I am not particularly worried about Sen. Menendez's prospects. First and foremost, I doubt that voters in New Jersey are in any mood to send a Trump-supporting drug company executive like Bob Hugin to Washington this November. Second, Sen. Menendez also didn't spend a dime on this primary, while having the kitchen sink thrown at him to the tune of millions of dollars by his Republican opponent.

DuHaime: Democrats should take nothing for granted this year. Republicans are energized by Hugin's campaign and Tuesday's results. His campaign is being aggressive; they're advertising early, and clearly it will be one of the most well-funded campaigns we have seen in New Jersey.

Roginsky: Hugin got many fewer votes (167,000) in the Republican primary than Menendez received (260,000) in the Democratic primary. So I would guess the energy is with the Democrats this year, as we have seen all over the country in special elections. And most of those places aren't even as blue as New Jersey.

Q. In the 11th District, Democrat Mikie Sherrill faces GOP Assemblyman Jay Webber in a purple district President Donald Trump won by a single point. How do you handicap that one?

Roginsky: Sherrill has been running an extraordinary campaign and she has the fortune of running against one of the most hard-right legislators in Trenton, who has also been a vocal supporter of Trump's policies. I don't know that GOP candidate Webber's brand of Republican politics plays in a suburban district like this one.

DuHaime: This race is going to be very close. The turnout in both primaries was roughly even, so similar energy on both sides. Trump carried the district, and so did Phil Murphy for governor. The voters will have a real choice here. Assemblyman Webber is a pragmatic conservative and a father, a Harvard-educated attorney and small businessman. The problem for Sherrill is the aggressively progressive national Democrat agenda she will be expected to support is way out of step with a moderate district like this. There won't be much ambiguity in this race.

Q. In the 4th District, Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Smith has grown used to winning by 30 points in every election since 1980. Does the Democratic candidate, Navy veteran Josh Welle, present any challenge?

Roginsky: This is a year that is shaping up to be a wave election. Smith has obviously survived those before, but if New Jersey is at the forefront of a Democratic surge this year, no one is safe.

DuHaime: Congressman Smith will win easily. He is very well-respected across the political spectrum, and his is the most Republican-heavy district in the state. If we lost that one, it wouldn't be a wave but a tsunami.

Q. Nationally, what can we conclude off Tuesday? Does it still look like a blue wave or has that been dampened a bit?

Roginsky: I am out of the absolute prediction business since Hillary Clinton's loss in 2016. I will say that the concern lots of us had about not having Democrats nominated in targeted California districts due to their primary rules were assuaged on Tuesday, luckily.

DuHaime: I'm not sure Tuesday's results tell us anything new. The first midterm is always very difficult for the president's party, almost always resulting in lost seats. The historic number of retirements on the Republican side and the anti-Trump energy among Democrats adds to what is an already challenging political environment. Republicans already know this, and the smart Republican candidates have been preparing to run solid campaigns in the face of a tough environment.

Q. Earlier this week, House Speaker Paul Ryan kiboshed Trump's claim that the FBI embedded a spy into his campaign and warned the president not to pardon himself. Does it matter?

Roginsky: It doesn't matter. Trump supporters and his media echo-chamber will keep insisting on it being a fact, despite the fact that it is an absolutely ridiculous allegation. Ryan will still allow charlatans like U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to obstruct any real House investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. And Rudy Giuliani will still be running around on national television, trying to convince an exhausted American public that the president of the United States can pardon himself for any criminal activity, including the murder of the FBI director. If I were reading what I just wrote a decade ago, I would think this were a great creative writing exercise. Sadly, it's reality.

DuHaime: Responding to your question, no it won't matter. There is a very short list of people who truly influence the president's thinking, and Ryan's not on it. I don't know why the president would want to tweet about pardoning himself. In PR, that would be reinforcing a negative perception. Julie is right that the president's supporters and conservative media truly do believe there is a great deal of overreach by the Justice Department in this investigation, and they clearly will not stand idly by and not vocally make that argument.

Q. It is getting very stormy in Trenton. It looks like Gov. Murphy will get only a portion of the $1.7 billion in tax hikes he's proposed. How damaging will that be to his agenda?

Roginsky: I know that conversations between the governor's office and the Legislature are ongoing. Let's see what kind of budget is signed into law later this month before speculating about its impact on the governor's agenda.

DuHaime: Julie, our whole (unpaid) job here is to speculate on things for which we only have partial information. That's what makes this so fun. The answer is yes, it certainly will hurt or at least delay the implementation of the governor's agenda. The governor put forth a very aggressive agenda, parts of which came with considerably more government spending. Obviously, he needs these proposed tax increases to go through to fund that increased spending.

Q. Let's wrap up with yet more informed speculation: With about three weeks to go in this legislative session, the state Senate still hasn't held a hearing on legalizing marijuana. Is the weed initiative in trouble?

Roginsky: The Legislature is out of session in three weeks, so there's plenty of time to take up marijuana legalization. Grab a bag of Doritos, get some Phish going on your radio and settle in for a debate on this issue. In my (unpaid) professional opinion, it will happen eventually.

DuHaime: I would be very surprised if this were approved by the end of June. There are still some very influential legislators on the Democrat side who are very hesitant to move forward with this legalization.

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U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez is seeking re-election. Right now he's relying on his professional consultants to portray him as a local Jersey guy who worked his way up to become the state's senior federal legislator. In other words, he's one of you.

The Republican candidate for Senate is Bob Hugin who is the former CEO of bio-tech firm Celgene. Hugin's campaign is to remind everyone that Menendez is (allegedly) a crook and can't be trusted.

All this stems from the senator's federal indictment and trial on bribery charges. For Hugin it doesn't matter that the prosecutors tried Menendez once and failed and then had to backtrack an announced second attempt. The Republican just wants every mention of the incumbent's re-election effort to be prefaced with the words "scandal-plagued" and the media has no choice but to comply.

The senator apparently does not realize his most important skirmish is taking place in his home county and he has chosen to ignore it.

THE SCARLET S-P

I have written about the fed's case against Menendez ad nauseam. In the next paragraph is a nutshell explanation taken from a 2015 column explaining the indictment. Click on the link if you want to know how extreme the President Obama prosecutors went to present the charges. Otherwise skip to the sixth paragraph.

"The Justice Department says Menendez's 'sin' - revealed in a Holy Week indictment that fell on April Fool's Day -- was using the power of his office to help a fellow defendant's, Dr. Salomon Melgen, business interests - mainly a port security contract with the Dominican Republic and in a dispute with Medicare over what the agency considers a multi-million-dollar overbilling. What the feds say - forget get the legalese - is that in return, Melgen gave some $750,000 to entities supporting Menendez in his 2012 re-election bid. Melgen, 61, has also been indicted on similar charges."

Then there were those trips mentioned in the indictment.

For Hugin and the Republicans the damage was thankfully done and Menendez is French toast (in honor of the senator's trip to Paris). Well, it's not always that easy because the incumbent is tough-minded and capable of putting up a good fight. Or at least that was the old Menendez before finding himself in the midst of a Hudson County Democratic Party Civil War.

Now he's uber Hamlet, unable to make up his mind about who to back for the Hudson County Democratic Organization chairmanship.

The average Hudson County resident could care less about primaries. They are private club squabbles that regular folks really don't understand and often ignore. For politicians it's a big deal, a way of practicing the arts of manipulation and influence. It is the method both major parties use to choose candidates who are not always the best qualified.

After Tuesday's primary the old guard of the Hudson County Democratic Organization sent out a number of press releases extolling the victories of "their" party committee members. No matter what happened, both factions must put on a brave face.

The cheering for the status quo was mainly for the results in West New York where the official Democratic Party line carried the majority of committee seats. When I say status quo and old guard, I mean hand-picked candidate Amy DeGise, daughter of County Executive Tom DeGise, and an operative for North Bergen Mayor and state Sen. Nick Sacco. Sorry, it's a hard truth.

They are trying to stave off the election of Union City boss and Mayor Brian Stack who is also the state 33rd Legislative District senator, backed for the chairmanship by West New York Mayor Felix Roque, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Stack and Fulop said they would not back the re-election of the county executive which led to this civil war.

Stack and company didn't win the majority of committee seats in West New York in a contest that was, well, stacked against them. Yet once behind the voting machines on June 12 in the Kearny High School, the favorable numbers are expected to more than double for Stack. There are committee people, long time residents, who have received a great deal of assistance from Stack over the years. So how strong is constituent loyalty?

These committee people also know West New York faces a May municipal election. They can expect Stack to use his formidable machine to help Roque regain control of Town Hall. So like the politicians they serve, committee people also have a sense of self-preservation. When the HCDeadO chairmanship vote is taken, they still have to return home and deal with any repercussions.

Last week I pointed out that this whole civil war thing is about Sacco's re-election effort next year. Without returning as mayor, he has no hold over county government. Next year three county office seats are up for grab and they are all "owned" by Sacco: the sheriff, county executive and surrogate.

Fulop controls the other two constitutional offices, clerk and register, and they are not on the ballot for a few years. Sacco seems satisfied with his present 3 to 2 advantage. Stack has zero but that may change should he become the county party leader.

IS BOB FRENCH TOAST?

This column is more about Menendez who only got a little over 60 percent of the primary vote over lightweight Lisa McCormick who out progressives even former Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

And yet Menendez remains silent and refuses to back any candidate to lead his home county Democratic Party. What happened to the hard-nosed politician? As you get older do you forget that youthful fire and enthusiasm? Guess it was the late Bruce Walter who made the tough political decisions in Union City.

It must have been Walter in the late 1980s who literally grabbed then County Executive Robert Janiszewski out of his office and dragged him to Schuetzen Park in North Bergen. There, county Democratic Party members gathered to hear a shaking Janiszewski declare Walter head of the HcDeadO over a challenge by then Jersey City Mayor Gerry McCann.

GOP candidate Hugin is another one of those multi-millionaire politicians that voters have been putting into high office (see NJ governors). He is spending more than $7 million of his own bucks, so far. In his campaign, the Republican has depicted himself as more of a left-leaning Democrat than a Republican. He knows this is a blue state and very anti-Trump and this is the role expected of him. It is ironic that both candidates are products of Union City.

Hugin is out Democrating Menendez who is content with photo-ops with constituents while charging Hugin with becoming rich at the expense of cancer patients in need of the alleged overpriced drugs sold by his former company.

Considering the primary results and the "scandal-plagued" tattoo on his forehead, Menendez had better pray that Stack, with his ability to harvest votes, becomes the home county Democratic Party general. Otherwise, no turkey for you!

Should DeGise win the electoral college vote at the HCDeadO reorganization meeting, the senator can look forward to disappointment. There will be a great deal of lip service about support for Menendez but no one will care until two or three weeks before the election.

Then they'll ask for a great deal of campaign money, hire kids to hand out street literature and get the predictable Election Day lower than Middlesex County results. Is this the Ron Dario curse?

The problem is that in a tight statewide contest where the difference may be about 20,000 votes, the leader of the county Democrats has to be resourceful and tough enough to squeeze out a victory.

Should "Sacco" win, then say after me, Bob: "Hail Mary, full of grace ..."

INSIDER NOTES:

-- Here's an interesting seven-year look back.

-- Can we Justify a Triple Crown winner today at the Belmont. For any comparisons let's see the winner's time.

-- What I have left to do is an unexpected midweek special column -- not about the Democratic Party reorganization meeting -- and the very last one for next Saturday.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Agustin C. Torres' columns appear on the nj.com opinion website on Saturdays and occasionally in the print edition of The Jersey Journal. Submit letters to the editor and guest columns at jjletters@jjournal.com.
Gov. Phil Murphy just nominated a Republican judge appointed by Chris Christie to another term on our state's highest court. He's taking the high road, unlike Christie, who was perfectly happy to throw a well-respected jurist off the bench, for no justifiable reason.



New Jersey is not like Washington. Our governors have traditionally re-nominated Supreme Court justices without question, unless there's a serious issue of integrity or competence. This keeps a roughly partisan balance on the bench and protects judicial independence.



We don't want our high-court justices to always be looking in the rearview mirror while making decisions, fearful of being fired for political reasons.

Yet that's exactly what Christie did to John Wallace Jr., the only African-American Supreme Court justice, a Democrat and a moderate: Ousted him and picked Anne Patterson, a white conservative from Christie's hometown, as his replacement.



It was a bully move, aimed at bolstering Christie's conservative cred. Even before that ill-fated presidential run, he was already preening for talk show hosts.



Unlike his Republican mentor, former Gov. Tom Kean - who originally appointed Wallace as a Superior Court judge, and stood up for judicial independence - Christie was the first governor since the ratification of our state constitution in 1947 who refused to do the decent thing.



Because he didn't agree with the court's rulings legalizing same-sex marriage, ordering towns to build more affordable housing and give poor districts more school funding, Christie claimed it had become too "activist." He never attacked Wallace in particular. Even Christie could find no grounds for that.



His power play caused a major crisis. Senate President Steve Sweeney blocked Patterson's nomination for nearly a year, stepping aside only when they agreed she would be nominated for a different seat, that of another justice who was planning to step down.

The fear was that the next Democratic governor would strike back, and this would continue down the line. But Murphy is taking a page from Michelle Obama. He said he's "pleased to uphold the practice of reappointing good, fair-minded and qualified justices, regardless of their party affiliation." In other words: When they go low, we go high.



Like Wallace, Patterson is well-respected, with a reputation as a moderate. She does have a conservative tilt; before joining the bench, she was a lawyer who defended big corporations against product liability lawsuits. But as with Wallace, she is known as an independent thinker.



And whether or not Murphy agrees with her opinions, his refusal to fire her out of partisanship shows his respect for justice. If only Christie had treated Wallace with such class.

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Too much Team Fulop in city government

Does Jersey City have a strategic plan or any kind of business plan? Or, does the city government act solely on some agenda (clandestine or otherwise)?

Jersey City is on the verge of becoming the state's largest city. Yet, the city operates off an archaic governance system - a system that apparently hasn't changed much since the days of JVK and Hague. Suffice it to say, the process that he city employs to commit and obligate public resources should include rigorous management and administrative controls that fosters a robust governance system receptive to fiscal integrity, financial responsibility, and audit readiness.

At this point, the mayor is willing to invest public money to "relocate" the Katyn Memorial and build a park. However, as reported in the Jersey Journal, the city's infrastructure is crumpling at the seams. Look at Garfield Avenue! Just recently, a police scooter turned on its side because it went through a gigantic pothole on that major thoroughfare. The reservoir is in dire need of repair. Every ward within this city has issues with the infrastructure, and those issues need to be addressed and prioritized. Taxpayer money should be invested to fix those issues that are high on the priority list.

The mayor, as chief executive of the city, sets the vision. The strategic plan - or business plan - should outline priorities, as well as lay out the means to achieve the mayor's vision - typically stated as milestones, objectives, and goals. The council should work as a unified body to develop a priority list. The top priorities are resourced first; and, as funding becomes available, the unfunded requirements are then addressed.

The council needs to play an active, independent role in this process. That is to say, the city's legislative body should be the "honest broker." Each member of the council should be a steward for the public resources placed in his/her trust. An independent city council is the lynchpin to a sound planning, programming, and budgeting process.

The council should have independent power of the purse. Being the mayor's "rubber stamp" turns the city into a "feudal society" consisting of "the lord" and "fiefdoms." And, we've outgrown that type of government.

John Di Genio, Jersey City

Lifting topless ban would be disaster

To the honorable mayor of Jersey City and the City Council of Jersey City:

As the pastor of Grace Reformed Church of Jersey City (a multi-ethnic Christian and Protestant church), I write to express to you my grave concerns about the proposed repeal of Jersey City's public obscenity law that bans women from appearing topless in public.

The Christian Church respectfully asks for the basis upon which such a repeal is founded.

Mayor Fulop, on April 2 you tweeted your support for this repeal, and seemed to show us the standard that guides your thinking:

I found the person who put in place Jersey City obscenity law - it was put in place in 1981 by @JerryNJ3 - he explained the background on how this came to be. in any event this will be amended/rescinded to fit the times. There are lots of laws on the books that are just outdated

In this statement, Mayor Fulop, you have told us two things. First, the ethical standard of what is right and wrong is relative and must "fit the times." Second, the good of a society is that which is not "outdated" but borne of the immediate cultural moment. Everything else, it seems, can be summarily dismissed as antiquated, irrelevant, and perhaps even harmful to society.

Mayor Fulop and the city council, you may believe in the standard of the relative and novel good. Such a standard, however, has been shown by history to be purely arbitrary and subject to the whims of political power. It is a variation of "might makes right." One thinks of many despotic political states, past and present, that have used this standard to advance destructive policies.

Against this shifting human standard stands an abiding guide of right and wrong: God's Word, which has been borne out in all cultures and times, especially with respect to public nudity. When Adam and Eve rejected God at the dawn of human history, God mercifully clothed their naked bodies although they had squandered the blessing of being clothed with God's perfect glory. Since then, men and women have sought to take their clothes off and rebel against the God-given societal norms meant to protect them and create a more just society. When men and women choose to physically expose themselves, they also expose themselves,

unwittingly or not, to great danger and harm.

Women, especially, have been degraded in places where their bodies are objectified and treated as an accessory for men. It is a lamentable and horrible fact that sexual confusion about the body of women is accompanied by sexual violence against the body of women. One thinks of the hook-up culture of college campuses.

Administrators regularly permit a sexually "liberated" ethos while failing to protect the female students in their midst. Women are not more liberated when they are encouraged to expose their bodies. They become violently objectified by men, media, and culture. It is highly ironic that this repeal (which is anti-woman) is under consideration all the while the #MeToo movement (which purports to be pro-woman) continues to generate much support among the political class.

More broadly, repeal of the obscenity law is dishonorable to the human body because it fails to adequately ask, answer, and understand the nature of the question, "What is the human body for?" Will the Jersey City council give us their answer? Will you, Mayor Fulop? Is the human body for self-pleasure? Is it meant to be flaunted? To be used for whatever purpose each person wants?

The Bible teaches us that the human body is to be used to worship God and, in self-sacrifice, for the good of our neighbor. When the human body is used the right way, human society will flourish. A father uses his body protect and provide for his wife and children. A mother uses her body to nurture and care for her family. Firefighters sacrifice their bodies to extinguish raging fires and protect innocent lives. Police officers put their bodies on the line to uphold peace and

stop acts of evil. Citizens use their embodied skill to clean parks, open and maintain businesses, and help their neighbors. Examples can be multiplied. This salutary pattern is deeply ingrained in every culture: where the human body is used for what it was created, people will truly flourish.

Conversely, no good can come from living apart from the principles of God's Word which have been vindicated in every human culture. In terms of economic flourishing, the repeal is not good for business nor is it family-friendly

across a broad spectrum of Jersey City (including Muslim, Coptic, Hindu, Catholic, and Protestant families). Families who seek to teach their children what is right in this regard (and not what is merely "legal' and "permissible") would be dissuaded from visiting parks and moving into neighborhoods where public denuding would be prevalent. They would choose to not spend money near area businesses where public denuding would be common.

A repeal would put Jersey City on the same footing as the economically stagnant New York city of the 1980s, where I was raised by immigrant parents and where red-light districts abounded. Why would we want to expose ourselves and our children to what the better angels of any society have known to be morally bankrupt? Why must the general welfare of a society be made to suffer because of the interests of a few? This is a textbook example of elitism.

In short, it would be an unmitigated mistake of civilizational proportions to allow this repeal to pass and I urge you, Mayor Fulop and the city council, in the strongest possible terms, to refuse its passage.

Rev. Samuel Perez,

Grace Reformed Church, Jersey City

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There are only three weeks left until a state budget must be signed and tensions are still running high.

But Gov. Phil Murphy insisted Friday he doesn't believe New Jersey is headed for another state government shutdown.

"I really don't see that happening," Murphy said during a news conference in New Brunswick.

That was about two hours before Murphy, a Democrat, met with the top members of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature to discuss his $37.4 billion budget proposal -- his first as governor.

Murphy has clashed with the state's top two lawmakers -- state Senate President Stephen Sweeney and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin -- over his plan for more than $1.5 billion in tax hikes to increase funding for education, transportation, and more.

There were no signs Friday that they reached a deal.

All three officials have until June 30 to agree on a budget, or the state might see its second straight shutdown -- meaning state parks, beaches, and agencies could be closed over the July 4 weekend and state workers would not be paid. Murphy has already ordered state agencies to prep shutdown contingency plans.

Murphy told NJ Advance Media that Friday's meeting "went well" as he walked out of his Trenton office. He declined to say anything else, and lawmakers did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

But a source said Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Coughlin, D-Middlesex, once again told Murphy they do not plan to go ahead with at least two of his tax hike proposals: a millionaires tax and bringing the sales tax back to 7 percent from 6.62 percent.

Another source said lawmakers have been prepping plans for a budget proposal of their own -- one that would include a plan floated by Sweeney to raise taxes on the state's corporations by $700 million a year in lieu of a millionaires tax.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

At his news conference earlier in the day, Murphy said he and lawmakers must have an "honest conversation" about the budget if they want to pay for initiatives they all want -- such as fully funding the state's public schools and expanding pre-kindergarten programs.

"We cannot continue down the same road, lurching from one year to the next, shortfall to shortfall, crisis to crisis, gimmick to gimmick, one shot to one shot," Murphy said. "We can't keep writing budgets in disappearing ink."

.@GovMurphy is also not backing down from his plans to hike taxes to pay for increases to education, transportation, and more in N.J. despite pushback from fellow Democrats. pic.twitter.com/9NwITubCKH  Brent Johnson (@johnsb01) June 8, 2018

The governor also dismissed the idea that he and lawmakers have reached a stalemate.

"I don't see it that way," Murphy said. "If it were June 30 I might agree with you, but it's June 8."

Meanwhile, Murphy said he's not immediately opposed to the idea of a hike to the corporate business tax. But he said it would not be a stable funding source because it would expire after two years.

"When the idea came up, I didn't say, 'Heck no,'" Murphy said. "This is a temporary move, and that concerns me because we are funding long-term."

Sweeney first proposed the idea in March. His plan would place a 3 percent surcharge on companies that make more than $1 million in gross annual earnings. Currently, New Jersey's corporate business tax is 9 percent. Putting it up to 12 percent would give the state one of the highest corporate tax rates in the U.S.

Increasing taxes on businesses is more palatable than increasing taxes on people, Sweeney has argued -- especially because businesses saw a windfall from the recent federal tax law.

But Murphy also warned Friday that increasing the corporate business tax could keep companies from either staying in or moving to New Jersey.

"If someone employs a thousand, two thousand people, that impacts a huge number of people's lives," Murphy said. "That's homes that won't get bought. Restaurants that won't get the business. That's a tax we've got to be very careful with."

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.
WASHINGTON -- Efforts to keep the Atlantic Coast closed to offshore oil drilling -- something pushed by advocates of the Jersey Shore -- came up for a vote this week.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, New Jersey's most powerful House member, voted no.

And the bill failed to pass a key House committee.

The House Appropriations Committee, which Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., chairs, voted largely along party lines against an amendment by Rep. Chellie Pingree, who wanted to ban the Interior Department from spending any money on a new five-year drilling plan.

Frelinghuysen said he doesn't support drilling in the Atlantic, but neither does he support the way Pingree proposed to ban it.

"My opposition to drilling off the coast of New Jersey is well-known," Frelinghuysen said. "The Pingree amendment to the Interior appropriations bills was far too broad in that it would have prohibited drilling off all coasts, even where drilling is currently allowed."

Environmentalists saw it differently.

"Representative Frelinghuysen has passed up a chance to protect Americans from Trump's extreme offshore drilling plan -- which he has said he opposes," said Franz Matzner, director of federal affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"His vote instead helps pad oil industry profits, and abandons the beach communities who'll bear the risk of oil spills, along with every citizen who'll experience the effects of the extreme weather made worse by increasing carbon pollution."

President Donald Trump has proposed scrapping the existing plan that put the entire Atlantic Coast off limits to oil rigs through 2022 and intead open almost the entire continental shelf to drilling.

Trump has called climate change a Chinese hoax and was elected president on a platform that included increased oil drilling.

Pingree's measure would have been added to the spending bill funding the Interior Department for the 12 months beginning Oct. 1.

"Our state and other states have shown our opposition," said Pingree, D-Maine. "Nearly every coastal governor is opposed to this plan, Democrats and Republicans alike."

At risk for New Jersey is a tourism industry generating $43 billion annually and supporting 500,000 jobs, and a fishing industry adding $7.9 billion a year to the state's economy and creating more than 50,000 jobs.

Frelinghuysen joined the rest of the state's congressional delegation in March as they asked Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to remove the Atlantic Coast from the drilling plan. Gov. Phil Murphy made a similar request.

Several New Jersey Republican lawmakers met with Zinke in February and came away believing he would eventually drop the Jersey Shore and other areas in the Atlantic from the new five-year drilling plan.

Frelinghuysen is retiring at the end of his current term. The Democratic nominee, former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor Mikie Sherrill, is favored over Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump approved disaster aid to New Jersey to help local governments cover the costs of last March's winter storm.

Gov. Phil Murphy formally requested the aid in May with the support of the entire New Jersey congressional delegation, led by U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

The declaration authorizes federal assistance for Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic and Somerset counties. Other areas could be added later if the state discovers additional damage and requests assistance.

"The back-to-back nor'easters in March really took their toll on the state, burying us in snow, causing severe damage, and leaving thousands in the dark," Menendez said. "This disaster declaration will provide New Jersey with federal assistance to help alleviate the significant burden the storms created on our state's limited resources."

The storms, which dropped more than two feet of snow in some locations, cost the region $20 million. Around 337,000 utility customers lost power, some of them for days.

Murphy made the request after an assessment by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State Police Office of Emergency Management found that the damage incurred by the March 6-8 storm was significant enough to qualify for federal aid, spokesman Dan Bryan said at the time.

In its announcement, FEMA said the declaration covers assistance for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged in the storm.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
Interdicted government valuer Moses Magala has come under fire from the Justice Bamugemereire Land Commission over the Shs 132 billion Isimba dam compensation claims.



Magala appeared before the Commission to explain a report he authored recommending the payment of an additional Shs 132 billion to claimants of a rock underneath the Isimba dam project land site. The claimants are Tom Musisi Kazibwe, the former Ntenjeru South MP and Charles Magumba, the former Kayunga town clerk.

They, together with other claimants, are seeking an additional compensation for sand and a rock underneath the 28-acre of land earmarked to host the dam despite receiving compensation back in 2014.

Interdicted government valuer Moses Magala (C) appeared before the Land probe According to the Land Probe, Magala's report has since sparked off several compensation demands for the rock to the tune of Shs 500 billion, which has stalled the project. Several witnesses pinned Magala for coming up with the fictitious compensations.



The most prominent was the former ministry of Lands permanent secretary David Gabindadde-Musoke who accused Magala of coming up with the compensation award single handedly and writing a recommendation to the ministry of Energy without notifying his superiors.



On Thursday afternoon, the Commission tasked Magala to explain how he came up with the figure of Shs 132 billion award. Magala explained that after receiving a complaint from Kazibwe and Magumba demanding compensation for the rock underneath the land they had sold to government, he wrote to the geological department in the ministry of Lands to carry out a survey and assessment of the rock.



According to Magala, he acted on the directive of the chief government valuer, Gilbert Kermundo. He explained that it was the report by the geological department that recommended the Shs 132 billion compensation and formed the basis of his letter to the Energy ministry that he signed on behalf of the permanent secretary.



Ebert Byenkya, the Commission's lead counsel questioned Magala on how he could sign the letter on behalf of the Lands permanent secretary yet he didn't sanction the fresh valuation process. He also tasked Magala to provide evidence showing that Kermundo directed him to carry out the task.



In his defense, Magala said there was no letter since he received verbal instructions from Kermundo to handle the matter. He also defended his decision to sign the letter on behalf of the permanent secretary, saying they had agreed as a ministry that technical officers could act independently.



Byenkya wouldn't have any of this, saying both the former Lands ministry permanent secretary, David Gabindadde-Musoke and chief government valuer, Gilbert Kermundo raised a red flag about Magala's dealings, saying he was insubordinate to authority. According to the Land Probe, Magala's report has since sparked off several compensation demands for the rock to the tune of Shs 500 billion, which has stalled the project. Several witnesses pinned Magala for coming up with the fictitious compensations.The most prominent was the former ministry of Lands permanent secretary David Gabindadde-Musoke who accused Magala of coming up with the compensation award single handedly and writing a recommendation to the ministry of Energy without notifying his superiors.On Thursday afternoon, the Commission tasked Magala to explain how he came up with the figure of Shs 132 billion award. Magala explained that after receiving a complaint from Kazibwe and Magumba demanding compensation for the rock underneath the land they had sold to government, he wrote to the geological department in the ministry of Lands to carry out a survey and assessment of the rock.According to Magala, he acted on the directive of the chief government valuer, Gilbert Kermundo. He explained that it was the report by the geological department that recommended the Shs 132 billion compensation and formed the basis of his letter to the Energy ministry that he signed on behalf of the permanent secretary.Ebert Byenkya, the Commission's lead counsel questioned Magala on how he could sign the letter on behalf of the Lands permanent secretary yet he didn't sanction the fresh valuation process. He also tasked Magala to provide evidence showing that Kermundo directed him to carry out the task.In his defense, Magala said there was no letter since he received verbal instructions from Kermundo to handle the matter. He also defended his decision to sign the letter on behalf of the permanent secretary, saying they had agreed as a ministry that technical officers could act independently.Byenkya wouldn't have any of this, saying both the former Lands ministry permanent secretary, David Gabindadde-Musoke and chief government valuer, Gilbert Kermundo raised a red flag about Magala's dealings, saying he was insubordinate to authority.

"This new frontier started with you. You actually are the zero human being in thisYour letter is a historical letter to the commissioner [on] August 14, 2014. This marks the beginning of it alone, isnt it? Before this, nobody had even ever gone to value and asses compensation of rocks in the landI want to know what possessed you, what gave you the idea that these things were compensatable?" Byenkya asked.



John Bosco Suuza, the deputy lead counsel cited an internal memo from the Lands ministry where Magala's bosses were complaining about his conduct.



"Everyone has disowned this report of yours; currently it's your report. You acted without instructions from the chief government valuer. The picture we get is that this whole thing was tainted with corruption, bribery and you had personal interest in these claims," said Suuza.

"Do you appreciate that without you, there would be no law suits against government of Uganda, there would be no massive monetary claims against the government of Uganda. There would be no danger that in future we would not be able to do projects because with your single act you have made projects too expensive for the people of Uganda to keep doing." Suuza added.

However, Magala denied the accusations, saying the statements from his bosses were calculated with the aim of injuring his name.



"Mine was to inquire from the commissioner geology to be advised on the veracity of the claim...It is not entirely true that that was the intension, we innocently consulted the commissioner geology as is required of us given that he has the expertise. And given the instructions I had I did not envisage that that would be the outcome." Magala said.



Commissioner Mary Oduka pinned Magala for authoring the geological report, which recommended the compensation, saying it was financed by a lawyer of one of the claimants.



Commission chairperson Justice Catherine Bamugemereire put to it to Magala that he didn't act in good faith and in favour of government, saying the rock for which he recommended compensation is just 100 meters away from River Nile and is therefore classified as a national resource.



"Particularly you Mr Magala; am told youre telling the whole ministry, terrorising everybody how youre going to come back. How youre going to be the CGV (chief government valuer); how this Kermundo did not fit for the job. After all he just came from a municipal council. [That] youre the expert on rocks. Youre terrorising everybody in ministry of Lands telling them youre coming back. You have been exonerated.

Those valuations, those figures are what you want to impose on the government of Uganda. I think it is high time the people of Uganda said, no to people like you. I think it's high time, if, everything that you did, you think is above board did us a favour and became a private valuer." said Bamugemereire.
RIYADH, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabian air force spotted on Friday two ballistic missiles, fired toward the border city Najran, failed to reach their targets, Saudi Press Agency reported.

One of the missiles fell on Yemeni land and the second one in a desert area, Turki Al Maliki, spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen to fight the Houthi rebels, was quoted as saying in a statement.

No damages were reported, Maliki added.

Missile attacks on Saudi cities have been common in the last three years since the beginning of the Saudi-led war on the Houthi rebels in Yemen. But majority of those missiles were intercepted by Saudi air force.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of standing behind the Houthi rebels by supplying them with weapons and missiles.
By Cal Thomas

We've come a long way from harmless playground jibes like "your mother wears combat boots," to those of today from the likes of Samantha Bee and other leftist "entertainers" who say things about President Trump and his family that are so vulgar they can't be printed in a newspaper or quoted on television.

Some of President Trump's critics blame his harsh rhetoric for the language they use to attack him. Perhaps he bears some responsibility, but that is poor justification for bad behavior from others who might set a better example. People of a certain age may recall what their mothers told them: "If Johnny's mother told you to jump off a building, would you do it?"



While setting a good example would be a better way to go, some liberals appear to feel so threatened that their failed ideology is being exposed, that all they can do in response to the president is haul out hateful retorts. When you are losing on issues, the last stop is name-calling.



The right is not immune to this horrendous behavior either, as evidenced by the crass, sexist, violent vitriol Trump supporters hurled at Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. It has to stop.



Does anyone seriously believe any Republican president, including one who used the King's English in ways acceptable to polite company, would be free of harsh rhetoric from the left? Remember "Death of a President," a movie about the imagined assassination of President George W. Bush? Bush endured many pointed slurs during his presidency. Ditto Ronald Reagan.



The double standard applied to entertainers who insult the president and those who support him became glaringly evident in the differing responses to Roseanne Barr's racist tweet about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett and Bee's vulgarity against Ivanka Trump, for which she was eventually forced to tender an apology. As New York Times reporter John Koblin wrote: "The different consequences for the two politically minded entertainers -- Ms. Barr is an outspoken supporter of the president, while Ms. Bee is a full-throated opponent of the Trump administration -- provided conservatives with a fresh opportunity to accuse the media industry of having a liberal bias."



The president says he is still waiting for an apology from Disney CEO Bob Iger for insults directed at him by people on various ABC programs, insults that mocked Christianity and accused the White House of supporting white supremacists, among other slurs.



Trump shouldn't hold his breath waiting for that apology.



Among other examples of disgusting labeling and rhetoric is one from Google, which listed "Nazism" as the ideology of the California Republican Party. That posting came less than a week before the California primary. Google later told The Daily Caller News Foundation that it happened because sometimes "people vandalize public information sources, like Wikipedia, which can impact the information that appears in search."



Two White House statements summed up the outrage over the increasing number of insults from the left. This from Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, herself the target of recent attacks by supposed feminists about her personal appearance: "The language used by Samantha Bee ... is vile and vicious. The collective silence by the left and its media allies is appalling. Her disgusting comments and show are not fit for broadcast, and executives at Time Warner and TBS must demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned on its network."



Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for first lady Melania Trump, said: "The double standard is truly astounding. Time and again the Trump family and members of this administration are subjected to false reporting, hateful rhetoric and outrageous lies all in the name of freedom of speech or comedy, yet the mainstream media stays silent."



As talk radio host Chris Plante is fond of saying, "If the left did not have double standards they would have no standards at all."

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.

(c) 2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Russia was added to the political forum in 1997, which became known as G8 the following year. But Russia was suspended from the summit of the top industrialized nations in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea, a part of Ukraine. Russia announced its permanent withdrawal last year.

A spokesman at the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, brushed it all off. "Russia is focused on other formats apart from the G7" Peskov said, according to the Sputnik news agency.

One other G7 leader, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said in a tweet he supports Trump's suggestion. But a spokesman for the host of this year's summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said Canada remains opposed to re-admitting Russia.

Trump, speaking on the South Lawn before boarding the Marine One helicopter, said that while "I have been Russia's worst nightmare... Russia should be in this meeting."

Russia should be invited back to the summits of leading advanced countries, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for the Group of Seven meeting in Canada.

Trump says he hopes to resolve what he considers unfair trade agreements with U.S. allies during his time at the G7 summit in Quebec on Friday and Saturday. "Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G7 countries. If it doesn't happen, we come out even better," Trump wrote Friday on Twitter, before leaving the White House.

America's closest allies are prepared to confront Trump over metals tariffs he imposed on Canada, Mexico and the European Union. The issue is certain to be raised when Trump holds separate meeting in Charlevoix on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron and Trudeau.

On the eve of the summit, Trump lashed out on Twitter at Macron and Trudeau, who earlier Friday criticized Trumps trade stance a joint news conference in Ottawa. The White House then announced Trump would skip some of the G7 sessions.

"The president will travel directly to Singapore from Canada in anticipation of his upcoming meeting with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un Tuesday," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders said in a statement.

Even before these developments it had become clear that this would be one of the more contentious G7 meetings in memory. Trump's administration last week announced an end to exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs that had been granted the Canada, Mexico and the EU. Trump took the action on the grounds that weak domestic industries could affect U.S. national security. Canada, Mexico and the EU have separately announced retaliatory tariffs.

The Trump administration has also been engaged in contentious talks with Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has predicted the G7 talks will be heated because of the American stance on trade. Before arriving in Canada, British Prime Minister Theresa May called on fellow EU leaders to take proportionate responses to the U.S. tariffs and shrugged off a rebuff by Trump for a formal one-on-one meeting at the G7.

"What worries me most is that the rules-based international order is being challenged," Donald Tusk, the chairman of European Union leaders, said at a news conference just prior to the start of the G7 talks. "Quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor -- the United States. Naturally we cannot force the U.S. to change its mind."

Other G7 leaders may also choose to be less confrontational with Trump. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Thursday with Trump at the White House, where the focus was Trump's unprecedented meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, scheduled for Singapore next week.

Conte, a political novice, was just sworn in last Friday, leading a coalition of far-right and Euro-skeptic parties. The Italian leader could turn out to be one of the friendliest faces for Trump at the G7 summit in Charlevoix, as his new populist government also stands for protectionist trade policies.
By MARC A. THIESSEN

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama administration increasingly appears to have been a bottomless pit of deception.

First, President Barack Obama failed to disclose to Congress the existence of secret side deals on inspections when he transmitted the nuclear accord to Capitol Hill. (They were only uncovered by chance when then-Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., learned about them during a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency officials in Vienna.) Then, we learned that the Obama administration had secretly sent a plane to Tehran loaded with $400 million in Swiss francs, euros and other currencies on the same day Iran released four American hostages, which was followed by two more secret flights carrying another $1.3 billion in cash.

Now, in a bombshell revelation, Republicans on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, have revealed in a new report that the Obama administration secretly tried to help Iran use U.S. banks to convert $5.7 billion in Iranian assets, after promising Congress that Iran would not get access to the U.S. financial system -- and then lied to Congress about what it had done. (Full disclosure: My wife works for Portman).

In July 2015, Obama Treasury Secretary Jack Lew assured the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that, under the nuclear accord, Iran "will continue to be denied access to the [U.S.] financial and commercial market" and that "Iranian banks will not be able to clear U.S. dollars through New York, hold correspondent account relationships with U.S. financial institutions, or enter into financing arrangements with U.S. banks." A few weeks later, one of Lew's top deputies, Adam Szubin, used the exact same words in testimony to the Senate banking committee.

But Senate investigators found that on Feb. 24, 2016, the Obama Treasury Department "granted a specific license that authorized a conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system" -- exactly what Lew and Szubin said would not happen -- including unlimited future Iranian deposits at Bank Muscat in Oman until the license expired.

Not only that, Senate investigators found that officials from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which regulates U.S. banks' compliance with U.S. sanctions law, "encouraged two U.S. correspondent banks to convert the funds." The report says "both banks declined to complete the transaction due to compliance, reputational, and legal risks associated with doing business with Iran."

Then, after issuing the license, the Obama administration explicitly denied to Congress that it had done so. Lew and Szubin both failed to disclose the license in congressional testimony while continuing to assert that the Obama administration would not give Iran access to U.S. financial institutions -- when they had just tried to do so. And in a June 2016 letter to Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., Treasury officials declared "The U.S. Department of Treasury is not working on behalf of Iran to enable Iranian access to U.S. dollars elsewhere in the international financial system, nor are we assisting Iran in gaining access to dollar payment systems outside the U.S. financial system. The Administration has not been and is not planning to grant Iran access to the U.S. financial system." This was patently false.

Investigators also found internal State Department emails, in which officials admitted that the Obama administration had "exceeded our JCPOA commitments" by authorizing Iranian access to U.S. banks. Furthermore, the report reveals that the Obama administration put on more than 200 "roadshows" across the world where they encouraged foreign financial institutions to do business with Iran "as long as the rest of the world left the United States out of it." According to the report, during a roadshow in London, OFAC Director John Smith "downplayed the likelihood of any future penalties or fines," telling the audience "that 95 percent of the time OFAC sees an apparent violation it results in a simple warning letter or no enforcement action."

In other words, the Obama administration: (1) told Congress it would not allow Iran access to U.S. financial institutions; (2) issued a special license allowing Iran to do exactly that; (3) unsuccessfully pressured U.S. banks to help Iran; (4) lied to Congress and the American people about what it had done; (5) admitted in internal emails that these efforts "exceeded" U.S. obligations under the nuclear deal; (6) sent officials, including bank regulators, around the world to urge foreign financial institutions to do business with Iran; and (7) promised that they would get nothing more than a slap on the wrist for violating U.S. sanctions.

How bad is this? Remove the words "Obama" and "Iran" and replace them with "Trump" and "Russia" and imagine the outrage that would ensue over the same revelations. Democrats would be holding news conferences, and the story would be front-page news.

We hear a lot these days from the media about the danger of presidential lies. Well, when it comes to the Iran deal, the Obama administration took lying to new heights. And no, that's not Fake News.
FORT COLLINS, Colo.  A man who apparently drowned off the Oregon Coast while attempting to rescue his son, who remains missing, was a teacher at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins.

The Coloradoan reported Friday that 50-year-old Robert Joseph Allen taught vocational and transitional skills to students with educational disabilities.

School district officials say Allen's 17-year-old son, Samuel Vicente Allen, was a student at Rocky Mountain High School.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday for the boy, who disappeared Wednesday off the Oregon Coast while boogie boarding after he was hit by a wave.

The elder Allen's body was recovered by a rescue swimmer but he could not be resuscitated.

Fossil Ridge officials are offering counseling for Robert Allen's students and colleagues.

-- The Associated Press
Daniel Lee was right.

The forecast on Grand Floral Parade day called for showers. And a healthy contingent of floats and marchers was caught in a downpour in the Portland Rose Festival event's early going Saturday.

But as soon as the drums started beating to usher in the Chinese Community of Greater Portland coalition, whatever precipitation the clouds held above Veterans Memorial Coliseum had wrung out and the sun drenched Lee and his fellow parade marchers.

The Chinese Community of Greater Portland float heads down West Burnside Street during the 2018 Grand Floral Parade.

Lee, 30, has marched the Spirit Mountain Casino Grand Floral Parade off and on since 2004 with his cousin Eric Lee, 35. And in 14 years, Daniel Lee can't remember being drenched.

"We know it usually rains on parade day. At least that's what people say," Daniel Lee said. "But we've pretty much avoided it."

The Lee cousins helped organize this year's Chinese community procession, the first time all three of the groups that compose it marched together. Instead of sprinkling the lion dancers, paper dragon and the float among the rest of the floats and bands, Daniel Lee said this year coordinators decided to have them march as a group.

But at least one of the featured floats would have welcomed a bit of precipitation.

An otter on the Reser's Fine Foods display caught fire just after 11:20 a.m. on Northeast Weidler Street. Personnel rushed to the flare-up with fire extinguishers, and it was out within a minute. No one was injured, and the parade moved on without delay, the Rose Festival's Rich Jarvis said.

Shortly after that, a group of street preachers carrying bullhorns and tall signs walked into the middle of the road on North Weidler Street near Vancouver Avenue. A few parade watchers groaned as the six men walked toward the coliseum while one or two followed the religious group.

"I just want to have a conversation," one of the men following the preachers was heard saying as a high school marching band approached.

The clatter of drums and horns drowned up much of the group's proselytizing. The street preachers ended their walk just outside of the coliseum where they spoke with police and parade personnel.

But that was the only heckling that parade-goers experienced Saturday morning. Words of encouragement were a more common occurrence as floats, marching bands and clowns lined the streets.

As the band from Kentlake High School made its way across Weidler Street, a woman perched on the curb at North Williams enthusiastically called out the names of video game characters and gave the students thumbs up and waves as they played.

That's because the kids from Kent, Washington, exited Memorial Coliseum playing the "Palace Theme" from "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link."

Lion dancers with Chinese Community of Greater Portland Dragon Team make their way down West Burnside Street during the 2018 Grand Floral Parade.

The band segued into the main theme from the 1990s "Pokemon" games and the children watching from the sidewalk jumped and waved as students dressed as characters like Link from "The Legend of Zelda," Super Mario, Pikachu and Kirby marched as they played.

The woman on the curb held out her hand and a girl dressed as Princess Zelda stretched hers out, gave her a high five and went on her way.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
President Donald Trump on Friday amped up the mystery surrounding his wife Melania's recent hospitalization for a kidney condition, revealing that she had had a "big operation" that lasted close to four hours but was "doing great."

Trump said he was attending meetings in Canada and Singapore alone because the first lady was under doctors' orders not to fly for a month.

"First lady's great. Right there," Trump said, pointing up to the White House from the driveway as he departed for Quebec. "And she wanted to go. Can't fly for one month, the doctors say. She had a big operation. That was a close to a four-hour operation. And she's doing great. Right there."

"She is a great first lady," Trump added. Trump's comments only deepened the mystery surrounding his wife's hospitalization in mid-May and her weeks-long absence from the public eye.

The first lady's office announced May 14 that she underwent an embolization procedure to treat a kidney condition described as benign. She spent five nights at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington and returned to the White House on May 19 to continue her recuperation.

Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman, has declined to provide additional details, citing the first lady's right to medical privacy. "The statement I put out on May 14 was correct," Grisham said Friday in an e-mail. "Mrs. Trump had a successful embolization procedure. She cannot travel internationally yet, and is doing great."

Doctors not involved in Mrs. Trump's care but familiar with the procedure said embolization most likely was used to remove a type of noncancerous kidney tumor called an angiomylipoma. Embolization is a minimally invasive procedure in which doctors snake a catheter into blood vessels of the kidney to find the right one that is feeding the tumor so they can block the flow of blood to the growth.


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The president himself sparked discussion about his preparations on Thursday, when he told reporters that although he believes he is well prepared for the talks, "I don't think I need to prepare very much. It's about attitude, it's about willingness to get things done."

Before departing Washington for G7 talks in Quebec, the president said he was taking along "15 boxes of work" he will be reviewing ahead of his meeting with Kim in Singapore on June 12.

U.S. President Donald Trump is defending his preparations for next week's high-stakes summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, telling reporters on Friday "I've been preparing for this all my life."

The Trump administration is seeking the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In exchange, Pyongyang is believed to be seeking relief from international sanctions.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted Thursday that Congress might be given a say in any deal President Trump may reach with the North Korean leader.

Pompeo was responding to a reporter's question about whether a future president could undo an agreement -- the way Trump pulled the United States out of the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran.

"They signed a flimsy piece of paper and we're hoping to submit a document that Congress would also have a say in," Pompeo replied. "That would give currency and strength and elongation to the process. Chairman Kim will have comfort that American policy will continue down the same path, on the same course that we hope we're able to set in Singapore."

But Pompeo did not say if that "document" sent to Congress would be a treaty or some other agreement.

If talks do not go well, Trump has made clear he is prepared to walk away and to impose even more sanctions against Pyongyang, potentially increasing tensions between the two nations and the region.

"I'd love to say it will happen in one deal, maybe it can, they have to denuke," Trump said Thursday before meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "If they don't denuclearize, that will not be acceptable. We cannot take sanctions off, the sanctions are extraordinarily powerful, we cannot. Could add a lot more, but I have chosen not to do that at this time, but that may happen."
Solange's multidisciplinary art platform Saint Heron just announced a collaboration with Swedish furniture company IKEA.

Saint Heron released a 20-second video on Twitter today that revealed the project, describing it as one that explores "architectural and design objects with multifunctional use." The video shows countless overlapping blue sketches rotating in a circle and text describing the collaboration as one based on "objects, space, architecture."

Marcus Engman, who is the head of design at IKEA Range & Supply, made a statement about the collaboration, saying, "Contemporary art is a huge part of people's life today. At IKEA we are curious about the creative space in between architecture, design, art, and music and how that could come alive in the homes of the many people. This is what we want to explore together with Saint Heron."



Saint Heron joins other major brands, including Adidas, LEGO, and designer Virgil Abloh, that have teamed up with IKEA in the recent past.

Solange has worked on a number of art and design projects recently. She designed the cosmic, architectural sets for her most recent tour and directed and choreographed a recent dance installation called Metatronia. Saint Heron has put on a number of installations, including one called Coldest Winter, which celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak album.



Image via BFA


From last month's royal wedding to the Queen's official birthday parade today (also known as the "Trooping the Colour"), it seems like the British monarchy is trying to show that it's welcoming diversity into its gates.

Sikh guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall, 22, has caught the media's attention for standing out from the troops of the Coldstream Guards. Instead of wearing the tall bearskin hat soldiers traditionally wear, Lall chose to sport a turban. While Lall is not the first Sikh soldier to perform duties in his turban, CNN reports that Singh is the first to do so in the 270 years that the Trooping the Colour has been practiced.





"I hope that people watching, that they will just acknowledge it and that they will look at it as a new change in history," Lall told the British Press Association. "I hope that more people like me, not just Sikhs but from other religions and different backgrounds, that they will be encouraged to join the army."

Images via Getty


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India's Telecom Regulatory Authority Chairman R S Sharma first began raising hell in September 2017 with Apple for not complying and implementing the governments anti-spam app. Then in November we reported that Apple had agreed to develop a custom anti-spam app. In March of this year the Chairman of India Telecom threatened to sue Apple to force compliance.

We're now learning that one of the features that wasn't officially discussed during developer sessions is a new feature that will make a big difference in India - the addition of reporting for SMS and call spam. That's coming to iOS 12 for India.



Users can report calls from their 'recents' list, by swiping left and selecting report, and for SMS messages, users can report these from inside Messages. It's also possible to select multiple messages, and then report them all.

This is something that the Indian government had been asking Apple to implement for a long time, and although Apple didn't say much about India at WWDC, it's clearly working to improve its relations with the government in India."

Source: Huffington Post

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Our feet and our shoes have a distinct position in our culture. Your feet are not to come in contact with things you have to respect. Perhaps that is why people do not think of shoes as an important part of our intangible heritage, and manifesting something important on shoes is a taboo.

But, three youngsters living in Kathmandu have been experimenting with this taboo for the past one year. Their modus operandi of connecting shoes and culture is also as subtle as the cultural significance of shoes and the feet they fit in.

The shoe fanatics fun

Watsal Rajbhandari, Amuda Mishra and Dikesh Prajapati were working for an organisation in Kathmandu when the magnitude-7.6 earthquake rattled Nepal on April 25, 2015. The earthquake made them realise an important thing. We realised the significance of native culture and art as many temples and historical monuments of Kathmandu were destroyed in the disaster, says Rajbhandari.

Besides big buildings and temples, there are intangible aspects of culture too, and their loss is alarming. Our traditional clothes like daura suruwal and dhaka topi are dyingpeople just wear them during wedding parties and some other special occasions, Rajbhandari shares. As many people were trying to conserve various dimensions of their culture by combining them with clothing stuff like t-shirts, Rajbhandaris group also thought of replicating the model.

All three of us are shoe fanatics. Therefore, an idea of using shoes, instead of t-shirts or bags, clicked.

This is how Dochaa, a handmade shoe company based in Kathmandu, was born. The birth month was May 2017 when the first pair was produced. The companys birth certificate came the month after that as it registered with the government as a business entity.

The company defines itself as a manifestation of Nepali art, cultures, colours and vibespacked in shoes, Dochaa is the ultimate representation and inclusivity of art, artisans and you.

As life returned to normal after the earthquake, the three co-founders of the company carried out an extensive research for over a year about how companies design and produce different kinds of shoes across the world. We took many online courses and learned useful insights, Rajbhandari informs, adding, We also decided how we wanted to portray and promote our art and culture through shoes.

Each member of the group invested Rs 200,000 to kickstart the business.

Interesting mimesis

Dochaa is unique in many ways. Except for pressing and stitching, every other step in the manufacturing process is carried out by skilled workers, Rajbhandari says, Therefore, our shoes are quite expensive compared to that of Nepali or foreign competitors. (A pair of Dochaa costs Rs 2,500).

What the company does to protect and promote culture is related to the materials it uses for production. Everything that goes into a Dochaa, except for the sole, is made in Nepal. In the beginning, we also tried to use Nepali soles, but these PVC and TPR soles proved less durable; therefore we were forced to import rubber soles from China.

Rajbhandari informs that other material used in the production are representative of art and culture of different ethnic communities. Purbeli and Palpali dhakas, mostly used in traditional Nepali caps (dhaka topis), are two most popular types, well known for their quality and artistic design. Likewise, they use syama to produce packaging for the shoes. Syama is a type of fabric produced by Tamang communities. Two other major fabrics used are lawa of Newars and Pangden of the Sherpas and Thakalis.

Broadly, the name Dochaa itself refers to a particular type of shoe worn by people living in hills and the mountains, including Sherpas. Therefore, in the use of other materials too, the company does not go beyond their original localities as far as possible.

Such materials are easily available in Kathmandu itself, but we always try to bring them from their native communities so that local people at the grassroots will benefit from our business, Rajbhandari adds.

Community empowerment

The young entrepreneur says that the companys choice of raw material is related to the third C of the companys core values: community empowerment (the two others are: customer satisfaction and culture essence).

The company states that it does not want to limit itself to selling shoes as there are already many companies that do so. Rajbhandari and his friends want to do business that leaves a powerful impact on the community. We can do that in basically two ways, Rajbhandari explains, The conservation and promotion of intangible culture in the form is also a service to particular communities like Sherpas and Newars. Similarly, communities directly benefit by working with us as we buy their traditional products.

Dochaa recruitment policy also reflects its core values. As the company is in its nascent stage, the scale of production is quite small and there are just five people working at the factory. The number is really small, but we have made positive impacts on the life of these five workers, he says, We fully comply with existing labour laws. We give them a fair wage, and it translates to more income for them compared to their colleagues working for other companies.

Further, the company is currently exploring how women can benefit most from the enterprise as they have been historically deprived of employment opportunities.

First, we will train women, and employ them so that they can end their dependence on men, Rajbhandari shares. He also adds that the company is in conversation with a couple of Nepali and international NGOs to launch a women empowerment project.

Market coverage and expansion

The current production capacity of the company is 400 to 500 pairs a month. However, the company has already reached break-even.

Dochaa comes in five designs. Each design has 10 size variants for both men and women. Rajbhandari says more designs, sizes, and types will be added to the list. Other items such as bags and t-shirts will also be produced soon.We are just a design studio now. By the end of 2019, we will be a full-fledged shoe manufacturer.

The enterprise has been selling its products through its website and social media mostly. In addition to this, there are three stores in Kathmandu Valley that sell Dochaa.

We are limited to Nepal at the moment. But we sent around 300 pairs to London just last month and some Nepali organisations are selling them there, Rajbhandari informs, If this experiment goes well, we will send our products to other countries like Australia, the United States, and New Zealand, where many young Nepalis live.

Our social impacts are significant on their own. But, it is our market performance that will decide our longevity, the entrepreneur says.

However, market performance is not just about money. Proving that Nepali manufacturers are also capable of to producing quality shoes that can compete with international brands is also an achievement to be proud of.
readings + video

An Interview with David Kranzler

An expert in Holocaust studies, Dr. David Kranzler specializes in the stories of Jews who survived Nazi persecution. Now retired from his teaching position at the City University of New York, Kranzler has published extensively on the topic over the course of his career. His books include Japanese, Nazis and Jews: the Jewish Refugee Community of Shanghai 1938-45 and Holocaust Hero: the Untold Story of Solomon Schonfeld, the British Rabbi Who Saved Thousands of Jews During the Holocaust. Filmmaker diane estelle Vicari interviewed Kranzler on November 8, 1998, for the making of Sugihara. What follows is an edited transcript.

After almost 300 years of economic and ideological isolation under the feudalistic Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan entered the world scene at the end of the 19th century in an aggressive posture. Its imperial rule restored, Japan went to war with China, and later with Russia, for control of China's eastern ports and resource-rich Manchurian region. One of the most crucial areas in which Japan gained a foothold was the international port of Shanghai. Japan was a presence in the city throughout the 20th century, taking official control in 1937 after the bloody Nanjing Massacre.

Tell us a little bit about Shanghai before our story of Sugihara begins. What type of city was it, and why were the Japanese so interested in it? Why was it such a target for Japanese imperialism?

DAVID KRANZLER: Shanghai ... started out as a swampy area before the British came in the 1840s and developed it as a port. ... So the Europeans had great sway in China, beginning in the middle of the 19th century when they opened up the ports in the so-called Opium Wars. And they actually created a center for trade. At first it was opium, and then it became tea and many other products. ... Eventually, slowly, through the decades of the latter part of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century, Shanghai developed into a major international port.

There were really three sections in Shanghai. There was the international city, which was controlled by 11 countries including the United States, Japan, and Britain, which had mostly administrative rule of Shanghai. There was the French concession, which was ruled exclusively by the French. And then there was the Chinese city, ruled by the Chinese proper.

... Until 1937, you really had a Chinese control of the port, ... [but] that disappeared in the wake of the hostilities between the Chinese and Japanese in 1937. Once that had occurred, the Chinese were out of the picture. And it was in fact ... the Japanese who controlled the harbor. Even though they were not the rulers of all of Shanghai, they controlled the harbors to determine who comes in, who does not come in.

The Europeans had long encouraged wealthy foreigners, including many Jews, to settle in Shanghai, in hopes of reaping gains from their development and trade in the region. Japan continued this policy. The city remained open to Jewish refugees after the Nazis began persecuting them in Europe.

There had been a Jewish community in Shanghai for a while. Can you give us an overview of what that community was like?

KRANZLER: So, what really happened in Shanghai was [that] it was an open city, meaning it was an undeveloped country, to use the contemporary terms, to which the British invited anyone to come ... help to develop. Develop literally in a real estate [sense]  develop the commerce.

And Jews took advantage throughout history and particularly in the 19th century. They took advantage of open areas, invitations to settle, invitations to do business, because they had known too many restrictions in Europe and they had an opportunity here to do things they couldn't do in their home country.

The Jews in Baghdad in the 19th century, even the end of the 18th century, were living [under] the fairly oppressive Arab rule. And many of them, by the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, migrated to India under British rule. And there they had greater freedom to prosper, to do commerce, to conduct their religious affairs without hindrance. So many Baghdadi Jews moved to India, and Bombay especially, and from those in Bombay were Jews that went to Shanghai.

At the beginning of the 1840s you had entrepreneurs ... like the Sassoon clan, which was somewhat analogous to the Rothschild family. ... [The Rothschilds] had the patriarch, of course, and a number of sons who spread out through Western Europe to create a financial empire and to help to develop, industrialize, commercialize much of western Europe.

Similarly, the Sassoons are a very entrepreneurial and old Babylonian or Baghdadi family from India, [who] via India came to Shanghai and developed a commercial interest and commercial centers in a number of ports in East Asia. ... The Sassoon family sent out their sons to different ports through Shanghai. ... Some went to Japan, others went to south Asia and the Dutch East Indies, etc.

Interestingly enough, they were very religious, just like the Rothschilds at the beginning. [Rothschild] established at least a quorum of 10 men so they could have what you call in Hebrew a minion, a prayer quorum. Every one of them ... studied how to do ritual slaughter, at least of fowl, so they could eat kosher meat. They tried wherever to create a small Jewish community with 10 men, you know, in the families.

Shanghai began the same way. They brought over 10 men at first. And then many more co-religionists from Bombay to work with them, people they could trust. And some of these became entrepreneurs and tycoons on their own. The Hardoons and Kadoories [other Jewish families in Shanghai], etc., were sought out as workers in the Sassoon establishments. And they ended up, some of them, doing much better than Sassoon himself, or some of the Sassoons.

... And they rose to the pinnacle of the social economic level of Shanghai society. Originally, some of them were in the opium trade when that was popular. Then they went into tea and into real estate and into the transportation. Oh, some of them owned half the transportation of Shanghai, for example. Real estate. They were big real estate magnates. They had the vision also to build up and to have confidence in the future of Shanghai. And their confidence paid off handsomely. ... Some of them [such as Sir Victor Sassoon] were knighted because of their value to the British empire. They were an outpost to the British empire.

... They never reached more than 5,600 at their peak, the Sephardim [Jews] in Shanghai. But they had a tremendous influence in all areas of social, economic, and political [life], and later on we see in the religious spheres of Jewish life as well.

Now, let's jump ahead to the late 1930s and look at the amazing fact of how many Jews came from Europe.

KRANZLER: The first Jews to come as refugees to Shanghai came from Austria. ... While the German Jews were oppressed, ... strangled slowly, bit by bit, until Crystal Night in November, 1938, ... the Austrian Jews were primarily [former refugees] themselves, or children of refugees. ... So they were all relative newcomers and they found it much easier to relocate. Or if they saw things were tough, they would look elsewhere more readily than the German Jews. So the first Jews left Austria in August of 1938.

And the only problem was  you can go to Shanghai without any papers  but you need a ship card, and these ship cards were only available on luxury liners. And the way to go to Shanghai was to buy a ship card. You didn't need a visa, you didn't need an affidavit, you didn't need any other papers, but you needed a ship card. And those were expensive, and those who could not afford it sometimes got help from the Jewish community, from the Joint Distribution Committee, the American Relief Organization, or other Jewish relief organizations in Europe.

The Italian Line was the primary luxury line that ferried its boats constantly from Italy to Shanghai. In other words, you had to travel by train to Italy, to the port. And from there you took the boat through the Suez Canal, around the Indian Ocean to Shanghai.

... The vast majority took the ship route from August; especially heavy was the traffic after Crystal Night in November. And heaviest, of course, in November, December, and January '39. And it petered off by May.

By May 1939, you had about 15,000 [German and Austrian Jewish] refugees in Shanghai. ...There was a section that was bombed in 1937, and the refugees would settle there. And they rebuilt houses, rebuilt the wrecks and Jewish relief organizations helped them find space there.

In 1941, the last group of refugees came  and this was in the middle and latter part of '41  the Polish group. And they comprised approximately, pretty close to a thousand, Jews. So all together you had at the very maximum, 17,000 to 18,000 refugees in Shanghai that ended up before Pearl Harbor and lived through the war and exited after the war.

While Japan officially welcomed Jews into her territories, conflicting stereotypes about the Jewish population abounded. Most Japanese, especially those within government, had developed a certain reverence for Jews, particularly since a Jewish American banker, Jacob Schiff, had helped finance Japan's war against Russia in 1904, when no one else would. On the other hand, Jewish people were seen by many as an inherently powerful group that could be dangerous to Japan's culture and international status.

What was the Japanese perception of the Jews during this time?

KRANZLER: The Japanese got to know Jews originally in the 1870s and '80s through Christian missionaries and Western ideas. ... And one of the things that they learned about the West was anti-Semitism, first introduced through [the character of] Shylock, because they took up Shakespeare. They translated [The Merchant of Venice] into Japanese and found out [there was] such thing as a Jew and [an] "evil" Jew, Shylock.

There were other ideas about Jews they learned from the [Christian] missionaries. ... They discovered the terrible Jews, the anti-Christ and other negative pictures or stereotypes that were presented by the missionaries, or what they studied in the Western countries.

But on the whole, the picture of the Jews that the Japanese formed by the turn of the century was very, very minimal. Very few Japanese knew anything about Jews other than that they were whites.

And what really turned the tables was the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. That was the first war Japan fought against a Western power and in that was part of its concept of warding off Western conquest of Asia. ... Japan was very much afraid of being taken over. And so they first fought China, and then they fought Russia in 1904. And lo and behold, they find out that with a modern war, one has to have money. In order to get money, you went to the money capital, and at that time London was the financial center of the Western world.

So they send [special finance minister] Baron [Korekiyo] Takahashi to London to raise money, especially to buy a fleet, because they knew the Russians would send their Baltic fleet to attack the Japanese. ... He went to London to raise 10 million pounds: it was a fortune. Ten million pounds would be equivalent today of perhaps two billion dollars.

He was unsuccessful simply because Japan at that point had not won a single victory. And people really felt, well, the sleeping giant, Russia, he'll wake up and swat the fly Japan, and that will be the end of it. Nobody had confidence in Japan winning the war.

And [Takahashi] did manage to get assurance of half the loan, but he couldn't get the whole loan, which he wanted badly. So, he happened to be sitting at a dinner about the last day before he was going to go home disappointed, and sitting next to [him was] a gentleman [to] whom he was telling his tale of woe. And the fellow told him, "I'll take care of the loan for you."

[Takahashi] couldn't believe his ears, because, you know, it's nice for a sympathetic fellow to listen to you but a hard-headed banker doesn't do things based on these emotional stories. And he found out, of course, this gentleman's name was Jacob Schiff.

Jacob Schiff was the head at that time of the Kuhn, Loeb and Company. It was like a banker's bank, investment bankers. So, Schiff really followed up on his word and he floated the loan for Japan. ... It was Schiff that had the faith in Japan when nobody else did.

Schiff was the first Westerner honored by the emperor after the peace. His name was revered by all Japanese. And so, in the mind of the people  who didn't know what a Jew was  but here was the man who saved Japan. [And he] was a Jew, so every Jew must be rich. ...

The real understanding of Jews on a certain level came through another route. And that came through a clique of Russian-language experts who were part of the little war going on in Siberia, 1917 through '20, '21 I think even, between the communist Bolsheviks and the White Russians.

Japan was part of the allied forces that were inside Siberia fighting with the White Russians. And Admiral Alexander Kolchak was not only the head of the White Russians, he was also the primary anti-Semite who propagated a new book that came out at that time called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which, in essence, relates a story of how the elders ... of the Jews met in 1888, I believe, ... to plot the control of the world through various means: communism, capitalism, you name it.

In this book it ... gave a very clear-cut picture of how the Jews are controlling much of the world, especially the Western world. ... You would pick on certain figures in the government or in the financial world to prove that they control that country. For example, in the 1930s, the Japanese proved that the Jews controlled America: Look, Morgenthal was secretary of the treasury. Of course he told Roosevelt what to do, in their mind. And they would pick on Jews in Germany and Jews in England and so on as proof positive of the Jewish control of the Western world.

... The important thing to realize is that the same group [of Japanese officers who read this book and related works] were what you would call ultra-nationalists. They resented Western ideas while at the same time [were] interested in Western technology and things for Japan. What they resented were the Western concepts of individuality, of democracy. In Japan, they had a more collective perspective of society. ... One is trained from babyhood, infancy on, to bring honor to the family and to the extended family and to Japan as that larger extended family.

So many Western cultural ideas clashed with Japanese ideas. ... In fact, they had the three S's, which symbolized Western intrusion: Screen (that's the movies); Sports; and Sex. Those were three things that they felt were Western concepts that intruded upon the Japanese culture and ideas. ... The Jews seemed to symbolize the problems that the West had brought to Japan.

... And so they saw the Jews on the one hand as the villain, on the other hand as the extraordinary power which they could utilize. You know, a love/hate relationship in some ways. ...

Paradoxically, the Japanese government officials who were most influenced by Russian anti-Semitism were also those promoting policies to bring Jews into Japan's territories. Some of the most prominent members of this powerful group were General Kiichiro Higuchi, Colonel Senko Yasue, Captain Koreshige Inuzuka and General Nobutaka Shioden. While their motivations remain ambiguous to historians, their policies indisputably saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees.

KRANZLER: So in 1936, there started to evolve a policy towards the Jews, which by December 1938 ended up being a pro-Jewish policy. Not "pro," meaning we are favoring Jews, but a policy which ended up, in pragmatic terms, favoring the Jews.

And how did that develop? There were eight Russian Jewish communities in Manchuria and north China, Harbin (the capitol of Manchuria) being the largest. The Japanese saw these Russian Jewish communities as a potential weapon in their hand for utilizing the Jewish power.

These Russian Jews were stateless, because they were refugees from Russia, fleeing from the Bolshevik revolution, and they ... had no recognition, no papers of any kind. And the Japanese said, "Well, we're going to give something to the Jews in ... north China and Japan. We will give them status. We will also protect them from Russian anti-Semitism," which was fairly rampant in Manchuria and in some parts of north China.

So in 1936 already, there evolved the beginnings of a plan to treat the Jews better, treat them well, in order to find a way of utilizing their tremendous power. And so they decided, the heads of this clique, which included Japanese naval officers and army officers and ministers and the head of the Manchurian Railroad, who was the de facto boss of Manchuria  they decided they're going to be good to the Jews, these Russian Jews.

... And they're going to allow them to achieve a status and permit these eight Russian Jewish communities to create the Far Eastern Conference. Every year, representatives of all these eight communities will get together in Harbin. And there we'll have a conference to discuss the issues affecting the Jews under Japanese influence.

The Jews, of course, hadn't the foggiest idea what was behind the Japanese concept. They were grateful that a Colonel Yasue, who was the main officer in charge of the Jewish affairs in Manchuria, was very helpful in Manchuria. And they saw him as a friend.

As we mentioned before, in 1940 the Japanese authorities permitted thousands of German and Austrian Jews to cross through Manchuria. That was a Japanese policy, a conscious policy to permit them to go through Manchuria.

Let's talk about the refugees. What was the policy then towards refugees?

KRANZLER: The policy evolved as the Japanese saw hundreds and then thousands coming, shipload after shipload, into Shanghai.

You had Colonel Yasue, whose idea for the utilization of Jewish power and influence was to settle the refugees in Manchuria. He would create a Palestine for Jews in Manchuria, which had a dual purpose. It would attract the Jews, in their mind. Number two, it would counter the Soviet Jewish homeland, Bura Bijon, which the Soviets foisted on the Jews.

[They thought:] "We've got to create a Palestine in Manchuria, so we bring in all the refugees and they'll settle in Manchuria." We'll provide them with their own ... land and power. And, in addition to which, what will it do for Japan? This same group will be the intellectual and scientific class for Manchuria, which it lacked. They will help develop the many natural resources, especially with the help of Jewish money, because we know the Jews control the financial world, especially in America and Britain.

So the Jews in Manchuria and North China will tell their brethren in the United States to lend them money so the Japanese could develop Manchuria, which has tremendous amount of natural resources, into its full potential.

And the Jews were fit into that scheme of utilizing Manchuria and developing Manchuria with their money and, of course, [the Japanese] also wanted the Jews who controlled the United States, in their mind, to mitigate the harsh American policy towards Japan. Because ... the US secretary of state, [Cordell] Hull, was very inflexible. [He] said [to Japan], We will not talk to you until you get out of the occupied territories  to use contemporary terms. In other words, get out of Manchuria before we talk to you about the issue.

... [The Japanese] sent a message; they made one of the heads of the Russian Jewish community send a cable to Treasury Secretary Morgenthal, who in their mind controlled Roosevelt. ... In other words, they were ready to deal with the United States, but they couldn't deal with an inflexible boycott. And so they asked the Jews to intercede, because they thought the Jews had that tremendous power in the United States.

And we'll see that same perspective even middle of [World War II], twice at least that we know of, that they asked Jews to intercede to stop the war in the middle of the war. Because they still believed to great extent that the Jews had that power.

At any rate, it was that perspective of the Jews that created that policy which manifested itself in December 6, 1938, in the Five Ministers' Conference, which officially declared, in effect, a welcome to the Jews of Europe, the refugees, to come into their territory, to come into Shanghai.

There was an official Japanese radio program aired by Inuzuka in which he extended an official invitation to European refugees to come settle on the Japanese rule. As long as they are loyal to Japan, we welcome them, he said. We are not racists. We will not harm you. They welcomed the refugees, and the German consulate or embassy in Tokyo was going crazy: Who is this Jew-lover inviting the Jews to Japan?

And then they would really go crazy if they had known that the same Inuzuka was behind an anti-Semitic fair in 1940, in which they gave out millions of anti-Semitic pamphlets and books and what not; to which the same German embassy said, "Oh, what a wonderful thing"  not knowing it was the same person who was behind both, Captain Inuzuka.

But this is the complex, contradictory situation of the idealogues, the Japanese idealogues, who in theory wrote anti-Semitic works and distributed anti-Semitic works.

While Chiune Sugihara was not one of Japan's ruling elite, his knowledge of Russian and his work in the foreign service suggest that he was likely well aware of the conflicting stereotypes regarding Jews. It is in this context that Kranzler evaluates Sugihara's efforts to bring Jews to freedom.

An important point is the fact that we know Sugihara had been in Harbin, and we know a lot of these individuals involved with the Manchurian Railroad. He too was involved with the railroad. How does Sugihara fit in?

KRANZLER: Well, Sugihara was one of the Russian language experts ... and certainly imbued with the same perspective as that element that control[led] Japanese policy at the time concerning the Jews. ...

... Sugihara's mission was to stay [in Kaunas, Lithuania] and keep tabs [on German troop movements]. And the Jews happen to come across his way. And the first Jews, of course, came quite legitimately. The first Jews who wanted transit visas were ... some of the German and Austrian Jews who needed permission to cross Manchuria into Japan. And they had visas to other countries. Or they went to Shanghai.

... The only route to freedom was through the east, through Russia, Siberia, and Japan. So those were the so-called Curacao visas. The first few real Dutch nationals had no problem, and there was no problem giving them the transit visas.

But then the numbers proliferated into tens and hundreds and then thousands. And my estimate, based on very detailed, careful analysis of statistics, is approximately 2,400 Polish refugees made it through with the Curacao and Japanese transit visas. And later, of course, Russian exit visas.

... Sugihara started out quite legitimately, giving a few Dutch nationals the transit visas. And the numbers started to proliferate. Once word got around that the Japanese was a nice kind man in giving out these transit visas  and these were 10, 12, and later, 14-day transit visas  Jews ... came to Sugihara to get these transit visas.

Talk about Sugihara and what you think was going through his mind.

KRANZLER: Now, Sugihara was a true humanitarian, despite the fact [that] his concept of the Jews fit in so well with the government's, and [that] he was not going against his government's grain, per se, until the number of refugees became too many.

He was not going against their policy because the Japanese policy at that time was benign towards the Jews, and they certainly accepted all the Jews in Japan. And it's important to realize, every Japanese certainly knew that these Curacao visas were phony. They all knew, and many of these transit visas were forged in Japan and sent back to Lithuania for other Jews to utilize. Not reading Japanese, [the refugees] didn't realize it was so easy to tell [the visas] were a forgery. Or that they're out-dated or they're the wrong ones.

Never the less, every single one of those people was permitted into Japan. Some of them had to go back and forth from Vladivostok to Japan several times, but eventually they were permitted to enter Japan. The refugees averaged a stay in Japan of eight months, some over a year. And one cannot understand it without realizing the Japanese governmental policy.

And believe me, they kept tabs on every refugee. Every foreigner, in fact. The word for foreigner in Japan meant "spy." So Japan was not that open at that point; ... they were not interested in foreigners coming in general. And yet, they permitted the Jews to stay there; they were even good to the Jews in Kobe.

[In Kobe], there were Japanese who gave of their food. Japanese who gave of their rations, because Jews are not used to the rice ration, gave of their wheat ration, bread rations to Jews. ... Doctors gave free inoculations. It had nothing to do with the government. ...

Sugihara did not go against his government's grain. But he was a humanitarian by providing them with the opportunity to go to Japan. What they did in Japan was beyond his power. But he wanted to give them an opportunity to leave Russia, to leave German and Russian territories.

And so he has to be highly, highly commended and honored for that. He was fired by the Japanese government after the war. The defeated country had no need of a spy; he was not fired for helping the Jews. Again, he was in consonance with [the Japanese government's] perspective, but he was not given orders to provide these transit visas. So he did it on his own, and for that, credit has to be given to Sugihara.
Mr Yussif Yakubu, the Manager in charge of Programmes at the Ministry of Business Development on Friday, encouraged young Entrepreneurs to form cooperatives to make their ideas sustainable.



Mr Yakubu said the establishment of the union would serve as a channel of engagement with government and other stakeholders on issues affecting them and chart a way forward for its growth.



He posited that cooperatives play a vital role in ensuring that the Entrepreneurs economic progress conforms to the requirements of planning and also provides support and guidance to the youth aspiring to be entrepreneurs.



Mr Yakubu made the call in Accra, at the launch of Entrepreneur Centre, to serve as a hub for training and research for Small and Medium Enterprises in the country.



He said government had launched an initiative christened National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP), to promote the growth and development of entrepreneurship and to accelerate job creation for national development.



According to him, the initiative is a multi-pronged approach, aimed at creating the conducive and business-friendly environment, to stimulate enterprise activities and provide integrated national support for start-ups and small businesses that would in turn generate employment for the youth.



He said the Plan would enable new businesses to emerge and give them the space to grow, receive financing and business development services, secure markets during the critical formative years, and to tap into a wide supply chain and network during their growth years.



Government would provide tax incentives and incentives under the initiative to help private sector investors to set up business incubator hubs and industrial Parks for youth-owned businesses nationally.



Mr Yakubu said government would soon come out with an entrepreneurship policy document through stakeholders engagement to provide guidance and direction for Entrepreneurship development.



He said through the NEIP, government had instituted programmes such as business plan competition to give free entrepreneurship training for the youth across the country and give them financial support to expand their businesses and in turn provide jobs for the youth.



Government has also instituted entrepreneurship in education to be inculcated into the countrys educational curriculum from Junior High School to tertiary, for students to learn basic knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship to enable them to start a business after completion, he added.



He said the Ministry had introduced an initiative dubbed Small Business Support Programme Entrepreneurship for women and the physically-challenged to provide financial support for them to engage in start-up businesses to improve their livelihood.



Mr Yakubu encouraged the youth to take advantage of the opportunities provided by government to create wealth and improve their livelihood.



Mr Joseph Kingsley Ocran, the Business Development Management in charge of SME, OmniBank commended management for establishing the Entrepreneurship Centre, saying that, it would help accelerate business growth.



He said their outfit had established an SME Clinic Unit, a training department for young entrepreneurs and assured the public of their commitment to provide support for SMEs to grow their businesses.







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.

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The Commercial Division of an Accra High Court has dismissed an interlocutory injunction that sought to stop Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), a body mandated to spearhead the concessional agreement of the operations of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).



The court in its ruling noted that Ghana had a timeline to access funds for the programme and in an event where the programme is halted the country and ECG would suffer.



According to the court if the concession should go through the state and ECG could pay BXC Company Limited some compensation.



BXC had gone to court because it had been disqualified from the bidding process by MiDA, describing the disqualification as arbitrary and without basis.



That was after the MiDA had selected Meralco Consortium to manage the ECG under the compact two power agreements.



Meralco Consortium is led by the Manila Electricity Company from the Philippines.



BXC and Meralco Consortium were the two final bidders after other bidders pulled out of the bidding process.





According to its statement of claim, MiDA disqualified BXC on the basis that there were potential conflicts of interests because of the existence of prior contracts between ECG and BXC.



But BXC averred that it disclosed to MiDA that it had contracts with the ECG and had also heavily invested in Ghanas power sector before it submitted its bid.



BXC is therefore seeking damages of $4 million, which it contends was money it expended on preparing and submitting its bid, as well as an indefinite injunction on the MiDA from going ahead with the concession process.



MiDA through its lawyer, had argued that BXC had no legal right to seek for an injunction of ECGs privatization process.



According to MiDA, BXC was not chosen as the concessionaire and, therefore, could not seek to stop the privatisation.



On August 5, 2014, the government entered into an agreement with the USA, acting through the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to make momentous changes in the power sector in Ghana.



Known as the Ghana Power Compact or simply Compact II, the MCC is expected to invest up to US$498.2 million to transform Ghanas power sector and stimulate private investments.





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.

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Mr Kingsley Ato Cudjoe, Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, on Friday announced that the month of August has been chosen as the close season for industrial fleet made up of tuna and trawler vessels.



The decision, he said, was to help replenish the depleting fish stock in the marine sub-sector and achieve sustainable fishing.



The Deputy Minister, who was speaking at this years World Ocean Day (WOD) held at Teshie, in Accra, noted that the closure together with other measures were to ensure a healthy ocean that could sustain the current generation without compromising the usage by future generation.



The WOD is a global day celebrated to remind everyone of the major role the oceans had in everyday life and also to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean.



This years event was on the theme: Preventing plastic pollution and encouraging solutions for a healthy ocean, and was organised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).



Mr Cudjoe said the month of August was chosen after a research confirmed that it was the upwelling season for fish in the sea, adding that, This means that it is in that month that the fish bred more and, therefore catching them during that month will mean catching pregnant and smaller fishes.



Touching on the importance of the ocean to the country, the Deputy Minister noted that the development and livelihood of majority of people in the country depended on the ocean and called for a concerted effort to address the plastic pollution menace.



Mr Cudjoe asserted that the fisheries sector contributed about GH2.2 billion to the Growth Domestic Product of the country.



Mr John A. Pwamang, Acting Executive Director, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), noted that about 2.58 million metric tonnes of raw plastics were imported into the country annually and about 73 per cent of this effectively ended up as waste, and only 19 percent is re-used.



He said less than one per cent of the waste was recycled and majority of it ended up in the ocean, which affected human and marine life.



Recently a dead whale beached on our shore in the Western Region. When the EPA had its stomach contents examined, it had ingested a lot of plastics. This probably was responsible for its death.



It may be that we are getting less fish from the sea because ingesting plastic particles kills many of the young fish. They have no chance to grow to maturity to be harvested by fishers, he stated.



Mr Pwamang said the present state of the marine and coastal environment was a reflection of the choices humans continue to make including; unregulated urban settlements and inappropriate waste management practices.



He said the deplorable state of the Korle and Chemu lagoons was a testimony of the recklessness explaining that many of the countrys coastal lagoons, which served as fish spawning and nursery grounds were rapidly tracing the same path.



GNA

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.

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The Accra High Court has dismissed an interlocutory application which sought to halt the planned concession of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to a private entity as part of an agreement between the company and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). BXC Company Limited, one of the companies which lost the bid to manage the ECG under a concession agreement, filed the application after it sued the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), the institution spearheading the process.



BXC marched to court with the case that it was unlawfully disqualified from the bidding process by MiDA, describing the disqualification as arbitrary and without basis.



That was after MiDA announced that it had selected Meralco Consortium to manage the ECG under the Compact II Power Agreement.



BXC, through the interlocutory injunction, wanted the court to halt the concession process until the final determination of its substantive case.



Timelines



In a ruling yesterday, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Jerome Nkrumah, said halting the concession arrangement would make the country miss out on accessing the first tranche of $469m under the compact.



Under the compact, the United States of America (USA) government through the MCC must release the $469m in September, 2018, but it is based on MiDA finding the concessionaire and parliament ratifying the contract.



The court was of the view that placing an injunction that could lead to the country missing out on the $469m would even not be in BXCs interest.



If Ghana misses out, there will be nothing for the applicant (BXC) to bid for, the presiding judge said.



Adequate compensation



Another reason for the dismissal was that BXC in its suit was seeking $4m in damages for its disqualification.



In view of that the court held that there was no need for an injunction on the concession process because BXC could be adequately compensated in the event it won the substantive case.



On the other hand, BXC, the court said, was not in the position to compensate ECG and the government if the country missed out on the compact and it (BXC) lost the substantive case.



This is unmeritorious and is, therefore, dismissed, Mr Justice Nkrumah ruled.



Conflict of interest



According to the companys statement of claim, MiDA disqualified BXC on the basis that there were potential conflicts of interests because of the existence of prior contracts between ECG and BXC.



But BXC averred that it disclosed to MiDA that it had contracts with ECG and had also heavily invested in Ghanas power sector before it submitted its bid. BXC is, therefore, seeking damages of $4 million, which it contends was money it expended on preparing and submitting its bid, as well as an indefinite injunction on the MiDA from going ahead with the concession process.



MiDAs legal team, however, stated that the disqualification was lawful because it was not just because of the potential or actual conflict of interest. BXC also failed to state that it made false claims, it said.



Other suits



On August 5, 2014, the government entered into an agreement with the USA, acting through the MCC, to make momentous changes in the power sector in Ghana.



Known as the Ghana Power Compact or simply Compact II, the MCC is expected to invest up to US$498.2 million to transform Ghanas power sector and stimulate private investments.



The BXC case is not the first time the planned private participation in the ECG has come under legal attack.



In November, 2016, the Accra High Court dismissed a case filed by a farmer, Saaka Salia, on the basis that he had no legal capacity to initiate the action.



Another legal action challenging the concession, filed by more than 1,000 workers of the ECG and the Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU), was also dismissed by the Accra High Court in October, 2017.

Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has belittled his referral to the Privileges Committee for allegedly describing Parliament as useless and cheap.



Mr Agyapong has been dragged to the Privileges Committee of Parliament over his purported contemptuous utterances against Parliament and the Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.



He was referred to the committee last Wednesday following a motion moved by the Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka.



Ahaji Muntaka said he had an audio and video in which Mr Agyapong referred to the House as a cheap and useless assembly.



He said Mr Agyapong had stated in the audio and video that if this House were not useless, they would not have the likes of Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu as its leader.



Mr Agyapong is currently in China on a private business trip and expected back in Ghana June 20 but responding to the development via a telephone interview with Asempa FM Friday afternoon, he rejected suggestions that his comment amounted to contempt.



He disagreed that he said the House was useless and said those portraying that were just being diabolic.



Rather he argued his words were that, Parliament had been cheapened and anybody at all can just get up and jump from one radio station to the other, without seeking the truth to support his argument.



He said he respected the Majority Leader but was not afraid of him, and if he [Majority Leader] continues on that tangent, he [Kennedy] will challenge him. Is this one a contempt, he asked.



He said he was not scared to be removed from Parliament and that he was even in a hurry to get out to go and enjoy life, and that even with his current private visit to China, but for Parliamentary meetings, he would have extended his stay in China.

Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has spoken of aggressive infrastructure development by the government to give impetus to productivity and sustainable economic growth.



It was the path to reduce poverty, promote economic development and prosperity.



The Vice President said this when he paid a courtesy call on the Overlord of the Waala Traditional Area, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV, in his Wa Palace.



He was in the area to join Muslims there to pray for the nation during the Holy Month of the Ramada.



Vice President Dr Bawumia said they were going to focus priority on the construction of roads, dams, health and other vital infrastructure.



The three Northern Regions  Upper West, Northern and Upper East, between them, would have 570 dams and these had already been awarded on contract.



He added that employment creation was at the heart of the thinking and everything that the government was doing.



He made reference to the 100,000 jobs targeted to be created under the Nation Builders Corps and said there would be fair distribution of the jobs across the districts.



The Vice President announced that a Regional Police Hospital would be built in the Upper West as part of the drive to improve access to quality health care by the people.



Naa Seidu Pelpuo appealed for the conversion of the Wa Polytechnic into a Technical University.



He also asked that the government moved quickly to complete the Wa High Court and Regional Hospital projects.



Vice President Dr. Bawumia prayed with Muslims at the Wa Central Mosque and was scheduled to visit Jirapa and Tumu and then continue to the Upper East Region.

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.

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Until a few years ago, news about middle-aged men and women taking school completion examinations would grab headlines in the media. People, however, would not talk about the inspirational figures after the exams were over as most of the men and women halted their academic journey after the exam; it did not matter if they failed or passed. But these days, people in their 40s or 50s taking the SEE, formerly known as SLC examinations, does not make the news.

Therefore, Hira Devi Timilsina did not attract the attention of the press when she passed the SLC in 2014. As years have gone by, her journey in life has taken a linear path. However, there is something about her that makes her stand out.

This 49-year-old is not extraordinary in many ways, but her plain thoughts about life can give you some food for thought on what life is, why we need to go to school, and what education has to do with a simple human life regardless your age and profession.

The journey without a definite end

I dont have much time for you as I am busy preparing for my exams. The routine is already out and the exams will begin on Asar 15 (June 29), Timilsina tells whoever comes to visit her these days.

Timilsina crossed the iron gate at the age of 45 along with around a dozen women like her from a womens school in Kathmandu, but all of her classmates gave up the journey halfway. Only Hira Didi, as her classmates call her, and her neighbour Mina Shahi, decided to pursue higher education.

Currently, she is preparing hard for the final exams of the second year of her Bachelors of Arts (BA) under Tribhuvan University. She is studying Nepali and Sociology. This year, she has to sit for five exams: two each for Nepali and Sociology, and Compulsory English. I can easily pass two Nepali papers as they are fun readspoems and stories and novels, she smilingly shares, Englishthis is the toughest subject for me every year. Perhaps, Timilsina will be happy to know that from the next year, there will not be any Compulsory English paper, though she has to be competent enough in English to study other subjects.

Further, she plans to continue her formal education even after completing the Bachelors degree. If my health permits me and everything goes as I have planned now, I will at least do a Masters in Nepali after obtaining the BA degree.

But why? Is she going to compete for any job at this age? More importantly, she does not need a job anymoreher two sons have already grown up, studying and working abroad.

Education, for me, is not just about landing a job. I was very clear about it when I resumed my schooling six years ago after a gap of nearly 30 years, she says, Education is for knowledge and wisdom, it is for your confidence, and the ease of living a decent life.

Hoping against hopes

The childhood story of this lady is no different from any other middle-aged women from Nepals rural areas. She was born to a middle-class family in November 1969 in Khangsang of Sindhuli district. As the family was politically conscious even during the partyless Panchayat system, she was sent to the nearest primary school. By nearest, I mean it was just two hours walk from home. But, it had classes up to Grade VI only.

After passing Grade VI, she had two choicesto drop out and stay home or to leave home for the sake of her studies. The teenager could not take the risk of by leaving the family and living somewhere else, that too alone.

Then, when she was 17, her parents sent her off with a man from Toksel village of Okhaldhunga district. Now, going to school was apparently too difficult and the dream was too distant for Timilsina (it is her husbands surnameat that time, no woman would retain the surname of her parents after marriage).

Three-and-half years after the wedding, the couples first son was born. As she was busy taking care and raising him, the second child was born five years later. So Timilsina spent all the precious years raising children and taking care of the members of her joint family.

As the second child grew up, the lady again began exploring if she could go out from four walls of her house. I was not sure when and how I could go back to school, but I had a belief that the door to education would never be totally closed for anyone till their last day, the confident woman remembers, Therefore, I had a dream alive that I would go back to school someday.

Strike while the iron is hot

It seems her hope was not only her wish but also a destinationfor there was an opportunity in the village that forced her to go back to the classroom. Their village needed a female community health volunteer (FCHV) as the Nepal government decided that every ward of every village would have one such staffer. And, to work as an FCHV, one had to pass at least Grade VIII. Apparently, no in Toksel village qualified for the job. Women with that level of education would not stay in the village for longalso because the Maoists war was at its peak.

Timilsina was one step away from the opportunityshe had already passed Grade VI; the Grade VII certificate would not be required to attend Grade VIII examinations. Further, her husband was a teacher at a local school, who tactfully ensured that she could take the exams without taking any class. This is how she passed the eighth grade and became an FCHV.

After few years, the family migrated to Kathmandujust to ensure that their children received a good education as the Maoist guerrillas had launched a mission to shut all schools in areas under their control.

Back to school, regularly

In Kathmandu also, her life did not take any extraordinary twist or and turn. As a regular housewife, she would be busy serving her family in mornings and evenings. But, Kathmandu housewives generally find long afternoons boringthey do not have anywhere to go, anyone to talk to (because you do not know the next door neighbour here) and anything to do at home too, except watching Hindi serials, of course.

As life went on without any excitement, Timilsina, who lives with her family in Shantinagar of Baneshwor, one day in 2012, heard that there was a school dedicated to middleaged and old women, near her house. She thought of joining the school and consulted her husband. Her husband was okay with the idea. He took her to the school and admitted her to Grade IX.

Her eldest son openly motivated her. But, the youngest, because he was an early teen, would sometimes sound little uncomfortable with the moms plan asked once, Mom, dont you feel embarrassed to go to school every day when your sons have already passed SLC?

But, everyone in the family, including both the sons, was convinced that there was nothing embarrassing in learning. After I passed Grade IX, both the sons supported me with my lessons and assignments. She claims her in-laws and other relatives were also quite supportive of her move.

The next year, she passed SLCshe fell seven marks short of the prestigious first division. After consulting her family, she chose to continue her +2 and Bachelors in Humanities stream. Her choice was logical because other streamsScience, Management and Educationare focused on career development, whereas Humanities is for knowledge, which was her target.

I respect you for what you believe, madam. But, it is really odd to share your bench with carefree teens, who could anytime bully you for no reason, posed with this question, Timilsina laughs, for almost half a minute, before answering, They perhaps could. But, my teachers were so supportive that they used to remind other students about me frequently and would tell them to learn something from me. Further, I myself was quite friendly with them.

The resultthe teens recognised her as didi (elder sister) and sought her help whenever possible.

At Bachelors level, Timilsina could not attend college regularly as she was busy setting up her NGO and a partnership business (it is another interesting part of her story). Therefore, she had to rely on self-study.

I could pass every other subject on myself, but English, she says, Therefore, I attended tuition classes. There were some other friends also who felt they were weak in the paper and they depended on me to find the right institute.

Yesit seems the teens made the right choice by following her, as she tells them, You need to learn that there is something more important than your job and money in life.

What do you mean?

It is not just about education. It is about wisdom and conscience. That is what I have been learning and will be learning in the days to come.
This is the first in a series of veterans reflection, part of the 100 Years of Heroes package that will run through Veterans Day.

Name: Gary Haythorn

Service: With the U. S. Coast Guard from 1966 through 1970. He served in Southeast Asia from February 1968 through June 1969 attached to Commander, Southeast Asia Section, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand. In his capacity as a Yeoman 2nd Class, he traveled to all the Coast Guard Loran stations under the Southeast Asia Section. He went on to serve a total of 25 years combining Coast Guard and Navy Reserve service and is a member of the Coast Guard Combat Veterans Association, Coast Guard Sea Service Veterans and Reserve Officers Association. He's a resident of Erie.

Gary Haythorn

Memory, in his words: I served in both Thailand and Viet Nam but I didn't experience any situations involving combat. Our unit was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal and other related medals for Loran's contribution to the war effort. I look back with a bit of a chuckle that the letter authorizing our unit to wear the VN Service Medal was classified. What our mission was, was actually classified. Now when I wear my U. S. Coast Guard Vietnam veteran ball cap, I have had people stop me and say, "I am surprised the Coast Guard was in Vietnam."

Flying around Thailand and Vietnam in Navy dungaree work uniforms, I have been asked, "What the hell is the Navy doing here?" The Army or Air Force guys asking that question were doubly surprised to find out I was Coast Guard. The fact that the Coast Guard operated worldwide was not very well known. Lord knows, I thought I would likely serve somewhere in the Great Lakes or the East Coast. I am aware that in Vietnam the Coast Guard was involved in coastal patrol and boarding vessels suspected to be smuggling. That took place in blue and brown water. Coast Guard cutters operating in blue water were often used in combat support. Coast Guard Squadron One consisted of small patrol vessels operating in brown water close to shore and in the rivers. The Coast Guard had explosive loading detachments and port security units. And, of course, our unit which operated 5 Loran stations to support navigation and bombing.

One more thought: I tried to join the Coast Guard Reserve in 1982 but as a part of the Department of Transportation, the Coast Guard was in a hiring freeze. I like to say that I picked the Navy because the Coast Guard was too dangerous. That gets a laugh but was actually true when you realize the Coast Guard in the eighties was very active in the war on drugs, wearing flak jackets and carrying automatic weapons as they boarded vessels smuggling drugs during relative peace from conventional wars.

Editor's note: If you are a Pa. veteran or know of one who has a story to tell, contact Paul Vigna at 717-255-8404 or send an email to pvigna@pennlive.com. While we are looking for veterans of all wars, we would like to increase the number of stories we have on veterans who fought in the Vietnam War and the wars that followed.
Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

Another working week is in the books. The weekend beckons. And, with one eye on the door, here, via the miracle that is social media, is a quick look back at the week in Pennsylvania politics.

We encourage, and expect, vigorous discussion in the comments.

5. U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-10th District, magnanimously decided not to sue an 80-year-old woman.

Self-proclaimed 'tough' Cong. Tom Marino, claims in his lawsuit against 80 yr old woman he was emotionally... https://t.co/G4Pl06D5MX #PA12 pic.twitter.com/iZOuUPV958  Doug McLinko (@DougMclinko) April 29, 2018

4. Everything - and nothing - is happening with redistricting reform. And the clock is ticking

3. State lawmakers cleverly exempted themselves from a new law requiring Pennsylvania school-kids to have a mastery of basic civics.

New state law to make civics knowledge test mandatory in Pennsylvania schools https://t.co/ADpUIb0bi8 pic.twitter.com/uuitkcpXxK  WTAE-TV Pittsburgh (@WTAE) June 6, 2018

2. The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles didn't visit the White House.

Handling things with his usual grace and elan President Donald Trump rescinded his White House invite after a super-majority of the Iggles decided to take a pass on a visit.

It just got weirder from there.

The alleged Eagles fans who were attending Trump's 'Celebration of America' were apparently RNC staffers.



An RNC intern tells @phillydotcom that she received a mass email from the White House earlier in the day, inviting her to attend the event. https://t.co/O1Eiiq6EVr  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 7, 2018

1. We'll always have Manchester Township.

State Sen. Scott Wagner took his Louisville slugger and went home this week, resigning from the Pennsylvania Senate so he can focus full-time on his Republican bid for governor. If you're a resident of the 28th District, you're either saddened or relieved that the plainspoken trash-man won't be representing you in Harrisburg anymore. And, added bonus, you'll have to wait until 2019 for a new senator. LG Mike Stack declined to call a special election to fill the vacancy.
WASHINGTON -- Special counsel Robert Mueller has brought new obstruction charges against President Donald Trump's campaign chairman and a longtime associate who prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence.

The indictment was unsealed Friday against Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik just days after prosecutors accused the two men of attempting to tamper with witnesses as Manafort awaits trial on charges related to his foreign lobbying work.

The latest charges increase Manafort's legal jeopardy if he continues an aggressive battle with prosecutors, and could be an effort by Mueller to induce a guilty plea and secure the testimony of a critical campaign adviser to Trump. They also come as Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, have heaped public criticism on the Mueller investigation in an attempt to undermine it.

The charges do not relate to Manafort's work on the Trump campaign or involve allegations of Russian election interference, a fact that the president has routinely noted as he tried to distance himself from his former top campaign adviser.

On Friday, Trump also dismissed any talk of pardoning Manafort or his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who is under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.

"They haven't been convicted of anything. There's nothing to pardon. It is far too early to be thinking about it," Trump told reporters.

The new indictment charges Manafort and Kilimnik with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice related to contacts they had with two witnesses earlier this year. The witnesses, who had worked with Manafort as he represented a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, have told the FBI that they believed Manafort and Kilimnik were trying to get them to lie about the nature of their work.

READ MORE: Who is Paul Manafort and why is he being charged?

The charges mark the second time since his October indictment that Manafort has faced additional criminal charges.

Through a spokesman, Manafort, 69, has maintained his innocence. The spokesman, Jason Maloni, said Friday that Manafort and his attorneys were reviewing the new charges.

Kilimnik, 48, has previously declined to comment on the allegations and denied being connected to Russian intelligence agencies. Kilimnik, who prosecutors say lives in Moscow, was not in U.S. custody Friday.

The new charges will factor heavily into whether U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson allows Manafort to remain on house arrest. Citing the allegations, prosecutors have asked Jackson to consider jailing Manafort. A hearing is set for next week.

Jackson previously gave Manafort a pass after federal agents found he had ghostwritten an opinion piece in Ukraine even though he was under a gag order in the case. Kilimnik was also involved in that episode.

In the latest charges, prosecutors say the contacts with the witnesses via phone and encrypted messaging applications first occurred in February, shortly after Manafort's co-defendant, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Kilimnik also reached out to witnesses in April.

Court papers show the witnesses told investigators they believed Manafort and Kilimnik were trying to get them to lie about their work with a group of former European politicians known as the Hapsburg group.

The Hapsburg group's work is one of several operations prosecutors say Manafort directed as part of a covert lobbying campaign on behalf of Ukraine, its then-president, Viktor Yanukovych, and the pro-Russian Party of Regions. The work is the basis for the criminal case in Washington where Manafort faces charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, money-laundering conspiracy and false statements.

READ MORE: Paul Manafort is right - Mueller has overstepped his authority in the Trump/Russia probe | Marc A. Scaringi

According to the witnesses, Manafort and Kilimnik appeared to be pressuring them to say the Hapsburg group only worked in Europe, when they knew that they had been secretly paid to lobby in the U.S. Several of the politicians involved have denied any wrongdoing.

A close protege who worked alongside Manafort for years in Ukraine, Kilimnik is the 20th person charged so far in Mueller's investigation. Others include 13 Russians accused in a hidden social media effort to sway public opinion, former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Kilimnik has also drawn the scrutiny of congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Emails show that during the middle of the campaign, Manafort told Kilimnik he was willing to provide "private briefings" about Trump's presidential run to a billionaire close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The July 2016 offer referred to Oleg Deripaska, who has accused Manafort of defrauding him as part of a multimillion dollar deal several years ago.

Through a spokesman, Manafort has confirmed the authenticity of the emails but said no briefings occurred.

In addition to the case in Washington, Manafort also faces bank fraud and tax evasion charges in Virginia.

___

Chad Day and Eric Tucker of the Associated Press wrote this story. AP writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

___

Read the indictment: http://apne.ws/UH3h5tl
Despite earlier reports that a bear cub spotted in a Harrisburg neighborhood Friday night had been captured and taken out of the city, game warden officials say the bear is still on the loose.

Michael Doherty, Game Warden for southern Dauphin County, said officials with the Pennsylvania Game Commission were dispatched on Friday night to try to capture the bear.

"We dispatched a bear capture team, but by the time they got to the city, they lost contact with the bear," he said.

Doherty was setting a trap for the animal on Saturday, but declined to say where so others would not be tempted to approach the site.

The cub emerged from a cemetery Friday night, crossed Herr Street and later climbed into a tree in a residential area.

The bear moved down alleys and streets for four blocks. It walked onto some porches before climbing a tree, where it stayed for more than two hours.

The bear cub was grooming himself and moving around in the tree between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Doherty stressed that residents are not in any danger.

"This bear is about the size of a large dog," he said. "It's not a threat."

Doherty said the bear is in more danger of being hit by a vehicle, and that the animal likely wandered into the area as it looked for new territory.

"If you see the bear, just chase it away like you would a stray dog," he said.

Doherty also cautioned that shooting the bear is illegal, and that doing so carries thousands of dollars in fines and three months in jail.

In the event a bear wanders into your yard, here's what to do (and what not to do).
Submitted

The Faces of Crime

If you know any these people, please call the police.

Don't Edit

Northern York County Regional Police Department

Do you know this beer thief?

The Northern York County Regional Police Department is attempting to identify a beer thief.

The theft occurred at about 6:30 a.m. on May 28 at a convience store along the 2100 block of Susquehanna Trail in Manchester Township.

"As the male was leaving the store he removed two six packs of beer from a display and left the store without paying for them," police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 717-467-8355 or by email at tips@nycrpd.org.

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Manheim Twp. Police Department

Do you recognize this Target bandit?

Police in Manheim Township, Lancaster County are trying to identify a man who loaded up a shopping cart at and walked out of Target with more than $700 worth of merchandise.

The incident occurred just after 5:30 p.m. on May 24 at the Target along the 1500 block of the Fruitville Pike, police said.

Any with information is asked to contact police at 717-569-6401.

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East Lampeter Twp. Police Department

Do you know these suspects?

Police in East Lampeter Twp., Lancaster County are attempting to identify a pair of thieves who hit an outlet mall store.

The theft occurred on May 5 at the Nautica Outlet along the 600 block of Stanley K. Tanger Blvd., police said.

"It was reported that the pictured suspects entered the store on with an empty shopping bag and both removed approximately $2,100 worth of merchandise from points of display, concealed the items in the bag and exited the store without paying," police said.

Anyone with information should contact Officer Heistand 717-291-4676.

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Reading Police Department

Do you know any of these women?

Police in Reading are attempting to identify several woman elated to disorderly conduct and criminal mischief call last month.

The call came in at about 2:30 a.m. on May 12 from Queen City Restaurant along Lancaster Avenue.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 610-655-6116.

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Philadelphia Police Department

Police are trying to ID this attacker/purse thief.

Police in Philadelphia are attempting to identify a woman who attacked another woman while waiting in line for a bud.

Police said the attacked occurred at about 8:15 a.m. on May 8 along the 2000 block of South 20th Street.

The "unknown black female pulled the victim out of line and threw the victim to the ground. After taking the victims purse the suspect fled and was last seen and east on McKean Street," police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 215-686-847) or text a tip to 773847.

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Hanover Police Department

Do you know this gunman?

Police in Hanover are searching for a robbery suspect accused of shooting at a pursuing police officer.

Officers received a call at approximately 9:20 p.m. on May 2 about a male suspect holding a gun and standing in the roadway of High and Poplar streets.

Officers arrived in the area and encountered two men in the 200 block of North Franklin Street. One of the men told police the other had a gun, and the man with the gun then fled on foot, police said.

Officers determined the man with the gun had tried to rob the other man, and had threatened yet another man before police arrived.

The suspect is described as a black man in his 20s that is approximately 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, a gray t-shirt, blue jeans, and a black compression sleeve on his right arm.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 717-637-5575.

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Manheim Twp. Police Department

Do you know this shoplifter?

Police in Manheim Township, Lancaster County are attempting to identify a man who stole items from a grocery store on three consecutive days.

The thefts took place at the Giant Food Store along the 1300 block on May 26, 27 and 28, police said.

On each occasion, police said $59.94 worth of merchandise was taken. They did not say what was taken.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 717-569-6401.

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Manheim Twp. Police Department

Do you recognize this counterfeiter?

Police in Manheim Township, Lancaster County are asking for the public's help to identity a man accused of passing $2,650 worth of counterfeit cash at a Turkey Hill store.

The man seen in surveillance photos entered the Turkey Hill store at 1501 Manheim Pike twice on May 31 and passed counterfeit money.

He first entered the store at 11:22 a.m. and passed 25 counterfeit $100 bills. And at 12:20 p.m. , he passed three counterfeit $50 bills.

Anyone who knows his identity is asked to call Manheim Township police at 717-569-6401 or submit a tip on the Crime Watch site.

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Pa. State Police

Does this bank robber look familiar?

State police in York have released surveillance camera photos in an effort to find the man who robbed M&T Bank in Peach Bottom Township, York County, in April.

Around 9:24 a.m. April 18, the man entered the bank at 6960 Delta Road and gave the teller a note demanding $5,000.

The teller gave him $651.

The same man is accused of entering PNC Bank just south of the Maryland line the same morning. The bank had a security guard on duty, and the man left without attempting any crime.

The suspect is described as a white male, 35-45 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 150 lbs., with a small build, brown hair, scruffy facial hair and transition sunglasses.

He was last seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, dark sneakers and a black baseball hat with a teal superman logo. The unknown suspect is described to have a raspy voice and smelled of cigarettes.

Anyone with information is asked to call Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-472-8477. Callers can remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.

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Philadelphia Police Department

Do these convenience store robber look familiar?

Police in Philadelphia are trying to identify two men who who robbed a convenience store at knifepoint.

The incident took place at about 8:30 p.m. on May 26, at Felipes Mini Market at 5200 Montour Street.

Police said the men "grabbed a store employee, placed a knife to his throat, dragging him to the front counter. The offenders demanded money from the cashier, which the employee gave."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 215-686-8477 or text a tip to 773847.

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Pa. Megan's Law Website

Do you know this missing sex offender?

The West Shore Regional Police Department is searching for a missing sex offender who has failed to properly register under Pennsylvania's Megan's Law.

An arrest warrant has been issued for 65-year-old Guy Denis McDevitt, who has a last known address in the 800 block of North Front Street in Wormleysburg, police said.

McDevitt has been registered since December 2017, following a conviction on an indecent assault charge, according to the state's Megan's Law website.

He has not updated his information since initially registering, according to the site. The victim in the case was not a minor, according to information on the site.

Anyone with information about McDevitt is asked to contact police at 717-238-9676.

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Pa. Megan's Law Website

Or this missing sex offender?

Officials in Lebanon County are searching for a missing sex offender who has failed to properly register under Pennsylvania's Megan's Law.

The sheriff's office and state police are searching for Miguel Angel Rivera, 54, who has a last known address of 10276 Allentown Blvd. in East Hanover Township.

Authorities say he moved without notifying them.

Rivera was forced to register as a sex offender after a July 2017 conviction on an indecent assault charge.

Anyone with information about Rivera is asked to contact state police at 717-865-2194.

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Pa. Megan's Law Website

Or how about this missing sex offender?

State police are searching for a missing registered sex offender from Cumberland County who has failed to properly register under Pennsylvania's Megan's Law.

Troopers are searching for Joshua Connelly Bullock, 27, who has a last known address of 308 Reno Avenue, Apartment 1C in New Cumberland.

Bullock was forced to register in 2015 after a conviction on charges of invasion of privacy, records state.

He has not properly registered since November 2017.

Anyone with information about Bullock is asked to contact state police at 866-771-3170.

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Chambersburg Police Department

Do you know these persons of interest?

Police in Chambersburg are investigating a knife-point robbery, and they believe surveillance footage captured images of someone who may know something about the incident.

According to the Chambersburg police, the victim reported being robbed between 9:20 and 9:30 p.m. on June 2 on the 900 block of Norland Avenue. Two suspects in their late teens or early 20s were the culprits, according to police, and one of them displayed a knife as they demanded money.

Police say the pictured individual is a person of interest, but not necessarily a suspect at this time.

Investigators say this person is relevant to the ongoing investigation, and if anyone can provide an identity or location, they should contact the police, 717-264-4131.

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Do you know these jewelry thieves?

Police in Carlisle are attempting to identify a pair of jewelry thieves.

The theft occurred just before 3 p.m. on May 7 at Bedford Street Antiques, police said.

Police say the same men hit an antique store in North Middleton Twp. a day earlier.

The unknown men were seen on video "accessing locked display cases containing rings, bracelets, necklaces, and watches by breaking or picking the locks. The suspects were in the store for more than an hour and left the store with several thousand dollars worth of merchandise," police said.

Anyone with information about either man is asked to contact North Middleton Twp. police at 717-243-7910 or Carlisle police at 717-243-5252.

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Reading Police Department

Do you know these fire starters?

Police in Reading are attempting to identify two men who set several fires last month.

The incidents occurred at about 3 a.m. on May 29 along the 100 block of West Greenwich Street and the 600 block of Weiser Street, police said.

Anyone with information about the men is asked to contact police at 610-655-6116.

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Northern York County Regional Police Department

Do you know the man with the fake $50 bills?

The Northern York County Regional Police Department is attempting to identify a man who passed several counterfeit $50 bills.

The incidents occurred on April 22 at several locations Manchester Township, police said.

Anyone wth information is asked to contact police at 717-467-8355 or email at tips@nycrpd.org.

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Northern York County Regional Police Department

Does anyone recognize this man?

The Northern York County Regional Police Department is also trying to identify a man who illegally placed his trash in a dumpster.

The incident ocurred on May 27 at a business in Manchester Township.

"A subject emptied a large amount of furniture and trash into a dumpster to the rear of the building," police said.

Anyone wth information is asked to contact police at 717-467-8355 or email at tips@nycrpd.org.

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Carlisle Police Department

Does this flea treatment thief look familiar?

Police in Carlisle are attempting to identify a man they say stole more than $2,200 worth of flea treatment products earlier this month.

The first theft of the Frontline Flea Treatment occurred at about 11 p.m. on April 4 at the Walmart along Noble Blvd, police said. The man then returned to the store about two hours later and stole more of the treatment.

It was believed the man left the parking lot in a light colored passenger car, police said.

Anyone who recognizes the man is asked to contact Detective Thomas Dolan Jr. at 717-240-6621 or by email at tdolan@carlislepa.org.

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UPDATE: Austin Hougendobler, 22, of Lancaster, was charged Sunday with a dozen offenses in this case.

A police officer in Lancaster County on Friday fired a stun gun at a man, forcing him to drop the handgun he was allegedly preparing to point at officers.

The gunman collapsed in a parking lot, hitting his head on the asphalt. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of a head injury.

The incident began about noon Friday when dispatchers sent officers in East Hempfield Township to a domestic disturbance inside a moving vehicle. Police in West Hempfield Township also were advised of the call.

Police gave this account:

A woman called 911 to report that a man had hit her inside a blue pickup truck, then pulled a gun on her as they traveled westbound on Route 30.

The truck eventually pulled off at Stoney Battery Road and headed toward Route 23, police said. That's when officers tried to stop the vehicle.

But the driver refused to pull over, prompting a two-mile pursuit. When the driver pulled into a parking lot at 700 Indian Springs Drive, officers used their vehicles to box him in.

The woman jumped out of the truck and ran. The driver then stepped out of the truck and drew a handgun.

As the gunman started to point the gun toward officers, police said an officer fired his Taser, prompting the gunman to drop the weapon and collapse before any gunfire.

The woman was not hurt and neither was her 1-year-old son who was in the truck for the entire incident.

One officer suffered a slight injury during the arrest but no details about the injury were provided.

West Hempfield Township Police are investigating the incident. Police declined to release the names of anyone involved.
Middletown Police are looking for the driver of a black Honda who stole an unattended gas can and then struck the can's owner with a car when the owner tried to stop him.

The hit-and-run driver's car was similar to this one, police said.

The incident occurred about 7 p.m. Monday in the 100 block of State Street.

According to police:

The driver of a vehicle believed to be a black Honda stopped on the block and removed a gas can from a trailer parked along the street. When the owner came outside to confront the thief, the thief hopped into his car and sped off, hitting the homeowner in the process.

A male and female were inside the car, police said, but no description was available.

Police Det. Gary Rux said he could not divulge the exact injuries suffered by the homeowner, but confirmed the victim was struck.

Rux also said he could not say whether the gas can was full or empty or whether the Honda sustained any damage.

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run wreck may call Rux at 717-902-0627 or submit a tip through CrimeWatch.

A reward of up to $2,000 is available for tips that lead to an arrest. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
Following the sighting of a bear cub Friday night, all is quiet in a neighborhood in Harrisburg.

The cub emerged from a cemetery, crossed Herr Street and later climbed into a tree in a residential area.

The bear moved down alleys and streets for four blocks. It walked onto some porches before climbing a tree, where it stayed for more than two hours.

A police officer was called to the scene and was waiting for assistance from a game warden to help coax the bear cub down.

Officials were not seen in the area on Saturday morning.

A reporter has reached out to city police and the Pennsylvania Game Commission for an update.

In the event a bear wanders into your yard, here's what to do (and what not to do).
PHILADELPHIA -- Police say the parents of a Philadelphia elementary school boy attacked a vice principal and principal during family fun day after they were told they had to sign the child out in the office.

The alleged assaults Wednesday at Robert B. Pollock Elementary School happened in front of the schoolchildren.

Officials say the two tried to remove their son directly from outside.

Police say 37-year-old Nicole Myers then punched the vice principal. They say she then punched the principal and the two fell on the ground. Police say that's when the child's father punched the principal in the head multiple times.

Myers is facing charges including aggravated assault. No attorney information is available.

Police are still seeking the father.

The district says such behavior cannot be tolerated and they are cooperating with police.
By Dick Thornburgh

As a lifelong Republican, I am proud that my party has consistently revered the rule of law as a central tenet of our country's values. I have been honored to serve under seven presidents, including as U.S. attorney general under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

I know from experience that the Justice Department effectively performs the awesome responsibility of enforcing our laws and assuring that justice is provided equally and fairly to all.

Many recent comments about special counsel Robert Mueller III and his investigation have been regrettable and undeserved. I was surprised to see President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, a respected former U.S. attorney, suggest last week that Mueller is "trying very, very hard to frame" the president, echoing comments made by the president himself that the investigation is "a Witch Hunt." Those comments are the antithesis of who Mueller is and how he operates.

I know Bob Mueller as a colleague in law enforcement and as a friend, and I highly respect his judgment and moral compass. Mueller is the right person to investigate Russia's apparent assault on our democracy.

He possesses the skills and discipline necessary to perform his role, and his demonstrated past leadership as head of the Justice Department's criminal division and as director of the FBI leave no doubt as to his ability to evenhandedly conduct significant investigations. He is serious but not sensational and loyal to the rule of law.

Mueller must put all applicable evidence before an impartial grand jury that will decide whether to bring charges. We must let him do his job.

It is disconcerting to witness the unfair attacks on the Justice Department now occurring; they erode public confidence and corrode the integrity of a core principle of our country. Our country must not let hyperpartisanship diminish the rule of law. That is not who we are, and it isn't what we should ever become. I have great confidence in the special-counsel process. Indeed, my party has always stood with law enforcement, recognizing that its job is both difficult and essential. Law-enforcement officials ranging from state and local police to FBI officers in the field to prosecutors and judges must be able to do their work without fear of political retribution.

I urge all members of Congress to become more vocal in their defense of the rule of law. Elected officials must stress unambiguously their support of the role of the special counsel and guard his right to pursue this investigation in a fair and impartial manner. Through whatever means members of Congress deem appropriate, they must defend the rule of law and the integrity of the special counsel's mission.

As John Adams said, our country is "a government of laws, and not of men." This founding principle of our democracy must be protected. We will be remembered by what we say and what we do in this challenging time in America's history. We must all speak out and work to protect the special counsel's investigation from interference. As Republicans, we owe that much to our party. As citizens, we all owe even more to our country.

A former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, Dick Thornburgh was U.S. attorney general from 1988 to 1991. He wrote this piece for The Washington Post, where it first appeared.
By Elizabeth Bolden

For years, traditional wisdom suggested that the only route to career success was enrolling directly in a four-year college or university - a course that typically involved borrowing tens of thousands of dollars to finance your education.

Elizabeth Bolden (submitted photo)

But that perception is becoming increasingly more and more outdated. And, each year, thousands of students are enrolling in a Pennsylvania community college and realizing that there is more than one way to economic security and success - and for a lot less money.

Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges enroll more than 317,000 students on their way to associate degrees, certificates and bachelor's degrees. It's an achievement that builds the foundation for educational advancement (with significantly less student loan debt) or for entering the workforce to fill in-demand positions paying family-sustaining wages.

In the next two years, 65 percent of all jobs in the U.S. will require education beyond high school, and 30 percent of those jobs will require some college or an associate degree. In addition, the number of jobs that require some postsecondary education and training, but not a bachelor's degree, are expected to grow to 30 percent in Pennsylvania by 2020.

Pennsylvania's community colleges are in the best position to meet this need. It's no secret that there's a critical shortage of skilled workers across the state to fill in-demand positions, many in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Our state's community colleges provide students with not only the high-quality education and credentials necessary to fill these positions, but the practical, real-world training needed to make an immediate impact in the workplace.

Community college students aren't learning just in a classroom. They're in labs, machine shops, healthcare settings. They're welding, taking blood pressure, doing machinery, flight simulation. When they earn their associate degree or certificate, they are loaded with the skills necessary to meet employers' needs or continue their academic pursuits.

In the last academic year, more than 34,000 community college students transferred to other institutions of higher education and 81 percent transferred within Pennsylvania. Our transfer students are earning bachelor degrees, and they're doing so with a fraction of the student loan debt of those who borrowed to attend a four-year institution.

Yet, for all community colleges do for students, families and businesses in Pennsylvania, they are the most underfunded public higher education system in the state. Our colleges educate more Pennsylvanians than all the other sectors of public postsecondary education combined, but receive the least amount of state support.

For the upcoming fiscal year, the colleges are asking for a $10.6 million increase in its operating appropriation. That's not $10.6 million per college - that's $10.6 million combined. And it would be the first increase since the 2016-17 budget.

The state money would go miles in helping our colleges continue to offer the valuable programs such as nursing, machinery, computer science, and more that will help Pennsylvania fill its skills gap and connect qualified workers with businesses.

Pennsylvania is the 14th largest economy in the world. To attract businesses to the state and allow existing businesses to grow and expand, we need talented, skilled workers.

Producing skilled workers and helping students achieve their academic goals is what community colleges do best, and policymakers need to invest in our colleges to benefit Pennsylvania as a whole.

Elizabeth Bolden is the president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. She writes from Harrisburg.
By Jim T. Ryan

Staff Writer

Chris Foose, Millerstown fire chief

The chief of Millerstown Fire Department is planning to ask its covered municipalities to pass a dedicated fire tax to help replace aging equipment and vehicles.

"We can't chicken barbecue our way to a new fire truck," said Chris Foose, Millerstown fire chief.

He plans to ask the municipalities covered by the department to pass a 0.7 mill fire tax, which would amount to $70 on a property assessed at $100,000. If approved in the largest coverage areas, that could raise about $150,000 annually to support the fire department, he said.

Millerstown Fire Department covers Millerstown Borough, about 80 percent of Tuscarora Twp., and all of Greenwood Twp., Perry County. It also covers parts of Greenwood, Susquehanna, and Delaware townships in Juniata County.

Some people are supportive, but Foose expects push-back from others.

Jim Fuller, chairman of the Tuscarora Twp. supervisors, said a tax hasn't been considered before. Tuscarora donates and pays part of the fire company's workers compensation insurance.

He would consider the tax if it was supported by residents.

"We asked (the fire company) to do the legwork, see what people are thinking and get back to us," Fuller said.

Foose said the department is thankful for the donations from the municipalities, amounting to about $52,000 annually. But it covers less than a third of the company's $215,000 budget for vehicle maintenance, gear, utilities and other expenses. Firefighters have to make up the difference with fundraisers.

"A 1 mill tax would cover everything, but talking to my neighbor and some supervisors, 0.7 (mills) would be better and less strapping to residents," Foose said.

Millerstown pays the workers compensation insurance for the fire company and then collects equal shares from Tuscarora and Greenwood (Perry) townships, said Karen Knellinger, the borough secretary and treasurer. The premium varies, but it's about $4,100 for each municipality.

The borough gave the fire company $7,700 in 2017 based on real estate millage in Millerstown, Knellinger said. It also gave the fire company a $25,000 donation toward a utility vehicle.

Foose said the Millerstown money comes out to about $20 per household.

Borough council President Rob Shipp said he would be willing to listen to Foose's ideas, but whether or not a fire tax is feasible depends on a lot of factors. The borough has tried to hold down tax and fee increases.

"It's a delicate balance," Shipp said. "We have to look at the total costs and what's needed versus what's too much for people to afford."

The amount of equipment and vehicles needing replaced in coming years is just too much for fundraisers and savings, he said.

For example, two vehicles are older than 20 years, including a 1979 brush truck with body rust, poor brakes and oil leaks. The tanker has had six patches to prevent leaks.

Vehicles are expensive. Engine and rescue trucks can cost $600,000, and tankers are around $400,000, Foose said. "Specifications are changing, too. By the time we save enough for a truck, we won't be able to buy it."

Turnout gear also is costly. A jacket and pants go for about $2,400. Add in helmet ($300), boots ($350-$500), gloves ($100), pagers ($350) and air packs ($7,000) and the total quickly grows.

Fire companies are required by law to replace gear every 10 years. That means the company will need to replace about 15 sets in the next three years.

Having the tax from the municipalities would be a big help toward covering regular costs and replacing equipment, Foose said. Even then, they'll still have to do fundraisers.

"I don't want the guys to stop doing fundraisers," but the tax would leave more time for training and other things, he said.

Other municipalities in Perry County have opted for fire department specific taxes, for example Duncannon and Penn Twp. in support of Duncannon Fire Company.

Likewise, Bloomfield has one to benefit New Bloomfield Fire Company. It urged Centre Twp. to approve new funding last year, too.

Fire companies have said this is the best way to finance an essential service that benefits everyone. The alternative would be fewer fire and ambulance services -- and much longer response times -- if some companies go out of service for lack of funds.

And at some point, that might necessitate professional fire departments, which would be far more expensive to taxpayers than volunteer services, Foose said.

"It's a rock and a hard place," he said. "A small tax spread around vs. a paid department costing millions."

Jim T. Ryan can be reached via e-mail at jtryan@perrycountytimes.com
Cabinet members from the Department of Aging, Department of Labor & Industry, Department of Human Services, Department of Education and Department of Insurance took the stage at Penn State Harrisburg for the 20th Cabinet in the Community event.

For the past six months, members of Gov. Tom Wolf's Cabinet have been on the move throughout the state.

As a part of one of Wolf's campaign promises for "Government that Works," cabinet members have met up with one another to hold Cabinet in the Community events.

These widely popular events - drawing an average of 140 people to each session - allow Pennsylvanians to bring their questions directly to the person in charge of state agencies.

About 100 people attended the 20th Cabinet in the Community event at Penn State Harrisburg Campus on Friday afternoon. John Knorr came to warn about his mistreatment at Selinsgrove Center. Ed Fisher came to challenge the Labor & Industry secretary on a wage act.

Each event includes four to six of the 21 Cabinet secretaries - with Friday's event hosting five.

The members were Secretary of Aging Teresa Osborne, Secretary of Labor & Industry Jerry Oleksiak, Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera, Secretary of Human Services Teresa Miller and Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman.

"I always walk away learning more from you than what you'll learn from me," Oleksiak told the crowd. Of the 20 cabinet events so far, Oleksiak has sat in on about five.

Knorr, 62, came to "tell his story" to the Department of Human Services.

Knorr said he lived in the Selinsgrove Center, a state-run residential complex for people with intellectual disabilities, for the first 20 years of his life. He now lives on his own in Altoona.

Knorr has cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia and mild intellectual disability. He attended this session with other members of Self Advocates United as 1.

During his time at the center, Knorr claimed employees would physically and verbally abuse him by beating him and hurling "bad names" at him. Food was always served cold and residents were only given a short amount of time to eat.

"I didn't like that," he added. "I wasn't allowed to go outside."

Miller, the human services secretary, responded by first apologizing for his experience. Then, she added that her team is in the process of closing the Hamburg State Center and hopes other centers can be closed as populations age out of the facilities.

"We want people to live in their communities and live an everyday life, which is not what people in state centers live," she said.

Wolf's office advertises the cabinet events about four weeks beforehand, sending out information to the surrounding county commissioners and elected officials, among other advertising tactics. Those officials are then encouraged to send it to their constituents and attend the events themselves, said Cassandra Coleman, the governor's office Northeast regional director who manages the cabinet events.

Coleman, who at the time of her election as Exeter mayor in Luzerne County, was the youngest-serving female mayor in the country at age 20. This experience fueled her passion for running these events.

"I wish that I had that," she added. "I wish that I was aware of the resources that were available through the state while I was in local government. When you make a phone call you get 'this person' or 'that person.' Here, you can actually deliver this to the secretary of that whole agency."

Many attendees came to represent municipalities or organizations that frequently work with state entities, like West Hempfield Township Supervisor Ed Fisher.

He didn't attend just to represent his township. He came to question the Labor & Industry secretary about the prevailing wage threshold on public works projects. His response from Oleksiak - that his department can only enforce policies, not change them -- was what he "expected."

"At least I can leave a challenge," Fisher added. "We all recognize and know this needs to be done, it just takes a strong backbone to get the work and the legislation done to make this an effective act that's good for all Pennsylvanians."

If attendees do not ask questions during the forum, they can submit their question to a representative at the event. They'll get their answer directly from the governor's office within three to five weeks, Coleman added.

Other topics that were raised included underfunding of schools and the transition out of a nursing home for older citizens, among others.

Rhea Simmons, an employee at Childcare Consultants that organizes school-age child programs in York, asked the education secretary about underfunding in the York City School District.

"I've had the opportunity to talk to our representatives about our concerns," she said after the event. "At the same time, you've got the agencies who are aware of what's going on and they can do things to try to mitigate or recognize to help the situation in the interim."

She added that she's never reached out to the education secretary, but had advocated to former Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York County, and Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York County, for more funding.

The next upcoming Cabinet in the Community event is in Pittsburgh on June 13 at 1 p.m. in Pittsburgh, and the following event in Indiana on June 19. There are 15 other Cabinet events planned through Oct. 31.
FILE - In this April 20, 2018 file photo, Patrick Bettis, of Glen Ellyn, Ill., a promoter of marijuana legalization, hands a joint to Larnell Rhea, of Denver, during the Mile High 420 Festival in Denver. President Donald Trump said Friday, June 8, 2018, that heAos inclined to support a bipartisan effort in Congress to ease the U.S. ban on marijuana, a proposal that would dramatically reshape the nationAos legal landscape for pot users and businesses. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2017 file photo, PG&E crews work on restoring power lines in a fire ravaged neighborhood in an aerial view in the aftermath of a wildfire in Santa Rosa, Calif. Downed power lines caused a dozen Northern California wildfires last fall, including two that killed a total of 15 people, California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday, June 8, 2018. The wildfires were part of a series that were the deadliest in California history. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
David Dunn, whose wife took her own life earlier this year after she was denied assisted death, sits for a photograph in his home in Saskatoon, Wednesday, June 6, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards
FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2018, file photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington. Special counsel Robert Mueller has turned up the heat on Manafort, threatening new criminal charges for witness tampering and asking a judge to put him in jail while he awaits trial (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, file)
FILE - In this Feb. 23, 201, file photo, Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the integration ceremony of TAPI pipeline in Herat city, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban have announced a three-day cease-fire over the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a first for the group, following an earlier cease-fire announcement by the government. Ghani on Thursday, June 7, 2018 announced a weeklong cease-fire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday. (AP Photo/Hamed Sarfarazi)
Perryville takes down Saxony in possible district preview It was a game that Saxony Lutheran boys soccer coach Chris Crawford said had a postseason feel to it.If that was how a possible district tournament matchup between Perryville and Saxony 

Lancers goal line stand downs Indians Two yards or six feet. Either way you look at it, that was all that was standing between St. Vincent and certain victory.However, St. Pius had other plans. The Lancers held off the Indians on the 


Ian Bremmer/Time: 5 reasons why right-wing Senator

Ivan Duque is likely to win Colombia's presidential election





Inter-American Dialogue via Flicker



Ivan Duque is Colombia's right wing hard answer to the disguise

populism of left, and he's poised to win the Presidency

Another election, another polarized outcome. Last weekend's first-round results in Colombia's presidential election signal just how bad things have gotten there. The country must now choose between a right-wing Senator in Ivan Duque and a far-left former Bogota mayor in Gustavo Petro. The smart money is on Duque. Here's why:

1. An unpopular incumbent and a tarnished elite

President Juan Manuel Santos currently has an approval rating in the low 20s , down from the 74 percent he entered office with in 2010. Colombian voters used elections this weekend to send Colombia's political establishment a message: centrists need not apply. Duque took 39 percent of the vote to 25 percent to Petro. They far outpaced more moderate candidates, including Santos' former vice president and his lead peace negotiator. Duque and Petro will now face off in a second-round run-off on June 17.

Both have distanced themselves from Colombia's political class, which has been badly tarnished by a Brazilian corruption scandal that has spread across Latin America. About a year ago, President Santos acknowledged that, unbeknownst to him, his campaign received illegal campaign contributions from Brazilian construction congolmerate Odebrecht as had his opponents.

Petro's anti-corruption platform and his unconventional path into politics helps him avoid the taint that falls on establishment politicians. But Duque also benefits from the fact that he is a first-term senatorhe spent the decade before he joined congress in Washington DC working for the Inter-American Development Bank, allowing him to credibly claim he stands apart from Colombia's disgraced elite.

2. A conservative-leaning electorate

Duque is pro-business and a security hawk. He has the backing of former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), still a popular figure among Colombia's conservatives. Petro has even more claim to outsider status, having been a rebel in the M-19 guerrilla group back in the 1980s before entering politics and becoming mayor of Bogota. But that mayoral stint did not go wellhe was eventually ousted from office after trash began piling up on the streets of Bogota. And although his focus on inequality appeals to many Colombians, the country has never elected a leftist president.

3. A divisive peace agreement

Why is Duque in pole position? First is the still-controversial 2016 FARC peace deal. The original deal was put to a referendum and narrowly defeated. 50.2 percent voted no. For many Colombians, the peace dealwhich opened a path to political participation for FARC members while allowing many to avoid jail sentenceswas too lenient, given the 200,000+ lives lost as a result of FARC-Colombian government clashes and the 7 million people that violence displaced. Santos made changes to the deal, and then put it to a congressional vote rather than a public one. That decision closed the deal. It won him a Nobel Peace Prizeand the ire of many Colombians.

Petro supports the FARC deal and campaigned to uphold it, but Duque wants to rewrite parts of the deal to punish former FARC members, and campaigned on a harder security line more broadly.

4. A teetering economy

Colombia's growth is highly dependent on oil, which accounts for 35 percent of export earnings. It was one of the countries hardest hit by oil prices that began to tumble in 2014. To shore up the country's finances, the Santos administration introduced an unpopular tax hike in 2016, which included a 3-point increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT).

Duque has billed himself as the pro-business candidate and has vowed to cut corporate taxes and support oil and mining projects to spur growth, all while slashing unnecessary spending and fighting tax evasion to get Colombia's books in order. That has raised fears of a looming revenue gap. Petro, meanwhile, has focused on the country's rampant inequality and promised big spending increases on education and healthcare, while also vowing to simultaneously wean the country off its oil (and coal) dependency.

The latter part is hard enough under the best of circumstances; these are not the best of circumstances for Colombia. Look for Colombians (and international investors) to give Duque the edge on this count.

5. The specter of Venezuela

Petro's anti-corruption platform has turned him into a real contender in this election. But he has the misfortune of running at a time when neighboring Venezuela is imploding. More than 200,000 Venezuelans streamed into (and through) Colombia last year to escape crushing poverty and lack of basic goods and medicines, a six-fold increase from the year before.

The perpetually looming collapse of Venezuela is a constant reminder to voters of Petro's former admiration of the late Hugo Chavez, one that haunts him despite declaring himself a strong adversary of Chavez's successor, current Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. For a country that has never voted for a leftist candidate, the association with someone like Chavez is a heavy burden.

The wider trend in Latin America for unpopular governments and angry voters has benefited each of these candidates. But whoever wins will also inherit the other defining feature of anti-political establishment fury  high expectations.



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Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of Eurasia Group, the leading global political risk research and consulting firm. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by Time Magazine, on June 1, 2018. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Petroleumworld and its owners.



Original article

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Petroleumworld News 06/11/2018




Martin Koehring/ The Economist : The emergence

of "ocean risk" and how to tackle it





The Economist



June 8 marks World Oceans Day. Learn more about the risks and solutions

in this piece by Martin Koehring, Managing Editor and Global Healthcare

Lead at The Economist Intelligence Unit's thought leadership division.

If you spent a couple of days in Bermudawith its stunning pink sand beaches, beautiful sunsets and the northern-most coral reef system in the worldyou would be forgiven for not noticing that Bermuda is at the epicentre of ocean risk. In May the island hosted the first ever Ocean Risk Summit sponsored by global insurance firm XL Catlin along with other partnerswhich looked at the key challenges and risks posed by ocean change and identified opportunities for innovative approaches to building resilience and mitigating its effects through applied solutions.

The ocean has its own dedicated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) as part of the 17 SDGs: with SDG14 UN member states have pledged to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. However, ocean risk has, until now, been a neglected topic. This is surprising given the importance of the ocean for people and planet. If the ocean was an economy it would be the seventh-largest economy by GDP in the world and would thus sit at the G7 table. And thanks to Canada (which holds the current G7 presidency) it now is! Canada's minister of fisheries and oceans said that Canada would be putting the ocean on the G7 agenda this year to deepen international co-operation for ocean resilience. The ocean absorbs 93% of additional energy from heat on Earth , so it's highly surprising that there is ten times as much literature on the impacts of land-based climate change than on ocean impacts.





The first-ever Ocean Risk Summit, sponsored by XL Catlin and several other partners, was held at the Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda

What is ocean risk?

The summit focused on risks from ocean change, such as extreme weather, changing ocean temperatures and warming. The year 2017 marked the worst ever year on record in terms of economic losses from weather and climate-related events , at US$320bn. However, participants in the summit were keen to point out that traditional risks, such as commercial ones like loss of cargo, are well known, while it was crucial to address emerging ones such as ocean acidification, ocean hypoxia and marine pollution, which will have major impacts on future life on Earth.

But the traditional risks are rising higher up on the agenda tooand they are already threatening the very existence of small island nations. Bermuda's minister of home affairs highlighted the need to mitigate ocean risks around food security and extreme weather events faced by small island nations. Meanwhile, the permanent representative of Nauru to the UN pointed out that her island is 99.99% ocean and therefore a case study for the importance of ocean risk. The risk of extreme weather events such as severe cyclones and coral bleaching caused by climate change threatens the collapse of the island's food security and infrastructure.

The impact of recent hurricanes on the British Virgin Islands is also a microcosm of ocean risk: the island's deputy premier said that the economic damage caused by the hurricanes has been more than 3.5 times the size of the island's whole economy. All major industries (tourism, fishing, shipping) were devastated.

But the ocean does not only harbour a multitude of risks, it also provides a sea of opportunity. The full potential of the ocean to support sustainable growth hasn't been tapped yet. HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco declared that the seas contain the seeds of new growth. This blue growth would harness the potential of renewable energy, sustainable fishing, innovation and other sources.



Jose Maria Figueres, former president of Costa Rica and founder, Ocean Unite, opening the first-ever Ocean Risk Summit in Bermuda, held at the Fairmont Southampton

How to address ocean risks

The UN envoy for oceans suggested that the five key areas for progress needed are:

ending harmful fishing subsidies;

ending consumption of illegally caught fish;

expanding marine protected areas (MPAs);

boosting environmentally conscious coastal tourism; and

advancing ocean exploration.

In terms of MPAs, Sir Richard Bransonwho joined the summit via Skypeunderlined that creating marine reserves worked and benefited the fisheries sector in the long term. He praised the leadership on climate change and oceans in places like California. And he emphasised that business can play a major role in ocean sustainability, as governments can be slow to act.

As far as ocean exploration is concerned, there is still a lot of catching-up to do. Around 95% of our oceans remain unknown . In order to understand ocean risks, we need to advance science. It is crucial to map the ocean, and measure temperatures and emissions. But delegates heard that we need better maps of the ocean floor, to understand better the microbiological components in the ocean, and discover and classify new species. Hence, ocean exploration is crucial, as it enables knowledge-based governance and ultimately reduces risk, using advanced technology such as robots, autonomous vehicles, powerful computing and remote sensing.

The summit also heard that there's a lack of data sharing in the ocean community. Given rapid ocean deterioration there's a need to share data, which would open many opportunities for better data aggregation, understanding ocean risk and reversing ocean decline.

Technology has a key role to play in tackling ocean risks. Bermuda's minister of home affairs stressed the importance of science, innovation and collaboration to address risks. Bermuda is at the forefront of scientific progress on measuring ocean conditions. For example, ocean gliders measure conditions such as heat in 1,000 metres depth within three hours, eight times a day. This is crucial to measure warming and hurricane risk.

Florida is another case study of rising ocean risks. It faces multiple risks from hurricanes, tropical storms, tropical depressions and saltwater intrusion. Many promising city initiatives have been introduced throughout the state in order to boost resilience, including retrofitting, sustainable design, seawall projects and regional co-operation on flood mitigation .

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco speaking about blue growth

Important role for financial sector

Finance and investment have a crucial role to play in addressing ocean risks. Principles for sustainable investment in the Blue Economy were adopted at The Economist's World Ocean Summit in March. This was a milestone in the transition from compliance to real impact, with the aim of having the 14 principles adopted broadly by the finance sector. Interesting initiatives to finance ocean risk solutions in the Caribbean were discussed at the Ocean Risk Summit too, for example, the Sustainable Oceans Fund ; the Inter-American Development Bank's initiatives to mobilise green bonds and blue bonds, contingent loans and guarantees; the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator ; and KfW climate risk insurance .

Banks are increasingly interested in climate-resilient sustainable business, aiming at responsible growth. However, banks still focus on credit, political and reputational risks; they are not yet wired to think about "ocean risk" in a holistic way, noted representatives from the industry at the event.

The summit highlighted that insurance may have an important role to play in addressing ocean risk by helping to understand risks and economic costs, which in turn can help to start the process of modelling change, mitigating damage and building programmes for resilience. However, delegates also underlined that insurance should not be a substitute for investment in risk reduction and prevention measures. Delegates discussed how insurance could help to draw attention not just to long-term risks but also to short-term risks of ocean decline. It can also provide an organising framework for natural capital and help to build deeper relationships beyond financial transactions. Ocean risks are increasing, seen, for example, in the rising strength of hurricanes globally. To really account for ocean risk, insurance premiums therefore have to reflect future risk, not past risk. This would also help with more accurate carbon pricing.

Delegates also heard that the present risk assessment systems used in the insurance sector and by credit rating agencies incorporate climate-change risks (short-term shocks and long-term trends), but ocean risk goes well beyond climate risk. So the question was posed whether there was a need for a new risk assessment structure to really account for ocean risk.





The calm before the storm? The view from XL Catlin's offices in Bermuda

A rising need to address marine pollution and health concerns

In terms of tackling marine pollution, three key focus areas were identified at the summit. First, the immediate focus should be on investing in better waste management, including the 5 Cs: c ollect; c apture; c ontain; keeping in mind c ontext and c ulture. Second, there's a need to change upstream factors in the medium to long term, especially new materials, product design and systemic change (decoupling waste generation from economic growth). And finally, successful case studies should be taken to scale (if suitable in the local context and culture). Notable examples of good practice include the Indonesia National Plan of Action on marine plastic debris management, the Indonesia Waste Platform gringgo/CashforTrash , plastic bag policies (for example, Israel's law on plastic bag distribution ) and new packaging solutions such as PepsiCo's biodegradable packaging .

Ocean elder HM Queen Noor of Jordan highlighted the human toll from ocean degradation linked to issues such as microplastics entering our food chains, pathogenic bacteria from contaminated water and seafood, and the spread of infectious diseases (such as cholera). However, analysing links between climate change, oceans and human health remains tricky. Climate signals (such as sea surface temperature, sea level rise, coral bleaching and so on) have been linked to health signals (bacteria, infections, nutrition, for example), but the summit heard that there is a need to produce more evidence. It is therefore important to look at hazard exposure and vulnerability.





Ocean elder HM Queen Noor of Jordan speaking about human health and ocean risk

An ambitious Ocean Risk Index

The Economist Group's World Ocean Initiative , with support from XL Catlin, is keen to build on recent progress in tackling ocean risk. In order to capture the complexity of ocean risk and create a meaningful tool for positive policy change for policymakers and other stakeholders, we have been tasked to assess the global state of ocean deterioration and its impact on human activity. The first phase, which has been commissioned by XL Catlin, is focused on developing a framework (i.e., the value, principles, attributes and major components) to assess ocean risk. An international expert group, which gathered in Bermuda around the Ocean Risk Summit, informed the process. This index can be a great catalyst for positive change, and the ocean community expressed support for this undertaking at the summit.



Martin Koehring , Managing Editor and Global Healthcare Lead at The Economist Intelligence Unit's thought leadership division. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by The Economist on 06/08/2018. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Petroleumworld and its owners.



Link to original article.

Editor's Note: All comments posted and published on Petroleumworld, do not reflect either for or against the opinion expressed in the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld and are expressed are private comments and do not necessary reflect the view of this website

All comments are posted and published without liability to Petroleumworld. Use Notice:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues of environmental and humanitarian significance. We believe 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.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.



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Petroleumworld News 06/11/18
Contract workers, like Uber and Lyft drivers, have actually decreased as a percentage of workers since 2005. Read more

The share of Americans working as independent contractors has declined since 2005, according to data out Thursday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The report, the first from the agency since 2005, contradicts other recent studies that find the American worker is becoming less bound by the traditional employee-employer relationship. But it also found that the number of independent contractors has grown even as the share has declined.

Proponents of independent contracting say it provides greater flexibility for workers and lower costs for employers. But critics note it has ensnared people in low-wage jobs without benefits or predictable schedules.

Much of the attention on alternative work relationships in recent years has focused on the rise of the app-driven gig economy in which consumers can summon an independent contractor through their phones to drive them around or clean their houses.

The bureau report does not estimate the size of the so-called gig economy. In its May 2017 survey, the bureau did ask questions to gauge how many people found jobs through a mobile app and were then paid via that app. Those numbers are expected to be released later.

Instead, the data focused on a broader category of workers categorized as the contingent and alternative workforce, which would include gig workers, independent truck drivers, and contract workers who lift boxes at warehouses.

Contingent workers are defined specifically as people who do not expect their current jobs to last long and can include wage and salary workers.

Alternative work relationships include independent contractors, on-call workers, and those provided by temp agencies and contract firms.

Using different estimates, the share of contingent workers was between 1.3 percent and 3.8 percent in May 2017, the bureau said. That's down from 1.8 percent to 4.1 percent in February 2005.

Independent contractors  by far the largest form of alternative work and one that includes Uber and Lyft drivers  were estimated to make up 6.9 percent of total employment in May 2017, down from 7.4 percent in February 2005.

The other forms of alternative work were little changed, the bureau said in a news release.

The bureau counts contingent or alternative jobs only if workers hold those jobs as their sole or primary means of employment, which leaves out many workers who drive for Uber and Lyft on the side.

Though the share of independent contractors has declined, the overall number of those workers has increased, according to the data. In May 2017, 10.6 million people were employed as independent contractors, up from 10.3 million in February 2005. The number of on-call workers and those provided by temp agencies and contract firms also rose slightly.

Other studies have shown an increase in the share as well.

Lawrence Katz of Harvard University and Alan Krueger of Princeton University released a study two years ago that found 8.4 percent of workers in 2015 were working as independent contractors, up from 6.9 percent in 2005.

Internal Revenue Service data back up that conclusion, showing a rising share of people who are independent contractors and who have no W-2 income, Katz said.

It's possible seasonality could be affecting the bureau results, as the 2005 survey was taken in February and the 2017 survey was taken in May.

However, Katz and Krueger compared February 2005 data to October and November 2015 data and found "no evidence of systematic seasonality between February and October or November in the share of workers who are self-employed."

In recent years, independent contracting has drawn increased scrutiny from labor activists and the courts. They have questioned whether companies are simply misclassifying people as independent workers  allowing them not to pay benefits or contribute to worker's compensation funding  but retaining effective control over workers' days.
Mike Hiltebrand and his wife Christine Andrusiw prepare to order soft serve ice cream, aka 'custard,' at Pennsville Custard on Route 49, just south of where the state highway starts near the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach. The landmark business with the distinctive yellow roof opened in 1952, the year after the bridge did. Read more

Nothing tastes like a homemade peanut butter milkshake from Pennsville Custard.

Even for breakfast. Especially if you're heading out for a tour of a less-than-famous but locally beloved South Jersey highway, where down-home dining and similar delights are the rule.

"This is Route 49," said Mike Hiltebrand, 60, a Salem County native who's something of an expert on custard, as the locals call soft ice cream  as well as the state route that pretty much connects the Delaware River and Atlantic Ocean.

"Besides a way to get to the Shore, 49 was a way to bring tomatoes to the can houses in Bridgeton," said Hiltebrand, who grew up and still lives on a 200-acre Pedricktown farm. "This whole area was huge for growing tomatoes."

A Stockton University graduate and retired slot machine mechanic, Hiltebrand started free-associating local lore as soon as we cleared the driveway.

"We used to go to Richman's Ice Cream after hymn sings," he recalled before shifting gears to another local custom.

"Muskrat houses [used in muskrat hunting] were all over these marshes. I used to hunt them on the farm."

Said his wife, Christine Andrusiw: "This isn't Cherry Hill. This is the real South Jersey."

Andrusiw and her husband took my colleague Maggie Loesch and me on a Route 49 sightseeing expedition last week between the small, history-rich but cash-poor cities of Salem and Bridgeton.

That's 26 miles each way through an easy-rolling countryside quilted with corn, soy, pepper and asparagus fields and criss-crossed with creeks and rivers with names like Cohansey.

Blink, and we'd have missed hamlets such as Stow Creek, or unpretentious businesses like Niblock's Pork Store, Matty's Crabs or even Pennsville Custard and its cousin, Hudock's.

Pronounced 'Who-Dox," it's the home of a burger called the bellybuster, which we'll get to later.

But first, "the best custard I've ever tasted," said Andrusiw as we waited for window service at Pennsville.

Sometimes called "the Yellow House" because of its bright lemon roof and cottage-like building, the stand opened in 1952, a year after the debut of the first span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

"This is the way it's always looked on the outside," said Penny Dalbow, who's managed Pennsville Custard for nearly three decades. "Nothing inside is different."

"There were fields and farm stands and ice cream stands," said Talley, 61, who lives in North Cape May. "We'd always stop and get a bushel basket of peaches."

The highway starts in Deepwater and ends 54 miles southeast in Upper Township, traversing mostly rural, occasionally suburban and a handful of urban areas in Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May Counties along the way.

"We always took 49 to get to Wildwood," said Dorothy Bunting, who is active in local historical societies and has lived all of her 82 years on Route 49 in Pennsville. "If we were going to Atlantic City, we took 40."

Route 49 may not be as well known as Route 40, the White or Black Horse Pikes, Delsea Drive, or Route 73. It's no Atlantic City Expressway, either, and unlike Route 9, it hasn't been immortalized in a Bruce Springsteen song.

But 49's abundance of scenery, scarcity of traffic and high number of high-visibility straightaways have made it increasingly popular among cyclists and motorcyclists.

The route "is a beautiful secret we can't wait to tell people about," said Devon Perry, director of Visit South Jersey, the tourism promotional agency. "It's more than just a road."

For some, it's a way to make a living. "There are not so many [chains], but more mom-and-pop places," said Jim Grant, who with his wife, Yvonne, owns the Inn at Salem Country Club in Elsinboro.

"Yvonne and I like an ice cream after a bike ride," he said. "We're not brave enough for the bellybuster."

As we headed south and east, Hiltebrand and Andrusiw, a longtime health-care administrator, noted the red-and-white "Save the Cabins" signs posted along 49.

The signs referred not to tourist cabins like those still found at Shady Haven, a longtime business on 49 in Pennsville, but to the endangered structures along Alloways Creek and other local waterways long used by anglers and hunters.

A rumor that Eleanor Roosevelt once stayed in one of those Shady Haven cabins appears to be just that.

But the legend of the bellybuster  a burger roughly the size of a big Frisbee or a small hubcap  seems to be based in fact.

"We roll the meat out by hand. Ten ounces. We weigh it and we roll it out," said Cheryl Hudock Cline, whose parents bought Hudock's in 1967 and have owned it ever since.

The original metal frames for shaping the patty, and the addition of a secret sauce, complete the dish, she said.

Hudock's is where one of the two buildings serves hot food, the other ice cream. They were built by the same local family behind Pennsville Custard.

Thus the yellow roofs, the quirky menu and the thoroughly South Jersey ambience.

Under the oaks, with a soybean field on one side of 49 and a field of feed corn growing on the other, we sat on picnic tables under towering oaks and shared a bellybuster.

All I can say is it's no wonder Hudock's has such loyal fans; the owners exchange Christmas cards (remember those?) with folks from Maryland, Virginia and beyond.

Alas, after the burger, our Route 49 excursion was over. At least for now.

"There's a lot more to show you," Hiltebrand said. "We should take another tour."

I'm in.

>>SEE MORE: From 2014, a photographer takes back roads to the Shore.
Anthony Bourdain was the bad boy of chefs, the provocative tell-all author of Kitchen Confidential, and a groundbreaking TV travel show host who celebrated the world's cultures through food at all levels, from street vendors to gastronomic stars, and in complex, honest ways that had never been presented to the viewing public before.

As a result, before his death by suicide Friday in France, he had became one of the most influential American cultural icons of the last two decades, a man who perhaps more than any other figure helped transform the previously uncelebrated gritty world of the line cook into a seemingly glamorous career direction for a generation of young cooks.

>> READ MORE: After the deaths of Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain, finding the courage to talk to someone at risk of suicide

The chefs of Philadelphia are no exception. Bourdain's visits to the city, to promote a book during a lunch at Brasserie Perrier in 2001, to perform at the Merriam Theater with fellow chef Eric Ripert for his "Good vs. Evil Tour" in 2011, and for a rollicking drunken romp across the city in 2012 for his Travel Channel show The Layover, are still the stuff of local legend. If Anthony Bourdain ate there  and liked it  it was the ultimate validation. His enthusiastic encounter with a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle at Stateside, I contend, single-handedly pushed that already-coveted bourbon into nearly unreachable cult whiskey status.

I spoke with some of those who accompanied him during that visit and others, as well as chefs who didn't know Bourdain at all, but saw him as a tremendous influence. Here are edited excerpts of their thoughts.

>> READ MORE: Anthony Bourdain: He didn't set out to be a celebrity

Michael Solomonov, chef and co-owner of Zahav, who was featured in Bourdain's visit to Philly in '"The Layover:" We're all shocked.  No one saw it coming. This is insane. I was working at Avenue B and had just moved to Philadelphia when Kitchen Confidential came out, and that's where I learned about the culture and work ethic and the sort of loyalty to the craft that a cook needs to have in this business. There were no memoirs about this at that time with an author who could so strongly connect themes that would not only relate to line cooks, but also the general public.  He'd fire a duck breast on the line, then run off to smoke a cigarette. He talked about the importance of having a diverse staff, about immigration and how it related to the real world. And there was an honesty and lack of Hollywood that he brought to it all that was one of the most important expressions about restaurants at that time by far. It changed the way way people viewed restaurants.

When he came for The Layover, we had pho in the morning at Pho 75 and spent all day together, talking a lot about politics and the Middle East, my brother David [an Israeli soldier killed by a Lebanese sniper], and his own experiences in Lebanon, and he was super-intellectual, super smart and so well-spoken. Then, that night, he and Marc Vetri and I went to the Pen and Pencil Club for late-night drinks. He lost a rock-paper-scissors bet and had to drink the hot-dog water. He was a good sport."

>> READ MORE: Obama posts touching tribute following death of CNN host and chef Anthony Bourdain

Scott Schroeder, chef and co-owner of Hungry Pigeon: I didn't know him, but I teared-up this morning. I don't know if I can even talk about it. There's a memory of reading Kitchen Confidential when I was 20 years old and realizing that it defined how restaurants really were, how cooks were. How it was OK that you were going to struggle in between jobs. And honestly, it probably made me feel more confident to be myself. He was one of us. He was one of us for real, and then he became a celebrity. We all made fun of Guy Fieri, and he did, too.

Nicholas Elmi, chef and co-owner of Laurel, ITV, and Royal Boucherie: He came to Brasserie Perrier once when I was younger  I was actually off that day, but everybody was pretty hype about it. His book came out when I was 19 and someone gave it to me for Christmas. I was in school for accounting and economics at the time, but that definitely pushed me into the culinary direction. Cooks of my generation are unbelievably influenced by what he was doing  especially back in the early 2000s. It's become pretty much passe now to call people rock-star chefs, but he was one of those who started it all and really shed light onto what the industry was about. He still did a great job of highlighting the good of the industry as well  not just the partying, but what was great about being in the restaurant world and connecting people through food.

Chris Scarduzio, chef-owner of Teca Newtown Square, who was chef-partner at Brasserie Perrier when Bourdain dined there in 2001: I was so saddened to hear this  he was a good friend of mine. Whenever he came to Philly or Atlantic City, we always had a good time. He adored French food tremendously, and he was a staunch ally to the classics. He wasn't too much into the sous-vide and tweezer chefs  not that he didn't respect them. But he liked big, bold flavors, and when I cooked with him, I didn't overdo the plates at all.  At the time, when his New Yorker article first came out, there were actually a lot of mixed feelings in the restaurant community about many of the things he criticized, like telling people not to eat fish on Mondays. I disagreed with some of it, too. But he brought some light to the darkness that happens in some bad kitchens. Not all chefs are like that  not all pros run their kitchens that way. But there was definitely truth in it. And that was Anthony. He was like the cowboy, the true rock-and-roll king of the culinary industry.

Tod Wentz, chef and co-owner of Townsend, A Mano and Oloroso: As a young cook, I remember reading Kitchen Confidential and feeling that he was one of us  and it was really moving. For him to go from being a line cook to traveling the world and showing us all what was possible and what was out there was really the most important contribution he had for us. Having that honest viewpoint of life in general and knowing that it came from how we saw the world  the people who've done this for our whole lives  was always honest and revealing.

Han Chiang, owner of the Han Dynasty chain, including a branch in Manhattan that Bourdain frequented, who was also featured on the Philly "Layover" episode: Oh no! I just woke up and saw what happened.  He was in our restaurant on the Upper West Side just last Thursday, and I really wish I was there. He had his regular: two orders of ma pao tofu and a six-pack of Tsingtao. Overall he was a super-cool guy, and he was one of my idols because his shows were not just about the food but about the culture, and his stories always had a point at the end.

I wasn't even supposed to meet him when he came to film The Layover  I had booked a plane ticket back to Taiwan. But then a week before, the producers said he wanted to meet me from hearing how crazy I am. So I canceled the flight and we set up a scene at Dirty Frank's. I got there early and got drunk before he even came in. But then when he got there, we just kept going with the Jameson shots and IPAs non-stop. There were a bunch of pretty girls there that night and I was like, 'Damn, I can go talk to a bunch of pretty girls now because Anthony Bourdain is here!' But they started lining up to get him to sign his book and they were like, 'Who the f is this guy?!'

Jonathan Deutsch, professor in the Center for Food and Hospitality at Drexel University, on Bourdain's impact with culinary students: When I got into this field in the early to mid-'90s, it was sort of the beginning of the food-media phenomenon, and we were sort of on the cusp of culinary school being seen as both a glorified trade school and as an academic pursuit. Chefs were just starting to being thought of skilled craftsmen, women and tradespeople, but also thought leaders, influencers, and media icons. Anthony, in my opinion, navigated us through that change and let students know that it's OK to both have strong culinary skills and also think critically and intellectually about what you're doing. Explore the flavors of the world on the one hand as a food journalist or culinary ethnographer, but don't just leave it there.

He was a sort of a chef's chef, and highly relatable to [diverse audiences] as this inquisitive, omnivorous, passionate person who loved everything about this industry, from its horrible gritty underbelly of the Kitchen Confidential era to people making really beautiful food at all levels ranging from street food through fine dining. He had a real curiosity and respect for everyone in this field, all the while shaking up a lot of the puffery and self-congratulatory nature of food scenes. There are students who read his book and said, this is not for me, I'm going to business school. But then many others were hooked and said: "I want in!"

To have [Bourdain's suicide] the same week as Kate Spade's death, it makes me think. Here are people who should want for nothing in life. They're successful by any unit of measure, but yet they are still are unable to shake whatever it is that makes someone do this. And I think [mental health] is actually the next frontier for our field. We've gone through a lot of awareness and building support for chefs with substance abuse problems. But there's been much less done around the issues of depression, isolation, and anxiety. And this can be a tough, stressful and isolating business.
Dayanna McBride and Quian Brown pose in front of the Tesla they will take to the prom after their Wakanda-themed prom send off on 22nd St. in North Phila., Pa. on June 6, 2018. Read more

Saudia Shuler promised there would be action.

Last year, the North Philly mom made national headlines after dropping $25,000 for a prom sendoff. You might remember the camel she hired for the Dubai-themed bash she threw for her son, J.J. Eden Jr. When it came to creating a sendoff this year based on the film Black Panther, let's just say she sensed which way to go.

Her panther, Queen, stayed caged and mostly quiet Wednesday evening as hundreds of people gathered, scores in costume, on 22nd Street near Shuler's soul food restaurant. Who would benefit from Shuler's largesse this year? She had held a sort of casting call for the fete; she chose Dayanna McBride, a graduating senior at the YesPhilly school from South Philly as the star of her show, which went up almost immediately on social media.

Prom sendoffs are the party before the party. The basic premise  an opportunity for relatives and family friends to fawn over the prom-goers  goes way back. These days, however, in Philly's black community in particular, the prom send-off can be much bigger than the prom itself.

Many families have journeyed past the living room photo ops with trays of light bites. It is common now to see black mothers ordering custom photo backdrops and enlisting DJs and photographers. We've witnessed a James Bond-theme production where a lucky couple traveled by helicopter. Who needs to borrow Mom and Dad's wheels when one can rent a Rolls?

>> READ MORE: Camel prom mom hosts epic Christmas toy giveaway in North Philly

Shuler's brand of pageantry is at another level altogether. Her "Wakanda Comes to Philly" was a sendoff, surely, but it was also a live show, a film shoot, a catered dinner and block party.

One set of actors dressed as the all-woman military guard from Black Panther's mythical sub-Saharan nation, while another set represented the Jabari tribe. Dance and drumming flowed through the event. There were airs of the superhero blockbuster film, but also of Coming to America.

Quian Brown, McBride's date, made his entrance after the actors feigned to be at the brink of battle. "I feel like I'm the Man," Brown said later.

McBride's final prom look (she had two dresses) was a gold custom dress by Brittany DeShields with a train carried by Wakandan warriors. When she reached their Tesla, hired for the night, McBride smiled gleefully.

Whats changed? Instagram et al.

It's social media that has changed sendoffs, say parents and prom professionals. Videographer Brian Hill can't see why else he'd be getting so many requests for prom movies: "Everyone wants it so that they can post it."

Teens talk of prom season as a time when they continuously watch through their feeds. "Everyone looks so nice," said Jayla Garner, a graduating senior at Girls High School. "It's kind of exciting, and then I get excited for myself, like, 'Oooh, I'm next.' "

The most opulent or poignant images from send-offs may reach the Shade Room, a black gossip outlet with 13 million followers.

Bayete Ross Smith, a photographer and multimedia artist, pointed out that while schools often prohibit teens from posing and gesturing or including family at the dance, the rules relax at sendoffs. "It becomes this visual language for branding ourselves, particularly in terms of public persona," Smith said. In an age where likes and follows are markers of status, the black youth of this city are presenting themselves. "What you're seeing," Smith said, "is a reclaiming of our narrative on a day-to-day basis by young people."

>>READ MORE: How black Philadelphians' homes capture life's moments

A typical sendoff goes this way: First, a hyped-up entrance to music as the couple descend stairs outside of the home. Then, portraits before an exotic photo backdrop. Lastly, more photos with the car  foreign models have lately been more popular than stretch limos. As kids depart, loved ones linger as if they're at a family get-together.

Marcus Anthony Hunter, a South Philly native and UCLA sociologist, said the families are seizing joy at these elaborate events. "It's still a city where at Starbucks, they can call the cops on you," he said of Philadelphia. "It's still a place where people are getting displaced and dispossessed. But on this day, we choose to celebrate that 'my baby looks so beautiful.'"

At Aajae Whitehead's send-off, she struck her poses beside her grinning boyfriend, Travoni Hunley. Aajae's mother, Aqueelah Whitehead, had spent nearly $4,000 on the dress, the shoes, makeup, hair, DJ, food, decorations and a photographer, among other expenses. After a school fight last year, Aajae landed at a new school and new social orbit. She had considered not going to prom at all.

Even with the transition, she's finishing high school on time and heading to culinary school.

Myah Bush, Aajae's godmother, was deeply proud and wanted to celebrate. Seeing the young people shine, she said, is similar to living vicariously through them, especially for elders who didn't go to prom or graduate high school.

Cinderellas carriage and James Bonds chopper

For Shuler's 24 charity prom sendoffs this spring, she paid for high fashion and fancy receptions with the help of donors culled from her own network. She selected three of the teens for large productions: a Cinderella theme from the Art Museum with a horse-drawn carriage, a James Bond theme, and then the Wakanda affair.

She won't say how much this cost, nor will she disclose her donations. Still, she estimates that all told, counting contributions from others, the total bill reached six figures. Her Instagram account, @countrycookin1, has 154,000 followers.

Not all parents are game. Angela Mapp, a West Philadelphia lifestyle blogger and screen printer, sees no need for a food or decor budget. Before her son, Ryan Middleton, heads to the dance, they'll be taking photos with balloons.

"I think we as a black people get stereotypes of being flashy," said Mapp, who would prefer to invest in school or a trust fund. "I just feel like there's other ways that money could be spent."

>> READ MORE: This motorboat, the Jawn, is the handiwork of Philly teens

Her son said he wanted just close family present for his sendoff, but doesn't criticize the hoopla.

"Today," he said, "it's all about presentation."

Middleton wore a royal blue suit with gold accents and sparkling gold loafers. He was hoping he'd look like the rapper Jidenna.

A precolonial tradition

Tanisha Ford, an Africana studies and history professor at the University of Delaware, said opulence can be traced to precolonial traditions of self-adornment. Garments served as tools of resistance against accusations of inferiority, added Shantrelle P. Lewis, a researcher, curator and filmmaker who resides in Germantown.

In black communities, sartorial ideals can be exacting and expensive. For children who lack the means to look fresh, the disappointment can be crushing. Experts and professionals say that families are more willing to pick up the tab for prom high fashion.

"This prom day that we come to, our parents, uncles, aunts, they have been saving up money for us to live out this dream, this fantasy," said videographer Lawrence "J-Tech" Jones. When teens who've never ridden in an air-conditioned car find themselves sitting in a Maserati, he wants to preserve that moment. "I want to take their vision of prom, I want to take it to another level with the music and the editing.  It's a keepsake."

Joseph Richard Winters, a Duke University professor who researches black religious thought, has observed a common, morbid narrative about black life in America. Prom sendoffs tell another story.

"There is a moment of reprieve against the backdrop of constraint," Winters said. "Those moments remind us that mourning and celebration don't need to be seen as opposites." In the way that funeral services in the black church make room for celebration, he said, a sendoff can reflect an emotional spectrum. "It's not actually forgetfulness of [loss], it's a response."

Calling Homeland Security

With each of son Saajid's milestones, Sonya Barlow's been trying to top herself. The moon bounces, stilt walker, caterer, event planner and the DJ, Diamond Kuts, were all in place at a recent Belmont Mansion sendoff. But Homeland Security wouldn't approve the landing of a chopper. So Mom planned for the first portion of the sendoff to be live-streamed from a heliport.

He "never gave me an ounce of trouble," saidd Sonya Barlow, who owns a day care, a gift and party shop, and a cleaning company.

She sees it as her duty to lavish her son with such a show. She estimates that she spent $50,000. "I have to reward him for the things that he brings me joy with."

Roughly 300 guests attended Saajid's prom sendoff. It had the feel of a community fair, until Saajid and his date, Nydiyra Bryant Giles, arrived in a Rolls-Royce.

"My man, spotless," one onlooker said, taking in Saajid's suit.

Out of the swarm of bodies that formed to receive his entrance, scores of hands rose to capture the moment on their cellphones.

>> READ MORE: This Bucks County teen isn't letting sickle cell stop her pageant dreams

Sonya became a single mom after Saajid's father was diagnosed with schizophrenia when the boy was 2 years old. Saajid received weekly advice from his grandfather, Andre "Shakur" Harvey, who was serving life at Graterford for murder. Without his grandfather's constant counsel, Saajid acknowledged, the pull of the street may have been too enticing.

The young emcee plans to leave Philadelphia. He loves the city, but says he hates encountering the mindset that "you got to be street." Whatever route he takes, when he's financially established, Saajid plans to find his father and get him on a consistent treatment plan.

Harvey wrote of his pride in a letter. To Sonya, he expressed that they all share the success. "It's a collective thing," he told her. "Your mother, me, you, his other grandparents and everybody else that love him and want to see him make it."
A 31-year-old Philadelphia man was sentenced Friday in New Jersey state court to eight years in prison in connection with a 2015 car crash in Egg Harbor Township that killed the passenger in the vehicle he was driving, prosecutors said.

Rashad E. Caswell pleaded guilty in April to first-degree aggravated manslaughter for the death of Cierra J. Goodman, 27, of Sharon Hill.

Caswell was driving Goodman's 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix without a valid driver's license on Feb. 28, 2015, when he veered off the Atlantic City Expressway and down a steep embankment into a tree. Goodman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Three musicians process down South Street during the Odunde festival, June 11th, 2017. Read more

Sunday's 43rd annual Odunde Festival will feature many of its traditional aspects  like the noontime procession to the Schuylkill to honor the Yoruba river goddess Oshun. But missing from the nation's largest and longest-running African American festival this year will be the woman who started it all four decades ago with a $100 grant  Lois Fernandez.

Fernandez, a pillar in Philadelphia's African American community, died last Aug. 13 at age 81. On Saturday morning, the City of Philadelphia is honoring her legacy by the honorary naming of the 2300 block of South Street as "Lois Fernandez Way."

"Ms. Fernandez was a passionate advocate through her entire life for children, seniors, African Americans, and all people," said City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who introduced the street-naming resolution. "Her legacy is part of the fabric of our city of Philadelphia."

Fortunately for the Odunde Festival, Fernandez is survived by an energetic daughter, Bumi Fernandez-West.

Fernandez-West, 43, was an infant when the festival started in 1975. But with her mother's tutelage, she became the chief organizer 22 years ago.

"I didn't see how much my mother had sacrificed until I took it over," Fernandez-West said last year. "I didn't know how much it meant to the city of Philadelphia and the world until I got older.

"My mom always had me with her [and] trained me to continue her legacy," Fernandez-West said last week.

Thus the festival, which drew just a few hundred in that first year, brings in an estimated $28 million into the city each year, according to EConsult Solutions.

Fernandez-West said it is important for her to keep her mother's legacy alive, explaining that Fernandez battled breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and other illnesses while simultaneously ensuring Odunde went off without a hitch.

Fernandez-West is further preserving her mother's legacy by now teaching her two sons, Adeniyi Ogundana, 13, and Abayomi Ogundana, 10, how to run Odunde.

On Sunday, people from all over the world will gather on Lois Fernandez Way for the celebration of African culture and food that is Odunde.

This year, the festival, which has roots in the Yoruba and Ifa cultures of Nigeria, will span 15 city blocks and feature rapper KRS-One on the Queen Lois stage at South Street at 6 p.m. Inspirational speaker Iyanla Vanzant will be presented with the Oshun award at 4 p.m. on the same stage.

Fernandez-West said the award represents someone who "uplifts our community in a positive [manner], making it a better place."

Odunde runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is free.
Award-winning political cartoonist Rob Rogers is on vacation after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette began killing his cartoons critical of President Trump. Read more

>>UPDATE: Rogers says he's been fired as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's editorial cartoonist

After going a full week without seeing a single cartoon make it into the newspaper, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Rob Rogers got a cartoon about trade and the city's steel industry out to readers Tuesday.

But his cartoons soon again disappeared from the publication. Rogers, who has seen his work killed at an increasing pace since Keith Burris took over as the newspaper's editorial director in March, announced that he was taking a short vacation scheduled to last though Monday.

"Suffice it to say things are unresolved," Rogers said in an interview with the Inquirer and Daily News. "I am still employed at this point. I'm waiting each day to hear something."

Rogers, a Philadelphia native who at one time contributed cartoons to the Inquirer, has been the Post-Gazette's staff cartoonist since 1993. (Editor's note: Tornoe is also a cartoonist, but hasn't worked with Rogers.) In that time, the left-leaning cartoonist has skewered all sorts of politicians, both Democrat and Republican. Under previous editors, Rogers said, he's seen one or two cartoons killed a year, usually in instances that involved controversial subjects or issues could make readers uncomfortable.

"Pittsburgh is a big Catholic city, so there were definitely a few pedophile priests cartoons that were very controversial, and [my bosses] were sensitive to," Rogers said. "You could sort-of see what the reasoning was there."

But since Burris took over in March, Rogers has seen 19 cartoons or ideas spiked, most involving criticism of President Trump. What Rogers says has confused him the most are the non-Trump cartoons that have been killed, such as one he drew about the NFL's decision to ban players from protesting racial injustice during the national anthem.

Burris did not respond to multiple requests to comment, but he did issue a brief statement to Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA that read, "It's really a personnel matter which we are working hard to fix."

Burris added: "We have great respect for Rob and understand his importance to the community."

One killed cartoon that baffled Rogers was a panel poking fun at Roseanne Barr, who blamed a racist message she sent on Twitter in part on taking Ambien. Rogers' cartoon featured a man in a doctor's office dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes also blaming the popular sleep aid.

"Why didn't the Ambien cartoon run? It makes no sense. And that particular cartoon was a cartoon that I drew after my original idea, which compared Trump to Roseanne, was killed." Rogers said. He said he had been trying to work with Burris to figure out a way to get his cartoons back in the newspaper.

Instead, the paper ran a different Roseanne cartoon drawn by Kirk Walters, the staff cartoonist of the Post-Gazette's sister newspaper, the Toledo Blade.

Burris, who stoked controversy in January by writing a editorial defending Trump's criticism of immigrants from "shole countries," was made the editorial director by publisher John Robinson Block. Rogers said he had worked under Block for nearly 25 years without problem until the past few months.

"[Block] was championing me and my cartoons for decades, and managed to match two offers I had from other papers to keep me in Pittsburgh," Rogers said.

Block did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but did tell the Washington Post in a statement: "This is an internal, personnel matter we are working hard to resolve. It has little to do with politics, ideology or Donald Trump. It has mostly to do with working together and the editing process."

Block has been an outspoken supporter of Trump in recent years. In 2016, both Block and Burris spent time on Trump's private plane at the Toledo Express Airport following a campaign rally, according to the Toledo Blade.

"It doesn't take much to connect the dots between the absence of Rob's left-leaning cartoons and the recent arrival of a Trump-supporting editorial page editor," the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists said in a statement. "The editorial pages are a public forum, not a members-only private resort in Florida."

Rogers said the outpouring of support from readers has been overwhelming. Even Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a frequent target in Rogers' cartoons, offered his support in a statement on Twitter (while also pointing out he's not particularly fond of how Rogers draws him).

"Readers are also writing letters to the editor, which they're not publishing. But some of them have been c'd to me by the people writing the letters," Rogers said. "You think you're working in a bubble, and you don't get to watch when someone opens the paper and enjoys the cartoon. But you never imagine how many people are actually following and looking."

Rogers said he was hopeful he and the newspaper where he's spent the bulk of his career could find a way to move forward.

"I just want to do my job. I get excited about the possibility of drawing another cartoon and afflicting the comfortable and speaking truth to power," Rogers said. "I just want to get back to doing that. That's what I'm hoping they'll let me do. And if not, then I'll have to find another way to do it."

In addition to the two cartoons above, here are the eight other cartoons drawn by Rogers that have been spiked since March. All have been reprinted here with Rogers' permission:
President Donald Trump's administration excels at muddying the water, and the arrest of a former Senate aide, following an inquiry in which federal agents seized records from a New York Times reporter, might be its best work yet.

On one level, the case is fodder for righteous outrage in the media. Many journalists were alarmed 10 months ago when Attorney General Jeff Sessions called a news conference to announce a crackdown on leaks and said: "One of the things we are doing is reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas. We respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited."

In October, Sessions told the Senate Judiciary Committee he could not rule out jailing journalists who refuse to reveal their confidential sources.

"We always try to find an alternative . . . to directly confronting a media person," Sessions said. "But that's not a total, blanket protection."

Investigating alleged leaks by the former Senate aide, James A. Wolfe, the FBI did not subpoena or imprison journalist Ali Watkins but instead seized her communication records without her knowledge  an intrusion into the reporter-source relationship that is often essential to accountability journalism.

Yet this particular reporter-source relationship was also a romantic one, a twist that introduces questions about journalism ethics and could buttress Trump's characterization of reporters as creatures of the Washington swamp who will do anything for scoops.

The media's footing on the high ground is not so stable here. The Daily Beast's Will Sommer encapsulated the complexity of the situation when he tweeted Thursday night the government "shouldn't be seizing reporters' communications. On the other hand: Not a great look for the ol' Fourth Estate!"

Wolfe, 57, has been charged with lying to the FBI, which says he initially denied knowing Watkins before being confronted with photographs of the two of them together; he then admitted to a romantic relationship that began in 2014.

That year Watkins, then a 22-year-old senior at Temple University, helped McClatchy newspapers break a story related to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Wolfe was the committee's security director.

Temple boasted about Watkins' role in the scoop, at the time:

"Journalism major Ali Watkins spent some of her internship at McClatchy DC News hanging around elevators and locked doors  but not because she was idle. Rather, she was establishing relationships with people who might serve as sources for stories. And in December 2013, her creative persistence paid off.

"A breaking national story was the direct result of tips she received through unnamed sources with whom she has developed trusting relationships since she began reporting for McClatchy in May 2013."

Watkins' student email records were among those seized by the FBI during the investigation of Wolfe.

Thursday night on Twitter, New York Post columnist John Podheretz mocked Watkins' reporting.

"Say, what remarkable luck here for Ali Watkins in 2014!

Current and former colleagues of Watkins defended her work, however.

"Having @AliWatkins's back is easy. She's a great reporter, straight up, and thats the bottom line."

 Katie Rogers

"I've worked with @AliWatkins. She's among the most dogged out there. This is a gross, gross use government power and chilling decision on the part of the Trump adm"

 Sam Stein

"Now the @FBIis going to find out what I already know: @AliWatkinsis a damn good reporter & a hard-core @Eaglesfan."

 Kenneth P. Vogel

Andrew M. Seaman, who chairs the Society of Professional Journalists' ethics committee, argued for separating questions about a journalist's conduct from those about the propriety of FBI surveillance.

"SPJ's stance is that the code of journalism ethics are not and cannot be legally enforceable under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution," Seaman told me. "As a result, they should not be used against journalists or news organizations in legal actions or proceedings."

Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, said, "A romantic relationship seems to be 'noise,' not substance. I don't see any exceptions in the [attorney general] guidelines for situations where the reporter has a multidimensional relationship with her source. Certainly there are media ethics considerations here. It's hard to act independently, to use the SPJ code's words, if you are romantically involved with a source. But from a purely legal perspective, I don't think it is relevant, based on what we know now."

Nevertheless, Kirtley added: "I do think the [Justice Department] acts strategically. They bring cases where the law is unsettled but do so when they think other factors will influence judges and the public."
President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House on Oct. 11, 2017, in Washington D.C. President Trump reportedly incorrectly accused Canada of burning down the White House during a recent phone call. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS) Read more

President Trump's penchant for pummeling allies while pampering adversaries was on full display this weekend.

Before the G-7 summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, with Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, Trump had threatened to start a trade war  imposing on our closest allies steep tariffs on imported metals, on specious national security grounds. He also held ugly phone and Twitter exchanges with French President Emmanuel Macron.

On Saturday, he really went off the rails, refusing to sign a joint statement with the G-7 allies and tweeting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was "weak and dishonest." He threatened to "stop trading" with the allies if they didn't bend to his will.

Yet, when it came to America's adversaries, Trump was in full embrace mode. He demanded that Russia be reinvited to the G-7. When reminded by a reporter that Russia was kicked out because it invaded Ukraine, he blamed President Barack Obama for the invasion, then repeated his demand to "let [Russia] back in."

Nor did other autocrats go unrewarded. Trump also gave Beijing a huge gift  dropping sanctions against a Chinese telecom company that had threatened U.S. security. And he suggested he might invite North Korea's Kim Jong Un to the White House.

>> READ MORE: Trump-Kim summit: What to watch for when they meet in Singapore | Trudy Rubin

"We seem to want to punish our allies and befriend our enemies," said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.). Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) summed up Trump's behavior brilliantly: "Those nations that share our values and have sacrificed alongside us for decades are being treated with contempt."

Yes, if anyone had any doubts, Trump made clear in this past week that he would rather deal with the Putins, Xi Jinpings, and Kims of the world than the leaders of other major democracies.

How else can you explain Trump's behavior toward Canada, our close neighbor and second-largest trading partner, with which we share a language, history, values, and a peaceful border? While there are trade disputes between our countries, the overall balance of trade in goods and services is in America's favor.

"The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable," Trudeau told NBC last week. Yet in a testy phone call with Trudeau, Trump quipped, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?"  referring to the War of 1812. Of course, as usual, Trump had his facts wrong  it was the Brits who burned the White House.

But for Trump, infuriating allies with fake facts is just another day at the office. His push for a trade war with allies so threatens the U.S. economy that it has sparked a bipartisan effort in Congress to block him. As the Toronto Star wrote, Trump's "erratic, hostile behavior toward the United States' traditional allies is undermining Washington's credibility around the world."

>e> READ MORE: Putin's info war against America amplified by Trump | Trudy Rubin

The Trumped-up trade war is symptomatic of the president's cavalier attitude toward countries that share America's democratic values. It's not just that Trump has repeatedly denigrated NATO and the European Union. It's not only that he rejects efforts to curb climate change and abandoned the Iran nuclear deal, despite intense efforts by European leaders to work out a tougher joint approach toward Tehran. It's not simply that he showed, in his astounding attacks on Trudeau and Macron, that he can't stand any legitimate criticism from our closest friends.

What worries U.S. allies most is that Trump favors European populist parties of the far right  which stir fear and division  over traditional democratic parties. And he prefers autocrats like Putin to democrats like Germany's Angela Merkel and Macron.

Just last week, Trump's newly appointed ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, a former Fox News commentator, stirred up immense anger by saying it was his goal to "empower" anti-establishment conservative forces in Europe. This was taken as a direct challenge to Merkel (a conservative but not a populist). When the German government protested, the Trump administration backed Grenell.

No one benefits more from Trump's disdain for onetime Western partners than Putin. Trump's insistence that Putin should be restored to the former G-8 is an unreciprocated gift to Moscow. So is talk of a Trump summit with Putin  unless the president confronts the Russian leader about his cyber espionage in Europe and the United States.

>> READ MORE: Will Trump's deal-making backfire and embroil U.S. in new wars? | Trudy Rubin

Yet Trump has displayed little taste for pushing back against strongmen with whom he holds summits. Witness the dropped tariffs against China's ZTE telecom company. "ZTE is a much greater national security threat than steel from  Europe," tweeted Florida's GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.

Yet Trump was willing to do this favor for Xi, in a case where tariffs were fully justified, when he won't listen to Macron or Trudeau.

So what motivates Trump's love for autocrats? He clearly feels more comfortable with them than he does with Western democratic leaders. Autocrats can act solo (and don't have to worry about the rule of law, a Trump dream, as we saw last week). The president thinks he can do great deals mano a mano with tough guys.

On the contrary. As he undermines the alliances that multiply American strength, Trump is making Putin and Xi stronger. He is isolating America from its allies. He may prefer the axis of autocrats to the G-7, but those autocrats are out to weaken and isolate this country. Lost in his narcissism, Trump is eagerly helping our adversaries achieve their goals.
Ronnie Breslow speaks at the National Museum of American Jewish History, during the program, "Remembering the St. Louis: The Consequences of Turning Away Refugees." Read more

Ronnie Breslow was close enough to the United States to see the shining city lights. But her entry into the country was blocked, and she was forced back to a troubled and dangerous land.

It wasn't this year. And it wasn't at a Southwest American border awash in fear and conflict, as the Trump administration enforces a "zero tolerance" policy toward migrants.

It was 1939, and Breslow, of Elkins Park, was an 8-year-old passenger aboard the St. Louis, the ship of 937 Jewish refugees that in flight from Nazi Germany was infamously turned away by the U.S., Canada, and Cuba. More than 250 of the passengers would die in the Holocaust after the ship returned to Europe.

"I see history repeating itself," Breslow said last week.

Breslow, now 88, spoke at the National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall at what is again a precarious moment. The world is experiencing the worst refugee crisis since World War II, with 22.5 million people forced from their countries, half of them under age 18. The U.S. is poised to admit the lowest number of refugees in decades.

Refugees from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America await a chance to come to this country. Meanwhile, families from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala trek north to escape drug violence, gangs and poverty.

In 1938, after the wave of violence across Germany and Austria during Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," Jews became desperate to escape the Nazis.

Breslow's father wrote to every overseas relative he knew, and heard back from a distant cousin in Philadelphia. Passports and ship tickets grew precious. Breslow's family managed to wangle one ticket to Cuba and decided the father should go first. She and her mother would follow, then all three would travel to America.

The liner departed Hamburg on May 13, 1939. For a child, the trip across the Atlantic was a grand adventure.

Mother and daughter believed all would be well, because they had legal "landing certificates" to admit them to Cuba. But the island nation, like the U.S., was still suffering from the Great Depression. Many people saw foreign refugees as competition for scarce jobs. Anti-Semitism was rife.

In the 1920s, the U.S. had set a strict numerical limit on immigration, about 350,000, then cut that number to 165,000. Quotas were placed on sending European nations.

When the St. Louis arrived at Havana on May 27, Breslow said, her father appeared in the harbor in a tiny rowboat, waving his arms in greeting.

Her father's embrace, safety, was so close.

But the passengers weren't allowed off. Day after day, Breslow asked her mother when they would leave the ship. The answer was always, "Tomorrow."

In fact, Cuba had invalidated the landing certificates. Only 28 passengers who held other papers were admitted, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

On June 2, the ship was ordered out of Cuba, and moved slowly toward Miami. The passengers stared at the lights of Miami Beach, Breslow said.

Capt. Gustav Schroeder pleaded with authorities for help. He was determined not to return to Germany, knowing that meant death for his passengers.

People aboard sent telegrams to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, asking for refuge. He did not reply. With public opinion opposed to additional immigration, he decided to take no special measures to assist those aboard the St. Louis.

"The president would not allow us into the United States," Breslow said. "Nobody apparently cared enough to help us."

For 2018, Trump capped refugee admissions at 45,000, the lowest figure since Congress created the current refugee program in 1980, and less than half the 110,000 set by President Barack Obama in 2016.

Because of slow processing, said Cathryn Miller-Wilson, executive director of the immigrant-advocacy group HIAS Pennsylvania, probably only 22,000 will actually be admitted to the U.S.

Many people approve of that: Forty-three percent of Americans say the United States has no responsibility to accept refugees; 51 percent say it does, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April and May.

After leaving Cuba, the St. Louis circled in the Atlantic. In June, following negotiations with Jewish relief agencies, England, the Netherlands, Belgium and France agreed to take the refugees. Those havens would later turn out to be no havens at all when the Nazis invaded and controlled all but England.

Breslow and her mother made their way from Holland to the U.S., reconnecting with the father in New York. Much of her family "was never able to get out of Germany in time, and were murdered," she said.

"I caution all of us, with the turbulence around today, we have to remain vigilant, so we don't lose this precious gift called freedom."
On the afternoon of Oct. 31, 1963, John W. Terry and Richard Chilton, black men in their early 30s, were standing on a street in downtown Cleveland. A white man approached Terry and Chilton, talked to them for a few minutes, and left. Detective Martin McFadden, a white 62-year-old officer on the force for 39 years, saw them and thought their behavior was suspicious.

A couple of minutes later, Terry and Chilton started walking after the white man. When the three men congregated outside a men's store, McFadden decided to act.

According to his own police report, McFadden searched the three men even though he had no evidence that a crime was being committed. McFadden found pistols on Terry and Chilton. They were arrested, charged, and convicted of concealed carrying. McFadden told the court he believed the men were, "casing a job, a stick-up."

At the time, in order to seize someone temporarily and search him, the burden of evidence was on police officers to show probable cause, as laid out in the Fourth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court had explained that probable cause is a combination of the officer's experience and "reasonably trustworthy information."

>> READ MORE: Mayor Kenney's promise to end 'stop and frisk' somehow got arrested | Editorial

Terry decided to appeal to the Supreme Court, arguing that McFadden had no probable cause to support his fear that Terry and Chilton were armed. As such, the search was illegal and the evidence should not be used in court, he maintained.

Terry v. Ohio should have been a slam-dunk. After all, this was the Warren Court. The court of "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." The court with the the first black justice, Thurgood Marshall. It was the court that held that every criminal defendant has a right to counsel, that police officers must recite the rights of suspects during an arrest, and that evidence can't be obtained in violation of the Constitution.

But on June 10, 1968, the court almost unanimously (eight of nine) held that McFadden acted lawfully because he had reasonable suspicion, "in light of his experience that criminal activity may be afoot." Stop-and-frisk was born.

For 50 years, many people of color have faced the unfortunate consequences of the Terry decision.

Courts all over the country have been trying to fix stop-and-frisk. But stop-and-frisk can't be fixed; it must be abolished. Research  including my own from my time at Hunter College  has shown that stop-and-frisk is racially biased, leads to trauma and anxiety in young men, and diminishes the legitimacy of the police. Further, there seems to be no relationship between stops and crime. Four years after New York City dramatically cut the number of stops, it had the lowest crime rate since the 1950s, leading the conservative National Review to declare "we were wrong on stop-and-frisk."

>> READ MORE: Terry v. Ohio: The decision behind 'stop-and-frisk' still stands, 50 years after the Supreme Court ruled | Opinion

The lone dissenter in Terry, Justice William O. Douglas, called the constitutionality of Terry's search a "mystery." Douglas warned that allowing police to conduct stops without probable cause was "a long step down the totalitarian path." Half a century and millions of stops later, America is the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world and a justice system that has been called "the new Jim Crow."

One of the most consistent things about stop-and-frisk is that police officers are incapable of meeting even the extremely low bar of reasonable suspicion. A recent analysis of stops in Philadelphia found that one in five lacked reasonable suspicion.

Reasonable suspicion is often estimated as about 20 percent certainty. That would mean, for example, that because the legal standard for a frisk is reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed, about one in five frisks should result in a firearm recovered. The reality is much grimmer. The rate in Philadelphia in 2017 was one in 49. How reasonable could a suspicion be if it is verified to be true less than 2 percent of the time? That's not suspicion, it's paranoia.

In Philadelphia, the majority of stops are of black pedestrians who are "over 75 percent more likely to be frisked than white detainees," according to the ACLU of PA's latest report. Furthermore, frisks were more likely to occur in predominantly black neighborhoods.

The Philadelphia Police Department is not an outlier but the norm. In Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and almost any city that has released data on stop-and-frisk, police exhibit a pattern of racial bias and inability to justify stops.

>> READ MORE: 'You feel very helpless.' Philadelphians share their stop-and-frisk stories | Perspective

Courts have been trying to fix stop-and-frisk. In 2011, the City of Philadelphia settled a case brought by the ACLU of PA. The court ordered multiple "fixes" for the practice.

Stop-and-frisk can't be fixed. It needs to be abolished. As long as police officers are allowed to stop pedestrians based on reasonable suspicion, people of color will not be free of unreasonable search and seizure.

Overturning Terry v. Ohio should become a part of the progressive agenda, like saving Roe v. Wade or abolishing Citizens United. To do that, we need a progressive court. That will take a long time.

Until then, the Philadelphia Police Department can learn from District Attorney Larry Krasner, who showed that policy memos can drive change without waiting for legislators or a court to act. Philadelphia police should abolish Terry in Philadelphia by requiring officers to be able to articulate probable cause for all pedestrian stops. That would be a long step on the path away from totalitarianism.

Abraham Gutman is an economist and writer in Philadelphia. He holds a masters in economics from Hunter College, where he conducted research on stop-and-frisk. @abgutman
The effectiveness of stop-and-frisk policies as a valid crime deterrent has been questioned. Read more

It didn't take long after Mayor Kenney was elected in 2015 for him to begin dialing back on his campaign promise that "stop and frisk will end in Philadelphia, no question."

In a gymnastic exercise reminiscent of Bill Clinton's defining the word is, Kenney later explained that he didn't mean Philadelphia police would no longer stop and frisk people, but that they would try harder to avoid racial profiling in deciding whom to accost.

"What we are going to stop is the random stopping of people, Latinos and African Americans, on the street and the cop asking, 'What are you doing here?' and making them empty their bag and empty their pockets. There is a balance between crime-fighting and being oppressive," Kenney said in a 2016 interview with the Al Dia News editorial board.

He's got that right. But more than a decade after Mayor Michael Nutter ratcheted up the use of stop-and-frisk as a tactic to reduce gun violence in Philly, police too often size up possible suspects by race and ethnicity in deciding whom to pat down.

That was confirmed by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which in 2011 settled a lawsuit that contended stop-and-frisk, as practiced in Philadelphia, was racially biased. The settlement included a provision allowing the ACLU to monitor the program, but the city wasn't ordered to end it.

>> READ MORE: Terry v. Ohio: The decision behind 'stop-and-frisk' still stands, 50 years after the Supreme Court ruled | Opinion

Kenney recently reported that since his taking office the number of "pedestrian stops" by police had dropped 50 percent, and that a similar reduction had occurred in the number of stops that occur "without reasonable suspicion." But people of color still represent the majority of people stopped and frisked.

Police data show blacks were 50 percent of all pedestrians stopped and frisked last year, while whites were 37 percent. But blacks were 69 percent of all those detained and searched indoors, while whites were only 39 percent.

The indoor statistic becomes more glaring after last month's wrongful arrest of two African American men inside a Center City Starbucks.

But evidence suggests profiling by police isn't limited to individuals. Entire neighborhoods are being stereotyped based on how many blacks live in them.

That was the finding made by Villanova professor Lance Hannon, whose research of police data showed about 70 percent more frisks occurred in black neighborhoods, even in communities with very low crime rates.

So, what's the point? Nutter justified his use of stop and frisk as a desire to get more guns off the street. But besides the fact that few guns are actually retrieved, stop-and-frisk is being employed in neighborhoods where gun violence is an anomaly, and where blacks feel like suspects just because they are black.

Kenney's earlier tap dance on stop-and-frisk rightly pointed out the Constitution gives police the right to search criminal suspects. But suspicion of criminal activity must be based on much more than skin color, choice of attire, or the neighborhood a person calls home.

It's time to take another look at stop-and-frisk; more training appears necessary. Progress has been made since the ACLU suit settlement, but walking while black, driving while black, and even sitting while black still seem to constitute a crime in the minds of too many cops.
SOE equitisation lets down investors

Even though the government has been trying its best to boost the equitisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to attract private investors over the past few years, the poor performance and small sales percentage of many such enterprises have disheartened many interested parties.













These days, representatives from Indonesias embassy in Hanoi are actively trying to find ways to connect Indonesian enterprises with Vietnamese firms. They have worked with state-owned Vietnam Railway Corporation on finding opportunities for Indonesian firms to provide training, equipment, and consultancy, or even buy stakes in the corporation.



The railway firm (VRC) is planning to restructure its two subsidiaries, which are valued at about VND1.3 trillion ($57.7 million) in total.



Indonesian firms are interested in the equitisation of SOEs in many sectors including railway, oil and gas, electricity, and agriculture, an embassy representative told VIR.



However, the poor performance of many SOEs is discouraging not only to Indonesians, but to many other foreign investors, keeping them from purchasing stakes. Moreover, the particularly small rate of SOE stakes offered to foreign firms also makes it hard for foreign investors to engage in the operation of SOEs. This will prevent Vietnam from mobilising more foreign capital, he stressed.



Poor performance



The National Assembly (NA) was heated up last week as never before had a report by the National Assembly Supervisory Delegation on SOEs adherence to regulations on managing and using state capital during the period 2011-2016 been presented to all NA members.



In addition to highlighting some successful SOE equitisation cases, the report also showed a disheartening picture of SOEs six-year operations, with many firms suffering from losses.



Specifically, in 2015, the return-on-equity (ROE) of SOEs was only 2.1 per cent, far lower than the 5.5 per cent of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). Investment effectiveness of SOEs was also lower than that of Vietnams domestic private enterprises and FIEs, with the incremental capital output ratio (ICOR) in the 2011-2016 period of SOEs being 1.6 and 1.86 times higher than those of domestic private enterprises and FIEs, respectively.



In addition, during the 2011-2016 period, the ROE ratio of all SOEs was down by 39 per cent, and their return-on-asset decreased by 30 per cent.



Some SOEs have performed poorly, with great losses. Some SOEs  including PetroVietnam, Vinachem, EVN, and Vinacomin  have been found riddled with corruption and wastefulness, leading to state assets lost, said the report.



According to the report, SOEs information transparency even barely exists. Many SOEs were found to have committed serious violations in managing and using state capital, as well as investment procedures, leading to great losses of state capital.



For example, PetroVietnam lost VND800 billion ($35.55 million) due to its illegal investment in OceanBank. Vinacomin may suffer a loss of VND363.3 billion ($16.15 million) due to its ineffective overseas investments. Vinachem put VND6.84 trillion ($304 million), or 53.8 per cent of the firms financial investment capital, in long-term investments in five companies, and this investment may be difficult to recoup, according to the report.



Some SOEs also face a high debt-to-equity ratio, including Ca Mau Shipping Industries One-member Co., Ltd. (153.92) and Nam Can Port One-member Co., Ltd. (17.69). Meanwhile, some have provided their subsidiaries with loans which cannot be paid back, including Vinalines (VND457 billion/$20.3 million), Vinataba (VND60 billion/$2.67 million), Rubber Industry Group (VND102 billion/$4.53 million), and Phu Rieng Rubber One-member Co., Ltd. (VND180.6 billion/$8 million).



Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry representing Vietnams business community, told the NA that the management and usage of state capital and assets in SOEs in the 2011-2016 period was a sad situation.



SOEs should have played a leading role in the economy, but werent able to due to their ineffective operations. Their ICOR has always been far higher than those of domestic private enterprises and FIEs, said Loc, who is also an NA member representing the northern province of Thai Binh.



For example, in 2016, SOEs spent $10 to earn $1 worth of growth. However, domestic private enterprises and FIEs used only $5 and $6, respectively, to earn $1 worth of growth, Loc said.



Moreover, SOEs ROE has been not only very low, but also decreasing, from 6.5 per cent in 2012 to 4.6 per cent in 2016. What is more, SOEs revenue only rose by a mere 3 per cent in the 2011-2016 period.



Ironically, SOEs are performing poorly while the rest of the economy is bouncing back, with growth quality vastly improved. This means SOEs are generally going against the uptrend of the economy, Loc said.



State control remains



For more than two decades, the government has been boosting SOE equitisation as a way to attract more private investment and improve SOEs competitiveness. However, the desired results have not been achieved.



According to the report, despite equitisation, the state currently remains a major holder of SOEs stake, with the amount of stakes offered for sale still very low. Many SOEs only offer a negligible rate of 1-2 per cent of total stake to private investors. This has made it hard to attract private capital.



In late 2016, there were 583 firms where 100 per cent of charter capital was still held by the state.



In the 2011-2016 period, 426 enterprises completed their initial public offering (IPO). After these IPOs, total charter capital of these firms was VND184.254 trillion ($8.2 billion), of which 81.1 per cent was held by the state. Other stake holders include strategic investors (7.3 per cent), employees (1.6 per cent), trade unions (0.6 per cent), and other types of investors (9.4 per cent).



Breaking down the figures of these SOEs after their IPOs shows that 70 firms have the state occupying over 90 per cent of charter capital, including 15 groups and corporations such as Petrolimex (95 per cent), VnSteel (93.6 per cent), Vietnam Airlines (95.5 per cent), Airports Corporation of Vietnam (92.5 per cent), Lilama (98 per cent), and Viglacera (93 per cent).



In addition, 82 firms have over 65 per cent of stake held by the state, including Ha Tinh Trade and Mineral Corporation (83 per cent); Binh Dinh Export-Import Service, Investment, and Production Corporation (86.8 per cent); Cienco 8 (78.4 per cent); and Vietnam Livestock Corporation (78 per cent). In addition, the state also held more than 50 per cent of stake in 96 other SOEs, including Vinatex (53 per cent), Vietnam Pharmacy (65 per cent), and Vietnam Forestry Corporation (51 per cent).



Small percentages on offer



The Indonesian embassy representative told VIR that the equitisation process may prove to be meaningless, as the majority of SOE stakes were still kept by the state, which should perform the function of a regulator and facilitator, not that of a trader.



The government needs to clarify SOEs operations and equitisation. What can foreign investors do after they buy their stakes? Foreign investors want to see whether their rights can be protected after a stake purchase. They need to have the management rights to protect their investment in the enterprises, the representative said.



He said that if the government wishes to maximise revenue from equitisation and increase investor confidence, it is particularly necessary to deliver a transparent equitisation and divestment process, with all information about enterprises provided to investors.



According to NA members, many SOEs still only sell 1-2 per cent of their charter capital, with some calling it hardly even equitisation and even meaningless.



If the state continues to control the stakes, the performance of enterprises cannot be changed, because they are still managed by old people who are often unwilling to sell the stakes to private investors, said deputy Leo Thi Lich representing the northern province of Bac Giang.



Deputy Tran Van Minh representing the northern province of Quang Ninh stressed that with such low stake rates being on offer, SOEs will not be able to attract private investors, especially strategic ones.



If investors have a larger ownership rate, they can further pursue the reform of SOEs. It is extremely important to increase the ownership rate of strategic investors, who can bring in healthy financial sources and high technologies, as well as access to strong markets. This will ultimately benefit the state budget, Minh said. Reality shows that over the past few years, not many deals involving strategic investors have been made.



Currently, about eight deals between large SOEs and foreign strategic investors have been completed. The largest equitisation case in Vietnam so far was in 2013, with Japans Bank of Tokyo-Misubishi UFJ acquiring 20 per cent of VietinBanks stake for $743 million.



The remaining deals have had small stakes sold to foreign investors, such as Carlsbergs 17.08 per cent stake ($115 million) in Habeco, Mizuhos 15 per cent stake ($550 million) in Vietcombank, ANAs 8.77 per cent stake ($109 million) in Vietnam Airlines, HSBCs 18 per cent stake ($350 million) in Bao Viet Insurance, JX Nippon and Energys 10 per cent stake ($117 million) in Petrolimex, and Itochus 5 per cent stake in Vinatex.



Many have proposed that the government review the equitisation of all SOEs, including NA deputy Mai Thi Anh Tuyet from the southern province of An Giang.



Only SOEs operating in key sectors of the economy should be kept, and the remaining SOEs should be transformed into joint stock companies, Tuyet said.



Tony Foster, managing partner of Freshfields Vietnam, said foreign investors stand ready to spend billions of dollars on stakes in hundreds of Vietnamese SOEs, but they do not know how to do it.



It is because everything remains unclear. Why are large strategic sales still stuck? Foreign investors are facing many difficulties in participating in SOEs equitisation. The biggest obstacles are prices, the lack of transparency in the processes, the small percentages for sale, and unclear assets and rights, Foster said.



For example, the time it takes to complete equitisation is too long, while the stakes on sale remain too small. It has also been suggested that the government remove the foreign shareholding cap of 49 per cent to attract more potential investors that may be interested in the controlling rights of certain companies, he said.



The Indonesian embassy representative suggested that Indonesian firms are waiting for the government to lift the cap to 50 or 51 per cent.



The existing cap of 49 per cent is preventing foreign stake purchases, money flows, and especially governmental effort to achieve successful divestment of its SOEs. It is also causing difficulties for the government in mobilising more capital from private investors, which is sorely needed, considering the limited state budget, he said.



According to the Ministry of Finance, results from the equitisation of 350 SOEs in 2015 showed that one year after equitisation, these firms saw an increase in pre-tax profits (49 per cent), charter capital (72 per cent), total assets (39 per cent), and revenue (29 per cent). For example, Vinamilk saw its revenue rise 10-fold, with equity increasing 13-fold.



VIR






Uganda Police has issued a statement confirming the identity of the person who was gruesomely assassinated yesterday evening alongside the late Col. Ibrahim Abiriga at Kirinyabigo in Kawanda, Wakiso district.

Said Kongo, 48 has been identified by family members as the late Abirigas brother and immediate follower.

The bodies of the deceased are currently at Mulago Referral Hospital for Post Mortem.

Uganda Police and other security agencies have had their boots on ground since last evening and have promised Ugandans that they will do all they can to bring the criminals to book.

The cheerful and humorous NRM diehard Arua Municipality MP, Ibrahim Abiriga was yesterday evening heartlessly assassinated alongside his brother while on his way home in Kawanda where he was to break his fast.

He was riding in his yellow beetle vintage car, under registration number, UBB 107D.

Burial will take place on Monday at his ancestral home in Arua district.

Related
The killers of Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga and his brother and body guard Said Kongo, 48, first did a surveillance of his movements in Kirinyabigo village, Kayi Zone, Kawanda before executing their mission on Friday, PML Daily has learnt.

According to area residents, from Friday morning, they had seen about 4 strangers in the area seemingly trying to survey and understand the place.

Initially, I thought they were looking for a house to rent given this area is fast emerging, with many people settling in, said Isma Kakooza, a resident who witnessed the shooting.

Kakooza said the men were in plain, civilian clothes and had a boda boda without number plates.

It is these men he said he later saw with guns fleeing the scene of the shooting.

Another woman, who owns a shop near the scene of the shooting but who preferred to remain anonymous, said at the time of the shooting, she saw about four men, some with hooded faces and others without any thing to hide their faces.

She said the men seemed to have planned the attack as some shot from behind the car and others in front.

These killers were very confident and did not seem bothered about onlookers. When I heard gunshots, I struggled to close my shop and then saw them. Some had covered their faces while another even had ear phones and had not covered himself. When he saw me looking at him, he pointed a gun at home and I had to close myself inside the shop, she added.

Another witness only identified as Kato said some of the assailants shot at Abirigas car from behind while others shot from the front, forcing him to veer off the road and hit the nearby jackfruit tree.

According to Kato, the men even approached the car, further shot more bullets inside and then took off.

The assailants targeted when he had gone off the main road and was only about 300 metres away from his home.

Some came from behind the car while others came from the front.

Area residents said Abiriga, at the time of shooting, was on his way home to break the fast since he is a Muslim who has been respecting the Ramadhan period.

Kato said the legislator was well loved in the area since he often stopped his car to greet anyone he met on the way.

According to Kakooza, he often stopped to give sweets or chocolate to children.

Initially, we did not know him but after we saw him in the news talking about his support for NRM and then the yellow colors of his car and his clothes, we started recognising him, he said.

However, Kakooza said Abiriga was a humble man who did not deserve to be killed in such gruesome manner.

If anyone in this village said he ever quarrelled with Abiriga, he would be lying. This man was very good to everyone. Why would someone kill him, he said.

Residents at the time of his death, he was not putting on his famous yellow suits but was rather putting on a long tunic.

He was also driving himself at the time of the accident, having fired his driver months ago.

The assailants are said to have dropped a phone at the scene but police did not confirm this and instead said they dropped a gun.

Residents said police officers started arriving at the scene about 40 minutes later before sealing it off.

The murder has shaken the nation, raising further questions about the capacity of the security agencies to stop crime.

According to senior officers handling the investigation, the killers are highly organized, sophisticated people.

The killers of former police spokesperson Andrew Kaweesi, senior prosecutor Joan Kagezi and Major Kiggundu, the husband to Mama Phina used the same methods: rapid shooting and taking off using a boda boda.

This, the officer said, indicates that these could be the same perpetrators.

Related
KAMPALA  MTN Uganda, the giant telecommunications network could lose billions of shillings in a new commercial suit at high court in Kampala.

This follows a case in which a leading value-added service company has dragged them to high court seeking compensation of Shs24.5 billion for illegally taking over their database and expiring their databases of mobile phone numbers that they spent 8 years compiling.

Through their lawyers Akampumuza & Co Advocates, SMS Empire has slammed a Shs24B suit on telecommunications giant MTN Uganda over an alleged breach of contract.

SMS Empire Ltd further alleges that MTN has been sending monetized content to phone numbers which initially belonged to their databases.

In a suit filed before the High Court in Kampala [Miscellaneous cause no 104 of 2018], SMS empire Ltd claims that MTN Uganda has grabbed their data base, business and withheld payment of about Shs3 billion that was supposed to be paid to them for the services.

SMS Empire Ltd registered in June 2010 was licensed by UCC to provide content to the telecom industry; sending bulk messages [SMSs], News, Software development, content subscription management, SMS2 phone messages, corporate partnerships and advertising government programmes in various ministries.

SMS Empire Ltd claim against MTN Uganda and UCC jointly is for an order of engaging in and supporting activities breaching national and citizens security which amounts to treasonable offence under the penal code contrary to SEC 36 [2] of the UCC Acts and in alternative damages for breach of contract, reads notice of notice dated 11 May.

SMS Empire accuses MTN of breach of contract and they allege that MTN arbitrarily amended their terms of contract and engagement by introducing farcical monthly fees of up to Shs 5 million (about $1,380).

The suit does not sound well since communications regulator, UCC, recently announced that MTN would be applying for renewal of its license for another 10-years and invited the public object and unfurl MTNs misgivings ahead of UCCs evaluation report released February 2018 ahead of a public hearing on the same matter.

This comes barely a month after MTN came in the spotlight again when an association of VAS providers has petitioned the President, the parliament and UCC to investigate MTN Uganda on several allegations of violating contracts, anti-competition, under-declaring revenue, and withholding payments to companies.

According to economists, this could push the Telecom giant MTN Uganda troubled into deeper financial crisis.

Mr Mutsibika Silva Musubika, the director of SMS Empire said while executing their work, they fully obeyed the guidelines, conditions in the agreement and that they would later also pay MTN and taxes to Uganda Revenue Authority.

Ever since MTN arbitrarily took over our data base in December 2014 allocated to us by UCC to provide SMS services, they have been using it illegally and thereby causing us to suffer loss, mental anguish for being unemployed and damages, said Mr Mutsubika.

He explained that on top of this, MTM also withheld their Shs 3billion that was supposed to be paid to SMS fame media empire Ltd for the services rendered.

When contacted for a comment, the MTN Uganda public Relations officer Mr Anthony Katamba said he is aware of SMS Empire and that there is a suit that has been on-going over the alleged breach of contract.

He explained that SMS Empire was a content provider to MTN subscribers and that SMS Empire is making allegations against MTN Uganda What I know is that they were content providers to our MTN subscribers but they ceased,

He said as MTN, they have not breached any contract and that the MTN subscribers they are using were and are their customers.

SMS Empire (U) Ltd is located in Kampala, Uganda and prior to the grabbing of their Database by MTN Uganda was working in Advertising, SMS marketing, Communications, SMS services business activities etc.

SMS Empire (U) Ltd is located in Kampala, Uganda and prior to the grabbing of their Database by MTN Uganda was dealing in sending bulk messages [SMSs], News, Software development, content subscription management, SMS2 phone messages, corporate partnerships and advertising government programmes in various ministries.

Through his lawyers Akampumuza & Co advocates Mr Mutsubika says that MTN has committed serious and repeated breaches of the licence conditions, fraud, engaged and supported activities breaching national and citizens security which amounts to treason under the penal code contrary to S36 [2] of the UCC Act.

Take notice that of 4 July 2018 at 3.000clock in the forenoon or soon thereafter as the case can be heard counsel for the client named applicant and will move this honourable court for the following clients by way of judicial review, reads the suit in part signed by high court in Kampala.

Court documents seen by PML Daily indicate that upon grabbing the data base when the SMS Empire Ltd complained to UCC, UCC later discovered that the data base was being illegally used by MTN without licence but did nothing to rectify the matter.

The applicant lost income of Shs 13, 2, 279, 440, 967.54 [USD 3, 575, 195] as a result of this, the applicant is seeking Shs 5, 571, 148, 614.45 [USD 1,500.000] being money for prospective income of one year and also seeks Shs 3, 714, 099, 076.30 [USD 1million] being legal consultancy plus 10% being the legal expenses spent on the suit, reads a copy of the valuation report signed by commissioner of oaths Mr Kizza Ssekitoleko and Ampumuza % Co advocates, the applicants lawyers.

The SMS Empire Ltd asserts that due to the continued illegal use of the data base by MTN, their business has suffered severe financial losses since December 2014 to date for which the two entities [MTN Uganda and UCC] should be held accountable. Court has not set the date for hearing the case on 4 July 2018.

Dr James Akampumuza, a lawyer and lecturer said lack of an explicit national competition policy and regulatory agency has given telecom players the gap to collude into veritable gangs of giants; charge high interconnection fees to new and small market entrants, abuse agreements and contracts with SMS Empire Ltd.

Related
Police have dismissed claims of insecurity in Arua and Nebbi Park areas in Kampala.

Reports earlier this morning have been making rounds on social media following the murder of Col. Ibrahim Abiriga last evening at Kawanda in Wakiso district.

Speaking to PML DAILY Saturday afternoon, Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Luke Oweyesigire dismissed the insecurity claims, in his words saying: The situation is under control, there is no cause for alarm, there is no insecurity as claimed.

Social media has been awash with messages warning the public from going it to Arua and Nebbi Park areas saying people from the West Nile are bitter and want to lynch anyone who isnt from their region, saying they need answers for the death of their beloved Abiriga.

Police continues to ask for calm and patience from the public as they investigate the gruesome murder of Abiriga and his brother, Said Kongo.

Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima also echoed his Kampala counterparts dismissal of the claims saying: Its not true. Our officers have verified and found it untrue. Its peaceful in that part of Kampala [Arua Park].

Related
Lois and Bob Schmidt are hosting a celebration for Bobs 90th birthday. It will be held on June 16, 2018 at the Eyota American Legion Hall. Light Supper will be served after 5:00 PM. Dance or listen to music by the Minnesota Polka Dots starting at 6:30 PM.
No, really  Dr. Matteson literally ended his career riding out of downtown Rochester on a horse. Colleague Dan Schafferorganized the event, including support from the local police department. Another co-worker, Lexie Davis, supplied the horses from her familys farm.

The horses had parade experience, "so they were very calm. I was very excited," Matteson said. As part of the festivities, his wife, Herta,graciously posed on a horse for photographs. "She doesnt really care for horses," Matteson said.

Matteson grew up on a Nebraska farm, riding the horses owned by neighbor farmers. As an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska, he earned a scholarship to study in Germany, where he met his wife. Matteson remained in Germany for medical school. In 1988, he and Herta came to Rochester, where he joined the rheumatology faculty at Mayo Clinic.

"Through my maternal grandmother, I am related to Jimmy Baker, who was a premier rider in the Buffalo Bills Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders around the turn of the last century," Matteson said. "I knew I would never have a career on a horse, but some years ago I got the crazy idea I could end it on a horse."

Retirement finds Dr. Matteson and Herta back in Germany spending time with family and friends. They will then head to Christchurch, New Zealand, with plans to return to Rochester in the spring of 2019. While Matteson doesnt have any specific horse activities on the calendar, he hopes to add them to future adventures.

Living in the mom-ent

Rochester native Becky Montpetit, owner of the Rochester MN Moms Blog (one of 81 "sister sites" under the umbrella of the City Moms Blog network), works daily to balance both motherhood and her mom-centric business.

Whether Becky is working before her family awakens, during naptime, or spending time at Collider Coworking (shared office space downtown), she is building a strong community for Rochester mothers.

Beckys personal goals reflect her passion for both motherhood and her hometown.

"I want to help women build their networks  to provide opportunities for moms to come alongside moms in their varied motherhood journeys," she said.

While pregnant with her second child, a college friend (who also owns the Twin Cities Moms Blog site) encouraged her to launch the business. In October 2015, seven weeks before her son was born, the site went live.

Describing the objectives for the blog, Montpetit shared that they were threefold:

"Consistency (so our readers knew we were in it for the long run), accuracy (theres nothing worse than going to a resource site and finding out-of-date information!), and relevancy (whatever were publishing better be helpful and relatable)."

With a leadership staff of six and a team of 28 volunteer writers, the blog posts new content six days per week. The online resources are vast. A member of the writing team may share a birth story or advice about sending a child off to college; other posts are more resource-based and provide guidance from selecting a local preschool to great day trips in the area to tips for those relocating to Rochester.

In the two-plus years of existence, the site has grown beyond "just" an online community. In addition to the blog itself, there is an online discussion community where moms can exchange ideas and support one another. Once a strong following had been achieved, Montpetit began organizing and facilitating "live" opportunities for mothers, including coffee hours, play dates, and a full-morning event with vendors and speakers devoted to new and expectant moms.

"My heart swells when I see our readers gather together," Becky said.

Learn more about the blog at rochestermn.citymomsblog.com.
This is one of those blogging equivalents to Hannibal Smith on the A-Team, who liked to sign off with, I love it when a plan comes together! In this case, I get to say, I love it when a Civil War on the Left entry writes itself.

This, from Robert Kuttner at the left-leaning American Prospect:

Race, Class, and Loyalty. Ayanna Pressley, 44, is a respected African American member of the Boston City Council. A one-time political director for John Kerry, she was the first black woman ever to be elected to the council, in 2010. And she won citywide, in an at-large district.

In January, Pressley, calling for new leadership, surprised many observers by challenging incumbent progressive U.S. Representative Mike Capuano, a 66-year-old white guy, in the upcoming Democratic primary for Massachusettss Seventh District. Capuano is popular and well-entrenched in this majority-white seat.

This week, the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Capuano over Pressley. Earlier, Representative John Lewis, the civil rights icon, went out of his way to back Capuano, calling him a fierce advocate for those who have often been forgotten or left behind.

Capuano has an exemplary record in supporting goals and policies important to African Americans. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, as are most members of the Black Caucus.

But whats the right principle here? Blacks and women have a long way to go in achieving proportional political representation. Shouldnt blacks in positions of power be extending a hand to other blacks?

On the other hand, loyalty is a very big deal in politics. Should the Black Caucus abandon a loyal ally in order to promote a young black woman in what was always a long-shot campaign?

As much as I admire Pressley, Im with the Black Caucus. Race matters a lot but its not the only factor that matters. That said, the Democratic political establishment could be doing a lot more to promote black and women candidates in open contests, or in challenges to incumbents a lot less progressive than Capuano. ~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Jane Mayer is a failed reporter for the New Yorker who has tried to make a career out of smearing Charles and David Koch. Her latest effort is headlined, One Koch Brother Forces the Other Out of the Family Business.

The story begins with the merest kernel of truth: David Koch, a 78-year-old cancer survivor, is in declining health. Accordingly, he is retiring from his positions at Koch Industries. Davids retirement was announced in a letter to the companys employees written by Charles:

That warm tribute would seem to speak for itself, but it isnt enough for vicious haters on the Left. Thus, Jane Mayer writes:

Charles also appears to have dominated Davids decision to retire. According to two well-informed individuals close to the family, David, who has been in declining health for several years, had resisted resigning, but Charles forced him out. A business associate who declined to be identified, in order not to jeopardize his ties to the family, told me, Charles pushed David out. It was done with a wink, and a nod, and a nudge. A second longtime family associate confirmed this, saying, Charles had been pushing him out for quite some time. David kept resisting. It was bad. Charles took control.

And that, of course, was the headline: one Koch brother forces the other out. On its face, this is an implausible claim. David and Charles Koch have long collaborated in one of Americas most consequential partnerships. The brothers are extremely close and have been partners, working smoothly together, for decades.

Moreover, as Mayer says, Charles Koch has long been the dominant member of the team when it comes to public policy. Why would he have any reason to force out his ailing, but always loyal, brother?

Mayers article, like most news stories these days, is based entirely on anonymous sources. There are two: [a] business associate who declined to be identified, and [a] second longtime family associate. So, who are these sources? The leaders of Americas second-largest privately-owned company have countless business associates and family associates. So who are these two? Someone who works for a company who buys construction materials from Georgia Pacific? A woman who once babysat for David Koch? Without knowing who they are, we have no reason to assume that they have any basis to speculate about the relationship between Charles and David Koch. This is, in other words, a pure smear.

I would go beyond that. What reason do we have to believe that the business associate and family associate who are the purported sources for this smear actually exist? Why couldnt Jane Mayer simply have made up the whole thing? If she is not willing to tell us who her sources are, I am not willing to assume that they exist. The only argument for their existence is Mayers reputation for reliability, but Mayer has no such reputation.

Jane Mayer is no different from many other reporters; the New York Times and Washington Post come to mind. A majority of their most explosive stories are based entirely on anonymous sources. Do these sources exist? And if so, do they have a legitimate means to know the facts that they anonymously leak to political allies in the press? Or are those sources non-existent, made up out of whole cloth by the reporters?

In short, is there any reason why we should ever attribute any credibility to a news story based on anonymous sources that is peddled by a partisan reporter like Jane Mayer? I dont think so.
Glenn Reynolds could have trademarked his expression of exasperation I dont want to hear another goddamn word about my carbon footprint. I have a similar feeling about of exasperation complaints of President Trumps challenges to veracity. Reading Marc Thiessens great column today about newly revealed disgraces committed by Team Obama in furtherance of the Iran deal, I dont want to hear another goddamn word about Trumps lying. Here is the conclusion:

[T]he Obama administration: (1) told Congress it would not allow Iran access to U.S. financial institutions; (2) issued a special license allowing Iran to do exactly that; (3) unsuccessfully pressured U.S. banks to help Iran; (4) lied to Congress and the American people about what it had done; (5) admitted in internal emails that these efforts exceeded U.S. obligations under the nuclear deal; (6) sent officials, including bank regulators, around the world to urge foreign financial institutions to do business with Iran; and (7) promised that they would get nothing more than a slap on the wrist for violating U.S. sanctions.

How bad is this? Remove the words Obama and Iran and replace them with Trump and Russia and imagine the outrage that would ensue over the same revelations. Democrats would be holding news conferences, and the story would be front-page news.

We hear a lot these days from the media about the danger of presidential lies. Well, when it comes to the Iran deal, the Obama administration took lying to new heights. And no, thats not Fake News.
I am off very early tomorrow morningabsurdly earlyto catch a flight to Denver to make a brief appearance Saturday afternoon at the Western Conservative Summit, where I know a few Power Line readers will be in attendance. And Im worn out after a long week that included a quick road trip down to Los Angeles to tape a quick segment for Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News about my Wall Street Journal article that has so upset the climatistas, as well as what crazy fluke brought me to Berkeley. I wasnt sure just when it might run depending on breaking news (especially the Krauthammer announcement), but Tucker ran it tonight, and you can see it here.

Meanwhile, rest assured that tomorrow mornings Week in Pictures, already tucked away all snug for a 5:30 am central time live posting, is going to be epic.
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
PierreZarokian.com Blog With over 20 years experience in internet marketing, in my new blog, I hope to post informative articles about SEO, reputation management, and social media marketing.

Veteran search marketer, Pierre Zarokian, has launched a personal blog at http://pierrezarokian.com/ to explore the latest trends in SEO and reputation management. Zarokian, who has been in business since 1998, brings decades of experience and an easy-going style to discuss current trends in the world of search marketing.

I want to educate businesses on the techniques they can use to improve site visibility, says Zarokian, who has helped thousands of businesses improve their visibility. Zarokian began his career creating tools to submit websites to search engines for indexing. As the CEO of Submit Express, he has a wealth of experience helping small and enterprise websites grow their customer base and search presence.

"With over 20 years experience in internet marketing, in my new blog, I hope to post informative articles about SEO, reputation management, and social media marketing. I will also share behind-the-scenes stories with visitors, like the time I thought Google lead Spam Engineer 'Matt Cutts' was trying to blackmail me to pay him to reinclude client websites that were penalized. It actually turned out to be a con-man pretending to be Matt Cutts!"

PierreZarokian.com is already online, featuring articles such as Negative Reviews on Yelp: What to Do and Top 5 Mistakes for SEO in 2018.

About Pierre Zarokian

Pierre Zarokian is the CEO of Submit Express, which has been in business since 1998. Zarokian is widely considered a thought leader in search marketing. Specializing in SEO, web development, and reputation management, Pierre is an industry expert who has been cited in major publications such as Forbes and Los Angeles Times and also writes for Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Watch.
Loffler Companies We are happy to expand our IT offerings to St. Cloud and Central Minnesota, after solidifying Loffler as a strong technology company that helps clients succeed and bring maximum value to their business  James Loffler, Vice President - IT Solutions.

Loffler Companies is pleased to announce they have acquired Optimum Communications Corporation (OCC), a St. Cloud-based IT solutions company with additional offices in Aberdeen, SD. Loffler Companies, headquartered in Bloomington, MN, welcomes OCCs tenured professionals to Lofflers IT sales and service team, which will contribute to Loffler's position as a market leader in IT managed services and solutions.

We are happy to expand our IT offerings to St. Cloud and Central Minnesota, after solidifying Loffler as a strong technology company that helps clients succeed and bring maximum value to their business, explained James Loffler, Vice President  IT Solutions, Loffler Companies. Were excited to have OCCs team of experts join us. They share our same core values and passion for providing excellent service and technical support that is relevant to our clients needs.

We are pleased to have reached this agreement to become part of Loffler Companies, the leading and largest privately owned technology and managed services companies in the Upper Midwest. We believe Lofflers complete line of integrated and managed solutions will clearly benefit our clients and complement the offerings of our clients, said Bryan Fleegel, President & CEO, Optimum Communications Corporation. We look forward to working with Loffler, a family-owned, Minnesota-based and nationally recognized business.

Loffler Companies was recently named to the Elite 150 of CRNs 2018 Managed Service Provider 500 (MSP500) list. CRN is the top news source for solution providers and the IT channel. The MSP500 is an annual list which recognizes the top technology providers and consultants in North America whose cutting-edge approach to managed services puts end-user customers in the best position to improve efficiencies, cut costs and speed time to market for their own products and services.

Lofflers suite of technology offerings and services include solutions from Mitel, DellEMC, Aruba, Nutanix, Microsoft 365 and complete security services. Loffler Companies is now the largest privately owned company in the Upper Midwest offering business technology and services, supported by a team of professional trainers, phone support, and a nationally recognized service organization.

Loffler recently earned recognition for the seventh consecutive year as a Star Tribune Top Workplace, as well as being named to Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journals Best Places to Work for the past two years. In addition, Loffler Companies has earned the Inc. 500 award as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America for ten consecutive years. Loffler is a proud partner with St. Josephs Home for Children, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and many other worthy causes that help the communities in which the Loffler team lives and works. Clients appreciate working with a company whose employees enjoy their jobs and helping clients succeed, as well as a company that gives back to the community.

To find out more about how Loffler Companies can help your business or organization operate more efficiently for a lower cost, contact Loffler at 952-925-6800, or visit us online at http://www.loffler.com.
The Beall Mansion Alton, IL With the Certificate of Excellence, TripAdvisor honors hospitality businesses that have consistently received strong praise and ratings from travelers

The Beall Mansion An Elegant Bed and Breakfast Inn announced today that it has received a 2018 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence and Hall of Fame Award.

"With the Certificate of Excellence, TripAdvisor honors hospitality businesses that have consistently received strong praise and ratings from travelers, said Heather Leisman, TripAdvisor Vice President of Industry Marketing. This recognition helps travelers identify and book properties that regularly deliver great service. TripAdvisor is proud to play this integral role in helping travelers feel more confident in their booking decisions.

The Certificate of Excellence is based on the quality, quantity and recency of reviews submitted by travelers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period. To qualify, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months. The Hall of Fame honor is for those businesses that have earned a Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years.

Beall Mansion owners, Jim and Sandy Belote, commented, We are truly humbled. Running a successful, upscale, boutique lodging property is a 7 day a week, 365 day a year job that takes the hard work, pride, and commitment of an entire staff. We thank them as well as the tens of thousands of loyal guests who have stayed at The Beall Mansion and made it all possible.

The Beall Mansion has received a long list of honors and awards including a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence every year since its inception. In 2014 the Belotes were honored at the Governors Conference on Travel and Tourism with a Lincoln Award Gold Medal - the highest award provided by the state of Illinois for Excellence in Travel and Tourism.

About The Beall Mansion

The Beall Mansion is the only 4 star rated lodging property in the Meeting of the Great Rivers All Around Alton area and caters to leisure, business, and bleisure travelers alike. It is located 25 minutes from the St. Louis Gateway Arch and 12 blocks from the Mississippi River on Millionaires Row in historic Alton, IL.

Built in 1903 as a wedding gift by railroad baron Z. B. Job and later the residence of Senator Edmond Beall, the mansion was opened to the public by Jim and Sandy Belote as a bed and breakfast inn in 1998.

Guestrooms feature a triple sheeted feather bed; private bathroom with Italian marble floor, shower and whirlpool for two or clawfoot tub; HDTV, DVD, hardwood floors and oriental rugs. Luxury rooms also have a fireplace with hand carved mantle and gas logs.

Nearby attractions and activities include winter eagle watching, wineries, Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway, Lewis & Clark Trail Site #1 and Museum, Confluence Tower, Great Rivers Museum at the Melvin Price Lock and Dam, mythical Piasa Bird, restaurants, nightlife, and more.

For more information about the Beall Mansion or to schedule a narrated tour visit beallmansion.com or call 618-474-9100 or toll free 1-866-The-BEALL (1-866-843-2325).

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel site* with over 600 million reviews and opinions covering approximately 7.5 million accommodations, airlines, attractions, and restaurants.

TripAdvisor-branded sites are available in 49 markets, and are home to the world's largest travel community of 455 million average monthly unique visitors.**



Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, November 2017

** Source: TripAdvisor log miles, average monthly unique visitors, Q3 2017
Thingstodo.tours, a new portal for searching and discovering local experiences has been launched today. https://www.thingstodo.tours brings under one platform more than 120K activities, tickets and passes for experiences worldwide from some of the largest brands in the tours and activities space.

The goal of this platform is to provide online users the convenience to discover multiple experiences, activities and tours in a destination. Currently, users can explore and book 100K+ tours and activities across 2000+ destinations. These tours and activities are offered for more than 6500 attractions & points of interests around the world.

The product is completely free, easy to use and once the user chooses the tour or activity of her choice, she is directed to the respective partner website offering the product. Trusted partners that are a top name in the industry ensure that the bookings are quick, reliable and transparent. These activities are available in various categories like Transportation, Family Friendly Experiences, Holiday & Seasonal Experiences , Luxury & Special Occasions activities, Weddings & Honeymoons Experiences and Day Trips & Excursions.

Users can compare various activities and can book the most suitable activity for their schedule and budget.

This platform has been launched by Joguru Inc. Fresh new unique experiences and activities will be added to the platform on a regular basis.
The American Business Awards are the nations premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations  public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small.

The crystal Peoples Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners during a gala banquet on Monday, June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. More than 650 American Business Awards winners and their guests will attend. Peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will also be presented with their awards that evening.

The Peoples Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products are a feature of The American Business Awards in which the general public can vote for their favorite new products and services of the year. More than 58,000 votes were cast in 48 peoples choice categories this year. All new products and services submitted to the ABAs new product categories were included in peoples choice voting.

More than 3,700 nominations were submitted to this years American Business Awards for consideration in a wide range of categories, including New Product or Service of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, Management Team of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Startup of the Year, among others.

Inteticss TETRA proudly stands among the winners. It has become the leader in the category of Software Development Solution gaining the highest number of votes. TETRA is an innovative technical debt reduction platform that quantitatively evaluate the product state. TETRA answers the question if the requirements of development teams, product owners, users, investors, and market are met. This is about the efficient quality control of a product.

Very proud of Intetics TETRA being awarded by American Business Awards. Warm congratulations to the Team which delivered a truly breakthrough innovative product  a winner of a Peoples Choice Stevie Award for Favorite New Products! Thanks to all of you who supports Intetics and voted for us  your trust in our products is the best recognition for us! says Boris Kontsevoi, Intetics President and CEO.

Details about The American Business Awards, the list of Peoples Choice Stevie Award winners, and the complete list of Stevie winners in this years ABAs are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevie recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

About Intetics

Intetics Inc. is a leading global technology company focused on creation and operation of distributed professional teams for custom software development, software testing, systems integration, and data processing. Intetics is the pioneer of Offshore Dedicated Teams, the inventor of Remote In-Sourcing, Predictive Software Engineering framework and Technical debt reduction platform (TETRA). Intetics has broad industry experience, deep software engineering expertise, an outstanding quality management platform and an unparalleled methodology for talent recruitment, team building and talent retention that guarantee that clients receive exceptional results for their software applications and data processing projects. At Intetics, our outcomes do not just meet clients expectations, they have been exceeding them for our two decades in business.

Intetics is ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 27001 (security) certified and Microsoft and Oracle Gold Partner. The companys innovation and growth achievements are reflected in winning prestigious Inc 5000, Software 500, Chicago Innovation, CRN 100, Deloitte Technology Fast 50, European IT Excellence and Best European BPO awards, and inclusion into Top 100 Global Service Providers and Top 100 Outsourcing Companies lists.

https://intetics.com/
If you are interested in significantly improving your estate plan, now is the time.

Morgan and DiSalvo, P.C., an award-winning estate planning firm, announced the launch of their new will and trust improvement service today in response to recent changes to both Federal tax law and Georgia trust law. On top of the significant Federal tax law changes that became effective in 2013 and 2018, there are now significant changes to the Georgia Trust Code that become effective on July 1, 2018, and the combination of these changes will have a significant impact on how individuals structure their estate plans, including their wills and trusts. As a result, this is an opportune time to rethink existing documents.

Anyone that keeps up with estate and tax planning understands that it is subject to almost constant change, says Richard Morgan, partner at Morgan and DiSalvo. While most changes are modest, other changes, like these most recent ones, are significant and present us with the opportunity to make improvements in estate plans.

Morgan and DiSalvos will and trust improvement service will provide a review of current documents, weighing them against the clients desires and concerns as well as new options available under the law. The firm will then make recommendations on what, if anything, needs to be done to strengthen the estate plan. One of the notable changes to the law is around irrevocable trusts. There is now more flexibility to amend this component of many estate plans where there wasnt any before. Other areas to focus on resulting from the new laws include wealth transfer taxes, income taxes, longer term trusts, and inter vivos QTIP marital trusts.

The key takeaway is that there are more options to consider that may provide additional tax and non-tax benefits for estate plans, says Loraine DiSalvo, partner at Morgan and DiSalvo. If you are interested in significantly improving your estate plan, now is the time.

Morgan and DiSalvo will provide an initial meeting at no cost and no obligation. After that meeting, an official engagement letter needs to be signed for additional services.

To make an appointment for an initial meeting, please call 678-720-0750 or email info@morgandisalvo.com. For more information about Morgan and DiSalvo, please visit http://www.morgandisalvo.com.
We expect 2018 will be a banner year for the Turks and Caicos real estate market, which is really quite amazing considering just last fall we were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest hurricanes ever seen in the Atlantic."

Turks and Caicos Sothebys International Realty released a new real estate market report in April, reporting that TCI real estate sales got off to a flying start in the first quarter of 2018 with a total sales volume of $63.06 million USD, compared to $54.3 million in the first three months of 2017. Leading the way in this real estate surge has been new construction of luxury villas.

Blair MacPherson, broker and co-owner of RE/MAX Real Estate Group Turks & Caicos Islands, was not surprised to see these numbers. Here at my office, weve been as busy as ever, with record numbers of people contacting us for information about our listings and investing in Turks and Caicos real estate, he states. In particular, weve seen a strong demand for high-end properties, and that includes new construction as well as existing homes and vacant land.

According to the Sothebys report, the average sales price for TCI real estate increased by 49 percent to $900,763 for the first quarter of 2018, up from $603,675 during the same period last year. Dollar volume for single-family home sales increased by 53 percent, from $25.3 million to $38.7 million, with the average sales price of a single-family home rising from just under 40 percent to $1.684 million. The Sothebys report also noted that of the $108 million in pending transactions in the MLS for Turks and Caicos, the vast majority of it ($85 million) was for new luxury villa sales.

We expect 2018 will be a banner year for the Turks and Caicos real estate market, which is really quite amazing considering just last fall we were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest hurricanes ever seen in the Atlantic, MacPherson says.

He believes the factors fueling TCIs continued real estate boom are the islands close proximity to major US cities and Canada, its world-renowned beaches and relatively low crime rate, the use of US currency, the nations lack of restrictions on foreign property ownership, and that there are no property taxes in TCI.

Not only that, MacPherson adds, If you compare Turks and Caicos to other top comparable islands in the Caribbean, Turks and Caicos real estate is still underpriced and offers tremendous value to foreign investors. It is a safe, solid and stable investment.

To learn more about Turks and Caicos real estate opportunities, please contact Blair MacPherson by phone at 1-800-941-0465 or 1-649-432-5677, or by email at blair(at)blairmacpherson.com. RE/MAX Real Estate Group Turks & Caicos Islands specializes in luxury Turks and Caicos real estate sales, and is an active member of the Turks and Caicos Real Estate Association (TCREA).

About RE/MAX Real Estate Group Turks & Caicos Islands: The RE/MAX Real Estate Group Turks & Caicos offers unique, luxury real estate opportunities on the islands that are home to Grace Bay Beach, in which has been named as one of the world's best beaches numerous times. With breathtaking views, world-class spas and resorts, fine dining, local culture, and the awe-inspiring coral reefs, the Turks and Caicos Islands offer unique investment opportunities in that they are located in a tax-free jurisdiction. For more information, please visit http://www.remax-realestategroup-tci.com.
I am thrilled about our new partnership with ValuePenguin. As a consumer, I have been using this amazing website to find products for years.

Seek Capital is the leading provider of business loans for startups in the United States, helping new businesses secure close to $100 million in funding in 2017. ValuePenguin is a leading financial research company that covers insurance, credit cards, deposit accounts and small business loans. Seek Capital is proud to announce that the two companies will be working together to help match small business owners with the best funding solution for their company.

Seek Capital CEO Roy Ferman stated, I am thrilled about our new partnership with ValuePenguin. As a consumer, I have been using this amazing website to find products for years. I understand how hard they vet all of their partners and how dedicated they are to delivering the best quality matching for their loyal customer base. I'm excited to grow our partnership in the coming months and years.

ABOUT VALUEPENGUIN

ValuePenguin is a consumer data and research website that delivers insights and tools on consumer spending. Its analysts review and synthesize facts, figures, and fine print into salient and actionable intelligence for consumers and journalists. Their mission is to provide clarity on the financial decisions facing consumers and small business owners everyday.

ABOUT SEEK CAPITAL

Seek Capital is the leader in startup business funding. Launched in 2015, Seek Capital has helped solve the challenge of early-stage business owners obtaining capital to launch or grow their small business.

The company has grown by combining the Seek Capital proprietary lender matching platform, Capital Seeker, with its dedication to providing a hands-on, consultative approach to each client. By utilizing the Capital Seeker the company is able to provide real-time underwriting decisions allowing business owners to instantly know their funding options.

To date, the company has matched over 20,000 successful applications across the United States. Seek Capital has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau, is a consistent Top 3 rated or Winner of LendingTrees Lender Award and was Ranked #44 by Glassdoor Best Place to Work 2017. For more information, visit Seek Capital.
Ayesha Diaz, general manager, logistics; Humberto Negron, stevedore; Tom Crowley, chairman and CEO; and Jose Ayala, vice president, Puerto Rico services, present a 2017 Thomas Crowley Award. Each of you were personally impacted by the most destructive hurricane in the islands history, yet you banded together to overcome extraordinary challenges and helped to reopen our terminal a mere 48 hours after the storm.

In an unprecedented gesture of appreciation, Tom Crowley, chairman and CEO of Crowley Maritime Corp., recently presented a 2017 Thomas Crowley Award  the companys highest honor  to the companys entire Puerto Rico team in recognition of their heroic efforts to resume and sustain the flow of critical cargo from the U.S. mainland to the island following Hurricane Maria.

In the aftermath of the September storm, Crowleys more than 300 union and administrative employees resumed services and reopened company facilities, including a warehouse and the Isla Grande terminal, just two days after the storm passed. Within hours of the U.S. Coast Guard reopening the harbor in San Juan, Crowley began discharging government and commercial cargo from vessels to support relief efforts on the island.

The team was also recognized for its work over the past year helping to transform the companys Isla Grande port terminal to a lift-on/lift-off operation and making it the most modern and efficient facility in the Caribbean. Employees adapted to and embraced change as they began working the new 900-foot pier, three ship-to-shore gantry cranes, expanded dry and refrigerated container facilities, truck access and egress gates, and terminal operating system, which has significantly decreased truck turn times and increased cargo velocity.

In an emotional presentation in San Juan, Crowley said to the assembled employees, Each of you were personally impacted by the most destructive hurricane in the islands history, yet you banded together to overcome extraordinary challenges and helped to reopen our terminal a mere 48 hours after the storm. Since then, you have continued to work tirelessly to get government relief and commercial cargoes to the island, to help people get back on their feet and begin rebuilding their homes and lives. It is with tremendous pride and appreciation that I present all of you with a 2017 Thomas Crowley Award.

"Our employees are so grateful for this recognition and are particularly emotional knowing that they received it for contributions that made a difference to their families, friends, co-workers and, above all, Puerto Rico," said Crowley's Jose Pache Ayala, vice president, Puerto Rico services. "Crowley has a strong culture and this honor is testament that nothing is more important than our people, who are fully committed to this trade and the well-being of our island."

Humberto Negron, a Crowley stevedore and union steward for Union de Tronquistas de Puerto Rico local 901, said: "It took union members by surprise because it is the first time this recognition has been given to a team. Crowley has always been great at recognizing an employees hard work and it makes us feel even more honored and proud to have received this as a team."

Negron has worked as a union employee for Crowley since 1990, and he has two sons and a stepson who also work for the company.

The prestigious, annual company award is a limited-edition bronze sculpture that depicts company founder Thomas Crowley ferrying goods in a rowboat across San Francisco Bay in the early 1890s. The award serves not only as a tribute to the founder of the company, but also to those honorees who have aligned themselves closely with the company's values and display outstanding performance, dedication, leadership and initiative. Only 66 employees have received the award since the programs inception in 1985.

This award is truly gratifying as it recognizes the unending commitment that Crowley employees showed to restore the supply chains of customers and assist with the government response, despite facing their own personal and family challenges, said Crowleys Ken Black, vice president, warehousing and logistics. We literally were helping each other as we dedicated ourselves to aiding the people of Puerto Rico. Not only did our warehousing operations on the island re-open within two days to support Puerto Rico 24/7, our team successfully tripled our warehouse capacity and added more than 600 transportation units to improve cargo turn times and have supplies distributed with unprecedented velocity. It was truly an around-the-clock, team effort as we helped people on the island begin to recover.

Altogether, Crowley provided more than 200 sailings via U.S. Jones Act vessels after the storm, delivering more than 100,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). The company increased vessel capacity by 67 percent to handle the surge in cargo and provided nearly 24/7 operations at the terminal and warehouses on the island. As a leading logistics provider for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Crowley transported and delivered more than 53,000 utility poles, 7,000 transformers and 10 million miles of cable to support power restoration on the main island of Puerto Rico and in surrounding communities, such as the island of Vieques. Additionally, more than 3,200 containers of water were delivered among other food products and supplies to aid residents.

About Crowley

Jacksonville-based Crowley Holdings Inc., a holding company of the 126-year-old Crowley Maritime Corporation, is a privately held family and employee-owned company that provides marine solutions, energy and logistics services in domestic and international markets. Crowley operates under four business units: Crowley LOGISTICS, a singular ocean liner and logistics supply chain division; Crowley SHIPPING, which encompasses ownership, operations and management of vessels, including tankers, container ships, tugboats and barges; Crowley FUELS, a fuel transportation, distribution and sales division that also provides liquefied natural gas (LNG) and related services; and Crowley SOLUTIONS, which focuses on government services, including vessel management for government agencies, as well as engineering, project management, naval architecture through its subsidiary Jensen Maritime, and marine salvage and emergency response through its 50 percent ownership in Ardent Global. Additional information about Crowley, its subsidiaries and business units may be found at http://www.crowley.com.
Vicki Hanson

Vicki Hanson is retiring from her position as Distinguished Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology to become executive director and CEO of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the worlds largest education and scientific computing society. Hanson, who has served as ACM President since 2016, will take on her new role July 1.

As the first female CEO for ACM, Hanson will work with the volunteer community to provide strategic vision and to develop sustainable business models to ensure ACMs continued worldwide membership, publications and revenue growth. She will represent more than 100,000 ACM members worldwide, including many in the RIT community.

Hanson says of her new position, I am deeply honored and humbled to serve as ACMs CEO. I look forward to working with ACMs incredible volunteers and excellent staff to make progress on the exciting opportunities and challenges facing the organization, including its evolution as a fully international society, one that addresses the needs and workstyles of a new generation of computing professionals, as well as the transformation of its publishing and access models.

Hanson has a long history of service to the computing community, having served ACM as president (2016-2018), vice president (2014-2016), ACM secretary/treasurer (2012-2014), and ACM SIG Governing Board chair (2010-2012), among other positions.

Dr. Hansons contributions to computing cannot be overstated, said Anne Haake, dean of RITs B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. Prior to RIT, she performed groundbreaking research, helping make computers more accessible to older users and users with disabilities. At RIT, she continued that work while serving as president of the ACM and aiding in the colleges efforts to inspire more young women to pursue careers in computing. I speak for all of us at the college when I say we are lucky to call Vicki a colleague and friendand wish her all the best moving forward.

Hanson, who joined RIT in 2013, has experience in both industry and academia. She worked as a research staff member and manager with IBM Research, where she received an IBM Corporate Award for pioneering technology and innovation supporting IBMs contributions to accessibility. Business Insider also named her one of the 25 Most Powerful Women Engineers in Tech.

Since then, she has worked as a professor and chair of inclusive technologies at the University of Dundee in Scotland, leading teams investigating issues of inclusion for older adults and people with disabilities. As professional recognition for her contributions, she was named an ACM Fellow in 2004, a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society in 2008 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2013. She also served as one of the founding members of the ACM-W Europe Executive Committee, an organization that supports women in computing professions.

At RIT, Hanson designed and taught courses in human-computer interaction. Along with Matt Huenerfauth, associate professor of information sciences and technologies, and Stephanie Ludi, former professor of software engineering, Hanson created the Golisano College Center for Accessibility and Inclusion Research (CAIR). The center brings together researchers working on computer accessibility and assistive technology for people with disabilities, technology for older adults and educational technologies.

Vicki has been an extraordinary colleague, said Steve Zilora, professor and chair of RITs information sciences and technologies department. While serving as a world-renowned figure in computing, she has also made great contributions to our degree programs, overseeing the doubling of our human-computer interaction masters degree program and the creation of our human-centered computing bachelors degree program. Her desire to continue her involvement with our programs is emblematic of her dedication to RIT.

Hanson is receiving the title Distinguished Professor Emerita, honoring retired full-time faculty members who have demonstrated notable contributions during their professional career at RIT.

To read more about Hansons new position at ACM, go to acm.org/media-center/2018/june/acm-names-new-ceo.
"Our goal is to create solutions that increase operator safety and return the most precious commodity in a 21st-century economy back to first responders  time."

Braun Ambulances was recently honored by the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) for their work in creating the first connectivity platform specifically for ambulances, MasterTech FleetConnect. In partnership with IDEX Fire and Safety, Braun Ambulances has created a product that is designed to help lengthen vehicle life, reduce unplanned downtime, and empower remote maintenance of ambulances in real-time. MasterTech FleetConnect was named a 2018 JEMS Hot Product.

Distinction as a JEMS Hot Product is a notable honor in the Fire & EMS Industry; it is awarded only to products that are deemed innovative and practical. A team of judges selected by JEMS at the 2018 EMS Today Conference and Exposition reviewed 64 product submissions for this years contest. The judging panel consisted of EMS product specialists, educators, physicians, managers, and paramedics. The group reviewed products that are designed to improve the delivery of optimal emergency medical care from EMS providers while ensuring safety, efficiency and comfort for the patient. Each product was rated on its originality, functionality, ease of use, and need in the EMS setting. Brauns MasterTech FleetConnect was one of the products awarded the title of 2018 Hot Product.

MasterTech FleetConnect was created by Braun Ambulances in cooperation with IDEX Fire and Safety to make vehicles safer, make them last longer, and to save municipal departments time daily. For Braun Ambulance dealers, the product allows for a holistic view of the vehicles in a given area, giving operators the chance to proactively monitor for vehicle issues and alerts. For those at the municipality level, MasterTech FleetConnect provides 24/7 remote support from the dealer network and Braun Ambulances, allowing for the diagnosis of issues remotely. This allows for real-time alerts based on events and issues with ambulances. In addition, all ambulances equipped with the product can be updated remotely, providing ambulances that can be updated in near real-time. This is all made possible by using Microsofts secure cloud platform. Richard Zak, a member of Microsofts U.S. State & Local Government team, says that IDEX Corporation and Braun Ambulances are making vehicles smarter and better able to support the EMS mission.

Chad Brown, Braun Ambulances VP of Sales and Marketing, says By making MasterTech FleetConnect available to our customers, it will be the first time they can proactively manage all aspects of their Braun ambulance. It monitors the chassis and ambulance module. This is a big win, whether you are a single ambulance user or have a fleet of a hundred ambulances. We can now remotely dial in to the vehicle, change programming and work to prevent any catastrophic failure by monitoring real-time data. End users/customers, dealers and Braun all win by implementing MasterTech FleetConnect into their ambulances!

Jeff Zook, Marketing Manager for Connected Solutions at IDEX Fire and Safety, shares this vision for what vehicle connectivity and intelligence can mean for emergency medical services. "Our goal is to create solutions that increase operator safety and return the most precious commodity in a 21st-century economy back to first responders  time. Braun Custom Ambulances shared a similar vision for the EMS industry and having this new value proposition appear on a Braun ambulance just made sense. Connecting a Braun ambulance to the cloud can change the service and support proposition completely for the EMS industry; imagine a Braun ambulance becoming a living breathing thing in the future. This shared vision of the future is why IDEX Fire and Safety partnered with Braun to develop Mastertech FleetConnect.

To learn more about the MasterTech FleetConnect or the 2018 JEMS Hot Product distinction, please contact Chad Brown, Brauns VP Sales & Marketing at 419-232-7054.

About Braun Ambulances:

Braun Industries, Inc. is THE Premium Ambulance producer for product quality and custom product design. The company has been building ambulances that are "Built for Life" since 1972. Braun ambulances include exclusive innovations such as SolidBody Construction, EZ-Glide Sliding Door, MasterTech Multiplex Electrical System, VitalMax Lighting System and EZ-O2 Lift System. Braun has extensive industry membership including - National Truck and Equipment Association (NTEA), Ambulance Manufacturers Division (AMD), National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), among many others. The company is headquartered in Van Wert, OH on a sprawling campus of 23 acres. The campus includes a 114,000 sf. manufacturing plant and 51,000 sf. Sales/Service facility.

For more information, visit http://www.BraunAmbulances.com

About IDEX:

IDEX is a global fluidics leader serving high growth specialized markets. They are best known for their expertise in highly engineered fluidics systems and components, as well as their expertise in fire and safety products including the Jaws of Life family of rescue and recovery tools. Their products touch lives every day. Whether its a life-saving rescue operation, dispensing fresh juice to a first grader or fueling aircraft, IDEX is a leader in creating enabling technology used in many of the most common everyday activities.

For more information, please visit http://www.idexcorp.com.
Radicle Health continues the work that began with a strategic partnership between Eloise Theisens Green Health Consultants and the Concord-based delivery and consulting service The Agathist Collectiveto ensure that every cannabis patient receives medical advice from a knowledgeable and experienced healthcare professional, to provide people and organizations with fact-based cannabis education, and to empower communities to make informed policy decisions about cannabis regulation.

Radicle Health provides access to a team of healthcare professionals trained under Eloise Theisen, co-founder of Radicle Health Clinician Network (RHCN), previously Green Health Consultants. Eloise Theisen is a board-certified Adult-Geriatric Nurse Practitioner. She received her Post Masters certification from University of Massachusetts, Boston, an MSN in Nursing Administration from California State University, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from San Francisco State University.

Eloise was one of the first healthcare professionals to bring a clinical dosing regimen to the cannabis space. She has met with over 4500 patients and has assembled the knowledge and data to use cannabis to treat a broad range of conditions and disease, especially those that commonly afflict seniorspain, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. There are very few healthcare professionals in the United States with a comparable level of cannabis expertise and experience.

Radicle Health recognizes the complexity of cannabis treatment, where chemovar groups, extraction methods, product variants, and patient biochemistry necessitate a comprehensive and collaborative approach to developing individual patient treatment plans.

For too long, misguided legislation and fear of legal retribution has forced the responsibility of cannabis healthcare out of the hands of licensed healthcare professionals and into the retail sphere. In fact, many budtenders often hear from their customers that the dispensary employees know more about using cannabis to treat conditions of illness than the customers healthcare provider. Dispensary employees have been on the front lines of cannabis activism, providing help and guidance to patients who could find no help elsewhere. These men and women should be applauded for their work, said Timothy Byars, CEO of Radicle Health.

That said, evaluating a patient and creating a treatment plan, especially for an older adult, is complex. We cant expect a person with a non-medical degree to adequately assess a patients needs when that patient is suffering from illness or taking multiple medications. The cannabis industry must be proactive about moving health care back into the hands of healthcare professionals. We must educate the medical community about using cannabis as a treatment modality, and disabuse the general public and local leaders of eight decades of misinformation. Thats what we intend to do.

Radicle Health can schedule a 1-hour comprehensive patient consultation for you, can provide your team of healthcare professionals or industry staff with training, and can provide an experienced and knowledgeable speaker for your next event.

Call (925) 357-8316 or visit http://www.radiclehealthcare.com for more information.
Engaging and welcoming the Indianapolis community has become a key part of our conventions success, said Jake Theis, for Gen Con.

Gen Con, the largest and longest-running gaming convention in North America, will kick off its convention programming on Wednesday, August 1 with a Sun King Brewing tapping party and free concert on Georgia Street located outside of the Indiana Convention Center. This year, the convention will rebrand its four days of outdoor activities as the Gen Con Block Party, expanding its outdoor presence and adding a concert with performances by hard rock duo Local H and Indianapolis favorites Brother O Brother. A Gen Con badge is not required to attend Block Party events, the concert, or Sun King beer tapping.

Engaging and welcoming the Indianapolis community has become a key part of our conventions success, said Jake Theis, Gen Cons Director of Marketing. As Gen Con has expanded, we want to ensure that there are still fun and convenient ways for Hoosiers to enjoy the show alongside attendees who are arriving from around the world. The Block Party is Gen Cons way to bring the fun of the convention to the streets of the city of Indianapolis.

The four days of Gen Con Block Party 2018 will include a 21-and-over tapping party for Sun King Brewings official beer of Gen Con 2018, Everlasting Gamer, a pop-up Hot Box Pizza tent with a limited-edition Gen Con-themed pizza, a rotating fleet of more than 40 food trucks, and a free concert live on Georgia Street. This year marks the seventh consecutive annual collaboration between Gen Con and Sun King Brewing.

The conventions 2018 outdoor activities will feature an expanded presence on South St., in front of Lucas Oil Stadium, which will have food and drink activations as well as a book mobile event with the Indy Public Library Foundation on Sunday, August 5.

Gen Con 2018 returns to the Indiana Convention Center Thursday, August 2 through Sunday, August 5. Last year marked a historic milestone when the convention celebrated its 50th show, setting record attendance numbers and selling out for the first time in its history. Gen Con expects to sell out of attendee badges prior to the convention this year as well.

About Gen Con LLC

Gen Con LLC produces the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, science fiction, and adventure game convention in North America, Gen Con, The Best Four Days in Gaming!. Founded in 1968 and acquired in 2002 by founder and former CEO of Wizards of the Coast, Peter Adkison, the company is headquartered in Seattle and takes place each August in Indianapolis.

About Sun King Brewery

Sun King Brewing Company is the brainchild of Dave Colt and Clay Robinson. With the help of family and friends  Omar Robinson, Andy Fagg and Steve Koers  the first keg of Sun King beer rolled out the door for delivery in July 2009. Now available on tap and in cans throughout Indiana, Chicago and Louisville, Sun King has grown into a leader in the independent craft brewing movement. Sun Kings brewers hand craft flagship, seasonal and specialty beers that have been rewarded with multiple medals at the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup, and Indiana Brewers Cup competitions. Sun King also partners with hundreds of community organizations throughout Indiana to help them raise awareness and funds for great causes.

About Local H

Local H, the iconic alt-rock duo known for their blistering live shows and pioneering use of the two-piece band set-up, is at the top of their game more than two decades after they first burst onto the music scene. Frontman Scott Lucas, who covers both guitar and bass (through an extra pickup in his guitar), and drummer Ryan Harding have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, buoyed by global touring along with the release of some of their most critically acclaimed work to date.
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READ MORE: 3 soldiers detained for taking money from illegal miners

A statement issued by Colonel E. Aggrey-Quashie, Director of Public Relations at GAF, said the sanctions were meted out to them after they were tried by a Disciplinary Board in accordance with "Ghana Armed Forces Rules and Regulations."

The names and numbers of the soldiers are: 197533 Cpl Mensah S, 199442 Cpl Nkuah P, 199499 Cpl Owoo SB, 203225 L/Cpl Boateng SY and 203538 L/Cpl Obeng S.

The soldiers are all members of the anti-illegal mining taskforce Operation Vangaurd.

Below is the statement:

The Ghana Armed Forces severely sanctioned five soldiers for their involvement in illegal operations in the Wassa Akropong general area on 30 May 2018.

The soldiers namely, 197533 Cpl Mensah S, 199442 Cpl Nkuah P, 199499 Cpl Owoo SB, 203225 L/Cpl Boateng SY and 203538 L/Cpl Obeng S, were tried by a Disciplinary Board in accordance with Ghana Armed Forces Rules and Regulations.

With the exception of Cpl Mensah S, who was sentenced to 60 days detention and a reduction in rank from Corporal to Private, the remaining four soldiers were all sentenced to 90 days detention with consequential penalties, including release from the Ghana Armed Forces for services no longer required, after serving their sentences.

The Military High Command wishes to once again assure the general public that under no circumstance will it condone any unprofessional conduct by any member of the Ghana Armed Forces. Meanwhile, the zeal with which OP VANGUARD is being prosecuted will be maintained and will not in any way be affected by this isolated incident.

SIGNED

E AGGREY-QUASHIE

Colonel
He cited a community in his home village of Bole where he claimed nobody in the community has a birth certificate or a passport, the two main documents needed to register for the Ghana Card.

NDC will fight on the side of the majority of the Ghanaians to ensure they are identified as Ghanaians and nobody is denationalised because of this process, he said.

He continued: This is a deliberate attempt to denationalise some of our people and we shall not accept it, we shall not stand by and let it happen.

"We will use every legitimate instrument that is possible under a democracy to ensure that every Ghanaian is able to register as a Ghanaian.

READ MORE: Ken Attafuah hits back at Kennedy Agyapong

The National Identification Authority last week began issuing the instant Ghana Card to Jubilee House staffers.
READ MORE: Ghana to upgrade Kumasi Airport to international standards

The ex-president, speaking in the Volta Region Saturday, said he had cut sod for the project at the same venue as the president when he was in power.

According Mr Mahama, the Akufo-Addo administration cancelled the project when it won power and delayed the start of the project for 18 months.

He said the contractor had "started working. They had taken control of the site. He had fenced off the site. They had started excavations when I went and I broke the ground, cut the sod for commencement of work.

"On January 7th they (NPP government) asked the contractor to stop work and kept him waiting for 18 months.

"Then you come back and cut the same sod, same contractor, same money, same site and you tell the contractor to build and finish within two years.
But senior NATO and US military figures have warmly welcomed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's ceasefire announcement, even though it is not at all clear that the Taliban have any plans to respect it.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg hailed the announcement as a "positive step on the path to peace" and urged the Taliban to come to talks the government.

General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, gave an upbeat assessment of the struggle against the Taliban, ousted from power in a US led invasion in 2001.

"I have dealt with this for quite a number of years and personally, I sense a different set of conditions today, and perhaps more potential," he told reporters at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

"They are under greater pressure and you see some splinter in their leadership and their cohesion.

"In the past, the Taliban has been cohesive and one voice about this. Now we are seeing indications that there a those who would like to talk."

'Grassroots movement'

In February, Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he suggested a ceasefire would form part of the plan.

The insurgents did not officially respond, but attacks have proliferated since then, especially in Kabul, targeting in particular security forces and police.

On Thursday, Ghani announced the week-long ceasefire to coincide with Eid-al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Ghani's surprise ceasefire declaration came on the heels of a fatwa issued by Afghanistan's top clerics branding suicide attacks "haram", or forbidden, and after the Pentagon announced that senior Taliban officials had been negotiating with Afghan authorities on a possible ceasefire.

"I have to tell you, for someone who has been either in Afghanistan or working on Afghanistan for some years now, I am seeing things now that I haven't seen before," one NATO official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Pressed for details, the official mentioned the ruling by the clerics and "social movements for peace", an apparent reference to a march by a small group of activists from Lashkar Gah in Helmand province to Kabul.

The group, which numbers about eight but has been joined by more at times on the route, is demanding both the Taliban and the Afghan government lay down their arms.

The modest size of the march did not stop General John Nicholson, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, from calling it a "grassroots movement" and comparing the current situatoin in Afghanistan to the final stages of the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Colombia.

"All wars end. And when you study how wars end, there is usually a period where you are fighting and talking at the same time. I think we are clearly in that period," he said.

'No change on the ground'

But the optimism coming from NATO and the Pentagon has not reached observers in Afghanistan.

Political analyst Haroon Mir, based in Kabul, said Ghani's government had lost the initiative since the offer in February and the ceasefire was a bid to win it back.

"NATO and the US are trying to boost the government and trying to show that the government still has some initiative but this is not the reality unfortunately," Mir told AFP, pointing to the upcoming anniversary of US President Donald Trump's new South Asia strategy as a key milestone.

"In August it will be one year and everybody will talk about the achievements of the US military in Afghanistan (but) unfortunately despite the bombing campaign and high casualties among the Taliban... there is no significant change on the ground," Mir said.

Indeed the Pentagon's own Office of the Inspector General directly undercut claims the momentum of the war was shifting against the Taliban.

In a report in May the watchdog said there had been "little positive change" in the first quarter of 2018, with just 65 percent of Afghans living in areas under government control or influence.
Lula is suspected of having received the money in the purchase of Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab's Jas Gripen fighter jets through his son Luis Claudio's company to bribe Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded him as the nation's leader in 2011.

After arriving to the Stockholm district court early Friday, Lofven denied having any knowledge of bribes related to the arms deal but admitted to having promoted the sale of the Swedish aircraft before he became prime minister.

"I'm a working-class man. It's obvious that I would help a Swedish company and make sure to create jobs in Sweden," he told the daily Aftonbladet.

Lofven denied before a judge that he had met Lula and Rousseff in South Africa in December 2013 on the sidelines of a tribute paid to the late President Nelson Mandela.

He also denied knowing Mauro Marcondes, an alleged intermediary between Saab and Lula. The hearing lasted less than five minutes, according to Aftonbladet.

At the end of December 2013, Brazil ended more than a decade of negotiations and reports and chose the Swedish Gripen jets for a $4.5 billion contract at the expense of France's Rafale and the American Boeing's Super Hornet.

Brazil and Sweden inked the deal for 36 fighter jets in October 2014, a few months after Lofven became the head of state.

Saab Chairman Marcus Wallenberg and President and CEO Hakan Buskhe were also questioned in court. Both said they do not know Mauro Marcondes, according to the TT news agency.

The 72-year-old Lula, who was jailed in early April, is serving a 12-year sentence for taking an apartment as a bribe, a case he describes as politically motivated.
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Until Donald Trump stepped in front of the cameras as he departed on an international trip on Friday, there had been no leaks.

The president said that Melania Trump wanted to go with him to the Group of 7 summit meeting in Quebec, and then on to Singapore for a planned sit-down with Kim Jong Un, North Koreas leader. But, the president said, she was staying at the White House on doctors orders.

She had a big operation, Trump said. That was a close to a four-hour operation. And shes doing great.

Few details have emerged from the first ladys office.

On May 14, the East Wing said Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure, which is meant to cut off the blood supply that feeds the kidney. It is usually used to stop bleeding from a benign tumor or a small aneurysm, or to reverse the growth of such a tumor, according to specialists.

The White House did not explain what led Melania Trump to seek treatment or whether the benign kidney condition meant she had a benign tumor or something else. In a statement, the East Wing said the procedure had been successful, with no complications.

In the hours afterward, aides wore scrubs around the first lady, a precaution that specialists said would be unnecessary for an embolization procedure.

Presented with the presidents timeline for Melania Trumps surgery, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys communications director, reiterated that the first ladys embolization procedure had been successful.

The statement I put out on May 14 was correct, Grisham wrote in an email on Friday. Mrs. Trump had a successful embolization procedure. She cannot travel internationally yet, and is doing great.

When asked if the embolization was the only procedure performed that day, Grisham said that it was. She later added that it was the only procedure done for Melania Trumps entire stay at the hospital.

The president has previously provided details to the public about his wifes medical procedure that turned out to be incorrect. After the procedure, Donald Trump told the public that his wife would be home from the hospital in two to three days; she ended up staying for five.

The details given by the president on Friday also do not match up with the surgical or recovery timeline for a typical embolization procedure with no complications, according to experts.

Dr. Kelvin Hong, the director of the Johns Hopkins Interventional Radiology Center, said a four-hour operation to treat the condition described by the White House would be unusual.

I think the range from one to two hours would be much more likely, Hong said.

But, he added, the president could have been taking into account pre-surgery preparation time and any post-operation treatment, in addition to the embolization itself.

Theres no question that family members can sometimes feel as if the procedure is something of that magnitude, Hong said, from the time the patient departs the pre-procedure area until the time they see the patient again.

Dr. Jeffrey Berns, the associate chief of the nephrology division at Penn Medicine, said that a four-hour procedure would be not unrealistic if all of the preparation work  including cleaning the area, inserting lidocaine to numb the skin and inserting a catheter  was taken into account.

The longer the procedure, the more likely that there was more than one lesion, Berns said. But honestly, I suspect that given who the patient was, they were taking their time and being extra careful.

The president has cited Melania Trumps surgery as a reason she will not accompany him abroad. There are a range of recommended waiting periods to avoid discomfort and blood clotting while flying, but three experts, who have not treated the first lady, said that if Melania Trumps procedure had no complications, as the White House has repeatedly said, it would not be unheard-of for a physician to clear her for travel.

In the past, the stylish, Slovenia-born first lady has been an asset to her husband on the world stage, and has at times softened the image of a president who tends to use blunt force in his diplomatic efforts.

As he arrived in Canada for the Group of 7 summit meeting, Donald Trump stood alone among other leaders and their spouses. After greeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and his wife, Sophie, Trump stood solo and gave a thumbs-up to journalists.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Already, Democratic candidates in the midterm elections had been playing up their partys role in blocking last years repeal efforts and their recent success in pushing for the expansion of Medicaid in two more states. Now they have a new talking point, and they lost no time testing it.

Republicans are divided between conservatives who had vowed to eliminate the law and moderates, some in tough races, who want to preserve the popular protections for people who are sick.

Asked about the Justice Department move, Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, spoke instead about the Democrats.

Democrats destroyed the health care system as we knew when they rammed Obamacare down our throats, he said in an email, and now all they can talk about is moving to a single-payer health care system.

The Affordable Care Act has already survived several court challenges, and this latest test of its durability could take months or years to go through the legal system. But the uncertainty it creates in the meantime could rattle the laws insurance marketplaces just as insurers are starting to file rate requests for next year. The companies were already nervous because of Congresss decision last year to eliminate the penalty for going without health coverage.

Recent polling has found that health care is a crucial issue for voters this year. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week, 22 percent of respondents said it would be the most important factor in deciding their vote, ahead of the economy, guns, taxes and immigration.

In the past, polls have found that both Republicans and Democrats favor protecting coverage for the tens of millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions. A December 2016 poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that 75 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans approved of the laws provision prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on a persons health status or medical history. Even President Donald Trump called it one of the laws strongest assets during an interview with 60 Minutes shortly after he won the election.

The issue became a flash point that helped derail Republican efforts to repeal the law last year, with opponents of the partys health bills speaking loudly against weakening protections for the sick and vulnerable.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, predicted that the resurrection of the issue would mobilize voters, saying, Theres nothing quite like the administration taking an action in court to illustrate the simple fact that they are still coming after your health care.

Democrats around the country were already working hard on Friday to get that message across. In Pennsylvania, where Republicans last month nominated Rep. Lou Barletta for Senate, the state Democratic Party issued a statement that warned, Donald Trumps lapdog Lou Barletta will throw his full support behind this attempt to end coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted against the Republican repeal bills in the Senate last year, also expressed concern about the administrations new push, saying it creates further uncertainty that could ultimately result in higher costs for millions of Americans and undermine essential protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer, heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.

But that was not the talking point of the partys re-election arm. Hunt shifted the focus to Democratic calls for a single-payer system, saying, Massive tax increases and reduced quality of care are about as popular as its architect: Nancy Pelosi.

Republicans have been trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act  a centerpiece of President Barack Obamas legacy  since it was enacted in 2010 without any Republican votes. Attempts to repeal it in Congress have failed, but opponents of the law have also filed scores of lawsuits challenging various provisions.

The Supreme Court in 2012 upheld a major provision of the law that required most Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. The court said that while this individual mandate exceeded Congress power to regulate commerce, it could be upheld as an exercise of Congress taxing power. But last year the Republican-controlled Congress eliminated those penalties as part of the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul that Trump signed in December.

Two months later, Texas and the 19 other states filed suit in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, asserting that the mandate could no longer be justified as a tax and should therefore be struck down  and arguing that as a result, the rest of the law must be invalidated, too.

The Justice Department brief did not go so far, but it said that Judge Reed OConnor should void both the mandate and the protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, while leaving in place the expansion of Medicaid in more than 30 states.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said it is a rare case for the Justice Department not to defend provisions of a law but added that he could not find any reasonable arguments to support their constitutionality.

If the administration prevails in the case, the full force of the decision would not hit until after the midterm elections on Nov. 6. But insurers said the legal debate alone could cause turmoil in insurance markets this summer.

At the very least it adds uncertainty at exactly the moment when plans are trying to set rates for next year, said Ceci Connolly, the chief executive of the Alliance of Community Health Plans. At the worst it could strip away guaranteed coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.

The main trade association for health insurers came out strongly against the administrations position.

Removing those provisions will result in renewed uncertainty in the individual market, create a patchwork of requirements in the states, cause rates to go even higher for older Americans and sicker patients, and make it challenging to introduce products and rates for 2019, said Matt Eyles, the president and chief executive of Americas Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurers.

The Trump administrations move fueled accusations that it was politicizing the Justice Department, which is supposed to defend the constitutionality of federal statutes in court  even if the administration in power does not like them  if reasonable arguments can be made.

Donald B. Verrilli Jr., a solicitor general in the Obama administration, said there were obviously reasonable arguments that could be made in defense of the Affordable Care Act in the Texas case, pointing to those in a brief filed Thursday by California and 15 other states.

Just read the brief of the states that intervened to defend the law. A compelling defense of the law is right there in black and white, Verrilli said in a statement. This is a sad moment.

Three career lawyers in the departments civil division withdrew from the case earlier Thursday and did not sign the brief. A Justice Department spokeswoman said the lawyers withdrawal had been a department decision, declining to specify whether the lawyers had personally objected to continuing on the case. But Martin S. Lederman, a Georgetown University law professor who was a Justice Department official in the Obama administration, called the mass withdrawal a likely sign of distress.

Justice Department attorneys dont withdraw from cases simply because the government is making an argument the lawyers think the courts should or would reject, he said. Such withdrawals are exceedingly rare  typically only when the argument is indefensible, as they are here.

The Trump administrations move drew comparisons to the Obama administrations decision, in 2011, to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that barred federal recognition of same-sex unions that were lawful at the state level, and which the Supreme Court later struck down. Conservatives at the time accused the Justice Department of politicization.

The Texas case will be decided first by OConnor, a conservative appointee of President George W. Bush. The case would then go to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where appointees of Republican presidents hold a 10-5 majority over Democratic appointees. Whatever the lower courts decide, the case seems destined to reach the Supreme Court.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
This is what I can do if the Chinese try to play tricks on me, said Pudjiastuti, the maritime affairs and fisheries minister of Indonesia. I can smile very nicely and then I can use my high heel.

Very sharp, she added, popping the piece of fish into her mouth.

Suffice it to say that Pudjiastuti is not a conventional Indonesian woman, much less a conventional Cabinet minister. She chain smokes, although Indonesias health minister  one of eight women in the Cabinet of President Joko Widodo  has warned her that a public figure should not be seen lighting up.

Pudjiastuti likes her coffee black and her alcohol only in the form of champagne. My family thinks I am a little bit of a nut case, she said.

Perhaps it takes a little bit of a nut case to challenge Beijing, going so far as to seize Chinese fishing boats poaching in Indonesian waters. She has created a lot of enemies along the way, at home as well as abroad, but she says her success can be measured by the improved health of Indonesias fishing grounds, and she is not about to back down.

With more than 13,000 islands, Indonesia is the worlds largest archipelagic nation, yet its maritime sovereignty had long been neglected. When she was appointed in 2014, Pudjiastuti, a seafood and aviation magnate who never finished high school, inherited a ministry that was in danger of being eliminated. But she has transformed her portfolio, declaring war on foreign fishing boats that had encroached on territorial waters and threatened some of the worlds most biodiverse seas.

Not all of the offenders have been from China. Boats from other Southeast Asian nations stray into Indonesias waters as well, costing the country at least $1 billion a year in lost resources, the United Nations has reported. Pudjiastuti has not relied on subtlety: Under her aegis, hundreds of impounded foreign vessels have been blown up.

But it is Pudjiastutis entanglements with the Chinese that have created the greatest uproar, while also making her an unlikely heroine for those calling for international defiance of Beijings muscular foreign policy.

Indonesia is not an official claimant to contested territory in the South China Sea, where Beijing is landing bombers on disputed islets. But the nine-dash line that China uses on maps to demarcate the swath of the South China Sea it considers its own nevertheless extends into waters that lap up against Indonesian islands.

That is where the fish  and Pudjiastuti  come in.

Im not the military, Im not the foreign minister, she said. The Chinese cannot really get angry at me because all Im talking about is fish.

Another smile, another bite of lunch, this time doused in an incendiary sauce Pudjiastuti made from part of a 65-pound haul of chiles she bought during a recent trip to eastern Indonesia.

In June 2016, an Indonesian warship towed away a Chinese fishing boat that had been caught near the Natunas, Indonesian islands located in the southernmost reaches of the South China Sea. An attempt earlier that year to bring in another Chinese boat had been foiled when the Chinese Coast Guard intervened, severing the towing line connecting the impounded vessel to an Indonesian patrol boat.

Both seizures took place in waters that are well within Indonesias exclusive economic zone, as defined by international maritime law. But the Chinese Foreign Ministry protested and referred to the seas as Chinas traditional fishing grounds.

Pudjiastuti was not impressed. The Indonesians sailed all the way to Madagascar in ancient times, she said. Should we claim the entire Indian Ocean as our traditional fishing grounds?

Since Pudjiastuti took over, most of the 10,000 foreign fishing boats that once poached in Indonesian waters have disappeared. Fishing stocks more than doubled from 2013 to 2017, according to government statistics.

But earlier this year, Indonesias vice president, Jusuf Kalla, said that enough was enough. Blowing up boats may have made Pudjiastuti the most beloved Indonesian Cabinet minister, but the shock tactics were scaring off foreign investors. The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce echoed his complaint.

Even Indonesias 2.4 million-strong fishing community was up in arms, protesting Pudjiastutis efforts to halt popular but environmentally destructive practices like deep trawling and dynamite fishing.

The fisheries minister is unsympathetic. When I started off in the seafood business, the fish were this big, she said, widening her arms. Then everything was small. The fish were gone, overfished, and the government didnt care.

In the decade before she took over, she says, the number of fishing households in Indonesia plunged by 45 percent.

Pudjiastuti, the ultimate self-made woman, is not about to go down without a fight. She was born in a fishing town on the southern coast of Java, Indonesias most densely populated island. She dropped out of high school. There was a first marriage and a child. There was a second marriage and a child. There was a third liaison and a child.

There was a night of drinking in which she got a phoenix tattooed on her right shin; the tattoo remains, even if the men who fathered her children do not. (John Kerry, when he was secretary of state, once jokingly promised to go to Indonesia if Pudjiastuti could arrange for him to get a similar tattoo.)

Pudjiastuti survived by driving a truck transporting frogs and birds nests. Then she moved into the seafood business  lobster to Japan, king prawns to Hong Kong  which spawned an aviation company that started off transporting crustaceans and expanded to carrying people.

Today, Susi Air boasts a fleet of 50 light aircraft. When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami devastated Aceh in western Indonesia, killing around 170,000 people, Pudjiastuti dispatched planes filled with relief supplies.

These days, many Muslim women in Indonesia have abandoned the kebaya, the lacy, body-hugging blouse paired with a sarong that is Indonesias national dress for women, for looser-fitting garments. Not Pudjiastuti. Modeling during Indonesian Fashion Week earlier this year, she had her kebaya sewn so tightly that the stitches tore when she tried to sit down. The dress was hemmed up again but had to be undone when Pudjiastuti realized she needed to go to the bathroom. Then the tailor went to work a third time.

In the political realm, she remains a polarizing figure. Fahri Hamzah, the deputy speaker of Indonesias lower house of parliament, suggested that Pudjiastutis tattoo made her a thug.

Supporters have raised Pudjiastutis name as a possible vice-presidential running mate to Widodo, who is up for re-election next year, despite a constitutional clause that limits the nations top two posts to candidates with a high-school degree. Pudjiastuti demurred when asked to comment on the vice-presidential rumors.

Whenever she can, she returns to the sea. Earlier this year, Pudjiastuti and one of her housekeepers, Nurmadia Heremba, traveled to Pangandaran, the mangrove-fronted town where she grew up. It was a holiday weekend, and she decompressed by steering a paddleboard out to sea.

The current was strong but after 90 minutes of hard rowing Pudjiastuti relaxed on her paddleboard with a smoke and a hot drink. The setting sun glowed crimson over the Indian Ocean. Screw Jakarta, Pudjiastuti said. I am happy when I am out at sea.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Nigerias Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki will lead 15 members of the Nigerian Senate to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on an exchange visit between June 19, 2018, and June 22, 2018.

Saraki made the announcement on Thursday, June 7, 2018, during the plenary session in Abuja.

The Senate President announced that he will be leading a Nigerian delegation on to the Russian Federal Assembly as well as addressing a Special Session of the Russian Parliament.

Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa was informed that joining the Senate President on the visit are Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Majority Whip, Senator Adeyeye, Senator Danbaba, Senator Sunmonu and others.

ALSO READ: Saraki insists democracy is not just about elections

Russian parliament chairperson invited Saraki to speak - aide

Special Assistant to Saraki on Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Bamikole Omishore said the Russian parliament chairperson, Valentina Matviyenko invited the Senate President to speak.

Omishore said that Sarakis visit is sequel to the meeting he had with the Matviyenko at the 2017 Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU).

They exchanged ideas and she invited the Senate President to deliver a speech during a joint special session.
#ransomware hackers arrest Ransomware suspects nabbed in int'l probe involving S. Korea Key members of an international criminal organization suspected of carrying out massive ransomware attacks on South Korean companies and universities in 2019 have been arrested in ...

#cold snap Unseasonable cold snap to drive Seoul's temperatures to 64-year low Temperatures are forecast to drop sharply this coming weekend to a 64-year low for Seoul, the state weather agency said Friday. The morning low is forecast to fall to 1 degree C...
ALSO READ: Lil Kesh Hit Song Now Illegal

See her post below:

You would recall that the government just officially placed a ban on Shisha smoking in the country in their bid to curb drug consumption and abuse.

Why does Nigeria focus on everything except the actual problem?

The Nigerian government, specifically the Ministry of Health wants to start arresting shisha smokers.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Saturday to mark the World No-Tobacco day, Nigeria's Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, implored law enforcement agencies to arrest persons who were violating the government's ban on flavoured tobacco products, and its most popular Nigerian iteration, shisha.

Let me stress that the ban on tobacco products with characterising flavours is still in place and the ban includes shisha because it has flavour. I, therefore, urge the Consumer Protection Council and the law enforcement agencies to intensify arrest of defaulters."

ALSO READ: Codeine Diet and why Nigerian musicians must stop celebrating drug use

To justify this, the Minister referred to a ban on the sale of flavoured tobacco products. Adewole claimed that these products were targeted at the youth and could be as dangerous as cigarettes.
According to the reports, the man whose identity remains unknown made the attempt in the presence of his wife and daughter in the Waterlines area of the state.

ALSO READ: Man attempts to commit suicide in Lagos

Instablog9ja reports that the man had succeeded in cutting and exposing his intestines before he was restrained.

The motive behind his apparent suicide attempt was also unknown as of the time of the report.

Undergraduate rescued during attempted suicide

An undergraduate of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, identified simply as Sydney Prince, was rescued after he jumped into a river in an attempt to end his life.

The incident reportedly took place on Saturday, April 22, 2017, Daily Post reports.

Correspondents reportedly gathered that Prince who is studying Materials and Metallurgical Engineering is the leader of the campus security outfit, Man OWar, in the university.

Stellamaris, an eyewitness and an undergraduate of FUTO, told Daily Post that Prince jumped into the Otammiri river, which is within the school environment after making several phone calls.

She said, While I and my friends were doing our morning exercise at the Otammiri river bank, he was at the other side of the river crying as he was making phone calls. We ignored him and kept jogging. But after about 20 minutes, he jumped into the river. That was when he started shouting and screaming for help from passers-by.

He was struggling and gasping for breath. My friends ran to the street to solicit assistance from people and immediately I saw his head, I started encouraging him to hold on to a tree in the river. He finally lost consciousness and was already drowning when professional swimmers arrived and rescued him.

ALSO READ: Suicidal man climbs electric pole in Lagos, threatens to jump down

Another source close to the victim who spoke on conditions of anonymity said that Prince was feeling frustrated by what was described as unjust treatment by the school management.

The school management has refused to allow him graduate. He has a lot of spill-over courses. And as the leader of the Man Owar, all the allowances accrued to him in the last 12 months have been withheld. After fighting cultists in the campus, it is very annoying that the school management has been frustrating him.
This was made known in a statement issued on Twitter, by the Presidents media aide, Garba Shehu.

Shehu said that the visit is at the invitation of His Royal Majesty, King Mohammed VI.

The presidential spokesman also revealed that the President will discuss on ways that the two countries can strengthen the existing agreements between them.

He said In Rabat, discussions will focus on strengthening existing agreements on the fertilizer industry, education cooperation, the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project.

The visit, which is at the invitation of His Royal Majesty, King Mohammed VI, will see the two leaders discuss socio-economic matters affecting their countries, following prior engagements in December 2016, during the official visit of His Majesty to Nigeria.

Fertiliser initiative

Also, highlighting the benefits of the countrys relationship with Morocco, Shehu said the partnership on fertiliser processing has led to the revitalisation of 14 fertiliser blending plants.

It is noteworthy that following the signing of a collaboration agreement between Nigeria and Morocco in December 2016 to revive the abandoned Nigerian fertilizer blending plants, 14 plants have been revitalized so far under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) with a total capacity of 2.3 million MT of NPK fertilizers, he added.

ALSO READ: All the times Buhari has flown to London for medical vacation
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ugly incident occurred on Friday while construction work was ongoing at the building.

Speaking with NAN at the scene of the event, Malam Abdul-Muminu Adamu, the Divisional Secretary, Nigerian Red Cross, Zaria branch said the incident was unexpected and very frightening.

Shortly when the incident happened, a good Samaritan called and informed us and we reported to the scene immediately.

When we came here, we were able to recover the bodies of two people and later recovered another body while seven other people were rescued alive.

The corpses of the deceased have been deposited at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Shika.

While the injured persons are also responding to treatment at the same hospital, he said.

Mr Paul Fedelix-Aboi, the Director of the state Fire Service described the development as unfortunate, saying that the actual cause can only be ascertained after investigation.

He said, though the rescue operation is not part of their mandate, they were in the area to render possible assistance to rescued persons.

Felix-Aboi attributed the recurrence of building collapse in Nigeria to attitude of Nigerians who always go for cheap labour.

The director advised people to always employ the services of building professionals to put an end to building collapse in the country.

On his part, the Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr Ben Kure described the incident as sad and frightening.

Kure said on receiving the report of the incident, men of the agency were mobilised to the site to render assistance.He said work was still on at the scene of the incident to remove all the concrete in case other victims were still lying under the collapsed building.
Al-Yolawi gave the advice in his Friday sermon titled Last 10 Days of and Preparation in Abuja.

According to him, the poor and needy are the most deserving beneficiaries of Zakatil-fitr.

He explained that the purpose of Zakatil-fitr was to purify the one who had fasted from any type ofindecent act or speech he or she might have committed while fasting.

He said Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said the charity was to enable the poor and the needy to also enjoy the eid.

He added that Zakatil-fitr was an obligatory charity on every Muslim at the end of the month of Ramadan, noting that the Holy Prophet had enjoined every Muslim, young and old, male and female,free and slave to give out charity.

Al-Yolawi said the Messenger of Allah said Zakatil-fitr is mandatory on the one who fasts to shield him or her from any indecent act or speech and for the purpose of providing food for the needy.

Abu Saeed said we used to give out Zakatil-fitr on behalf of every child, aged person, free man or slave during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah.

The cleric said the Prophet had ordered Muslims to give out the charity before they go out to perform the Eid prayer.

He emphasised that if the zakat was given out after the Eid prayer; it would be considered as just regular charity and not Zakatil-fitr.

If one gives out Zakatil-fitr before the Eid salat, it is considered an accepted zakat but if given after the salat, then it is just an ordinary charity.

The cleric then urged Muslims to take their wives and daughters to the Eid prayer ground in line with the teaching of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

He said we have been ordered to go to the Eid ground with all family members, including menstruating women to witness the good and the supplications of the Imam and Muslims.

Menstruating women are, therefore, advised to stay away from the prayer area but remain in the vicinity to witness the prayer.

He also advised Muslims to listen to the sermon of the Imam at the Eid prayer ground as it was regarded as a time to remember Allahs blessings and to be thankful to be present in such gathering.
Also to be honoured are late prominent lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi and Babagana Kingibe, Abiola's running mate in the 1993 election.

Abiola will be given the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) title while Gani will get the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) and the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) title will be conferred on Kingibe.

According to a statement released by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, the pro-democracy heroes will be honour an investiture scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at the Conference Hall, State House, Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

Read full statement below:

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HONOURS JUNE 12 PRO-DEMOCRACY HEROES

Following the historic designation of June 12 as DEMOCRACY DAY and NATIONAL HOLIDAY, Muhammadu Buhari, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, will confer Post-Humous national honours on Chief M.K.O. Abiola as Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), Chief Gani Fawehinmi as the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). He will also decorate Ambassador Babagana Kingibe with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), at an investiture scheduled to take place as follows:-

DATE: Tuesday, June 12 2018 VENUE: Conference Hall, State House, Aso Rock Villa, AbujaTIME: 10.00 am

2. Accordingly, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe , the family of the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola and that of Chief Gani Fawehinmi , along with the underlisted key players of June 12 struggle are cordially invited:

 Members of the National Executive Committee of the SDP including States Chairmen and Secretaries at the time of June 12, 1993

 Governors elected under SDP platform

 Former Senate Presidents  Iyorchia Ayu and Ameh Ebute and Speaker Agunwa Anekwe along with Principal Officers of the National Assembly elected under SDP platform

 Speakers of the States Assembly elected under SDP platform

 All Chairmen of the States Traditional Councils from the six South-Western States

 Prof. Wole Soyinka

 Mr. Femi Falana, SAN

 Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

 Chief Bisi Akande

 Ms. Ayo Obe

 Bayo Onanuga  The News

 Kunle Ajibade  Tempo

 Nosa Igiebor  Tell

 Kayode Komolafe  Media Hope 93

 Senator Janathan Zwingina  DG Hope 93

 Comrade Frank Ovie Kokori

 Prof. Humphrey Nwosu

3. Also invited are Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogora, Principal Officers of the National Assembly, Members of the Federal Executive Council and all State Governors.

4. Accommodation has been reserved for all invitees at the NICON Luxury Hotel, Tafawa Balewa Way, area 11, Garki, Abuja from Monday, 11th June 2018. For further inquiries please contact William Alo, Permanent Secretary, Special Duties Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation by telephone on +234 803 585 4332.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed described it as the "concoction of a mind worried by guilt" in a statement released on Friday, June 8.

He wondered why Obasanjo is afraid if he does not have skeleton in his cupboard.

"This administration will never engage in a frame-up of innocent citizens," Mohammed said.

"That is neither in the character of President Muhammadu Buhari nor in that of his administration. Only the guilty should be worried. To paraphrase an African proverb, a man who has no wife cannot lose an inlaw to the cold hands of death.

"The administration is also strongly committed to the tenets of democracy, including freedom of speech and the right to dissent. But we understand that those who, in their time, were untethered to those principles would find it hard to believe."

The minister added that the Buhari administration is focused and committed to delivering the dividends of democracy and will not succumb to any attempts to be distracted by those who "helped to deepen the wounds inflicted by the blow of injustice that followed an election that was widely acclaimed to be free, fair and credible."

"Added to that is the frustration brought about by the fact that the contraption they have so much hyped as a freeway to power has failed to gain traction. Faced with this double tragedy, even the strongest of men may begin to succumb to a figment of their imagination. They may start crying wolf where there is none", he added.

ALSO READ: Why Nigerians should vote Buhari out in 2019 - Obasanjo

'Letter bomb'

Obasanjo has continued to punch holes in the Buhari administration since his critical open letter to the President in January.

He is said to be making underground moves to build a formidable coalition that will wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 as his African Democratic Party (ADC) is in talks with over 30 political parties.
The clerics, who made the call on Saturday at the 7th Synod of the Diocese of Lafia, said such was the spiritual action taken by the Israelites of old to attract Gods presence in their midst in time of difficulties.

The Rt. Rev. Godwin Robinson, Bishop of Lafia Dioceses, who presided at the Synod in his charge, urged both the church members in Lafia Diocese and beyond to keep time with God to redeem the country.

Robinson, who gave his charge with the Synod theme, Rise up and Walk, explained that Nigeria could only make progress from its present state, if the church and the entire society would partner to seek Gods presence.

He quoted from the book of Acts of Apostles chapter 3 verse 6, where Peter commanded the lame man to walk and regain his strength from his challenge.

Then Peter said, Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have, I give you, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise and walk.

The cleric urged Christians not relent in their efforts in searching the scriptures daily to seek Gods salvation for their spiritual wellbeing.

In those days, Christianity was day-to-day reality, not a once-a-week routine as being practised in our present day Christianity.

It was, therefore, not surprising that Peter and John were going to the temple for prayers three times in a day, and there were no dull moments in their Christian lives,  he said.

He gave an assurance that Nigeria would rise again to its original nature from the present challenges of herdsmen/farmers clashes, insurgency among other security challenges, if the nation would seek the Lord.

The cleric decried the recent attack by the herdsmen in the Southern Senatorial Zone of Nasarawa State, which led to the destruction of three Anglican and other Churches within the area.

According to him, Nigerian government and security agencies should not ignore the killing of innocent armless Nigerians in the middle belt in their homes, farms and even on the highways by acclaimed herdsmen.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to provide security for its citizens, saying that it is the solely governments responsibility to do so.

Also speaking, Rev. Jerry Madibo urged the body of the Church and entire society to partner with the government in prayers to achieve the true change mantra.

Madibo added that the country needed Gods present at the moment as we are approaching the 2019 general elections, if there would be a true change in the country.

Mrs Igwekamma Uzoamaka, a delegate and the participant at the Synod, appreciated the theme of the Synod, saying that with the widespread of the message, it will impact positively on the lives of the Church.

In his comment, Sen. Philip Aruwa, representing the Nasarawa North Senatorial zone, applauded the Church for the Synod theme, saying it is time for Nigeria to rise to the task to redeem the country from its numerous misfortunes.

Aruwa lauded the spiritual fathers, saying that when Israelites of old were in difficult situation, it was the duty of the priests to intervene on behalf of the people before God.

In time like this, I want you to go on your knees to intervene on behalf of Nigerians before God; it is high time we take spiritual steps to protect this country from destruction in view of the present situation.

Let us say enough is enough, lets seek the Lord, if the country is to rise up again, he said.
The Governor had earlier vowed to make sure the party chairman, John Oyegun goes to jail for disobeying a court order stopping the Imo state congress, according to Vanguard.

Okorocha Vs Oyegun

The Imo state governor accused the party chairman of swearing in in Hilary Ekeh as Imo APC chairman despite the fact that there was a case in court over his eligibility.

Okorocha said Oyegun went ahead with Ekeh's inauguration to get back at him because he opposed the elongation of his tenure

Ekeh was re-elected as Imo APC party Chairman in the recently concluded state congress in May 2018.

Okorocha accused of anti-party moves

Following the announcement of the congress results that returned Ekeh as chairman, Okorocha made an announcement declaring Chris Oguoma as chairman of the APC in Imo.

This move prompted the Imo APC state executives to report the Governor to the party leadership.

The APC in Imo state accused Okorocha of anti-party activities and also called on the APC chairman, John Oyegun to take disciplinary measures against the Governor.

APCs warning

The APC spokesman, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, while reacting to claim that the party flouted a court order, called on Okorocha to stop making allegations that dont have facts.

According to Vanguard, Abdullahi said In reacting to recent allegations by the Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha that the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun disobeyed court orders regarding congresses in Imo State and inauguration of the states Party executives, the APC wishes to state that these allegations are spurious as the Party did not at any time receive any court injunctions regarding the congresses in Imo.

ALSO READ: Okorocha has caused the APC more setbacks

It also urgedthe Imo State Governor to desist from making these kinds of allegations that have no basis in facts.

In conducting the congresses across the country, in considering the outcomes of each one of them and in swearing in the respective State chairmen, the National Working Committee, NWC, had strictly followed the guiding rules and the Constitution of the Party, it added.
He stated this in a statement issued on Friday, June 8, in reaction to the alarm raised by former president Olusegun Obasanjo that Buhari is plotting to jail him on trumped-up charges.

Atiku, who served as Obasanjo's deputy between 1999 and 2007, said the former president has paid his dues and deserves some respect.

He also cautioned the APC-led government to tread carefully and avoid overheating the polity.

The statement said, "I have received with serious concern the purported alert raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo of an alleged plot by the government to arrest him on trumped up charges.

"I am disturbed by this turn of events in our dear country considering the huge price that was paid for us to have democracy.

"I wish to advise that government and its agents should retrace their steps to avoid aggravating the already over heated polity.

"The alert by President Obasanjo is coming against the backdrop of earlier alerts by some leaders, especially those of the opposition of deliberate and orchestrated attempt to intimidate and frame them up.

"I wish to state without equivocation that President Obasanjo is a historical figure in Nigerias democracy and that the primary purpose of government is to provide security of lives and property of all citizens and residents irrespective of their status, political affiliation, religious inclination and ethnic leanings.

"Our nation has lost so much precious lives and property that we can no longer afford to travel that road again.

"I wish to appeal to President Buhari to call the security agencies to order in order to douse the tension in the land."

Atiku's ambition

Atiku had in November 2017 defected from the APC to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) giving his reasons as the failure of the Buhari administration to live up to the expectations of Nigerians and the high-handedness in the ruling party.

But many believe Atiku's defection was primarily because of his 2019 presidential ambition, as the APC would unlikely choose him as the party's flagbearer in place of Buhari.

The former vice-president has since appointed a former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel to head his 2019 president campaign organization.

ALSO READ: 7 Accusations Obasanjo threw at Buhari

Although Atiku and Obasanjo's relationship is strained, at least to public knowledge, the two camps may reunite, with the purpose of getting Buhari out of office in 2019.

Obasanjo's Coalition for Nigeria Movement had adopted a political party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), to realise its dream of a new Nigeria.
In the piece below, Communications expert Phrank Shaibu writes that rumours concerning Atiku's finances are a load of crap and falsehood.

The views expressed in the piece below are those of Shaibu and do not necessarily reflect those of Pulse...

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Recently, some bloggers and online platforms went to town with an obviously orchestrated story that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar was broke. The linchpin of the story was that the front line politician was so broke that he cannot fund his presidential ambition for the 2019 race.

More laughable is the insinuation that Atiku, Turakin Adamawa had gone cap in hand begging the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Nwike to help finance the said presidential ambition. How ridiculous can people go in the bid to satisfy their paymasters?

Interestingly, the authors of the said story, which is akin to the Onitsha market literature and the Eze Goes To School series , contend that the recent face-off between Intels, a company said to be owned by Atiku and the Federal Government was the reason for Atiku being flat broke.

And to prove that the Wazirin Adamawa was actually bankrupt, the said tale bearers claimed that the American University of Nigeria (AUN), another entity in which he owns was unable to pay salaries. They further insinuated that there was likely to be a mass exodus of staff at the university.

Plausible as these claims may seem, commonsense dictates that anyone intending to go to town with such piece of information ought to have conducted a basic test as to if there was any truth to the claim. In this instance, they were so much in a hurry to 'damage' the reputation of the former Vice President that truth was easily sacrificed.

Perhaps, if they had bothered to cross check, they would have found out that Intels so called face-off with the Federal Government lasted only for a while. And that Intels paid the fine imposed by the government despite the obvious fact that it was trumped up.

Unknown to these hired puppets, Intels has since resumed operations and it's profit line fully restored. Besides, the impression given that the company is Atiku's cash cow is entirely wrong as the Wazirin's businesses span several sectors of the economy.

As for the so called non-payment or delay of salaries at the university, a few points need to be elucidated. First, there's no truth in the claim that the former VP is unable to pay salaries. Neither is there any planned exit by the staff as most of them know that the American University of Nigeria pay living wages and therefore would not want to leave.

Perhaps those indicted or afraid that their malfeasance may be exposed are thinking of leaving the university. And this is to be expected considering that the ongoing probe instituted by the new management is rather very comprehensive and likely to expose those who have fed fat from the Visitor's generosity without any fear of God.

As it turned out, the management of the university allowed some unwholesome practices to take place. Local staff collected expatriate salaries, staff population more than that of the students and a lot of people went on vacation abroad with the school footing the bill.

The so called delay in salaries is therefore the outcome of an ongoing probe and not that of bankruptcy. Because, the authorities of the school want to ascertain those involved in the sharp practices and the extent of the rot.

For an institution without a backlog of unpaid salaries, which pays salaries promptly and takes staff welfare as top priority, to be 'owing' all of a sudden does not indicate that it is broke. Something more fundamental must be the problem, which, if our tale bearers had bothered to check, they would have quickly uncovered.

But more ludicrous is the assertion that Atiku was lobbying Wike for money to fund his ambition to contest the 2019 presidential election. How weird can people's imagination be? To think that the wazirin Adamawa was so broke that he had to depend on slush funds from Rivers State?

Perhaps, it is necessary to explain to these naysayers that this is not the first time the Adamawa politician would be contesting for public office. He contested and won the governorship of Adamawa before becoming the running mate to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. And, he was Vice President twice.

The former customs boss has also ran once as the presidential candidate of a major political party apart from other attempts at clinching the presidency. He is no stranger to presidential politics and very well knows what it takes to run for such a high office.

To assert that Atiku is broke and begging for money is rather cheap. And leaves a sour taste in the mouth. With an expansive thriving business empire, international contact and exposure as well as a massive political structure, it is clear, even to the blind, that the man does not need to enter into unholy financial alliances, mortgage his conscience and the fate of millions of Nigerians to achieve his objective. More so, since he has openly declared that the presidential race was not a do or die affair.

But it is clear that the puppet master and his cohorts in the All Progressives Congress (APC) are behind the Wike fable having traversed a similar path to get to power. So, they imagine that no serious opposition contender can win an election in Nigeria without the heist from Rivers State.

Nigerians would recall the alleged inglorious role played by former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi to get APC into power. Apart from President Muhammadu Buhari, whose election was heavily funded by Amaechi, at least four APC governors have openly thanked the Transport Minister for having a deep pocket and supporting their campaigns.

But, Nigeria cannot be said to be better for it as the APC government is run more as a cabal, bugged down by conspiracies and unholy compromises, a scenario that any experienced politician, albeit a patriotic statesman like Atiku, would not want to contemplate.

By and large, it is clear that there's no truth in the claim that Atiku is broke. Neither is there any plan by him to subordinate his ambition to a cabal from anywhere.

It is also obvious that the ruling party is jittery and therefore hired some urchins to engage in a tale by moonlight. In the end, what we have is smoke without fire; a rather belligerent exercise to nowhere!

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The 56-year-old made the announcement at the annual Law dinner of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Enugu, on Friday, June 8, 2018, while speaking on the topic, "Nigeria in clear and present danger".

He said he was no longer going to sit back and allow the country to continue sinking under its current leadership, and further urged young Nigerians to stop being mere onlookers.

He said, "I am putting myself forward for the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I'm not going to sit back any longer and postulate. And I want each one of those young people there to be part of it. That's why I urge them to go and get their voter's card and be part of this society.

"Don't be onlookers any longer, this is not a football match where you sit in the audience and cheer and grumble. Get unto the field and take part. I'm not going to sit back, I'm going to take part."

Duke says Buhari's government stuck in the past

While speaking further on his ambition in an interview with Deutsche Welle Africa published on Friday, Duke said the country's current leadership is stuck in the past.

When asked what he thinks he can do better than the country's incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari, he said the current administration is totally out of tune with the current realities of Nigeria.

He said, "I see such obvious failings; I see a leadership that is steeped in the past and that's really refused to evolve with a nation that's predominantly a nation of young, aspiring people, and still doing the things the way they were done many many years ago and did not work.

"I think our leadership in the country today is totally out of tune with the current realities of our nation. There's a disconnect somewhere. So, when you have a leadership that blames its young people, for instance, of not striving enough, or being lazy, it's a disconnect because the tools to make them achieve their aspirations have not been provided.

"Look at the state of education. The state of education today is a far cry from what I received. So the elites amongst us try to send their children abroad; that's a dream. They're gonna breed a generation of children who are disconnected from home and from abroad.

"We had good schools here that could compete with schools anywhere in the world. We had some of the best medical facilities in the 60s and early 70s, all of that has gone to rot. The president himself receives medical treatment abroad. That is a sad state of affairs.

"We can't go on this way and keep complaining. Someone has to take the bull by the horns and I intend to do that."

Buhari was unprepared for leadership - Duke

When asked during the interview what he thinks has been the major failure of the present Buhari-led government, Duke said it was a lack of preparation on their part which has also led to failure to fulfil campaign promises.

He said, "They were not prepared for leadership. Six months to set up a cabinet? Where'd we hear that? President Buhari campaigned for office in two planks: corruption and security.

"Now let's take the scorecard. Corruption is not dead. Persecuting corruption is dealing with symptoms and not the problem. The real problem is you've got to create jobs for people. You've got to pay them adequately. You've got to strengthen your institutions that it makes it almost impossible for you to engage in this set of activities; and should you engage in it, you're sure that there are consequences.

"I could reduce Nigeria's problem to one word: consequences, and the lack of it. People get away with anything, and so it's not picking a few largely in the opposition and name and shame them in the press then thereafter nothing happens and they have found a way of now declaring for the party in government and everything peters down. That's one.

"Security, where are we? Despite the fact that the government has on two or three occasions announced that the war is over and Boko Haram has been defeated, we know it has not been defeated. We know it's still reigning supreme in the north east; there's still suicide bombings and kidnaps and all that. And if you visit any of the IDPs, you will appreciate that we're breeding the next generation of very disgruntled people."

How I'll save Nigeria's economy - Duke

The presidential hopeful also disclosed that Nigeria's economy has to grow at at least 15% annually for 10 years "to recalibrate the system." To achieve this, if he's elected president, Duke said he'll take a two-pronged approach that'll involve lowering interest rates and exploring alternative energy options.

When asked how he'll do better than Buhari, he said, "Creating jobs, jobs, jobs. Boom the economy. I'll take two simple items.

"First of all, you can't grow your economy with the type of banking system you run where the interest rate regime is in the upper 20s. You need to have affordable credits and that will enable the small and medium scale businessmen borrow and expand their businesses. Thousands of businesses have closed down because they can't afford their interest rate regime, and this is self-inflicted.

"Nigeria grew faster when we had some form of regulation on interest rates and the interest rates were in the single digits. Our economy did a lot more better than it is doing today.

"The second thing is you've got to grow this economy at at least 15% annually for 10 years to recalibrate the system. Nigeria ought to be a $2.5 trillion economy not the $3 billion or $4 billion economy.

"Here you are flaring about 2 to 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas daily and we've done this for about 30 years. That's equivalent to about 25 million litres of diesel that we burn on a daily basis. Now, all you need to do is clean up that gas, have a network, pipe it throughout the length and breadth of this country and make it available to industry.

"That'll free electricity on the national grid for residential and domestic use but let the industry, particularly the baked energy consumers, be on gas. And hey, you're flaring the gas, give the gas for next to nothing. You can give it up for free because you're flaring it anyway. That will be our subsidy due to industry. That will catalyse growth in the economy. That will create jobs for folks. That'll pay itself back because your taxable return will be much higher than it is today.

"We import literally everything, we need to substitute. The things we can make here, we make them here but that would only happen if you have affordable credits and energy and, of course, the right policies."

Despite his opposition of President Buhari, Duke supports his administration's ban on rice importation, noting that it doesn't benefit Nigerians in any way.

He said, "We shouldn't import what we can easily provide. We're developing the economy, we need to create jobs and importing rice is just creating jobs overseas at the expense of our people."

Nigeria must restructure or get worse - Duke

Donald Duke also warned that it is important for Nigeria to restructure because it ensures progress. According to him, the country has always been restructuring since it started as three federating units, and must continue to do so without fear.

He said, "I don't know why we're worried about restructuring. Some people get very nervous when they hear about it.

"You restructure yourself everyday: you wake up and say, 'I'm not going to do this,' 'I'm going to change this,' I'm going to do this better than I did yesterday'; that's restructuring. Corporate organisations restructure.

"If you don't restructure constantly, you will stagnate and when you stagnate, you retrogress and when you retrogress, you'll eventually eclipse. I believe we ought to restructure; it's not the first time.

"We started this nation as three regions, federating units, then we had the civil war and it was restructured to 12 states, then eventually 19 and 21 and then 27, 36, or whatever, and we moved our capital. We shouldn't be afraid of it (restructuring).

"I think the corner of the fear for restructuring is revenue distribution."

Donald Duke's party remains unknown

Duke failed to disclose on which political platform he'll run for president next year, but he served as Cross River State governor between 1999 and 2007 and tried to run for president in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

However, since the PDP has officially zoned its presidential ticket to the north, Duke is most likely to contest on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) which is the political party that has been adopted by the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) of which he is a founding member.
While appearing on Channels Television on Friday, June 8, 2018, the lawmaker representing Kogi West said the party suffers from an abnormality that needs to be addressed.

The senator has had a troubled past few months with the party as he's completely fallen out with Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello who is a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari. Melaye believes his strong criticism of Bello and the federal government is how he has ended up with three criminal cases and a couple of failed assassination attempts on his life.

When asked if he has a problem with his party, he said, "I don't have a problem with my party but my party may have a problem with Nigerians because of the way it is presently being run.

"I will not run away from the fact that the APC is sick; and it's not only sick, but equally suffers from what I call a dreadful continental abnormality. There's a need for amelioration. Whether there is still time for that to happen I can't tell, but there's no doubt that the APC is sick."

No romance between executive and legislature - Melaye

Melaye also responded to a question relating to the simmering tension between the executive and legislative arms of government that has resulted in veiled threats of impeachment of the president this week.

According to Melaye, since the legislature is supposed to be an oversight of the executive arm, it is impossible to have an easy relationship.

He said, "I want to say if you expect a romance between the executive and the legislature, you're an enemy of democracy. We can partner to make Nigeria progress but there's not supposed to be any romance because we're supposed to check the executive.

"We're supposed to oversight the executive so what is happening is not abnormal but actually the constitutional responsility of the legislature to check the executive and it is not strange."
"These reductions, in the order of 75 percent, must be brought to light," said the Republican Front for intervention against corruption (Fricc), which is accusing the Macron campaign of "illegal financing".

The group said there is an internal document of the national commission on campaign accounts which says it allows discounts or rebates of a maximum of 15 to 20 percent.

The head of that commission, Francois Logerot, stated on Thursday that its auditors had found no "irregularities" in the Macron accounts.

But Macron's critics have seized on the revelations given his emphasis on public integrity and accountability during his campaign.

The claims of financial favouritism come as Macron's chief of staff Alexis Kohler faces a conflict-of-interest inquiry over his links to the Swiss-Italian shipping giant MSC.

As a senior civil servant before Macron's election, Kohler worked closely on matters involving the shipyard STX France, where MSC is a major client.

MSC was founded by billionaire cousins of Kohler's mother, and Kohler himself joined the company as finance director in 2016 while continuing to work as an advisor on Macron's campaign.

On Friday, opposition Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said France under Macron had become "the republic of cash".

"A scent of permanent complicity reigns between the money centres and the executive. This republic which seeks to be an example has become a republic of cash," he said.
Rouhani, for his part, denounced the "illegal" US withdrawal from the international nuclear deal with Tehran.

Iran, currently an observer member of the SCO, has sought since 2008 to become a full member of the China- and Russia-led security group.

SCO states also include four ex-Soviet central Asian republics and new members Pakistan and India.

Xi spoke at an opening banquet in the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center before taking in a fireworks display.

Standing before a serene seascape painting, he hailed the bloc's guiding "Shanghai spirit", which "focuses on seeking common ground while setting aside differences and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation."

He noted that it was the first meeting since India and Pakistan joined as member states, and stated that this year they would "draw up a blueprint for (the SCO's) future growth".

The SCO gathering comes as US President Donald Trump meets America's closest allies in Canada for a two-day G7 summit, which concludes Saturday.

There, he has found himself in a minority of one -- pitted against peers angered at tariffs that could trigger a wider trade war.

The last leader to arrive, Trump is expected to be the first to leave as he heads to Singapore for an unprecedented encounter on Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Armoured vans lined the streets of Qingdao for the SCO's 18th annual gathering.

Authorities cleared an entire oceanside swathe of the city -- moving aside shopkeepers and day-trippers to make way for Xi, Putin and Rouhani.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and the prime minister of arch-rival India, Narendra Modi, are also in attendance.

Hotels were emptied of all regular customers and banned from selling beer, providing razors or even metal dining knives to journalists.

Iran deal

The SCO meets this year after Trump controversially pulled Washington out of the 2015 international pact with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions.

Though not officially on the agenda, analysts say the summit may focus on whether Iran will be allowed to become a full member state, which it has been unable to achieve while subject to UN sanctions.

The 2015 nuclear deal lifted that barrier.

In his meeting with Putin, Rouhani said a "more serious and important" dialogue between Russia and Iran was needed regarding the nuclear deal following Washington's "illegal" withdrawal from the pact, according to a Kremlin transcript.

Speaking to AFP in Lithuania's capital Vilnius, senior Iranian official Massoumeh Ebtekar said Iran hoped European powers, Russia and China would confirm their willingness to uphold the deal "as soon as possible because Iran cannot wait forever".

"We have been a faithful player to this commitment, we've done our best, we've shown our good intentions. We are facing a very volatile region," she said.

Now in the wake of the US withdrawal from the pact, "SCO members may use granting full membership to Iran as a way to demonstrate support for (Tehran) and the nuclear agreement," said Dawn Murphy, professor of international security studies at the US Air War College.

Trade and security

Trade, investment and development cooperation issues will also feature prominently at the SCO, Murphy said, given the climate of "rising anti-globalisation", stoked by Trump's nationalist "America First" policy.

SCO nations may discuss the potential of a joint free-trade area, she said.

China has promoted its Belt and Road global infrastructure project but may be hindered from gaining robust support for it at this summit due to India, the only SCO member that does not endorse it, she noted.

Regional security issues will also feature, because terrorism is the most severe security challenge facing the SCO, according to Liao Jinrong, a Chinese ministry of public security official.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas -- who was present for the vote -- said his country wanted to be a "strong voice for peace in the Security Council."

"But above all, we want a multilateral world order for the future, based on the rules that we have worked on tirelessly for decades, especially here at the United Nations," Maas added.

The Belgian government said it was joining the council at a "pivotal moment."

"It's a period when multilateralism no longer seems obvious to all, with some even questioning it, even as the planet is confronted with multiple global challenges, including climate change, the (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, the fight against terrorism and illegal migration," it said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was "humbled and honored by the confidence the international community has demonstrated in our capability to contribute to the resolution of global challenges."

He also expressed concerns about "the emergence of unilateralism and its attendant threat to the international rules-based system."

There are 15 members on the UN Security Council, including the five permanent ones -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and 10 non-permanent members, half of which are elected each year.

Regional deal-making

Each candidate country needed to secure two thirds of the votes in order to clinch a seat.

The Dominican Republic will take its first turn on the Security Council, while the other nations chosen have served before.

Belgium and Germany obtained the two seats for the Western Europe and Others Group after Israel dropped out of the competition.

The Maldives, with only 46 votes, lost out to Indonesia for the Asia Pacific regional group's seat.

The African Union made a deal to see that South Africa was elected, while the Dominican Republic took up Latin America's spot after a similar consensus in that regional group.

The five new members will replace Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Sweden on the council.

Just before taking up their duties, the elected states get intense training about Security Council protocol and customs.

The ambassadors will each preside over the council for a month during their mandate.

Elaborate nomination process

Each regional bloc has its own process for Security Council candidates. For some, "it's first come, first served," and countries often seek a seat very early on, a diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"You can put forward your candidacy for 10 years," the diplomat added, though others can challenge that spot.

For the current election, "Israel in the end decided to withdraw because it understood it stood no chance and could face humiliation with 30, 40 or even 50 votes maximum," which would trigger its automatic elimination, the diplomat explained.

In the Western Europe group, there is no agreement on who can get a spot. "As soon as it leaves the council after a term, Germany systematically puts forward its candidacy for six or seven years later," the diplomat said.

So before seeking a seat, a country looks at the competitors already listed.
The future of the deal -- known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- has been thrown into doubt after President Donald Trump announced last month that the US would withdraw from the accord and re-impose sanctions.

The remaining signatories to the pact have been scrambling to find ways to preserve the accord since Trump's announcement.

Last month a senior Iranian official said European powers had until the end of May to come up with an economic package to compensate Iran for the effects of the US withdrawal.

Ebtekar told AFP that Iran wanted European powers, Russia and China to confirm the deal "as soon as possible because Iran cannot wait forever and it's part of our national right".

"We have been a faithful player to this commitment, we've done our best, we've shown our good intentions. We are facing a very volatile region," added Ebtekar, who was visiting Vilnius to attend the Women Political Leaders Global Forum.

Ebtekar said that the deal was "important to preserve because it is not only a nuclear but also a non-proliferation deal", adding that it was "very important" for peace and security "not only for the Middle East but also the broader region and at global level".

Her comments regarding Iran's preparations to relaunch uranium enrichment echo ones made on Wednesday by Reza Najafi, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA's board in Vienna.

Najafi said that Iran was in "preparatory works" to restart nuclear activities in the event of the failure of the accord.

Ebtekar called on the European Union to "take a very strong stance against any unilateral action that could impede peace and security processes, and could undermine the trust that has been created between countries to this pledge."

Experts from the countries still in the Iran nuclear deal held a scheduled meeting in Tehran on Thursday.
"It is not possible for Malta to say 'no' to any request for help," he continued.

Salvini's comments came after Malta reportedly refused to come to the aid of a migrant rescue ship Seefuchs, which was stranded with 119 migrants onboard in the Mediterranean due to violent sea conditions.

The ship had embarked on a mission coordinated by the Italian coastguard on Wednesday to rescue migrants aboard a dinghy in distress.

But after evacuating the dinghy, the Seefuchs was forced to call for assistance from a bigger vessel, unable to navigate in the deteriorating weather conditions without putting the migrants' lives in danger.

According to the German NGO Sea-Watch, which attempted in vain to assist the Seefuchs due to the adverse conditions, Valletta refused to offer assistance, apart from agreeing to accept medical evacuations by air.

The Maltese government was quick to deny it had done anything wrong.

"With regards to Search and Rescue, Malta acts in accordance to the international conventions that apply," the government said in a statement Friday evening.

"Malta will continue to respect these conventions with respect to the Safety of Life at Sea (maritime treaty), as happened in this latest case and indeed in each case."

70 hours in rough seas

The Seefuchs was finally reached on Friday afternoon by a tanker and an Italian coast guard ship and is expected to dock at the port of Pozzallo in southern Sicily in the evening.

The migrants on board were reportedly in a state of distress after spending 70 hours in rough seas.

Another 232 migrants, on board the NGO ship Sea Watch 3 are also set to disembark in the southern Italian state of Calabria Saturday morning after more than three days at sea.

Unconvinced by Valletta's statement, the bullish Salvini, issued a sharp response Friday evening.

"Can our Maltese friends tell us how many ships carrying immigrants docked in their ports in 2018?" he said in a statement.

"How many people landed, how many asylum applications were examined and how many accepted? Italy wants to solve problems, not create them."

Salvini -- who is also deputy prime minister -- has repeatedly promised to stop migrants arriving in Italy and speed up deportations.

He accuses fellow EU nations of abandoning Italy in the struggle to deal with migrant arrivals, recently announcing that Italy cannot be "Europe's refugee camp."

The southern European nation has seen more than 700,000 migrants arrive on their shores since 2013.

However, a controversial agreement between Italy's former centre-left government and authorities and militias in Libya has triggered a decline in overall arrivals of some 75 percent since the summer of 2017.
Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights said 19-year-old student Cesar Chavarria became the 135th person to die in anti-government protests that have flared since April 18.

A student leader said Chavarria was killed and another student was wounded overnight Thursday to Friday when armed men in vans opened fire on a barricade near the National Autonomous University in Managua.

State broadcaster Radio Nicaragua was targeted in a firebomb attack early Friday, the official government website reported, charging that the arson was "organized and paid for by the right".

The Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference (CEN) said the bishops had presented "the pain and anguish of people who have suffered in recent weeks" during a "frank and sincere meeting" with Ortega.

It did not elaborate on the details of the bishops' proposal, but said it "reflects the feelings of many sectors of Nicaraguan society" and was awaiting a reaction from Ortega.

Silvio Jose Baez, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, said Ortega "asked us for a period of reflection to give us an answer, which we asked he give us in writing" -- after which they will consider the feasibility of renewed negotiations.

Bishops had called off the talks last week after 16 people were killed in a crackdown by security forces on a protest led by mothers of victims of the unrest.

Costa Rica announced Friday it would provide visas to relatives of diplomats accredited in Nicaragua who want to leave.
Often the atmosphere between the partners becomes tense in the run-up to the annual summit, held in the country which holds the rotating presidency.

However G7 summits traditionally end with a face-saving joint declaration regarding the most important outcomes of the meeting.

This year's summit promises to be fractious due to new import tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on his partners.

He has also called for the reintegration of Russia, a member of the group between 1998 and 2014 and which was thrown out after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Origins in global economy

The meetings date back to Rambouillet in France in 1975, in the wake of the first oil shock, during which oil prices soared.

Six countries -- Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- took part in this first "G6", and were joined a year later by Canada making the "G7".

The initiative came from French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing who wanted to elevate to the top level meetings already held by the countries' finance ministers to tackle burning economic issues.

From G7 to G8

During the 1980s, tensions between the East and West during the Cold War gave a more political slant to the meetings.

The Williamsburg summit in 1983 adopted, for the first time, a declaration on security in Europe.

The text of support for the policies of US president Ronald Reagan towards Moscow was adopted despite the reservations of French president Francois Mitterrand.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991 proved a gamechanger.

Russia, which attended the summit as a guest in 1992, was in 1998 allowed for the first time to attend all summit meetings. The grouping was officially renamed the "G8".

Exclusive club criticised

From 1999, during a period of successive financial crises, the G8 was criticised for being an exclusive club.

The rich powers therefore also started meeting with emerging countries in the new "G20" grouping, in an attempt to resolve or avoid these crises.

In 2001 the G8's summit in Genoa, Italy, was overshadowed by violent demonstrations by anti-globalisation protesters which left one person dead.

The protesters challenged the usefulness and legitimacy of the G8 and called for the cancellation of the poorest countries' debts.

Protests dogged other G8 summits, which from then on were held under tight security.

Putin and Trump

In 2014 Vladimir Putin's Russia was suspended from the G8 after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and sanctions were imposed on Moscow. The G8 summit planned for that year in Russia was cancelled and the G8 reverted to being the G7.
LONDON: Iran said on Friday a US request for Saudi Arabia to pump more oil so that it could cover a drop in Iranian exports was crazy and astonishing and said OPEC would not heed the appeal, setting the stage for a tough OPEC meeting this month.



Iran, Saudi Arabias arch-rival, has a history of raising challenges in OPEC meetings. In 2015, Tehran refused to sign up to OPEC policies, saying it needed to hike output due to the easing of sanctions after a nuclear accord with world powers.



U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of that nuclear deal last month and announced the highest level of sanctions against Iran, the biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia and Iraq.



Its crazy and astonishing to see instruction coming from Washington to Saudi to act and replace a shortfall of Irans export due to their Illegal sanction on Iran and Venezuela, Irans OPEC governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili told Reuters.



U.S. President Donald Trump said in April oil prices were artificially high because of OPEC.



The U.S. government had also unofficially asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to raise output a day before Washington slapped new sanctions on Tehran.



In the previous round of sanctions against Tehran, in which the European Union had taken part, Iranian oil exports plummeted by more than half to below 1 million barrels per day.



The EU is not planning to join sanctions this time and has called on the United States to give its companies waivers so they can continue doing business with Tehran.



But many European companies are already severing ties with Tehran for fear of facing secondary sanctions from the United States, which could mean losing access to the U.S. dollar clearing system.



The U.S. sanctions on Irans petroleum industry will take effect after a 180-day wind-down period ending on Nov. 4 but many European refiners are already winding down Iranian oil purchases.



Iran has called on OPEC to discuss what it called illegal sanctions at the next meeting on June 22, which is due to debate production policies.



OPEC and its allies led by Russia have cut a combined 1.8 million barrels per day of output since January 2017 and the cuts are due to expire at the end of 2018.



However, Saudi Arabia and Russia have said cuts could be eased after receiving calls from consumers including the United States, China and India to support global demand.



Irans Kazempour predicted OPEC would not heed the U.S. request and said oil prices would jump in response to Washingtons sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, as they did during a previous round of U.S. sanctions against Iran.



No one in OPEC will act against two of its founder members, he said. The U.S. tried it last time against Iran, but oil prices got to $140 a barrel.



OPEC, founded in 1960, has a history of collaboration over oil policy despite differences of opinion and even wars between some members over the years.



Kazempour said the group would unite in opposition to the U.S. request.



OPEC will not accept such a humiliation. How arrogant and ignorant one could be (to) underestimate the history of 60 years cooperation among competitors, he said.



We have to live together - we cannot change geography but we must build better history, he said.Reuters




Martinelli's spokesman Luis Eduardo Camacho told AFP that he believed the extradition would be carried out "pretty quickly" over the coming days, without offering a precise date.

Martinelli, who served as president from 2009 to 2014, was accused of spying on the telephone calls of more than 150 people, including journalists and politicians.

He is under investigation in Panama in about 20 other cases of corruption, but those are not referred to in the extradition request.

Under a 1905 extradition treaty, he can only be tried in Panama for the crimes alleged in the request.

In Panama, President Juan Carlos Varela confirmed his government had been notified of the State Department action and pledged "everything will be managed on the basis of the proceedings, laws and constitution of the country."

Martinelli, 66, was detained in June last year and has been incarcerated in Miami since then.

Having exhausted his appeals, his fate was left in the hands of the US government.

On May 15, his lawyers submitted a 430-page document to the State Department in which they asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to exercise his discretion and deny Panama's "politically motivated" extradition request.

Martinelli argued he was the victim of a "vendetta" by Varela, his former vice president.

In an open letter that his lawyers made public last month, Martinelli cited occasions when he had done favors for the United States.

"When the CIA requested that I stop a North Korean ship leaving Cuba that was crossing the Panama Canal, I did not blink an eye," he wrote.
The multinational force "came under mortar and small-arms fire at approximately 2:45 pm Mogadishu time (1145 GMT), killing one US service member and injuring four US service members and one partner force member," the US military's Africa Command said in a statement.

A military official told AFP the dead American was a special operations commando, but further details were not being released pending notification of next of kin.

The mission's objectives were to "clear Shabaab from contested areas, liberate villages from Shabaab control and establish a permanent combat outpost designed to increase the span of federal government of Somalia security and governance," Africa Command said.

"The US provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission."

More than 500 American forces are partnering with African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali national security forces in counterterrorism operations, and have conducted frequent raids and drone strikes on Al-Shabaab training camps throughout Somalia.

Last year, a Navy SEAL was killed in a nighttime attack in Somalia, marking the first US military combat death there since the infamous "Black Hawk Down" events of 1993, when 18 American servicemen died in the Battle of Mogadishu.
According to Nandi Senator Kiprotich Cherargei, a powerful cartel has emerged, pretending to support the big 4 agenda yet secretly holding night meetings to derail it and determine who will succeed President Kenyatta.

Lakini katika hii serikali tumejua kuna wale the informal government within a formal government. Kuna wakora ambao wako kitchen cabinet ambao agenda yao ni kuderail the big 4 agenda ya presidet Kenyatta. (We know that there is an informal government withing the formal government. There are conmen inside the kitchen cabinet whose main agenda is to derail President Kenyattas big 4 agenda. He disclosed.

The Senator who was speaking at a church fundraiser disclosed that an informal government has emerged within the formal government, with people from the kitchen cabinet regrouping to hijacking 2022 politics and determining who will be president in 2022.

Cherargei issued a warning to the group which he also claims is holding regular night meetings like night-runners to determine who will be the President in 2022.

He vowed to name and shame them at the right time.

The comments come a few weeks after Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko divulged that a powerful clique of individuals within the government are working behind the scenes to prevent DP Rutos 2022 presidential bid.
Sources privy to the details divulged that Raila has brokered a deal that will see South Sudans Salva Kiir and exiled former Vice President Riek Machar hold face to face talks for the first time.

Well-placed sources also revealed that the opposition chief also succeeded in securing the release of Riek Machar from house arrest in South Africa.

Machar will jet into Kenya next week for the first leg of talks with the second leg scheduled for Khartoum before his eventual return home.

The NASA boss jetted into South Africa this week after an earlier with Kiir in Juba, carrying the hopes of millions of South Sudanese citizens who are yearning for peace after decades of war.

News of the developments was well received by Kiir who promised to work together with Machar to build the war-ravaged nation.

Odinga appears to be on course to accomplishing his first task after the March 09 handshake by leading efforts to bring peace to the war-torn country.
Pumpkin Month At Queens Farm! October is Pumpkin Month at Queens Farm and there were pumpkins as far as the eye could see at the Queens County Farm Museums Pumpkin...

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133 women in New Zealand have no idea they have breast cancer right now, charity warns
QUIZ: Guess the Road Songs

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Moscow court seizes Summa Group owners property in embezzlement case

11:59 09/06/2018

MOSCOW, June 9 (RAPSI)  The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow has seized property of Summa Group owner Ziyavudin Magomedov and his brother Magomed Magomedov as part of a 2.5-billion-ruble embezzlement case ($43.5 million), the courts press-service has stated.

Overall, the seized property includes four cars, two apartments, shares in several companies and money located at bank accounts. It was noted that there were 28 court orders on the matter with 14 of them already being appealed.

Earlier, the court extended detention for the businessmen and other defendant in the case, ex- CEO of Intex construction company Arthur Maksidov, until August 5.

The Investigative Committee reported that Ziyavudin Magomedov was charged with large scale embezzlement and organization of a criminal gang, his brother Magomed was charged with illegal purchase, delivery, sale, storage, transportation or bearing of weapons, components and ammunition. Maksidov was also charged with embezzlement and organization of a criminal gang.

According to investigators, the businessmen are involved in the organization of a gang, embezzlement of 2.5 billion rubles ($43.5 million) from the state budget and withdrawal of some of these assets abroad. Two more defendants in the case, who allegedly fled to the United Arab Emirates, were arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list.
Russian ex-governor convicted of receiving $640,000 bribe released on parole

 www.votermedia.org

15:35 09/06/2018

MOSCOW, June 9 (RAPSI) - Tula's ex-governor Vyacheslav Dudka, who had been given 9.5 years in prison for taking a 40 million ruble bribe ($640,000 at the current exchange rate), was released on parole, the spokesperson of the Federal Penitentiary Services regional directorate Margarita Rimar told RAPSI on Saturday.

Dudka was convicted and sentenced for corruption in July 2013.

According to investigators, in November 2010, then governor Dudka and Viktor Volkov, who headed the regional property and land management department, took a 40 million ruble kickback from the GRINN Corporation in return for leasing it a land plot in Tula for three years for the company to build a supermarket there.
Dagestans police colonel charged with corruption appeals detention

 RAPSI

16:26 09/06/2018

MOSCOW, June 9 (RAPSI, Nikolay Merkulov)  Colonel Magomed Khizriyev, head of the Dagestan Republics Interior Ministry operative department charged with corruption, has appealed his detention, attorney Aida Khasimova has said.

The colonel is charged with giving an especially large bribe. He denied wrongdoing, called his arrest a provocation, claimed that he does not know other defendants and that he did not have money to give such a large bribe.

Five other defendants in the criminal case charged with mediating the bribery were detained as well.

According to investigators, in 2017, Khizriyev transferred his accomplices $2 million as part of a bribe. The alleged accomplices said that money was designated for their help with his appointment for a higher position in one of the Interior Ministrys regional departments. Overall, the value of the bribe reached $6 million.

It was noted that the defendant was apprehended with the assistance of the Federal Security Services (FSB) officers.
Appeal against Browders sentence in tax evasion case to be heard on June 21

 flickr.com/World Economic Forum

17:06 09/06/2018

MOSCOW, June 9 (RAPSI)  The Moscow City Court will hear an appeal against Hermitage Capital CEO William Browders sentence for tax evasion and deliberate bankruptcy on June 21, the courts spokesperson Ulyana Solopova has told RAPSI.

Moscows Tverskoy District Court sentenced Browder to 9 years in prison in absentia on December 29. His business partner Ivan Cherkasov received 8 years in prison. The defendants were also fined 200,000 rubles (about $3,500) each. Moreover, the court granted a civil lawsuit and recovered 4.3 billion rubles (about $75 million) from the defendants in favor of the Russian Federation.

Browder has been charged with several economic crimes, including deliberate bankruptcy and tax evasion, his attorney Alexander Antipov has told RAPSI earlier. Investigation into Browder was completed within the shortest possible time, from February 8 to 17, 2017, the lawyer added. However, neither the defendant nor his legal team were notified about investigation. According to Antipov, this fact exemplifies secret justice and violates the law.

Prosecutors claim that the defendants caused damage estimated at over 4 billion rubles. The businessmen, residing in the United Kingdom, were put on the international wanted list.

In February 2017, the Tverskoy District Court arrested the defendants in absentia. However, the United Kingdom refused to extradite its nationals on Russias request.

In 2013, a Russian court sentenced Browder in absentia to 9 years in a penal colony. The court found that between 1997 and 2002, Hermitage Capital auditor Sergey Magnitsky created and applied an illegal tax evasion scheme in the interests of Browder.

Magnitsky worked for Firestone Duncan and represented Hermitage Capital, which the Russian authorities accused of tax evasion. Magnitsky was arrested on fraud charges in November 2008 and found dead in a Moscow detention center in November 2009. The lawyers death provoked an international outcry.

In July 2013, Moscows Tverskoy District Court found Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion and closed the case due to his death. According to the case materials, Magnitskys and Hermitage Capital director William Browders actions cost Russia over 500 million rubles (over $8 million).
Cyprus seeks to uphold Russian womans arrest in absentia in $50k embezzlement case

 flickr.com/Leonid Mamchenkov

12:59 09/06/2018

MOSCOW, June 9 (RAPSI)  Russias Prosecutor Generals Office received a Cypriot courts request to uphold the arrest warrant issued in absentia for Russian citizen Marina Solinova charged with embezzling 3 million rubles (about $50,000), a law enforcement source told RAPSI on Saturday.

A court in Nicosia also asked Russian prosecutors to furnish copies of investigation reports confirming Solinovas guilt, the source added.

The Russian woman wanted since the fall of 2017 was arrested in Cyprus on May 31 and placed in detention. The District Court of Nicosia will consider a request for her extradition on June 19.

According to the law enforcement source, investigators believe that Solinova holding a post in the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudichestvo) and her accomplices embezzled funds allocated for organizing international exhibitions and presentations by signing a state service contract at an overvalued price with a firm controlled by the defendants.

The embezzlement case was opened against Solinova in February 2017. A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for her in absentia in November 2017.

Solinova pleaded not guilty while her alleged accomplices testified against her, the source told RAPSI.

Rossotrudichestvo in turn refuted allegations that Solinova worked in the federal agency, according to publicly available sources.
Ex-Russian minister Ulyukayev to serve sentence for corruption in Tver Region

 RIA Novosti, Ramil Sitdikov

14:05 09/06/2018

MOSCOW, June 9 (RAPSI)  Ex-Russian minister of economy Alexey Ulyukayev sentenced to 8 years in prison for taking a bribe will serve his term in the Tver Region, human rights advocate Eva Merkacheva has told RAPSI.

Ulyukayev was transferred to a prison on June 4; currently, he is under quarantine, Merkacheva said.

According to the human rights advocate, he will be put in a prison cell in coming days as the quarantine cannot be longer than 10 days.

The former minister was sentenced to 8 years in high security prison and a 130-million-ruble fine (about $2 million) on December 15, 2017. Moscows Zamoskvoretsky District Court held that his involvement in the bribery was proven by witnesses testimony and other examined evidence. The defendants words about innocence were regarded as attempt to evade criminal liability. Later, the Moscow City Court upheld the prison term for Ulyukayev despite slightly changing the sentence itself.

Ulyukayev was arrested on November 14, 2016, when leaving the office of Rosneft oil company. The Federal Security Services (FSB) officers found a bag holding $2 million in cash in his official car. He was charged with extortion a grand bribe. According to the Investigative Committee, he threatened to create obtrusions for Rosneft with the use of his position.

Ulyukayev stated that the case was fabricated. The defendant noted that there was a provocation, orchestrated by FSB and that there was no sound evidence in the case, aside from testimony provided by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.

President Vladimir Putin relieved Ulyukayev of his post because of loss of trust on November 15, 2016.
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'"We want to get the learnings from Flipkart and take it to other parts of the world," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was quoted as saying.'

'That is a very large tuition fee for an MBA in a country that outdoes Brazil and perhaps even China in busting multinationals' knees and sometimes their heads as they try to crack a market of mostly impoverished people run by a government that has never really given up the sadistic pleasures of administering the license raj,' notes Rahul Jacob.

Trying to make sense of Walmart's international strategy has been akin to trying to solve a giant Rubik's Cube where the colours move according to the whims of a prankster's bidding.

In the past few months alone, the two buyout firms bidding for Walmart's 540 stores in Brazil discovered a huge tax liability in the company's local business while doing their pre-acquisition due diligence.

The amount? In excess of $3 billion, according to a Reuters expose, the result of hefty back taxes in two different provinces in that country.

While it's true that Brazil might finish a close second to India's tax complexity, the problem also appears to be Walmart's proprietary management software that could not adapt to the web of retail taxes in Brazil.

In any event, one can't help wonder why the two financial firms bidding for a money-losing business with revenues of almost $10 billion discovered this giant tax liability at such a late stage.

Late last month, Walmart signed off on a deal to sell the British supermarket chain it acquired in 1999 for roughly the same price that it paid nearly 20 years ago.

To be fair, that business made good profits till the UK supermarket business became overly crowded in the past few years, which explains why the business is being sold for 11 times the operating profits in 2018, compared with Walmart's acquisition price of 18 times operating profits in 1999.

It is this track record of brash blundering overseas while running such an efficient business in the US from Bentonville that makes Walmart such a bewildering case study of corporate schizophrenia.

Little wonder then that the common thread through the many analysts' reports on Walmart investing $16 billion in Flipkart is bewilderment.

In a note entitled, 'Last penalty WMT should pay for being slow?' analysts at Bernstein characterised the acquisition price to sales multiple of 5-7x as 'silly'.

Walmart paid a similar multiple while paying $3 billion for a fast-growing US online retailer called Jet.com; after the acquisition delivered an initial turbo boost to Walmart's online sales, Walmart is falling further behind in playing catch-up to Amazon at home.

Instead of concentrating on that big task in the US, it has opted to enter a race with Amazon in India. 'We also did not hear a clear strategy statement about what WMT would do or not do with Flipkart that would allow them to win or keep pace with Amazon,' Bernstein said.

It is reassuring to hear such candour from seasoned analysts just off a conference call with management because Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon has spoken a couple of times about the value of buying Flipkart, but your guess is as good as anyone else's on why they will succeed online after their brick and mortar ambitions have amounted to so little, admittedly also because of perverse Indian government regulations.

'We want to get the learnings from Flipkart and take it to other parts of the world,' McMillon was quoted as saying.

That is a very large tuition fee for a master's in business administration in a country that outdoes Brazil and perhaps even China in busting multinationals' knees and sometimes their heads as they try to crack a market of mostly impoverished people run by a government that has never really given up the sadistic pleasures of administering the license raj.

Walmart's accident-prone attempts to open bricks and mortar retail stores in this country, which they wisely gave up on a few years ago, ought to have been a costly enough lesson.

Scan the tables of global online sales put out by Forrester Research, Euromonitor and investment banks and it becomes immediately apparent that only two countries would merit the absurd 16 billion dollar bet that Walmart has just made: They are predictably China and the US, who together account for 80 per cent of global e-commerce transactions.

Walmart already has well over 400 stores in China and an online presence too through a very efficient local grocery delivery and logistics company.

In the US in the past few years, it has begun to make amends for not recognising early on the challenge e-commerce would pose by convincing Marc Lore, the founder of Jet.com, to head its online business.

By buying a majority stake in Flipkart, Walmart risks undermining its much larger business at home chasing what is by US and Chinese standards a tiny middle class in India with limited purchasing power for the foreseeable future.

'This investment will pull management attention from the US market at a time when competition has never been tougher,' note analysts at Morgan Stanley.

They concluded that Walmart would have been better advised to increase its collaboration with Google in e-commerce and focus on combating Amazon in their home market, which still accounts for three-quarters of Walmart's earnings before interest and taxes and two-thirds of their revenue.

Instead, by betting big on India and Flipkart whose losses are in excess of $1 billion annually, Walmart is setting itself up for huge write-downs.

Called 'goodwill' in accounting terms to account for acquisitions gone wrong, the term is a decorous euphemism for corporate hubris and naivete.

Walmart last month has shown both in abundance.
7.8 million square feet of mall space is under construction this year, the highest ever since 2011.

Raghavendra Kamath reports.

Between 2018 and 2020 India is expected to see around 20 million square feet of space hitting the market. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

An estimated 7.8 million square feet of mall space is expected to come up this year, the highest ever supply since 2011, according to property consultancy JLL.

This is 40 per cent more compared to last year.

The next three years -- 2018 to 2020 -- are expected to see around 20 million sq ft of space hitting the market, JLL said.

The evolving shopping scenario in Tier II and Tier III cities is driving the new supply. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Almost all the big developers such as DLF, Prestige, Brigade, Phoenix Mills, L&T, Nitesh Estates and a host of regional and local developers are building malls.

Blackstone-owned Nexus Malls is planning to add 2 million sq ft to its portfolio.

Malls in Tier II cities like Srinagar have clearly become the favourites of private equity firms. Photograph: Fayaz Kabli/Reuters

Phoenix Mills, the country's largest mall owner, will double its portfolio of over 6 million sq ft.

L&T Realty, the real estate arm of L&T, is building four malls in Hyderabad.

Malls have seen investments of over $750 million in 2017, almost double of what the segment saw in 2016. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Experts said the booming retail sector and evolving shopping scenario in Tier II and Tier III cities were driving the new supply.

40 per cent more mall space will come up in 2018 compared to last year. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

According to JLL, the retail sector is estimated to grow to Rs 1 trillion by 2020, at a compound annual rate of 12 to 15 per cent.

Malls have seen investments of over $750 million in 2017, almost double of what the segment saw in 2016.

Malls saw an investment of over $750 million in 2017. Photograph: Parivartan Sharma/Reuters

"Encouraged by urbanisation, a young population and the rising proportion of nuclear families in urban locations, over 70 per cent of consumption growth in the next 15 years is expected from the population aged between 15 and 59 years. This, along with the opening up of the FDI route for retail brands, will boost investments," said Ramesh Nair, CEO and country head, JLL India.

Malls, like this Kolkata one, offer the best returns on investment compared to any other category of real estate. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

"There is an acute shortage of mall space in the country and vacancy is at an all-time low. Very few malls have started operations in the last five years and mall developers are scouting for land as most of the land bank has been used up," said Rituraj Verma, partner at Nisus Finance Services.

The retail sector is estimated to grow to Rs 1 trillion by 2020. Photograph: Adeel Halim/Reuters

According to JLL, 2017 has seen some rationalisation of mall space.

The year saw withdrawal of nearly 5 million square feet of retail space with the closing down of 28 malls.

Verma cautions that whether all the malls that are supposed to be delivered this year will become operational remains to be seen.

"Developers have been affected by a slump in real estate and most malls are more likely to be completed in 2019," he said.

After office properties, malls have caught the fancy of private equity funds over the last couple of years.

Half the PE money has gone into Tier II and Tier III cities

At the moment, there is an acute shortage of mall space. Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters

Canada's largest pension fund manager CPPIB said it would invest an additional Rs 9.38 billion in Island Star Malls Developers, the mall investment platform it co-owns with Phoenix Mills.

The platform has bought land parcels in Pune and Bengaluru.

US-based PE giant Blackstone acquired eight malls in the last two years and a portfolio of over 5 million sq ft. It plans to take this to 7 million sq ft. It has a set up a separate company, Nexus Malls, to operate these malls.

A Phoenix Mills mall in Mumbai. Phoenix Mills is the country's largest mall owner. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

"Malls offer the best returns on investment compared to any other category of real estate, hence the PE interest in malls will always be high," said Susil Dungarwal, founder and chief mall mechanic at Beyond Squarefeet.

Balaji Rao, managing partner for Axis Asset Management company, said a successful mall offers better rental yield than an office complex.

"An office building offers yield of 8% to 9% while a good mall offers 9% to 10%," he said.

Mall growth is seen more Tier II and Tier III with land becoming unaffordable in Tier I cities, like this mall in Mumbai. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Malls in Tier II cities have clearly become the favourites of PE firms.

Blackstone has bought malls such as AlphaOne in Ahmedabad, Elante in Chandigarh and Treasure Island in Indore. It also owns a 50 per cent stake in a Pune mall.

According to sources, it is exploring new opportunities in Tier II cities in the northern and southern parts of the country.

In May this year, Virtuous Retail South Asia, a joint venture between Xander and Dutch pension fund APG, bought a 2 million sq ft mall in Chandigarh called the North Country Mall from Sun Apollo-Gumberg for Rs 7 billion.

Experts feel over 70 per cent of consumption growth in the next 15 years is expected from the population aged between 15 and 59 years. Photograph: Abhishek N Chinnappa/Reuters

"We have always believed in the potential of these cities. Which is why our very first centre in India was in Surat. A rich city with a proud heritage and history, 75 per cent of the population is below 30, GDP growing rapidly with increasing aspiration levels and limited organised retail," said Sid Yog, founder at Xander Group, said earlier.

The big developers like DLF, Prestige, Brigade, Phoenix Mills, L&T, Nitesh Estates and a host of regional and local developers are building malls. Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters

"The reason (for PE flows in malls in Tier II and Tier III cities) is that land is now unaffordable in most Tier I cities," added Verma,"and thus viability of malls is far better in smaller towns."
Jawaharlaal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police that he and Gujarat's Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani had received death threats from a man who identified himself as fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari, a senior official said today.

Khalid tweeted that he has asked for police protection.

"Filed a complaint with @DelhiPolice regarding Ravi Pujari's death threat to Jignesh and me. He said that I am on his HIT LIST! I have asked for police protection, given the fact that this is the same person who had previously also issued similar threats of killing me in Feb 2016 (sic)," he said.

On Friday, Khalid approached the police with a complaint over the threats and a case was registered, the police official said, adding that they are investigating the matter.

The student leader said that he was informed by Mevani about the threats, and he has not received any call himself till now.

"Mevani has been receiving death threats for the last two-three days. In one of the calls he received, the caller had mentioned my name too. He had mentioned that if we don't stop giving speeches we would be killed.

"Mevani informed me and I approached the police. A case has been registered and they said that they will do a threat assessment and take a call on providing police protection," Khalid said.

Mevani too had alleged on Friday that he has received death threats from Pujari.

When asked whether the calls were being received in relation to the arrests made by the Pune Police on June 6 in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, he said, "I am not aware about the context. Pujari has not mentioned that he was calling in that context. I don't feel it is a coincidence that the calls (to Mevani) started coming from that day (the arrests were made)."

Elgar Parishad, organised to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle, was held on December 31, 2017 at Shaniwarwada.

It was attended by Mevani, Khalid along with Rohit Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh President Prakash Ambedkar.

In 2016, Khalid's father Syed Qasim Illyas Rasool had filed a police complaint, claiming that he has received a phone call "threatening to kill" his son if he doesn't leave the country.

This incident had happened when the police was looking for Khalid in connection with the sedition case filed against him, former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly organising an event against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Guru was hanged in 2013.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation for a Wuhan-style informal summit in India next year, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said in Qingdao on Saturday.

The two leaders had their first informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27-28 to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Dokalam standoff.

Addressing a press briefing, Gokhale said that one of the important outcomes of today's meeting between the two leaders was that the Chinese side conveyed that they have accepted the Prime Minister Modi's invitation to President Xi to have a similar informal summit in India in 2019.

He said that the date for the informal meeting has not been decided.

China's defence minister as well as the minister for public security will visit India.

Modi arrived in the picturesque coastal city of China's Shandong province on a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Later, Modi had detailed discussions with the Chinese president on bilateral and global issues which will add further vigour to the India-China friendship after their "milestone" informal summit in Wuhan.

An MoU on sharing hydrological information of the Brahmaputra River by China to India and another pact on amendment of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include non-Basmati rice were signed after the Modi-Xi talks in the eastern Chinese port city.

During their meeting, which came nearly six weeks since the Wuhan summit, the two leaders discussed a blueprint for deepening bilateral relationship and reviewed the implementation of decisions they had taken in the central Chinese city.

The meeting took place ahead of the SCO summit and covered key aspects of the bilateral engagement, reflecting the resolve by the two countries to reset relations and bring back trust in their ties which was hit by the Doklam standoff and several other thorny issues.

"Met this year's SCO host, President Xi Jinping this evening. We had detailed discussions on bilateral and global issues. Our talks will add further vigour to the India-China friendship," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

Recalling that he and Prime Minister Modi successfully had an informal meeting and reached important consensus in Wuhan, President Xi said the meeting had been well received by both countries and the international community, and a positive atmosphere is taking shape to pay close attention to and support the development of China-India relations.

China is willing to work with India to take the Wuhan meeting as a "new starting point" to continuously enhance political mutual trust and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, so as to push forward China-India relations in a better, faster and steadier manner, Xi was quoted as saying by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Briefing the media on the Modi-Xi meeting, Gokhale said it was "very positive and forward looking" with both leaders lauding the spirit of the Wuhan summit.

The two leaders agreed to maintain strategic communications and meet on the sidelines of international meetings. The next Modi-Xi meeting would take place in South Africa in July on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, he said.

India and China have agreed to set up a mechanism to enhance people-to-people exchanges. The new mechanism would be headed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi. The first meeting of the new mechanism would be held this year, Gokhale said.

The meeting between the leaders of two Asian powers came after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Doklam standoff.

After their talks in Wuhan, Modi and Xi had decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications to build trust and understanding as part of efforts to avoid a Doklam-like situation in the future.

The two leaders had also discussed ways to give impetus to their economic ties as well as people-to-people relations.

Luo said it was the 14th meeting between the two leaders over past four years.

The ties between the two neighbouring nuclear powers had nosedived following last year's Doklam standoff as well as due to a number of other issues issues including China blocking India's move to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN and its opposition to India's bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group membership.

China's Belt and Road Initiative was also strongly opposed by India as part of it goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Troops of India and China were locked in the 73-day standoff in Doklam since June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army in the disputed area. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off had ended on August 28.

However, there have been concerted efforts by both sides to reset ties leaving behind the Doklam episode.

Last week, Modi had said that Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests. Modi also said that an "Asia of rivalry" will hold the region back while an Asia of cooperation will shape the current century.

The prime minister's comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore were appreciated by China.

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping last year.

Photographs: Press Information Bureau
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawah is fielding more than 200 candidates for national and provincial assembly seats across Pakistan in the July 25 general election through a dormant political entity as his party has been denied recognition, even though he himself has decided not to run for parliament.

The JuD, a front for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack, launched its political front Milli Muslim League, but it has not been yet registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan.

With general elections approaching, the group decided to contest on the platform of a "dormant" political entity, Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek, which is registered with the ECP.

"MML president Saifullah Khalid and AAT chief Ehsan Bari have agreed to field joint candidates on the platform of ATT in the upcoming elections. Under the seat adjustment agreement, the MML will field more than 200 educated candidates. They will contest the elections on the AAT's election symbol chair," Ahmad Nadeem, an MML spokesperson, told PTI on Saturday.

He said there are many political figures who have joined the MML and it has awarded them AAT tickets.

Asked if Saeed plans to run as a parliamentary candidate in this election, the spokesman said: "No ... Hafiz sahib has no such plans at the moment. The MML is taking part for the first time in the general elections and hopefully, we will make to the parliament."

To a question, if any "significant leader" of the JuD would contest the election, he said: "Our priority is that those joining us from other political parties or educated youth in respective constituencies be given AAT tickets."

He said the AAT will launch its political campaign once its candidates file nomination papers.

"We are hopeful that the people will elect our candidates," he said.

It is believed that since the MML has hardly any chance to get registered with the ECP as the latter had announced the election schedule and issued election symbols, it had no other option but to contest the election on any 'dormant' entity like the AAT.

Earlier, MML president Saifullah Khalid had said: "We have decided to support the candidates of AAT in the July 25 election. We will play a role in the victory of those contesting on the symbol of a chair. To save Pakistan, patriotic people should be supported in the elections."

Khalid said the MML had been denied registration in the ECP for the last 11 months but will take part in the polls by supporting AAT candidates.

The interior ministry had opposed enlisting of the MML as a political party arguing it is an offshoot of Saeed's JuD which is banned under a UN resolution.

The JuD formed the MML at the time when Saeed was detained in Lahore. Saeed and his four aides -- Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain -- were placed under house arrest in Lahore on January 30 last year under the anti-terrorism act. He was released from house arrest in November.

The JuD was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The JuD chief also carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for his role in terror activities.
The school considers itself the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, as well as the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.

In 1740, a group of Philadelphians joined together to erect a great preaching hall for the traveling evangelist George Whitefield, who toured the American colonies delivering open air sermons. The building was designed and built by Edmund Woolley and was the largest building in the city at the time. It was initially planned to serve as a charity school as well; however, a lack of funds forced plans for the chapel and school to be suspended. In the fall of 1749, eager to create a school to educate future generations, Benjamin Franklin circulated a pamphlet titled Proposals for the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, his vision for what he called a Public Academy of Philadelphia. However, according to Franklins autobiography, it was in 1743 when he first had the idea to establish an academy, thinking the Rev. Richard Peters a fit person to superintend such an institution. Unlike the other Colonial colleges that existed in 1743Harvard, William and Mary, and YaleFranklins new school would not focus merely on education for the clergy. He advocated an innovative concept of higher education, one which would teach both the ornamental knowledge of the arts and the practical skills necessary for making a living and doing public service. The proposed program of study could have become the nations first modern liberal arts curriculum, although it was never implemented because William Smith, an Anglican priest who was provost at the time, and other trustees preferred the traditional curriculum.

Franklin assembled a board of trustees from among the leading citizens of Philadelphia, the first such non-sectarian board in America. At the first meeting of the 24 members of the Board of Trustees (November 13, 1749) the issue of where to locate the school was a prime concern. Although a lot across Sixth Street from Independence Hall was offered without cost by James Logan, its owner, the Trustees realized that the building erected in 1740, which was still vacant, would be an even better site. The original sponsors of the dormant building still owed considerable construction debts and asked Franklins group to assume their debts and, accordingly, their inactive trusts. On February 1, 1750 the new board took over the building and trusts of the old board. On August 13, 1751 the Academy of Philadelphia, using the great hall at 4th and Arch Streets, took in its first secondary students. A charity school also was opened in accordance with the intentions of the original New Building donors, although it lasted only a few years. In 1755, the College of Philadelphia was chartered, paving the way for the addition of undergraduate instruction. All three schools shared the same Board of Trustees and were considered to be part of the same institution.

The institution of higher learning was known as the College of Philadelphia from 1755 to 1779. In 1779, not trusting then-provost the Rev. William Smiths loyalist tendencies, the revolutionary State Legislature created a University of the State of Pennsylvania. The result was a schism, with Smith continuing to operate an attenuated version of the College of Philadelphia. In 1791 the legislature issued a new charter, merging the two institutions into the University of Pennsylvania with twelve men from each institution on the new board of trustees.

Penn has three claims to being the first university in the United States, according to university archives director Mark Frazier Lloyd: the 1765 founding of the first medical school in America made Penn the first institution to offer both undergraduate and professional education; the 1779 charter made it the first American institution of higher learning to take the name of University; and existing colleges were established as seminaries.

After being located in downtown Philadelphia for more than a century, the campus was moved across the Schuylkill River to property purchased from the Blockley Almshouse in West Philadelphia in 1872, where it has since remained in an area now known as University City. Although Penn began operating as an academy or secondary school in 1751 and obtained its collegiate charter in 1755, it initially designated 1750 as its founding date; this is the year which appears on the first iteration of the university seal. Sometime later in its early history, Penn began to consider 1749 as its founding date; this year was referenced for over a century, including at the centennial celebration in 1849. In 1899, the board of trustees voted to adjust the founding date earlier again, this time to 1740, the date of the creation of the earliest of the many educational trusts the University has taken upon itself. The board of trustees voted in response to a three-year campaign by Penns General Alumni Society to retroactively revise the universitys founding date to appear older than Princeton University, which had been chartered in 1746.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Pennsylvania
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Image credit: Titan

Indias retail major Titan, a TATA Group company, is now planning to take its jewellery business to international markets by end of FY19.To begin with, Titan is looking at foraying into Asian market by setting up stores on franchisee basis.Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director of Titan Company, said, "The watches business has a minuscule presence in the international markets. The big change will come when our jewellery becomes international. By the end of FY19, we are planning to open stores in Asian countries.Given that jewellery accounts for around 75 per cent of Titan, and is a low margin business unlike watches, the company will not make large investments to enter these geographies, instead will opt for low-cost franchisee model.The company had entered global markets with the watches business in the early 1990s and is currently present in Africa, West Asia and South East Asian countries. In 2011, the company had acquired Swiss brand Favre-Leuba, which is now sold in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Titan has also forayed into the United States through a partnership with Amazon last year and is looking to expand to Europe in the coming years via the e-commerce tie-up.
Botswana should look beyond diamonds, says local geoscience institute

09 june 2018 News

Botswana Geoscience Institute said there is need for the southern African nation to look beyond diamonds.

Botswana relied on diamonds for almost a fifth of its gross domestic product and the gemstones were expected to dwindle over the next 20 years.

In order to increase the mineral asset value, it is necessary to look into mining other mineral commodities that are present in Botswana, said the institutes mineral accounts officer, Dineo Sefemo, at the Botswana Resource Sector conference in Gaborone.

The country had coal, copper, nickel deposits, among other commodities.

Sefemo said diamonds contributed to the highest value of the countrys mineral assets by 97 percent, followed by soda ash just above 2 percent and gold less than 1 percent.

She also said beneficiation was an engine for economic growth, employment creation and provide skills transfer, which consequently improve mineral asset value on the improved value chain.

The majority of Botswanas minerals are exported in unprocessed or semi-processed form, she said.

A gradual move along the value chain has been made on diamonds where rough diamonds are sorted, cut, polished and valued in Botswana. There is some jewellery production.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished, from Gaborone, Botswana






Tsodilo says Botswana should find Tier 1 diamond deposits in the next 5 to 10 yrs

09 june 2018 News

Tsodilo Resources president Mike de Wit said for Botswana to remain a leading diamond mining country, it has to find one or two tier-one diamond deposits in the next five to 10 years.

The country had only two Tier 1 deposits (Jwaneng and Orapa) with more than $20 billion worth of reserves, according to De Beers.

Other Tier 1 deposits outside Botswana were Udachny and Mir in Russia, Cullinan and Venetia in South Africa and Catoca in Angola.

Wit told the Botswana Resource Sector Conference during a panel discussion on the future of diamond mining in the country that the diamond resource was depleting.

We are depleting and we are not adding anything, [although] we might find a small mine here and there, he said.

Wit said the current diamond exploration taking place in Botswana would not likely yield a Tier 1 deposit.

I dont believe we will find any substantial deposits in terms of areas that are currently being prospected, he said.

Botswanas diamond deposits were expected to dwindle over the next 20 years.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished, from Gaborone, Botswana
Gold futures were flat Friday as tensions flared between long-time allies ahead of the G7 summit in Canada.

President Trump blasted Canada and the EU for tariffs he says the world has ignored.

"Canada charges the U.S. a 270% tariff on Dairy Products! They didn't tell you that, did they? Not fair to our farmers!", Trump tweeted.

"Why isn't the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S. Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies. Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!"

"Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant," he also tweeted.

French President Macro snapped back: "The six countries of the G-7 without the United States are a bigger market taken together than the American market. There will be no world hegemony if we know how to organize ourselves. And we don't want there to be one."

August gold settles at $1,302.70/oz, down 30 cents for the session. Gold was up 0.3% for the week.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
President Donald Trump on Friday expressed support for a bipartisan bill intended to protect state marijuana policies.

"I really do," Trump said when asked if he supports the bill introduced Thursday by Senators Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Representatives David Joyce, R-Ohio, and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.

"I support Senator Gardner," the president added. "I know exactly what he's doing; we're looking at it. But I probably will end up supporting that, yes."

The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act would prevent federal interference with state marijuana legalization laws.

Trump's indication of support comes even though his own Justice Department rescinded an Obama-era policy that limited enforcement of federal marijuana prohibition in states that legalized pot in some form.

"In 2012, Coloradans legalized marijuana at the ballot box and the state created an apparatus to regulate the legal marijuana industry," said Gardner. "But because of the one-size-fits-all federal prohibition, state decisions like this put Colorado and other states at odds with the federal government."

"The federal government is closing its eyes and plugging its ears while 46 states have acted," he added. "The bipartisan STATES Act fixes this problem once and for all by taking a states' rights approach to the legal marijuana question."

The authors of the bill said forty-six states currently have laws permitting or decriminalizing marijuana or marijuana-based products.

(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed a new indictment against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a Russian colleague on Friday that includes charges related to witness tampering.

The indictment includes two new charges against Manafort and the first public charges against Konstantin Kilimnik, who is alleged to have ties to Russian intelligence.

Manafort and Kilimnik were charged with obstructing justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice for knowingly and intentionally attempting to corruptly persuade another person.

The filing of the indictment comes after Mueller's office accused Manafort and an associate of attempting to tamper with witnesses earlier this week.

The indictment maintains five other prior criminal charges against Manafort related to his lobbying work for a pro-Russia party in Ukraine, including conspiracy against the U.S.

Earlier on Friday, Trump was asked if he had considered pardoning Manafort or his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who is under criminal investigation in New York.

"I haven't thought about any of it. It certainly is far too early to be thinking about that," Trump said. "They haven't been convicted of anything. There's nothing to pardon."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Canadian stocks struggled Friday after a mixed jobs report and an escalation of the trade squabbles between the U.S. and Canada.

Ahead of the G7 meeting, President Donald Trump said: "Why isn't the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S. Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies. Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!"

He called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "indignant."

French President Emmanuel Macron snapped back: "The six countries of the G-7 without the United States are a bigger market taken together than the American market. There will be no world hegemony if we know how to organize ourselves. And we don't want there to be one."

The TSX Composite Index was down 12 points at 16,180 points at last check.

In economic news, Canadian employment was down 7,500 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate was 5.8% for the fourth consecutive month, Statistics Canada said. However, wages grew at the strongest pace in six years.

Bombardier (BBD.B.TO) lowered its revenue forecast. Bombardier's Toronto union could strike June 23 if no deal reached on a new contract. Meanwhile, Airbus SE sealed its control of Bombardier Inc.'s C Series.

RBC Bank (RY.TO) fired its US investment bank chief amid allegations of an inappropriate affair with an employee.

West Texas Intermediate oil for July settled 21 cents, or 0.3%, lower at $65.74/bbl. Oil posted a modest weekly loss.

Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by only 1 to 862 this week. That's after sharp weekly increases over the past few months.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
(Agencia CMA Latam) - The Brazilian Association of Animal Proteins (ABPA) criticized the decision of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to apply provisional anti-dumping tariffs to poultry imports from Brazil. According to the association, the Chinese argument that the Brazilian product is causing harm to local producers is not true.

"The association reaffirms that there is no causal link between Brazilian poultry exports and possible local market situations," ABPA said in a statement. The entity also stated that it considers the move "a setback in the good trade ties built by Brazilians and Chinese throughout this decade."

Despite the possible retraction of poultry exports, ABPA says that the flow of trade can be kept in the face of the growing demand of the Chinese market. In 2017, the Asian country received 391.4 thousand tons of chicken meat from Brazil or 9.2% of all that the country embarked in the period.

China's investigation into Brazilian chicken began in August 2017 at the request of local producers. According to ABPA, the process conducted by the Chinese Government included companies that do not export to the Asian country. The move, however, is preliminary and a final decision is expected for August. ABPA reiterated that it should monitor the process, in a bid to reverse the decision.

by Agencia CMA Latam

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Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Colcap, the main index of the Colombian Stock Exchange, ended the day with a 0.10% drop, closing at 1,547.96, due to the fall of Ecopetrol and Sura. During the week the market recorded a negative variation of 1.05%.

Ramses Pestanapalmett, an analyst at Ultraserfinco, noted that Ecopetrol's shares were influenced by the fall in oil prices abroad, despite the efforts of Venezuela to meet its supply obligations and output cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The shares of Cemargos (+2.15%) and Avianca (+1.30%) rose, while Sura (-0.84%) and Ecopetrol (-0.49%) closed lower.

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed at 2,858.55 Colombian pesos, marking a 0.40% rise, due to the fall of the euro.

Wilson Tovar, an analyst at Acciones & Valores, said that the weak performance of the common currency is related to disappointing economic data of Germany and France, after an unexpected drop in industrial production in April.

On Monday, will remain closed due to a holiday in Colombia.

by Agencia CMA Latam

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Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Report: Army, committees conduct attacks against coalition forces on Friday [09/June/2018]

SANAA, June 9 (Saba)  Yemen army and popular committees have launched military operations, including artillery, missiles and snipping attacks against US-backed Saudi-led coalition aggression soldiers and their mercenaries over 24 hours, according to military reports combined by Saba News Agency on Saturday.



Rocketry force of the army and committees fired ballistic missiles toward military bases in Najran and Khumais-Mushait.

In Najran border province, the army and committees repelled a Saudi armys infiltration, which was backed with air cover of warplanes, Apache and reconnaissance, in Shabaka site without achieving any progress.

Also in Shabaka site, dozens of the Saudi troops were killed and wounded during repelling their advance in Shabakah.

Artillery force shelled gatherings of Saudi soldiers and their mercenaries in Nahuga site, while a Saudi soldier was shot dead in the west of Sudais.



In Jizan border province, a missile, Zilzal-2, and artillery shells were fired toward Saudi-paid mercenaries gatherings and their military vehicles in Taibt-Esm and Ajasher desert, causing direct casualties.



In Saudi border province of Asir, a mercenaries large-scale advance was foiled in front of Alb border crossing, killing, wounding dozens and burning a military vehicle.

Also in Asir, a Saudi soldier was gunned down in Airawan canonship of Rabuaa.

In Yemens Western coast, the army and committees carried out a process of luring to the invading forces and mercenaries on Hess and then encircling them, inflicting heavy losses of lives and equipment and capturing a number of them.



In Taiz province, an offensive operation was carried out on mercenaries sites in Qurun area of Kadaha front, killing and injuring dozens, as well as a mercenaries infiltration was repelled in Hamir front, killing and wounding many.

Also in Taiz, the army and committees foiled intensive infiltration of the mercenaries toward Tubaishaa of Dhabab district, inflicting heavy losses.

The army and committees also waged an offensive operation on mercenaries sites in Rosi hill and Alwah village of Dhabab district, and fired a missile, Zilzal-1, and artillery shells toward mercenaries fortifications and gatherings, inflicting them heavy casualties.

In Bayda province, a surprise offensive operation was carried out on mercenaries sites in Nifan mount of Qaifa, killing and injuring dozens.

In Dhalea province, an offensive operation was waged on mercenaries sites in Yais village of Murais, killing, wounding dozens and escaping the remains.

In Nehm district, the army and committees carried out an unique offensive operation on Saudi-paid mercenaries in Hawl area, destroying their fortifications, killing, wounding dozens of them and seized military equipment.



Written by Sameera Hassn



Saba


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao on Saturday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and will also have a bilateral meet with China's President Xi Jinping. Modi is also likely to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and leader of other member states. There is no bilateral scheduled with Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain.



Although both Modi and Xi have met over a dozen times as leaders of their countries, the Saturday meeting in Qingdao comes just a little over a month after the "ice-breaking" informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.



India and Pakistan last year were formally inducted into the eight-member security bloc whose other member nations are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.



After a year of turbulence marked by over a two-month military stand-off near their border in June 2017, China-India ties have seemingly improved in 2018.



"This is an important meet but more symbolic in nature. It is nothing compared to Wuhan. The meeting in Qingdao will be formal, unlike in Wuhan," Hu Shisheng, Director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) told.



Modi will hold the bilateral meet with Xi on Saturday. He might also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he had an informal meet in Sochi last month.



The SCO summit will discuss the regional security and issue of terrorism with Modi likely to rake up terror emanating from Pakistan.



One of the key highlights of the summit will be Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's presence. He was invited by China to attend the forum.



This assumes significance as the US has junked the Iran nuclear deal, which China has vowed to salvage.



Iran along with Mongolia, Afghanistan and Belarus have observer status at the summit.






At least two firemen were injured in a blaze that broke out in an abandoned five-storeyed building as a portion of it collapsed here early on Saturday, an official said. The inferno destroyed the dilapidated and vacant Kothari Building in Fort area of Central Business District around 4.00 a.m.



As a team of firemen rushed to fight the conflagration, the blaze spread and came in contact with some old electrical appliances and fittings lying there.



The firemen were caught unawares when the south portion of the structure suddenly collapsed around 6.45 a.m.



A fire brigade tanker and a specialised equipment unit were also damaged in the crash.



The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Disaster Cell said the building was abandoned more than five years ago after its main staircase crashed, rendering it unfit for habitation.



The fire-fighters took precaution to control the blaze from outside with the water curtain and not allow it to spread to adjoining buildings in the congested area.




Meet Vaisa Tovia, 35, of Sataua, Savaii.

Mrs. Tovia is a shop owner who sells chicken buns. She has three children and the eldest has passed away. When she got married, she moved to Leauvaa with her husband's family.

She spoke to the business team about the challenges she would face when her chicken buns are not sold.

Struggle is real when there is no sale a day because school fees have to be paid. I want to help my family but there is no money, Mrs. Tovia said.

The Nofotane programme by Samoa Victim Support Group is important for women who are not only living with their husbands family, but unemployed mothers too or anyone in need.

They taught me how to improve my baking skills, which helped me improve the quality of the food I make to sell. I am very thankful to them for sharing their knowledge and I am determined to learn more.

I wake up at 4.am to cook, we do the mixture of flour and its the hardest part of cooking, so we cook from 4-5am then get ready around 6am then delivery to the canteen.

I make 150 chicken buns a day that are usually all sold out at the St. Josephs Primary School, Leauvaa canteen.

Mrs. Tovia has advice for all women who are struggling with life.

I advise those who are struggling to seek help, you cant move forward when youre stuck doing nothing. The key is in your hands to take the first step in making changes for you and your families.
The Samoa Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (U.N.D.P.) hosted the first ever Youth Co:Lab Samoa Workshop in the Pacific region.

Youth Co:Lab is a U.N.D.P. initiative developed to be their multi-dimensional and multi-level response that addresses the challenges young people, including the most marginalized, face today in the Asia and Pacific region.

The Youth Co:Lab Samoa Workshop is an opportunity to establish a network of empowered youth to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship.

On Thursday, 20 young Samoans with a passion for social innovation and entrepreneurship gathered to generate and discuss ideas as well as solutions to national, regional, and/or global challenges.

The finale of the workshop will have the participants pitching their ideas to a panel of judges and then the top three ideas will then be presented to the larger I.C.T. Conference.

To ensure sustainability for the programme, U.N.D.P. will partner with the Chamber of Commerce after this years workshop to provide on-going support and mentorship to Youth Co:Lab Participants.

Youth Co:Lab ended yesterday.

It was a pilot event that ran parallel to the Pacific Regional Conference on I.C.T., the Digital Pacific Conference 2018 - Together for a Digital Pacific.
Developments in this digital era have been at the forefront of discussions at the T.A.T.T.E. Building for the past two days.

It is where Samoa has been hosting the inaugural Digital Pacific Conference under the theme Together for a Digital Pacific 2018.

The two-day seminar allows participants to exchange views and share experiences about digitalization of governments and economies and how this can contribute to prosperity and sustainable development.

The Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Afamasaga Rico Tupai said the meeting in Samoa is critical for the Pacific to keep up with whats happening in the rest of the world.

We have here nations who have already started digitalizing their services we have New Zealand, Australia, Estonia and other countries around the world who have done it. Now it is time for the Pacific to start the conversation, it is time for Samoa, he said.

We are saying that it is time for the Pacific to start the conversation and to start action on digitalization of all services.

So today speaks to that and it is the embodiment of the hope for the United Nations and our Samoa pathway that was developed back in 2014 when we had the S.I.D.S. conference here.

Afamasaga also highlighted the benefit for having digital services in any nation; he explained that it is a win-win situation for not only the government but also the people.

The benefits of this, it will fast-track business developments, it eliminates time and cost to our people. So it reduces the cost significantly for our people and time consuming for them.

But at the same time it drops and saves the cost for the government as well. So there is a lot of development. We need to catch up to the world now, we cannot be left behind.

For Samoa itself we are in development of our National ID and that National ID tries to strengthen the development of digitalization and make things easier and saves cost and save time for our people.

Pacific Small Island Developing States, from the largest to the smallest, we face a common, but unique set of developmental challenges, such as small size and narrow resource and export base, exposure to global environmental challenges and external economic shocks, vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change, remoteness from most large markets and reliance on remittances.
Four servicemen in Camp Pendletons 1st Marine Logistics Group are facing serious criminal charges and another pair recently pleaded guilty at court-martial.

The charges include rape, kidnapping, firearms violations, drug use and domestic abuse.

The most senior Marine awaiting court-martial is Gunnery Sgt. Shawn C. Moulton, according to charge sheets released under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

A senior non-commissioned officer in Combat Logistics Battalion 7 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Moulton engaged in a forbidden relationship with a junior Marine for more than a year before it ended in September, prosecutors allege.

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When he was ordered by his captain to stop the unduly familiar relationship, Moulton allegedly kept texting the Marine, according to the charge sheets.

Personal relationships between staff non-commissioned officers and junior enlisted members that are unduly familiar and that do not respect differences in grade or rank are prohibited in the Marine Corps, said 1st Lt. Adam Miller, the spokesman for 1st Marine Logistics Group, by email.

A motor transport operations chief from Florida with multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Moultons decorations include two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, five Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, five Navy and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals and the Combat Action Ribbon.

An 18-year veteran of the Corps, Moultons trial is slated to begin on Aug. 20.

Lance Cpl. Calixto Gonzalez Jr. pleaded guilty on May 31 after being charged with violating nine specifications of military law, including rape and burglary.

Assigned to Headquarters Regiment at Camp Pendletons 1st Marine Logistics Group, the Texan was charged with sexually assaulting two Marines on Sept. 8 and another on Nov. 10.

At least one of the women was unconscious, according to his charge sheet.

Sexual assault is a serious crime and is incompatible with our Marine Corps core values, Miller said. Those who commit these crimes will be held accountable in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Gonzalez, a data systems administrator, enlisted in the Marines on Aug. 24, 2015. Hes received the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

He pleaded guilty to three specifications of sexual assault and was sentenced to four years in prison, a dishonorable discharge and reduction in rank to private.

Twice found guilty of previous crimes by his command and administratively punished, Pvt. Jordan D. Anderson of Texas is confined while awaiting an Aug. 6 court-martial.

The finance technician in Service Company, Headquarters Regiment, 1st Marine Logistics Group, is accused of 24 specifications of violating military law, including soliciting prostitution, firearms crimes, stealing military property, obstructing justice and marijuana abuse.

The 10 pages of charge sheets allege that his latest misconduct began last June when he solicited an unnamed woman to commit prostitution for money, requests he repeated in August, September, October and December.

Often using written communication, he allegedly sought nothing crazy from an unidentified woman, naked pictures or a different option and various forms of more specific sexual acts, according to the charge documents.

On Dec. 18 he also allegedly sent a lewd photograph of himself.

On Sept. 1, he allegedly stole the body armor side plates from another Camp Pendleton Marine, but Miller said Anderson returned them.

Although he was not allowed to keep a 12-gauge shotgun on base, on Jan. 12 Anderson allegedly did so and asked a fellow Marine to move it from his barracks before investigators found it.

Eight days later he smoked marijuana, authorities say.

Anderson enlisted in the Marines on Aug. 22, 2016, and hes received the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Cpl. Michael J. Williamson, an engineer equipment operator in 1st Transportation Support Battalion, is accused of beating his ex-girlfriend, a Marine sergeant at Camp Pendleton, on Dec. 30.

In pretrial confinement pending a court-martial scheduled to begin on June 11, Williamson allegedly dragged her to the floor of her bed, pushed her against a wall, covered her mouth and nose and choked her with his hand, according to this charge sheet.

Our Marines and sailors are our most valuable resources and their protection from violence and physical harm is of paramount importance, Miller said. Physical and mental abuse is incompatible with our standards of personal conduct, and those who choose to detract from our Marine Corps standards, committing egregious crimes are held accountable and punished under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Williamson enlisted in the Marines on Feb. 11, 2013. The Florida Marines decorations include the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Cpl. Richard B. Sawyer of 7th Engineer Support Battalion on Camp Pendleton pleaded guilty on May 2 to possessing drug paraphernalia and cocaine. No longer in confinement, the South Carolina man was reduced to the rank of private and will receive a bad conduct discharge from the Corps.

The illegal distribution, possession or use of drugs is not tolerated in the United States Marine Corps, Miller said. Furthermore, each instance of illegal drug use makes that Marine or sailor unfit for duty and poses a risk to the safety of fellow service members and degrades unit readiness.

Sawyers decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.

A sailor assigned to 1st Dental Battalion at 1st Marine Logistics Group also faces charges.

Hospitalman Henry L. McGill is in pretrial confinement pending a court-martial trial scheduled to begin on July 30.

Hes accused of conspiring with a Marine friend to kidnap McGills civilian adult girlfriend near Vista on Sept. 5 to take her to Mexico, according to his charge sheet.

He allegedly tried to spirit her away on both Sept. 5 and on Oct. 20 in Esondido, according to the documents.

Ordered to stay away from the woman and her Escondido residence, McGill repeatedly disobeyed his commander and pointed an unloaded firearm at her, squeezed her arms, pushed her head and choked her neck, authorities believe.

While investigators were probing the alleged abuse, McGill told an unnamed person to avoid helping them, authorities say.

McGill, of Florida, enlisted in the Navy on May 22, 2014 and has received the National Defense Service Medal and the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.

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cprine@sduniontribune.com
June 9, 1967 The San Diego Union

The San Diego Union-Tribune will mark its 150th anniversary in 2018 by presenting a significant front page from the archives each day throughout the year.

Friday, June 9, 1967

In 1967, 34 American servicemen were killed when Israel attacked the Liberty, a Navy intelligence-gathering ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Israel called the attack during the Arab-Israeli Six Day War a tragic mistake.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the story:

Israeli Air Sea Attack Hits U.S. Ship; 10 Die

By L. Edgar Prina, Military Affairs Editor, Copley News Service

WASHINGTONA U.S. Navry ship was strafed and torpedoed by Israeli jet planes and torpedo boats 28 miles off the Israeli-occupied Egyptian Sinai coast yesterday. The attack left 10 Americans dead and 100 wounded.

Sixth Fleet carriers launched planes at first word of the attack, but before they reached the damaged ship, the 11,000-ton Liberty, the Israeli government had admitted the attack and sent an apology. The planes then were ordered to return to their carriers, the America an Saratoga.

The Liberty, a technical research ship equipped with sophisticated communications gear, had just arrived on station. The Pentagon said it was sent to assist in the relay of communications concerning the evacuation of American citizens from Middle East countries.

The Pentagon said 20 of the 100 wounded Americans were in serious condition. The 455-foot Liberty, a converted Victory ship, carries one doctor in its crew of 15 officers and 279 men. There are three civilian technical representatives aboard, too.

Two U.S. destroyers, the Massey and the Davis, were dispatched to meet the Liberty; which is in no danger of sinking and is proceeding to a rendezvous point at eight knots. There is a doctor aboard one of the destroyers and hospital corpsmen aboard both. The rendezvous was scheduled for early this morning, Washington time.

The Liberty received extensive, but superficial damage, a Pentagon spokesman said, and will require drydocking and considerable refitting. Some lower deck spaces forward were destroyed.

6 STRAFING RUNS

Defense Department officials said the Navy was looking for another ship to replace the Liberty in the Mediterranean.

According to reports received from the ship by the Pentagon, this is what happened:

Israeli jet fighter planes appeared at 5:05 a.m. PDT yesterday and made six strafing runs at the Liberty, which was in international waters and flying the U.S. colors. She did not fire on the planes. Her only weapons are four .50-caliber machine guns.

View anniversary front pages online at sandiegouniontribune.com/150-years. For more from the Union-Tribune digital archives, go to newslibrary.com/sites/sdub. Searching is free, with registration. A fee is required to view full stories.
The administrative trial to determine whether former USC medical school dean Carmen Puliafito should be allowed to continue practicing medicine wrapped up Friday, ending a days-long hearing that recapped in dramatic fashion his double life of hard drug use.

In her closing argument, Deputy Atty. Gen. Rebecca Smith said Puliafitos medical license should be revoked. She cast Puliafito as a man who cared only about himself and recounted the chaos of Puliafitos last few years, placing the blame squarely at his feet as images of the ex-dean consuming drugs were projected onto a white screen for the judge to see.

He disregarded his duties as a dean and physician, smoked methamphetamine and heroin and inserted himself repeatedly into dangerous situations, Smith said. He provided drugs to a young prostitute and her underage brother, and misled authorities about her condition and history of drug use when that woman overdosed in his Pasadena hotel room, she argued.

An attorney for Puliafito, Peter Osinoff, said the former dean, a Harvard-trained ophthalmologist considered a titan in his field, was plagued by a bipolar disorder and hypomanic state that poisoned his judgment and skewed his understanding of how his behavior would be viewed by others. Osinoff argued that Puliafito has been in recovery about a year and should be allowed to practice medicine under supervision.

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Decisions in life involve taking acceptable risks and balances. Dr. Puliafito was out of balance because he was ill, Osinoff said, adding that it was time to put the physician back to work for society.

Throughout the case, Puliafito and his attorneys have argued his mental disorder was exacerbated by his relationship with Sarah Warren, the young woman Puliafito was infatuated with and who he claimed conned him into spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on jewelry, clothes, food, housing and trips to places as far-flung as Switzerland.

It was Warren who first introduced Puliafito to methamphetamine, and the physician smoked the drug mainly to be close to her, Puliafito, his lawyer and experts testifying on his behalf argued. They also alleged Warrens parents shook him down for tens of thousands of dollars by threatening to make Sarah available for interviews to reporters, blackmailing Puliafito into writing checks and taking Warrens mother out on expensive clothes-shopping trips at his expense.

An attorney for the Warrens declined to comment. Paul Warren, Sarahs father, denied Puliafitos shakedown allegations to The Times last week.

Puliafito also disputed that he misled authorities about Warrens condition in the Pasadena hotel, saying he mistakenly believed that she was only drinking alcohol.

Both Smith and Osinoff accused USC of looking the other way as Puliafito spiraled out of control. Smith also accused USC of paying Warren and her family so they wouldnt testify, and earlier in the trial questioned whether the settlement included a gag order imposed on the Warrens. A spokesman for USC did not return a request for comment Friday.

Puliafitos rehabilitation came into question Thursday when, in a surprise twist in the case, Smith openly accused Puliafito of perjury.

Under examination by Smith, the doctor insisted his relationship with a convicted drug dealer had ended in late 2016. But Smith then produced what she said was a summary of a dozen recorded phone calls that Puliafito supposedly had with prisoners in jail, including the drug dealer.

He sat there and told us he had no conversations with Kyle V., and yet while he is in recovery hes having conversations with Kyle V., Smith said, alluding to the drug dealer Puliafito previously associated with. He was not honest and perjured himself on the stand.

Smith ultimately withdrew the introduction of new evidence after Administrative Law Judge Jill Schlichtmann wanted to delay the hearing so a Sheriffs Department official could authenticate the recorded phone calls for the court. Smith said that might not be possible because they were obtained as part of an ongoing investigation by the department, and opted instead to finish the trial on Friday. Schlichtmann admonished Smith for what she said was a violation of Puliafitos right to review that evidence during discovery.

He has not been charged with perjury, and the hearing will determine only whether he keeps his medical license.

Experts testifying on Puliafitos behalf said they would be concerned if Puliafito continued to associate with the unsavory characters of his past. His addiction expert, Dr. Gregory Skipper, said continuing those relationships could trigger a relapse.

Osinoff attacked the states evidence, particularly the three witnesses in the case who testified to some of Puliafitos most egregious behavior, including providing drugs to other people. He pointed out that on the first day of the trial, Sarah Warren and her brother were excused from testifying after their attorney cited their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. They provided declarations with their allegations to the court.

Another witness for the state, karaoke deejay Don Stokes, repeatedly gave conflicting accounts, veering during the same testimony from denying he ever saw Puliafito smoke methamphetamine to acknowledging it. In an audio interview played for the court, Stokes said Puliafito was the source of drugs at several parties he attended. He testified he had been drinking before the interview and before he gave the state a sworn declaration, and said he couldnt recall Puliafito providing drugs to others.

Puliafito testified for hours on Thursday, apologizing to his colleagues, students and family for harming them. He also said he was sorry for damaging the reputation of USCs Keck School of Medicine, and the integrity of the medical profession.

And he apologized to Sarah Warren for enabling her addiction through his financial support, even though during his mania he believed he was rescuing her from a life of drugs and prostitution, his attorney said previously.

I was supposed to be a beacon of morality and judgment, and I fell flat on my face after decades of doing the right thing, Puliafito said. Im not placing blame on anyone except myself. At the core of this I forgot that I was a physician 24/7. I failed to recognize that and did things outside the workplace that were wrong.

Puliafitos medical board trial occurred nearly a year after The Times detailed his drug use and partying with a circle of criminals and addicts, prompting the states investigation and its accusation that the former dean used methamphetamine and heroin, smoked methamphetamine within hours of seeing patients and provided drugs to Warren and her brother. During the proceeding, Puliafito denied supplying street drugs to them.

A tip about the former deans involvement in the hotel incident led The Times to investigate. Less than a month after the overdose, Puliafito stepped down as dean. But USC allowed him to remain on the faculty and continue practicing medicine until The Times story broke 16 months later.

The judge is expected to issue a ruling within 30 days. The state medical board can accept the judges decision or offer a different order.

Adam.Elmahrek@latimes.com

@adamelmahrek

Times staff writer Paul Pringle contributed to this report.

Adam.Elmahrek@latimes.com

@adamelmahrek

Times staff writer Paul Pringle contributed to this report.
San Diego would boost tree trimming, anti-graffiti efforts, library security and fire-prevention brush clearing in a package of last-minute budget additions the City Council is scheduled to consider on Monday.

The package, which also includes money for streetlights and code compliance officers, aims to balance the competing priorities of the councils nine members as they prepare to adopt a spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1.

The package was crafted by Andrea Tevlin, the citys independent budget analyst, and typically serves as a blueprint for the final compromises the council makes each budget season.

The additions would be last-minute revisions to the $1.45 billion spending plan Mayor Kevin Faulconer proposed in April.

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Faulconers proposal would avoid cuts to key programs despite expenditures increasing because of employee pay raises. It would also increase city infrastructure spending to its highest level ever.

The mayor proposed a few revisions of his own in May, including additional money to accelerate police officer hiring, train new lifeguards and fully fund an overnight parking program for the homeless.

Tevlins proposed revisions would build on Faulconers to shore up areas of the budget where community leaders and council members have expressed concerns.

Those include tree trimming, where Faulconer has proposed an $882,000 budget cut that would reduce the frequency each broadleaf tree gets trimmed from once every nine years to once every 21 years.

Tevlin proposes a reversal of that cut.

The mayor also proposed eliminating graffiti abatements on residential private property to save $300,000. Tevlin also proposes reversing that cut.

On library security, Tevlin is proposing a $288,000 increase to boost staffing at several branches.

Brush management and clearing, which is considered a key to preventing wildfires, would get an additional $555,000 under Tevlins compromise proposal.

She also proposes additional spending of $400,000 on code compliance, which would pay for five more officers, and $100,000 for library programming, which pays for staff to develop innovative educational activities for the community.

On capital improvements, for which Faulconer is proposing a record budget exceeding $550 million, Tevlin would add $3 million for streetlights.

That would increase funding for streetlights during the next budget year from $1.9 million to $4.9 million.

Tevlin said that would allow installation of 245 traditional streetlights with poles, or 1,900 of the citys new cobra head streetlights.

Faulconers budget would spike capital improvement spending, which includes street repair, sidewalks, parks projects and building upgrades, by $100 million over last budget year and to nearly triple what the city spent five years ago.

Tevlins compromise proposal doesnt include some other last-minute budget requests from council members that didnt get support from a majority of the group.

Those include money to create a police officer housing incentive, add wage enforcement staff, add a downtown park ranger and renovate the former city library that became the home of the now-defunct music venue Epicentre in Mira Mesa.

In addition, Councilman Chris Ward of University Heights and Councilwoman Georgette Gomez of City Heights have requested significantly more spending on homelessness, including money for a tiny home pilot project.

Mondays budget hearing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at City Hall, 202 C St. in downtown San Diego.

City officials have warned that the budget adopted in spring 2019 will likely need to be much leaner and include some deep cuts. Thats primarily because the citys pension payment is projected to increase $25 million.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A state appeals court has has ruled a San Diego ordinance that closed Childrens Pool during the pupping season for seals is legal, reversing a lower court decision from two years ago that said the city had overstepped its authority.

The ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeal on Thursday is the latest round in the ongoing, years-long battle among seal advocates, pool-access proponents and the city over the small crescent-shaped La Jolla beach that served as a swimming spot for decades and, since the 1990s as a favorite haul-out spot and rookery for harbor seals.

The case centered on an ordinance adopted by the city in 2014, after years of conflicts between beach access advocates and those who wanted protection for the seals. Seal advocates claimed human activity on the beach  sometimes intentionally harassing the seals  cause the animals to flush or flee into the ocean, with some mother seals leaving their pups too young to swim on the sand where they could be trampled.

The appeals court said that in a 12-month period in 2013-14 there were 250 such flushing incidents at the cove.

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The 2014 ordinance was adopted after numerous public hearings and a comment period. After it was adopted, a group called Friends of the Childrens Pool sued the city and the Coastal Commission, which had also approved the new ordinance.

The suit contended the ordinance violated the state Coastal Act and the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, which gives the federal government control over protection of species like the seals. In May 2016, an Orange County Superior Court judge agreed and struck down the ordinance.

The appellate court, however, said that the city acted properly, concluding the ordinance was an exercise of the citys inherent power to regulate use of its property.

Associate Justice David Thompson, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said the law is not directed to conservation or taking of seals. Rather, it is a land use regulation, which falls within a traditional state police power.

A spokesman for the San Diego City Attorney welcomed the ruling.

The issue of the seals at Childrens Pool Beach has been debated for many years and the City has worked hard to implement an effective policy that balances the interests of everyone involved,  Deputy City Attorney Michael Giorgino said in an email statement.

Were pleased that the Court of Appeal agreed that the citys decision to close the Childrens Pool Beach during pupping season was appropriate. Notably, the Court of Appeal commended the city for its measured response to the problems at Childrens Pool Beach.

The battle over the ordinance may not be over, however

We strongly disagree with the courts ruling and we will petition the California Supreme Court to have this decision reversed, attorney Bernard F. King II said in an email Friday. The publics right to access beaches, especially man made beaches like the Childrens Pool, must be preserved.

Even with the 2016 ruling the city has been able to restrict access to the beach during the pupping season. The appeals court has allowed the city to do so while the appeal was pending.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
The emergence of a group of wealthy charter school supporters as a potent force has been one of the more striking recent developments in Golden State politics. While their huge donations failed to elevate former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the runoff in the governors race, their clout has already reshaped the board of Los Angeles Unified, the states largest school district.

But their apparent belief that more charter schools will solve all of public educations woes misses the fuller schools debate Californians need  both in the governors race between Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican Rancho Santa Fe businessman John Cox, and in the state superintendent of public instruction race pitting Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, a Bay Area union Democrat, and former school leader Marshall Tuck, a Los Angeles reform Democrat supported by some of the same charter school backers funding Villaraigosa.

Thats why Newsoms remarks on election night were so welcome. He depicted a successful public education as crucial not just for Californias economy but for the state in general. This built on themes Newsom has long outlined  starting with the need for education to be a lifelong pursuit that empowers Californians to launch new careers after their old occupations are wiped out by new technologies. If Newsom becomes governor as pundits predict and uses his political capital toward these goals  starting with changes in badly dated high school graduation requirements  that would be exciting. As for Cox, he supports vouchers but says the first step toward quality education is more charters, of course. Sharper differences will surely emerge.

While the stakes are lower, the race for state superintendent of schools is also of vital importance. Tucks reform credentials are impeccable. But Thurmond has been so close to the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers his entire time in the Legislature that if hes elected, he could emerge as an obstacle to Newsoms efforts to bring change to public schools. Thats because the superintendent has the compliance oversight authority to enforce  or to sandbag  many state and federal mandates meant to force schools and school districts to better handle their responsibilities. This power was on display in 2015 when current Superintendent Tom Torlakson overruled a state Department of Education official and said funds given to districts with high numbers of English-language learners, foster students and impoverished families to help those categories of students could instead be used for broader purposes  including teacher raises.

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As Torlakson did when he first ran for superintendent in 2010, Thurmond touts a reform agenda. But his refusal to support changes in tenure rules that allow teachers to gain lifetime job protections after 16 months of employment is awfully telling. He needs to be repeatedly pressed over the next five months to explain how he squares this position with his claim to care about students first and foremost.

Yes, the states 1,200-plus charter schools are important. But they teach only about 10 percent of the states 6.2 million K-12 students. Theres much more to this education debate. Its time to have it.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
Lightly edited comments from our online coverage.

Re Super Bowl snub: Trump fumbles by canceling White House visit (June 5):Only 10 Eagles players from the whole squad were willing to attend. That, alone, is an insult and an affront. He was right to cancel the event. It would have turned into another news opportunity for the mainstream media to point out how unpopular he is among young, stupid professional lunkheads. A great, preemptive move by the president.

Joined July 11, 2016

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I agree a president has the right to cancel such events but to use the current national anthem debacle as his reasoning is absurd. Not one Eagle knelt for the national anthem the entire regular season.

tom-rice

Sept. 12, 2016

Re Battle on the border: U.S. family separation policy spurs debate (June 5): Whats the big deal? American children are ripped or torn from their parents arms when their parents commit a crime and are sent to prison. Whats good for a citizen should be good for an illegal immigrant.

satyr0

Joined June 14, 2016

The letter writer doesnt seem to understand that the biggest and most unprecedented change made by the Trump administration in terms of the cruel policy of ripping screaming children from the arms of their terrified mothers is that these are not just the ones who flout our laws and sneak across the border illegally.

These mothers are entering at designated border crossings at legitimate points of entry, presenting themselves as refugees requesting to apply for asylum. This is a standard, legal procedure, and such parents have never been separated from their children before, ever. Even if they were detained for processing, previously such families were kept intact. The Trump policy is a crime against humanity and a horrendous shame for the United States.

DDWordwiz

Joined Aug. 2, 2016

Re U.S. couple found shot to death in Bahia de los Angeles (June 4): Oh man, the first time I gazed upon the spectacular setting of Bahia de Los Angeles was in the 60s, flying down the peninsula with my father. We landed on the beach in front of the one restaurant, parked next to a DC-3 owned by the government. Very low key back then. Sad to read about the problems.

bluesage

Joined April 21, 2016

When the cartel wants your boat for smuggling, just let it have it.

psyflyjohn

Joined July 19, 2016

Re Miss America dropping swimsuit competition (June 5):

The Miss America Organization has always been about judging appearances. Look at the photo, all of them are slim, fairly tall, nice proportions and so on. If this organization really wants to change, stop judging on appearances so young women of varying shapes and sizes can enter the contest.

tenhomas

Joined April 21, 2016

The pageant is trying to be relevant in the era of sex harassment and PC culture run amok and sponsor authoritarianism. So they have to comply with some liberal changes to get the money.

ConservativeMexican

Joined April 25, 2016

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Reporters and editors jobs call for them to gather multiple angles on a story to present as full an account as possible of the news.

A recent follow-up story on a fatal shooting by San Diego police was based on a witness who criticized officers handling of the situation. A reader emailed furious over the story. She said it was biased, that the witness obviously hated police and his account must be false. She added that the article created contempt for police, who risk their lives every day.

Heres the background on the story. Officers answered a call about 11 p.m. May 27 in the southern San Diego community of Nestor. Police said callers described a man carrying a knife and walking into traffic. The U-T published a story online May 28, and it appeared in print on B1 May 29.

The story uses a San Diego police statement and the recollections of two witnesses, a husband and wife who went on the record, to provide an account of what had happened.

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Reporter Deborah Sullivan Brennan went to the neighborhood May 28 looking for witnesses. The couple she quoted live on the corner of the intersection where the shooting occurred.

One of the witnesses in the story said officers ordered the man to drop the knife, but he refused. He said the man appeared disorientated and jabbed at officers with a pocketknife. The witness said police tried talking to the man, but he became increasingly agitated. Officers shot him with bean bags and a Taser, but he would not be subdued, the witness said.

Police said the man then charged at officers, and they opened fire, killing him.

The follow-up story ran online May 30 and in print on B5 May 31.

The story by reporter Karen Kucher was centered on another witness account of the shooting. Photographer John Gibbins talked to this witness while taking pictures at the scene, and passed the contact information to Kucher.

This witness, who went on the record, said he was inside a parked motor home about 20 feet from the shooting. He said police told the man to get on the ground and next thing you know, they just started shooting.

The follow-up story reported that the witness said he did not see the man holding a knife or see the use of bean bags and a Taser. The piece included a paragraph that said other witnesses corroborated the police account that the man refused to drop a knife. The story continues with the witness saying the shooting seemed excessive and questioning why police could not have used other tactics.

The reader angry over the follow-up story said in her email that the decision to publish the article was appalling. An acquaintance of the reader also emailed supporting the claim of bias.

At first I questioned the appropriateness of writing the second story. How can the witness veracity be gauged?

But after more thought, and talking to several editors, I believe the account is worthy of publication. Its widely accepted that witnesses accounts vary. The follow-up story also said the witness account differed from others and the police report.

Public safety editor Dana Littlefield, an experienced legal affairs reporter, said there was no obvious reason to dismiss the follow-up witness account.

She has in her past reporting not used statements when people are getting basic facts wrong, such as time or location. That was not the case with this witness.

In responding to the readers who emailed, Littlefield presented what I believe is an excellent argument for publishing the story while rebutting the claim of bias.

I appreciate your criticism, however, I have to disagree that the article is biased, Littlefield wrote.

It is our responsibility to listen to and report various points of view when we cover incidents and issues.

We wrote a story immediately after the shooting that contained the description of events as related by SDPD, and we included several comments in that story from two witnesses who corroborated the Police Departments account.

When available, we followed up with a story that contained a different point of view  which is our responsibility  but also noted again that there were witnesses who agreed with SDPDs description of the shooting.

I did not find the follow-up article biased. It summarized the police account and the accounts from the other witnesses.

Also, the witness in the second story went on the record with his name. There is accountability in that. I believe the reporting responsibly presented an opposing view, which is part of proper journalism.

adrian.vore@sduniontribune.com
On June 8, with the nation still reeling from the death of globe-trotting chef and television star Anthony Bourdain, media and political observers were stunned by another sad development: Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer says he had only weeks to live.

But on Thursday, June 21, Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi said the renowned commentator had died.

In his farewell letter, which came on June 8 and was widely talked about on social media, Krauthammer revealed that an aggressive form of cancer had returned and was spreading rapidly. This is the final verdict. My fight is over, he wrote. I leave this life with no regrets.

His announcement prompted an outpouring of appreciation from people on both sides of the political spectrum.

To understand why he was respected by liberals and conservatives, its important to note his lifes work.

Where you may have seen Krauthammers name.

Syndicated columnist gives his take on 'The Kelly File'

Krauthammer, 68, was most well known for his regular appearances as a political commentator on Fox News.

But his name also resonates for those who have read his columns in more than 400 publications worldwide, according to his publisher Penguin Random House, including The Washington Post, the National Review, and The New Republic.

His syndicated column also appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune for years.

Who is Krauthammer?

In a 2005 interview on C-SPAN, Krauthammer opened up about his life and career. He was born in New York in 1950 and grew up in an orthodox Jewish family.

Krauthammer attended undergraduate school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and then headed to Harvard University to study medicine. During his first year in medical school in 1972, Krauthammer was in a diving accident that left him quadriplegic.

His subsequent writing includes contributions to psychiatry  he co-published a groundbreaking paper on bipolar disorder  and politics. After college, he went to work in President Jimmy Carters administration. He was once then-Vice President Walter Mondales speech writer. He also started writing for publications like The New Republic and Time.

It was in Time where he published the essay The Reagan Doctrine which earned him critical acclaim in 1985. Krauthammer won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his columns in The Washington Post. He has also earned other prestigious awards.

What else makes Krauthammer stand out?

Krauthammer was considered one of the most insightful and intellectual conservative writers of recent times. He was also one of the biggest critics of President Barack Obama. Krauthammer often drew criticism from those on the left, like Barrett Brown in Vanity Fair and Clive Crook in The Atlantic, and those on the right, like Andrew McCarthy on the National Review.

But it was his ability to articulate views that aligned with conservatives while still being able to engage in civil disagreements with his own colleagues at Fox News that made him stand out. Take this interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News in which he calls President Donald Trumps remarks on Charlottesville a moral disgrace.

What have people said about him?

A lot of people have said a lot of things about Krauthammer over the years. Trump, while campaigning for president, called him a jerk. But others have spoken highly of him.

A former editorial page editor for The Washington Post once called his work independent and hard to peg politically. And David Brooks of The New York Times called him the most important conservative columnist right now.

Earlier this month there was an strong show of support for Krauthammer, including an editorial from The Washington Post titled Fridays without Charles in which its editorial board praised his work. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board also wrote an appreciation of Krauthammer.

The columnists letter also drew many acknowledgments on social media from conservative figures like columnist Ben Shapiro, Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. John McCain.

Those on the left also shared equal amount of praise for him.

The news resonated throughout the news industry.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

Read The Conversation on Flipboard.


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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/08/2018 -- Cardboard expendable packaging is one of the ideal solutions for the transport and logistics industry. The cardboard expandable containers are frequently combined with a customized inner packaging to protect the goods. Cardboard expendable containers are disposable packaging types. These containers are single-use packaging solutions which can be recycled or thrown out after their usage. Due to their recyclability, they are one of the highly sought after packaging solutions.



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Cardboard expendable containers are economical, highly flexible and they can be easily sealed. The cardboard expendable containers are insulated, this insulation helps to preserve food. Due to this property, the global cardboard expendable containers market is extensively used in food and beverage industry.



Global Cardboard Expendable Containers Market: Key Developments



Manufactures of cardboard expendable containers market focus on improving packaging efficiency of cardboard expendable containers by constantly integrating new technologies.



For instance, Rengo Co., Ltd. Packaging manufacturer based in Japan, has launched a new system to improve packaging efficiency. The company has introduced a special system, "Rengo Gemini Packaging System", a newly developed automated system for packaging. This packaging system measures the height of merchandise and custom-makes a package of the right size. This system eliminates empty space in the package and increases transportation efficiency.



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Stora Enso Oyj, packaging manufacturers based in Finland provides innovative and optimized packaging solutions for the online distribution of cardboard expendable containers. The company has created products that address the needs of online retailing. The company has developed a grocery box with inserts of various small boxes. It allows for more efficient pick and pack, as well as better protection of sensitive food.



Global Cardboard Expendable Containers Market: Key Players



Some of the key players in the global cardboard expendable containers market are DS Smith plc., Nefab Group, Amatech Inc., Magna Corporate Packaging, International Paper Corporation, Packaging Corporation of America, Smurfit Kappa Group, Georgia-Pacific Equity Holding LLC, Mondi Group PLC, Oji Holdings Corporation, West rock company, Rengo Co., Ltd., Pratt Industries Inc., Saica Group, Menasha Corporation, Cascades Incorporated, Klabin S.A., Arabian Packaging Co LLC and among others.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/08/2018 -- Dandelion is an herb obtained from yellow flowers of Asteraceae family. Dandelion leaves and buds are part of traditional cuisines in Kashmir, China, Korea, Slovenia etc. Dandelion have application in food industry for preparation of wine, coffee, soft drinks, root beer. Dandelion is also used in salads and sandwiches. Dandelion is a source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, minerals, calcium, potassium, iron and manganese. Dandelion have applications in various industries such as medical, food, and others. Dandelion have health benefits which include loss of appetite, intestinal gas, joint pain, upset stomach, eczema etc. Dandelion is also used to increase urine production as laxative. Dandelion also has application in cosmetic industry which increases its demand in global market.



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Depending on geographic regions global Dandelion market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC and ME. Dandelion is produced across the globe. The dandelion roots and leaves are used in Europe by pharmacists as a fresh juice, which is considered to be best tonic for digestive and urinary system. In the U.S. the dandelion is mainly used as gastrointestinal aid, a cleansing alterative, it is also used for purification of blood in the Southern U.S. Dandelion is used in China market to be used in its traditional Chinese medicine.



Dandelion market is in demand due to its various application in cosmetic, food and beverage and medical industry. Dandelion source is available globally due to which it gains popularity in every country in above mentioned industries. Health conscious consumers are leaning towards herbal products in daily food as well as cosmetics which is one of the key driver for dandelion market to grow globally. Use of dandelion in blood purification makes it popular in pharmaceutical industry and increases demand in global market. Dandelion is used in food products such as soups, wine, tea, coffee etc. for which market has seen growing in turn increasing demand for dandelion in global market.



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Some of the key players identified across the value chain of the global dandelion market include Natural Herbs And Herbal Products, Koranic Biotech & Medicare, KSV Export, MakingCosmetics Inc., Nature's Way, NutraMarks, Inc. etc. are amongst.
City of Industry, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/09/2018 -- The global Spandrel Glass market is valued at USD 1967 million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD 2676 million by the end of 2025, growing at a Growth Rate of 3.92% between 2017 and 2025. The market is driven by various end-users, such as Commercial Building, Residential Building and Public Building.



The industry is relatively scattered, the key brand include Asahi Glass Co., NSG Group, Guardian Glass,LLC , Saint-Gobain, Taiwan Glass, Viracon, Trulite Glass & Aluminum Solutions, Vitrum Glass Group, Toro Aluminum Group of Companies, J.E. Berkowitz, Padiham Glass Ltd, Northwestern Industries, Inc and so on. Among them, Asahi Glass Co., NSG Group and Guardian Glass,LLC are the leaders.



The global average price of Spandrel Glass is in the decreasing trend.



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The classification of Spandrel Glass includes Ceramic Frit Spandrel Glass, Silicone Coated Spandrel Glass and Others, and the proportion of Ceramic Frit Spandrel Glass in 2016 is the highest.



Spandrel Glass is widely used in Residential, Commercial and Public Building. The most proportion of Spandrel Glass is Commercial Building. The trend of Industrial emissions is stable.



The leading companies own the advantages on better performance, more abundant product's types, better technical and impeccable after-sales service. Consequently, they take the majority of the market share of high-end market. Looking to the future years, the slow downward price trend in recent years will maintain. As competition intensifies, prices gap between different brands will go narrowing. Similarly, there will be fluctuation in gross margin.



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. Meanwhile, optimize product mix and further develop value-added capabilities to maximize margins.



The Global Spandrel Glass Market Research Report 2018 released by QYResearch provides a basic overview of the Spandrel Glass industry, including definition, classification, application and industrial chain structure. Discuss development policies and plans as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures.



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The report then focuses on major industry players in Global, including company profiles, product images and specifications, sales, market share, and contact information. More importantly, the Spandrel Glass industry development trends and marketing channels were analyzed. Providing the main statistical data on the current status of the industry is a valuable guide and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.



About QY Research

QY Research established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), expert's resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc.
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/08/2018 -- Future Market Insights (FMI) has published a new report on flatback tapes. The report has been titled "Flatback Tapes Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment 2017  2027." The report states that faltback tapes have very limited applications as these tapes are mostly used in sectors such as automotive, paper industry, electronics, and packaging. Flatback tapes have smooth paper backing (which is not creped). Creped tapes are a different form of tapes altogether and they have a larger application base as compared to flatback tapes.



Rubber, acrylic, silicon are commonly used as adhesives. The thickness of the tape varies from 2.5 Mil to 15 Mil. These tapes possess high basis weight, so they can withstand high loads. These tapes are hand tear-able, which makes the manufacturing process simpler and convenient. These tapes have large thickness compared to crepe tapes, but very little elongation, from 2% to 4% mostly. Flatback tapes are commonly used in splicing, packaging and masking applications. Manufacturers are trying to innovate flatback tapes so that they can increase its application base. For instance, in April 2016, the 3M Company introduced a hand tear masking tape under the brand name 'Scotch Blue PLATINUM' for painting applications and better performance. Along this line, in July 2016, Intertape Polymer Group Inc. launched ultra-thin washi paper backed moisture resistant masking tape under the brand name FineLine for achieving better performance while painting.



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The other companies operating in the market are Shurtape Technologies LLC, tesa SE Group, Nitto Denko Corp, Scapa Group plc. and Pro Tapes & Specialties, Inc., among several others. According to the report, the global flatback tapes market is expected to witness a CAGR of 5.8% from 2017 to 2027. The market was worth US$ 858.1 Mn in 2017 and is expected to touch a valuation of US$ 1,505.1 Mn by the end of 2027.



Returning Confidence of Consumers in Retail to Boost Global Market Growth



Regional optimism is rising in North America and Western Europe; is decreasing in regions such as Latin America and the Middle East & Africa; and holds steady in Asia Pacific. India, Brazil, and China represent the highest consumer confidence. The revival of consumer confidence is aiding in the growth of the automotive, FMCG, electronics, and other industries, where flatback tapes are used for the purpose of splicing, sealing, tabbing and masking applications. The flatback tapes market is moderately correlated with these end use industries as it follows the dynamics of these industries. Countries in Asia Pacific such as India, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Thailand and Honk Kong represent the highest consumer confidence due to high annual GDP growth rates and improving lifestyles of the people. Some countries in MEA such as UAE and Saudi Arabia also represent considerable consumer confidence in their markets.



Flatback tapes are made from paper material, which is biodegradable and highly recyclable. The rising intolerance towards plastic is favouring the demand for flatback tapes. Substitute products for flatback tapes are largely made of plastic, which are expected to create landfill issues. Thereby, implementation of regulations pertaining to environment friendliness, plastic usage and waste dumping in manufacturing industries and other businesses is influencing consumers to choose paper backed tapes such as flatback tapes.



Thickness to Turn out to be a Hindering Factor in the Global Flatback Tapes Market



Flatback tapes have high basis weight compared to crepe paper tapes. This results in higher strength, thickness and low elongation. However, the thickness makes it unfit for majority of applications like carton sealing where the application area includes sharp edges or flexible surfaces. Due to the high strength and low elongation, flatback tapes are easily tear-able by hand. Tear strength is the main area of concern in flatback tapes resulting in a slowdown in the market's growth.



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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/08/2018 -- Governments, municipal authorities and civic bodies across Southeast Asian countries will remain determined towards supply of potable & highly-filtered drinking water to millions of households residing in this region. In the years to come, Southeast Asia will witness higher spending on purifying the water used for residential purposes, which will necessitate the need for adopting best-in-class water treatment equipment. Surging population in Southeast Asian countries will hike their per capita water consumption and further boost the sales of residential water treatment equipment. Persistence Market Research has recently published its analytical study on Southeast Asia's residential water treatment equipment market which projects a robust growth in terms of revenue and volumes. The US$ 350 million market for residential water treatment equipment in Southeast Asia is being anticipated to soar at 8.3% CAGR and reach US$ 787.1 million market value by the end of 2026.



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In the report, titled "Residential Water Treatment Equipment Market: Southeast Asia Industry Analysis & Forecast, 2016-2026," Persistence Market Research approximates that nearly six million units of residential water treatment equipment were sold across Southeast Asia in 2016. Soaring at an expected 9.3% CAGR, more than 15 million units of residential water treatment equipment will be consumed in the region by end of 2026.



Indonesia's Residential Sector to Remain Dominant

Indonesia is one of the leading countries in Southeast Asia in terms of infrastructure development and economic growth. The country's vast residential sector accounted for about 40% of Southeast Asia's residential water treatment equipment revenues in 2016. Over the forecast period, Indonesia's residential water treatment equipment market will be valued above US$ 360 million, rendering it a dominant country for residential water treatment equipment in Southeast Asian region. Malaysia and Philippines are also projected to dominate by collectively accounting for nearly 30% of Southeast Asia's residential water treatment equipment market value through 2026.

Demand for RO Purifiers Keeps Surging

Rapid industrialization in Southeast Asia has contaminated the groundwater as well as flowing water bodies of the region. Reverse osmosis treatment of water is being considered as one of the most viable option for supplying clean water to Southeast Asian homes. One out of every two residential water treatment equipment sold across Southeast Asia is a reverse osmosis (RO) purifier. Apart from the RO purifiers, more water treatment bodies in Southeast Asia countries are adopting UV-based purification systems. By the end of 2026, UV water purifiers will bring revenues worth US$ 180 million in Southeast Asia's water treatment equipment market.



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Companies such as AO Smith Corporation, Mazuma Thailand, and PT Holland are new to the Southeast Asian residential water treatment equipment market. Eureka Forbes Ltd., Cleansui and Kent RO Systems Ltd. have been established players in the market, while Panasonic Corporation, Koninklijke Philips NV and LG Corporation are steadily extending their foothold as manufacturers of water treatment equipment for Southeast Asian residences.



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San Francisco, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/08/2018 -- Subsea well access system are critical equipment employed for carrying out subsea drilling and production operations successfully. The safety and reliability of subsea equipment is critical for the development of subsea oil and gas field.



In the life of a field, interventions and workovers are needed to improve and optimize field recovery. This requires scientific technologies for facing challenges pertaining to augmenting oil recovery from subsea wells. This includes Riserless Light Well Intervention that enables cost-effective intervention operations in existing subsea wells, which results in additional output from mature subsea fields.



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The use of subsea well access system enhances production efficiency and safety measures. Subsea well access systems are available in a number of configurations. For instance, Slimbore subsea well access system provide smaller bore diameter for slender well designs. Slimbore wellhead allows the use of diameter riser systems of reduced size for drilling and production operations. Thus, early generation drilling vessels can drill in deep water and floating production facilities can augment the quantity of production risers held back to the host platform.



Subsea well access system are primarily of two types, viz. rig based well access system and vessel based well access system. The former is used for subsea tree installation and for well completion and for heavy well intervention activities. Moreover, rig based well access system are also used for providing open water tree on wire installation along with intervention workover control and support services for Well Plug and Abandonment for deep as well as shallow waters. Vessel based well access systems is one of the most cost-effective intervention techniques.



Global Subsea Well Access Systems Market: Overview



The worldwide market for subsea well access systems is growing at a healthy rate while riding on the advantage that the systems provide with regard to the relatively easy and efficient execution of subsea activities. This aids in attaining maximum safety and reliability, which in turn promises maximum output during production. The global market is gaining a strong foothold at a significantly rapid pace because of the heavy investments by exploration and production companies with a view to minimize capital and operational expenditures.



Global Subsea Well Access Systems Market: Trends and Segmentation



On account of the competitive characteristic of the oil and gas industry, there has been a bright focus on the improvement of production efficiency. Out of all the primary drivers of the world subsea well access systems market, rising safety concerns and improvised production efficient equipment as a requisite have topped the list. The global market has a couple of restraints, i.e. lack of technical expertise and high installation and operational costs, which could hamper its growth. Howbeit, the adoption of subsea well access systems has elevated considerably in the event of strict safety regulations and penalties for non-compliance implemented across the industry. The market growth is expected to be enhanced by the need to maintain and surge recovery rates.



On the basis of technology, the global subsea well access systems market could be classified into rig-based intervention and vessel-based intervention. Rig-based systems which are used for heavy intervention may be segmented into completion workover riser system and landing string system. Vessel-based intervention, also known as riserless light well intervention, is mainly used for medium to light intervention.



The growth rate for rig-based intervention systems is predicted to decline due to their cost and time-consuming attribute. Contrastingly, the adoption of riserless light well intervention is foretold to increase exponentially.



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Global Subsea Well Access Systems Market: Geographical Study



With the continued advancement of the exploration of reserves by oil and gas operators in deep water areas, the international subsea well access systems market is progressing at a rapid pace. Europe and South America, in particular, have expressed their rising requirement for intervention in subsea wells. This has further stimulated the adoption of subsea well access systems. On the back of a massive number of wells existing historically, which require significant overhaul, Europe has been the leader in the global subsea well access systems market. Furthermore, the market in the Europe region is anticipated to spread its wings even more expansively, especially in the U.K. and Norway.



The demand in Asia Pacific and Africa regions is predicted to augment with the boosting amount of deep water discoveries in emerging countries. Likewise, subsea well access systems are likely to find application in the deep water discoveries of South and Central America.



Some of the important players existing in the global subsea well access systems market are Weatherford Solutions, FMC Technologies, UZTEL Ltd., National Oilwell Varco, Proserv, Tenaris, Cameron International, Schlumberger, and Aker Solutions.



About TMR Research

TMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in today's 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.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/08/2018 -- According to the new report published by Persistence Market Research titled "Timber Harvesting Equipment Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Forecast (20172025)," the global timber harvesting equipment market is expected to expand at a value CAGR of 5.5% over the forecast period (20172025). It is expected that the market will reach a value of US$ 26,785.9 Mn by 2025 end. In terms of volume, the market is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.3% over the forecast period and account for the sales of 4,888,581 units by 2025 end.



The rise in demand for wood as fuel as well as construction material is the main driver influencing the growth of the timber harvesting equipment market. It has been observed that the sales of timber harvesting equipment is highly correlated with the demand for wood and products derived from wood. In the current scenario, forest products such as fuel wood, round wood, saw wood among others trigger the demand for timber harvesting equipment.



Conversion of forest areas to agricultural lands- Rapid conversion calls for mechanized operation to process felling thereby improving the demand for timber harvesting equipment

Rise in urbanization from rural to metro areas- The growth in population and demand for more residential areas will also support the demand for timber harvesting equipment over the forecast period.



Increasing requirement for mechanization and automation- There is a growing demand for equipment such as harvesters that in a single movement can cut the tree from the base, debark it and cut into required lengths in less than a minute.



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Growth in the expatriate population and tourism- Modern timber harvesting equipment are efficient and decrease the amount of wastage produced, which is expected to be a major factor driving the growth of the timber harvesting equipment market over the forecast period.



On the basis of product type, the global timber harvesting equipment market is segmented into chainsaws, harvesters, feller bunchers, forwarders and skidders. Harvesters and feller bunchers are sub-segmented into wheeled type and tracked type.



The most preferred timber harvesting equipment in the market today is the chainsaw segment representing a myriad of advantages in relation to costs, availability, low maintenance and versatility. Mechanized timber harvesting equipment such as harvesters and feller bunchers among others are preferred in the northern countries of Europe in order to increase productivity though they pose high initial investments.



This segment includes full tree, cut-to-length and tree length segments. Full tree harvesting is forecasted to dominate the global market in 2017. Companies are striving to develop better technological products owing to rising consumer demands. The segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 11,264.2 Mn by the end of 2017 and is likely to reach US$ 17,957.0 Mn by the end of 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 6.0% throughout the projected period.



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The global market is segmented into the key geographies of North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and MEA. As a market driven by the demand for wood including round wood, pulpwood among others, Asia Pacific, North America and Europe will draw in a large market share in the current and upcoming years. The potential of the market in the Middle East and Africa region will be relatively slow owing to the lack of harvestable areas in the region.



Deere & Company, Komatsu Ltd., Ponsse Oyj,Caterpillar Inc., Tigercat International Inc., ogset Oy,Eco Log Sweden AB,Rottne Industri AB, Husqvarna AB, Andreas Stihl AG & Company KG, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., Hitachi Ltd., Kesla Oyj, Barko Hydraulics L.L.C., Bell Equipment Ltd., Volvo AB, Sampo-Rosenlew Oy and Echo Inc. are some of the key leaders operating in the global timber harvesting equipment market.
Press Release

June 9, 2018 Dispatch from Crame No. 321:

Sen. Leila M. de Lima's statement on the alleged vindication of DOJ's Prosecution against her 6/9/18 Former DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II claims that the Supreme Court decision denying my Motion for Reconsideration on the legality of my arrest and detention is a vindication of the DOJ's prosecution against me. Aguirre's record of baseless accusations should be the only basis for the credibility of the DOJ charges against me. Throughout his term as SOJ -- which has, thankfully, ended sooner than later - Aguirre was well-known for his outrageous accusations against a variety of individuals and personalities, including a Congresswoman and a former Senator for supposed bribery of the convict witnesses against me, Senators for their supposed conspiracy in the Marawi uprising, and South Korean embassy personnel's alleged involvement in a syndicate. Aguirre threw accusations wildly and without regard to the position he held, making himself a laughing stock of the Duterte Cabinet. That is a feat by itself. Not satisfied with the fabricated drug charges against me, he accused me of almost every crime that happened during his term, like the Resorts World attack and the Bilibid prison riot. As DOJ Secretary, Aguirre was nothing but a lawyer under the service of the Davao criminal syndicate led by Duterte. He was simply the Davao Mafia's lawyer, who earlier on defended the Davao Death Squad leaders to prevent the exhumation of DDS victims from the Laud Property in Brgy. Ma-a, Davao City. Upon capturing State power, this Mafia syndicate lost no time in using the entire State machinery to make criminality the new normal, by legitimizing extra-judicial killings, exonerating their big-time partner shabu smugglers and drug lords, and institutionalizing large-scale corruption in government. Aguirre himself was never made to account for his role in the 50 million-peso Jack Lam shakedown that he ordered his Bureau of Immigration underlings to execute. Aguirre knows how he fabricated every single piece of testimony against me, from arranging the House of Representatives circus of Bilibid convicts, the stabbing of Jaybee Sebastian and other Bilibid 19 convicts who then still refused to testify against me, the special privileges given to the convicts who did testify against me, the coercion and intimidation of DOJ officials and employees who refused to implicate me, up to the manufacturing of fictitious and non-existent BDO bank accounts which, up to now, have not been shown to actually exist and contain money that belongs to me. The SC's denial of my Motion for Reconsideration does not mean that Aguirre or the DOJ is vindicated in filing charges against me. It only means that the Davao criminal syndicate that has captured State power in 2016 has not only been using the power of the executive department to eliminate their sworn enemies, like myself, but was also able to extend its influence as well to the judicial branch of government. The Acting Chief Justice himself called that decision "one of the grossest injustices ever perpetrated in recent memory", definitely not because it vindicates the DOJ, but precisely because it was a great travesty of justice that six (6) members of the Court refused to sign.
Press Release

June 9, 2018 Message of Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day We celebrate today the long-standing friendship between the Filipino and Chinese peoples, as well as the contributions of Chinese-Filipinos to our national development. The full integration of Chinese-Filipinos in our society is proof of our steady friendship borne out of the common experiences of our forefathers and our peoples in their drive for independence from foreign impositions. Today, Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day, we are given the chance to revisit the fundamental bases of our relationship, one that is hallowed by our heroes and strengthened by our goals for our nations -- stability, prosperity, and the rule of law. Countries can no longer rely on their own strengths. Challenges have become less daunting when we work together in unison with others. That is why we are always willing to work diplomatically with other nations to make better our society, improve our fortunes, and protect and preserve the one environment that we have. This is the kind of solidarity that must go beyond our national borders. It is the kind of solidarity that all nations of goodwill must strive to fulfill. On this special occasion, may our relationship continue to be based on mutual respect, harmony, fairness, and a firm commitment to the rule of law. Happy Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day!
Brighton shopfitter finds wartime bank notes worth 1m

8 June 2018BBC NewsA hoard of decaying bank notes dating back to World War Two has been found under the floorboards of a shop.They were discovered during renovation work at the Cotswold Outdoor store in Brighton by shopfitter Russ Davis, and removed for safekeeping by police.The face value of the 1 and 5 notes total about 30,000, which equates to more than 1m in today's currency.The site in Western Road used to be Bradley Gowns, a trading arm of the London furrier and couturier Bradleys.The notes were unearthed last month as layers and layers of rotten carpet, tiles and other flooring were being ripped up.Recalling how he found them, Mr Davis said: "I just thought it was a block of wood, so I snapped it in half and then found a 1 note."All the notes were stuck together, you couldn't separate them, and they were caked in dirt."Some of them were really bad where you could see the metal water marks that run through the notes."He estimated there were about 30 bundles, each worth about 1,000.Mr Davis said he immediately knew the notes were old because of the amount of flooring that had been taken up.They were also all blue, which was the colour of the emergency wartime currency first issued by the Bank of England in 1940.It is not known who stored the notes or why, but Mr Davis said his first thoughts were that that they "could have come from a bank robbery, or been stashed during the war by someone who died".Bank notes which have been withdrawn from circulation can be exchanged in person or by post by the Bank of England
NEW ORLEANS, June 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until July 19, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG), if they purchased the Companys securities between April 24, 2017 through May 10, 2018, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California



Get Help

PPG investors should visit us at https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/new-york-se-ppg or call to speak to our claim center toll-free at (844) 367-9658.

About the Lawsuit

PPG and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On May 10, 2018, the Company disclosed that an investigation by its Audit Committee into violations of accounting policies relating to the accrual of expenses for 1Q2018 had also uncovered improper income reclassification entries made at the direction of its Vice President and Controller, who was terminated effective that day. Further, PPG would not be filing its 1Q2018 report timely and its financial statements for the FY 2017 included in its Form 10-K should no longer be relied upon.

On this news, the price of PPGs shares plummeted.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. ClaimsFiler's team of experts monitor the securities class action landscape and cull information from a variety of sources to ensure comprehensive coverage across a broad range of financial instruments.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.
The Nipah virus that is still on the minds of Indians had its epicenter in Calicut, Kerala. The virus has claimed the lives of at least a dozen people. The virus outbreak initially caused big concern among the public and health officials. The outbreak of this virus is not new. In 2001, India confirmed its first Nipah outbreak in Siliguri, West Bengal which resulted in 45 deaths. A second outbreak in Nadia district claimed the lives of 5 people.

Human to human transmission is a way for this virus to spread. The hospitals and health centres where treatment was being given to those who tested positive is a potentially harmful and dangerous place to work. Kerala Health Minister K K Shylaja Teacher praised the doctors and nurses who were quick to respond in handling the cases saying in part, It's because of so many health officials, doctors, nurses and support staff, who tirelessly worked day and night, that we have been able to contain the outbreak so swiftly.

The work of the healthcare professionals is extraordinary considering the virus hasnt gone the way of SARS or other earlier epidemics. This is because the officials responded to the virus quickly and were effective in quarantining those who were affected. The virus as of now has been contained.

Doctors and nurses went above and beyond to make sure those were affected were given the best treatment. In one instance where a patient didnt survive, the relatives were scared to claim the body and perform the last rites. However, Dr R S Gopakumar, Health Officer of Kozhikode Corporation took it upon himself to perform the duties saying in part, I was saddened that during his last journey there was none of his dear ones to perform last ritesIt was my duty.

Health officials in Kerala announced that the virus could spread through fruits that were half-eaten by bats, people cut down on their fruit purchases. The diagnosis from the first patient on was swift. India does not have a good track record of outbreak investigations. India is obligated to report outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases to the World Health Organisation (WHO). K.P Aravindan, former professor at Government Medical College, Kozhikode, in a column for The Wire credits the officials is effective containing the virus from the beginning 

.

When the first patient was under treatment, Kozhikodes district medical officer, V. Jayashree had assembled a team and screened the patients home. Here they collected mosquito samples. The officials on the ground received instructions from those who were trained in protocols during the Ebola outbreak instructed the doctors to isolate patients, were surgical masks and decontaminating surfaces.

One such case is that of Nurse Lini Puthussery who died of a Nipah virus infection on May 21after treating one of the patients. In a letter that has since become public, she wrote a letter to her husband 

.

Tributes poured in as the story of one brave nurse represented the work that various healthcare professionals were doing in treating patients who were affected with the Nipah virus. The government of Kerala announced monetary aid of Rs 20 lakh for her family. The WHO honored her along with two other women; Razan al-Najjar who was shot dead in Gaza by Israeli snipers and Salome Karwah who fought the Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia.

The Economist obituary described as her as the conscientious nurse from Kerala. It described her work schedule of flexible hours as a daily wage nurse who had two young sons. Her husband was in Bahrain working as an accountant for a small company.

.

Her husband, who was shocked to hear about her death, said he was proud of her, She died doing her duty, and when I hear people appreciate her commitment to her work, I feel proud of her. She did her duty without hesitating and showed 100% commitment to what she did.

The fact that the virus hasnt spread to a very large extent shines a light on the important and often life threatening work that doctors, nurses and medical professionals undertook. In this instance, they were treating patients who were infected with a virus which could be transmitted. Selfless work in the face of potential danger.

More columns by Varun Sukumar


EDMONTON, Alberta, June 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Edmonton hosts its annual Pride Parade, Albertas largest worker advocacy organization will be comparing the LGBTQ+ legislative records of Jason Kenney and Rachel Notley. The Alberta Federation of Labour says Jason Kenneys long history of working against LGBTQ+ rights poses an ongoing threat to gender and sexual minorities.



Workers from the LGBTQ+ community have expressed their fear of Jason Kenneys UCP leadership, said Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour. He has a shamefully consistent track record of opposing LGBTQ+ rights that spans decades. From speaking out strongly against gay marriage to removing references to the LGBTQ+ community from federal immigration materials, Kenney has shown his disdain for the dignity and human rights of gender and sexual minorities time and time again.

Kenneys record is even more jarring when contrasted with the decades of legislative support Rachel Notley has shown for the LGBTQ+ community and her ongoing commitment to Pride events. In stark contrast to Kenney, Rachel Notley has a strong history of supporting gender and sexual minorities, said McGowan. From adding gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in the human rights code, to the recent addition nonbinary gender options for drivers licenses and other records, Notleys consistent record of support for the LGBTQ+ community speaks for itself.

Since being elected as an MLA, Kenney has also avoided debating other social issues in the House. He and his caucus have sidestepped taking a position on Bill 9, the abortion clinic bubble zone bill, by walking out during both debate and the vote.

As an MLA with a long track record of social conservatism, why is Kenney so reluctant to debate social issues? said McGowan. What is he hiding?

Media Contact:

Janelle Morin

Director of Communications, Alberta Federation of Labour

780-278-3640 or jmorin@afl.org

Alberta Federation of Labour takes stock of leaders LGBTQ+ records:

Rachel Notley:

Added gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in the human rights code

Defends queer school kids' right to privately join GSAs

Appointed first openly gay cabinet minister

Led first openly gay and gender-queer MLAs as members of NDP caucus

Made it easier for people to change gender on their government IDs with Bill 29

Introduced non-binary gender options for official government documents

Has demonstrated decades-long support for Pride events and the LGBTQ+ community

Jason Kenney:
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Technology and surveillance



Does Chinas digital police state have echoes in the West?



The state can gather more information, more easily, than ever before. Do not underestimate the risks











THEYRE watching you. When you walk to work, CCTV cameras film you and, increasingly, recognise your face. Drive out of town, and number-plate-reading cameras capture your journey. The smartphone in your pocket leaves a constant digital trail. Browse the web in the privacy of your home, and your actions are logged and analysed. The resulting data can be crunched to create a minute-by-minute record of your life.



Under an authoritarian government such as Chinas, digital monitoring is turning a nasty police state into a terrifying, all-knowing one. Especially in the western region of Xinjiang,



China is applying artificial intelligence (AI) and mass surveillance to create a 21st-century panopticon and impose total control over millions of Uighurs, a Turkic-language Muslim minority. In Western democracies, police and intelligence agencies are using the same surveillance tools to solve and deter crimes and prevent terrorism. The results are effective, yet deeply worrying.



Between freedom and oppression stands a system to seek the consent of citizens, maintain checks and balances on governments and, when it comes to surveillance, set rules to restrain those who collect and process information. But with data so plentiful and easy to gather, these protections are being eroded. Privacy rules designed for the landline phone, postbox and filing cabinet urgently need to be strengthened for the age of the smartphone, e-mail and cloud computing.



I spy with my many eyes



When East Germany collapsed in 1989, people marvelled at the store of information the Stasi security service had garnered on them, and the vast network of informants it took to compile it.



Since then the digital revolution has transformed surveillance, as it has so much else, by making it possible to collect and analyse data on an unprecedented scale. Smartphones, web browsers and sensors provide huge quantities of information that governments can hack or collect; data centres allow them to store it indefinitely; AI helps them find needles in the digital haystacks thus assembled. Technologies that once seemed a friend of freedom, allowing dissidents in dictatorships to communicate and organise more easily, now look more Orwellian, letting autocrats watch people even more closely than the Stasi did.



Xinjiang is the nightmarish extreme that the new technology makes possible: a racist police state. Fearing insurrection and separatism, Chinas rulers have reinforced techniques of totalitarian controlincluding the mass detention of Uighurs for re-educationwith digital technology. In parts of the province streets have poles bristling with CCTV cameras every 100-200 metres. They record each passing drivers face and the cars numberplate. Uighurs mobile phones must run government-issued spyware. The data associated with their ID cards include not just name, sex and occupation, but can contain relatives details, fingerprints, blood type, DNA information, detention record and reliability status. All this and more is fed into the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), an AI-powered system, to generate lists of suspects for detention.



Totalitarianism on Xinjiangs scale may be hard to replicate, even across most of China.



Repressing an easily identified minority is easier than ensuring absolute control over entire populations. But elements of Chinas model of surveillance will surely inspire other autocraciesfrom Russia to Rwanda to Turkeyto which the necessary hardware will happily be sold. Liberal states have an obligation to expose and chastise this export of oppression, however limited their tools of suasion.



The West must look at itself, too. These days its police forces can also have access to a Stasis worth of data. Officers can set up bogus phone towers to track peoples movements and contacts. Data from numberplate-readers can track a persons movements for years. Some American cities have predictive-policing programs akin to IJOP that analyse past crimes to predict future ones. All this allows the monitoring of possible attackers, but the potential for abuse is great. Hundreds of American police officers are known to have used confidential databases to dig dirt on journalists, ex-girlfriends and others.



Watching the detectives



How to balance freedom and safety? Start by ensuring that the digital world, like the real one, has places where law-abiding people can enjoy privacy. Citizens of liberal democracies do not expect to be frisked without good cause, or have their homes searched without a warrant.



Similarly, a mobile phone in a persons pocket should be treated like a filing cabinet at home.



Just as filing cabinets can be locked, encryption should not be curtailed. A second priority is to limit how long information on citizens is kept, constrain who has access to it and penalise its misuse fittingly. In 2006 the European Union issued a directive requiring mobile-phone firms to keep customers metadata for up to two years. That law was struck down by the European Court of Justice in 2014. Misuse of police data should be a criminal offence for which people are punished, not a mistake absolved by a collective apology.



A third priority is to monitor the use of AI. Predictive-policing systems are imperfect, better at finding patterns of burglary than of, say, murder. Face-recognition may produce lots of false positive results. AI trained with biased dataeg, patterns of arrest that feature a disproportionate number of black peoplemay reproduce those biases. Some sentencing algorithms are more likely to label black defendants than white ones as being at high risk of reoffending. Such algorithms must be open to scrutiny, not protected as trade secrets.



Vigilance and transparency must be the watchwords. They may enhance the technologys effectiveness: the routine wearing of bodycams by police, for instance, appears to reduce public complaints. Consultation matters, too. A bill recently proposed in California would compel police agencies to disclose what surveillance gear they have, publish data on its use and seek public input before buying any more. If that makes progress slower so be it. Police rightly watch citizens to keep them safe. Citizens must watch the police to remain free.
US commando killed, four wounded in Somalia attack



Washington, June 9 (AFP) Jun 09, 2018



An American commando was killed Friday in an attack in southern Somalia that also wounded four US military personnel along with a Somali soldier, officials said.

The attack occurred in Jubaland, where a large force comprising about 800 Somali, Kenyan and US troops were working to clear a large area of Al-Qaeda-aligned Al-Shabaab fighters.

The multinational force "came under mortar and small-arms fire at approximately 2:45 pm Mogadishu time (1145 GMT), killing one US service member and injuring four US service members and one partner force member," the US military's Africa Command said in a statement.

A military official told AFP the dead American was a special operations commando, but further details were not being released pending notification of next of kin.

US President Donald Trump offered his condolences via Twitter.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the families of our serviceman who was killed and his fellow servicemen who were wounded in Somolia. They are truly all HEROES," Trump tweeted, misspelling the name of the country in which the attack took place.

The mission's objectives were to "clear Shabaab from contested areas, liberate villages from Shabaab control and establish a permanent combat outpost designed to increase the span of federal government of Somalia security and governance," Africa Command said.

"The US provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission."

More than 500 American forces are partnering with African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali national security forces in counterterrorism operations, and have conducted frequent raids and drone strikes on Al-Shabaab training camps throughout Somalia.

Last year, a Navy SEAL was killed in a nighttime attack in Somalia, marking the first US military combat death there since the infamous "Black Hawk Down" events of 1993, when 18 American servicemen died in the Battle of Mogadishu.

Since 2007, Al-Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow the internationally backed government in Somalia.


What Italys Crisis Means for Europe



Lucrezia Reichlin









MILAN  Since the populist Five Star Movement and the right-wing League captured a combined parliamentary majority in Italys March 4th election, Italian politics has been at an impasse, with the two parties struggling to form a government. But now, with President Sergio Mattarella having rejected a M5S/League proposal to appoint the staunchly Euroskeptic economist Paolo Savona as Minister of Economy and Finance, the situation has taken a dramatic turn.



Rather than explore more moderate alternatives, the coalition has abandoned negotiations and called for a new election. An attempt to form an interim technocratic administration chosen by Mattarella was followed by a clash with the populists, which could have led to a constitutional crisis and spooked the markets. Now the situation seems to have changed again, and a coalition government is back on the table. But the situation remains highly fluid  and volatile.



This is the first time in Italys postwar history that a coalition of parties from the political extremes has attempted to form a government without any input from centrist forces. For their part, M5S and the League represent two different, but possibly overlapping, constituencies. Whereas M5Ss stronghold is in Italys poorer south, the Leagues is in the countrys prosperous north, where a large small-business community harbors fears of immigration, globalization, and high taxes.



Neither party represents Italians who want change but still support Italys membership in the European Monetary Union (EMU). These voters voice has been relatively subdued, but now Mattarella is tenaciously channeling it.



A new election could take place as soon as this fall, or early in 2019. Either way, it will now essentially be a referendum on the euro. The campaign will be bitter and divisive, and the outcome will not generate greater certainty about the future. Elections to the European Parliament will be held in May 2019, and the situation in Italy will no doubt mobilize nationalist and Euroskeptic parties hoping to change the European Unions political equilibrium.



Given that Italy is a founding EU member state with a long pro-European tradition, it is worth asking how we arrived at this point, and how the EU should respond.



Italys economic problems are rooted in low productivity, unfavorable demographics, and weak governance in many parts of the country  all of which pre-date the introduction of the euro in 1999. While Italys mainstream political leaders hoped that eurozone membership would create the conditions for far-reaching economic reform, the euro has instead deprived Italy of the means to engage in competitive devaluation.



With the exception of Greece, Italy has fared worse than any other euro member state since the 2008 financial crisis. But there is no use playing the blame game. Responsibility lies partly with the EU and its pro-cyclical policy rules, but mainly with Italys past leaders, all of whom failed to address its structural problems.



The Italian story is different from the Irish, Spanish, and Portuguese boom-bust narrative of recent years. Italy experienced neither a credit-fueled boom during its first decade of euro membership, nor a traditional bust. The countrys problems are structural and will require a creative reform program that addresses the deep causes of its dismal economic performance over the past 20-plus years.



Unfortunately, neither EU-recommended fiscal discipline nor populist-style fiscal profligacy will fix this fundamental problem.



Instead, Italy needs aggressive action to help the truly productive parts of the economy grow faster and exploit potential external demand. Rather than designing industrial policies to subsidize the losers, Italy should be providing opportunities for new market entrants, to reverse the high rate of emigration by skilled young people. Italy also needs more public investment in infrastructure and education, which will require addressing corruption, inefficient judicial processes, and ineffective local institutions  problems that have dogged Southern Italy, in particular.



Beyond this domestic agenda, Italy also needs to pursue reforms vis-a-vis the EU, starting with a relaxation of constraints on public spending for pro-growth investments and new partnerships. More investment will require additional fiscal space. But, more importantly, Italy and the EU both need new ideas, and more trust on each side.



Of course, whether the EU would even engage in such a discussion in the absence of credible Italian leadership remains an open question. EU rules cannot easily accommodate the problems of a country that is unable to consolidate its debt as a result of structurally weak growth  even if it has run large primary surpluses for years.5



More broadly, whereas the discussion about reforming eurozone economic governance has long focused on enhancing risk-sharing mechanisms to strengthen resilience against economic shocks and financial crises, that emphasis is somewhat beside the point in Italys case, because it offers no cure for structural weakness. Addressing the latter will require deeper EU-level cooperation on a growth agenda, which presupposes a formal deal on the timing and schedule of fiscal consolidation.



The economic agenda proposed by Italys populist parties is fanciful and unconvincing. But that is no excuse for the EU to maintain the status quo. It is time for EU leaders to start thinking outside the box to formulate a growth strategy for the blocs fourth-largest member state. At this point, Italy looks more like Japan than Spain or Portugal, and policies need to reflect that fact.



Italy and the EU are at an inflection point. In the absence of concerted action, we may well be sleepwalking toward another euro crisis  one that would be much harder to overcome than the last, and which could threaten the current composition of the EU itself.





Lucrezia Reichlin, a former director of research at the European Central Bank, is Professor of Economics at the London Business School.
Iraq's civilian death toll drops by nearly percent: reports



Baghdad, June 9 (AFP) Jun 09, 2018



The number of Iraqi civilians killed in acts of violence since the beginning of the year has significantly dropped, largely due to defeat of the Islamic State group, United Nations and a monitor have said.

Reports released this week by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Iraq Body Count database there was an 80 percent drop in civilian deaths in the first five months of 2018 compared to the same period last year.

UNAMI said 477 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence since the beginning of the year compared to 2,014 in the first five months of 2017, a drop of 76.3 percent.

The number of wounded during the same period dropped from 2,977 to 939, a decrease of 68.4 percent, it said.

The London-based Iraq Body Count, which tracks violent deaths in the country, gave similar figures.

The number of civilian deaths from political and religious violence dropped from 7,708 in the first five months of 2017 to 1,818 during the same period in 2018 -- a decrease of 76.4 percent.

In May Iraq held parliamentary elections without any major security incident, a first since the 2003 US-led invasion and ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein.

And so far, the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which started in mid-May, has gone on without major violence unlike previous years when it was rocked by deadly attacks.

Iraq claimed victory over IS in December after pushing the jihadists out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014 and still clings to pockets of desert in war-torn Syria.
Colombia: 28 ex-fighters sentenced for crimes with 6,000 victims



Bogota, June 9 (AFP) Jun 09, 2018



A Colombian court has sentenced 28 former paramilitary fighters to "alternative penalties" for acts committed from 1997 to 2006 that claimed some 6,000 victims, the public prosecutor's office said Saturday.

The 28 were convicted of acts including homicide, forced disappearances and displacements, and gender-based violence, "in patterns of systematic, widespread and repeated criminality," said a statement from the prosecutor's office.

This, it went on, was "part of an established directive aimed at violently gaining territory, regardless of the impact on the civilian population, especially of women, Afro-Colombians and indigenous people."

The sentence was issued by a court in Medellin under the Justice and Peace system created in 2006 as part of the process of demobilizing far-right militias.

Justice and Peace provides for maximum sentences of eight years for former paramilitary fighters who confess to their crimes -- including crimes against humanity -- and for lesser penalties for people who provide information about their crimes.

The ruling requires demobilized fighters to make economic and symbolic reparations and "seek forgiveness" from the 6,069 victims and families.

Those sentenced are further required to "commit themselves not to again carry out such punishable behaviors."

The former combatants were part of the Elmer Cardenas unit of the since disbanded United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Among those sentenced is the unit's chief, Fredy Rendon Herrera, known as "El Aleman," who was earlier convicted for a role in the 1999 abduction of Senator Piedad Cordoba. She was subsequently freed.

For a half-century Colombia has been riven by combat between leftist guerrillas, rightist paramilitaries, drug traffickers and state security forces.

In 2016, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group, which has since transformed into a political party.

Santos is continuing negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last remaining rebel group.
Iraqi flown back to Germany after 'confessing' teen's murder: reports



Frankfurt am Main, June 9 (AFP) Jun 09, 2018



A failed Iraqi asylum seeker arrived by plane back in Germany on Saturday after admitting raping and murdering a teenage girl, Iraqi Kurdish officials and German media reports said.

"I am delighted the suspect sought by justice is back in Germany," said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer in a statement, adding he hoped Ali Bashar, 20, would now "rapidly" face trial.

Bashar is alleged to have strangled 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman after raping her in the German city of Wiesbaden.

He was detained in northern Iraq on Friday following an outcry in Germany after police hunting the fugitive admitted he had fled with his family.

Despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany, he was put on a Lufthansa flight to Germany from the Kurdish regional capital Arbil, German media reports said.

He was expected to face a remand hearing after landing in Frankfurt, the reports said.

The case has put renewed pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government over the decision to open Germany's borders at the height of Europe's refugee crisis in 2015, resulting in the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers.

Demonstrators held a minute's silence in cities across Germany on Saturday, notably in the teenager's hometown of Mainz.

On Friday, a senior official in the autonomous Kurdistan region had told AFP that authorities were working to transfer Bashar quickly back to Germany to face trial.

"During interrogation following his arrest, the young man originally from Kurdistan confessed to killing the German girl," said Tariq Ahmad, police chief for the Dohuk province of Iraqi Kurdistan.

"He said that the two of them were friends but that they had a dispute, and that he killed her when the girl threatened to call the police," Ahmad said.

Bashar arrived in Germany in 2015 along with his parents and five siblings.

He should have been deported after his request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

During this time, he got into trouble with the police on several occasions, including for fights, alleged robbery and possession of an illegal switchblade.

He was also among the suspects for the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl living in the same refugee shelter.

Seehofer said Bashar's return was but "small consolation" for the victim's parents who he said were in his thoughts.

"For the state of our society it is important these crimes be cleared up and that the suspects be brought to justice," he added.

str-sbh-dac/cw/pvh
Bir-Lehlou, June 9, 2018 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, received a reply message from President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Dr. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli, expressing his gratitude and thanks for the congratulatory message on the occasion of the celebrations of the 54th anniversary of the historic union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar.



On behalf of the Government and People of the United Republic of Tanzania, and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to Your Excellency, and through you, to the Government and the Brotherly People of SADR for the congratulations you conveyed to us, said President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli in his reply message.



Furthermore, I wish to reiterate to Your Excellency the commitment of my Government in ensuring that the bonds of solidarity, friendship and cooperation that exist between Tanzania and SADR will be further consolidated.



Moreover, I wish to assure you that Tanzania, as one of the Founding Members of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and now the African Union (AU) will always be ready to contribute to the development and strengthening of the AU, as it did during the liberation of the African from colonialism and apartheid, he concluded. (SPS)



062/SPS
BY DENIS BEDOYA ON JUNE 7, 2018



Johannesburg  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday said the protracted humanitarian crisis in Western Saharas refugee camps was a direct consequence of the delay in finding a lasting solution to the conflict in the North Africa region.



Ramaphosas comments follow his bilateral meeting with Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic President Brahim Ghali in Pretoria. Ghali is in the country on a working visit.



Upon concluding their meeting, Ramaphosa said a memorandum signed between the two African countries regarding the current conflict and humanitarian crisis provides his country with an opportunity to assist the people of Western Sahara, particularly those who continue to struggle in refugee camps.



The lack of a solution is also an impediment towards greater regional integration and security cooperation in the Maghreb region, Ramaphosa said in a statement adding in our discussions, we expressed our full support and confidence in the efforts undertaken by the UN Secretary Generals Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr Horst Kohler, to bring the parties together and mobilise the international community to implement all UN resolutions on Western Sahara.



These resolutions were recently adopted in the UN Security Council 2414 programme.



Ramaphosa further highlighted that SA had also vowed its full support and has confidence in the efforts undertaken by the African Union Special Envoy for Western Sahara, former President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique.



On regional, continental and international peace matters; Ramaphosa said they condemned in the strongest possible terms all forms of terrorism and extremism affecting some of our sister countries.



We have committed ourselves to playing our part in resolving the peace and security challenges on the continent, he said.



The countries have also undertaken to continue deepening their relations and strengthen cooperation on all platforms. (SPS)



062/SPS/infosurhoy

http://www.infosurhoy.com/cocoon/saii/xhtml/en_GB/topstories/ramaphosa-condemns-humanitarian-crisis-in-western-sahara/
English08/06/2018

SRNA News Roundup /IV/ - June 7, 2018





REPUBLIKA SRPSKA



BELGRADE - The Serbian Government today approved a one-time financial aid to Nevesinje Municipality and the Coordination of Serbs in Mostar in the amount of 2,775,000 Euros, of which amount 2.5 million Euros is intended for the construction of the Tjentiste-Brod na Drini section of the Gacko-Foca highway.



BANJALUKA - An international congress of nurses opened this evening in Banjaluka where representatives of health institutions from more than 10 European countries are taking part.



BANJALUKA - The Serbian Democratic Party /SDS/ has said that by her todays meeting with US political campaigns experts Jason Osborn and Michael Rubin, the SNSD candidate for Republika Srpska President, Zeljka Cvijanovic revealed who really stands behind her campaign.



BANJALUKA - SNSD vice-president Zeljka Cvijanovic spoke today with American political campaigns experts Jason Osborn and Michael Rubin, presenting the SNSD as the largest political party in Republika Srpska, which the SDS will never be with people like Vukota Govedarica, said SNSD spokesman Radovan Kovacevic.





BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA



SARAJEVO - Russia will continue contributing to the establishment of internal dialogue in BiH in keeping with the Dayton Agreement and the guaranteed equality of the two Entities and three constituent peoples, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to BiH, Petr Ivantsov, said this evening.



SARAJEVO - The Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Denis Zvizdic, says that no migrant has yet been granted asylum and that there is no discussion of granting migrants BiH citizenship.



SARAJEVO - BiH Defense Minister Marina Pendes spoke in Brussels with the newly-appointed Minister of Defense of Italy, Elisabetta Trenta, about progress BiH made in meeting conditions for activation of the NATO Membership Action Plan /MAP/.





FEDERATION OF BiH



ISTOCNO SARAJEVO - On Sunday, June 10, a memorial service will be held, flowers will be laid and candles will be lit at the monument to 32 Serbian soldiers and civilians in the village of Cemerno, Ilijas Municipality, who were massacred by Muslim units 26 years ago.





SERBIA



BELGRADE - New Belgrade Mayor Zoran Radojicic has said that he will try to see to it that Belgrade be more beautiful, healthier and better and that already started projects be implemented.



THE HAGUE - Amicus curiae Diana Elis claims that Serbia has an obligation to cooperate with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in the case against two members of the Serbian Radical Party /SRS/, Vjerica Radeta and Petar Jojic.



NOVI SAD - One of the most wanted rappers in the world, French Montana, will perform at the Exit Music Festival that will be held on July 12-15 on the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad.





REGION



PODGORICA - The dismissal of the director-general of Radio-TV of Montenegro, Andrijana Kadija, is directed against the freedom of expression and media, which are basic values of the EU and the crucial element of Montenegros accession process to the EU and an important provisional criterion that needs to be fulfilled for the negotiation chapter 23, says the European Commission.



PODGORICA - Montenegros Government does not have constitutional jurisdiction over managing and editorial structures of Radio-TV of Montenegro, but it is committed to protecting and promoting media freedoms. /end/sg
Health professionals advise vaccination ahead of holiday gatherings

SALT LAKE CITY  COVID-19 may be declining in the Southwest, but that's not the case here in Utah and with the holidays coming up, health care workers say now is not the time to let your guard down. We don't know what's going to happen this year, but it's not too late to get a vaccine, said Dr. Russell Vinik, chief medical operations officer for University of Utah Health. If you get a vaccine today, you'll have some degree of protection by Thanksgiving. We are pleading with the community. Please get vaccinated. During a news conference Wednesday, Vinik said the state has ...
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Part of the recent willingness of the North Korean leaders to discuss denuclearization and peace is their growing fear of China. Historically China was always a threat to Korea but since the Korean War (1950-53) North Korea has depended on China for economic, diplomatic and military support. All that has faded because the North Korean leaders would not obey Chinese demands. North Korea sees itself in a situation similar to Vietnam, which has also had a historically hostile relationship with China. But now Vietnam is allied with the United States, South Korea, Japan and many other nations against Chinese aggression. China is aware of this North Korean attitude but China has always believed that it was better to be feared and obeyed than to be loved. Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un has often indicated that he feared China more than South Korea or the Americans. China is now the main conduit for imports and exports. Essentials like food come mainly from China but so do smuggled goods (both the items the North Korean government wants and those it forbids). Currently, North Korea is trying to keep out news about the negotiations between North Korea and America (as well as South Korea). In North Korea, the government wants to control news about those negotiations and if too much truthful information gets in there is more unrest. Yet China has quite deliberately made it easier for smugglers on the Chinese side. North Korea has apparently discreetly raised the issue of China (as a threat) to South Korean and American officials.

Big Brother Is Busy

In the northwest Xinjiang province now has a reputation of being a large test site for new Big Brother (as in the anti-communist novel 1984) technology. This is being done in the name of controlling Islamic terrorism (although there is very little of that in China, even in Moslem majority districts) and ethnic separatism (which is a real threat especially in Xinjiang and Tibet). On the other hand, the government has made enormous strides when it comes to reducing poverty in Xinjiang and Tibet but that tends to produce more affluent and educated separatists.

Meanwhile, local officials in Xinjiang have been praised by the national government for policies that resulted in no terrorism related deaths during 2017. That was the first full year that the current provincial government was in charge. The national officials have demanded that all local opposition to Chinese (Han) culture and control be eliminated. Local officials were given authority to try anything and that has resulted in severe hardship for the original occupants and rulers of this region; the Turkic Uighurs. Xinjiang has become a test area for whatever government monitoring and control measures local officials want to try and eventually widely implement throughout China. That is the reason for the sharp reduction in terrorism or separatist activity in Xinjiang. The most obvious examples have been the introduction of a lot more new technology for monitoring the population. This includes thousands of vidcams and a very effective facial recognition system. This is in addition to a growing list of methods used to collect data on the non-Han Chinese population, especially anything related to ethnic separatism or Islamic terrorism. This helps the government select those who will be sent to re-education camps (for a few weeks or six months or more.) There are currently over 100,000 Moslems (most of them Uighur, ethnic Turks who used to be the majority in Xinjiang) in the re-education camps. That is out of the nine million Uighurs in the province. Uighurs are a shrinking minority as more and more Han Chinese move in.

The re-education camps contain very few Han Chinese and apparently include even more experiments including the use of new drugs to induce uncooperative Uighurs to undergo an attitude adjustment. A new generation of security analysis software and hardware is replacing a lot of the older manpower intensive data collection methods. This is used to identify seemingly cooperative Uighurs, especially those working for the government, and send them to the camps for treatment.

The Big Brother methods that worked in Xinjiang are showing up in Tibet, even though Tibet was never as violent as Xinjiang. But many ethnic Tibetans are still separatists and China considers that dangerous and subversive thought that must be adjusted.

South China Sea

Filipino President Duterte is reviving the old Cold War tactic where a nation courted by two superpowers (in this case China and the U.S.) plays the superpowers off each other by demanding more and more aid, goodies and other concessions. While China isnt backing away from occupying offshore areas (in the South China Sea) that belong to the Philippines, China is offering the Philippines all sorts of gifts. Duterte is gracefully accepting the gifts with no strings attached and insisting on negotiations for the gifts that may contain hidden costs. Duterte isnt giving up any legal claims the Philippines has to South China Sea areas occupied or threatened by China. The Philippines isnt giving up any allies it has in the confrontation with China. This includes the United States, which Duterte criticizes but does not cut ties with or refuse military assistance from. China is playing along, in part because there are no better options and, given the size of the Chinese economy, it isnt all that expensive. The Americans go along as well, as it is China that is spending the most on this particular competition.

In April the American commander of U.S. naval forces in the western Pacific confirmed that China had built sufficient port and aircraft facilities on islands in the South China Sea to quickly station warships and combat aircraft at these new facilities and, in effect, declare that it controlled the South China Sea and dare anyone to oppose that control. Many of the islands are artificial, made by dredging up sand from nearby reefs and shallow waters. Seven reefs belonging to the Philippines have undergone this transformation and commercial satellite photos already show military aircraft and other equipment showing up on these artificial islands. Apparently, China has also installed anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles on some of these islands (Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef, all just west of the Philippines) in addition to EW (Electronic Warfare) equipment, including jammers as well are arriving on the new islands. China did not announce installing this military equipment but aerial and satellite photos show the equipment appearing during April, if not earlier. Since then some of these weapons have been moved or concealed and more stuff is coming in. Thanks to commercial photo satellites it is easy to keep track of what China is doing on the artificial islands they created in Filipino waters. Mischief Reef, which an international court agreed belonged to the Philippines, now has a Chinese military base and an airstrip that is regularly used by Chinese military aircraft. In addition, China has installed electronic surveillance and jamming equipment there in addition to air defense and anti-ship missiles. Filipino politicians, and most of the Filipino voters they represent are not happy about this.

Japan has taken advantage of this and formed a growing alliance to oppose China. Japan has been establishing links with Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries threatened by Chinese aggression. While China sees Japan as a fading economic and military power, Japan still has the second largest economy in the region, as well as more powerful allies than China. The Japanese military is still a formidable force, especially at sea. While memories of Japanese brutality throughout East Asia during World War II still survive the fear of similar treatment from China are turning Japan into a sought-after ally for most nations in the region.

This alliance is often informal and it nations as distant as India. Speaking of which India is trying to build anti-China alliances with Burma and Indonesia. Burma is willing to go through the motions but has to be careful because China is a major player in the Burmese economy and, like India, borders Burma. Indonesia is another matter and has been very aggressive towards Chinese efforts to seize control over maritime territory. India is offering to help Indonesia build a new naval base near the Straits of Malacca, the busiest maritime route in the world, with a daily transit rate of up to 200 ships.) Indonesia is one side of the straights and fears of Chinese expansion will eventually include the Straits of Malacca.

June 7, 2018: China and Japan put a naval and aerial hot line into operation. The new agreement makes it easier for Chinese and Japanese warships and military aircraft to communicate with each other. This would decrease the chance of unintended combat because of the growing number of incidents where ships and aircraft from both nations confront each other, often in disputed areas.

June 5, 2018: Two American B-52 bombers flew from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean through air space in the South China Sea that China now considers Chinese territory. The U.S. has been doing these B-52 freedom of passage flights since 2013. Back then China announced a new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) that overlapped South Korean, Philippine and Japanese air space. China demanded that any foreign military or commercial aircraft request permission before flying into this zone. South Korea and Japan protested while the United States promptly flew some B-52s into the zone without asking for Chinese permission. China protested and the United States ignored them. By 2015 the U.S. was sometimes apologizing to China for these accidental overflights but the apologies ceased by the end of 2016. The B-52 flights are usually training missions that the heavy bombers have been carrying out for decades. During those missions, the South China Sea is often flown over.

June 4, 2018: Taiwan began a five-day military exercise in which it practiced operations for defeating a Chinese attempt to take the island by force. The exercises included multiple tactics for defeating the Chinese on land, air and at sea. This included operations to defend airbases attacked by Chinese airborne troops or commandos. This year there has been a lot more Chinese military activity near Taiwan, including bombers circling the island and more visits by ELINT (Electronic intelligence) aircraft. Taiwan responded to all of these, usually by sending fighters aloft to accompany the Chinese aircraft. The Chinese activity is a form of protest against recent moves by Taiwan to improve its armed forces. Less obvious has been the great increase of Chinese hacking attacks against Taiwan. Partly in response to that, the military has banned Chinese made smart phones from its military bases.

June 1, 2018: Pakistan has ordered two more Type 54A frigates. These 4,000 ton ships have been in use since 2006 and have been very successful. Pakistan already has two on order and now will have four of them by 2021. This order makes 32 Type 54s on order or in service (mostly with the Chinese Navy).

May 31, 2018: The government announced that the only active Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, had achieved combat readiness along with its escort and support group. But Liaoning is only combat ready in day time. There is only one Chinese carrier jet fighter pilot qualified to land on a carrier at night and barely enough carrier pilots to fly a full complement (24) of J-15 fighters on the Liaoning. Chinese carrier aviation is making steady progress, just not as fast as Chinese Defense Ministry publicists describe.

May 30, 2018: The leaders of Japan and Vietnam agreed to more defense and maritime safety cooperation. These new accords also make it easier for the two countries to jointly oppose Chinese aggression.

May 26, 2018: Two American warships (destroyer and a cruiser) carried out the third American FONOP (freedom of navigation operation) in the South China Sea for 2018. This one was near several of the Chinese occupied islands in the Paracels. These islands had long belonged to (and been occupied) by Vietnamese. China took the Paracels by force in the 1970s. In 2012 one of the Paracel islands (Woody Island) was declared the center of Sansha, a new Chinese municipality (city). Sansha is actually Woody Island and dozens of smaller bits of land (some of the shoals that are underwater all the time) in the Paracels and the Spratly Islands to the south. In fact, the new "city" lays claim to two million square kilometers of open sea (57 percent of the South China Sea). This is part of a strategy based on the ancient principle that, when it comes to real estate, "possession is 9/10ths of the law." It's the law of the jungle, because all the claimants are armed and making it clear that, at some point down the road, force will be used to enforce claims. The Chinese say they have prior claim to most of the South China Sea and basically dares the rest of the world to try and stop them. The nations bordering the South China Sea, and the new city of Sansha, are creating alliances and trying to persuade the United States to lend some military, or at least diplomatic support to opposing an increasingly aggressive China. This was demonstrated by the reaction to this American FONOP and a similar one by Australian warships in April. In both cases Chinese warships challenged the foreign ships and demanded that they leave Chinese territorial waters (anything within 22 kilometers of the coast). The Australians refused and now the Americans have done the same. In response China has sent more weapons to these islands including having one of their H-6K long range bombers practice landing and taking off from some of the new airstrips built since 2012. The H-6K can be armed with nuclear cruise or anti-ship missiles. Other reactions to this FONOP included Britain and France announcing that they were going to conduct their own FONOPs as the United States and Australia have recently done.

May 23, 2018: The United States withdrew its invitation for China to attend the 2018 RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) international military exercises. RIMPAC has been held since 1971 and is currently held every two years for nations that are dependent on freedom of the seas in the Pacific Ocean. During the Cold War (that ended in 1991) RIMPAC was about how to deal with the Russian threat. China was first invited to attend in 2014. RIMPAC is the largest international naval exercises held anywhere. There are usually twenty or more nations participating plus other invited to observe.

May 22, 2018: The government is again calling on Burma to keep the peace along its border with China. On the 12th an attack near the border left three Chinese dead in Burma and three rockets and many bullets landing on the Chinese side of the border. The government must make a suitable response because the Chinese UN veto is needed to help the government from getting punished by the UN over the Rohingya refugee issue. China is also pressuring the four Burmese tribal rebel groups of the Northern Alliance to join peace negotiations most other tribal rebels and the government are having. China can make it more difficult for the Northern Alliance to access China (for supplies, refuge or whatever). China has increased security on its Burma border in the wake of the recent violence.

May 19, 2018: Once more a Japanese Navy patrol aircraft photographed a stationary North Korean tanker tied up to a Chinese tanker off the Chinese coast and apparently transferring petroleum. Earlier in 2018, the Japanese detected (and photographed) the same North Korean tanker doing a similar transfer in the East China Sea. The UN has put sanctions on s growing number of cargo ships and tankers but these vessels can still do transfers at sea. This takes longer, is still illegal and is increasingly being witnessed (and photographed) by American, Japanese or South Korean patrol aircraft. China responded with new rules making it more difficult for Chinese companies to get away with the false paperwork, turning off the automatic ship tracking devices and other scams North Korea uses to illegally export items to China.

May 18, 2018: China has openly praised Pakistan for how well its security forces, especially the army, have kept thousands of Chinese working in Pakistan on major construction projects safe from Islamic terrorist attack. This public praise is also a warning that any loss of security for those Chinese and their massive buildings projects would result in China reducing its economic activity in Pakistan. China has done this before, in Afghanistan and Burma and thus this is no hollow threat. This is more important now that the United States has been cutting economic and military aid to Pakistan because Pakistan refuses to curb Islamic terrorist groups it controls. These Chinese interests are colliding with the growing international pressure on Pakistan to halt what it is doing to support Islamic terrorist activity in Afghanistan, India and elsewhere. The UN has been trying to address that issue and censure Pakistan but China has been blocking those efforts. This is becoming more difficult for China to do as the evidence against Pakistan (especially from former senior government and military officials in Pakistan) continues to accumulate. The current head of the Pakistani military, Qamar Javed Bajwa, has expressed an interest in moving away from this unofficial support for Islamic terrorism. Bajwa seems to recognize that he cannot run Pakistan (via another military government) and that the growing tensions with India are indeed dangerous. The Indians have nukes and a track record of defeating Pakistan every time the two nations get into a war. China has openly proclaimed that it is not a military ally of Pakistan so Bajwa realizes he actually is in a weak position that is liable to get worse and end very badly for Pakistan, Bajwa and the Pakistani military. China also openly urges Pakistan to make peace with India. As open to peace talks as Bajwa says he is he cant even admit that he has imposed on himself a lot of difficult restrictions. He cannot admit that Pakistan is sponsoring Islamic terrorism anywhere. In private discussions with Chinese and American officials Bajwa is called out on the reality of the military still supporting Islamic terrorism. Bajwa can deny the accusations from the Americans but the Chinese cannot be lied to. The Chinese support Pakistani lies publicly but privately urge the Pakistanis to face reality before they trigger a nuclear war that would destroy a lot of valuable Chinese investments. To help this peace effort along the Chinese openly deny they are any kind of military ally of Pakistan.

May 17, 2018: China and Uganda announced a nuclear power deal. China will help Uganda build several nuclear power plants. Uganda has several uranium deposits and wants to use its own uranium to power the reactors.

May 16, 2018: Sudan accepted delivery of six Chinese FTC2000 jet trainer/light attack aircraft. FTC2000 is the export version of the JL-9 trainer used by Chinese forces.

May 11, 2018: Chinese military aircraft attempted to interfere with a Filipino effort to deliver supplies to a base it maintains on Second Thomas Reef which both countries claim. The supplies got through to the detachment of Filipino marines has been stationed there on a World War II era landing ship (the BRP Sierra Madre) since 1999. The Filipino navy deliberately grounded the LST on Second Thomas Reef in 1999 to provide a place for this observation team. In 2013 Chinese patrol ships came within nine kilometers of the LST, which China insists is there illegally. The Philippines warned China that it would resist any attempts to use force against the grounded ship and while the Chinese still tries to interfere with supply ships, they have stayed away. In 2015 China protested the Filipino effort to make repairs on the LST. The Philippines protested the Chinese moves today but only after a two week delay because of disagreements within the Filipino government about how to deal with the situation. China is buying a lot of influence in the Philippines but at the same time, most Filipinos fear being conquered by an increasingly aggressive China. The Philippines also decided to proceed with upgrades to its other disputed islands in the Spratly Islands.

May 10, 2018: The Philippines is the leader when it comes to the portion of GDP coming from remittances (money earned by Filipinos overseas and sent home). Aware of that one of the gifts China has offered is to legalize about 200,000 Filipinos working illegally in China and allow another 300,000 legal workers in, the Philippines is eager to close this deal. China is suffering a labor shortage because of a declining birth rate (a side effect of prosperity) and is accepting more and more legal foreign workers.

May 9, 2018: The leaders of China, South Korea and Japan met in Japan to work out details of how all three would deal with the denuclearization of Korea and the ongoing peace talks with North Korea.

May 8, 2018: Officials from China and Burma met to work out a police cooperation agreement that would make easier to detect, monitor and disrupt criminal activity that is common to both countries. This is mainly about keeping drugs, especially meth, out of China and to reduce smuggling in general as well as the growing incidence of Internet related crime on both sides of the border. In return for Burmese cooperation, China will help Burma in the UN and other international organizations.

May 7, 2018: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again (for the second time in six weeks) visited China to meet with president Xi. The two met several times over two days to apparently prepare for the June 12 meeting between Kim Jong Un and the American president in Singapore. If nothing else the two meetings in China indicated that Kim Jong Un understands what he had to do and how to do it.
The U.S. Marine Corps has announced a new squad and platoon organization, based on its experience so far this century, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. Actually the new squad was just one of many changes for marine combat units. The new squad will have twelve men organized into three fire teams with three men each led by a squad leader (sergeant). There will also be an assistant squad leader (corporal) and a squad systems operator. Everyone will be armed with the new M27 IAR (Infantry Automatic Rifle). Each squad will have a quad-copter UAV (based on commercial models many marines are quite familiar with off duty.) The systems operator will usually handle the UAV, although all marines in the squad who have quad-copter experience will be identified so there will also be additional operators available. The systems operator also handles the new digital radios that can also communicate with marine air support (helicopters or fighter-bombers). The systems operator is trained to deal with all the electronics in the squad, as well as apps used on smartphones or laptops.

The system operator recognizes a trend developing since the 1990s as more new (and veteran) marines became familiar with computers off-duty. After 2001 it was noticed, in a combat zone, how numerous and useful these tech-savvy marines were. That tech capability grew with the growth of the Internet and appearance of more electronic devices. Even before the systems operator position was established marine commanders found it useful to identify the tech heads in their unit and put them to work as needed. In the last decade marine units, especially the infantry squad has acquired (officially and unofficially) a lot more electronics like night vision, electronic scopes, GPS and laser rangefinder devices.

The systems operator had already become an informal position throughout the marine battalion and now that work has been formally recognized and additional (and standardized) training is provided for those designated as geek specialists. In addition to the squad systems operator, each platoon will have a UAV specialist and each marine infantry company will have a five-man counter-UAV team. Each marine battalion will have a three-man team to handle information warfare capabilities. Each marine company will now have a ground controller for air support. Previously there was one less ground controller per battalion and one infantry was always without one.

For a long time, the marines used a four-man fire team in the squad, including one light machine-gun (since the 1980s the M249). One reason for getting the M27 was to replace the aging M249s with a better weapon. The M27 was the result of five years of research and development to create a weapon that could replace the M249, which had generated a lot of complaints Iraq (jams from all the dust and sand). Finally, many of the marine M249s are simply wearing out.

The marines were originally looking for an IAR (Infantry Automatic Rifle) that weighed between 4.8 kg (10.5 pounds) and 5.7 kg (12.5 pounds) empty, used a large magazine (100 rounds or more) as well as the standard M-16 30 round magazine. The heavy barrel on the IAR had to be able to handle the sustained fire of 36-75 single shots a minute. The higher number was the ideal. It had to have the standard rail on top for mounting accessories, be resistant to jamming from dust and sand and, in general, be a lot better than the M249.

The M27 is a 3.6 kg (7.9 pound, empty) automatic weapon based on the German HK416. It has a forward grip, a bipod and heavier barrel and can use a 30 or 100 round magazine. Unlike the M249, it does not have an easily replaceable barrel, but it is more accurate and has a slower rate of fire (560-640 rounds per minute). The M27 uses a mechanical system that is less likely to jam, as well as a floating barrel (for better accuracy.) Marines found they could use fewer rounds of more accurate fire with the M27 than they did with the M249. The M27 can use larger magazines but required a skilled and discipline user to prevent barrel overheating. In other words, you only go full automatic if it is really necessary. With modern sights and other accessories, it is easier to do that, especially 5.56mm weapon that is actually more accurate at longer ranges than the M4 or M249.

Initially, the Marines bought 4,200 M27s in 2009 as light machine-guns to replace the M249s. Battalions were allowed to retain some of the M249s, to give the battalion some options. The Marines withdrew from service about 20 percent of their 10,000 M249s once all 4,200 M27s were delivered. Marines and infantry, in general, have always preferred having more automatic weapons. Having some additional light machine-guns (like the M249) in reserve and available for emergency situations has been a marine custom since World War II.

The M27s began entering regular service in 2011 and as more were used in combat it became apparent that the IAR was very effective and popular with its users. In late 2016 the marines experimented with equipping all the riflemen in a battalion with M27s for large scale training exercises and were impressed by the results. That, plus the excellent combat record, led to the willingness to spend over $30 million to buy a lot more. The M27 costs $1,300 each compared to $750 for the standard M4 assault rifle, a variant of the M16 used by the army and marines since the 1960s.

One M27 per squad is equipped with a more powerful scope and a suppressor (to hide flash and reduce sound) and used by the squad sharpshooter. His M27 is called the M38 Designated Marksmanship Rifle. The designated sharpshooter is an old custom, dating back centuries. For a long time it was an informal position but eventually, the designated sharpshooter got a scope, official recognition and special training.

The new marine squad has a lot more firepower, with every marine armed with an M27. While some marines were not sure the smaller fire team would be as effective in combat as the four-man standard, provision was made to deal with this in combat. The new marine squad officially contains fifteen men (four-man fire teams) but in peacetime, the fourth man is not provided. If need be the marines are ready to switch back to four-man fire teams if combat experience shows it is necessary.

The marine are adding a lot of new weapons and equipment to the marine battalion. The marines are phasing out the TOW ATGM (anti-tank guided missiles) and increasing the number of Javelin ATGMs. New 81mm mortars feature longer range and more effective ammunition. The portable MAAWS (Carl Gustav recoilless rifle) replaces the 1980s era SMAW. The marines are making more dune buggies like the MRZR4 all-terrain vehicles. These weigh 1.5 tons (loaded with nearly 700 kg of fuel, passengers, and cargo). It is a 4x4 vehicle that is 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) long and has no doors, four seats, and a steel framework on top which is usually left open for maximum visibility. The vehicle is optimized for cross country operations and also has an 88 horsepower engine. Fuel capacity is 7.25 gallons (27.4 liters) and range depends on what sort of terrain is being crossed. Marines saw SOCOM using these in Afghanistan and were impressed enough to order some for marine units. The MAZR4 proved very useful to marine units that got them and word got around.
Catherine and Amelia Brereton, front, with PTA chair Abby Ratcliffe and Great Alne schoolchildren Belle Gisbourne, Sofia Ratcliffe, Harlowe Wilkes and Oliver Hobday.

SUMMER vibes will be ringing out across Great Alne later this month when the village plays host to its first ever music festival.

Alne Fest will be happening on Saturday, 23rd June, from 4pm to 9pm, at Great Alne Memorial Hall.

The event is a family-friendly fundraiser being organised by the Friends of Great Alne School PTA.

There will be live music on specially-built outdoor stages, a barbecue, bar, bouncy castle and a variety of stalls offering plenty of fun and games and festival vibes  from flower garlands to face painting.

Alne Fest is being organised by a small band of PTA volunteers, all hoping to raise as much money as possible to support Great Alne School.

Abby Ratcliffe, PTA chair, said: This is a real first for us and big event for the school and village so were really hoping the whole community gets behind us to make it a success.

We have some great bands lined-up, including groups from Alcester Academy, all performing on a stage were going to build outdoors especially for Alne Fest.

"We want to create a proper festival vibe; showcasing local talent to support our local school while everybody comes together for a really good time.

Tickets can be bought at www.pta-events.co.uk/greatalne or in person from Classic Clutter, High Street, Alcester.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Festival vibes  Catherine and Amelia Brereton (at the front) with PTA Chair Abby Ratcliffe and Great Alne schoolchildren Belle Gisbourne, Sofia Ratcliffe, Harlowe Wilkes and Oliver Hobday.
The Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the following statement:

On June 8, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic), the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the ceasefire regime on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, to the northeast from Martakert town.

From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring will be conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his Field Assistant Mihail Olaru (Moldova).

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members.
Limited glyphosate for tea, rubber thro CPC By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

Sri Lankas tea industry has been given a new lease of life after state authorities lifted the ban on glyphosate last month. It would however be made available only through the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) from next month.

Plantations Ministry Secretary J.A. Ranjith said that the delivery of the glyphosate weedicide would be made available only for the tea and rubbery from the CPC which has been authorised to import the stocks required. Glyphosate will still be banned for other users including in paddy cultivation.

He noted that they hope to deliver the product by around July 15 and added that the Ministry has already prepared the gazette containing details for the import of glyphosate for tea and rubber sectors and sent to the Legal Draftsman.

Previously there were a number of private companies that imported glyphosate and this was then freely available in the open market. However, today due to the ongoing ban on the use of the pesticide, this is being permitted solely to the rubber and tea sectors and hence the authorities believe that they need to regulate the import of the product.

In this respect, Mr. Ranjith pointed out that regulating its import could be convenient if delivered through the CPC and furthermore issued only twice a year as per the requirements of the plantations.

Plantation companies believe the product could be purchased directly from the CPC depots and not each CPC outlet adding that the modalities of import and delivery are still being worked out.

Hayleys Plantations Managing Director Roshan Rajadurai told the Business Times on Friday that they had submitted their requirements for the spraying of glyphosate to the ministry.

He explained that in the past as well the CPC had imported chemicals for use on the plantations and noted that this was within the CPCs legal framework to purchase such stocks.

Mr. Rajadurai noted that the delivery of the pesticide was already late since due to the rains there has been an increased cover of weeds which would cause a loss in productivity and also provide low quality teas for export.

Already Sri Lanka is losing its market share in Japan by about 40 per cent due to the poor quality teas sent there which were rejected in the recent past and replaced by Kenyan teas. Sri Lanka exports at least 8 million kg of Ceylon Tea to Japan annually.
Whales from above: Memory of a lifetime View(s):

KOGGALA  F-Airways (F-Air)s three aircraft are parked and ready for take-off at the Sri Lanka Airforce base at Koggala.

Guests preparing to take-off on the 4-seater Cessna 172 aircraft are welcomed with a chilled drink and check-in at a comfortable lounge bordering a lake at the tail-end of the runway.

Flight

As we are cleared by the control tower with a thank you response from pilot captain Kosala Premachandra, my expectations are running as high as the blue skies on the journey ahead. Hope you see as many whales as possible, jokes Sanjay Adhikari, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at F-Air, the other passenger on the flight, adding further: This is like an affordable tuk-tuk in the air.

Whale-watching-by-air is a new concept in Sri Lanka with F-Air promoting air tourism on the lines of a New Zealand Tourism product. Whale and Dolphin Watching Regulations and Guidelines are strictly followed by the company like for instance flying above 1000 feet before coming down to 700 feet when a mammal is spotted.

Ambience

The Cessna takes us over picturesque scenes like temples, lakes, mountain ranges and the Weligama Bay which has the lovely Cape Weligama by Dilmah resort perched on a small hill abutting the beach. Part of this exercise is to show guests other places of beauty.

Whales are generally located between 5 to 15 nautical miles (8 to 25 km) off the coast and as we fly overhead amidst a cluster of tourist boats below  also on the same whale-watching expedition  we spot a blue whale. The boats are closing in like a race, the fastest to get there gets the best (camera) shot. We drop down to 700 feet and clearly see a large, majestic blue whale squirting water as it breathes on the surface of the water. As everyone up and down scramble for their long-range cameras, another one is spotted and something strange could be seen trailing the whale. The line of large red spots is in fact whale poo.

Then at different times, single and whales moving in groups are spotted or breaking away probably due to the sounds, gliding through the turquoise blue waters. Its easier to see them from the top as small aircrafts are less noisy than boats. As a boat nears one, the whale takes a huge dive and sinks into the ocean without a trace. Sanjaya says it would take 10 to 15 minutes for that creature to surface again because it dives to the depth of the ocean before rising.

Breathtaking views

The sight from above and at 500-700 feet is breathtaking and hard to describe. As the Cessna moves away from the whales, we spot a group of dolphins, a pod of 10 to 15 pilot whales three to four turtles and a group of wind surfers having fun, ending a magical 45-minute, savour-for-life ride.

Logistics

F-Air operates tours mostly at the weekend but handles special tours on requests from resorts for their guests. It has three Cessnas with two more due in May-September. The company operates an average of 6-8 whale watching flights per day.

The company also helps in data collection by researchers studying blue whales, at 30 metres in length and 180 metric tons or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed. F-Air plans to fix a camera on the underbelly of the aircraft to help marine biologists research whale movements.

Ticket per passenger costs US$150 each and $100 for those between 3-14 years. The company also offers package tours to 16 other scenic areas in Sri Lanka and for research purposes on a per-passenger rate or flat rate (for the full aircraft) of $300 per hour.

What better way of watching blue whales than from a low-flying small aircraft off Sri Lankas picturesque southern coast. During a 45-minute flight from Koggala Airport, off the coastal town of Galle, Business Times Editor Feizal Samath sees dozens of blue whales and dolphins in a memory of a lifetime journey.
President Maithripala Sirisena who exploded last week with a scathing attack on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, has seemingly reached a truce. It came during a two-and-half hour meeting last Tuesday night at his official residence at Mahagama Sekera Mawatha, the former Paget Road. The talks centred on the irritants and recurring issues that stood in the way of relations between them as well as coalition partners, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP). At least for the moment, the major ones have been resolved.

Credit for the meeting should go to four SLFP ministers who were strongly of the view that the National Unity or the coalition government should continue until its term ends. The foursome are Ministers Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sarath Amunugama, Mahinda Amaraweera and Duminda Dissanayake. This is their second role at peace making. Soon after the defeated vote of no-confidence on Premier Wickremesinghe, the UNP insisted that no portfolios should be given to the 16 SLFP MPs who voted in favour. The four members shuttled between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe and later brought about a meeting. There Sirisena agreed to the UNP position that UNP ministers could not sit with their colleagues who have expressed no-confidence. However, by then the group sent in their resignation letters from posts they held and decided to sit in opposition benches.

As revealed exclusively in these columns last week, the four SLFP ministers met with three of their UNP counterparts last week at the Stanmore Crescent official residence of Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, now a Vice President of the UNP . Other UNPers taking part were Kabir Hashim and Malik Samarawickrema. They successfully obtained a meeting with both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe that Tuesday night. That both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe were in a conciliatory mood underscored two factors  that they were not for parting ways and were still keen to thrash out differences and continue.

Besides the ministers who were at the initial dialogue, others taking part were Justice Minister Talatha Athukorale, Law and Order Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Fisheries, Aquatic Resources and Rural Economy Minister Vijith Vijithamuni de Soysa.

Besides other issues, the two focal points of discussion were about fast tracking development plans and fulfilling the pledges made to the people ahead of the January 2015 presidential election. Whilst the two sides agreed that there was a need for a limited common programme and to finalise it during future meetings, considerable time was spent on the pledges already made. That brought about a discussion on Police investigations into the procurement of MiG 27 fighter jets from Ukraine in 2006, the alleged financial misappropriation in the purchase of a building for the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington DC, the alleged misappropriation of funds and irregularities at Carlton Spots Channel television network and the construction of the multi-storeyed apartment cum shopping mall complex at Transworks House opposite the Colombo Hilton.

A discussion also ensued on the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunga, Editor of the now defunct Sunday Leader, the abduction and torture of Keith Noyahr, Associate Editor of the Nation, (since shut down), the reported killing of cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda, the killing of national ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen and other cases. It was decided as a matter of policy that most of these investigations should be completed before the end of the year and the Police be called upon to ensure this.

President Sirisena directed that his aides telephone the Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundera and request him to come over immediately for that nights meeting. He was given a strong dressing down over his conduct. Sirisena said that the Police Chief should not refer to senior DIGs (Deputy Inspectors Generals of Police) and make disparaging remarks against them at public functions. He said that as head of the Department, he should not bring personal issues into discussion but only relate himself to official matters. Sirisena said that some senior DIGs have complained to him about the ugly way they were being treated.

Some had even said that they were being harassed and obnoxious charges levelled against them. Such acts should stop, said Sirisena. He conveyed the decision made at that discussion that investigations into high profile cases should be completed before the end of this year. Sirisena queried Jayasundera over a talk he had delivered at a ceremony at a temple where he had made veiled references to a person wearing white. He asked to whom such a reference was made. The Police Chief strongly vowed that he was not alluding to any person but relating an old tale. SLFP Minister Duminda Dissanayake, however, pointed out that it could be construed as references being made to someone important, perhaps an allusion to the President himself.

As is now known, the SLFP has been trading charges against the UNP for going slow on the high profile cases involving bribery, corruption and other malpractices during the previous regime. Despite denials by the UNP, the accusations gained credence after President Sirisena raised issue during ministerial meetings. Barely a day after his meeting with President Sirisena on Tuesday night, Premier Wickremesinghe told Parliament (on Wednesday) our government will never safeguard any criminals. We have strengthened the institutions to act against any persons involved in corruption and fraud irrespective of their standing in society, party affiliations or any other considerations. Noting that there may be some instances where such actions have been delayed due to legal requirements, he declared we have taken measures to expedite such cases.

Facilitating Wickremesinghe to make the statement in Parliament was Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Pointing out that there were three persons who held high government positions who are wanted in connection with financial frauds evading arrest he sought to know what action was being taken. He named Udayanga Weeratunga, onetime Sri Lanka Ambassador to Russia, Jaliya Wickremesuriya, onetime Sri Lanka Ambassador to the United States and Arjuna Mahendran, the Central Banks former Governor. Dissanayake asked what measures the government has taken to have these persons arrested and produced in courts in Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe replied: I have obtained a full report on these cases and I will read it out to the House. He said: Udayanaga Weeratunga served as Sri Lankas Ambassador to Russia from 2006-2016. He is accused of defrauding the state in the import of MIG aircraft to the Sri Lankan Air Force in 2006. Several of his bank accounts in Sri Lanka were frozen on court orders. He was notified to appear in court in June 2016 and summons was sent to his address in Kiev in Ukraine through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In October 2016, the FCID named him as a suspect in a financial fraud.

In November a warrant was issued for his arrest on the request of the FCID. Twelve of his accounts in the Commercial Bank and two in the Hong Kong Bank were frozen and his passport was cancelled by the Controller of Immigration. The Courts also gave a restricting order prohibiting the sale of two blocks of land in Dompe and an apartment at Trillium residencies. To facilitate his arrest, on November 15 2016, a Blue Notice was issued through the Interpol.

Additionally on February 12, 2018, a Red Notice was issued through the Interpol. According to the Interpol, on March 24, 2018, Weerataunga was taken into custody by the authorities in the United Arab Emirates. The Foreign Ministry then made a request to extradite him to Sri Lanka. Accordingly a letter was sent by the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice of the UAE on May 16, 2018 to facilitate Weeratungas return to the country.

Jaliya Wickramasuriya served as Sri Lankas Ambassador to the USA from 2008 to 2014. He is accused of defrauding around US$ 300,000 in a transaction to purchase a new building for the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington. He was arrested on November 8, 2016 and released on March 20, 2017 on cash bail of Rs 50,000 and surety of Rs 10 million. Foreign travel was banned and his passport impounded. The court also gave directions to search three properties owned by him in the country and also inspect his local, foreign accounts and examine the computers of his business establishments.

He had sought permission to travel to Georgia in the United States for medical treatment from the Courts. He was granted permission on the payment of another Rs 1.5 million as additional bail costs, two sureties and one of his lands in the care of the courts. The suspect had, however, failed to appear in Courts in November 2017 as he has been directed to do. The Court issued an arrest warrant for him. The two persons who signed as sureties too have failed to appear in courts. Investigations have revealed that the two sureties are also abroad with the suspect.

Arjuna Mahendran served as the Governor of the Central Bank from January 2015 to July 2016. Summons have been sent to him to appear in courts to his address in Singapore but it was found that he was not at the given address. Hence the summons could not be served properly. Following this, he was notified via an SMS (Short Message Service) sent to his mobile telephone number by the Director of the CID and via an email to his email address.

The delivery reports from the mobile phone to which the SMS was sent and the email show that both messages were delivered to Mahendran. An open warrant for his arrest was issued by the Fort Magistrate on March 15, 2018. International assistance too has been sought to locate Mahendran and bring him back to Sri Lanka. In this regard a Blue notice issued by the Interpol on April 5, 2018 and a Red Notice on April 19, 2018.

However as Singapore does not act on Interpol Red Notices and arrest persons, it has asked Sri Lanka to make an extradition request for Mahendran. Hence on May 25, 2018, the CID has channelled a request according to the extradition law of the country through the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.

It has been now more than eleven weeks since Weeratunga was arrested in Dubai for not possessing valid travel documents. He is being held in detention in Abu Dhabi. The Sri Lanka Embassy in the United Arab Emirates has not been successful in securing his release to face charges in Sri Lanka. One of the reasons given was the non-ratification in Sri Lanka Parliament of an extradition treaty signed years earlier.

The authorities in Colombo had to rely on a law firm run by a Sri Lankan lawyer and the bills had exceeded US$ 300,000. In the case of onetime Ambassador Jaliya Wickremesuriya, who had allegedly reneged on an assurance to be present in Courts in Sri Lanka, the US authorities are to now arraign him before their Courts. It is on the grounds that he did not enjoy diplomatic immunity when he carried out the transaction, the purchase of an Embassy building where he is accused of making money. Such a certification has been given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Both Weeratunga and Wickremesuriya are nephews of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Arjuna Mahendran, who was serving in a bank in Dubai was nominated for the post of Governor of the Central Bank by Premier Wickremesinghe. There were ministers who were opposed to the move when it came up for approval before the Cabinet. One who raised strong protests was Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka who argued that Mahendran was a Singapore national. After his term was not extended as Governor and he relinquished duties, Mahendran served a short stint at the Premiers Office in Temple Trees and was a member of Premier Wickremesinghes entourage during overseas visits.

Shocking evidence of Mahendrans conduct surfaced this week. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has found that he received payments amounting to Rs 3.2 million from W.M. Mendis and Company, a firm associated with his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius, who is at the centre of the alleged bond scam. Details appear elsewhere in this newspaper.

That Wickremesinghe chose three important investigations which were among the key subjects of discussion with President Sirisena in his statement to Parliament is somewhat significant. He is going public with one of the key decisions reached with Sirisena, to pursue investigations into outstanding high profile cases. That also assumes a form of re-assurance to Sirisena that a subject of concern for him has now been addressed by his Prime Minister. At least for the time being, the on/off relationship would continue notwithstanding some strong undercurrents. Of course, there could still be a slippery situation if the promises are not delivered within the set time frame.

This comes at a time when a directive from Premier Wickremesinghe has already raised some concerns among Secretaries to Ministries. In a letter he wrote to every minister late May, he has given the names of MPs who have been assigned to closely coordinate development projects and programmes implemented by their ministries. Nothing wrong one would say. However, the issue has become the final paragraph of the letter written in Sinhala. It calls upon the ministers to assign duties to these MPs, provide them with the required staff and arrange transport facilities.

Whilst some Secretaries are challenging the legal validity of a Minister distributing his functions (already allocated by the President), others are questioning about how they could authorise transport, office facilities and staff which involve expenditure. One distraught Secretary, who for obvious reasons did not wish to be identified, declared I dont want to end up in the FCID for abusing state funds. Said another, the task of closely coordinating development programmes and reviewing them could be done without the perks sought. The MPs have their vehicles and staff already and they now have to review what the Minister and his Deputy do. Even if they would have very little to monitor or review, the recipients of the benefits would be happy at the move that gives them more perks. Already ministries are flooded with requests for vehicles, he said.

The latest rapprochement between the two most important citizens notwithstanding, there are also issues for Sirisena. His biggest challenge continues to be the future of the already emaciated SLFP.

Last Sunday three major bodies of the SLFP, the Central Committee, the Executive Council and the All Island Committee met at Apey Gama in Battaramulla. Sirisena nipped in the bud any moves by sections to call upon the party to sever relations with the UNP. He said such a move would only give the UNP a free run. He reminded those taking part that the people had given the party a message through the outcome of the local government elections on February 10.

Hence, he said the main challenge now was to reorganise the party and make it stronger. Sirisena told reporters at the end of the meeting that office bearers picked that day would serve for only a period of one and half months. After the party re-organisation is complete, permanent appointments are due.

It seemed dubious if not ironic that most of the 16 SLFP members who crossed over to the opposition benches and held talks with Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) de facto leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, were given plum positions. The only exceptions were Janaka Bandara Tennekoon, Pavithra Wanniaratchchi and Kumara Welgama who were earlier Deputy Chairmen.

A significant development was the selection of Professor Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa as the SLFP General Secretary. He is the head of the Department of Mass Communications at the University of Kelaniya. On Thursday, the Central Committee met again under the chairmanship of Sirisena and decided to expand the CC by inducting more professionals from universities and other establishments.

Former Minister S.B. Dissanayake, a prime mover of the no-confidence motion against Premier Wickremesinghe was appointed as Treasurer. Minister Duminda Dissanayake was picked as the National Organiser. When the partys key decision making bodies had all convened, Minister Dissanayake proposed that the existing committee of office bearers be dissolved. The motion was seconded by President Sirisena. The new office bearers were named thereafter. President Sirisena was again elected as Party Chairman.

Former Presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa, together with former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne were appointed to the partys advisory council. Earlier, Kumaratunga had remained a patron of the party. The names of the office bearers were approved unanimously.

Here is the list:

Advisory Council  Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne

Chairman  President Maithripala Sirisena

General Secretary  Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa

National Organiser  Minister Duminda Dissanayake

Treasurer  MP S.B. Dissanayake

Senior Deputy Chairmen  Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, MPs W.D.J. Seneviratne, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Susil Premajayantha

Deputy Chairmen  Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, Minister Sarath Amunugama, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray, State Minister Piyasena Gamage, Minister Vijith Wijayamuni Zoysa, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, MP Dilan Perera, MP Angajan Ramanathan and Southern Province Chief Minister Shan Wijayalal De Silva

Deputy Secretaries  Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Deputy Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna, MP Sudarshni Fernandopulle, MP Sumedha G. Jayasena, Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake, Western Province Chief Minister Isura Devapriya, North Western Province Chief Minister Dharmasiri Dassanayake and Uva Province Chief Minister Chamara Sampath Dassanayake.

The plum positions notwithstanding, 13 members from the group of 16 SLFPers who are now sitting in the opposition benches, were in for a rude shock last Tuesday. In what seemed a way of enjoying the best of both worlds, they influenced the Joint Opposition to propose the name of Sudarshani Fernandopulle as a contestant for the post of Deputy Speaker. The move even won the endorsement of the JO Parliamentary leader Dinesh Gunawardena.

However, when it came to voting time, the UNP candidate Ananda Kumarasiri had polled 97 votes as against 55 for Fernandopulle. Some of the pro JO SLFP MPs were seen in the Parliamentary canteen at voting time. A key SLFPer in the JO admitted that some of their colleagues did not turn up at voting time only because they had not been consulted. We dont want the JO leadership in Parliament to just foist a decision on us. A new tail cannot wag the head. That is wrong, said one of those who did not cast their vote. Another added those in the group of 16 get rewarded with positions in their party and only want to use us at the same time. We are not for that. That indeed was a snub for the JO leadership in Parliament. So much so, those who were in the forefront backing Fernandopulle kept away from a meeting.

In a week where both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have seemingly patched up their differences and those of their parties, the question remains whether there would be more political eruptions during the rest of the governments tenure. Whether there is or not, the lesson this week is that both coalition partners want to continue come hell or high water. One does not want the other to have a free run.
Questions over SLAFs aircraft purchase deals running into a staggering Rs. 64.8 billion View(s):

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has ambitious plans to purchase helicopters of different makes and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) at a staggering cost of more than Rs 64.8 billion, according to documents seen by the Sunday Times. The Defence Ministry is expected to appoint a Technical Evaluation Committee for this purpose. An earlier committee ceased to function after a senior officer of the rank of Air Vice Marshal retired.

The major portion of the planned procurement is ten Mi 171 SH Russian-built transport-cum-combat helicopters. For this purpose, a partly used US$ 300 million credit line, which lapsed in 2015 and has been renewed by Russia to allow Sri Lanka to purchase a Gepard 5.1 Offshore Patrol Vessel OPV), is to be utilised. This makes clear that the Government will not go ahead with the controversial OPV deal. It has been enormously costly compared to OPVs provided by India.

The SLAF also wants to purchase four more Mi 17 helicopters at a cost of more than Rs 14.3 billion for use in United Nations assignments as peace keepers. It is mandatory in terms of UN rules that forces joining UN peace keeping missions in trouble spots around the world undertake assignments with their own equipment. Such investment takes long years to recover. In the case of a Sri Lanka Army deployment, it was originally estimated it would be five years but it continued thereafter. This as well as the ten helicopters for SLAF use will come from the original manufacturers, Ulan Ude plant in Russia.

The other purchases cover:

Four Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes. This is at a cost of Rs 6.2 billion.

The purchase of six trainer helicopters at a cost of more than Rs 4.87 billion.

The purchase of two Bell 414 helicopters for VVIP use at a cost of More than Rs 11.48 billion.

In addition, the purchase of two used Bell 206 B Bell Jet Ranger helicopters has also been planned. The entire Bell helicopter deal is to be financed through an intermediary in Singapore. He is said to arrange for foreign loans but the identity of the party is still not known. If the deal works out, this would be a rare occasion when the SLAF will procure used helicopters or for that matter even Bell 414s for VVIP transport since they are relatively small. Among the varied arguments used is the reluctance of western VIPs to fly in Russian made helicopters. Yet, the Mi 17 transport-cum-combat helicopters are among those in the United Nations inventory.

An expenditure of more than Rs 64.8 billion, only for the Air Force, does raise some questions. Firstly there is no war and more importantly such massive purchases have not taken place at that time. An argument in favour of the move, however, is that the equipment used by the tri services would have to be updated and modernised.

However, with a badly deteriorating economy, questions are being raised on the wisdom of ploughing vast amounts of tax payers money into military procurements. This is even without identifying the major threat perceptions. Moreover, this is at a time when some western governments too have begun to demand downsizing the military for continued assistance in some sectors of the economy.

One aspect which has not been adequately addressed is the troop strength and equipment requirements after the Tiger guerrillas were militarily defeated in 2009. The fact that different helicopter manufacturers are being considered underscores the absence of any standardisation and continuing ad hoc approach. The fact that what is procured on credit has to be repaid for generations to come is lost.

Bond report: MPs to get redacted portions after Presidential Secretary returns

The redacted portions of the Commission of Inquiry report into the Central Bank bond scam will remain in the custody of Parliament Secretary General Dhammika Dassanayake.

This is until the return of Presidential Secretary Austin Fernando who is now in Vienna on an official assignment. Thereafter, he is expected to provide Speaker Karu Jayasuriya with all other related documentation connected with the report.

It is only then that Speaker Jayasuriya will make available copies to members of Parliament. It will either be in printed form or in a compact disk. The Speaker told Parliament on Thursday that the Commission report did not contain any list which said that 118 MPs had received funds from companies associated with Arjun Aloysius, now in custody in connection with the bond scam. He was confirming our report that appeared in these columns last week. These names are surfacing as the CID detectives unravel the names of those who received payments.

On Thursday, Speaker Jayasuriya gave some advice to MPs who offered to give him affidavits that they did not receive any monies from Mr Aloysius through his companies. I dont need affidavits. Act according to your conscience, he told them.

SLAF chief gets extension

President Maithripala Sirisena has extended the term of Sri Lanka Air Force Commander Kapila Jayampathy.

He was to have retired on May 25 this year.

As a result, Air Marshal Jayampathy will remain in office until the same period next year.

President Sirisena made the decision in his capacity as Minister of Defence in whose purview the armed forces come under.

President settles clash between ministers

President Maithripala Sirisena had to intervene to settle a verbal duel between two ministers at last Tuesdays ministerial meeting.

It was Rishad Bathiudeen who raised issue over the inclusion of his colleague Rauff Hakeem in a Cabinet subcommittee that was to deal with matters relating to displaced people. There are no displaced people in the Kandy District which he represents, exhorted Mr Bathiudeen only to draw a retort from Mr Hakeem.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader said what Mr Bathiudeen said was not relevant. He was the leader of a party which had local councillors and those in Provincial Councils who had an interest in displaced people not to mention himself.

President Sirisena said he would arrange a meeting of the duo where matters would be sorted out.

Rajapaksas old secret evokes laughter at birthday party

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is a consummate story teller and his sense of humour is matched only by a few of his political colleagues.

At the 74th birthday party of onetime Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva on Thursday night, he left guests with stitches of laughter. It was over a matter which was, in a sense, an old state secret that could be told.

He had turned up to chair a National Security Council meeting one day to see a top runger in uniform standing on the table and threatening a colleague. The duo were both acclaimed heroes of the separatist war.

Mr. Rajapaksa said he had to not only bring peace but also ensure the two great fighters did not sit next to each other. Keeping them at a distance helped. Both did their job and have ended up as enemies again. One of the heroes was present at the party and kept nodding when Mr. Rajapaksa related the tale.
Whos backing Old King Coal? View(s):

This Governments flip-flopping on energy policyparticularly when it comes to coal poweris nothing short of legendary. While the rest of the world embraces clean electricity, the administration is now backing Ceylon Electricity Board-led efforts to introduce more coal power plants, despite the bitter experience of the high-polluting Lakvijaya at Norochcholai.

This reversal on coal is mindboggling. One year after assuming power, the Government cancelled long-overdue plans for an India-funded coal power plant in Sampur. Chandima Weerakkody, the then Minister of Petroleum Industries, said President Maithripala Sirisena had informed Indian Premier Narendra Modi of Sri Lankas decision to move towards liquefied natural gas (LNG) and to seek his support towards the endeavour.

Then, in September 2016, the Attorney Generals Department notified the Supreme Court during a hearing on an anti-coal petition filed by an NGO that the coal power plant had been ruled out. In April 2017, India agreed to assist Sri Lanka to convert fuel-based power plants to LNG power plants and to also set up a 50 megawatt solar power initiative in Sampur.

The push towards renewable energy seemed clear. President Sirisenas own election manifesto had pledged to prepare the groundwork to fulfil basic energy requirements through renewable energy such as dendro power, wind power, solar power and ocean energy.

He vowed to build biomass power stations throughout the country so that electricity consumers money that hitherto drained into the pockets of the coal and oil mafia will flow into the rural peasantry. He promised to gradually remove subsidies for fossil fuel and to hand them over to obtain renewable energy technology. Was he misguided, over-enthusiastic or just winging it for the sake of the election?

Whatever it is, public message has been that of sustainable, environment-friendly energy. The manner in which it was conveyed, including at various forums, gave the impression that Sri Lanka, like many other countries, was moving away from coal. The independent energy regulator, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), echoed these sentiments by prevailing upon the CEB to produce a new Least Cost Long-Term Generation Expansion Plan 2018-2037 that did not include coal power plants.

In July 2017, the PUCSL approved this alternate plan (the original one had included coal) saying it was in line with Government policy of not building more coal power plants in the near future. It also said the President had directed the CEB to target 70 percent of power generation to be from renewables by 2030. The energy mix was, therefore, to be major and mini hydro, solar, wind, biomass, natural gas, furnace oil and gas turbine power.

There also emerged multiple reports of environmental issues caused by the Chinese-built plant in Norochcholai; problems that are preventing the relevant authorities from renewing its environmental protection licence. Last year, a petition signed by 71 Lakvijaya employees was sent to authorities. They complained that the health of operation and maintenance staff was seriously compromised by dust and ash. This gave some impetus to the anti-coal lobby.

There are many more concerns, recorded over the years by campaigners and activists. For instance, the plant has no scheduled waste management licence as required by law for a facility that generates hazardous matter. Coal dust and fly ash has been blowing towards villages. And there were no protections against mercury pollution.

But the CEB is seething. It counters that coal is the single largest source of electricity generation in the world, providing 40% of power even in 2016. Global Coal consumption increased by 64% from 2000 to 2014 because of the unparalleled economic advantages it offers.

Led by its engineers, the CEB alleges that an LNG mafia is in control of the PUCSL. The engineers union is lobbying for the removal of the independent regulators director general saying he was batting, so as to speak for powerful groups who stood to benefit from LNG and renewable energy.

One engineer once warned that, Unless we are very careful now, unknowingly, we may be creating an LNG demon, which would have enough money at hand even to decide who our future political leaders are.

It cannot be denied that there are interest groups, including many fired by lucrative financial gains, behind the anti-coal lobby. But the same argument applies to the pro-coal lobby. And as the Sunday Times observed in a news article last week highlighting the many hazards of the Norochcholai coal power plant, it is not immediately clear why one mafia would be better than the other.

The President is now singing a different tune on coal. He has denied ever being opposed to future coal power plants and instructed the PUCSLwhich, ironically, is the independent regulatorto approve the CEBs original Long Term Generation Plan which includes coal. And the CEB is playing tough on environmental concerns. It has threatened to shut down Lakvijaya if its environmental protection licence is not renewed.

This kind of posturing is unacceptable and amounts to holding an entire country to ransom. Coal is the worlds filthiest fuel. And while the Government now says it wishes to introduce high efficient coal power technologies, this will come at a cost that could cancel out the price benefit the CEB insists coal power generation brings.

The Economist, in a special report published in March 2018, said that even China has been moderating its demands for coal and oil, slowing the rise in electricity consumption, deploying gas and renewable energies and arresting the growth of carbon-dioxide emissions. While it remains the worlds biggest importer of fossil fuels, its experience with filthy air and its concerns about over-dependence on imported oil have made it keener to harvest more of its own wind and sunlight, the magazine observes.

Countries that are flogging coal power plants to Sri Lanka have stopped building them at home.
Chengdu International Childrens Chorus Week View(s):

The Chengdu International Childrens Chorus week is a glamorous world-class cultural gathering of seven selected and invited childrens choirs hosted by the Chengdu municipal committee and the Chinese Chorus Association.

The Prestantia Junior Concert Choir, is an award winning childrens choir directed by Dr. Priyeshni Peiris-Perera, the head of Prestantia Music School in Moratuwa. The choir was selected and invited to represent Sri Lanka and be a part of this prestigious event after the submission of the choirs live performances at the Asia Pacific Choir Games 2017 and the prestigious accolades received in recognition for their exceptional choral performances showcased at the 2017 Asia Pacific Choir Games.

The Prestantia Music School Junior Choir became runners up winning a High Gold Medal of at the Asian Pacific Choir Games 2017. By doing so, it topped Sri Lankas top school choirs and leading music academy choirs in Colombo.

Most noteworthy is that Prestantia Music School Junior Choir came in 2nd place only to Alye Perusa Russian Childrens Choir which holds the world rank of #2 in childrens choirs according to Interkultur, the worlds leading organization for Choir Competitions and Festivals.
From art to open mic and DJ nights, lets go French for a month By Musaffa Mafaz View(s): View(s):

The 7th edition of the French Spring Festival jointly organised by the French Embassy in Sri Lanka and the Alliance Francaise de Kotte will be held from June 14  July 14.

Our programme intends to promote culture and French excellence in different disciplines as well as the creativity and artistic exchanges between France and Sri Lanka, said Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Jean-Marin Schuh addressing the news conference held at the Hilton Hotel to announce the event.

For this very special edition, the French Embassy and the Alliance Francaise intend to bring the best of French modern culture, to an extended audience, in Colombo and Kandy.

The festival will have an exhibition of photography and sculpture by Marie-Caroline Senlis from June 7  14 showcasing a gallery of portraits, misty landscapes, series of coloured blossoming trees, portraits of trees, mystic seas, nature, clouds, Sri Lanka and so much more.

For the French Spring Festival 2018 and to celebrate the Fete de la Musique, special music events open to all are being presented by the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka. The public will get to hear the beats of the well-known French DJ Joachim Labrande in the Open Mic and the French DJ Night on June 21 at the Cafe Francais (Park Street). Labrande will also perform on June 23 at Amaya Hills in Kandy.

Each year, a French street artist comes to express his art on Sri Lankan walls (Park Street in Colombo, Hotels in Kandy and schools in Matara). This year the audience will discover the paintings of Daco from July 4  9. He will transmit his passion for graffiti through his wall painting performances and workshops for young audiences in Colombo and Kandy.

The movie Django will be screened on July 4 and 11 at Majestic City, a fashion show by LIFT will be held on July 10 at the Hilton Hotel, and author Ashok Ferrey will host a French comics and literature event on June 16 and 19.

Choreographer Thomas Lebran from the French National Choreographic Centre of Tours (CCNT) and the Sri Lankan choreographer Kapila Palihawardana, will pool their talents during a free workshop on July 11. They will share the stage to offer a new show of contemporary dance combining two ballets: Vannam by nATANDA followed by Another Look at Memory by the CCNT.

The French Comic Book Month will be open on June 16 at the Alliance Francaise de Kotte (11, Keppetipola Mawatha, Colombo 5). The Comic Book is an important part of the French cultural heritage. Composed of several descriptive sheets relating the history of the genre and a selection of books, it will be available for one month at the library.

Well known author Ashok Ferrey will present a reading from his book The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons on June 19 at 6.30 p.m. at the French Residency. His fifth book, The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons, came out in French last April. It is the first time in 50 years that a Sri Lankan novel by a local writer has been translated and published in France.

Some of the events and performances will be free. Find out more on the Facebook Page French Spring Festival and on the website lk.ambafrance.org or www.alliancefrancaise.lk
Before the Civil War, Virginia incurred a large debt on transportation projects, such as bridges, canals, roads, and railroads. It was partly an attempt to copy the success of northern states with the Erie Canal etc., and to build industry, faced with a declining agricultural economy. It was assumed that the improvements would be paid for by tolls etc.



Pretty much everything that was built on credit was destroyed in the Civil War. The debt was not paid during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and it built up at 6% interest with no inflation.



Virginia resumed paying the debt in the 1870s, and it accounted for a large part of the budget and tax revenue. The south was much poorer after the Civil War, which made the debt more of a burden. There was resentment that the bonds were mostly held by wealthy northerners, whereas many Virginians held worthless Confederate bonds. The bond holders had a powerful lobby, and many suspected politicians of profiting indirectly from the bond payments.



The Readjuster Party was formed in the late 1870s and allied with the Republican Party. It called for restructuring the debt and repudiating the portion it considered to be owed by West Virginia. It was supported by those blacks and poor whites who could vote despite the poll tax, literacy test, and the ban on anyone convicted of a misdemeanor or felony from voting.



A Readjuster Governor was elected in 1879. The Democratic candidate made the mistake of saying in a debate that it would be better to burn down all the public school than steal money from bondholders to fund them. Public education in Virginia was 10 years old, and the Democratic candidate was obviously private school educated, so many thought he really wanted to get rid of public schools.



When the Senate convened in 1881, there were 38 Democrats and 37 Republicans. The Readjuster Senator from Virginia caucused with the Republican, and the Vice President cast the deciding vote, giving the Republicans control of the Senate. There was much irony of a former Confederate general deciding control of the Senate for the Republicans.



In 1883, both Senators and 4 Congressmen from Virginia were Readjusters. The Readjusters did what they promised, repudiating the West Virginia portion of the debt and restructuring the rest. They did not go as far as to default entirely on it.



The Readjusters party faded partly because its task was accomplished. Also, with the election of Cleveland in 1884, federal patronage positions went to the Democrats rather than the Readjusters. While black votes helped the Readjusters win initially, voters were upset about black office holders . There were fears of racial equality, and many middle class voters did not like poor people of both races having political power.



It was a rare success for a third party, a rare exception to Democratic control in the south, and a rare populist episode in aristocratic controlled Virginia.



The Virginia Constitution of 1902 resulted in half as many voters as before, and many men could not vote before that. Virginia had the lowest percentage of the population voting of any state. Virginia was controlled in the first 2/3 of the 20th century by the Martin and then the Byrd machines, which were a cross between the Irish controlled big city machines of the time and the elite controlled politics of the time of the great Virginia founding fathers.



The US Supreme Court sided with the Readjusters and West Virginia made payments to Virginia for the pre-war debt, the last in 1939.
Letters to the Editor View(s):

End this farcical political system

I am a regular reader of the Sunday Times. Last Sundays Page 4 News section in its Pulse of the on-line reader highlighted the issue of the Complete Abolition of Executive Presidency  a timely subject with which you opened the eyes of your readership.

There is no argument that a majority of the Sri Lankan population is totally alien to the Westminster system of governance. Even when the leader of the leading political party, the UNP proposed someone from the major rival political party i.e. the SLFP, the Lankan voter did not see the pitfalls ahead and we are experiencing the repercussions bitterly, today! At this rate, Lanka will never be able to raise its head! Every day there are meetings, reshuffles etc, that take us nowhere!

The prevailing idiosyncratic feature I noted again is the accommodation of certain people in the Government via the so -called National List despite them losing their parliamentary constituency at the general election. Yet we are made to understand this is within the realm of Yahapalanaya. This to me is Yakapalanaya. What logic is there left for the voter of this land to latch onto? After all Democracy itself is Yahapalanaya  a system of the people  by the people  for the people, and what more?

The people of the electorate (effective voters) know so well the candidates seeking their ballot. How can the entire country (silent majority) know better (Jathika Laisthuwa)  better than the people of the electorate who made the decision not to elect this politician to parliament?

This is a mockery. This is giving into politicians once again! The people of this land, including those in Parliament (those with reasonable thinking ability) must move to get rid of this type of selection of guys to Parliament bypassing the general election system.

Please give your readership an opportunity to reflect their thoughts on the above matter through a forthcoming Sunday Times online poll.

Dr. S.W. Gunasekera Via email

Protecting Knuckles is our duty

There are various allegations regarding the proposal to acquire land from the Knuckles forest reserve for various purposes.

The Agriculture Minister is reported to have sought a detailed report on the area earmarked for development work. This matter has been discussed at a Cabinet meeting. Knuckles is a very valuable forest reserve and we should not use this UNESCO World Heritage site for haphazard development work.

The Knuckles mountain range features 34 peaks ranging in height between 1900 metres and 900 metres.

The mountain range lies in central Sri Lanka in the districts of Matale and Kandy. People of the villages traditionally referred to this area as Dumbara Kanduvetiya meaning mist-laden mountain range.

The higher montane area is often robed in thick layers of cloud. In addition to its aesthetic value, the range is of great scientific interest.

The name Knuckles came from a series of recumbent folds and peaks which resembles the knuckles of a clenched fist when viewed from certain locations in Kandy district.

More than 34 percent of Sri Lankas endemic trees, shrubs and herbs are only found in these forests.

The Knuckles range is home to mammals such as wild boar, spotted deer, giant squirrel, barking deer, purple faced monkey and mongoose. Porcupines are also found here and many varieties of lizards also make their home here.

Knuckles features a great diversity in its forest cover  dry green forests, montane forests, sub montane forests, dry and wet patana, sevana etc.

The average annual rainfall of the highland areas of Knuckles is 5000 mm.

Knuckles is a major tourist attraction. It is our duty to protect this natural paradise for our future generations.

D. Weeratunga Nugegoda

Theosophy and Buddhism

I agree with most of Goolbai Gunasekaras observations on my article about Lobsang Rampa (The Sunday Times Plus, 26/5/2018). Buddhists, Hindus and followers of other Asian paths of wisdom all owe a debt of gratitude to the early theosophists, myself included. It is possible I would never have converted to Buddhism if not for their pioneering work and the barriers they broke down.

Ms. Gunasekara could have added to those influenced by theosophy Kusno Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, whose beloved grandmother was a theosophist. And I too read and was enthralled by The Third Eye when I was 15, although fortunately I later found a copy of Walpola Rahulas What the Buddha Taught and that steered me away from third eyes, speaking cats, reading auras, and astral travel to other planets.

The fact remains that what the theosophists presented as Buddhism was not Buddhism at all, but as I said an untidy mixture of western occultism, Asian superstitions and a sprinkling of authentic Buddhism.

This comment was not so much about Madam Blavatsky as a person and certainly not about Henry Olcott, but about what they claimed was the Buddhas Dhamma. Ms. Gunasekara will probably know that Anagarika Dharmapala eventually fell out with the theosophists over their interpretation of Buddhism. And Olcott finally parted company with Madam Blavatsky once he found out what real Buddhism was from scholars such as Ven. Sri Sumangala. Krishnamurti turned his back on theosophy too.

Ms. Gunasekara herself acknowledges that she does not practise much theosophy any more. Being grateful for those who pointed us in a direction that changed our lives is one thing, accepting everything they said after we have matured and discovered new and more realistic truths is another. I think this is an acceptable approach.

Bhante Dhammika Australia

Recalling uncalled for unruliness by Uni students

This happened at the time when Lalith Athulathmudali was the Minister of Trade and Commerce. He had commenced the Mahapola scholarship scheme and all the students were reaping the benefits of it.

I was called for an interview for a post of assistant lecturer at the Kelaniya Campus. I along with the other applicants was seated outside the office waiting to be called for the interview. From where we were seated we could see what was happening outside. A large group of students consisting of hundreds of males and females had surrounded a van belonging to the Trade Ministry and were attacking it. Later they overturned it, wrecking it completely.

Later as we learnt from the office staff, a team of officials had come in the van to meet the Registrar. This was to get permission to hold the next Mahapola on the campus premises. This was how the students reacted  they were ironically all Mahapola recipients.

R. Amarasinha Dehiwala

Dutch canal in Urubokke needs urgent attention

The rehabilitation of the Dutch canal, the national heritage at Urubokke in the Matara District has been completely overlooked by the relevant authority for more than 30 years.

The surrounding areas of the canal are in a bad way and pose a health risk to the residents.

We urge the relevant authority to take prompt action to restore the canal soon for the good of the many people in the area.

A.A. Ramanayake Dorapana
Jose Augusto Trinidad Martinez Ruiz, better known by his pseudonym Azorin, was a prominent Spanish writer in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was born in Monover in the province of Alicante on 8 June 1873. There is a museum dedicated to him and his writings in the town to this day.

Martinez Ruiz was part of the Generation of '98, a group of authors and philosophers who were writing at the time of the Spanish-American War of the same year. The United States' victory in the war led to a moral, political and social crisis in Spain due to the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, its last remaining colonies.

Azorin was an important figure in Spanish history because his literary criticism helped to create a new passion for Spanish classical literature at a time when most texts were virtually unavailable to the public. His movement, the Generation of '98, was focused on rescuing Spain from its marked decline through a method other than political means.

Azorin studied law at the University of Valencia but did not complete his education, instead moving to Madrid to become a journalist. However, he soon found that his open criticism of the Spanish literary and educational establishments closed many doors to him.

During this period he was something of an anarchist, attacking what he saw as a preoccupation with aesthetics and faith in contemporary society. He was particularly inspired by the ideas of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, who proposed sweeping reforms in religion and the power of the state, as well as a new openness towards other European cultures.

Martinez Ruiz fled Spain in 1936 following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. When he returned to Spain on 23 August 1939, he found himself in &ldquoinner exile&rdquo along with other intellectuals who had not supported the Franco regime during the conflict. He was at first denied a press identification card, but was supported by Ramon Serrano Suner, at that time Franco's Interior Minister. Accepting Franco's regime was the price he had to pay in order to be admitted back, he published an article in the right-wing journal Vertice in which he clearly supported the regime.

The changes in personal political outlook that transformed Martinez Ruiz, a revolutionary anarchist, into Azorin, a conservative writer working under Franco's regime, is key to understanding why he attracted criticism from across the political spectrum.

His legacy is particularly important because he covered 70 years of political evolution in Spain, from post-imperial democracy to dictatorship.

Azarin died in Madrid on March 2, 1967, at the age of 93.
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Roscosmos, the agency responsible for cosmonautics program for Russia, is facing budget cuts amounting to $2.4 billion in the next three years, according to sources.

The funding shortages came as competitor SpaceX claims to be nearing the trial stage of a reusable Mars rocket in the next 10 years. The company is also reportedly conducting a hiring spree, recruiting people that could build rocket ships going to Mars and could bring NASA astronauts to their space missions.

Meanwhile, in a press conference on Thursday, June 7, President Vladimir Putin appeared to be confident that Russia will return as the leader in space exploration. He mentioned about the country's plan of exploring the deep space and launching more than 600 satellites in the next few years.

Budget Cut

Roscosmos had goals of launching eight to 10 unmanned missions per year under its Vostochny Cosmodrome mission. Under the project, Roscosmos was also supposed to launch its first missile with a crew to the International Space Station after 2023.

However, the federal budget allotted for the agency for the period of 2017 to 2025, which was to be initially given in 2019, could be 17 billion rubles less, or more than $200 million less than what was originally planned. The budget to be given in 2020 could have a deduction of as much as 52 billion rubles, or about $800 million. By 2021, the budget could be 75 billion rubles less, or about $1 billion less than what was previously promised by the government.

"The lack of funds has already become a reason of delays in the development of interplanetary projects, slowing down construction of the second stage of the Vostochny Cosmodrome and the development of new rocket and space equipment," the source revealed.

Reusable Rocket

Amid the looming budget cut, Russia has stated its plan of building a reusable rocket that will return to Earth like an airplane. Boris Satovsky, project manager, said the rocket is designed with its first stage separating at an altitude of 59 to 66 kilometers and returning to the launch area through a normal course landing.

The rocket, however, can only carry 600 kilograms of payload into orbit. This means it belongs in a lightweight category as compared to the rocket being developed by SpaceX and even Blue Origin.

Russia had been at a similar crossroad before. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, its reusable rocket program was canceled after the Russian government decided against funding the project.

Russia's Return As Leader In Space Exploration

Putin appeared to be optimistic that Russia would revert into its leading position in space discovery. The Russian president highlighted the country's milestones in space: the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, and the first man in outer space, Yuri Gagarin, was Russian.

Putin mentioned about Russia's new program called Sfera, which involved launching more than 600 satellites in a few years' time. The president described it as a "breakthrough" and a possible "revolution" in communications.

Putin said that Russia will continue to explore deep space with its cosmodrome missions. Based on his answers during the press conference on Thursday, it seems that Roscosmos projects will be happening according to plans.

"By 2022, we plan to hold the trials of a super-heavy rocket and by 2022 these should be launches in an unmanned mode and by 2024 already manned space vehicles should be used," Putin outlined.

"It is not accidental that we have spent quite substantial funds and resources to create a new cosmodrome in the east of our country," he added.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Scientists have tagged coral IVF, or in-vitro fertilization for corals, as a promising way to help save the Great Barrier Reef from dying.

A recent report claimed that the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has died five times over the past 30,000 years but was able to revive itself each time. A sixth death, however, may permanently take it down due to the rate of climate change.

There is now a race against time to save the Great Barrier Reef. Coral IVF is one of the many initiatives with that goal, but so far, it might have the best chance of reaching it.

Coral IVF Shows Promise In Saving Great Barrier Reef

A coral fertility treatment that was designed to help in healing damaged areas on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is showing promising signs of success, according to the lead scientist of the study.

Peter Harrison, the director of Southern Cross University's Marine Ecology Research Centre, is "excited by the results" that show the success of coral IVF on a small scale. He said that his team was able to "significantly increase" the baby coral reefs population at Heron Island and One Tree Island using coral IVF.

For coral IVF, the scientists used a process similar to what is done in human IVF. In a yearly coral spawning event, the team collected millions of coral eggs and sperm, which they then grew into coral larvae before redistributing them to the reef. The team deposited millions of coral larvae at Heron Island and One Tree Island 18 months ago.

With this process, the scientists improved the chances that coral will latch onto the reef, instead of leaving the floating spawn to do it by themselves.

According to Harrison, he drew inspiration from fellow scientists in the Philippines who have been successful with coral IVF in the recovery of coral reefs damaged by dynamite fishing.

How To Save The Great Barrier Reef

Harrison said that the coral IVF project will need to be scaled up to create a bigger impact on saving the Great Barrier Reef.

"The pilot studies at small scales are giving us hope that we will be able to scale this up to much larger reef scales," he said.

Harrison's program will not be alone, though, with Australia's government allotting $500 million for initiatives to save the Great Barrier Reef. Other projects focused on saving the reef include a film-like shield that provides protection for the corals from the sun and laboratory-bred "super corals" that are more tolerant to climate change and global warming.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Scientists have unearthed South African fossils of prehistoric Devonian Period amphibians believed to be the earliest known four-legged vertebrates at a site called Waterloo Farm in Grahamstown.

The two tetrapods fossils were named Tutusius and Umzantsia. The scientists described them as resembling a cross between an alligator and a fish. Since they were classified as amphibians, scientists deduced they could eat small fish while in water and tiny invertebrates while on land.

The importance of the discovered fossils, however, lies in the environment where they were unearthed.

Devonian tetrapods are being touted as the ancestors of all vertebrates, being the amphibious, aquatic tetrapods that first colonized the land. As first scientifically established, their evolution takes place in warm tropical places.

Now, with the South African fossils, it was finally known that they have also resided in colder environments. Specifically, within the Antarctic circle some 360 million years ago.

Tutusius And Umzantsia

The paleontologists identified Tutusius from a piece of its shoulder girdle bone. The species was estimated to be about 3 feet long. The paleontologists decided to name the species after Desmond Tutu, the South African human rights activist.

Umzantsia, meanwhile, measured about 2.3 feet long, has a slender lower jaw, and small pointed teeth.

"Alive, they would have resembled a cross between a crocodile and a fish, with a crocodile-like head, stubby legs, and a tail with a fish-like fin," the paleontologists working with the South African Center of Excellence in Palaeosciences wrote in a study published in the journal Science.

Rewriting History Of Early Life On Land

Devonian tetrapod fossils are practically found everywhere in the world. However, they were not found in ancient supercontinent Gondwana, which, in the present day, became Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and India. The only fossil found of these amphibian tetrapods was a jaw and footprints in eastern Australia.

Most, if not all, of their fossils, were discovered in another ancient supercontinent called Laurussia, which, at present day, are North America, Greenland, and Europe.

Previously drawn conclusions stated that these amphibians moved out from the water on to the land through tropical regions until finally ending in Laurussia. Hence, subsequent studies about their evolution to become land species have only factored in the influence of tropical conditions.

However, fossils of both Tutusius and Umzantsia were found to have come from the southernmost part of Gondwana.

"Whereas all previously found Devonian tetrapods came from localities which were in tropical regions during the Devonian, these specimens lived within the Antarctic circle," highlighted Dr. Robert Gess, the lead author of the study.

Together with Per Ahlberg, the coauthor of the study, the whole team concluded that while tetrapods occurred in the world by the Late Devonian period, their evolution and migration to land could also have happened elsewhere in the world.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A doctor who wanted to be known as the dancing doctor gets her license revoked after several of her patients filed malpractice complaints as a result of botched procedures.

According to Georgias composite medical board, she is considered a threat to public health.

Dancing Doctor

Dr. Windell Davis-Boutte is a dermatologist and surgeon who, according to her website, is a doctor to the stars.

Apart from that, a patient also said that the doctor also wished to be known as the dancing doctor as she has posted several videos of herself singing, rapping, and dancing while performing surgery on her clients. In one video from 2017, she even jiggles her sedated patients skin to the beat of her song.

Such unusual antics, however, has landed Davis-Boutte in hot water before as several of her patients have sued her for botched procedures.

In fact, over a hundred patients have come forward to complain about Davis-Boutte, several of whom have taken legal actions against the doctor for unsatisfactory procedure results such as in the case of former patient Latoyah Rideau, whose botched procedure resulted in lopsided buttocks and continual itching.

Perhaps one of the more unfortunate cases is that of a woman who got several minor procedures in 2016, but ended up getting permanent brain damage after her heart stopped during the procedure, but Davis-Bouttes clinic had to call paramedics as they were ill equipped for such an emergency.

She even had to be brought into the ambulance via the stairs, as the medical facility had no elevator large enough to fit a stretcher. Though the patient survived the ordeal, the lack of oxygen caused her to suffer from permanent brain damage.

Threat To Public Health

As a result of the multiple complaints against Davis-Boutte, the Georgia Composite Medical Board ruled to suspend her license due to her failure to conform to the minimal standards of acceptable medical practice. Further, she was also described to have a pattern of conduct that has resulted in unsatisfactory treatment of several of her patients.

In the complaints against Davis-Boutte, several of her self-posted surgery videos served as evidence to show that her practice was a threat to public health, safety, and welfare.

Though neither Davis-Boutte nor her publicist gave any official statement on the matter, in an interview, Davis-Boutte insisted that she would not go back and do anything differently as the unfortunate events were unforeseen and unpreventable. She further states that she did nothing wrong, and that as a surgeon, she should be able to multitask.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Several young children in Tennessee were treated for E. coli infection that may be linked to the consumption of raw milk.

What is raw milk, and why does it cause illnesses?

E. Coli Infection In Tennessee

This past week, several young children at a Knox County day care center were sent to the hospital to be treated for E. coli infection. The first child to be infected got ill the previous week and was sent home, but that same day, three more children fell ill. None of the first to get ill were hospitalized.

Because of the illnesses, Kids Place Inc. closed the "Baby House, where the young children shared the space with other toddlers below three years of age. Further, the day care center also immediately followed Knox County Health Departments instructions on how to reduce the spread of E. coli, which includes a thorough cleaning of the facility, infection control education for the staff, closing the facilitys pool until June 18, submitting a written infection control plan in regard to animal exposure, and the completion of food and facilities inspections.

So far, the Knox County Health Department has lifted the closure order for Kids Place, but the Tennessee Department of Human Services is not yet prepared to let the children back to the facility.

E. Coli From Raw Milk?

In the last few weeks, East Tennessee Childrens Hospital has treated over 10 young children under four years old for E. coli infection. According to investigations, most of the children who were treated for E. coli consumed raw milk from the French Broad Farm, although its possible that they got the infection from animals or from another child.

Interestingly, testing revealed that the E. coli strains from the children who consumed raw milk is the same as the E. coli strain from the children at the day care center where animals are nearby, though the children are not allowed to go near them. As such, authorities are looking for a link between the possible sources by testing raw milk from the French Broad Farm as well as samples from the animals at the farm adjacent to the day care center.

Four of the hospitalized children are in the pediatric intensive care unit because of kidney failure, while the others have already been sent home.

Infection From Raw Milk Consumption

Raw milk is any animal milk that has not been pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria that can come from various sources such as animal feces, udder infection, unsanitary conditions, and cow diseases. Some people consume raw milk thinking that it is beneficial for the health, but it is, in fact, one of the riskiest to consume when it comes to contracting foodborne illnesses.

Apart from E. coli, raw milk can also contain brucella, salmonella, listeria, cryptosporidium, and campylobacter, and consuming raw milk or any product made from it may cause serious illnesses, hospitalization, or even death.

The people most at risk for contracting infections from raw milk are infants, older adults, and people with compromised or weakened immune systems. Unfortunately, at least one child younger than five years old is involved in 59 percent of raw milk-related outbreaks from 2007 to 2012.

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TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our livesIf we remember those times and placeswhere people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we dont have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

--Howard Zinn



I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.

--Martin Luther King Jr.

True religion consisted in an inward life, wherein the heart does love and reverence God the Creator, and learns to exercise true justice and goodness...I found no narrowness respecting sects and opinions, but believed that sincere, upright-hearted people, in every society, who truly love God, were accepted of him.

--John Woolman



Love each other as I have loved you.. I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father.

--Jesus in John 15: 12-15



...Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.



You have answered right, said Jesus, do this and life is yours...



Who is my neighbor?



Jesus replied with the Parable of the Good Samaritan [heretic, outsider, enemy].

--from Luke 10:27-37

Religion has been emphatically embodied, not in speculative theories, but in practical righteousness, in active virtues, in reverence to God, in benevolence to man- the latter being the only sure test of the former.

--Thomas M'Clintock



...It is safer to approach God through the Holy Spirit than through the door of theology. We can identify the Holy Spirit whenever it makes its presence felt. Whenever we see someone who is loving, compassionate, mindful, caring, and understanding, we know that the Holy Spirit is there.

--Thich Nhat Hanh


PRAIRIEVILLE  After months of wrangling, Ascension Parish has reached a deal with the parish's largest private sewer company to serve 672 future homeowners and businesses along a section of La. 73 in Prairieville.

Once a prospective partner in a failed bid for a public-private sewer program, Ascension Wastewater Treatment will now serve as a contract sewage treatment provider for La. 73 between Airline Highway and Interstate 10.

The deal between the parish and the Geismar company could last until 2056, though it has opt out clauses.

Officials are trying to retrofit broad-based public sewer services in areas that have grown up without it but now are counting on a public system of some kind.

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"It's all about money. It's always about money, and basically we promised these people something, and we just need to deliver," Councilman Oliver Joseph said in recent committee meetings.

Parish officials say the deal is an outgrowth of an agreement former Parish President Ronnie Hughes reached in the late 2000's to install sewer trunk lines under sections of La. 73 and La. 42 when the highways were slated for widening.

Parish and state officials have said repeatedly that the sewer lines  and the new treatment systems at the end of them  were required so the state road projects could proceed. The lines and related infrastructure along both highways cost the parish $14 million, Joseph has said.

The upfront cost of the Ascension Wastewater deal approaches $380,000 for improvements the company has made to handle new parish customers, officials said.

William Daniel, interim public works director, said that in anticipation of the deal, residents in Hollows at Dutchtown and other new subdivisions along La. 73 have had their sewage treated for free by Ascension Wastewater. The new agreement requires the parish to pay back those costs too, going back to May 1, 2017.

Subdivision residents were expected to receive notices for back sewer bills. The cost could total $400 to $500 for an average residence but the parish will allow payments to be spread out, Daniel has said.

Another handful of long-standing homeowners and businesses along La. 73 with their own sewage treatment systems must also now link up with the new parish system. Ascension Wastewater has not served those customers so far. They won't owe back bills but will need to start paying monthly fees, Daniel said.

The parish charges residential customers a flat monthly fee of $42.50. The parish will pay Ascension Wastewater $26.25 per month per residential customer, on average, and expects to make a profit.

The real benefit of the sewer agreement, Daniel and other administration officials have said, is that homes and businesses along La. 73 remain rate-paying parish customers.

Critics, including the councilman who represents the La. 73 area, have objected to using public money to buy treatment capacity from the company that has already built it but hasn't always been a good partner with the parish.

In committee last month, Councilman Daniel "Doc" Satterlee criticized the idea of buying capacity, not hard infrastructure, and noted that Ascension Wastewater had left the parish "at the altar" a few years ago, killing a deal to build a far more expansive public regional sewer system through a mix of private and public financing.

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Satterlee questioned whether this was the way the parish planned to continue to provide sewer services to its customers.

"We just keep buying capacity from private owners. ... Are we in the sewer business or not," Satterlee asked.

"Well, we're trying to be in the sewer business," Daniel responded. "That's why it's important to go through this agreement because then we keep the customers, and keeping the customers is the backbone of your sewer system."

Ascensions long-awaited public-private sewer plan brings key customer base along with higher rates GONZALES  The sole bidder to provide regional sewer service to East Ascension Parish says it can deliver the rate-paying customers that paris

Ascension's old policy left providing sewer services up to developers, allowing private sewer companies, like Ascension Wastewater, to wind up with control of the customer base. In late 2014, a parish analysis found that with the lion's share of customers in private hands, Ascension wouldn't have enough ratepayers to afford its own sewer system without millions in annual taxpayer subsidies.

Ascension officials dismayed, but not deterred, by sewer study GONZALES  Ascension Parish officials received a tough dose of reality as they recently got a first look at customer estimates for a proposed 

Ascension may ask PSC to block sewer rate increases GONZALES  Facing regulatory pressure to improve sewage treatment across southeast Louisiana, private sewer companies Mo-Dad Utilities and Asc

Under the new sewer agreement, the parish will pay a one-time $306,200 fee to buy capacity in Ascension Wastewater's Renaissance subdivision sewer plant in Prairieville  161,417 gallons per day in treatment ability that has already been built.

The capacity can handle new developments already planned for La. 73 with room to spare, including new neighborhoods, a medical complex and the Crawfish Aquatics swimming training facility now under construction, parish officials said.

The council agreed to the deal Thursday in Donaldsonville, 8-2, with little discussion. Satterlee and Councilman Aaron Lawler were opposed. Councilman Benny Johnson was absent.

The Ascension Wastewater sewer deal derived from state and federal health and transportation department requirements that Ascension collect and re-treat already partially treated sewage effluent from homes and businesses that have individual treatment systems. The new wider sections of La. 73 and La. 42 no longer have the open ditches that had received the effluent.

But Satterlee, Lawler and some community activists have charged the deal also indirectly finances sewer infrastructure for the 196-home Hollows at Dutchtown subdivision that they argue should have had its own sewer system when it was built a few years ago.

"How do you approve a development and not have sewage for it," Councilman Aaron Lawler asked. "We shouldn't be doing this. I just don't think it's right."

+2 New pipeline to Mississippi River seen as keystone for future regional sewer system in Ascension DARROW  A new $2.1 million sewer pipeline in southeastern Ascension Parish thats sending treated wastewater over the levee and into the Miss

+2 Ascension starts charging sewer impact fees; been on the books for years, just never collected GONZALES  After months of agitation from members of the Ascension Parish Council over the passing of traffic impact fees on new development e

Daniel has noted that the parish previously reached similar capacity deals with the city of Donaldsonville, including one on Thursday night for the St. Jude neighborhood. Also, earlier attempts to buy out other sewer companies to serve the La. 73 area have failed.

Daniel pointed out Thursday night that without a capacity deal, the parish would have to build its own plant at a cost of $890,000 to nearly $1.1 million. The tally does not include the land cost.

That plant would cost $15,337 per month to run and would be obsolete once the parish builds a regional system, Daniel said.
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Retired Baton Rouge Police Capt. Alvin Mack remembers giving his first ticket to a white resident of the Capital City. It was what he called an obvious violation  yet his supervisor told him not to do that again.

"That evening, the sergeant said, 'You were outside your zone,' and he told me the next time there would be disciplinary action," Mack said. "They assigned us to areas that were mostly black."

Mack, who was hired in 1968 at the Baton Rouge Police Department, was one of the first black officers to rise through their ranks, and said he spent his career advocating for equality in the department, for him and his fellow black officers.

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When he started out, he said, often he was not given the back-up he requested during an emergency, and he wasn't given the same training or supervision as white officers.

"We were given assignments to fail," Mack said, who became one of the first black detectives. "We learned by instinct and we learned by observing what our white counterparts would do."

But despite the challenges he and others like him faced, Mack said he is still so thankful to have had the guidance of the few black officers who did come before him, especially Steve Millican, Joe Stevens and Alfred Cummings: the first three black officers hired by the city's police force in 1963.

+5 Does BRPD need more 'reform?' Depends who you ask The words "police reform" became a frequent buzzword in Baton Rouge over the last 10 months, coming up at protests, political forums and commu

"We've come a long way," Mack said, looking around the Police Chief's conference room Friday morning, where a small group gathered to commemorate the 55th anniversary of those first three black officers joining the department. All three of those officers are no longer alive, but many of their colleagues who followed in their footsteps took turns remembering them, sharing stories.

Judy Stevens Young, the sister of Joe Stevens, spoke about her brother's decision to join the department, at a time when no one who looked like him was an officer.

"It was his dream job," Young said. "He trained a lot of guys here."

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A few months ago, Baton Rouge Deputy Chief Robert McGarner said he stumbled upon some files about the officers, and realized the anniversary of their hiring was approaching. He pitched his idea to the then-new chief to recognize the three men who had come before them  the three men who's photo hung on the wall at headquarters, but went often unnoticed.

"We believe we wouldnt be in our positions if it wasnt for you guys," Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said Friday. "You guys have paved the way, and we know weve come a long way in law enforcement.

Retired officer Frank Washington, who started at the department in 1973, said the first three officers were mentors to him, but also friends.

"The encouragement they gave us was tremendous. It allowed us to stay motivated and endure and get to the point where we are," Washington said. Washington said he's proud to see how the representation of minorities in the department has continued to grow.

BRPD remains non-compliant with 37-year-old consent decree despite reform, diversity efforts Four decades ago, the U.S. Justice Department issued an unequivocal warning to some three dozen Louisiana cities: Diversify your police and fi

Retired Police Chief Pat Englade, the only white officer who joined the celebration, also shared his admiration for the men who integrated the department, but, more importantly, was proud to see how much progress has been made.

He said he remembered as a young detective when a black detective asked him for a favor: to take all their calls that came south of Florida Boulevard.

"He did not want to go into the white neighborhoods in south Baton Rouge and I was astonished by that," Englade said. "We ended up making an agreement that wed go to calls together for a while and wed see how thatd work out, and we did fine."

McGarner pointed out that since those three officers joined 55 years ago, other minorities have followed. Six years later in 1969, the department hired the first three women officers. Then in 1976, the first Hispanic officer was hired, and it wasn't until 2007 the first Asian officer was hired.

And while diversity continues to be an issue the department wants to focus on  especially as they still work to come into compliance with a federal consent decree for representation Paul said hearing the stories from the retired black officers, their family and their predecessors is important and motivating.

"It makes you have an appreciation for where we are today," Paul said.
Elijah Precciely talks about how excited he is of becoming a Southern University student. Elijah Precciely, an 11-year-old academically signed with Southern University as he becomes a full-time student on a full-ride scholarship next spring. Friday May 25, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La. He has been homeschooled in Baton Rouge while also taking some classes at Southern. The ceremony took place at the Board of Supervisors meeting. His parents, Stephen Precciely and Pamela Precciely as well as his sisters Brejena Precciely and Brianna Precciely-Craig and best friend Reginald Dwyane Ellis II accompanied him.
Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, right, makes a point as representatives, counter clockwise from upper right, Rep. Stephen Dwight, R-Lake Charles, Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, Rep. Bubba Chaney, R-Rayville, and Rep. James Armes III, D-Leesville, watch and listen after the failure of HB18 on the final day of the Special Legislative Session June 4, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La.
Picture from left, front Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office Det. Willie Turner, Michael Wearry, Deputy Gary Coates, Randy Hutchinson (further back) and James "Pop" Skinner, Det. Chuck Watts, walk into court Wednesday June 21, 2000 at the Livingston Parish courthouse for arraignment on murder charges. Wearry, Hutchinson and Skinner are charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Eric Walber. (Partially obscured, background from left) Deputy Jeb Glascock, Deputy Johnny Lucas and Det. Larry Tate. (Turner is in brown, Coates is uniformed, and Watts is in red)
Gov. John Bel Edwards told a news conference in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 5, 2018, that he would call another special session after the Louisiana Legislature adjourned without approving any major revenue-raising measures.
Alice wears the tiara in a portrait, ca. 1914 (Royal Collection)

We spent a lot of the last month here discussing British royal wedding tiaras, and today, Ive got a deep dive into the history of one of the most fascinating of them all: the diamond meander bandeau that belonged to Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark.

Alice wears the tiara in a portrait, ca. 1914

Most of the tiaras in the British royal collection arrived in Windsor hands through members of Queen Elizabeth IIs family, especially Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and the Queen Mum. But todays Mountbatten-Windsors trace half of their royal heritage to Greece, and this piece, the meander tiara that belonged to Prince Philips mother, is a part of that legacy.

Zara wears the tiara on her wedding day, 30 July 2011 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The term meander is another word for the Greek key design that makes up the band of this tiara. No one seems to know precisely when Princess Andrew, who was born Princess Alice of Battenberg, acquired the tiara, but it would make sense that she received a Greek key tiara after marrying Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903.

Alice wears the tiara in a family portrait featuring her four daughters  Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie  taken around 1914 (Royal Collection)

The tiara is made of diamonds, and the Greek key design is punctuated by a central laurel wreath element and two honeysuckle elements. The design suggests an early twentieth century creation, and indeed, Geoffrey Munn argues that the tiara was made around the turn of the century in France, perhaps by Cartier. The earliest photographs we have of Alice wearing the tiara were taken around 1914, a decade after her marriage.

Alice wears the tiara with a pair of coordinating horseshoe-shaped hair ornaments in a portrait, ca. 1914

Alice owned the tiara until 1947, when she gave it to her new daughter-in-law, Princess Elizabeth, as a wedding gift. Had Elizabeth not become queen only a few years later, this tiara might have been a perfect piece for a princess. But history had a different plan. Elizabeth quickly graduated to grander pieces suitable for a sovereign, and she was never photographed wearing this tiara.

Sitting behind Lord Mountbatten, Anne wears the tiara at the State Opening of Parliament in 1970

Instead, the tiara was handed over to Princess Anne, who still owns the piece today. It was officially given to Anne by her mother in 1972, just before her engagement and wedding to Mark Phillips, though she had already borrowed the tiara and worn it in public in previous years.

Zara wears the tiara on her wedding day, 30 July 2011 (Dylan Martinez  WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Anne has worn the sparkler on a regular basis at state functions and in official portraits, but the pieces most prominent outing in recent years was at the wedding of Annes daughter, Zara Phillips. Zara paired her great-grandmothers tiara with a veil for her Scottish wedding, paying tribute to her lesser-known royal heritage.

Note: This is an updated and expanded version of an earlier post, with new text and images.
Ideologies are mind-traps: They are constructed in such a way that they prejudge the motive of opposition to their systems. The great aim of liberal education is to liberate students from mere unexamined opinion into genuine thought

Some people use the word ideology neutrally, as though it meant any fairly comprehensive set of ideas. Not so in my view: Ideology is always a negative description. It denotes the rationalization of a position that has become opaque to inquiry, one so constructed that it casts suspicion on those who dare to question it. An ideology is a false religion, regardless of how secular its premises.

Every month or so, it seems, a new article about the crisis of education in the humanities circulates among sympathetic audiences. The most recent online edition of First Things, for example, features a short piece by Nathan Nielson called Humanities and Communities. Mr. Nielson does not spend much time dealing with the causes or results of the crisis (a task that editor R.R. Reno takes up himself); instead, he makes an argument for the good effect that the humanities have on building communities.[1]

By the humanities, he means Liberal Arts. The classics. Literature. The great books. Wisdom of the Agescertainly a definition that suits what we teach at Wyoming Catholic College. Mr. Nielson writes that the humanities strengthen communities in three ways: 1) by fostering dialogue; 2) by providing a meeting ground for secular and religious people; and 3) by hedging against the certainties of ideology. Yes, discussing the great books can bring about community, but only for those who can be convinced to read themand theres the rub. The protest against Humanities 110 at Reed College last fall by a group called Reedies Against Racism underscores the difficulty: It is the nature of ideology to suppress dialogue and to prevent any meeting ground from being established.[2]

Ideologies are mind-traps: They are constructed in such a way that they prejudge the motive of opposition to their systems. The great aim of liberal education is to liberate students from mere unexamined opinion into genuine thought. Ideologies, by contrast, claim to liberate their adherents from oppressive systems, whereas they actually imprison their victims in a narrow way of interpreting the world. Students are liberated, yes, but from their common sense; they are convinced to see everything around them in terms of the oppression of gender identity or racial politics, for example.

It is as though they had the disease that Dostoyevsky describes in a dream of Raskolnikovs toward the end of Crime and Punishment (which our students read in their senior year): Some new sorts of microbes were attacking the bodies of men, but these microbes were endowed with intelligence and will. Men attacked by them became at once mad and furious. But never had men considered themselves so intellectual and so completely in possession of the truth as these sufferers, never had they considered their decisions, their scientific conclusions, their moral convictions so infallible.

That is why Mr. Nielsons third point strikes home with me most forcefullythe fact that, when they are honored as they should be, the humanities provide a hedge against the certainties of ideology. At Wyoming Catholic College and our sister institutions, ideologies stand little chance, since every fixed notion that tends toward the wrong kind of certainty gets its edges worn away over the course of four years. An entirely different point of view can suddenly shift the ground; I can attest to that phenomenon from many questions I have gotten after lectures I have given. Both in seminars and outside them, exchanges draw out more and more points of view and more facets of the ideas in question. Ideologues know very well that their ideologies will not endure this kind of scrutiny, and that is precisely why they try to prevent the conversation from ever beginning.

I know what it feels like to come under the spell of an ideology. When I was a freshman in college, my one attempt at a kind of Marxist radicalism came when I attended an SDS meeting, feeling very edgy and bold. But the leader of the group was so self-serving in his bloviation that I could not keep up the illusion of a cause for half an hour. Later that same year (trying a different tack) I consumed the works of Ayn Rand, whose objectivism galvanized meher praise of selfishness, her depiction of the almost classical heroism liberated by competitive free market capitalism. Howard Roark, Hank Riordan, Dagny TaggartI still remember the names. I understood that opponents to Rands ideas were spineless altruists, a word that I still cannot encounter with indifference. But the charm of Rand began to wear off as soon as I encountered two other Randian true believers with whom I hoped for real conversation, I suppose; their pretension and dismissive arrogance toward others disenchanted me more rapidly than any argument could have.

More than once, I have come to understand the sentence in the Gospels: By their fruits you shall know them. Ideas reveal their genuine natures when you see what they do to the people who hold them. My own conversion to Catholicism a few years later owed little to arguments and a great deal to the fact that the most generous, morally intelligent, and genuine people I knew had refused to be liberated from belief in God.

Even though the massive, goose-stepping ideologies of the 20th century seem to have lost ground, ideologies of personal freedom are legion. As Mr. Reno says in his recent jeremiad, Todays culture is the result of a more than fifty-year effort of deregulation, rejection of traditional norms, and denigration of commonplace pieties. Liberal elites insist upon a political correctness that rejects moral correctness. For all of these ills, there is a cure, and Wyoming Catholic College exists to participate in bringing it to students. Those who have truly experienced the breadth of knowledge and the force of great thought in these mountain environs take something new into the worldnot a narrow Catholic ideology, as some might think, but a way to the truth of each human situation in its moral and spiritual complexity, a discerning openness that will allow the achievement of genuine communities.

Republished with gracious permission from Wyoming Catholic College (June 2018).

The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politicswe approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.

Endnotes:

[1] The Smell of Death, by R.R. Reno, in First Things (May 2018)

[2] The Surprising Revolt at the Most Liberal College in the Country, by Chris Bodenner, in The Atlantic (November 2017)
A Chardonnay from a small vineyard in France's Burgundy region been flying off the shelves in Britain after wine lovers learned that it was served at last month's wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The Olivier Leflaive estate in Puligny-Montrachet told AFP on Friday it had only learned that its Bourgogne Les Setilles was served to guests at the royal reception from media reports.

The Sunday Times, which revealed the newlyweds' choice, said the British wine merchant Lee & Wheeler sold 780 bottles in less than two hours after the news broke, and would have sold four times as much if it had the stock.

"We are so proud to have been part of such a special day! Congratulations Meghan & Harry!" the estate, which also has a hotel and restaurant, said on its Facebook page, inviting the royal couple to visit.

Bastien Gautheron, the vineyard's marketing director, described the Chardonnay as "the introduction to our line, the signature of the house".

It sells its 2016 vintage, described on its web site as having "notes of white flowers, peach, grilled almonds and lemon zest", for 17,80 euros (15.65 pounds, $20.95) a bottle, excluding shipping -- the lower end of the price spectrum for Burgundy wines.

The 2015 vintage is also on the market currently, but Gautheron said he was not aware which year was served at the couple's evening reception.

He confirmed that international sales had risen since the wedding, while declining to say by how much.

And tourists visiting the estate have been picking up bottles "out of curiosity", he said.

"There is a particular interest among the English, but it has an international appeal."

According to The Sunday Times it was the only French wine served at the evening reception, whose menu has not been officially revealed by Kensington Palace, the couple's residence.

Read also: French cremants are a delicious, sparkling champagne alternative

The official lunch menu mentions only a "selection of wines" along with Pol Roger Brut Reserve Non Vintage Champagne.

It was not the first time that British consumers have made a beeline for a French speciality that made it onto the royal family's menu.

Last September, sales of green lentils from the Puy-en-Velay region of south-central France soared after it emerged that Prince George, the oldest son of Prince William and his wife Kate, would be eating them at his new school.
Batik creations by three renowned Indonesian designers are currently being exhibited at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

Titled "Batik For The World", the event opened on June 6 and is slated to run until June 12, displaying works by Oscar Lawalata, Edward Hutabarat and Denny Wirawan.

Initiated by Oscar, the week-long exhibition seeks to present the wealth of culture, rich history and development of Indonesian batik by connecting batik artisans and the art of fashion today.

"I initiated and invited various parties, both government and private to join hands and show the world that we have batik as a strong characteristic and which has lasted for hundreds of years," Oscar said as quoted by kompas.com.

The Indonesian traditional drawing technique is included in UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Around 100 batik outfits have been curated jointly by the Indonesian Batik Foundation (YBI), Rumah Pesona Kain and Oscar Lawalata Culture to be displayed in Miro Hall and Segur Hall at the UNESCO headquarters in the French capital.

Read also: Oscar Lawalata set to exhibit Batik at UNESCO Paris headquarters

For the exhibition, Oscar has chosen to display an array of ready-to-wear pieces featuring signature batik motifs from five regions across Java island, namely Madura, Surabaya, Ponogoro, Trenggalek and Tuban.

Edward brought over a collection unique to Cirebon and Pekalongan, while Denny highlighted batik creations from Kudus regency.

The clothes reflect a rich diversity of batik heritage presented in modern workmanship of formal gowns and even wedding dresses.

"I want to show how batik can be coupled with various other branded items but batik remains the center of attention," Edward said.

The event opened with a fashion show presenting the pieces set to be displayed at the exhibitions halls.

A series of other activities are also available to visitors throughout the week, including, among others, to witness the process of batik making by skilled artisans.

There are also discussions on the Indonesian batik industry and its development, batik tradition and culture, as well as talks on how to wear batik cloth. (liz/wng)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 9, 2018 08:53 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e854bf5 1 Business sugar-tax,removal,Trade-Ministry,Enggartiasto-Lukita Free

The government removed on Friday income tax on sugar as part of its attempt to maintain the governments purchasing price at Rp 9,700 (69 US cents) per kilogram.

The decision was made during a meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta attended by relevant officials and ministers.

Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said the government preferred to remove the tax rather than increase the government's purchasing price to Rp 10,500 per kilogram.

Meanwhile, the market's ceiling price is now at Rp 12,500 per kilogram.

We decided that the governments purchasing price would stay at Rp 9,700 per kilogram, but without tax," Enggartiasto said.

On Tuesday, representatives of the Association of Sugarcane Farmers of Indonesia (APTRI) met with Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko to report that sugar production costs now reached between Rp 9,700 and Rp 10,500 per kilogram.

They called on the government to remove income tax. The tax rate is 1.5 percent for farmers who are already registered as taxpayers and 3 percent for those not yet registered.

Meanwhile, in March, the Agriculture Ministry recommended that the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) increase the governments purchasing price to Rp 10,500 per kilogram from the current price of Rp 9,700 per kilogram. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 9, 2018 08:05 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e854644 1 City Idul-Fitri-2018,Transportation,safety,barcode-system,bus Free

Travelers heading to their hometown by bus during the Idul Fitri break will be able to verify the safety of their mode of transportation by scanning a sticker placed on its windshield.

Vehicles that have been declared fit for travel are marked with a sticker that features a barcode, signifying that they have passed their ramp check, according to South Jakarta Transportation Agency head Christianto

"We give stickers to buses that have met all the safety criteria," Christianto told kompas.com at Lebak Bulus bus terminal in South Jakarta on Friday.

Christianto explained that ramp checks evaluate the condition of a buss components, such as headlights, brakes, windshields, tires and other supporting equipment.

The checks  conducted according to standards established by the Ministry of Transportation  were carried out by a special unit that handles vehicle examinations (UP PKB) and operates under the city's transportation agency.

According to Varingga Bagus, one of the examination officers, the fit for travel stickers have barcodes that prevent [sticker] forgeries.

Passengers can check the validity of the stickers by first downloading the "Aplikasi Cek Hasil Rampcheck Kendaraan Angkutan" app onto their mobile phones from Play Store or App Store.

They can then scan the barcodes with the app.

"As long as the [buss information] is in the database, passengers can check [the buss safety] themselves," Varingga explained. (rfa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 9, 2018 07:44 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e85412f 4 Business Garuda-Indonesia,Pilots-go-on-strike,Air-Force,cooperation,Budi-Karya-Sumadi,comments Free

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi expressed support for the proposal made by national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia to employ Air Force pilots.

However, he said, the pilots should have commercial licenses if they were to be employed by the airline.

Garuda Indonesia recently said it would employ Air Force pilots if a threatened strike by its pilots went ahead.

Its good initiative. I agree, Budi said at the newly inaugurated Ahmad Yani International Airport in Semarang on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.

He added that the employment of the Air Forces human resources by Garuda Indonesia was a form of mutual cooperation for both institutions as Garuda could employ the pilots, who would increase their flight time, if it needed to do so.

Budi said the employment of Air Force pilots was in no way connected to the current dispute between the airline and its pilots. He called on representatives of both parties to immediately solve their differences. (bbn)
Playing the Chicago System

'Guns Save Life' Uses Chicago Gun Buyback To

Send Kids To NRA Gun Camp. Again.

By Dennis Laker. June 7th, 2018

Much of the time when it comes to firearm matters we are talking about infringements on the Second Amendment and the non-stop fight to preserve our rights. Perhaps however it is time to enjoy a bit of what might be called dark humor, where we see a kind of win by exploiting the "buyback" system in Chicago. As is pretty obvious, nothing can be 'bought back' that was never owned, but still the absurd misnomer persists. The complete article can be found here but below is a partial quote.

(John Boch. June 03, 2018) Guns Save Life loves Chicago's gun buybacks. Three times in the past dozen years or so, the scrappy Illinois gun rights group has sold rusty junk to Chicago's taxpayers, then used the proceeds to send young people to an NRA summer shooting camp. Saturday, Guns Save Life pulled it off again. Yes, we took our junk deep into the heart of Rahm's Paradise by the Lake and brought home perfectly good cash cards. Not only that, but a Chicago Police Department sergeant banned me from ever again participating in a gun buyback. Six years ago, Guns Save Life scored a grand slam at Chicago's then-annual "Don't Kill A Dream, Save A Life" gun "turn-in" event. Not only did GSL bring home over $6,000, but the delicious irony of using a "buyback" to fund kids attending an National Rifle Association camp brought widespread international publicity to GSL. At the same time, it gave Mayor Emmanuel's city-wide gun buyback events a major black eye. In fact, GSL's success in 2012 ended the program where the city spent upwards of a million dollars it didn't have to "buy back" something the city never owned. What's more, the Mayor and his minions claimed the buybacks rid the community of unwanted guns. Maybe so. Yesterday, in a scaled back event with Chicago offering $100 per gun -- no questions asked -- GSL returned. While a supervisor refused to accept all eleven of the guns my pregnant bride and I offered to the program, other intrepid GSL members met with more success. All told, we came home with quite a haul. I'm still not done opening all of the envelopes.....

There has to be a perverse satisfaction in playing the system, particularly when funds raised go towards sending young folks to an NRA summer shooting camp! Perhaps there might be a "buyback" in other areas, where junk guns can be turned in for profit to go in some way towards the Second Amendment cause.

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Linkedin Hui Min Neo (Agence France-Presse) Berlin  Sat, June 9, 2018 13:09 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e85c4aa 2 World Germany,rape,murder,Iraq,asylum-seekers Free

A failed Iraqi asylum seeker suspected of raping and murdering a teenage girl in Germany was arrested in Iraq overnight, German authorities said Friday, after his escape sparked outrage and raised questions over immigration and police failings.

Ali Bashar, 20, who is believed to have strangled 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman after sexually assaulting her, was "arrested by Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq at the request of German federal police", said German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

A senior Kurd security official who asked not to be named told AFP that Bashar had been "arrested very early at Arbil international airport" in the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq.

The arrest, as Bashar got off a plane, was due to "coordination between the Kurd and German security forces," the official said.

"Preparations have been made to have the suspect transferred as quickly as possible to face trial in Germany."

The arrest came after an outcry in Germany as police hunting the fugitive admitted that Bashar had fled with his family.

They managed to fly out of Duesseldorf airport even though the names on their identity documents did not match those on their airline tickets, police said, adding that their identity was only checked against the photos on the papers.

Bashar also turned out to have chalked up a long police record over his less than three years in Germany and should have been expelled months ago.

"The government should beg for forgiveness from Susanna's parents," said the top-selling tabloid Bild.

"The only thing that is worse than the murder of a child is the murder of a child by a criminal who should not have been in our country.

"Crimes like these are explosive for our society because they are the bitter proof that this country does not have sufficient control over who is residing within our borders."

The newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said "it is time to wonder how far the credibility of the government is being undermined when it is surrounded by so many absurdities".

Revealing that Feldman and her mother were members of the Jewish community, the Central Council of Jews in Germany urged a "swift and comprehensive" probe into the case and tough consequences for the perpetrator.

- Protests planned -

The case puts renewed pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government over the decision to open Germany's borders at the height of Europe's refugee crisis in 2015, resulting in the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers over two years.

Far-right party AfD, which had railed against asylum seekers, jumped in to push its point.

"Susanna is a new victim of the egotistical and hypocritical welcoming policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel," charged AfD chief Alice Weidel, who called for the German leader's resignation.

The party has called a protest Saturday under the banner "That's enough" while counter-demonstrators plan to rally against racism on the same day.

Bashar arrived in Germany in 2015 along with his parents and five siblings.

He should have been deported after his request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

During this time, he got into trouble with the police on several occasions, including for alleged robbery, possession of an illegal switchblade and fights.

He was also among the suspects of the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl living in the same refugee shelter.

"The girl was raped by an Ali. There were four Alis living in the refugee home," said Stefan Mueller, West Hesse police chief.

- 'Revenge reflex' -

The latest crime is reminiscent of another case involving the rape and murder of a student by an asylum seeker claiming to be from Afghanistan.

Hussein Khavari was in March sentenced to life in jail for the deadly attack on medical student Maria Ladenburger, 19, in October 2016.

Tagesspiegel daily pointed to a third case, in which a teenage girl was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, an Afghan asylum seeker.

"What is particularly sad in these three cases is also that the victims were interested, curious and ... tried to befriend (the newcomers).

"That's how integration usually works -- there are hundreds and thousands of examples in Germany. But now also three dead girls," it added in an editorial called "Poison for society."

Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper acknowledged that such cases spark a "revenge reflex" but it warned that "barbarising the law is not the answer to barbaric acts."
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) South Tangerang  Sat, June 9, 2018 14:09 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e8616a7 1 City fraud-cases,fraud-suspect,university-entrance-test,South-Tangerang Free

South Tangerang Police arrested a man for allegedly deceiving the parents of a student who wanted to attend medical school at one of the state-owned universities in Jakarta.

S, 40, allegedly told the parents that he could help the student enter the medical school in exchange for Rp 150 million (US$10,774).

According to South Tangerang general crime unit head Adj, Comr. Alexander Yurikho the suspect allegedly claimed to be an official at the university, but when the parents checked with the university they did not found his name on the employees lists. Afterwards, they filed a police report.

Police arrested the suspect in Bogor on Friday, said Alexander as quoted by tempo.co.

He added that the suspect had been convicted and sentenced to a year in jail for a similar crime in 2016 and released from prison last November.

According to the suspect, he did it to pay off debt and finance his second marriage, said Alexander.

The suspect will be charged under articles 372 and 378 of the Criminal Code on embezzlement and fraud. (iwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 9, 2018 13:57 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e85cb48 4 Politics Blitar,KPK,graft Free

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Muhammad Samanhudi Anwar, the mayor of Blitar, East Java, after he surrendered on Friday night.

He will be detained for 20 days at a police station in Central Jakarta, said Febri Diansyah, the KPKs spokesperson, as quoted by tempo.co.

The KPK named Samanhudi a graft suspect after it caught middle man Bambang Purnomo allegedly receiving Rp 1.5 billion (US$107,850) in cash from Susilo Purnomo on Wednesday.

Susilo is a contractor suspected of allegedly bribing Samanhudi to help him win a bid on a school construction project worth Rp 23 billion.

Susilo and Bambang are currently being detained at two separate facilities in South Jakarta.

Initially, the KPK also named Syahri Mulyo, the Tulungagung regent, a graft suspect for allegedly receiving bribe money from Susilo.

Syahri, however, has yet to turn himself in even after his party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), had urged him to do so.

We extend our gratitude to the political party leaders for urging the suspect to surrender himself. I hope other parties will receive this message, especially one suspect who has not yet surrendered himself until now, said Febri. (nor)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 9, 2018 13:35 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e85c6f5 1 City Grab,ride-hailing-application,ride-hailing-service,drivers-incentive,crime,jakarta Free

A suspected criminal group has allegedly stolen Rp 1 billion (US$71,550) after modifying the accounts of GrabCar drivers over the course of several months.

"They have operated since late 2017 and were reported in May. According to statements from the perpetrators and the evidence that we've gathered, they stole as much as Rp 1 billion," Jakarta Police general crimes unit chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Ade Ary said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com.

He said the money was intended to be used as financial incentives for driver partners of GrabCar  a service offered by popular ride-hailing app Grab.

However, the money, which was supposed to be transferred to the accounts of 3,000 drivers, was reportedly diverted to the pockets of a group of people in charge of Grab's call center after they made modifications to the drivers' accounts.

"Each perpetrator had their own job description," Ade said as quoted by kompas.com. "Some were the masterminds who found the drivers' data and modified their accounts."

"The first suspect is a former administrator of the online ride-hailing app's call center," he explained. "He had the authority to hack into the drivers' private data, including their private email accounts."

The police arrested three active Grab call center staff members, one former administrator and one employee who had the authority to modify accounts.

According to a statement from PT Grab Indonesia, they fired the five people soon after they found out about the alleged illicit practices.

The company had also returned all the money to the drivers. The statement further said that it had limited employee access to driver data to prevent similar incidents from happening again. (rfa/iwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 9, 2018 19:04 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e8673a0 4 Politics Grace-Natalie,PSI,social-media,ahok Free

Grace Natalie, chairwoman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) reported two social media accounts to the police on Thursday on charges of criminal defamation and cybercrime.

The first is an anonymous Twitter account with the handle @hulk_idn, the holder of which claims Grace had an affair with jailed former Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama to receive party funding from the "9 dragon tycoons"; an almost mythical list of nine ethnic Chinese Indonesian businessmen who supposedly control the country.

If that was true, the PSI would be rich and we wouldnt need to continue fundraising, Grace said as reported by tempo.co.

The second is an anonymous Instagram account by the handle @prof.djohkhowie, which posted derisive edited pictures of Grace and her party.

Interestingly, @prof.djohkhowie also posted pictures ridiculing @hulk_idn, including one post asking viewers to unfollow @hulk_idn claiming they were "tadpoles", a derogatory term for supporters of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

Grace is accusing the two users of cyber harassment and hate speech, which defies the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions Law, as well as defaming her, her political party and Ahok, which defies the criminal code.

But what I think is most evil is that he [@hulk_idn] is saying he will release a video [of the alleged affair], she said.

Grace responded to this threat yesterday by posting a video on her own Instagram account.

I challenge Hulk to release the video in 24 hours from now. If Hulk fails to release the video, it proves this is all fiction. Just like his display picture, she said in the video.

At 11 a.m. today, she released a follow-up video saying the time was up and @hulk_idn had failed to release the video.

"This proves that everything the hulk wrote is baseless garbage whose purpose is to defame, she said.

She ended by asking netizens to compile a list of all such derisive accounts and report them to the police to ensure no one else becomes a victim. (nor/evi)
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 9, 2018 10:23 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e858188 1 World UNSC,UNSC-non-permanent-seat,Maldives,Indonesia Free

After winning a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council, Indonesia will push for "a habit of dialogue", to improve women's involvement in peacekeeping troops and highlight the Palestine conflict, says Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi.

On Friday, Retno, who was on the brink of tears and had a quiver in her voice, said Indonesia would seek to strengthen an ecosystem of peace and global stability,

The world had thankfully accepted Indonesias contributions to peace, she added. Indonesias democracy can be used as an asset to play an active role in the Security Council.

Retno said Indonesia would also be urging other council members to work more effectively.

Indonesia will push for the habit of dialogue for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, she added in a video conference after Fridays poll. Seeking a comprehensive global approach to combat terrorism and radicalism is also on the agenda.

Retno said Palestinian statehood would be one of Indonesias main priorities.

Indonesia scored a big diplomatic victory by securing the two-year term, after beating the small island nation of the Maldives in a secret ballot held during the 93rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

It secured 144 votes, or more than two-thirds of the ballots cast, which is the minimum requirement to secure a seat as a non-permanent member of the council. The Maldives only managed to secure 46 votes from the 190 member states that voted during the assembly.

In an estimate earlier this year, officials said Indonesia had secured around 120 votes of confidence.

The victory caps an intensive two-year campaign full of overseas visits, dinner receptions and early breakfast meetings to lobby support from representatives of various UN member states.

The Security Council comprises five permanent members -- China, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and the United States -- as well as 10 non-permanent members representing Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The current non-permanent members are the Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru, Poland, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Sweden. Non-permanent members serve a two-year term and are elected in a staggered cycle every year.

Indonesia will replace Kazakhstan, which is to conclude its term at the end of the year. It will be joined by South Africa, Belgium, Germany and the Dominican Republic, which also won seats for the 2019 and 2020 term to sit at the horseshoe-shaped table used by the 15-member council during meetings
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Linkedin NEWS DESK (The Jakarta Post) Bogor  Sat, June 9, 2018 19:40 1224 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e8678fb 1 City murder-case,killing,verdict,bogor Free

A panel of judges at Cibinong District Court handed down a 10-year prison term to RF, 15, for murdering Grace Gabriella Bimusu, 5, a girl whose body was found in a sack.

After hearing facts and testimony during the trial, we found RF convincingly guilty of assault and premeditated murder, presiding judge Tira Tirtona read out the sentence on Friday as quoted by tempo.co.

Aside from a 10-year prison term, RF is also obliged to serve three months of voluntary work at a social institution.

He will serve his sentence at Tangerang Juvenile Correctional Facility.

The case came to light after Graces body was found wrapped in a sack on a plot of land near Bogor Asri Residential Complex, Nanggewer, Cibinong, Bogor, West Java on May 1.

RF, who had just finished junior high school, told the police he had killed Grace at the victim's house by smothering her.

He said he killed the little girl over a grudge held against her parents.

RF admitted that he put Graces body into a sack and dumped the sack on the plot of land sometime between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on April 30. Local residents found Grace's body the next day at around 1:50 a.m.

The suspect and the victim lived in the same neighborhood at Bogor Asri Residential Complex, Block K3, Nanggewer, Cibinong, Bogor.(iwa)
The Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) suggests mudik (exodus) travelers utilize mudik apps to help them throughout their journey.

Through such apps, if there is traffic jam, people can use other routes, such as non-toll road in Pantura or the southern lane, Djoko Stiojowarno of MTI told Antara.

Djoko believed this years mudik would not be too different from last year.

Aside from mudik apps, the government has also opened several toll roads and state-owned energy company Pertamina is set to increase the availability of fuel.

Djoko later stated that it was important for the police to monitor the starting point and end of a toll road. If it [the road] is too dense, cars shouldnt be allowed to enter. The same thing goes for the end of the road, said Djoko, also noting that the system should be applied as there was an additional lane heading south. We used to have just Pejagan [toll road], now Adiwarna Tegal toll road can also be used.

Read also: Mudik should be safe, healthy: Minister

Pertaminas support in terms of fuel distribution is also considered helpful.

Djoko said services were being offered to deliver gas to people stuck in traffic.

KiosK Pertamax, for example, provides 10-liter packages of Pertamax gasoline.

Djoko perceived it as a safe way for people to get fuel.

Its better than drivers traveling with extra fuel  which is considered dangerous, said Djoko. Its important that fuel is available not only in Pantura, but also in the south lane.

Pertamina has prepared other services for the Idul Fitri exodus, including 13 units of Serambi Pertamax, 60 units of KiosK Pertamax, 200 units of Motoris Kemasan and 105 fuel packages. (wir/wng)
Striding onstage to a graciously mixed run of beats, curtesy of loyal support act Shit Robot, James Murphy embraces his old friend as the band slowly take their places under the mammoth scale mirror ball. Its a humbling start to what would inevitably be anything but a casual Wednesday evening in Manchester. A hollowing drum beat carves out the bands opener, You wanted a hit; a track so perfectly tongue in cheek, as Murphy chimes we dont do hits, as the set unravels into a chain of undeniable, hits. The first of the sequence being Tribulations, taken from their eponymous debut. Soaring electronic beats help to loosen off the sold-out audiences hump day blues. Murphy takes the time to apologise for the distance between the eight-piece band and the crowd, remarking that the moment is not lost because emotionally, were close. The band are introduced one by one, with vocalist Nancy Whang garnering the biggest cheers from fans, which leads into a sample of Kraftwerks Radiative before I Can Change rides in. Momentum builds for synth-heavy Get innocuous!. As the track progresses, Nancys steadfast chants of dont it make you feel alive works wonders on those in the balcony, telekinetically commanding them to come out of their seats. There is a pure sense of awe from the crowd, as the song comes to a close with a minute of explosive production. This is followed by Yr Citys a Sucker, which had its humble beginnings as a B-side back in 2005 yet has evolved into Murphys favourite song to play live. The set takes a step back from the electronic sounds that LCD Soundsystem are best known for. As guitar fuelled Movement heralds back to the early days of the electro-rock outfit, the crowd welcome this throwback track with open arms and bodies stepped into motion.Someone Great is driven by pure energy, sending out waves of euphoria in every moment, fans matching Murphys impressive falsetto to the note. From here, we are launched into the funky beats of tonite, another taste of their stunning comeback album (albeit with the most questionable album art), that evolves into a real highlight of the set, blending in seamlessly with the bands back catalogue. Set against the backdrop of a thousand twinkling star lights, Home is a beautiful addition to the setlist, its intimacy explicit, lifting the vocals and thoughts to the clouds with every layer of the track.For the first point in the evening, Murphy takes a step back as Nancy takes centre stage to deliver a seamless rendition of Chics I Want Your Love. Her confidence ripples throughout the venue as the band take a low-key break. Murphy jokes So, well play a song then we may leave to pee for a second. This happens without any encouragement  just talk among yourselves. They make their return to the stage with the atmospheric how do you sleep?, every slap of percussion makes a statement, its hard to believe the American Dream track has only just made it onto the setlist. This is followed up by other American Dream extracts, the sugar sweet Oh Baby and Emotional Haircut. The New York octet have the Manchester residents in the palm of their hands by this point, but Murphy butters them up to great effect, announcing they spent three hours in Piccadilly Records. Mancunians: You dont know how lucky you are to have something like that!. It seems taking the time out has only improved the bands ability to put on a show, with Dance Yrself Clean upping the energy to even greater heights, a plethora of red and blue lights flash with every change in beat, adding a dramatic edge to the hit, which closes with a trademark kick in the air. The set comes to an electrifying close with All My Friends; the anthemic antidote to loneliness brings bodies into unison, there isnt a person in sight who isnt jumping, eyes wide with joy, lost in the moment. New friends are found on the dancefloor and the elation continues long after the band depart the stage. If one evening in Manchester proves one thing, its that LCD Soundsystem are one of the greatest live bands in the world.
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Consumers are being advised to throw away any pre-cut melon due to a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Adelaide.

According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, most of the people affected by the salmonella strain purchased pre-cut melon at Walmart or Kroger stores in the Midwest region. This includes fruit salad mixes with melon. Consumers are being asked to avoid eating the product, and throw it away.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are not recommending people avoid whole melons.

At least 50 cases of the strain have been reported in five states, with 32 of them in Michigan.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/salmonella.
Srinagar, June 8: The video conversation between a Kashmiri militants family and army troopers, in which the former is seen denying to latters persuasion to ask their son to lay down arms, has gone viral on social media in Kashmir.

In a 1-minute and 42-second video clip, which has gone viral in Kashmir, an army man is seen trying to persuade the family members of a militant the identity of both could not be ascertainedto ask their son to surrender when he is trapped on forces cordon. The family, however, is seen categorically rejecting offer by army.

When you (family) ask him, then he could surrender. If we (army) ask, he wont surrender, an army trooper says to the family.

A girlpurportedly militants sisteris seen arguing the army man as to why they should ask the militant to surrender.A bearded man, possibly militants father, donned in a purple skull cap is heard saying One who leaves home, cant surrender.We will not ask him to surrender. If he comes home alive, I will martyr him with my own hands, the girl responds to army man.

The girl goes on to tell the army men that the militant has left towards the path of God and why would the family call him to come back.

Army man and the family are seen sitting on the veranda of the house and the conversation between the two continues politely, however, the family refuses to succumb to the armys offer.

The video was uploaded to YouTube and Facebook and was shared widely on the social media platforms.

Sometimes, someone goes astray one trooper is heard saying while another trooper joins the conversation; says he (the militant) could have had a fought with his parents.

The girl, however, responds that there was nothing as such.

There has been no quarrel, neither has he chose the wrong path. In what waywhatever he has done.. I dont know he has left on his own will. If he (militant) thinks he has done well, then it is the same. We have no business in this? I want to see his face only after his martyrdom, the girl says to army men in the video.

An army man goes on to question the family as to why to pick up the gun and the girl reverts the same query.

We pickup gun for the security of the nation, says the army man. The girl in response says If he (militant) doesnt take up weapon then how would God accept his sacrifice. You cant martyr him unless he picks up gun and proves that he is on Gods path. Only after that you (army) can take his life.
2 go missing as truck plunges into Trishuli River

Two persons have gone missing after a truck they were travelling in plunged into the Trishuli River on Friday.
3 workers die in separate accidents

Three workers were killed in separate accidents here in Bajhang district. Two labourers died when a boulder struck them at a road construction site, and another one died while digging the ground for laying drinking water pipe.
Anup Ojha is a reporter for The Kathmandu Post primarily covering social issues and human interest stories. Before moving to the social beat, Ojha covered arts and culture for the Post for four years.
Birjis Qadrs Kathmandu Mehfil

Kathmandu. Circa 1870 CE. Surrounded by shoras of his mehfila small, intimate gathering of poetsas the Nawab begins to recite his gazalKhawaja Naeemuddin Badakhshi, a shayarquickly jots it down on a sheet of paper. Later, in his home, Badakhshi sits down to copy the gazal in beautiful calligraphy in his diary, which he has kept in order to record Urdu and Persian poetry that he finds particularly compelling.
FM leaves for Mongolia today

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali will leave for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Saturday, leading a Nepali delegation to the Inaugural Intergovernmental Meeting of International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (ITT-LLDCs) to be held on 11-12 June.
Good literature can induce positivity in children

In 1999, a young man decided to establish an organisation that recognises children with a knack for literature. Kartikeya Trust was established with the support from his friends and family and has been self-sustained ever since with the revenue generated from his own published childrens literature.
Lack of consulate at Vizag delays shipments

Nepal urgently needs to establish a consular office at Visakhapatnam port in India to make life easier for traders, officials said. Currently, Nepali importers bringing goods from third countries have to get their paperwork processed from the Nepal Embassy in faraway New Delhi as there is no consulate at the port, which is an ordeal for them.
RAYTOWN, Mo. -- A man was shot Friday night outside an Applebee's in Raytown, police say. Police say around 6 p.m. Friday they received a call about gunshots fired outside an Applebee's near 350 Highway and Maple. A man in his 20s was shot. Right now, police don't know if the victim was an Applebee's patron.
Kansas City Road Crackdown

Part of I-70 shuts down this weekend for bridge demolitions KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A large portion of I-70 east of the stadiums will be closed this weekend. Starting at 10 p.m. Friday, I-70 between I-435 and I-470 will be closed so MoDOT crews can demolish three bridges. The bridges, each about 60 years old, are already closed.

Bus Stop Slip & Fall Update

Settlement is secret no longer as KC transit agency hands over suppressed documents Two days after reversing a policy exempting itself from state open records laws, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority provided The Star with the legal settlement agreement that it had tried to suppress under that guideline. The ATA also released Friday details of the theft investigation that was central to the lawsuit that was dismissed as a result of that $135,000 settlement payment.

Kansas Tragedy Complications

Woman Questioned In Disappearance Of Wichita 5-Year-Old Found Dead Wichita police say that Emily Glass, questioned in the disappearance and death of 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez, was found dead early Friday morning. Police spokesman Charley Davidson said Jonathan Hernandez -- Lucas' father and Glass' live-in boyfriend -- called police just before 2 a.m. to say his girlfriend had committed suicide.

Show-Me Power Play Push Back???

Will Missouri's new coal pollution regulations hold utilities accountable? Just before former Gov. Eric Greitens resigned, he signed a bill to regulate coal-ash waste, a toxic byproduct of coal-fired power plants. Coal ash, also known as coal combustion residuals, contains a number of heavy metals, including lead and arsenic, that are known to cause cancer.

kCMO Po-Po En Espanol

KCPD to host first Spanish Citizens Academy to connect with Latino community KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Anyone is welcome to attend the Kansas City Police Department's first Spanish Citizens Academy at St. Anthony's on June 9. This Spanish initiative is the first of its kind in the metro on the Missouri side.

Weekend Hotness

First Alert: Long stretch of 90-degree weather ahead for KC Our hot weather trend continues. We're in for another long stretch of 90-degree weather.

World Series Glory Daze Gone

Kansas City Royals: The trading has only just begun for the Royals The Kansas City Royals had to get off to a fast start this season or else the middle of the summer was going to result in a slew of trades. As we all know, the Royals did not get off to a good start and are more than 20 games under .500 as well as double digit games behind the first place Indians in the AL Central.

Quick link update for our most dedicated news junkies, here's the the quick rundown. Take a peek:And this is thefor right now . . .
NC cadres create ruckus at programme attended by Deuba

Cadres from the establishment faction of Nepali Congress warned party president Sher Bahadur Deuba against working in a unilateral manner.
Even though an estimated 500,000 tourists visit the ancient ruins of Delphi each year, they are most likely missing out on the beauty of the surrounding areas. Lets take a look at some of the top things to do on your trip and some of the reasons why you will need more than a day in Delphi.

The Ruins of Delphi

The most popular stop in Delphi is naturally the UNESCO World Heritage Archaeological Site of Delphi. Considered to be one of the most stunning archaeological sites in the world, you will need at least 3 hours to explore it. You can buy the all-day ticket and enjoy the ruins and the Archaeological Museum located below the site.

Paragliding over the Ruins in Delphi

You can actually fly over the ancient temple of Apollo, the archaeological sites and admire the olive tree-laced valley from above. The sport is organized by professional instructors, and beginners can also participate. The flight lasts 20-30 minutes and you can even take a video. For more information, look here.

Hike Ancient Trails

There are numerous trails to be hiked throughout the surrounding area of Delphi. Just think about it  People have been coming to Delphi from all over the world for thousands of years and the ancient trails they used are still the same ones today. In fact, it is thought that Archaio Monopati may be the oldest footpath that is still used on the planet. There are trails to choose from for all levels of hikers. Here are some that you can check out on your trip.

Pay a Visit to the Surrounding Villages of Delphi

Booking a hotel in Delphi town is a great beginning point. You will find yourself right in the middle of everything you want to see on your trip. Here are some places you dont want to miss.

Just a twenty-minute drive from Delphi is the quaint city of Amfissa. With many Neo-Classic buildings adorning the streets and town square, the city dates back some 3,000 years in antiquity. At one time it was the most important city of the ancient Greek tribe of the Ozolian Locrians as well as one of the most powerful cities in central Greece. Here you can check out ruins of the medieval Castle of Oria or the Byzantine Savior Church, which was built in the 11th century.

Only 11 km (7 miles) south of Amfissa is the town Itea. It is a great place to stop for a coffee and enjoy the view of Delphi high above in the surrounding mountains.

Galaxidi is another place you want to visit on your trip to Delphi. This picturesque village is located approximately half an hour from Delphi town. Situated in the gulf of Crissaea, it has cobble-stoned walkways and many shops selling local specialties such as herbs and spices and products made from olives. The village has two ports, Agora and Chirolaka and boasts 2 museums as well as churches and monasteries.

Either on your way to Delphi from Athens or on your returning trip, be sure to stop in the popular mountain town of Arachova. Enjoy the panoramic view and the winding streets with stone and wood houses. There are many tavernas where you can eat fresh, local meals and a glass of Arachovas famous black wine brusque.

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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: Luarvick License: CC-BY-SA
VIVA Bahrain, a leading telecom services operator in the kingdom, has launched the first live and public 5G network demonstration in the kingdom ahead of its deployment at homes and businesses in co-ordination with a number of 5G-enabled devices.

The launch was held at City Centre Bahrain's Central Galleria in the presence of Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohamed, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Shaikh Hisham Bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, Capital Governor, Dr Mohammed Alamer, TRA Chairman, Shaikh Nasir Al Khalifa, TRA Managing Director and Mohammed Al Qaed, iGA CEO.

As an industry first, the milestone reinforces Bahrains leading digital position in the region, and enhances Bahrains readiness for next generation technologies in support of Bahrain Vision 2030, said a statement from Viva.

During the live 5G speed test, the telecom company also achieved unprecedented gigabit speeds reaching up to 1.5 Gbps using a commercial broadband router, opening doors to a new era of sophisticated technologies enabled by reliably fast data speeds.

At the scene, VIVA Bahrain showcased the life-changing speeds and capabilities of VIVA 5G for homes and businesses with a number of 5G-enabled devices available for public trial such as 4K UHD TV, Virtual Reality (VR) goggles.

Addressing the gathering, Kamal bin Ahmed said that this latest development in Bahrains telecommunications industry represents a major milestone.

"We have put in place a solid infrastructure for the growth of the sector and are benchmarking ourselves against some of the global leaders in telecoms in order to achieve even more," said the minister.

"We are in the middle of implementing our 4th National Telecommunications Plan and I am happy to see VIVA taking the initiative by capitalizing on this infrastructure and expanding its services to provide users with the latest technologies," he added.

Engineer Abdulla Zmami, VIVA Bahrain Chairman said this step reconfirms the group's genuine commitment to accelerate Bahrains digitization and continuous effort to introduce the latest technologies to the people of Bahrain.

"This links back to VIVA`s core vision in transforming Bahrains telecommunication landscape and offer an unprecedented telecom experience to the community" he noted.

Viva Bahrain CEO Ulaiyan Al Wetaid said the aim of the live launch was to allow the public to get a feeling of what 5G technology brings to our life.

"This is a major turning point for Bahrain. Were closer to unlocking the transformative opportunities of 5G and the powerful cross-industry solutions being tested at VIVA`s Innovation Center that will benefit all key growth sectors including health, education, transportation and much more," he noted.

According to him, the 5G network is expected to make a quantum leap in future services and applications and will contribute in increasing the speed and performance of wireless networks.

"It will not only improve the connectivity between people and their phones or computers, but will also enable more sophisticated technologies such as IOT, Artificial Intelligence and robots," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Payment International Enterprise (PIE), one of the largest fintech companies in Bahrain, has announced that it has become a principal licensee for Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry.

With this development, PIE has renewed its strategic commitment to providing innovative, reliable, and efficient financial products for its customers in the Middle East North Africa (Mena) region.

PIE is a leading specialist in prepaid, mobile, and NFC solutions for the banked and unbanked at the core of customers payment needs. It offers the full value chain of cashless payment including various types of prepaid products for the banking and telecom sectors.

In addition, it will offer online check-out solutions such as Masterpass, a digital wallet that allows consumers to store card information in a secure location, providing a hassle-free way to make convenient, simple, fast and safe payments while enhancing and simplifying the physical and digital shopping experience

The company has been investing heavily in infrastructure development, thus making high-value commitments to the future and striving to provide its customers with end-to-end services as a single provider.

One of the companys major projects in 2016 was the launch of eGov kiosks and TAM-Dinar project for government institutions in Bahrain to facilitate ease of payments for government services.

This successful project is one of many strategies PIE is undertaking to lead the way in moving towards a cashless society and innovating alternative payment options for a modern world.

CEO Fawaz Ghazal dubbed it as a major milestone for PIE. "The Mastercard licence allows us to provide international player products to our clients and expand our services beyond conventional payments. Our newly-formed partnership will play a vital and crucial role towards our commitment to transform Bahrain into a cashless society by 2030."

"We look forward to the future and will continue to take major leaps through our collaboration with Mastercard," stated Ghazal.

According to him, this comes at a strategic time when the kingdoms government is looking to mandate a Wage Protection System (WPS) solution which is set for implementation on a national level.

"Our partnership with Mastercard will allow us to provide outstanding end-to-end solutions that serve employers and employees in the best of our capacity within the region," noted Ghazal.

Samrat Raj, the country manager, Bahrain at Mastercard, said the partnership with PIE will help drive innovation and expansion within the payments industry in Bahrain and the Mena region.

"Mastercard is at the forefront of driving cashless payments in the Mena region and we believe in working with likeminded organizations to achieve our vision of a world beyond cash," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Nepali Congress rejects presidential system idea

Nepali Congress (NC) senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday said that his party would not accept the executive presidential system.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 9

An NRI died of drug overdose at a hotel near the bus stand here on Saturday. Identified as Yuvraj Singh of Ajnala, the deceased had been staying in the hotel with a woman, Shilpa. She hails from Ganganagar, Rajasthan, and claims to be the wife of the deceased.

According to the police, the couple had been staying in the hotel for the past three days. The police sent the body for postmortem examination. Investigating officer Talwinder Singh said the police had summoned the family of both persons and further investigation was under way. He said Yuvraj along with his wife and children had been residing in Cyprus for several years. He met Shilp through a social networking site. She had a daughter from her first marriage and divorced from her husband.

The police said Yuvraj returned to his village around a month ago. The couple met and stayed at hotel. He said his father Bagicha Singh feigned ignorance about their relationship. They said the deceased went to answer the natures call and did not come out. Getting no response even after repeated knocks, the woman called the hotel reception. They broke open the door to find him dead. The police found injections and drugs near his body.
NHRC urges govt to save Ganga Maya Adhikari

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has drawn the governments attention towards the ongoing hunger strike of Ganga Maya Adhikari to demand justice for her son Krishna Prasad who was abducted and murdered by the Maoist rebels in 2004.
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 7

Ludhiana-based traders have found a unique way to circumvent the newly introduced e-way bill system and avoid paying GST. Instead of transporting goods by mini trucks, they use horse-carts or manual carts.

An e-way bill is not required if goods are transported by a non-motorised carriage such as horse-carts. Although the e-way bill is optional only for goods less than Rs 50,000 in value, unscrupulous traders use non-motorised conveyance to transport goods beyond the exemption limit.

The e-way billing system and rules have been designed by the Union government, Punjab Financial Commissioner-Taxation MP Singh said.

Regular meetings are held with the Government of India and now this has been brought to my notice, we will take up this issue, he said.

Dealers transport construction materials and furniture (sofa sets) on horse-carts in Ludhiana after the introduction of the intra-state e-way bill system from June 1.

Punjab had been notorious for bogus billing even during the erstwhile VAT regime, the indirect tax structure has changed but the unscrupulous activities of under-invoicing are still on, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association president Badish Jindal said. Many traders buy and sell their material in number two for saving the GST, he added.

Before the introduction of the e-way bill, unscrupulous traders used to transport goods with invoices. After the material reached the destination undetected by the tax inspectors, both the buyer and the seller tore the invoices to evade GST, he said. The e-way bill has been introduced to check tax evasions in the GST regime.

As far as evading taxes like this is concerned, this reflects the mentality of people, which we cannot change. May be, they will face the repercussions later, which they are not realising now, MP Singh said.

Ludhiana-based GST Lawyer Mohit Aggarwal said dealers have unfounded fear about e-way bill procedures. Initially, generating an e-way bill is a tedious process but it becomes an effortless process after a person has generated three or four bills.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Mohali, June 9

A 22-year-old engineering student was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his PG room at Nayagaon on Friday night.

Ankush, who hails from Nahan, was in the town for an internship, which is to be taken in the last year of a BTech course. He was the only son of ASI Ramesh Kumar, posted at Nahan.

As per information, Ankush was not answering the calls made to his phone by his family members on Friday evening. His family got worried and called up the caretaker to check on him. The caretaker went to Ankushs room and found it locked. On breaking it open, he found the youth unconscious. He immediately rang up his father and informed him about it. Ankushs father reached Nayagaon at night and called the police.

The police suspect it to be a case of snakebite. Bhagwant Singh, SHO, Nayagaon police station, said, Ankushs left foot was almost rotten and his eyes, ears and mouth were bleeding, which are symptoms of snakebite.

However, the police have also not ruled out the possibility of drug overdose. The exact cause of death will be affirmed after the autopsy report is out. The police said viscera samples from the body were taken and sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 9

Two motorcycle-borne miscreants sped away after snatching a purse from a woman in Sector 21 here on Saturday night. Police sources said the accused, who were riding a black Pulsar, snatched the purse containing cash, a mobile phone and important documents.

The police rushed to the spot on getting the information and scrutinised the footage of CCTVs installed in the area. The matter is under investigation at the Sector 19 police station.
editorial@tribune.com

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 9

Even three months after the Supreme Court issued specific directions in the Manesar land deal case, the Haryana Government has yet to take possession of prime commercial land in Gurugram district from builders and private entities.

Multiple issues, including funds required for refunding money to builders and private entities, additional claims to be paid to land owners, claims of third parties and several other technical matters are said to be coming in the way of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC) in initiating early action.

The Supreme Court, in its March 12 order, had set aside the August 24, 2008, decision of the previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda government to drop land acquisition proceedings for 688 acres in Manesar, asking the HSIIDC to issue a fresh notification. The court had also set aside the January 29, 2010, order of the state government to close acquisition proceedings, calling it mala fide exercise of power.

Directing the HSIIDC/ Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to take possession of the land, the Supreme Court had said the land covered under the direction shall vest in HSIIDC/ HUDA, as may be directed by the state, free from all encumbrances.

Sources said after the order, a decision was taken by the state government that since notifications of Sections 4 and 6 to acquire 912 acres from Manesar, Lakhnoula and Naurangpur villages in Gurugram for setting up an Industrial Model Townships (IMT) were initially issued by the HSIIDC on August 27, 2004, and August 25, 2005, respectively, the corporation will take possession of this land now.

However, despite passage of nearly three months, there is no headway in this direction. Sources said with the complexities involved, it is highly unlikely that the HSIIDC will take possession of the land and settle issues of all stakeholders anytime soon.

TL Satyaprakash, HSIIDC MD, said they were in the process of making assessment of the issues involved. Since it involved a lot of financial liability, the HSIIDC was treading with caution and had sought legal opinion, he said. Third party claims of 3,600 people were also involved and the HSIIDC had to verify these.
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, June 9

Gangster Sampat Nehra, acting head of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, was reportedly on a mission to eliminate Bollywood superstar Salman khan. A plan was reportedly hatched on the orders of gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in Bharatpur jail.

The startling revelation was made by Nehra during his interrogation wherein he claimed that he had done all his "home work" right from tracking Salman Khan's daily routine to doing a recce of his house Galaxy Apartments and then shifted base to Hyderabad to work out the details.

"He was on a mission to kill Salman Khan and had thus gone to Mumbai first and then hid himself in Hyderabad. Nehra kept a low-profile for a month but kept making plans to eliminate his rivals. The gangster was nabbed with the help of Hyderabad police when he left the apartment for evening walk," said Deputy Inspector General, special task force, Haryana, Satheesh Balan.

While the DIG refused to elaborate on the motive, sources claim that Nehra was sent to "fulfil" the threats issued by Lawrence Bishnoi to Salman Khan during the latter's hearing in Jodhour court in May.

Bishnoi had pleaded before the judge that he was innocent and police were framing him. Speaking to the media outside Jodhpur court, Bishnoi had alleged that as police were claiming that he was a dreaded gangster he would prove to be one by killing Salman Khan when he comes to court for hearing.

"Salman is accused in the blackbuck poaching case on a complaint of the Bishnoi community and according to Nehra, Lawrence wanted to be top leader of the community and had thus ordered the elimination. Had the police been late in nabbing Nehra he would have attacked the Bollywood actor in a few days," said a senior police official.

Sampat Nehra, also a national-level decathlon player, was one of the most-wanted gangsters and a key member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

He was arrested by Special Task Force (STF) of Haryana Police from Hyderabad on Wednesday. Nehra had hid his identity saying he was looking for a job in Telangana. Police officials said Nehra was living in a rented apartment with two youths, who were pursuing MBA, in Hyderabad. They both were unaware of his criminal background and treated him as a friend, who was "always busy with his phone, texting and making calls".
editorial@tribune.com

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, June 9

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday urged state universities to rope in their alumni for strengthening research projects and fund generation.

At a conference of Vice Chancellors and Registrars of all state universities here on Saturday, Khattar said the public-private partnership (PPP) was needed to overcome various challenges in maintaining quality standards in higher education institutes.

Universities should prepare a comprehensive database of alumni and identify promising former students to support their respective institutes. The scope for financial assistance and knowledge sharing in various projects under the corporate social responsibility should also be explored by the universities, said the CM.

He said the government was committed to investing in the education and healthcare sectors, but PPP was required to beat capital constraints.

Financial management is an important issue that universities need to introspect. Lavish expenditure in the name of infrastructural development and other expenses cannot be allowed, said the CM.
editorial@tribune.com

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 9

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has given a nod to provide subsidised airfare for flights to be launched from six heliports across the state for improving connectivity, a pre-requisite for promoting tourism.

We have got the approval for the launch of flights from the six heliports under UdaanII from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, said Ram Subhag Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism and Urban Development. He said the ministry had also agreed to fund the construction of heliports at all six locations and Pawan Hans had been asked to prepare a detailed project report (DPR).

The Centres approval for providing viability gap funding for these flights connecting various locations within the state will help reduce the airfares, making them affordable for everyone. The Civil Aviation Ministry will fund the construction of six heliports at Kangnidhar in Mandi, Manali, Baddi in Solan, Sarahan and Rampur in Shimla. The sixth flight will operate from Gaggal airport, where a full-fledged airport already exists.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the promotion of tourism was one of the top priorities of his government and with the Centre agreeing to provide subsidised airfares, the tourism in the state was bound to gain. We want to provide reliable air connectivity and good infrastructure so that tourism can become the backbone of the people even in the interior parts of the state, he said.

The flights under Udaan II will connect Chandigarh-Baddi-Shimla, Shimla-Rampur-Nathpa, Shimla-Kangnidhar-Manali and Shimla-Gaggal. Efforts are on to link Dalhousie and Chamba also under the scheme.

Besides, the government has also decided to increase the frequency of the heli-taxi service between Shimla and Chandigarh from twice a week on Monday and Friday to alternate days. The Tourism Department in collaboration with Pawan Hans is operating an 18 seater heli-taxi service between Shimla and Chandigarh with the help of the government helicopter used by the Chief Minister and the Governor.

The Tourism Department is hopeful that the construction of the heliport at Sanjauli will be completed by December, which will help run the Shimla-Chandigarh heli-taxi from the outskirts. At present, the service is being run from the Jubbarhatti airport, 23 km from here, which can prove to be a hindrance in sustaining the flights throughout the year.

The Tourism Department is holding talks with helicopter operator companies to start joyrides for tourists at various locations such as Manali and Rohtang.

Rohtang mountain ride soon

After launching a helicopter service between Shimla and Chandigarh, the state is going to start a mountain ride between Manali and the majestic Rohtang Pass, which remained marooned in snowfall almost round the year.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 9

Air-conditioners at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC), Kangra, have not been working for quite some time now. But nobody is bothered to get these repaired. With the temperatures soaring, imagine the plight of patients, who have now started carrying fans to beat the heat.

The medical college is located near Kangra, where the temperature touches 40 degrees Celsius. Patients admitted in wards on the top floors are the worst-hit.

Ramesh, an attendant, said there were no fans in the wards as there was this central air-conditioning system. But due to some fault, the air-conditioners were not working. The patients complained that water coolers too were not working and they were being forced to buy packaged water. Power cuts have become a routine affair, they added.

There are 820 beds in the college and generally, all of them are packed to capacity as the institution caters to medical emergencies of the entire lower Himachal region. Sources said there were 450 air-conditioners in the college and most of them had been lying defunct.

Acting principal of the college Dr Bhanu Awasthi, said the air-conditioners had been damaged by monkeys. He said the college had written to the PWD and Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board for repairs or replacement of the air-conditioners. An order had also been placed for wall-mounted fans in the wards of the hospital, he added.

The premier medical college is also short of doctors and other staff. Many doctors from the college have been shifted to other medical colleges coming up in the state for meeting the Medical Council of India (MCI) requirements.
editorial@tribune.com

Jammu, June 9

The Jammu and Kashmir BJP unit on Saturday said the notion that alleged excesses of security forces were driving Kashmiri youth to militancy has been proven wrong as the forces have not conducted any operation during the ongoing fasting month of Ramzan, but still some youth have joined terror ranks.

The purpose of the government behind the (Ramzan) ceasefire was to normalise the situation in the Valley...it has proved beyond any doubt that the youths are not joining militancy because of the excesses of security forces, BJP spokesperson Brig (retd) Anil Gupta told reporters here.

Another party spokesperson Sunil Sethi called Home Minister Rajnath Singhs visit to the state historic.

Rajnath Singh onFridayannounced Rs 5.5 lakh relief per family for the West Pakistan refugees, establishment of nine police battalions, increase in relief forPandits and bullet-proof ambulances for border areas.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 9

A conversation between an Army officer and a militants family gives a glimpse of the growing cult of martyrdom in the Valley as the family rejects the Armys offer of surrender for their militant son and insists that it wants him to return home dead  as a martyr.

The conversation in a 1:42-minute video has gone viral and shows the Army officer conveying the option of surrender to the militants family in south Kashmirs Shopian district.

When you (family) ask him, then he can surrender. If we (Army) ask him, he will not surrender, the Army officer tells the militants family.

The undated video has been shot at the house of militant Adil Ahmad in Shopians Jamnagri village.

Local sources said the militant was suspected to be affiliated either with the Zakir Musa-led Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind or with a local unit of the Islamic State.

We will not ask him to surrender. If he comes home alive, I will kill him with my own hands, the militants sister responds to the officer.

She tells the Army officer that her militant brother had left home to be in the way of Allah. He thinks he has done right. He must have done right then, she says while confronting the Army officer. We will see his face only when he returns to this home as a martyr, she said.

The conversation between the militants sister and the Army officer is, by far, the most telling evidence of a radical evolution of Kashmirs insurgency and also indicates a growing acceptability to the militant cause in militant families.

It also reveals a sharp distinction between the current phase of militancy and its previous phases when families would mostly disassociate themselves from militant sons out of fear of repercussion from security forces.

In recent years, several mobile phone calls between militants and their families have surfaced on social media where the families encourage their militant sons to fight when their hideouts are raided.

The Army officers failed attempt to convince the militants family to urge him to surrender is part of the sustained efforts of the security forces to work on the return home policy for local militants.

The increasing recruitment of local militants has been a cause for concern for the security grid as several hundred young men  some of them with postgraduate and doctorate degrees  have joined insurgency in recent years.

IS link suspected
No suspension of MPs facing trial

Members of Parliament remanded in judicial custody on criminal offences will not be suspended and hence can continue to be a member of the House of Representatives.Ending a weeks-long stalemate, the ruling and opposition parties have agreed not to suspend such MPs but to deny them facilities and authority enjoyed by Lower House members.
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Nonika Singh

Right now she is the talk of the town people cant stop extolling as well as trolling her. Swara Bhasker, the unlikely star of Veere Di Wedding, of course, knew she was wading in risque waters when she said yes to the sassy, foul-mouthed part of Sakshi.

She says, It doesnt require rocket science to imagine the kind of response that has come my way. But hold it, brickbats all over the internet anyway can wait; lets look at the compliments first. Guess what, the best one has come from her beau, writer Himanshu Sharma, who told her; Despite all the warts in the character you have made Sakshi endearing.

To play a part out of her comfort zone she insists; You dont need to relate to a part fully, only unlock a particular streak to play it well. Indeed, like her onscreen avatar Sakshi she is a potty mouth; only unlike her she simply abhors smoking and has almost vowed never to smoke on screen in future. Indeed, Swara is tad more, not less, candid than her screen counterpart!

Speaking out

As currently too she is locked in many a verbal battle with her bete noire, one wonders if she has ever regretted speaking out; wish she had kept quiet. Yes the Pakistan controversy could have been avoided. Certainly, what she said made sense but she adds, I have many dear friends in Pakistan and had no intentions of hurting them. Its time we learnt to differentiate between people and the government.

As for the thin line between real and reel, the danger of being misunderstood, especially when you step into a bold and brazen part, she reasons, But that is the flip side of acting. People love you too for your character and the reverse can be true as well. As todays cinema is bringing in a whole range of flawed characters, she avers, Sakshi for instance could have easily become a shrew, but remained relatable and believable. To the tribe spewing diatribe her way, she quips; Actors too are human beings, they too get hurt. Just the other day I was having an acupressure session and was told that all my energy channels are blocked. I dont know how much Twitter has contributed to it.

Fighting odds

Seriously, how does she handle so much negativity? Just as you do it in life, partly by hitting back, partly by finding solidarity with like-minded people. Undeniably, she is not new to online viciousness. Controversys favourite child, her rather acerbic open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali on his film Padmavaat earned her much ire too. But out of all the nasty remarks that have been hurled at her, she is doing it all this for publicity, she deems is the least imaginative one. There are moments when she wishes she could simply take off her phone, not just quit social media.

But that is only a fleeting thought nothing can shut her up Swara is well Swara, not to be cowed down, on screen or off it. Defiant, impertinent or simply brave she will make no excuse for the choices she has made. Will she play Sakshi again well to set the record straight, Veere Di Wedding isnt the first time she has broken the mould. There has been Anaarkali of Aarah and Nil Battey Sannata, where she played a mother. What success of Veere Di Wedding means to her beyond busting the myth women centric films dont do well is that she gets to choose the kinds of roles she wants to.

Changed avatar

Already gracing covers of many magazines in her new glamorous avatar, however, she doesnt feel like a star. Actually, among other things, she was most terrified of wearing fashionable clothes in her latest film. But then pulling off the unexpected comes as naturally to her as shooting from the hip.

nonikasingh@tribunemail.com
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Anthony Bourdain developed an affinity for Indian vegetarian food and was curious about recipes, says Indian chef Vikas Khanna, for whom the late American star chef was a hero. Bourdain was found dead in Paris on Friday.

Recounting his memories, Khanna said: We worked together many times. Im so heartbroken. Anthony was my hero. I looked up to him and was privileged to have bonded with him. He hated vegetarian food. I told him until he visits India he wouldnt know the pleasures of vegetarian cuisine. Khanna had first met Bourdain while doing a tasting menu with mangoes at his mid-town restaurant Purnima in New York. I did not get a chance to talk to him then. The second time we met, I cooked for him at the Rubin Museum. I told him that I was researching extensively on Himalayan foods, Utsav and creating Holy Kitchens documentaries. He just said one thing, Keep pushing the limits.

Khanna reckoned that there are many pressures on a chefs life that could have killed Bourdain.

There is a lot of drug usage, time management issues.... Small spaces to cook in. Michelin pressure. Fire hazards. Customer service issues. Health and mental hygiene issues. Nepotism. Demanding critics. Labour issues. Emotional distress and breakdowns. Standard consistency. Long hours... Oh, being a chef is not an easy job. People only see the food on the table, not the fire in the kitchen. I have seen individuals of great skill go down in a jiffy. Its the curse of those who are in the quest of perfection. Sorry if Ive said too much. I idolised Anthony. I cant believe hes gone.  IANS

Kilmer faces backlash

Actor Val Kilmer has faced a backlash after calling celebrity chef Anthony Bourdains death selfish. The adventurer, television host and social activist was found dead in a hotel room in Paris at the age of 61 on Friday. IANS
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Manpriya Singh

Honestly speaking, how many of us even look at (let alone obey) the signboard while driving along it. Yeah right, read that before, Speed thrills but kills. But the one for whom it was actually meant, whizzed right past it. So we need to come up with new ways of making the young realise the importance of road safety, best-selling author Ravinder Singh, didnt want to sound preachy with the subject of his latest book Will You Still Love Me, but that doesnt mean he wasnt going to preach!

Unfortunately I have been personally affected by road accident twice, first being when I lost my girlfriend to an accident and second being when my father too met with an accident, he gets started on the subject of his latest book while in Elante Mall, Chandigarh, for a meet and greet with the readers at The Landmark Store. It was losing the love of his life that led to his cult famous literary debut I Too Had A Love Story. Ten years after his book came, he is still disturbed with the alarming figures.

The plot

The flavour of the cities; namely Chandigarh, Mohali, Shillong and Patiala figures heavily in this one, with his protagonists being a Patiale da munda and his leading lady being a girl from the North East. Lavanya Gogoi is from Shillong while Rajveer Saini belongs to the shahi city of Patiala. Worlds apart, the two land up next to each other on a flight from Mumbai to Chandigarh. Every love story has its obstacles but in this one, things go horribly wrong and love is put to ultimate test.

Commercial vs literary

He takes great pride, and rightfully so, about getting to cater to the bottom of the pyramid. Somebodys got to. If all the books were written with The Man Booker Prize in mind, it would be at the cost of prospective young readers in large numbers.

At a lit-fest once, I came across this author referring to the genre of commercial literature in a slightly belittling way, little realising the power of it. Being a commercial author has enabled me to quit my job at Infosys, become a full-time author and generate value for my publishers.

Serious lessons

In fact, a medium that appeals to the masses is the perfect cannon for him to get his point across. Be it the Your Dreams are Mine Now that touched upon student politics and was provoked by the atmosphere that followed the unfortunate Delhi gang-rape case. Organ donation is another cause I want to explore in future.

Why romance?

Why not, he says. A genre that has mass appeal and will always find youngsters as its takers. A lot of people ask me why not do something different? But at the end of the day, romance is what they expect of me. A love story is a ready script for B-town, but he is not parting with any of his babies till all the boxes in the checklist have been ticked. Yes, but how much of credit actually goes to the authors. How many people even know Raazi is based on Calling Sehmat or what actually happened to the real Sehmat two months back?

Follow rules

Ive seen girls on two-wheelers. Theyll wear gloves, over-shirt, dupatta and goggles. So much effort to protect yourself from UV rays and pollution. Instead a helmet will ultimately protect you from all of these and even being fined.

As many as 1,50,000 people in the country die each year due to road accidents. We lose that many people each year as we probably lost during Independence struggle.

What are the chances of us dying in a terrorist attack and what are the chances of us dying in a road accident? If one is an agenda, so is the other.

manpriya@tribunemail.com
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Prateek Chauhan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 9

One of Delhis most wanted gangsters, Rajesh Bharti, the leader of Kranti gang, was killed in a shootout with Special Cell officers in Delhis Chhatarpur area on Saturday. Three of his gang members  Sanjeev Vidrohi, Umesh alias Don and Veeresh Rana  were killed too. Another member, Kapil, was said to be in a critical condition.

PS Kushwaha, DCP, Delhi Police Special Cell, said a team intercepted Bharti and his men at Fatehpur Beri. Asked to surrender, they opened fire. More than 100 rounds of gunfire were exchanged. Eight police officers were injured, of whom Head Constable Girdhar, Constable Gurdeep and Sub-Inspectors Krishan Kumar, Raj Singh and Bijender sustained bullet injuries.

The Special Cell sleuths had been keeping an eye on a farmhouse in Chhatarpur.

The police found five semi-automatic pistols in the Ford Endeavour in which Bharti and his aides were travelling. The owner of the vehicle is one Sangeet. The police are looking for him. An i20 car at the site was believed to have been abandoned by the other gang members, who managed to flee. As many as 40 number plates were found in its boot.

Bharti, on the top 10 wanted criminals list, had escaped from the custody of Haryana Police in February. He carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh and was an accused in at least 25 cases of robbery, murder, extortion and carjack.
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Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 9

The Congress has decided to hold Iftar this year, in what marks a departure from the partys recent practice of skipping the once-customary ritual. Congress president Rahul Gandhi will host Iftar on June 13 at a local luxury hotel. This will be his first after becoming Congress president last December.

It was in 2015 that the Congress last marked the customary breaking of a day-long fast during Ramzan. Sonia Gandhi, then Congress chief, had hosted the event and Opposition veterans had attended it.

The subsequent two years saw a lull in the Congress on this front with Sonia Gandhi discontinuing the tradition and allowing state party units to mark the day in whatever way they wanted.

The Congress decision to repeat the ritual this year comes close after President Ram Nath Kovind announced that the Rashtrapati Bhavan would not hold the annual ritual. Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesnt mark the occasion nor do most Cabinet ministers.

A senior Congress leader said this vacuum needed to be filled. Consequently, a decision to hold iftar was taken only a day or two back. Party sources add that the move is in line with the political resolution passed at the AICC plenary session in March. The resolution stresses on Mahatma Gandhis philosophy of sarva dharma sambhaav.

Besides, on the eve of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Iftar will present the Congress with an opportunity to bring Opposition leaders together on one platform.
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Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 9

Families of Indians who were abducted by some unknown gunmen in Afghanistan claim they were turned away from the Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday.

Relatives of three of the seven Indians who protested in front of Swarajs ministry with some activists from All India Students Association (AISA) on Thursday claimed that some officials from her ministry promised a meeting once the minister returned from her trip to South Africa.

However, sources claimed that their meeting on Saturday was rescheduled to include some representatives from KEC, the company the seven Indian engineers were working for when they were abducted a month ago.

Among those who went to meet Swaraj were Prem Chand Mahto and Mohan Kumar Mahto (not related), both from Jharkhands Giridh district. Prem Chand Mahtos 28-year-old son Hulas Mahto and Mohan Kumar Mahtos father were among those who were taken hostage.

The seven Indian engineers were abducted from Afghanistans Baghlan province. Although no group claimed the abduction, Baghlan province governor blame it on he Taliban.

Indian government has said it was in touch with Afghan government for updates, although the ministry has refused to part with details citing security concerns.
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Bijay Sankar Bora

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, June 9

Two men, suspected of being child lifters, were lynched by unidentified people in Assams Karbi Anglong district, police said here on Saturday.

Nilotpal Das (29), a sound engineer based in Mumbai, and his friend Abhijeet Nath (30), a businessman, were returning from Panjuri Kachari, about 15 km from the Dokmoka police station, in their Scorpio around 8 pm when they were intercepted and accosted by a mob.

Dokmoka police station officer in charge JS Khowbung said: The duo was attacked by more than 200 people. We were informed by members of the village defence party around 40 minutes after the incident. As its a remote area, there was a problem with the telephone network, hence the delay. But by the time we reached, the mob had fled, leaving the duo badly injured. They succumbed to injuries on way to the Dokmoka public health centre.

In a video of the incident circulated on social media, the duo can be seen pleading for their lives and trying to explain to the livid crowd that they were Assamese but to no avail. The police have launched a massive search operation to nab the culprits on the basis of the video. No arrests have been made so far.

Khowbung said the case was being investigated. The bodies of the two men have been kept at the Diphu Civil Hospital where post-mortem will be conducted, he said. (With PTI inputs)
PM Oli addressing Province 1 state assembly today

Prime Minister KP Oli is scheduled to address the Province 1 State Assembly on Saturday.
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Qingdao, June 9

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Saturday on a two-day visit primarily to attend the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which is likely to deliberate on several pressing global issues, including future of Iran nuclear deal, the impact of US sanctions on Russia and situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

It is Modi's second visit to China in little over five weeks. He was in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27 and 28 to attend an informal summit with President Xi Jinping.

Diplomats said the summit is also likely to explore ways to deepen cooperation among the SCO member countries in dealing with threats of terrorism, extremism, and radicalisation besides delving into issues relating to trade, investment, and connectivity.

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became a full-fledged members of the grouping, jointly dominated by China and Russia, which has been increasingly seen as a counter to NATO.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP. Besides Modi, other leaders attending the summit in this picturesque coastal city of China's Shandong province include President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain.

In his address at the SCO Modi, is likely to articulate India's position on dealing with major challenges facing the world including ways to tackle terrorism, and boosting trade and investment in the region.

The summit in this Chinese port city is taking place under the shadow of Washington's pull out from the Iran nuclear deal, its sanction regime against Russia and frictions with China over the trade tariff dispute and diplomats said all these issues may figure at the summit as well as during deliberations on its sidelines.

In the wake of Washington's strained ties with Russia, China and Iran, officials said the SCO summit will provide an opportunity for President Xi and his Russian counterpart Putin to reflect on a common vision for the region and present the bloc as a powerful voice to deal with pressing global issues.

The situation in the Indo-Pacific may figure in the talks but it is unlikely that the issue will find a mention in the SCO outcome document. Officials said the US pull out from the Iran nuclear deal, Washington's sanctions against Russia under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) may also figure in the talks. The sanctions have impacted Russia's defence cooperation with a number of countries including India.

The SCO leaders are also expected to review the situation in the Korean peninsula, Afghanistan and Syria. Officials said India will pitch for evolving effective ways to deal with the growing challenge of terrorism and enhancing security cooperation among SCO countries.

India is also keen on deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

India was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. The officials said India is also likely to focus on importance of regional connectivity projects to boost trade among members of the SCO countries.

India has been strongly pushing for connectivity projects like the Chabahar port project and International North-South Transport Corridor to gain access to resource-rich central Asian countries.

Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries. However, there is no official word on whether there will be any interaction between Modi and Pakistan President Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in China.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members last year. PTI
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Diphu (Assam), June 9

Two men, suspected of being child lifters, were lynched by unidentified people in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, police said here on Saturday.

Nilotpal Das (29), a sound engineer based in Mumbai and his friend Abhijeet Nath (30), a businessman had gone to the picnic spot Kangthilangso in Karbi Anglong last night to capture the sounds of nature, they said.

On their way back, the duo was stopped by some villagers at Panjuri, pulled out of the car and thrashed on suspicion of being child lifters, they added.

In a video of the incident circulated on social media, the duo can be seen pleading for their lives and trying to explain to the livid crowd that they were Assamese but to no avail.

As the police reached the spot, the seriously injured duo was rushed to a hospital but died on the way.

The police have launched a massive search operation to nab the culprits on the basis of the video. No arrests have been made so far, they said.

The district administration authorities are camping in the area and holding talks with the villagers.

Both Das and Nath's parents are on their way to Karbi Anglong from Guwahati where they reside. The bodies will be handed over to them after conducting the post-mortem, police added.

Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia condemned the lynching and called it yet another instance of the state government's "utter failure" to maintain law and order.

Saikia also demanded a judicial enquiry into the incident. - PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Ropar, June 9

Tension gripped the area when a bir was found desecrated at a gurdwara in Dangoli village here on Saturday morning.

Senior police officials, including Ropar Senior Superintendent of Police Raj Bachan Singh Sandhu, and SGPC officials reached the spot.

The CCTV cameras installed at the gurdwara proved of no help as there had been no power supply in the village since Friday evening.

Jagtar Singh, pathi at the gurdwara, said after performing the morning rituals he left for home at 5.45 am after bolting the door of the gurdwara. A woman identified as Harjinder Kaur, residing in the neighbourhood, informed him about the sacrilege at 6.30 am, he added.

Takth Kesgarh Sahib head granthi Giani Phula Singh and SGPC additional secretary Paramjit Singh Saroa reached the spot.

Later, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema and Congress leader Brinder Singh Dhillon also visited the spot.

Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh has given an ultimatum of 24 hours to the state government to nab the accused. He has called a meeting of religious, social and political organisations at 4 pm on Sunday.

The SSP said the police had started an investigation into the incident and the case would be solved soon. The SSP said a case under Section 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC was registered against unidentified persons.

Akal Takht Jathedar pulls up granthi

Amritsar: Flaying the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Ropars Dangoli village gurdwara, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh has held its management committee and the granthi responsible. He said the Akal Takht had passed various edicts directing all gurdwaras to instal CCTV cameras and ensure the presence of a granthi or sewadar. He asked the Ropar police to swiftly probe the sacrilege and unearth those behind the act otherwise the sangat would be compelled to take action. TNS
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PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 9

Charanjit Kaur (50) committed suicide after police teams from Beas and Mehta police stations, looking for her son Jodhbir Singh (28) in a robbery case, raided their house in Ghaziwal village in Beas late Friday night.

The police wanted to interrogate Jodhbir in connection with a Rs 2.5 lakh robbery at a brick-kiln in Kammoke village a day earlier. Family members alleged they tried to take away Jodhbirs wife and their five-year-old son Abhinoor to pressure Jodhbir to turn himself in. With the menfolk out, Charanjit Kaur resisted the police and threatened to consume pesticide. But the police paid no heed and she took the extreme step.

The cops fled without caring to take her to hospital, said Swarn Singh, Jodhbir's younger brother, adding it were the neighbours who took his mother to hospital, where she died.

Balkar Singh, a relative of the deceased, blaming police highhandedness, pointed out that Jodhbir did not have a criminal record. The family members refused to cremate the body, demanding that action be initiated against the cops. They relented only after Baba Bakala MLA Santokh Singh Bhalaipur intervened.

Parampal Singh, SSP, refuted the charges. He said the police arrested two persons  Paramjit Singh and Kuljit Singh  in connection with a robbery in Kammoke village, who, in the course of interrogation, named Jodhbir. The police teams were, hence, sent to arrest him.

On why no police woman had accompanied the team, he said they had gone to arrest Jodhbir and not any woman.

However, advocate Sarabjit Singh, associated with the Punjab Human Rights Organisation, said as per the rules, the police needed to take along a respected person of the area and have a police woman in its team while raiding a residence.
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Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, June 9

A special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police, probing the three-year-old sacrilege incidents at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages of Faridkot, has rounded up four Dera Sacha Sauda followers, suspecting them to be the prime accused in the case.

The SIT has nabbed Mohinder Pal Bittu, state committee member of the dera, from Palampur in Himachal Pradesh. Belonging to Kotkapura town of Faridkot and owner of a bakery shop, Bittu had been absconding since August 2017 following the conviction of dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Three more persons were arrested from Kotkapura in the wee hours of Saturday. They are dairy owner Sunny Kanda, his brother Sukhpreet Singh and Jaggi, their relative from Mansa.

A team of six policemen, deployed at Kandas house on the Muktsar road in Kotkapura, did not allow anyone to meet the family.

As sacrilege is a highly sensitive religious issue and any suspect in this case is prone to attack, security has been deployed at Kandas house as a preventive measure, said a senior police officer.

Bittu was one of the 150 dera followers booked by the Panchkula police for violence following the dera heads conviction.

To evade arrest, Bittu had been staying in Palampur for the past nine months.

While SIT head DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra declined to share information about the arrest, Bittus younger brother Surinder Kumar said his family had gone to Palampur to meet him, but he was found missing. On June 7, we lodged a missing person complaint with the Palampur police, said Surinder. My brother is being made a scapegoat to pacify the protesters, he alleged.

SSP Nanak Singh said as the SIT was handling the case so the Faridkot police had no information about the arrests.

Sources said the state government was under immense pressure since the start of the dharna by Sikh radicals at Bargari last week. They were demanding the arrest of the accused in sacrilege incidents and police officials responsible for the killing of two Sikh protesters at Behbal Kalan in October 2015.

In June 2016, an unidentified man had opened fire at dera follower Gurdev Singh at his shop in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village of Faridkot, following which a protest, led by Bittu, was held.

On June 1, 2015, a bir was stolen from the gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the bir were found scattered in front of a gurdwara at Bargari village.

One of the accused held from HP
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Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Kiri Afghana, June 9

The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has asked Chadha Sugar Mills to construct a 1.5-km-long and 10-ft-high retaining wall which will run along the Kahnuwan drain to ensure that another molasses spillage does not occur.

However, minutes after PPCB Chairman Kahan Singh Pannu made this announcement, a top mill official said, It is not practically and financially feasible to construct such a high wall.

A quick estimate shows that we will have to spend crores. Instead of constructing the wall, we are ready to remove the lagoon from its present location near the Kahnuwan drain. We have already ordered a new steel tank for the storage of molasses. We have incurred heavy losses and are cooperating with various state and Central government agencies to restore the ecological balance of the river, he said.

The PPCB had asked the management to raise the wall to a height of 10 ft to match the height of the lagoon. Pannu refused to comment on the managements decision on the wall.

The PPCB had envisaged that the retaining wall would be designed by the PWD (B&R) and the costs would be borne by the mill.

The joint team of the PPCB, Wildlife Department and World Wildlife Fund, which visited the factory on Saturday, comprised of Pannu, PPCB Chief Engineer GS Majithia, WWF senior scientist Gitanjli Kanwar and Pathankot Divisional Forest Officer Rajesh Kumar. The mill management was represented by unit head Munesh Pal.

The team, however, noted that aquatic life has started reaching normal levels. Various measures are being undertaken to augment the fish density in the river. Among them, one was to introduce the indigenous varieties of herbivorous (plant eating) and omnivorous (both plant and meat eating) species of fish, Pannu said.

Pannu added that the Irrigation Department had been asked to release more water from the Pong Dam into the Beas in the next few days to ensure that more aquatic life flowed from the source (Pong Dam) to the affected parts of the river.
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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 9

The presentation of siropa to former president of the Chief Khalsa Diwan Charanjit Singh Chadha during his recent visit to the Golden Temple has snowballed into a controversy, prompting the SGPC to order a probe.

The Akal Takht in its order on January 23 prohibited Chadha from taking part in any religious, political and educational functions for the next two years.

He was removed by the CKD trust members after a controversial video, purportedly showing him and a school principal, went viral on social media. He appeared before the five Sikh head priests, headed by Jathedar Akal Takht, here.

Meanwhile, in the same case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by IG (Crime) LK Yadav, filed a report for the cancellation of the FIR against Chadha and his deceased son last month. The case was filed by the principal, who was in the video.

SGPC spokesperson Daljit Singh Bedi flayed the offering of siropa to Chadha. He said it was offered to him at the langar hall. He added that the matter was being probed.
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Sarika Sharma

This vanjhali will speak to you the way we talk. And you wont feel the need to know the lyrics. There are many who play compositions, but there is nobody who can make the instruments talk. Baba Kashi Nath takes a deep breath and blows into the one-and-half-feet wooden pipe, the flute. The line between sound and the written word starts blurring. The magic of Kashi Nath begins to flow. Ho jaavo ni koi mor liyavo, ni mere naal gaya ajj lad ke. Oh Allah kare jeh aa jaave sohna, devan jaan kadma vich dhar ke, ho Challa beri oye boor e, ve vatan mahi da door e, ve jaana pehle poor e, ve gall sun challeya chora. His rendition is so powerful, you almost see Shaukat Ali introducing the world to Challa; at times, Gurdas Maan is conjured up before your eyes as his shoulders rise and drop in rhythmic motion.

NO musician in this region could play the been, the snake charmers flute, and the vanjhali with such felicity. Wind instruments are the hardest to master, but playing them was a breeze for Baba Kashi Nath, who would render Indian ragas like Bhairavi, Sindhi Bhairavi, Bhimpalasi, Malkauns and Tilang, but turned to folk tunes for livelihood. It is for this reason that he was nominated for the Sangeet Natak Akademi award both last year and this year. The artiste died last month in utter penury, for want of treatment for paralysis that struck him six months ago.

Born in the nomadic tribe of Nath-Jogis in Multan, Pakistan, he received initial training from his father, Baba Laung Nath. Nourished and nurtured by the nomadic spirit of his community, he became an able musician, mastering various musical genres. When the vast lands available for these nomads shrunk, he settled at village Jhorarnali in Sirsa in the 1960s.

Prof Atamjit, who nominated Baba Kashi Nath, says he used rare blowing techniques on the been and vanjhali, always opening his performance with an alaap. Kashi Nath led the Indian Heritage dance group that stood first in the International Musical Festival of Wales, the UK, in 2003.

Writer Gurbhajan Gill, who had seen Baba Kashi Nath from close, says there was no one in this region who could play the vanjhali, except Kashi Naths son, Mahendra Nath, who was taught by his father. And except the saperas, none could play the been, not like Baba Kashi Nath. He says it is our failure that he died waiting for treatment. The most important point here is how can we even talk of reviving folk art forms when those carrying forward these traditions are fighting for survival, says Gill. He says that while the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, and Punjab Government did honour him, he was totally ignored by Haryana.

Atamjit feels that sitting in a silent corner in Haryana, Kashi Nath probably never aspired for an award. He spent his life practicing music and fighting poverty. He didnt have time to think of awards, he says. He now, never will. Baba Kashi Nath lived through the cold winter in that mud house without doors and died on a sweltering day in May, passing the baton to his son. Will he survive the odds?

The tribe

Nath-Jogis, the tribe that Baba Kashi Nath hailed from, are known as Saperas in Haryana; in Rajasthan, they are called Kal Belias; and, in Punjab, Jogis. In West Punjab, (Pakistan) they are identified as Faqirs.

Prince Charles charmed

He visited England four times and enthralled his audiences with his jugalbandi with artistes from various countries present there. His soulful renditions even won the heart of Prince Charles, who walked up to the Indian group to appreciate Kashi Nath. Professor Rajpal Singh, the Indian organiser, had called it a proud moment for the nomad and the country.
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Lt-Gen Baljit Singh (Retd)

THE images of acute shortage of drinking water in Shimla, kilometre-long queues of residents awaiting the arrival of water tankers to purchase a rationed few litres numb the senses for a few minutes. Incidentally, not so far away, around Kasauli at the same time, hectares of forest cover is burnt to cinders by multiple fires triggered partly by the phenomenon of climate change, an offshoot of degraded natural environment. Add to these, pictures of dead fish floating on the banks of the Beas, and we can make sense of why India plummeted 36 positions from 141 in 2016 to 177 in 2018 on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a biennial report produced by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.

As I turn over these images of human helplessness, arising from the cumulative environmental excesses of the past 100 years, my mind involuntary flashes back to the three-page letter written 164 years ago (1854) by the Red Indian Chief Seattle to the Great White Chief in Washington (the US President Franklin Pierce). That native American had poured out his anguish over the reckless environmental degradation set apace by the unregulated and burgeoning settlements of Americas nuevo colonisers. That script is now acknowledged as a rare cerebral exposition on ecology and environment in most academic circles, the world over. Take, for instance, Chief Seattles concerns on tampering with the natural flow and the chemistry of water of Americas rivers which would merit him an instant PhD today:

Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.... The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children.... The shining water that moves in our streams and rivers, is not just water but the blood of our ancestors.... The waters murmur is the voice of my fathers father.

The ringing alarm bells

Whether it is the prevailing strife for drinking water in Shimla or the fact that Day Zero for Cape Town in South Africa (when most taps in the city will run dry) is also anticipated to happen in 2018, or the extreme levels of pollution inflicting urban lakes in Bengaluru  turning their sewage-contaminated water into mosaics of soap suds  or the prevalent toxic levels of air and noise pollution in the National Capital Region, they are warnings for sure of environmental Armageddon. But this is no time for petty and destructive criticism, nor indeed for ill-will or blaming others. We must face the collective failure and summon up science, technology, innovations and finances to recreate capacities of our social, economic and political institutions, which will prevent further degradation of both  the natural and the living environment. Also, we must assess the promises we made to ourselves in the past and how far we have fulfilled them.

It appears that post the stroke of the midnight hour on August 14, 1947, when the world slept and we Indians awoke to life and freedom, we had the confidence, vision and passion to create a matrix of prosperous India. Our leaders were men of learning and earthy wisdom who understood that political freedom is circumscribed by reasonable economic prosperity and amiable populace. However, it is doubtful whether they had full understanding of how and how much the demands of the two world wars and of the British industrial complexes in the UK had strained Indias non-renewable (minerals) and renewable (timber) resources to damaging limits, unmindful that natural environment is complex, fragile and only marginally resilient.

It is also doubtful whether they had reckoned that unbridled growth of population would enlarge the scars of environmental degradation to the point of no return. Their failure in comprehending the absolute necessity of inter-dependence between natural and living environment was evident in the absence of a ministry in Indias first cabinet, charged with ecological and environmental security issues.

Bursting at the seams

Nevertheless, it is to the credit of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that in his first Cabinet, the Ministry of Health and Family Planning was entrusted to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, which would shortly focus on policy and planning to balance Indias demographic footprint in consonance with ecological security and environmental imperatives. In time we had the interesting slogan Hum do, humarey do and the endearing illustration of a charming rustic couple flanked by a cherubic girl and boy which left a permanent, optimistic imprint on every mind! But regrettably for a variety of reasons (including three wars in 18 years), the combined pressures of ever-growing numbers of humans (a whopping, nearly 40 per cent increase since 1947) and domesticated cattle (about 50 per cent of the worlds total), together impacted Indias ecology and environment much beyond recuperative capacities of natures growth cycles.

So today, the increasing needs of our growing population are fast encroaching upon the green cover, irredeemably. Our forests must simply be preserved because of a variety of benefits as well as their crucial influence on climate. Forests are one among the primary symbiotic agents of earth, the only living planet where the root systems of trees entwine into sponges, both as checks against excessive soil erosion, and more importantly also for the subterranean storage of rainwater. And of course, they are a major source of timber, fuel, fodder and food, besides being the fundamental carbon-sinks and noise pollution absorbents. On ageing, they decompose in the natural cycle and in the process add to the top soil which alone nurtures and sustains the green cover and agriculture. A widespread campaign is necessary to bring home to our people the need to conserve land, its mineral and plant resources and animal life.

With an eye on the future

In Indias political history, no one better understood the essence of natures symbiotic dynamics in the scheme of life than Indira Gandhi. Even though she had no formal education in the natural sciences, yet in her keynote address to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Stockholm in June 1972, she made a profound statement that Man often forgets that he is part of this Earth... and that his survival depends on the maintenance of natures balance. Thus the utilisation of resources must go hand in hand with conservation... The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land... must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate... mans capability to transform his surroundings, if used wisely, can bring to all people the benefits of development and the opportunity to enhance the quality of life. Wrongly or heedlessly applied, the same power can do incalculable harm to human beings and the human environment...

It may not be out of place to single out Indira Gandhi as Indias messiah of environmental concerns because she chartered with missionary zeal a slew of parliamentary legislations focused on ecology and environment: The Wildlife (Protection) Act, Forest Conservation Act, Environment (Protection) Act, Air Pollution (Control) Act, Project Tiger, Project Lion, Project Crocodile & Gharial, Pigmy Hog Initiative, Water (Prevention and Control of) Pollution Act, Central Pollution Control Board, creation of MOEF, Ganga Cleaning Project, entire network of national parks, reserves, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves and so on.

At about the same time, a specially constituted Parliamentary Committee was in the process of formulating a charter of Fundamental Duties and it proposed in the manner of the Biblical Commandments 10 obligations upon each citizen. The seventh commandment (Article 51 A (g) of the Constitution) not merely articulates an ecological and environmental paradigm, but also goes way beyond by demanding from its citizens to have compassion for all living creatures; thus flagging India as perhaps the only nation to have such an ennobling philosophy of nature conservation, that is, It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, rivers, lakes and wildlife and to have compassion for all living creatures.

Need for implementation

There is no denying that the comprehensive package of legislative enactments had a positive impact on slowing down environmental degradation. However, the implementation of environmental intents into accomplishments remains an elusive dream. Over time and in compliance with the Stockholm Declaration, it was also mandated that every new development project proposed in India, whether by the private (for example, Vedanta Limiteds Tuticorin plant) or public establishments, and especially those in the vicinity of ecologically sensitive zones, will be scrutinised for Environmental Impact Assessment lest they impose an adverse impact on the prevalent ecology and living environment. Sadly out of myopic political intentions, of late the EIA instrumentality has often been waived and at times bureaucrats and ministers have been eased out of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), for standing by their science-backed convictions.

When the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development met for the second time in June 1992, at what was called the Rio Earth Summit, the Indian delegation was led by Kamal Nath, the then Union Minister of Environment and Forests. And there was one statement by him which is worth recalling and pondering over: unless environmental awareness becomes a preoccupation with the people of India, no amount of governmental intervention can prevent Indias ecological collapse.

Is anyone listening?
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Shyam Bhatia

THE power and glory of Maharaja Ranjit Singhs kingdom will be depicted through a unique exhibition that is due to open next month at the Brunei Gallery in London.

Among the highlights of the Empire of the Sikhs exhibition opening on July 12 is a major cannon captured during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 when East India Company mercenaries wrested control of Punjab, ransacking the royal treasury and forcing the abdication of the boy-king Duleep Singh, who was later baptised as a Christian and sent to live in the UK. He reverted to Sikhism before he died.

The looting of the Lahore treasury, which was then the richest in the world with the Kohinoor diamond among its prize possessions, and denying Duleep Singh access to his legitimate heritage, ranked among the more shaming episodes of colonial history.

The cannon being exhibited (see picture and attribution) is one of a pairs gifted to the commander-in-chief of the British forces, General Sir Hugh Gough.

Among the other objects on display will be items from the private Toor Collection, as well as objects from the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Art Museum in London.

They include an array of Sikh swords, the golden shield of Maharaja Ranjit Singhs feared general Hari Singh Nalwa, as well as samples of jewellery worn by Maharani Jindan Kaur.

Among other items is the gold enamelled setting in which the Kohinoor was set. A cast was made of the original Kohinoor and put in its original bazubandh.

Explaining the significance of the cannon and other artillery pieces, exhibition curator Parmjit Singh says, The cannon was cast in the last few years of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, probably in Lahore, to accompany him on his tours. Ranjit Singh had a fascination for artillery and cannons and had started collecting them early on, with Dutch, Turkish and Indian cannons part of his collection. When he overran a territory, he would collect the artillery.

He then realised theres a limited number of cannons you can get from loot. So he established his own foundries where he employed Europeans, in particular one French chap named Claude August Court, who established the casting of guns patterned on English barrels, so much so that you couldnt tell the difference. The guns were worshipped by the men who manned them, mainly Muslims and Sikhs. They revered them and treated the guns as instruments of the divine.

Key portraits of Ranjit Singhs son and successor, Maharaja Sher Singh, will be on display along with portraits of some firangi generals from France and Italy who served as generals and governors under Ranjit Singh. Not only did Maharaja Ranjit Singh manage to unite and govern the Sikhs, he was insatiably curious and welcomed strategic advice and military innovations from European, tells Eleanor Nesbitt, Professor Emeritus at Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit.

She says that the Sikh Raj commanded respect, thanks to Maharaja Ranjit Singhs might in the battlefield and his skills in negotiation.

It modelled positive relations between Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims. Punjabs supremely skilled artistes and craftsmen flourished under him and their works remain an impressive legacy of a golden age. British esteem for Sikh valour in successive conflicts after Ranjit Singhs demise had its roots in the respect for his Sikh empire and he is also remembered for ruling without resorting to capital punishment, Prof Nesbitt says.
Pre-wedding blues

Walking out of Shashanka Ghoshs new Veere Di Wedding, you might have the feeling of having just sat through one over-long, over-stretched commercial. Im not even talking about the product placements that pop up with such ridiculous regularity throughout the filmsome so blatant as to make you laugh out loud (watch out for those bhujiya plugs!).
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Rohit Mahajan

JITHENDER K, a student from Andhra Pradesh studying in Brisbane, works part-time in a bar. Last year a guy whod had a few drinks came up to the bar and said he did not want to be served by me  he said he wanted to be served by an Australian, says Jithender. In other words, this patron wanted to be served his drink only by a white person. This sort of a display of racism by people under the influence of alcohol isnt uncommon in Australia; the response of Jithenders supervisor is equally common. My supervisor didnt like it at all, Jithender says with a chuckle. She immediately called all the staff and told them that no one was going to serve that man, and that he could get lost and be served by an Australian somewhere else.

Distinction among the colours is one of the first things children learn. So, on Gaurav Joshis second day at school in the 1980s, a little girl put up her hand and asked the teacher: Why do we have a dark guy in our class? Where did he come from? The girl wasnt being nasty  she was just curious. She had never seen a black or dark-skinned person before in her life, says Gaurav. Gauravs family had moved from India to Wollongong near Sydney, and his father was the only non-white among the 180-odd employee of that company.

Race and colour are the easiest and most obvious markers of identity  even children can easily determine who the other is on the basis of skin colour. Other markers such as language, religion, caste and creed are secondary for they need greater knowledge of the individual.

Original sin

The tribal us vs them mentality may have served the early human beings well, for it probably helped them work together in large groups for specific purposes beneficial to the whole group. The feeling of distrust of the outsider probably gave birth to racism.

The original Australians were all dark-skinned, and the British immigrants were white; Captain Cook declared the land as Terra nullius, a Latin term meaning vacant land, land belonging to no-one. The aboriginal people were, thus, pushed into oblivion.

Over the last 170-odd years, waves of non-Anglo immigrants reached Australia, and all of them faced racism, some of it very nasty and violent. The Chinese, Greek, Italian and the Russian immigrants were discriminated against  sometimes, racism was institutionalised. For instance, the Chinese immigrants had to pay a special tax levied only on them. The Greeks and Italians faced discrimination, as did the Russians and the Filipinos and other non-English-speaking groups. The English-speaking Anglo-Indians too bore the brunt of racism.

We were told that it wasnt our country, says Galia Forester, whose parents migrated from Russia in the 1960s. If we were overheard speaking Russian, we were told to speak Australian.

Its worth noting that the countrys White Australia policy was dismantled only by the 1970s  the focus of the British-aligned governments had been to restrict immigration from non-English-speaking countries.

The Anglo-Indians  whose skin colour could be anything from absolutely white to deep brown  were acceptable under the White Australia policy. But, despite their white ancestry, their skin colour and accent made them victims of racism.

After the end of the White Australia policy, the early Indian immigrants were doctors, accountants and IT professionals. In 2000, there was an education boom, and Indian students began to arrive in large numbers. Australias mining industry was booming, and the country needed a larger workforce.

When victims turn culprits

Racisms biggest conundrum is that victims themselves can be horrible culprits. So, recent immigrant groups can face discrimination from the settled groups. My classmates talk about me in quite nasty terms in Greek, says a desperately unhappy Jaspreet, a Melbourne schoolgirl who studies in a Greek school. They think I cant understand Greek, but I have a translation app on my phone and I know all the horrible things they say about me.

An IT consultant told this writer about being spat at on his face without provocation in a small town near Brisbane; a Mumbai engineer who now lives in Sydney said while travelling by bus or train, many white Australians seem to avoid sitting next to him. They sometimes prefer to stand, he said. And that makes me wonder: Whats wrong? Am I smelling bad or something?

A 27-year-old woman accountant, who didnt wish to be named, said: About 20 years ago a family friend was punched without provocation and yelled at with racial slurs.

I cant say Ive experienced racism personally, unlike my parents who came in the 1990s, she added. There, still, are the occasional verbal rants Ive heard, like someone saying to a passenger on the train in a harsh tone that they smell like curry! But the harder thing to change is in the workforce (discrimination) and in particular in senior roles.

In 2009-10, there was uproar in India when there were incidents of violence against Indian students in Australia. Many Indian-Australians believe that the Indian media exaggerated the issue, and that much of the crime was random and opportunistic. But since most Indian immigrants have faced racism in the country, they accept that at least some of the violence must have been motivated by racism.

Fuss-free blend

Indian immigrants also face the prospect of being aligned with radical-minded immigrants from other countries. Were importing trouble, says Andrew Little, a retired Scottish engineer in his sixties. He is referring to the immigrants from some Muslim countries, and talks about the 2014 Sydney cafe siege, in which three persons were killed, including the Iranian-born perpetrator, who had come to Australia as a refugee. They dont integrate with us. They have contempt for our way of life. Some of them have become radicalised and preach hate against the Western way of life. My question is: Why come here if you dislike Australians and their lifestyle? Little adds that the Indian immigrants are all right. Theyre hardworking and mix with Australians and cause no trouble, he says. However, some racist Australians do get confused  in 2014, for instance, anti-Muslim graffiti appeared on a gurdwara in a Perth suburb!

Bigotry back home

When discussing racism, first-generation and recent immigrants accept that a large number of Australians can be racist; but they also compare Australian racism with various forms of discrimination in India. They frame racism in Australia in the context of bigotry in India, which can be much more violent, even deadly, and yet can remain unpunished.

So okay, all Indians have experienced racism here, says Jithender. But if you look at India, you have worse discriminations and prejudices  you could be discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity, religion, caste, language.

From what Ive seen on Indian TV, there always seem to be issues based on religion in India, in particular between Hindus and Muslims. Discrimination based on caste is still there, said the 27-year-old woman accountant. I feel people in Australia are more open-minded and accepting of other religions than people in India.

Gen next

While the first generation and recent immigrants weigh and compare discriminations in India and Australia, second-generation immigrants focus only on the Aussie framework. Born and brought up in Australia, they have no personal experience of injustices in India, and aspire for the equality the Australian law promises.

Racism definitely exists here, says Sydney resident Anshul Jagota (27), who was born in Australia. However, there are laws in place, which help reduce the level of discrimination. Nonetheless, sometimes people dont appreciate cultural and/or religious differences, or misunderstand them.

I did face racism in school, says Gold Coast resident Simran, in her early twenties. It could be kids calling me names, and it could go to the extent of people throwing things at me across the street. Simran feels strongly about racism  she got interested in minority issues as a child and thats the reason she studied international relations and journalism. I want to make a positive contribution to society, she says.

Gaurav Joshi, who moved to Australia in the 1980s as a child, says that the second-generation Indian-Australians have no experience of the bigotry in India. They are only aware of things they may have heard or read about, he says. Their Australian experience is the only real life for them  so they want the equality the law guarantees them in this country. And theyre determined that, with the benefit of the legal guarantees, they must be counted as second to none.

A POSITIVE MIX-UP

There are positive stories of integration, as well. Keith Brown of Gold Coast happily talks about his brother-in-law from India. Ive got an Indian brother-in-law! he says. My cousin married him. Her family is from Gympie (a small town near Brisbane), and they had never before seen a man from India. But the family took it very well.

Its no more a surprise to hear that a certain family member or friend got married to a white Australian person, confirms Gaurav Joshi. Mixing up isnt a bad thing, for it allows people to appreciate diversity. Despite challenges, Indians in Australians are mixing up well, backed by the law which abets the anti-racism movement and sentiment.

"When travelling by bus or train, many white Australians seem to avoid sitting next to me. They sometimes prefer to stand. And that makes me wonder  whats wrong? Am I smelling bad or something?" An electronics engineer from Mumbai

"Racism definitely exists in Australia. However, there are laws in place, which help reduce the level of discrimination" Anshul Jagota, Sydney resident
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Kalpana Sundar

SOARING ceilings, minimalistic pews and altar bathed with sunshine entering the stained glass squares  the entire space feels charged with faith. Its not just any cathedral but a transitional one (affectionately nicknamed the Cardboard Cathedral) crafted out of 98 industrial cardboard rolls, wood and glass by Japanese disaster architect Shigeru Ban. Christchurch, the largest city of the South Island of New Zealand, was devastated by a deadly earthquake in 2011. The city was filled with crumbling structures, jagged masonry and pock-marked land after the quake. Since the main Gothic cathedral was damaged, the locals felt the need for a temporary space for worship and congregations, till the main cathedral could be re-built.

Shigeru Ban, who is known for ingenious use of low-cost and discarded material, was invited to Christchurch to design a building that would be a temporary space for the Anglican Cathedral congregation, as well as provide a venue for concerts, exhibitions and other events. The architect used cardboard, which is easily available, recyclable and inexpensive.

The sloping ceiling of the trapezoidal Cathedral is made of 98 angled cardboard tubes coated with waterproof polyurethane and flame retardants, and re-enforced with laminated timber beams. The walls of the cathedral are made from eight recycled shipping containers, painted white, that support the roof and are divided into offices, and chapels. Even the wall-mounted crucifix is made of cardboard! The cardboard and wooden structures are naturally more earthquake resilient as these are flexible. The space with the tubular pews and altar can hold up to 700 worshipers. The kaleidoscopic triangular window of coloured glass gives the cathedral a mystical air  with 49 triangles etched with images drawn from the original cathedrals Rose window.

The Cardboard Cathedral embodies the resilience of the city. It was the first major civic building completed after the quake. The cathedral is more durable than it looks  it is expected to last for at least 50 years and is earthquake proof, and of course, waterproof.

Many people say the church reminds them of simple Maori structures rather than a church. The church indicates the citys ability to think out of the box and accept revolutionary architecture. The stone cathedral of the city is going to be re-built at a whopping cost of $NZ104 million and will take nearly 10 years. But for many locals, the Cardboard Cathedral is a symbol of the city moving on after the quake. Its also popular with the tourists. In the guest book at the cathedral, one can find many touching messages of appreciation from around the world. One of these reads: Something so beautiful to come from the ruins.
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Khursheed Dinshaw

PIRNA in Saxon Switzerland of Germany was first documented in 1233. Even today, this town has retained its historical and cultural charisma. Start your tour with the Sonnenstein castle that overlooks the Elbe river and gives a panoramic view of the town. Once a fortress, it is now used as a venue for sculpture exhibitions.

According to a belief, here sandstone can be turned into gold. Some centuries ago, most of the local population was engaged in working on sandstone. The tradition has been kept alive and visitors can sculpt their own creations on small sandstone blocks under the supervision of experienced sculptors. These blocks can be carried back as souvenirs.

The pride of this German town is the church of St. Mary that was built between 1502 and 1546. It has a 60 m high tower. A typical late Gothic hall church, it has an intricate altar made of sandstone. The ceiling is an architectural wonder. The church also has original paintings dating back to the Reformation era. It is also used as a concert venue as it has fantastic acoustics.

Behind the church, in one of the cobbled lanes is the Erlpeter, one of the oldest fountains of Pirna. This 600-year-old fountain supplied spring water, which originated under the Sonnenstein fortress. Erlpeter was an important beauty spot for young girls, who came to collect water during Easter. The belief was that if they washed themselves with its water, they would become pretty. For this to work, when they went to the fountain and took its water, they had to remainsilent.

The town hall, which was built in 1300, reflects four architectural influences  Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-Renaissance. The town hall is where the re-enactments are done, exemplifying the bravery of the locals. The re-enactments are realistic complete with live cannon firing. The oldest house of Pirna is known as Tetzels House, where Johann Tetzel, the well-known Dominican priest was born.

Italian painter Canaletto painted 11 landscape paintings of the town between 1753 and 1756. These paintings can be viewed in the tourist service building located in the market area. Even today, Pirnas market area has an almost unchanged view as these paintings were used as reference for reconstruction.

Every lane of this town offers a slice of history. In the olden days before the invention of taps, water from the wells was used for drinking, washing clothes, tanning, dyeing and to extinguish fires, and brew beer. Wooden pipes were used to channel the water got from beneath Sonnenstein to 20 wooden wells in the old town.

Almost 250 years ago, the wood of these wells was replaced by a huge block of sandstone which weighed up to 26 tonnes. Today the town centre has 12 preserved wells. Depending upon your timing, you may get to see the town squire, who strolls around the town reading from old scrolls with feathered pens.

Don't leave this German town without relishing the delectable three-layered Dresdner eierschecke cake (Dresden egg custard cake). The bottom crumbly layer is made of flour, butter, eggs and sugar, followed by the middle layer that is made from curd, sugar and vanilla essence. The top layer is made of finely beaten eggs, sugar and milk. The timing of baking the cake is important because if the oven is opened before the cake is baked, the entire cake collapses.
K. Natwar Singh

By K. Natwar Singh

Former President Pranab Mukherjees visit to the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur is turned out to be the event of the month. He was invited by RSS head Mohan Bhagwat to be the chief guest at the graduation parade of Sangha Shiksha Varg- Tritiya Varsh.

An acute controversy was generated when the word got out that Mukherjee would be the guest at the RSS event. Several, lightweight Congress men were over active in dragging the former President over a pit of red hot coals. Now, they have egg on their faces. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi acted wisely as they didnt comment on Mukherjees visit.

Pranab Mukherjee is no spring chicken. He took his decision after due consideration, ignoring criticism that appeared in newspapers, on TV channels. His daughter too was upset. By temperament, he is a combative individual with a short fuse.

In his welcome speech, Bhagwat walked on thin ice. He did so with aplomb and verbal skills. He stuck to his religious priorities, without giving offence to his secular and open-minded guest. Hindus are not just a majority. They are answerable for the countrys future. He recalled that the RSS founder, Sarsanghchalak Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, was not rigid about a single way of thought. He said, It is a part of the culture to accept diversity and allow people to follow their own way of thinking. Not the usual didactic overkill.

Normally a speech by the RSS chief would not take more than a few minutes of TV coverage. On June 7, for over two hours he was shown on every TV channel. What a windfall! Bhagwat has every reason to be satisfied with Mukherjees 34-hour stay in Nagpur.

The ex-President gave his audience a lesson on Indian history. His theme was, The concept of nation, nationalism and patriotism. He paid tributes to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and mentioned quotes from Jawaharlal Nehrus Discovery of India. Nehru had written, I am convinced that nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other groups in India. That does not mean extinction of any real culture of any group, but it does mean a common national outlook, to which other matters are subordinated.

The most important part of Mukherjees speech came half way through his oration. This will be remembered for a long time. The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation. Indias nationalhood is not one language, one religion, one enemy. It is the perennial universalism of 1.3 billion people who use more than 122 languages and 1,600 dialects in their everyday lives, practise seven major religions, belong to three major ethnic groups- Aryans, Mongoloids and Dravidians, live under one system, one flag and one identity of being Bhartiya and have no enemies. That is what makes Bharat a diverse and united nation.

Mukherjee also called Hedgewar a great son of Mother India. He, thus, put him in the same league as Gandhi, Patel, Rajaji and Nehru.

******

Murphys Law is applicable to recent events in Karnataka following the Assembly elections. The Murphys Law says: If something could go wrong, it almost eventually will, sooner or later. Dr BR Ambedkar, in a speech in the Constituent Assembly, said, Constitutionally, morality is not a natural instinct. It has to be cultivated. Democracy in India is only a top dressing on the Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic. Is present-day Karnataka proving Babasahib right?
Bijay Sankar Bora

Bijay Sankar Bora in Shillong

The picturesque hill city of Shillong recently saw something sinister: Mindless violence was let loose on the streets for about five days since May 31 night, bringing to the fore the unresolved issues of relocation of Punjabi Lane locality inhabited by 350 families, mainly Sikhs, from the citys prime Bara Bazar area. The real estate prices in the area are now measured in multiples of a square-inch unit.

It all started with a minor altercation involving a few women from Punjabi Lane and three local Khasi boys on board a Meghalaya city bus. One of the boys was allegedly roughed up on May 31 morning but both sides quickly compromised in the local police station later. But the matter did not end there.

The incident was a godsend for the vested interests with strong political connections. They have kept a hawks eye on the prime plot of land inhabited by Sikh Scheduled Caste settlers for over a century. The local pressure groups seized the opportunity to such an extent that the new coalition government in the state came under a strain over relocating Punjabi Lane.

It is a ruthless political game in which our lives and property have been put at stake. Local tribals have been used as a tool, says Gurjeet Singh, leader of Harijan Sikh panchayat and president of the local Gurdwara committee.

People were incited to scare way the Punjabi Lane inhabitants, or possibly, raze the colony facing a host of legal issues. Over 100 police men were injured as they tried to contain violence that spread to other localities inhabited by non-tribals. The Army was called out thrice in two days. The streets were strewn with stones. The attackers, most of whom, as Chief Minister Conrad Sangma stated, were brought from a neighbouring district.

It was shocking to see marauders creating mayhem in our city in a manner that resembled stone-throwing mobs in the Kashmir valley. It is unprecedented in the entire North-East. The states economy has suffered. Frustrated youths were used to unleash violence in exchange for money and liquor, said RG Lyngdoh, former state home minister.

He said shifting Punjabi Lane is not as easy as there are serious legal issues. The erstwhile tribal kings, and later British rulers, had hired a few sweepers from Punjab. Over the decades the place has degenerated into a ghetto where living conditions are inhuman, said Lyngdoh.

The residents of Punjabi Lane have been used as a vote bank by politicians. The Sikh families should be persuaded to shift to a cleaner place. I hope the committee formed by the government would find a way out, says Patricia Mukhim, a journalist.

Though they are staying in accommodation provided by Shillong Municipal Board and Cantonment Board, most of the members of these safai karmacharis no longer work for the two organisations. Most of our educated youth are into business, says Joginder Singh, a community leader who also works in North Eastern Council as a karmachari in Multi-Tasking Service (MTS). The Punjabi Lane community has legal papers and it has the support of the Hima Mylliem (a traditional tribal council). So, it is very difficult for any government to relocate them unless the community relents on its own. The residents have won three court cases. They also have the permission from the Hima Mylliem to construct buildings, a school and religious places.

An official document says: Syiem (chief) and Dorbar (executive body), Hima Mylliem never issued any land document to the Harijan community, but recognized and respected them since the plot of land was allotted to them long back by the predecessor Syiems of Hima Mylliem.

Another document says the state education department in 1972 accorded the status of minority institution to the Guru Nanak LP School. Gurjeet Singh, secretary of the Harijan Panchayat Committee, claims their forefathers were settled in the area in the 1850s. He says after a fire damaged the LP School building in 1996, the Hima Mylliem did not object to the reconstruction.

The community has an official letter written by the Hima Mylliem in 2008 addressed to the chairman of the state electricity board that shows the land belongs to Guru Nanak LP School.
Sushil Manav

Sushil Manav in Chandigarh

A young Shailiza Mayal draws hushed inquiries from senior officers of Karnal as they sit for video conferencing on the Haryana governments flagship programme, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao. Whos she? whispers an officer. His colleague whispers back, explaining Mayals position. The officer had heard about Khattars governance associates, but had never met one.

There are 22 of them like Mayal, one for each district of Haryana. They are Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattars Good Governance Associates (CMGGAs). They are in their early 20s with a sound educational background and are drawn from top universities of the country. So, Mohit Soni, a CMGGA at Nuh, is a biotechnology graduate from Holkar Science College Indore. He is also a law graduate from Delhi University. Mayal is an engineering graduate from Savitribai Phule Pune University; Kritika is a history honours graduate from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. She also holds a postgraduate degree in social work in criminology and justice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

When the BJP swept to power in the state in 2014, Khattar, an old Sangh Pracharak, was suddenly catapulted to the post of chief minister. Nearly 15 months after coming to power Khattar introduced the concept of CMGGA. His government signed a memorandum of understanding with Ashok University, based in Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonepat. A few months before Khattars initiative, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had launched a similar programme  Chief Ministers Fellows in collaboration with the Indian School of Business (ISB). I was impressed with Naidus experiment, Khattar said.

Haryana appointed one CMGGA each in all districts in the first year of the programmes introduction in 2016. The first batch worked till June 30, 2017. The second batch of 22 CMGGAs (Charkhi Dadri was elevated as a new district last year) and another, Ankit Jain, posted at the headquarters for coordination, joined duties on June 15. Sources said the overlapping 15 days were kept deliberately to allow new CMGGAs to acclimatize themselves with the work environment.

Such type of intervention in governance is unusual. So, there were questions: who are CMGGAs? How are they appointed? What are their perks and other entitlements? What is their mandate?

Who are they?

Additional principal secretary Rakesh Gupta, who monitors the CMGGA programme in Chief Ministers Office, describes the initiative as a strategic collaboration between the state government and Ashoka University, which seeks to promote good governance through strategic planning, training and capacity building, development research and documentation and knowledge management.

As per the MoU, the Ashoka University facilitates the process of selection, recruitment, training, mentoring and monitoring the work of the Associates and also pays a stipend of Rs 50,000 per month to them under its corporate social responsibility (CSR). In the districts, the government provides them a vehicle for their job-related duties and an accommodation in the state rest houses.

The CMGGAs selection is done through a three-step process that includes vetting their curriculum vitae and profiles, telephonic interviews and finally face-to-face interviews, says Gupta. The aspirants must be a graduate in any stream and should be between 21 and 28 years of age.

Programme coordinator Ankit Jain says the one-year tenure follows a field and forum approach, wherein, Associates spend seven weeks in the field in their respective districts. Then they gather at Ashoka University to collate their findings, brainstorm solutions and prepare their presentations to the Chief Minister.

The Associates also receive constant training and support throughout the year and continue to learn through discussion forums, networking and other professional development opportunities. Their work is further structured into three essential work streams modules, capsules and pilots, each designed or facilitated by the CMGGA Programme Team. Each associate also undertakes additional projects to support the district administration, says Jain.

The modules are assignments focused on the flagship programmes of the state government, and are conducted uniformly and simultaneously by Associates in each district. For instance, the Modules include land revenue reformations and police service delivery reform, public grievances, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao and Swachh Bharat Mission. Modules typically run the course of an impact cycle, from initial research to ideation and implementation.

Capsules are short work pieces and vary depending on the needs articulated by the CMs office. Pairs of Associates work on a range of problem statements such as social audits in Panchayati Raj Institutions, monitoring public works by urban local bodies, skilling for schedule and backward caste women, digitization of milk diaries and setting up e-panchayats, says Jain. Depending on the needs identified through the capsules, these can be taken up as future work modules.

Pilots are new products, projects or programmes initiated by Associates in collaboration with the district administration. Each Associate is encouraged to initiate two pilot projects in their district. Following the successful implementation of a pilot at the district level it can be scaled across the entire state, says Jain.

Before leaving, the 2016 batch identified some best practices in their respective districts and compiled them in a compendium published by the government.

The experience

Shailiza says her tenure as CMGGA gave her an opportunity to understand how the government works and what the challenges are. As a CMGGA, I worked on the implementation of various projects across multiple departments. The CMGGA tenure has given us the opportunity to closely work with the top leadership in the district and support them in designing, planning, and implementing innovative projects, says Shailiza.

Mohit Soni who is credited with introducing monitoring and motivation system in government schools in Mewat, says CMGGA programmes provided him the liberty to work on his innovative ideas in the field of education in the backward district of Mewat.

Sirsa resident Arun Mehta, who is general secretary of Helen Keller School for Visually Impaired Children in the town, describes how due to an initiative taken by CMGGA Priyanka Sinha, the lives of students have changed for the better.

After noticing that they pursue their studies through old Braille books in the IT era, Priyanka visited National Association for Blind (Nabindia) in Delhi and after months of work, she was able to provide digital means of studies, says Mehta.

Hindrance in governance

Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress says the CMGGAs are a hindrance in governance. These are extra-constitutional posts and have no role in the administrative set-up. They can create confusion in the functioning of the administration.

INLD Abhay Singh Chautala, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, says the scheme is nothing but wastage of funds to accommodate governments chosen people. On the one hand, the state government is borrowing money for running its affairs, and on the other, it is wasting money on CMGGAs, says Chautala.

Naveen Jaihind, state convener of the Aam Aadmi Party, asks: When there is no governance in Haryana, what are the so-called good governance associates doing? There are many who say that since CMGGAs work closely with the Chief Ministers office, there could be a misuse of authority.

An incident of transgression of authority by a CMGGA occurred in August 2016 when Manisha Bhatoria, who was posted in Hisar, was attacked by people when she accompanied a raiding party of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam to stop an alleged power theft. She, however, managed to escape without injuries. It was alleged that since Manisha was not a civil servant, she was not authorized to enter anyones premises for a raid. The CM office said she had exceeded her mandate.
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La Malbaie (Canada), June 9

President Donald Trump charged into the Group of Seven summit at odds with key allies over US tariffs, then set out to defuse tension with friendly banter and offered vague claims of progress in trade talks.

But details were scant and clear differences remained at the summit's midpoint.

After days of verbal sparring over new US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Trump joined the leaders of major industrialised nations in an idyllic Canadian resort town yesterday.

On his way to the annual gathering, Trump laid out his fundamental grievance, saying that other countries "have been taking advantage of the United States on trade".

He injected additional controversy by suggesting that the G-7 offer a seat at the table to Russia, which was ousted from the group after it annexed Crimea.

Today, Trump was set to attend a breakfast focused on gender equality and a ceremonial scroll signing, before leaving the meeting several hours early, heading to Singapore for his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, missing sessions on climate change, clean energy and ocean protection.

Trump's recent moves, building on 18 months of nationalist policy-making, leave him out of step with the globally-minded organisation and have prompted speculation that the group could fracture into something more like the "G-6 plus one".

But in meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump stressed his friendships with the allies while continuing to insist he wanted to see changes on trade.

Trump bantered easily with Trudeau, joking that the neighboring leader had "agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers." And he emphasised a "good relationship" with Macron, saying they sometimes have a "little test" on trade, but predicting a positive outcome.

Still, the fundamental differences remained clear. Trump again railed against trade deficits with other countries and repeated that he may pursue separate trade deals with Canada and Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, while Canada would prefer to renegotiate the three-way deal.

Asked if Trudeau was upset that Trump would be leaving the summit in Canada early today, Trump joked, "He's happy." Macron said he and Trump held "open and direct" discussions, adding that he thought there was a way to get a "win-win" outcome on trade, though details remained unclear.

Both sides suggested some progress in NAFTA talks. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they were "close to a deal," but added that there was also discussion of shifting to a bilateral deal. A Canadian official said the leaders discussed accelerating the pace of the talks.

Trump spent yesterday participating in the rituals of the G-7, including the formal greeting by host Trudeau, a group photo in front of the sparkling St. Lawrence River and a working lunch of Arctic char and buckwheat salad.

Other members of the Group of Seven are Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. The European Union also attends.

Trump's relations with the others have hit such a low point that a key question was whether the seven countries can agree on a joint statement of priorities at the conclusion of the meeting.

Macron said on Thursday on Twitter, "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six-country agreement if need be." Trump said on Friday he thinks the group will produce a joint statement.

Before arriving at the Quebec summit, Trump injected fresh drama by asking why Russia wasn't included in the group.

"They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table," he said.

Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

In the US, special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election in his favour.

The comments drew a mixed response.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the issue "hasn't been raised around the G-7 table," though she said there have been "some direct conversations in bilateral meetings." She added "there are no grounds whatsoever for bringing Russia with its current behaviour back into the G-7".

In Paris, Macron's office said such a move wouldn't make sense and pointed out that the latest country to impose economic sanctions on Russia was the US Italy's new premier, Giuseppe Conte, tweeted that he agreed with Trump, saying: "Russia should go back into the G-8. In the interest of all." Russia seemed unconcerned.

State news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, "We are putting the emphasis on other formats." Over the course of his presidency, Trump has inflamed allies with his isolationist policies, including withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord and the international Iran-nuclear agreement.

"The rules-based international order is being challenged, not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor: the United States," said European Council President Donald Tusk.  AP
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Moscow, June 9

Russia has not asked to rejoin the group of the world's leading economies and is perfectly happy working with the larger G20, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday, a day after US President Donald Trump called for Russia's return.

Lavrov said on national television that Russia "never asked anyone to return" to the Group of Seven following the 2014 decision to suspend Russia over Moscow's annexation of Crimea.

Ahead of the annual meeting of G7 leaders Trump said Russia should be allowed back, a suggestion quickly rejected by Britain, France and Germany.

Lavrov said Russia is "working fine in other formats" such as the Group of 20, TASS state news agency reported.

"In the G20 ultimatums don't work, you need to reach agreements there," said the Russian foreign minister. The G20 "is a mechanism to reach consensus. I think this is most promising format for the future," he added.

Russia has bridled at Western sanctions over Crimea, but has not sought to compromise to rebuild ties.

Relations with the West have become even more strained in recent months after the poisoning in Britain of a Russian former double agent and his daughter, an attack London has accused Moscow of being behind.

However the Kremlin acknowledged on Saturday that President Vladimir Putin discussed during a visit to Austria earlier this week the possibility of Vienna playing host to a summit with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Putin said in a Russian television interview that a meeting with Trump would be useful. Dialogue may prove to be constructive, he said in the interview, the full version of which was released on Saturday.

He added that Russia was ready to "develop, deepen and normalise ties with the United States," noting that the next move was for Washington to make.

Russia was suspended from the group in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Merkel said EU countries at the summit agreed that the conditions to readmit Russia had not been met and even Moscow seemed to reject the suggestion.



Trump's presidency has been clouded by a federal investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by his campaign.



Both Moscow and Trump have denied the allegations.  AFP/Reuters
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Kabul, June 9

The Taliban announced its first ceasefire in Afghanistan since the 2001 US invasion on Saturday, with a three-day halt in hostilities against the countrys security forces that was greeted with relief by war-weary Afghans.

But the group warned the suspension of fighting for the first three days of Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, did not extend to foreign occupiers, who would continue to be targeted by the militants.

The unexpected move came two days after the Afghan governments own surprise announcement of a week-long halt to operations against the Taliban. It is the first time in nearly 17 years of conflict that the militants have declared a ceasefire, albeit a limited one.

All the mujahideen are directed to stop offensive operations against Afghan forces for the first three days of Eid-al-Fitr, the Taliban said in a WhatsApp message to journalists. But it added that if the mujahideen are attacked we will strongly defend (ourselves).

In recent years the resurgent militants, along with the Islamic State group, have stepped up their attacks on Kabul in particular, making it the deadliest place in the country for the civilians. Afghan political analyst Haroon Mir cautiously welcomed the Talibans move. We are very happy that the Taliban responded positively, Mir told AFP.

President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday declared an apparently unilateral week-long ceasefire with the Taliban. It would last from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr, Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19.  AFP

19 cops killed ahead of ceasefire
Protest against fuel price hike

Nepal Students Union (NSU), the student wing of the main opposition, Nepali Congress (NC), on Friday staged a demonstration to protest against the price hike in petroleum products in Kathmandu.
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RJP-N secy Lama dies from electric shock

Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) Central Secretary Tenzing Lama was electrocuted in Sunsari on Thursday. He died in his residence at Tarhara in Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City-20.
Senior neurosurgeon Devkota taken to Gorkha

Senior neurosurgeon Dr Upendra Devkota, who is undergoing treatment at the Bansbari-based Neuro Hospital of gall bladder cancer, has been taken to his home district Gorkha on Saturday afternoon.
President Barack Obama eats dinner at Bun Cha Huong Lien with Anthony Bourdain (right) in Hanoi in 2016. Photo wp.com

"It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain," the network said in a statement early Friday.

"His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much."

Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in Strasbourg by his close friend Eric Ripert, the French executive chef of New York elite restaurant Le Bernardin, CNN said. Bourdains paternal grandparents were French.

Bourdain was a huge fan of Vietnam and often spoke highly of the food, people and place. In an interview with Traveler magazine in 2014, the chef said: Going to Vietnam the first time was life-changing for sure; maybe because it was all so new and different to my life before and the world I grew up in.

The food, culture, landscape and smell; theyre all inseparable. It just seemed like another planet; a delicious one that sort of sucked me in and never let go.

He had been working on an upcoming episode of "Parts Unknown," an Emmy-winning show about travel, food and the peoples of the world.

A gifted storyteller, Bourdain explored haute cuisine and street food alike in his travels, passionately encouraging viewers to "eat and drink with people without fear and prejudice."

He often drank on the show and was public about his struggle with own demons, including drug abuse.

"We ask very simple questions: What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook?" Bourdain said in an acceptance speech for a Peabody Award in 2014.

"And everywhere in the world we go and ask these simple questions. We tend to get really astonishing answers."

Bourdain leaves behind a teenage daughter Ariane, from his relationship with his ex-wife Ottavia Busia. He had been dating Italian actress Asia Argento since 2017.

After a start washing dishes in a restaurant, Bourdain gradually rose through the ranks to become a chef.

His 2000 memoir, "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly," kicked off his celebrity career and led him to become a television host, starting with "A Cooks Tour" on the Food Network.

Authentic

"It cant be overemphasized. He has a level of authenticity you dont commonly get with people on TV," astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson said on CNN.

"Outside theyre whatever else. He was authentic. You knew that."

On the network, anchors struggled to hold back tears as they reminisced about their late colleague and urged people faced with despair or who know people struggling with depression to call a suicide hotline.

CNN anchor John Berman remembered his late colleague as a "human contradiction."

"He loved food. He wrote about food. He lived food. He thought we obsessed about food too much," Bermand said.

"He once said to me, I wish people would stop taking pictures of food and have more sex. You know, because what he really wanted to do was to show people life."

Bourdains death came just days after the suicide of another celebrity, designer Kate Spade.

"Success does not protect you from depression. It doesnt protect you from suicide," Jodi Gold, director of the Gold Center for Mind Health and Wellness, said on CNN.
Danang Rubber JSC listed its DRC stock on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX)

DRC will have to pay VND1.796 billion ($79,140), including VND1.235 billion ($54,420) for the penalty and VND561 million ($24,720) for late payment.

The State Audit Office of Vietnam revised the commercial discount and selling price reduction that DRC has subtracted from its revenue in 2016. This adjustment led to a change in the company's profit.

DRC claimed that the commercial discount and selling price reduction are essential to promote sales. At the end of each term, DRC calculates the total amount of discounts based on the sales to each client. This is discounted from the next transaction with the client and the company produces an adjustment invoice.

Thereby, in late 2016 the company subtracted these amounts to ensure the accuracy of the valuation of its expenses in line with the principles of accountancy.

DRC sent recommendations to the State Audit Office of Vietnam which were not approved. Thus, the company has paid the penalty issued by the Danang Department of Taxation.

DRC, originally an American military retreading factory, has been continuously developing for over 35 years. In 2018, it set a target of VND4.592 trillion ($202.3 million) in revenue, up 20 per cent, and VND205 billion ($9 million) in pre-tax profit, down 1 per cent on-year.
Facebook admitted to co-operate with four Chinese mobile manufacturers

Facebook may have made unspoken deals with many mobile manufacturers. Photo: AFP

The New York Times reported that on June 5, Facebook admitted to strike deals with four Chinese mobile giants, Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi, and TCL. Accordingly, the deal between Facebook and Huawei has been going since 2010, while the deals with other mobile manufacturers could have been going for similar durations.

Facebooks representative also said that its partnership with four Chinese brands remains effective, but the social network will soon cancel the deal with Huawei.

This particular round of scandal broke earlier this week, when Facebook was revealed to allow access to user data for 60 firms, including Amazon, Apple, Blackberry, and Samsung.

The New York Times also quoted Facebooks representative as explaining that the deals were a small part of its efforts to lure people to the social network site since 2007, and was made prior to the Facebook smart phone applications. The co-operation has allowed mobile manufacturers to look at users personal information, such as addresses, the number of likes, and status updates.

The co-operation with Facebook is supposed to help Huawei  the worlds second largest mobile manufacture  in creating its own application named social phone which will allow users to read messages and manage their accounts of many different social networks.

Facebooks representative stated that data shared with Huawei is located on users devices and is not moved to the Chinese mobile manufacturers servers.

The deals between Facebook and Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo, and TCL have been under control right from the start, affirmed Fransico Varela, deputy chairman of Facebook. We wanted to make it clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on device, not on Huaweis servers.

Facebook is getting mired down in data leak scandals left and right, getting to the point that there are hardly a couple of weeks between compromising information about the company making headlines in the global media.

These news uncovering newer and newer facets of the corporations dealing point at core-deep troubles in its attitude to and handling of the personal information of its users. It is either a blatant disregard of the sanctity of personal information or an astonishing inability to regulate the sprawling corporations inner dealing, as one hand does not know what the other is doing.

Huge impact on Vietnamese users

Xiaomi's online shopping website in Vietnam

With the huge market shares of the leading mobile brands as well as the popularity of Facebook among Vietnamese people (64 million registered users as of July last year), the deals could have contributed to these firms making bank in Vietnam.

Latest data released by market research company IDC shows that Samsung leads the Vietnamese smart phone market with 32 per cent, followed by China-based Oppo with 24 per cent. Tenderfoot Xiaomi and giant Apple rank at the third position, each with 7 per cent.

One year after entering Vietnam, Xiaomi has quickly gained a foothold and rose to the same standing as Apple. Xiaomi CEO Lei June also plans to expand market share as well create fresh competition between mobile brands in Vietnam. We will create more competition by offering premium configurations at reasonable prices, June added.

Lately, Huaweithe worlds second largest mobile manufacturer with 153 million mobile phones sold in 2017also announced plans to become the second best-selling mobile phone brand in Vietnam by 2020.
With local firms developing innovative solutions and international corporations looking to get a slice of the Vietnamese pie, the local fintech market may become hotly contested

A tale of the first runner-up

While the grand prize of the first ever Fintech Challenge Vietnam 2017-2018 (FCV) has found its deserving winner last week in Weezi Digital, a local fintech that thrives on biometric solutions; the first runner-up, KIU Global, is also an interesting case, considering how far it has come from the initial idea to a financial solution that addresses the needs of both banks and customers.

KIU founder and CEO Steven Landman shared with VIR on the sidelines of the Vietnam National Fintech Day last Wednesday, that it took him about a year to research and interview some 600 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) on his own before he could decide to give birth to an innovative fintech product like KIU. The solution was based on a problem that I learnt about from most of the SMEs I spoke to. I then designed the technology platform and it took another three years to actually develop the technology.

We realised that SMEs have no collateral and also no credit history. So what we did was develop a technology that makes it easy to collect data on the SME, from accounting all the way to inventory management and sales. And in turn, we built a credit scoring engine using artificial intelligence and other factors that allow us to generate a credit score in under 10 seconds, Landman said. We had found out that some 57 per cent of the 600 SMEs in the region, after interviewing, were not able to get a loan.

KIU is a cross-border B2B e-commerce platform with integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP), logistics, and lending, aimed at serving SMEs across Southeast Asia.

Partnering up with Hanoi-based VIB through the FCV competition, KIU now receives investment in terms of marketing from the bank, based on a profit-sharing model. We use banks as our reselling channel. Were in six countries and we have at least two bank partners in every country.

KIUs solutions, according to Tran Nhat Minh, VIB deputy CEO and CIO, are just what banks need in order to facilitate their lending to the SME community. Thanks to KIUs ERP product on a $7 monthly plan that an SME can sign up for, banks will have accurate and trustworthy data on the SME, to help them with the credit lending decision.

Weezi Digital, KIU, Wecash, Enablecode, Instant.vn, and Tradle are the cream of the crop among over 140 fintech companies, both from Vietnam and overseas, that signed up in the FCV competition, fortunate enough to have their voices heard and acknowledged by policymakers, investors, and industry experts. They will help promote the development of Vietnams fintech ecosystem through their innovative financial solutions.

Big dreams

One of the judges at the FCV, Buncha Manoonkunchai, senior director of the financial technology department at Bank of Thailand, said that he sees great prospects on the countrys fintech horizon. Vietnams fintech has shown strong potential in terms of innovation. And even though the infrastructure is not here yet, the ideas and the way they [fintech participants] think are so advanced. That kind of thing can lead to faster growth of the economy.

We think that through collaboration between the ASEAN countries, we can make fintech a useful tool to improve financial services for people across countries. Its crucial for ASEAN countries as a whole, Manoonkunchai said in an interview last week.

One could even anticipate a cross-border fintech ecosystem for ASEAN countries. ASEAN countries are geographically close and are closely linked with one another, but one country alone may not have sufficient resources for a technology platform. As such, a collaboration in fintech areas between countries, according to Manoonkunchai, could help Vietnam fulfil its financial inclusion goal and promote financial co-operation between Thailand and Vietnam, by using standards like standardised QR codes, for instance.

Local vs. foreign fintech

A borderless fintech ecosystem seems attractive. However, for a young fintech ecosystem like Vietnam, domestic fintech startups may suggest that the government come up with some kind of protection to further promote the growth of the sector.

In the view of Viet Linh Nguyen, head representative of Banque de Frances regional office in Japan, whether it is a local or a foreign fintech, when it comes to innovating financial solutions to address the countrys needs, the fintech itself is working toward the countrys best interest.

While being unable to comment on the policy of each country to protect or not protect homegrown fintechs, Nguyen said what he has seen during the FCV forum is that the ideas are just to answer needs and those needs are very national and very specific.

There is a mix. There are very specific domestic needs where you have to have an intimate knowledge of the country and its situation, and these needs can only be met by national players. And then there are situations which are a bit broader, for which you can have partnerships, mentors, economies of scale, transfers of technology, and collaborations, and in these situations you can import some foreign fintechs, either because its too costly to do at home or there is no local fintech yet.

To me, its not a question of national versus someone else coming in, its more that some are national, some are partnerships, and some are, for the time being, foreigners with some contacts in the country, trying to answer a need which is not answered by companies in Vietnam, he said.

Imported fintech

Local banks have long realised the importance of financial solutions and digital banking to improve their operations and customer experience, evident in the mass investment in technologies that banks have claimed at their recent annual general shareholder meetings. Yet banks can still be a bit slow in reacting to or adopting these innovations, as per accounts of KIUs Landman, or even be hesitant to partner up with fintech companies per se. Should they continue moving in slow motion, they could leave the market segment open for foreign players who are seeking to expand their networks in Vietnam.

Malaysia-based CIMB, which received its licence to operate in Vietnam in 2016, is expected to bring its digital bank to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries as soon as this year, as part of its attempt to expand throughout the region on a cost-saving measure. Singapores UOB is looking to do the same. Chua Chek Ping, UOBs executive director and head of strategic alliances and fintech, told VIR that digital banking is the right trajectory for the bank to expand in Vietnam, and it is currently working on a number of financial solution initiatives for the market.

For UOB, were particularly dedicated to Vietnam, and since UOB has gotten the local [incorporate], this allows us to expand a little bit further, but were not going to be able to open that many branches in Vietnam. We have a Ho Chi Minh City branch now and potentially, were looking for a couple more, said Chek Ping. But with such a vast geography, for UOB to be able to be involved in the banking and financial sector in Vietnam to support the whole community, we definitely will look at digital solutions, for instance bringing digital banking into Vietnam or bringing fintech solutions to support our growth strategy in Vietnam. To be able to support the local market and to be relevant, UOB will have to customise the solutions to the needs of local customers in Vietnam, whether it be working with local fintechs and local companies to develop localised solutions or using our existing solutions and customising them for Vietnam. I believe it will be a combination of both, Chek Ping added.
Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right party "Lega" (League) speaks to the press after a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella as part of consultations of political parties to form a government, on May 14, 2018 in Rome. (Photo: AFP/Andreas Solaro)

"The good God put Malta closer to Africa than Sicily," said the nationalist Salvini, as a new wave of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean prepared to land in Italy.

"It is not possible for Malta to say 'no' to any request for help," he continued.

Salvini's comments came after Malta reportedly refused to come to the aid of a migrant rescue ship Seefuchs, which was stranded with 119 migrants onboard in the Mediterranean due to violent sea conditions.

The ship had embarked on a mission coordinated by the Italian coastguard on Wednesday to rescue migrants aboard a dinghy in distress.

But after evacuating the dinghy, the Seefuchs was forced to call for assistance from a bigger vessel, unable to navigate in the deteriorating weather conditions without putting the migrants' lives in danger.

According to the German NGO Sea-Watch, which attempted in vain to assist the Seefuchs due to the adverse conditions, Valletta refused to offer assistance, apart from agreeing to accept medical evacuations by air.

The Maltese government was quick to deny it had done anything wrong.

"With regards to Search and Rescue, Malta acts in accordance to the international conventions that apply," the government said in a statement Friday evening.

"Malta will continue to respect these conventions with respect to the Safety of Life at Sea (maritime treaty), as happened in this latest case and indeed in each case."

70 HOURS IN ROUGH SEAS

The Seefuchs was finally reached on Friday afternoon by a tanker and an Italian coast guard ship and is expected to dock at the port of Pozzallo in southern Sicily in the evening.

The migrants on board were reportedly in a state of distress after spending 70 hours in rough seas.

Another 232 migrants, on board the NGO ship Sea Watch 3 are also set to disembark in the southern Italian state of Calabria Saturday morning after more than three days at sea.

Unconvinced by Valletta's statement, the bullish Salvini, issued a sharp response Friday evening.

"Can our Maltese friends tell us how many ships carrying immigrants docked in their ports in 2018?" he said in a statement.

"How many people landed, how many asylum applications were examined and how many accepted? Italy wants to solve problems, not create them."

Salvini - who is also deputy prime minister - has repeatedly promised to stop migrants arriving in Italy and speed up deportations.

He accuses fellow EU nations of abandoning Italy in the struggle to deal with migrant arrivals, recently announcing that Italy cannot be "Europe's refugee camp."

The southern European nation has seen more than 700,000 migrants arrive on their shores since 2013.

However, a controversial agreement between Italy's former centre-left government and authorities and militias in Libya has triggered a decline in overall arrivals of some 75 per cent since the summer of 2017.

But so far this year Italian authorities have still registered more than 13,500 arrivals.
Shrimp breeding and rice cultivation are rotated on the same field in Kien Giang Provinces An Bien District. - Photo nhandan.com.vn

Of the rice fields, 3,420ha will be used to grow perennial trees, 10,492ha for short-term crops, and 72,713ha for rotating shrimp and rice or fish and rice on the same field, according to the provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Mai An Nhin, deputy director of the department, said the conversion of rice fields was being done to suit the ecology of each area. This will increase income for farmers and establish concentrated agricultural and aquaculture areas that meet market demand, he said.

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province has instructed agencies to set up detailed plans to convert the rice fields and has also encouraged the establishment of agricultural co-operatives to produce a large quantity of agricultural products and improve profits for farmers.

In the 2017-18 winter- spring rice crop, about 150 rice co-operatives signed contracts with 10 companies to grow more than 32,000ha of rice, and were guaranteed outlets.

The province has improved the transfer of advanced techniques to farmers so they can produce high-quality agricultural and aquatic products for export.

Shrimp-rice farming

In the past, Kien Giang specialised in planting only rice, and in recent years, under the encouragement of local authorities, more farmers have rotated shrimp and rice in fields which lack fresh water in the dry season.

The province now has nearly 90,000ha devoted to the shrimp - rice rotation model, the largest area of its kind in the delta.

Duong Tuyet Nga, who has rotated farming shrimp and rice in her field in Hon Dat Districts Tho Son Commune, said the model had helped her family escape poverty.

Rotating shrimp and rice has a higher profit than planting only rice, so many households have switched to this model, she said.

Under the model, farmers plant rice in the rainy season and breed shrimp in the dry season on the same field.

The model offers farmers an average profit of VN21 million (US$925) per ha for a rice crop and an average profit of VN29 million ($1,300) per ha for a shrimp crop.

Dao Xuan Nha, head of the Hon Dat Districts Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau, said the model had reduced pollution and disease among shrimp.

The provinces shrimp-rice farming model includes one crop of black tiger shrimp and one rice crop a year, and two crops of white-legged shrimp and one rice crop a year.

The model produces clean rice and shrimp as farmers use less chemicals and the shrimp eat natural food in the fields. The model is suitable for areas affected by saltwater intrusion in the dry season.

The model produces about 300 - 500 kilo of shrimp and four to seven tonnes of rice per ha a year.

However, irrigation systems at shrimp- rice farming areas have not been perfected, so saltwater intrusion has entered deep inland.

In addition, farmers profits from a shrimp crop are much higher than that of a rice crop, so many farmers breed two shrimp crops in their fields and do not grow a rice crop.

The province plans to focus on investing in infrastructure and farming techniques for the shrimp- rice farming model and establish a brand name for these areas, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The province aims to have 90,000ha devoted to shrimp-rice rotation by 2030.
A view of Van Don, which is set to be one of the three special administrative-economic zones of Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

The delay will be between the fifth and the sixth session of the 14th National Assembly, according to the Government Office.

The draft Law on Special Administrative  Economic Units of Van Don, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc has been built thoroughly to instutionalise the Partys resolutions and the Constitution 2013 and create a legal foundation for the construction of the three aforesaid economic zones.

The bill had been deliberated at the fourth sitting of the 14th National Assembly.

At the ongoing fifth session, deputies, scientists, economists, experts and constituents actively contributed their opinions to the draft law.

The delay aims to successfully build three special administrative-economic units towards ensuring national defense and sovereignty and meeting the aspirations of legislators, voters and people nationwide, according to the Government Office.

Regarding the land lease duration, the Government will consider and submit to the National Assembly for adoption of regulations as prescribed in the Land Law. There will be no regulations on a special land lease of up to 99 years in special economic zones.
Taken on Mar 18, 2013, a Sri Lankan airline's Airbus A-340 carrying former president Mahinda Rajapakse lands at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala. (Photo: AFP/Ishara S Kodikara)

Dubai's flydubai gave no reason for the pullout from Mattala International, built by former strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse and financed with Chinese loans.

The airport - a five-hour, 250-kilometre (150-mile) drive from the capital Colombo - is located inside a wildlife sanctuary and smack in the middle of a migratory route for birds.

Several aircraft have hit birds since it opened in 2013 and two years ago the military deployed hundreds of troops to clear deer, wild buffalo and elephants off the sprawling facility.

The airport, which cost an initial US$210 million and employs some 550 workers in Rajapakse's home district, has failed to generate enough business to pay staff, let alone make a profit.

Rajapakse's administration had offered hefty concessions and initially attracted Air Arabia - which pulled out after only a few weeks - and flydubai.

Even Sri Lanka's national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines stopped flying to Mattala in 2015 saying the move saved them US$18 million annually.

Mattala will, however, remain an emergency alternate landing location for flights heading into Colombo International. Earlier this year the world's largest aircraft, the Antonov 225, refuelled there.

Other Chinese investments have also turned sour for the island nation, leading the government to warn last month of a looming debt crisis as it struggles to pay back the loans.

Last August, China took over the loss-making deep-sea port of Hambantota in the south of Sri Lanka on a 99-year lease under a US$1.1 billion deal, sparking particular concern in neighbouring India.

China has also lent other countries in Asia and further afield vast amounts of money for infrastructure projects being built under President Xi Jinping's signature Belt and Road initiative.

In April the International Monetary Fund warned China about saddling other countries with a "problematic increase in debt".
Halico's recent abysmal business performance made its stocks undesirable on the UpCOM

On June 8, 20 million shares of Halico (ticker HNR) were officially listed on the UpCOM at the reference price of VND31,900. However, after the first transaction session, no Halicos shares saw trading.

Even, the British multinational alcoholic beverages company Diageo Plc., the second largest shareholder of Halico with 45.5 per cent, gave Halico the cold shoulder.

This is no surprise because the firms listing occurred while it is flooded by massive losses.

The listing is part of Habecos plan to divest Halico due to its bleak business results, however, if the firm remains unmarketable for a long time, it may throw a wrench in Habecos plans.

Halico was Vietnams leading domestic branded spirit producer with the No.1 vodka brand Vodka Hanoi.

The firm reported soaring revenue in 2008-2011, with 2011 revenue reaching a record VND1.067 trillion ($46.86 million).

However, in the past years, business started going downhill.

Notably, in 2014, the company reported a revenue of VND397 billion ($17.4 million), with only VND30 billion ($1.3 million) of profit. In 2015, business deteriorated even further with the reported loss of VND21 billion ($922,426). As of the end of 2017, the firm reported a consolidated loss of VND255 billion ($11.2 million).
Investors are jumping ship as HSG's stock keeps falling. Photo: nhadautu.vn

zing.vn stated that foreign investor Tundra Vietnam Fund is not a large shareholder of Hoa Sen Group (code: HSG) since June 5, as its current ownership rate is 4.78 per cent (large shareholders are counted from 5 per cent).

Tundras divestment from Hoa Sen Group took place as the HSG stock has increased value three times to reach VND12,850 on June 5, after hitting the low-point in the past 52 weeks at VND10,600 on May 31. It is estimated that Tundra could earn VND17.5 billion ($770,925) from the divestment.

Reacting to the falling stock price, at Hoa Sen Groups shareholders' meeting in this January, Le Phuoc Vu affirmed that the firm is at the peak of its development. However, some products are losing market share, while the firms debts are constantly increasing.

Many large shareholders of the steel giant have been completely divesting HSG despite the low stock price, as they were unoptimistic of the companys future performance.

Most recently, Tam Thien Tam One Member Ltd., managed by Hoang Thi Hoang Xuan (the wife of Hoa Sen Groups chairman Le Phuoc Vu), sold its entire 19.24 million HSG shares, equaling 5.49 per cent of the charter capital. The transaction was performed with the value of VND230 billion ($10.1 million).

In this February, Amersham Industries Limited sold 600,000 HSG stocks. The foreign investor made quite a deal, as the divestment took place quickly and earned about VND14 billion ($616,740).

In 2014, Vietnam Enterprise Investment Ltd. sold 300,000 stocks. After the transaction, the firm retained 7.9 million HSG shares, equaling 2.25 per cent of Hoa Sen Groups charter capital, officially leaving the group of the firms largest shareholders.

In 2018s first five months, Hoa Sen Groups stock fell by 51.8 per cent, going from VND23,976 ($1.05) to VND11,550 ($0.5), scaring away shareholders. Thus, its market capitalisation was reduced by VND4.347 trillion ($191.4 million).

The firms first quarter financial report shows that its revenue growth increased by 23 per cent on-year but profit only reached VND87 billion ($3.83 million), only one-fifth of the figure from the same period last year.

Experts said that raising debts to maintain its market share (from 33.1 per cent in 2016 to 34.7 per cent in 2017) has reduced Hoa Sen Groups rates of return.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) meets with Premier of Quebec Philippe Couillard on June 8 (Canada time).-VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

At the meeting, Phuc thanked for the warm welcome he received in Quebec and expressed his impression of the local diverse and strong growth.

Vietnam values cooperation with Canadian localities, including Quebec, placing it as a priority in the two countries comprehensive partnership, stated the Vietnamese PM.

Couillard welcomed the Vietnamese high-ranking delegations attendance at the Group of Seven (G7) Outreach Summit and visit to Canada.

He said the establishment of the Vietnam  Canada comprehensive partnership in November 2017 is an important milestone in bilateral relations, serving as a drive to intensify friendship and cooperation between their localities.

Lauding collaboration between Vietnam and Quebec in recent year, especially in trade and education  training, Phuc suggested Quebec continue granting scholarships for Vietnamese students, supporting Vietnams participation in projects on climate change response, economics, and education within the framework of the International Francophone Organisation.

PM Phuc asked Quebecs authorities to facilitate the involvement of Vietnamese expatriates here in the local development and bilateral ties between Viet Nam and Canada.

The Premier of Quebec vowed to continue promoting cooperation expansion and academic exchange via the establishment of partnerships and student exchange programmes.

He pledged to create best conditions possible for Vietnamese expatriates to make contributions to bilateral relations.

Philippe Couillard requested Vietnam consider Quebecs proposal to set up a representative office in the country.

PM Phuc took the occasion to invite the Quebec Premier to visit Vietnam, which was accepted.

After their meeting, the leaders witnessed the signing of a joint statement on tertiary education between Vietnams Ministry of Education and Training and Quebecs Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

Investment opportunities to Canadian firms

PM Phuc also introduced to Canadian businesses the dynamic Vietnamese economy with improved investment and business environment and abundant opportunities for foreign investors while addressing the Vietnam-Canada business forum in Quebec on the same day.

Vietnam has recorded high economic growth, with import-export revenue reaching US$425 billion, foreign investment hitting US$37 billion in 2017, he noted.

The Vietnamese leader said that foreign investors in Vietnam have satisfied with the investment efficiency in the country, especially the opening of the economy with the engagement in various free trade agreements.

In March this year, Vietnam and Canada signed and are undertaking procedures for the ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Under the deal, Vietnam commits to removing nearly 100 percent of taxes, which means many Canadian goods will enjoy tax reduction and exemption in Vietnam.

The PM added that Vietnam is restructuring State-owned enterprises, including those in important areas such as aviation, power, oil and gas, telecommunications, and transport infrastructure. This is a good opportunity for foreign investors, including those from Canada and Quebec city to buy shares and become strategic shareholders.

He cited a multinational solar power plant with a capacity of 168 MW and an investment of $150 million that has been launched recently in Ninh Thuan province as an example of potential for cooperation between Vietnam and Canada.

He affirmed that Vietnam considers Canada as an important partner in the American continent, holding that the two economies can suplement each other without competition. Particularly, Vietnam has a strong agriculture sector and many industrial products, he said.

He said that the current trade revenue between the two countries at $6 billion and Canadas investment of $3.5 billion have yet to show the capacity of Canadian investors in Vietnam. He stressed that the two sides should work harder together to improve the figures in the coming time.

At the forum, PM Phuc also directly answered questions of Canadian investors.

He underscored that Vietnam always highly values foreign investment, and has protected the interest of foreign investors.

Vietnam is calling for more quality investment, especially in high added value products in global chains and environmentally -friendly ones, focusing on areas of infrastructure, renewable energy and high-tech agriculture.

The PM said that Vietnam has a golden population with 60 percent of labor force being young labourers. Each year, the country exports a large number of labourers trained in foreign languages. As a member of the Francophone, along with English, Vietnam has strengthened French language teaching with an aim to create high quality human resources serving socio-economic development in the future, he stated.

At the event, Quebec Mayor Regis Labeaume highlighted strenths of the city in electronics, energy, environment, materials, financial services, science and startup.

Meanwhile, Vice Governor of Canadas central bank Vincent Joli-Coeur spoke highly of reform of Vietnam over the past 30 years, while giving optimistic comments on the economic outlook and investment opportunities in Vietnam.

He said that among countries that the bank has presented in, Vietnam ranks first in terms of the opening for foreign investors, adding that Viet Nam has met criteria in both infrastructure and business ethics.
Retirement age will be rised since 2021

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue told the National Assembly (NA) last week that from 2021 onwards, the government will revise the retirement age under a very cautious and proper roadmap, so as to ensure both the nations target of retirement ages and the difference between mens and womens retirement ages.

Hue explained that for special professions, the retirement age can deviate by five years from the existing retirement ages, which are 55 for women and 60 for men. I want to stress that the NA will conduct thorough discussions before making a final decision.

NA deputy Huynh Thanh Canh, representing the south-central province of Binh Thuan, said that when he met with constituents, they complained about the rise in unemployment in Vietnam, from 7.03 per cent in 2015 to 7.34 per cent in 2016 and 7.51 per cent last year.

According to him, retirement ages are a very sensitive issue impacting tens of millions of people, including active workers and people about to enter the domestic labour market.

We must apply a strict roadmap in order not to shock the labour market. The revision of retirement ages will first have to rely on economic growth and solving unemployment, he said. If we dont generate jobs for those preparing to enter the labour market before raising the retirement age for existing workers, then we should not raise it at all. Thus, we will have to focus on production development and creating new employment.

Minister of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung reported to the NA last week that in addition to hundreds of thousands of jobless people in rural areas, over 215,000 university graduates, including many with masters degrees, are unemployed.

These people must be provided with jobs in the near future, Dung said.

It takes up a large portion of social resources and threatens social stability. Unemployment must be resolved before an increase in retirement ages is applied, Canh stressed.

Many NA deputies agree, including Vu Thi Luu Mai, representing Hanoi, saying that if retirement ages are raised immediately, the country will face social disorder and young people will find fewer employment opportunities. Also, it is not very likely that this policy would be welcomed by the majority of Vietnamese people.

Challenged by an ageing population and dwindling social welfare funds, Vietnam is planning to increase the existing retirement ages for both men and women. On May 12, 2018, the 7th plenary session of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam released three major resolutions, including one on social insurance reform, stressing the need for raising retirement ages. According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the Labour Code 2012 will be revised to raise retirement ages.

The MoLISA proposed two scenarios on raising retirement ages, starting from January 1, 2021. The first is to increase the retirement age to 60 for women and 62 for men, with a three-month increase added to the retirement age in each successive year. The second scenario is to lift the retirement age to 60 for women and 65 for men, with a four-month increase added to the retirement age in each successive year. The existing retirement age of 55 for women and 60 for men has been in place since 1960.

However, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) proposed to create a roadmap and start implementing an increase slowly and gradually in order to give people time to adjust and let the economy develop further. The only problem we still have is the difference between men and women. The difference between mens and womens retirement ages is an issue. People say that it is fair for women to retire earlier because during their lives, a majority not only work, but also carry a lot of the responsibilities in taking care of the family, which makes it more tiring for them, said Nuno Cunha, ILO senior specialist on social security.

People also say that women should retire earlier because their health is not as good as mens. This is a lie. On average, the life expectancy for women is higher than for men. In principle, womens health after the child-bearing age is as good as or even better than mens, Cunha said.

By retiring earlier, women receive a lower pension because they have contributed less and at lower wages than men, while living longer. This is why a fair approach would be to move toward the same retirement age for both men and women, to offer women equal opportunities to retire with a higher pension.
The equitisation of SOEs isnt attractive enough to potential private investors, Photo: Le Toan

These days, representatives from Indonesias embassy in Hanoi are actively trying to find ways to connect Indonesian enterprises with Vietnamese firms. They have worked with state-owned Vietnam Railway Corporation on finding opportunities for Indonesian firms to provide training, equipment, and consultancy, or even buy stakes in the corporation.

The railway firm (VRC) is planning to restructure its two subsidiaries, which are valued at about VND1.3 trillion ($57.7 million) in total.

Indonesian firms are interested in the equitisation of SOEs in many sectors including railway, oil and gas, electricity, and agriculture, an embassy representative told VIR.

However, the poor performance of many SOEs is discouraging not only to Indonesians, but to many other foreign investors, keeping them from purchasing stakes. Moreover, the particularly small rate of SOE stakes offered to foreign firms also makes it hard for foreign investors to engage in the operation of SOEs. This will prevent Vietnam from mobilising more foreign capital, he stressed.

Poor performance

The National Assembly (NA) was heated up last week as never before had a report by the National Assembly Supervisory Delegation on SOEs adherence to regulations on managing and using state capital during the period 2011-2016 been presented to all NA members.

In addition to highlighting some successful SOE equitisation cases, the report also showed a disheartening picture of SOEs six-year operations, with many firms suffering from losses.

Specifically, in 2015, the return-on-equity (ROE) of SOEs was only 2.1 per cent, far lower than the 5.5 per cent of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). Investment effectiveness of SOEs was also lower than that of Vietnams domestic private enterprises and FIEs, with the incremental capital output ratio (ICOR) in the 2011-2016 period of SOEs being 1.6 and 1.86 times higher than those of domestic private enterprises and FIEs, respectively.

In addition, during the 2011-2016 period, the ROE ratio of all SOEs was down by 39 per cent, and their return-on-asset decreased by 30 per cent.

Some SOEs have performed poorly, with great losses. Some SOEs  including PetroVietnam, Vinachem, EVN, and Vinacomin  have been found riddled with corruption and wastefulness, leading to state assets lost, said the report.

According to the report, SOEs information transparency even barely exists. Many SOEs were found to have committed serious violations in managing and using state capital, as well as investment procedures, leading to great losses of state capital.

For example, PetroVietnam lost VND800 billion ($35.55 million) due to its illegal investment in OceanBank. Vinacomin may suffer a loss of VND363.3 billion ($16.15 million) due to its ineffective overseas investments. Vinachem put VND6.84 trillion ($304 million), or 53.8 per cent of the firms financial investment capital, in long-term investments in five companies, and this investment may be difficult to recoup, according to the report.

Some SOEs also face a high debt-to-equity ratio, including Ca Mau Shipping Industries One-member Co., Ltd. (153.92) and Nam Can Port One-member Co., Ltd. (17.69). Meanwhile, some have provided their subsidiaries with loans which cannot be paid back, including Vinalines (VND457 billion/$20.3 million), Vinataba (VND60 billion/$2.67 million), Rubber Industry Group (VND102 billion/$4.53 million), and Phu Rieng Rubber One-member Co., Ltd. (VND180.6 billion/$8 million).

Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry representing Vietnams business community, told the NA that the management and usage of state capital and assets in SOEs in the 2011-2016 period was a sad situation.

SOEs should have played a leading role in the economy, but werent able to due to their ineffective operations. Their ICOR has always been far higher than those of domestic private enterprises and FIEs, said Loc, who is also an NA member representing the northern province of Thai Binh.

For example, in 2016, SOEs spent $10 to earn $1 worth of growth. However, domestic private enterprises and FIEs used only $5 and $6, respectively, to earn $1 worth of growth, Loc said.

Moreover, SOEs ROE has been not only very low, but also decreasing, from 6.5 per cent in 2012 to 4.6 per cent in 2016. What is more, SOEs revenue only rose by a mere 3 per cent in the 2011-2016 period.

Ironically, SOEs are performing poorly while the rest of the economy is bouncing back, with growth quality vastly improved. This means SOEs are generally going against the uptrend of the economy, Loc said.

State control remains

For more than two decades, the government has been boosting SOE equitisation as a way to attract more private investment and improve SOEs competitiveness. However, the desired results have not been achieved.

According to the report, despite equitisation, the state currently remains a major holder of SOEs stake, with the amount of stakes offered for sale still very low. Many SOEs only offer a negligible rate of 1-2 per cent of total stake to private investors. This has made it hard to attract private capital.

In late 2016, there were 583 firms where 100 per cent of charter capital was still held by the state.

In the 2011-2016 period, 426 enterprises completed their initial public offering (IPO). After these IPOs, total charter capital of these firms was VND184.254 trillion ($8.2 billion), of which 81.1 per cent was held by the state. Other stake holders include strategic investors (7.3 per cent), employees (1.6 per cent), trade unions (0.6 per cent), and other types of investors (9.4 per cent).

Breaking down the figures of these SOEs after their IPOs shows that 70 firms have the state occupying over 90 per cent of charter capital, including 15 groups and corporations such as Petrolimex (95 per cent), VnSteel (93.6 per cent), Vietnam Airlines (95.5 per cent), Airports Corporation of Vietnam (92.5 per cent), Lilama (98 per cent), and Viglacera (93 per cent).

In addition, 82 firms have over 65 per cent of stake held by the state, including Ha Tinh Trade and Mineral Corporation (83 per cent); Binh Dinh Export-Import Service, Investment, and Production Corporation (86.8 per cent); Cienco 8 (78.4 per cent); and Vietnam Livestock Corporation (78 per cent). In addition, the state also held more than 50 per cent of stake in 96 other SOEs, including Vinatex (53 per cent), Vietnam Pharmacy (65 per cent), and Vietnam Forestry Corporation (51 per cent).

Small percentages on offer

The Indonesian embassy representative told VIR that the equitisation process may prove to be meaningless, as the majority of SOE stakes were still kept by the state, which should perform the function of a regulator and facilitator, not that of a trader.

The government needs to clarify SOEs operations and equitisation. What can foreign investors do after they buy their stakes? Foreign investors want to see whether their rights can be protected after a stake purchase. They need to have the management rights to protect their investment in the enterprises, the representative said.

He said that if the government wishes to maximise revenue from equitisation and increase investor confidence, it is particularly necessary to deliver a transparent equitisation and divestment process, with all information about enterprises provided to investors.

According to NA members, many SOEs still only sell 1-2 per cent of their charter capital, with some calling it hardly even equitisation and even meaningless.

If the state continues to control the stakes, the performance of enterprises cannot be changed, because they are still managed by old people who are often unwilling to sell the stakes to private investors, said deputy Leo Thi Lich representing the northern province of Bac Giang.

Deputy Tran Van Minh representing the northern province of Quang Ninh stressed that with such low stake rates being on offer, SOEs will not be able to attract private investors, especially strategic ones.

If investors have a larger ownership rate, they can further pursue the reform of SOEs. It is extremely important to increase the ownership rate of strategic investors, who can bring in healthy financial sources and high technologies, as well as access to strong markets. This will ultimately benefit the state budget, Minh said. Reality shows that over the past few years, not many deals involving strategic investors have been made.

Currently, about eight deals between large SOEs and foreign strategic investors have been completed. The largest equitisation case in Vietnam so far was in 2013, with Japans Bank of Tokyo-Misubishi UFJ acquiring 20 per cent of VietinBanks stake for $743 million.

The remaining deals have had small stakes sold to foreign investors, such as Carlsbergs 17.08 per cent stake ($115 million) in Habeco, Mizuhos 15 per cent stake ($550 million) in Vietcombank, ANAs 8.77 per cent stake ($109 million) in Vietnam Airlines, HSBCs 18 per cent stake ($350 million) in Bao Viet Insurance, JX Nippon and Energys 10 per cent stake ($117 million) in Petrolimex, and Itochus 5 per cent stake in Vinatex.

Many have proposed that the government review the equitisation of all SOEs, including NA deputy Mai Thi Anh Tuyet from the southern province of An Giang.

Only SOEs operating in key sectors of the economy should be kept, and the remaining SOEs should be transformed into joint stock companies, Tuyet said.

Tony Foster, managing partner of Freshfields Vietnam, said foreign investors stand ready to spend billions of dollars on stakes in hundreds of Vietnamese SOEs, but they do not know how to do it.

It is because everything remains unclear. Why are large strategic sales still stuck? Foreign investors are facing many difficulties in participating in SOEs equitisation. The biggest obstacles are prices, the lack of transparency in the processes, the small percentages for sale, and unclear assets and rights, Foster said.

For example, the time it takes to complete equitisation is too long, while the stakes on sale remain too small. It has also been suggested that the government remove the foreign shareholding cap of 49 per cent to attract more potential investors that may be interested in the controlling rights of certain companies, he said.

The Indonesian embassy representative suggested that Indonesian firms are waiting for the government to lift the cap to 50 or 51 per cent.

The existing cap of 49 per cent is preventing foreign stake purchases, money flows, and especially governmental effort to achieve successful divestment of its SOEs. It is also causing difficulties for the government in mobilising more capital from private investors, which is sorely needed, considering the limited state budget, he said.

According to the Ministry of Finance, results from the equitisation of 350 SOEs in 2015 showed that one year after equitisation, these firms saw an increase in pre-tax profits (49 per cent), charter capital (72 per cent), total assets (39 per cent), and revenue (29 per cent). For example, Vinamilk saw its revenue rise 10-fold, with equity increasing 13-fold.
Joohee Han. (Photo: Queensland Police Service)

Rescuers said the chances of survival for 25-year-old Joohee Han had been "near zero" after spending nearly a week without food in the remote area.

Han disappeared on Jun 1 after telling friends she was going to climb Mount Tyson, a peak in bushland south of Cairns in northern Queensland state, police said.

She was not reported missing until Wednesday, when police, soldiers and emergency crews launched a search, finally locating her Thursday stuck in a deep ravine near a waterfall.

She was winched to safety by helicopter and taken to a local hospital suffering only minor injuries.

Han told rescuers she slipped while taking photos from a rocky outlook and was knocked unconscious for around five hours from the fall.

She tried crawling out through heavy undergrowth but could get no further than the waterfall, where she remained for six days.

"She'd managed to find in the ravine running water coming down the rockface. The entire time she was missing she'd had no food with her at all," said Hannah Gaulke, the Queensland Ambulance service flight medic who treated Han in the helicopter.

"Despite that, she's actually in really good condition ... in good spirits," Gaulke said.

"From all the data that is known, and from even the data the police have, this is a first for someone in these conditions, where temperatures overnight had dropped below 10 degrees Celcius," she said.

"She had minimal gear for survival and for that length of time her chances of survival were near zero."
Trump deepens G7 divide with call to readmit Russia, (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS KAMM)

As the heads of the top industrialised democracies embarked on a two-day G7 summit in rural Quebec, European leaders warned that Trump's stance on trade, climate, Iran and - now - Russia was setting him apart.

Already angered by Trump's imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium - and planning to respond with measures of their own that could spiral into a trade war - the allies now fear a rift in the united western front against Russian aggression.

Before jumping on Air Force One to fly to Canada, which is hosting the summit in La Malbaie north of Quebec City, Trump called for a return to the body's pre-2014 "G8" formula.

"They threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table," the US leader said before boarding the presidential jet.

US officials travelling with Trump admitted they had been surprised by Trump's suggestion, which one said was "not something planned," and Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said it had not been formally put on the G7 table.

But on the sidelines, European leaders scrambled to agree on a common position strongly opposing Russian re-admission.

Moscow was expelled from the rich nations club, which sees itself as a guarantor of rules-based order and the global economy, over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

While Italy's new premier Giuseppe Conte, head of a populist coalition, initially suggested he supports Trump's call, French President Emmanuel Macron assembled the European G7 leaders before the summit and confirmed unanimous opposition.

"We are in agreement that a return of Russia to the G7 cannot happen unless substantial progress is made in terms of the problems with Ukraine," Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Donald Tusk, the former Polish leader attending as president of the European Council, saw the call for Russia's return as part of a raft of unilateral measures imposed by Trump that have driven Washington apart from US allies.

"It is evident that the American president and the rest of the group continue to disagree on trade, climate change and the Iran nuclear deal," Tusk admitted.

Tusk warned that "the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor, the US."

And he said Trump's determination to bait his allies over trade and diplomatic engagements "would only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist."

Canada has been particularly outraged that Trump invoked a national security justification for his global tariff on steel and aluminum imports, even those from close US allies.

"We are very clear that Canada does not pose a national security threat to the United States," Freeland said.

"So this an illegal act. It is absolutely unjustified. We have already raised cases at the WTO and at NAFTA, and we will retaliate," she warned.

FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS

Trump was the last G7 leader to arrive and will probably be the first to leave on Saturday when he sets off for his nuclear summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

With unmistakable symbolism, the fractious Western democracies were meeting on the same day that China's President Xi Jinping welcomed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to Beijing.

Three decades after the end of the Cold War, the G7 nations are split over trade, climate and multilateral engagements such as the Iran nuclear deal.

And at the same time, the US president seems more at home with autocrats than with Washington's traditional allies.

The "America First" president's broadside before leaving Washington reinforced predictions that the Quebec G7 would be the first such summit to end without an agreed joint statement.

"All of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade," he said before flying out.

"We have massive trade deficits with almost every country. We will straighten that out."

Host Canada and its European allies are striving to put together a united front to oppose Trump's tariffs on aluminium, steel, cars and other exports, but the markets are rattled.

European and Asian stocks indices were down across the board Friday - despite a week of gains in the wake of robust US jobs data and easing political headwinds in Italy and Spain. In New York, the Dow dipped in early trade.

Macron and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who also sought friendship with Trump, made it clear they would prefer no consensus to a climbdown on trade.

'LAUGHABLE' POLICY

"The American president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six country agreement if need be," Macron said in a tweet.

Trudeau told reporters the US national security justification for the tariffs on steel and aluminium was "laughable."

On Friday, bilateral meetings preceded roundtable discussions. Later the leaders were to tuck into a dinner of lobster, asparagus and maple leaves nestled on a brioche at the end of the first day of talks.

The summit is being held at a luxury resort more than two hours' drive from the provincial capital, where more than 400 protesters faced off Thursday and Friday against police.

Previous G7 summits have seen large-scale anti-globalisation protests, but Trump was a main target of the demonstration as masked anarchists set fire to US flags and those of other G7 nations.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has asked the Government to strengthen the control of temporary imports for re-export of shrimp from India and Ecuador.- Photo VGP

VASEP said that China was moving to buy Indian and Ecuadorian shrimps rather than Vietnamese shrimps as they say it is larger in size and very cheap. VASEP wants the Government to minimise commercial fraud in this activity through the Northern Hai Phong Port to China.

This is one of the recommendations written in a letter that VASEP sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), as the price of shrimp has dropped significantly in recent times. It is expected to develop sustainable production and export of shrimp from Vietnam.

In order to share the current difficulties with shrimp farmers, VASEP said that suppliers of shrimp breeds should consider reducing prices of feeds and other necessary things for breeding, for the breeders.

Meanwhile, VASEP recommended the Government and MARD have support policies to encourage input suppliers to have a buying and selling mechanism with appropriate price policies for farmers, helping them overcome difficulties and stabilise shrimp price in the future.

VASEP also urged the Government to discuss this issue with the US side during high-ranking diplomatic activities so that they could quickly remove trade barriers, particularly the imposition of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp.

This is a big obstacle for the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp in the US market recently, the letter noted.

In the long run, to increase the value of shrimp in the international market, the Secretary-General of VASEP, Truong Dinh Hoe, said that Vietnamese shrimp must be bred in accordance with international standards such as Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Best Aquaculture Practices. Thus, Vietnamese shrimp will have the opportunity to be placed on shelves in large supermarkets at high prices and stable consumption.

However, Hoe said that small farmers cannot raise shrimp under international standards because of the high cost. Meanwhile, most Vietnamese shrimp are now produced from small ponds.

"Large shrimp farming is becoming an urgent and long-term necessity. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the model of shrimp farming co-operation as well as strong solutions for the building of shrimp farms according to international standards to get better results in the long term," Hoe said.

As planned by MARD, the Vietnamese shrimp industry will strive to achieve an export turnover of US$10 billion by 2025, with an average growth rate of about 15 per cent per year and keep the leading position of export turnover in the countrys seafood industry.

In the first four months of this year, the shrimp sector earned $1.02 billion, marking an increase of 13.8 per cent over the same period last year. However, in May 2018 the price of shrimp material decreased deeply causing psychological panic among farmers and may affect the export plan in 2018.
Mandalay Highland story

Myanmar is famous for golden pagodas

The Pyin Oo Lwin Highland in Mandalay province is Myanmars major flower and vegetable production hub thanks to its cool weather and ideal georaphic location. The affluence of Pyin Oo Lwin Highland reminds one of Myanmars richness in the past. The military coup in 1962 destroyed Myanmar but the country has strongly recovered since 2016 when the US lifted its embargo after 19 years.

However, it is not easy to achieve rapid economic development with 70 per cent of the population working as farmers.

San San Yi is a farmer and would like to change her life but has had to struggle for many years with her eight-hectare flower farm. Her lack of technology knowledge has hindered Yis efforts to learn new things like how to install and operate a water-efficient irrigation system or measuring the fertility of the land.

Everything has changed since she accepted an invitation to trial a smart farming app called Nextfarm of Mytel, which is officially launched on June 9.

This is an application to manage farming through sensors buried in the land. The app will provide owners with all the information needed for farming such as salinity, humidity and light intensity.

In the past Yis farming was based on the traditional knowledge and skills inherited from her ancestors, and much depended on the weather. Now she only needs to touch her mobile phone screen to know about the status of her farm and start watering from wherever she is.

Yi now hires 10 to 20 workers depending on her crop, but believes the expenditure on human resources will be cut by half in the coming time by Nextfarm.

Elsewhere, Kyaw Shwe, one of the millions of Myanmarese farmers to benefit from smart phone agricultural apps, told the Nikkei Asian Review that following the appearance of telecom companies in Myanmar, especially highly capable ones, he has accessed information and improved his output.

A few years ago no one in Kyaw Shwes village knew about mobile phones, but now the younger generations are helping seniors like Shwe use technology. This enables them to escape the frequent pattern of good harvests but low prices, debts and distress sale, which has haunted farmers for centuries.

Digitisation Express in Myanmar

Industry 4.0 comes to Myanmar

When the Myanmarese government ended the monopoly in the telecommunications sector in 2013, the mobile phone usage rate in the country increased several folds from the earlier 5 per cent within just a few months.

Officials and the media had predicted that when 90 per cent of the population, including 80 per cent were farmers, used smart phones, the economy would benefit, and this has come true now.

The entry of foreign telecom companies with the most modern technologies has created significant changes, not only in the economy but also the whole of Myanmarese society.

The newly established Mytel has brought about a revolution with its nationwide mobile broadband infrastructure (the only 4G network that covers the whole country with 30,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable).

Mytel is also the company that has brought the largest number of apps for daily life through its mobile broadband platform, and Nextfarm is a good example.

Mytel in fact provides a diverse range of services to help build a smarter society, such as smart agriculture solutions, traffic signal management system, electronic wallet, route surveillance equipment.

Mytel is the brand of Telecom International Myanmar, a joint venture between Viettel Global, which is a subsidiary of Vietnams Viettel Group, and two local companies, Star High Public Company and Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public.

The company has a mission of creating super mobile broadband for people in Myanmar to connect with each other and offering Industry 4.0 apps to help usher in a smarter society using.

Mytels apps, including those for farmers like Nextfarm, for the enteprise community like electronic wallet (QRCode and Prcode payment) and for the government (car number plate management system in Yangon), and other wider social services (satellite transmission of digital content and TV services through 30,000km of fibre cable), are becoming more and more practical and useful for Myanmarese.
In just one year Mytels 4G base transceiver stations have cropped up all over Myanmar, even in rural, mountainous and remote areas

In 2016, when Wai Zin Min was 20, Myanmar went through an event that would change its history: the US lifted its two-decade embargo on his country.

Min was a student at a leading university in Myanmar and understood that the lifting of the embargo would change not only his generation but also many future generations in Myanmar.

Right after that Myanmars economy and society underwent significant changes and opportunities arose for newly graduated people like Min.

He decided to work for Mytel, a newly established joint venture between Viettel Global, a Viettel subsidiary, and its two local partners, Star High Public Company and Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public, after turning down job offers from several other foreign companies. Min became one of the first Mytel technicians.

Min and his compatriots, along with 60 Vietnamese youths, created an army with 1,000 soldiers to race against time to deploy one of the most unique telecom networks in the world: installing 4G infrastructure for the whole country, a country where only 5 per cent of the population had used mobile phones a few years earlier.

The plan had an ambitious goal: by the time of its opening Mytel must have a network of 7,000 4G base transceiver stations (BTSs) and over 30,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable, which would enable Myanmar to have a real broadband network.

Mytel faced many difficulties in installing its huge infrastructure as the newest entrant in the market and because of extreme climatic conditions and poor transportation.

Myanmar has two seasons: wet and dry. The rainy season lasts only a month, but it rains day and night. Sometimes, the sun cannot be seen for 4  5 days and widespread floods 2  3 metres high occur.

The rest of the time is dry but the weather is severe. Myanmar is considered an Africa inside Asia.

1,000 Mytel workers had to install their telecom network over a total area of 700,000 square kilometres to be able to connect every single person.

Most of Myanmar is still poor and without good transport due to the long, crippling embargo. Most rural areas have primitive transportation. Mud roads account for the majority at district and commune levels.

During the rainy season no vehicle can traverse these mud roads, and materials and equipment are transported by hand.

Such difficulties did not deter the fighting spirit of the Vietnamese who arrived to work side by side with the Myanmarese. They did not even consider these difficulties challenges. They ignored them and focused only on the goals they had to achieve.

If you are a Viettel subscriber and travelling to Myanmar, you can get 4G services even in rural and remote areas at the same rates as in Vietnam

After one year of toiling what the Mytel staff accomplished was scarcely believable: they had dug holes, laid optic-fibre cables and installed base transceiver stations.

On June 9 Mytel, Myanmars 4th mobile phone company, will officially begin operations. Right in its first year Mytel will have telecom infrastructure with more than 7,000 4G BTSs and over 30,000km of optic-fibre cable.

Min and the other 1,000 Viettel staff have installed telecom infrastructure that none of the three existing mobile phone service providers can match. And of the 10 nations where Viettel operates, Myanmar is where it has installed infrastructure fastest, especially for 4G.

In Kachin, the northernmost state in Myanmar and the one with the countrys tallest mountain, locals were sceptical when first told they would be able to access the internet on their smart phones using 4G services provided by Mytel.

In the remote, mountainous and craggy place that is Kachin, it is incredibly hard to believe that a newly established mobile service provider can offer 4G services to the local people.

Mytel was the name chosen by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Myanmars armed forces, and means telecommunications network of Myanmarese," Min said. There is no reason for the fact that people who live in the capital and other cities can get 4G services but not rural and remote residents. This is our mission: to connect Myanmarese nationwide.

Like all other Mytel staff, Min is eager for the grand opening ceremony today.

Truong Vu Son, director of the Mytel office in Naypyidaw, capital of Myanmar, said: I have been waiting for the opening day for a very long time. His very long time refers to the one year and four months since he arrived in Myanmar.
Mytel was officially launched today

Mytel is the first and unique network operator in Myanmar that is invested the most modern technology named 4G technology nationwide after launching.

Mytel is only company providing the customer support channel via video call in order to answer all questions in Shan ethnic language (local dialect of Shan ethnic group in Myanmar who account for about six millions people while other network operators only support in Burmese and English).

In the first year of operation, Mytel has invested over 7,000 4G wave transceiving stations and over 30,000-kilometre optical cables that cover the whole Myanmar country.

Mytel has also, in addition to large-scale mobile bandwidth infrastructure, rendered many solutions where contribute to build a smart society namely: Smart agriculture solution (Nextfarm), Traffic lamp signal control system (Smart Light), Electronic wallet, Route controlling device.

Nguyen Thanh Nam, general director of Mytel said: Our objectives are to create a real information highway with nationwide 4G infrastructure which shall empower local people and Myanmar country in Industry 4.0. Viettel always strikes, as launching in many other international markets, to be the first-ranked on mobile bandwidth that improve significantly international telecoms infrastructure rankings in country where we invest in."

Giving speech in the grand-opening ceremony named Empower my Myanmar, General Min Aung Hlaing, the general commander of Armed Forces said: Todays event Empower My Myanmar is the significant milestone in history of Myanmar as well as an important landmark in cooperation relation between Vietnam and Myanmar in term of ICT. I do believe that Mytel shall obtain more and more success with experience and technology of Viettel Group  the network operator who have invested successfully in nine other countries in the world. I also believe that Mytel shall contribute to telecoms development as well as improvement of high-quality human resources for Myanmar."

Mytel has plan, in addition to business activities, to provide $80 million in 15 years for social projects in Myanmar, including 80 per cent of the budget shall be used to support education sector.

School internet is the first community project executed by Mytel provided that free wide bandwidth internet is lined to 1,535 schools all over Myanmar. Mytel shall moreover sponsor the annual budget in three years for International Informatics Contest and education management software development of Myanmar.

Among 10 international markets invested by Viettel Group, Myanmar is the fastest telecoms infrastructure implementation country where perform the first call named VoLTE (HD call) less than one year since the network launching date (February 11, 2018). This is currently the biggest foreign market of Viettel. Myanmar is expected to bring the active growth opportunity to Viettel.

Viettel must however cope with many challenges in which telecoms service usage rate in Myanmar has reached 75 per cent of population, cheap charge (call and data) (equivalent to Vietnams telecoms charge of 2 US cents per miniute), fierce competition of other network operators in Myanmar.

Challenges are waiting for Viettel, and we are confident in competing with other network operators in Myanmar by its experience in nine international markets along with an efficient and flexible business strategy, Nam sai.

Viettel has also, at the same time of grand-opening, announced the free roaming charge policy to Mytels customers who call from Vietnam to Myanmar and vice versa. This policy has formed a region of four countries without an international roaming charge if they use mobile network of Viettel, covering Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
A new global, satellite-based study of Earths freshwater distribution found that wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas drier. The data suggest that this pattern is due to a variety of human and natural factors, including peoples use and management of water, human-caused climate change, and natural climate cycles.

A NASA-led research team that included Hiroko Beaudoing, a faculty specialist in the University of Marylands Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), used 14 years of observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite program to track global trends in freshwater in 34 regions around the world.

The study, recently published in the journal Nature, also incorporated satellite precipitation data from the ESSIC-led Global Precipitation Climatology Project; Landsat imagery from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey; irrigation maps; and published reports of human activities related to agriculture, mining, and reservoir operations.

Freshwater impacted by climate change and humans

Using data taken from 2002 to 2016, the study suggests that changes in two-thirds of the 34 regions from California to China may be linked to climate change or human water use, such as large-scale pumping of groundwater for farming. Freshwater is present in lakes, rivers, soil, snow, groundwater, and glacial ice. Its loss in the ice sheets at the poles  attributed to climate change  has implications for sea level rise. On land, it is one of Earths most essential resources.

While some regions water supplies are relatively stable, others normally experience increases or decreases. But the current study revealed a new and distressing pattern. Co-author James Famiglietti of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement:

What we are witnessing is major hydrologic change. We see, for the first time, a very distinctive pattern of the wet land areas of the world getting wetter  those are the high latitudes and the tropics  and the dry areas in between getting dryer. Embedded within the dry areas, we see multiple hotspots resulting from groundwater depletion.

Famiglietti noted that while water loss in some regions is clearly driven by the warming climate, such as the melting ice sheets and alpine glaciers, it will take more time before other patterns can be unequivocally attributed to climate change, saying:

The pattern of wet-getting-wetter, dry-getting-drier is predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change models for the end of the 21st century, but well need a much longer dataset to be able to definitively say that climate change is responsible for the emergence of a similar pattern in the GRACE data. However, the current trajectory is certainly cause for concern.

The twin GRACE satellites launched in 2002 measured changes in Earths gravity field caused by movements of large volumes of water or other forms of mass on the planet below. Using this method, variations in terrestrial water storage were tracked until the GRACE mission ended in October 2017. However, the GRACE satellite observations alone couldnt tell the research team what was causing the apparent trends. Hiroko Beaudoing explained:

We examined information on precipitation, agriculture, and groundwater pumping to find a possible explanation for the trends estimated from GRACE.

The team found that across numerous regions, one of the big causes of groundwater depletion was agriculture, which can be complicated by natural cycles. California, which in 2017 produced more than half of the total vegetable production in the U.S., was a prime example. Decreases in freshwater caused by the states severe drought from 2007 to 2015 were compounded by groundwater withdrawals to support the farms in the states Central Valley and elsewhere.

A majority of Californias freshwater comes in the form of rainfall and snow that collects in the Sierra Nevadas, and then is managed through a series of reservoirs as it melts. When natural cycles led to dry years with diminished snowpack and surface waters, farmers and other Californians relied more heavily on groundwater.

Natural cycles of rainy and dry years also can cause large decreases and increases in regional amounts of freshwater. For example, in Africa, the western Zambezi basin and Okavango Delta is a vital watering hole for wildlife in northern Botswana. And during the 14-year study period, water storage in this region increased at an average rate of 29 gigatons (126 million Olympic swimming pools) per year from 2002 to 2016. This wet period during the GRACE mission followed a dry period of at least two decades.

Lead author of the paper Matt Rodell, who is chief of the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, said he believes this is a case of natural variability that occurs over decades in this region of Africa. He explained:

This is the first time weve assessed how freshwater availability is changing, everywhere on Earth, using satellite observations. A key goal was to distinguish shifts in terrestrial water storage caused by natural variability  wet periods and dry periods associated with El Nino and La Nina, for example  from trends related to climate change or human impacts, like pumping groundwater out of an aquifer faster than it is replenished.

The twin GRACE satellites, launched in 2002 as a joint mission with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), precisely measured the distance between the two satellites to detect changes in Earths gravity field caused by movements of mass on the planet below. Using this method, GRACE tracked variations in terrestrial water storage on monthly to yearly timescales until its science mission ended in October 2017. A successor mission, called GRACE Follow-On is undergoing final preparations for launch.

Provided by: the University of Maryland [Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.]

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iStock/Thinkstock(JUBALAND, Somalia) -- An American service member was killed in Somalia Friday and four others were wounded in a firefight with Al Shabab fighters, according to U.S. Africa Command (Africom).



"During an operation June 8, 2018, in Jubaland, Somalia, one U.S. Special Operations member was killed and four U.S. service members and one partner force was wounded as the result of an enemy attack," according to an Africom statement. "Names are being withheld pending next of kin notification. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the service members."



The American forces were advising and assisting a large force of 800 Somali and Kenyan military forces that was part of a multi-day operation in an area of Jubaland located 217 miles southwest of the Somali capital of Mogadishu.



"The mission's objectives were to clear al-Shabaab from contested areas, liberate villages from al-Shabaab control, and establish a permanent combat outpost designed to increase the span of Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) security and governance," said the Africom statement. "The U.S. provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission."



"The combined Somali National Security Forces (SNSF), Kenyan Defense Force (KDF) and U.S. force came under mortar and small-arms fire at approximately 2:45 p.m. Mogadishu time, killing one U.S. service member and injuring four U.S. service members and one partner force member," said the statement.



"One of the wounded U.S service members received sufficient medical care in the field. Three U.S. service members and the one partner force wounded were medically evacuated to receive additional treatment."



This is the second U.S. military fatality in Somalia in the last year.



In May 2107, Navy SEAL Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Kyle Milliken was killed in an al Shabab ambush. His death was the first U.S. military death in Somalia since 1993.



There are about 500 U.S. troops in Somalia on an advise and assist mission to help the Somali military in its fight against al Shabab, an al Qaeda affiliated terror group.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Anna Delvey. Photo: annadlvv/Instagram

The story of Anna Delvey, the Russian twentysomething who swindled New Yorks glitterati into believing she was a millionaire raising money for a new dynamic visual-arts center, has delighted New York Magazine readers across the globe. Now it may become a TV series. Vulture has learned that that Netflix and Shondaland have acquired the rights to Jessica Presslers story How Anna Delvey Tricked New Yorks Party People, with Shonda Rhimes herself attached to write. Its still way too early for casting, but if youre reading this Netflix, we have some suggestions.
Anthony Bourdain in Isfahan, Iran.

I recently invited friends from America to India and my family showed them the sort of food tour worthy of an Anthony Bourdain production, of the exterior but mostly the interior, to borrow an important distinction made in so many episodes of No Reservations and Parts Unknown, the late TV hosts most famous shows  whether hes in Iran, or in Maine. Bourdain understood that real life plays out in the home, where people feel comfortable, and where secret recipes come to life. My aunts treated my friends to the same curtain-unveiling, feeding them Jain food and Madhvist food, idlis and chutneys and steamed root vegetables and pickles prepared over the course of hours by a team of household help. My friends were visiting royalty, as Bourdain clearly is in every household into which he steps, his hosts expressions shifting from the hope on the face of the person wired to feel misunderstood  that he approve  to a realization that hes one of them, that they can chill out because he gets it. Hes not a royal, but a subject of the same tyrannical forces, great at wisecracking about them. With my friends, too, one aunt confessed that she felt relieved about her hosting abilities because these guests werent white. In America, their nonwhiteness isnt always obvious  the one, with parents from Iran; the other, his mother from Malaysia  but to my aunt the code written in them was clear: told in their names, their noses, their coloring. I just feel they get it, my aunt said to me as we walked into the street a few paces ahead of them, her tone making me wonder if shed ever said something similar about me, her American niece, though I feel as Indian as anyone else.

We all know what it is to feel not quite right wherever you are, to look one way and feel another, to be sized up by others based on split-second guesswork  and that was the magnetism of a Bourdain show, that he made the act of living at a time of mass interaction look easy. When Bourdain went to Rajasthan in 2006, I was just leaving college. I hadnt invited my first white friend to India, didnt even know a white person whod been to the country where I lived out every summer of my life since birth. The episode starts with a shot of the desert that could have been drawn by a Disney animator working off a text that would make Edward Said wince, but pretty soon you knew this wasnt that kind of a production, because Bourdain was in the frame, sitting on a camel, a grin on his face and a joke out of his mouth about how he was never going to make it anywhere going this slow. Such breaks from protocol made me feel at ease bringing Bourdain to my home  because thats inevitably how it felt when I watched him engage with brown folks and Indian accents, that he was my guest, my white friend, boyfriend even, in my ultimate fantasies. Simultaneously, he was me, the American niece who feels at home in India. He engaged without fetishizing, touristed with ease, in the way of a person whos been toggling between identities so long, the act of meeting a stranger from a strange land is the only familiar feeling.

Everybody has a Bourdain story, it seems; and for a lot of nonwhite people in this country, those stories take place in the countries their parents left, and in the American enclaves where they settled. One of the tweets that went viral yesterday, after news of Bourdains passing by suicide, was from Jenny Yang, an American comic born in Taiwan and raised in California. Bourdain never treated our food like he discovered it, Yang wrote. He kicked it with grandma because he knew that HE was the one that needed to catch up to our brilliance. I wish so much for his legacy to take hold in western (mostly white) food media culture. What a loss. Im so sad. Twenty-eight thousand people and counting retweeted Yangs tweet, a testament to the strain of alienation that runs through this country, where we are simultaneously in and out, heard and unheard, excited by the white man who finally makes us feel he gets it. I saw the tweet after a friend shared it, herself born in India and transplanted to Dallas some years after my own parents got to Texas and had me. She is a cook now, her aim the subtle but true marriage of all of her influences: Tamilian home cooking, Texas meat culture, hipster locavorism, suburban fast food. I saw her retweet and thought about how Bourdain made his way into all of our homes, talked to all our grandmas.

But the episode I remembered in that moment wasnt set anywhere with brown people, but in Maine, an episode of No Reservations this same friend insisted we watch soon after it aired. We did, in a barely furnished Austin apartment, windows open from the heat, with the reverence of new priests at the altar. The episode takes Bourdain to Maine under the tutelage of his camera guy, Zach, whos from the northern state. They hit up fancy establishments in Portland and Zachs family home, where they eat mystery bear and moose meat, found in the freezer the way the rest of us rediscover old Amys boxes. But its a scene at a traditional bean supper that stays with me, where Bourdain eats off a paper plate with Zachs home community. Watching the kids running around the cavernous space lined in long plastic tables, older people seated on their haunches and digging in, I felt I was watching a recasting of my own childhood, of lunches at the DFW Hindu Temple, where dozens, then hundreds, and now thousands of members walk the hot pavement and eat homemade food, commune without saying much, but with the familiarity of family. I saw a country I thought I knew expose itself to me finally, in the safety of its own home. At one of the long tables, Bourdain talks to grandmas, but theyre not from Korea or Vietnam or India  theyre Zachs, from Maine, and he asks them for stories about Zach. He knows they know more, about a man he spends most of his time with, than he does. Or they know different. Watching that scene years ago, I felt connected at the heart level, the Ill show you mine since you showed me yours level, the I know you wont mistake me level, to white people I didnt know, for the first time ever. Watching it now, I think Bourdain connected to everyone at the heart level all the time.
Anthony Bourdain. Photo: Mike Pont/WireImage

On Friday morning, Anthony Bourdain was found dead at the age of 61 in Kaysersberg, France, with the reported cause of death being suicide. Bourdain had been in the French commune shooting an episode of his popular CNN series Parts Unknown, and was discovered unresponsive in his hotel room by his close friend Eric Ripert. A day later, French authorities are now stating that they have no reason to believe Bourdains death involved foul play, with prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny ruling out the involvement of a third party. There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment, Rocquigny told the Associated Press, noting there were no signs of violence. Toxicology reports are currently being performed, Rocquigny added, with an autopsy being the top priority.
Emile Hirsch and Jameela Jamil. Photo: Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images

This week, it was announced that actor Emile Hirsch was joining the cast of Quentin Tarantinos upcoming film about Charles Manson, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which also includes Al Pacino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, and others. But on Friday, The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil slammed the move, as Hirsch had been arrested for attacking a woman  one of her friends  at the Sundance Film Festival just three years ago.

Cool. Emile Hirsch strangled my tiny female best friend until she blacked out at a party in front of dozens of witnesses at Sundance Film Festival (and was convicted) but Tarantino just cast him in a movie. INTENSE case of rich white male privelege eh? Cool. Cool. Cool.  pic.twitter.com/FkZNmK5fda  Jameela Jamil  (@jameelajamil) June 8, 2018

Cool, Jamil wrote on social media. Emile Hirsch strangled my tiny female best friend until she blacked out at a party in front of dozens of witnesses at Sundance Film Festival (and was convicted) but Tarantino just cast him in a movie. She added, INTENSE case of rich white male privilege eh? Cool. Cool. Cool.

The actresss comments stem from Hirschs 2015 assault of a Paramount Pictures executive at a nightclub during the Sundance Film Festival. Hirsch allegedly blindsided the woman, who was later identified as Dani Bernfeld, by coming up behind her, putting her in a choke hold, and throwing her on the ground. Hirsch had been drinking and said he didnt remember the details of the attack. In August 2015, he pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor assault.

Jamil continued that the attack left her friend with PTSD for three years. She also said the actor never paid for the womans treatment or apologized to her.

Left her with three years of PTSD and never paid for her treatment, and still hasnt apologized to her. Not today Satan, not today... pic.twitter.com/VvO3rwX9L5  Jameela Jamil  (@jameelajamil) June 8, 2018

Emile Hirsch has not apologized for this heinous crime, but is re-joining Hollywoods elite. Slow clap to everyone involved in this movie. So many other actors who havent attacked women to choose from... pic.twitter.com/UAwwKVE0Kj  Jameela Jamil  (@jameelajamil) June 8, 2018

Slow clap to everyone involved in this movie, Jamil added. So many other actors who havent attacked women to choose from 
Michael Peterson, the man accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen, in The Staircase. Photo: Netflix

The true-crime docu-series has risen to prominence in recent years with the success of HBOs The Jinx, the podcast Serial, and a suite of Netflix contributions, most notably Making a Murderer. But the genre as we know it today was really launched more than a decade ago, when The Staircase, French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrades verite view of the murder case against North Carolina author Michael Peterson, aired on British and American television in 2005.

That eight-episode original series  broadcast on the Sundance Channel here in the United States  was followed in 2011 with two more episodes dubbed The Staircase 2: The Last Chance. Now Netflix has acquired the whole thing, added three new episodes about the judicial proceedings that occurred in 2016, and is streaming The Staircase as one collective whole. Consuming all 13 episodes makes it clear why the docu-series is considered a true-crime pioneer: It humanizes a man accused of committing a horrific crime, provides evidence that hes been railroaded by the system, and, because it follows events surrounding the case over nearly a 15-year period, provides a profound education in the complexities and flaws of our legal system. In a way, The Staircase is like a true-crime version of the Up series, albeit on a much more modest scale. It is compelling, but like many entries in this genre, not exactly an objective work of journalism.

On the night of December 9, 2001, after watching the movie Americas Sweethearts and enjoying some wine together by the pool in back of their Durham home, Michael Peterson claims that his wife, Kathleen, left him by the pool and went inside. Later, Michael found her lying at the bottom of a staircase inside their home. He believed she must have fallen and called 9-1-1. Kathleen died at the scene and not long after, Peterson was arrested and accused of killing her.

As the series shows us, during a 2003 trial, the prosecution lays out a case against him, alleging that lacerations discovered on Kathleens skull during the autopsy are consistent with a beating rather than a fall. Other incriminating bombshells are dropped, including the fact that Michael is bisexual and had encounters with men outside of his marriage. Its also an eerie coincidence that a close friend, Elizabeth Ratliff  whose two orphaned daughters were adopted by Peterson and his first wife, Patty, and were raised later by him and Kathleen  was found dead in 1985 at the foot of a staircase after what was thought to be a stroke.

I wont go into too much detail about the case because true-crime shows like this one are always more fascinating when the information being presented feels at least somewhat fresh. But Petersons case was high-profile enough that plenty of people may already know that prosecutors and some of their key witnesses undeniably overreached to present physical evidence, and other types of evidence, as definitively damning against the defendant. If The Staircase proves one thing, its that the arc of the legal system is long as hell, and doesnt always bend toward justice.

It also proves that cases as long as this one dont necessarily ever bring closure. The most recent batch of episodes, which follow a noticeably aged Peterson (whos now on house arrest and contemplating the prospect of another trial or the possibility of entering an Alford plea), does not once and for all answer a central question: What happened to Kathleen Peterson that night? De Lestrade gives Peterson the opportunity to tell his story to the camera, something he never does on a witness stand, and he gives a persuasive account of what he has said all along: that he found his wife at the bottom of the stairs, and he doesnt know exactly what happened beforehand because he wasnt present in those moments. All he knows is the horror of finding his wife in a pool of blood, with splatters on the walls that would eventually become the subject of much debate in a courtroom.

But even David Rudolf, Petersons long-standing attorney, says that while he believes his client is innocent, well never know what really happened on that night because the only people who do are the deceased and her husband. Its also notable that Peterson admits that he fibbed about certain personal matters. Is he capable of lying about other things, too?

Still, its hard to come away from The Staircase not siding with Peterson, in part because the evidence to convict simply isnt there  officials in Durham County obviously botched their handling of the case  but also because the film is presented so much from his perspective. The amount of access that de Lestrade is given to his subject and his legal team in workplaces, homes, prisons, and courtrooms is truly astonishing, and it gives The Staircase a sense of real intimacy that distinguishes it as a docuseries landmark. But with that access and perspective comes a sacrifice of full objectivity.

There are elements of the prosecutions case, including the fact that the Petersons had financial issues that may have motivated Michaels interest in his wifes substantial life insurance policy, which The Staircase does not address in significant detail. In a different kind of documentary, the now-famous owl theory, which posits that Kathleen was attacked outside the home by a swooping owl or some other bird of prey, whose talon marks would explain those head lacerations, might have been the focus of an entire episode. (Title of episode: The Owls Are Not What They Seem.) It is mentioned only in passing in The Staircase.

The Staircase also does not spend much time at all on the life of the victim; what we know about Kathleen, an accomplished business woman and executive at Nortel, is conveyed mostly through the grief experienced by her accused husband and their fractured family, which includes Margaret, Martha, and Michaels sons from his first marriage, Clayton and Todd, as well as Kathleens daughter from her first marriage, Kaitlin, and Kathleens two sisters. That last trio, who get some, but not much, screen time in the series, all believe Michael Peterson to be Kathleens killer while the rest of the family steadfastly supports him. During court testimony in the final episode, Candace Zamperini, the more outspoken of Kathleens two sisters, makes a point of noting that The Staircase was made without her cooperation or consent. She also implies it has served as a propaganda tool for the accused.

There is no question that The Staircase may have helped bolster Petersons case, much the way that Making a Murderer has done, years later, for Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, to the point of raising issues for the Supreme Court to consider. That is not a bad thing given the egregious missteps made by law enforcement in both proceedings, and that, in the context of The Staircase, certainly confirm that Peterson did not receive fair treatment. But its still important to remember that even in a probing, well-made, humanistic documentary like this one, the story may only be a partial one.
SINGAPORE (AP)  A Kim Jong Un lookalike was detained and questioned upon his arrival in Singapore on Friday, days before a summit between the North Korean leader and President Donald Trump.

The Hong Kong-based impersonator, who uses the name Howard X, is in the city-state for summit-related promotions by a mall and seafood restaurant.

He said the police officers who stopped him at Singapores Changi Airport searched his bags and questioned him for about two hours before letting him go. He said he was told to stay away from Sentosa Island and the Shangri-La Hotel.

Kim and Trump are to meet Tuesday at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island and Trump is expected to stay at the Shangri-La during his visit to Singapore.

The impersonator, whose real name is Lee Howard Ho Wun, said police asked if he had been involved in protests around the world, including those by pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. He said he told them he had been at the scene of Hong Kong demonstrations as a musician playing the drums.

However, I never rioted and dont plan to ever riot. I told him (police officer) that I ... would never do this in Singapore because it is against your rules to protest, Wun told The Associated Press.

In a statement, Singapores Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said Wun was interviewed for about 45 minutes.

As part of the immigration clearance process, travelers to Singapore may be subject to additional interviews and/or screening. These procedures are conducted at all Singapores checkpoints, the authority said.

Demonstrations in Singapore can only be held in a designated area, the 2.4-acre (0.9-hectare) Hong Lim Park, and require park approval. All other gatherings require a police permit.

Later Friday, Howard X and Dennis Alan, a Trump impersonator, held hands and walked around Merlion Park, a popular tourist destination. They posed with mock chili and black pepper crab dishes and took photographs with curious passers-by.

Im here to stay. I dont think they will try and kick out the president. It wouldnt be good press for Singapore, Howard X said.

Nobody started talking about a meeting between Kim Jong Un and President Trump until we suggested it at the Olympics, Alan added, referring to their appearance at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February.

It all started with us. If theres a peace prize that anybody should get, we should get it, he quipped.

Indonesian Janette Warokka thought the impersonators were the real deal.

Its so shocking for me. I dont know why those two famous guys come here, she said.

Raul Rio, a teacher from Texas, managed to take a selfie with the pair. They certainly look like the real ones. It was fun to see them, he said.
Lauderdale County investigators, the US Marshall's, and One Place of the Shoals investigators arrested a Lauderdale County man for sexually abusing two girls.

Jaun Fuentes is charged with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual assault, and sexually abusing a child under the age of 12.

Investigators said Fuentes is an acquaintance of the victims family and even drugged them during some of these attacks. The victims told investigators Fuentes has been abusing them since 2010. Investigators said the victims would wake up to Fuentes touching them while they were sleeping. Another family member told deputies he saw Fuentes put sleeping medication and other over the counter pills in his victims milk at night.

Deputies say the youngest victim told a school counselor about what Fuentes was doing to her. That's when investigators got involved and the other victim came forward. He is being held at the Lauderdale County Detention Center on a $125,000 bond.
Friday marks the one year anniversary of the deadly bus crash that claimed the life of 17-year-old Sarah Harmening.

The crash happened on June 8th, 2017 in Atlanta. A group of teens from Mount Zion Baptist Church were traveling to the airport to board a plane for a mission trip in Africa.

Saturday, the Church is holding a "serve day" to honor Harmening's life.

"Serve day is our way of showing the community that we love, honor, serve and worship Jesus Christ because in the wake of the tragedy our community was so so very loving to us," said the Kevin Moore the Senior Pastor.

Mount Zion Baptist Church is expecting around 300 church members to volunteer for their "serve day" on Saturday.

The church is teaming up with local organizations along with schools in the area to do yard work and help people who live near the church that need projects done.

"We have projects 6-year-old can do, 85-year-olds can do and everything in between," said Associate Pastor Britton Latham.

He was in Africa last June preparing for the youth group's arrival when the bus crash happened that killed Sarah Harmening.

"Sarah had a deep and abiding love for people and love for the lord. She had a gentle quiet spirit where she was always sort of in the background, but always working and always serving always encouraging other people around her," Latham added.

One member of the Church told us being a part of serve day is important to her.

"I wouldn't want to be doing anything else but to give back to the community to honor her memory and to lift up Jesus," said Lee Polk.

Everyone told us about the impact Harmening left on their Church.

"She was really one in a million. She had such a servant's heart, so kind, compassionate, and caring. She babysat my kids and they loved her. They love her still," Polk added.

Church members will meet at Mount Zion Baptist Church early Saturday morning for their "serve day" to honor Sarah.
Florence fire officials are still on the scene of a fire in downtown Florence and multiple businesses are still without power.

Potts and Young Law firm on East College Street caught fire at about 3 A.M. Thursday morning. Firefighters battled the fire for over 12 hours and were still putting out hot spots Friday morning.

A portion of East College Street is still shutdown and fire officials said they will be on the scene for at least the next few hours. They have brought in bulldozers to knock down the walls of the law firm to make sure hot spots are out.

Fire officials said the fire started from a wall outlet so the cause of the fire was electrical.

"We don't have any power. We had to cut all the power, but hopefully with the work of everyone we will be back on Monday," said Dick Jordan who works at M.J. Carter Insurance.

Jordan's insurance building is right next to the charred remains of the law firm. Firefighters were able to stop the blaze from spreading into other buildings.

"They did a great job on keeping the fire contained to the Potts building. We did have a little smoke naturally but it's not anything we can't fix," said Jordan.

The utility department had to cut power to Jordan's business along with three others because of the fire. Those businesses won't have power until Monday. Fire officials believe the fire started In the attic area. We're told the fire actually started to melt firefighters gear.

"The building has a lot of obstacles inside with the way it's constructed and added onto during the years," said Florence's Deputy Fire Chief Tim Anerton. "By the time they [firemen]were getting to where the fire was their personal protective gear was starting to break down showing signs of melting and damage."

Anerton said the building was build in the 1890's and had layers of different roofs over the original one, then a metal roof on top which trapped the fire. Anerton said the building recently had a routine inspection and passed.

"There is a transition in what you call modern and legacy building construction. This building was up to code," said Anerton.

Officials said they do not believe the fire was intentionally set. Florence fire officials said they used millions of gallons of water on the fire.
DICKSON, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee man charged with killing a sheriff's deputy is now facing federal charges in addition to his state murder case.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a joint announcement with U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran on Friday that "At the Department of Justice, we back the women and men in blue."

The federal charges against Steven Joshua Wiggins include carjacking resulting in Dickson County sheriff's Sgt. Daniel Baker's death; using, carrying and shooting a gun while committing a violent crime; having that violent crime result in another person's death; and being a convicted felon with a gun.

Federal prosecutors say Wiggins fired 10 times, wounding Baker with six bullets, after the deputy realized that the suspect's vehicle had been stolen.

They say Wiggins then placed Baker's body in his patrol car drove it for miles into a rural area where he set it on fire.
A 15-year-old girl was killed in a car accident Friday afternoon in Edgecomb, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office.

Four female teenagers were traveling in a car along Parsons Point Road around 2 p.m. when the vehicle left the road and hit multiple trees, according to authorities.

The driver of the car, a 15-year-old girl, was pronounced dead at the scene. She did not have a driver's license, according to authorities.

The three passengers, a 14-year-old and two 15-year-olds, were hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening.

All four were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash. Speed and inexperience are believed to be factors in the crash, according to authorities.

None of the teenagers inside the car have been identified.

The events leading up to the crash, including how the unlicensed driver gained access to the car, are under investigation.
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Bill Clinton "on the mend" after hospitalized with infection
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By WestKyStar Staff & Senator Mitch McConnell Jun. 08, 2018 | 10:40 PM | WASHINGTON DC

In April, Senator McConnell introduced the bipartisan measure with Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and it has garnered support from an additional 24 Senators. This development comes at an appropriate time as earlier this week the Senators cheered the passage of their bipartisan resolution designating June 4-10, Hemp History Week.





The Hemp Faming Act legalizes hemp as an agricultural commodity by removing it from the list of controlled substances. It also gives states the opportunity to become the primary regulators of hemp production, allows hemp researchers to apply for competitive federal grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and makes hemp farmers eligible to apply for crop insurance.





Securing the Hemp Farming Act as part of the 2018 Farm Bill has been a top priority of mine. I would like to thank Chairman Roberts and the cosponsors of the Hemp Farming Act  especially Senator Wyden and Representative James Comer in the House -- for supporting those efforts. I look forward to continuing to work with my Senate colleagues on this and many other issues important to Kentucky agriculture as we move towards consideration of the Farm Bill, said Senator McConnell. As a result of the hemp pilot program, which I secured in the 2014 Farm Bill, Kentuckys farmers, processors, and manufacturers have begun to show the potential for this versatile crop. Todays announcement will build upon that progress to help the Commonwealth enhance its standing at the forefront of hemps return to American agriculture. I look forward to continuing to work with my Senate colleagues and my partners in Kentucky  including Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles -- to grow hemps bright future.





Hemp has proven itself as a job-creating growth industry with far-reaching economic potential. Its just common sense that farmers in Oregon and across our country should be allowed to cultivate this cash crop, said Wyden, the lead Democratic sponsor. Our bipartisan legislation strikes Americas outdated anti-hemp laws from the books so American consumers can buy products made with hemp grown in America. Im grateful to Sen. McConnell for his leadership in getting the Hemp Farming Act into the Senate Farm Bill and Im proud to keep working with our bipartisan cosponsors  Senators Merkley and Paul  to pass our bill into law.





The Hemp Farming Act of 2018 builds upon the 2014 Farm Bill, which included a provision secured by Senator McConnell to legalize hemp pilot programs. Congressman James Comer (R-KY) is the leading voice on the issue in the House of Representatives.

The Senate Farm Bill must now be approved by the full committee. Following approval, it will go the Senate floor for consideration.



U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was successful in securing the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 in the Senate Farm Bill, which was released today. Senator McConnell, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, worked with Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS), to ensure that his legislation to legalize industrial hemp was included in the farm policy bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee will officially consider the legislation on Wednesday, June 13.
By Kim Jae-kyoung



SINGAPORE  U.S. President Donald Trump will fly into Singapore and check in at The Shangri-La Hotel on Sunday, two days ahead of his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to hotel officials, Friday.



They said Trump plans to spend four days from June 10 to 13 and leave a day after the summit, which is due to begin June 12 at 10:00 a.m. (KST).



The North Korean leader is also expected to arrive in Singapore on Sunday. Reuters reported on Friday that Kim will land at Singapore's Changi airport on Sunday, citing a source involved in the planning of the trip.



It is unknown if the same-day arrival of the two leaders was decided through negotiations of the two countries. It's possible Trump and Kim could meet secretly somewhere in the city-size state before their first official summit on Tuesday.





A group of western men, presumably members of the U.S. Secret Service who will guard U.S. President Donald Trump, board on mini buses at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, Friday. A hotel official said that they arrived today and checked sites and facilities at the hotel. / Korea Times photo by Kim Jae-kyoung



Trump to check in Sunday evening



"President Trump is scheduled to check in at our hotel on Sunday evening and check out on June 13," a Shangri-La official said on condition of anonymity.



"A group of bodyguards from the U.S. government for Trump arrived today and they checked sites and facilities at the hotel. I think more people from the U.S. will join tomorrow.



Since Sentosa's Capella Hotel was announced as the summit venue, there has been growing speculation on where President Trump would be based during his stay here.



This is the first time a hotel official has confirmed his stay at the 792-room five-star hotel sitting on land off Orchard Road.



The Korea Times first reported the delegation from the U.S. will be unpacking its bags at the hotel designated as a special event area by the Singapore government together with the Capella Hotel.



The U.S. Embassy in Singapore reserved most of the rooms at the hotel from June 8 to 14 for the summit.



The White House said Thursday Trump plans to cut short his visit to the G7 Summit in Canada, Saturday, and fly directly to Singapore for his planned meeting with Kim.



"President Trump will depart the G7 Summit at Charlevoix at 10:30 a.m. Saturday," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.



"The president will travel directly to Singapore from Canada in anticipation of his upcoming meeting with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, Tuesday."



As of Friday afternoon, security at the hotel and surrounding areas, according to spot checks by The Korea Times, was not that tight but another Shangri-La official said it will be increased greatly on June 10.



"From Sunday, those who are not staying at our hotel must go through tight security checks," the official said.

"People and cars entering the hotel will be subject to spot checks and inspections. I think security will be much tighter than during the Shangri-La Dialogue held earlier this month."



The Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia's highest-level annual security summit attended by defense ministers and military chiefs from 28 Asia-Pacific states. This year's summit ended last Sunday.





The Korea Times reporter Park Si-soo contributed to this article from Seoul.
At the Korea Vietnam Culture Communication Center in Guro-gu, Seoul, November 2011, Vietnamese women who migrated to marry Korean men sing the national anthems of both countries after graduating from a class where they learned about Korean culture and language. Korea Times file



By Ko Dong-hwan



Fewer international marriages in South Korea are ending in divorces. Often hastily arranged marriages are arranged through agencies, usually involving Korean men and foreign women. There can be a high risk of a split because of cultural barriers that couples cannot overcome before wedlock. But thanks to an international marriage guide program that the Ministry of Justice introduced in 2011, the divorce rate has fallen from 115,000 to 7,100 in 2017.



First tested for six months in October 2010, the program was officially launched in March 2011. Korea's immigration laws now state that Koreans who want to marry citizens of China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Thailand, or invite them to Korea after marrying them, must attend the four-hour program offered at one of 15 immigration offices in Korea and acquire a program-completion license to apply for international marriage certification.



Yun Byung-seung, Deputy Director of the ministry's Immigrant Integration Division, told The Korea Times the program was run by people with a plenty of experience in consulting about international marriages and people who have so far enjoyed a successful international marriage. Participants get to know the past cases of international marriage that were either successful or ended in a split.



"The program explains cultures of countries from where spouses come to Korea to marry and settle, mostly from Vietnam and China," said Yun. "It helps the soon-to-marry Koreans understand their future spouses and their cultural backgrounds, as well as informing others interested in international marriage to understand the concept better."



With Korean men as the grooms in at least 90 percent of international marriages, with their brides as migrants, the program aims to enlighten in advance Koreans about their future spouses to lower the risk of friction, including problems based on communication errors because Koreans rarely get enough time to study the language of their new spouse.



From 2010 until 2017, almost 77,000 Koreans took the program. The number of international marriage certificate applications increased as well. The ministry surveys every six months Korean spouses who had completed the program, with 80-90 percent of respondents saying they benefited from the program.



Most of those who took the program were Korean men in their 40s with a high school diploma, who were marrying Vietnamese women.



The program comprises four sessions  about the cultural and social aspects of countries of foreign spouses, the process of obtaining an international marriage license, case studies of good/bad international marriages, and protecting human rights.



"It may be short and provide only basic information," Yun said. "But for those who need a pedestal to improve their relationships with foreign spouses, the program is a good starting point."



Foreign spouses from the seven countries do not need to learn the program because they usually learn the Korean language and customs before coming to Korea.



The program, which accepts people only through online applications, varies in content based on the nationalities of the applicants' spouses. It uses a pool of instructors, two to three per session, and textbooks for each country. The pool has a varying number of instructors for each of the 15 immigration offices nationwide, excluding branch offices and those at airports.





In this photo from March 2011, marriage migrants from Mongolia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia serve elderly South Koreans at a seniors' welfare center in Sujeong-gu, Sungnam, Gyeonggi Province, as voluntary work. Korea International Cooperation Agency President Park Dae-won, third from left, and the agency's honorary ambassador and then-Hannara Party Rep. Cho Yoon-sun, second from left, joined in. Korea Times file
The former owner and former manager of a nursing home in the town of Otsego are both facing several endangerment charges.

The Daily Star in Oneonta reports that the former owner of what is now called Centers Healthcare, Joseph Zupnik, and former manager Daniel Herman are each charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person. Two of those counts are felony charges.

Zupnik, who bought the former Focus Otsego facility in 2014, cut staff and payroll to the point that residents were at risk of harm, according to a criminal complaint filed last month. Herman was the manager at Focus Otsego at the time.

NEWSChannel 2 spoke with Zupniks attorney on Friday and he confirmed the charges. He also said the home was facing millions of dollars in losses, and that his client was unaware of the alleged staffing issues.

The facility was purchased by a new ownership group, Centers Healthcare, in January of this year. The new owners are not named in the criminal complaint.

AllOtsego.com reports that if a guilty plea is not agreed upon by July 18, a conference will be held to determine if the case will be turned over to a grand jury.

We have reached out to the New York State Attorney Generals Office for additional information, but our calls have not been returned.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The parents of a 34-year-old man who died at a state-run facility for the disabled are urging New York lawmakers to require such facilities to report cases of abuse, neglect or unexplained deaths to 911.

Christopher Blair was found dead in his room at the Valley Ridge facility last April after complaining of difficulty breathing the day before. Judy Merkley says caregivers ignored her pleas to help her son.

The woman and her husband were at the state Capitol this week to lobby for legislation that would have required staff to call 911 when her son was found. They say that would ensure an independent investigation by local authorities.

Those investigations are now handled by the state. Officials say a review of Blair's death is ongoing.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Two rabid animals have recently been found in Herkimer County, according to the county's Public Health department.

Public Health officials say a stray cat from the town of Manheim was recently sent to Wadsworth Laboratory and it was confirmed to be infected with the rabies virus.

A bat from the city of Little Falls was also sent to the lab recently and confirmed to be infected with rabies.

Health officials are reminding Herkimer County residents that rabies is endemic in Herkimer County and surrounding areas, and all bites or possible exposures need to be reported to the local health department.

Exposure to the rabies virus is fatal to people, pets and other animals, but it is very preventable by making sure that indoor animals are vaccinated and kept up-to-date with their vaccinations to prevent infection. Unvaccinated animals that are exposed to a rabid animal must be euthanized or quarantined for six months.

The Herkimer County Public Health department will be holding a rabies clinic June 14 at the Dolgeville Fire Department, from 5:30-7 p.m. The clinic is an opportunity to vaccinate any unvaccinated animals in the area.

Here is a complete list of rabies clinics in Herkimer County for 2018:
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Chance to explore scenic landscape across region during Wrexham Walking Festival!

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jun 9th, 2018

A voluntary walking group in Wrexham is encouraging people to join them for a week of walking throughout the regions natural beauty spots.

The Wrexham Walking Festival, an annual event which is organised by Walkabout Wrexham & District, is taking place from 10th to 16th June, 2018.

The group is made up of volunteer walk leaders and different representatives from the community who arrange free walks through funding, fundraising and donations.

Walks take place throughout the year and all over Wrexham and the surrounding areas.

During the week, people of all ages and abilities are invited to enjoy a series of walks exploring the beauty and history of North East Wales and the Dee Valley. Walks are graded depending on difficulty and are led by trained leaders.

All walks are free with the group only asking participants wear suitable clothing and boots.

Local Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths is a long-time supporter of the group and said: As well as promoting the natural beauty and history of our region, the Wrexham Walking Festival is all about encouraging people to live healthier lifestyles and I commend Walkabout Wrexham & District for all their efforts.

Their annual festival has attracted people from across the UK to visit Wrexham and North East Wales and I hope this years event will be the most successful yet.

For updates and more information, visit the website www.walksinwrexham.com or contact the Tourist Information Office in Wrexham.
Update: teenager missing from Ponciau found safe

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jun 9th, 2018

Update: We are told by a family member that she has since been located.

Original information below.

Police have issued the above picture of Kyla Dawn Brewin aged 17.

Kyla is missing from the Ponciau area near Wrexham.

Police say she has not been seen since Tuesday (5th June).

Police added: She is possibly in the North Wales or Merseyside area. Any sightings should be reported to North Wales Police quoting reference 22436

There is no further description or detail as of yet.
In a radio interview yesterday, Andrew Hastie, who chairs the Australian Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, pointed to the real driving forces behind a new bipartisan push for the rapid passage of proposed foreign interference laws.

Hastie, a member of the Liberal-National Coalition government and former SAS officer, said Australias role in the US-led Five Eyes intelligence alliance made the country a soft underbelly for authoritarian regimes seeking to get secrets from the United States.

The Five Eyes network links Australias spy and electronic surveillance agencies to the US National Security Agency and its counterparts in Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

Hastie told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio: We should consider ourselves a target and its really important we build resilience into our political system  Its really important we have these laws passed, enacted and operational.

On Thursday, Hasties committee handed down a report, with the unanimous support of its opposition Labor Party members, strongly endorsing the Espionage and Foreign Interference (EFI) Bill, a key part of the legislative package. The report suggested 59 amendments, essentially designed to reinforce the bills focus on criminalising alleged Chinese influence and many forms of political dissent, especially anti-war opposition.

Hasties interview was an attempt to back Attorney-General Christian Porters demand, issued on Thursday night, for parliament to swiftly rubberstamp that bill and another major provision, the Foreign Interference Transparency Scheme (FITS) Bill. Porter said the EFI bill had to be passed in the week beginning on June 18 and the FITS bill a week later.

Hastie said warnings and private evidence given to the committee by Duncan Lewis, Australias director-general of security, made this essential. During his public testimony, Lewis, who heads the domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), claimed that Australia faced unprecedented levels of foreign meddling.

Never before in our history have we had so much espionage and foreign interference being conducted on our shores, Hastie asserted, echoing Porter and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Asked if he could elaborate on the nature of the threat posed, however, Hastie said he could not go into specifics. Instead, he referred to equally unsubstantiated US intelligence allegations of Russian interference in Britains 2016 Brexit referendum and the 2016 US presidential election.

Then Hastie declared: What we cant have is radical transparency. Questioned on what he meant by that, he said: Radical transparency is Julian Assange dropping a whole bunch of Commonwealth secrets out for public consumption.

This is probably the first time that a government representative has mentioned Assange, an Australian citizen, for years.

Hastie is an increasingly prominent figure in the Australian political establishment. Two weeks ago, without consulting Turnbull, he dramatically invoked parliamentary privilege to use secret FBI information to accuse an Australian Chinese billionaire of conspiring to bribe a UN official.

The latest remarks by Hastie, who recently received intelligence briefings in Washington, are doubly significant. First, they underscore the intense pressure being applied to the Turnbull government by the US military-intelligence establishment to step up its commitment to the US military confrontation with China, Australian capitalisms largest export market.

Since World War II, the Australian ruling elite has relied on the US alliance for its own security and predatory operations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, but Washingtons escalation of the conflict with China has provoked rifts, especially among sections of business most dependent on Chinese markets.

Second, Hasties statement demonstrates the critical importance of the global campaign being conducted by the International Committee of the Fourth International and World Socialist Web Site, to demand freedom for Assange. The US government is seeking to put the WikiLeaks editor on trial for espionage, which carries the death penalty, because he published leaked files exposing US war crimes and anti-democratic intrigues around the world.

After six years of confinement in Ecuadors London embassy, where he was granted political asylum in 2012, and 10 weeks of being kept incommunicado by the Ecuadorian government, Assange is in grave danger of being forced into the hands of the British and then US authorities.

As part of the international campaign, the Socialist Equality Party in Australia has called a demonstration in Sydney on June 17 to demand that the Turnbull government secure Assanges release, which is his right as an Australian citizen, and guarantee his protection in Australia from US extradition.

Hasties denunciation of radical transparency not only represents a further threat to Assanges situation. It makes clear that the bills target any investigatory journalism that aims to lay bare government war plans, lies and propaganda, as well as political activities that endanger ruling class interests.

Hasties intervention followed an unsuccessful bid by Attorney-General Porter to insist that it is utterly critical to have the laws in place this month to stop foreign agents perverting democratic processes during the campaign for five by-elections due on July 28. Porter failed to specify any threat.

Yesterday, Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne contradicted Porter, saying there was no rush to pass the bills. Pyne told the Nine Network: These laws and the by-elections are not linked at all.

Nevertheless, Hastie said he was now very confident of quickly getting the bills into law because of Labors bipartisan support for them. His enthusiasm was shared by Labor leader Bill Shorten, who said Labor and the Coalition were in this together on national security.

Our security apparatus is stronger and our nation is safer because of the work Labor has done in partnership with the government, Shorten told Fairfax Media.

The Labor leader spoke of his partys critical and constructive role for years in improving the governments national security legislation. His comments point to the purpose of the amendments that Labor has joined the government in proposing.

As with all the national security laws adopted since 2001, initially in the name of fighting terrorism, Labor has crafted amendments to impose draconian measures while claiming to insert balancing protections for civil liberties. When in office, it has introduced similar bills itself.

A full review of the proposed EFI Bill amendments to which Labor has agreed is not possible in this article. In general, they are designed to clarify vague definitions of offences such as sabotage, espionage, advocating mutiny and foreign interference, in order to better focus them.

Some terms of imprisonment, including for far-reaching new secrecy offences, are to be marginally reduced. Journalists and editorial staff employed by mainstream media outlets can argue a limited public interest defence for exposing official crimes, but ordinary citizens will have no such protection.

No details have been released of proposed amendments to the FITS Bill, which will establish a public foreign agents register. In response to corporate concerns, however, Porter indicated that executives and lobbyists connected to multinational companies would be spared the requirement.

These modifications only confirm the analysis and warnings made by the WSWS. While nominally directed at combating improper influence by any foreign power, the bills are aimed, in particular, against China as part of US preparations for war, and constitute an all-out assault on fundamental political and democratic rights.
At the direction of the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is radically revising its method for determining health and safety risks associated with toxic chemicals, considering only the impact of exposure in the workplace and direct consumption of the toxins, but not the longer-term impact of the diffusion of such substances into the air, water and land.

A report in the Friday edition of the New York Times characterized the decision as a big victory for the chemical industry, which effectively guts enforcement of a law passed in 2016 requiring the EPA to evaluate hundreds of chemicals, many of them in common use, and determine if they should face new restrictions or be withdrawn from the market.

According to the Times, as it moves forward reviewing the first batch of 10 chemicals, the EPA has in most cases decided to exclude from its calculations any potential exposure caused by the substances presence in the air, the ground or water, according to more than 1,500 pages of documents released last week by the agency.

The agency will consider possible harm caused by workplace exposurei.e., in the manufacturing of a chemicaland by direct consumption where the chemical is normally used, as with perchloroethylene, a suspected carcinogen widely used in dry-cleaning. But the accumulating runoff of perchloroethylene into rivers and streams, into the air, or into landfills will not be studied, even though 44 states have found the chemical in drinking water.

Two of the senior officials involved in this decision-making come directly from the chemical manufacturing industry. Nancy B. Beck, who oversees the toxic chemical unit of the EPA, was previously an executive at the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an industry lobby. Another official involved is Erik Baptist, a former lawyer for the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the oil and gas companies, many of which have chemical subsidiaries.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Trump administration is systematically weakening the EPA and seeking to dismantle key new authorities and mandates Congress just gave it under the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act. The actions taken by EPA include an indefinite delay on bans of high-risk uses of three dangerous chemicals: methylene chloride, N-methylpyrrolidone and trichloroethylene.

The EDF warned of the capture of the EPA by cronies of the polluting industries, giving Nancy Beck as a prime example of a senior official at the American Chemistry Councilthe chemical industrys primary lobbying arm. In her new job, she is shaping policy on hazardous chemicals, making decisions that directly affect the financial interests of ACC member companies.

In some cases, Beck has introduced language written by the ACC directly into EPA mandates, the environmental group charged.

Just in its risk analysis for the first 10 chemicals assessed under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the EPA will discount the effect of an estimated 68 million pounds a year of emissions, according to an EDF analysis.

The Times added, based on its review of hundreds of EPA documents, that other changes in the interests of polluters narrow the definitions of certain chemicals, including asbestos." The newspaper continued: "Some asbestos-like fibers will not be included in the risk assessments, one agency staff member said, nor will the 8.8 million pounds a year of asbestos deposited in hazardous landfills or the 13.1 million pounds discarded in routine dump sites.

All told, more than 70 lawsuits have been filed against EPA regulatory actions, nearly all of them challenging agency actions that were aligned with corporate interests and aimed at increasing the risk to the general population from toxic substances being released into the air and water or dumped into ordinary landfills rather than specially prepared sites.

Also Thursday, the EPA issued an advanced notice of proposed rule-making indicating that it was going to largely scrap any consideration of social costs and social benefits in the formulation of anti-pollution regulations, limiting rules instead to the immediate cost and benefit for the corporations involved.

A few days earlier, on June 1, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the agency would no longer evaluate asbestos in homes and businesses as a health risk, even though the death toll from asbestos exposure is estimated at 12,000 to 15,000 people a year in the United States alone.

The EPA has also sought to suppress a study by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that suggested much lower levels of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and perfluorooctane acid (PFOS and PFOA) for human health and safety than suggested by the EPA. These chemicals are in widely used substances like Teflon.

A coalition of more than 50 public interest groups issued an appeal June 7 for the immediate release of the suppressed HHS study on perfluorinated chemicals in drinking water. In a letter to HHS, the groups wrote that the family of bioaccumulative and persistent chemicals known as PFAS are potent toxicants linked to cancer, liver and thyroid damage, developmental impacts, and numerous other adverse health effects, including harming our immune systems." The letter added, "The government should be sharing information about these dangers, not hiding it.

Congressional Democrats have made repeated attacks on EPA administrator Pruitt, but these have largely revolved around his evident personal corruption, including accepting gifts from industry lobbyists and other petty transgressions. There has been little effort to highlight the colossal impact on public health of the get out of jail free card issued by the Trump EPA to every major corporate polluter.

The Democrats, like the Republicans, do the bidding of corporate America when it comes to any serious threat to their profit interests. While they posture as more environmentally conscious, this has as much substance as their pretense to be pro-worker, while the death toll of workers killed and injured on the job mounted throughout the Obama administration.

And it was under Democrats as well as Republicans that such atrocities as the poisoning of the water supply of Flint, Michigan and other cities took place, all in the service of boosting corporate profits through privatization and the selloff of public assets.
Setting the stage for a rapid intensification of class conflict, the right-wing populist Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives secured a strong parliamentary majority in Thursdays Ontario election. With 40.5 percent of the popular vote, the Conservatives won 76 of the 124 seats in the Ontario legislature.

The Liberals, who since 2003 have governed the province that is home to almost four in every ten Canadians, suffered an historic defeat. They won just seven seats, one less than needed for official party status in the Ontario legislature, and garnered 19.6 percent of the vote, an almost 20 percentage-point drop from their 38.6 percent vote-share in the 2014 provincial election.

The social-democratic NDP, which has been an also-ran in Ontario elections for the past two decades, increased its share of the popular vote by 10 percentage points to 33.6 percent. It captured 40 seats, a gain of 17 from what it would have won in 2014 had the current electoral boundaries been in force, and will now form the Official Opposition.

The NDP made gains in Hamilton, London, St. Catherines and Kitchenerindustrial cities which have lost tens of thousands of better-paid manufacturing jobs since the turn of the centuryand in northern Ontario, an impoverished region dominated by mining and forestry. It also picked-up seats in poorer, inner-city areas of Toronto and Ottawa.

The Conservatives swept rural southern Ontario and, with the exception of Brampton, the Toronto suburbs. They also won seats in the City of Toronto, where 2.7 million people live, for the first time since 1999. Ford was previously a Toronto city councilor and his younger brother, the late Rob Ford, was the citys mayor from 201014.

All three parties made calibrated and hypocritical appeals to mounting popular anger over rampant social inequality and mounting economic insecurity.

After years of collaborating in imposing austeritythe NDP propped up a minority Liberal government for two-and-a-half years ending in June 2014both self-avowed progressive parties trumpeted calls for increased social spending, including rival plans to hike student aid and expand drug and dental coverage for the less-well off.

Ford, for his part, promised to cut gasoline prices and electricity bills, end hallway medicine (a reference to overcrowded hospitals), and inject hundreds of millions into mental health. He coupled these populist appeals with pledges to reduce taxes, especially for business and the upper middle-class, slash government red tape (i.e., environmental and workplace regulations), cut $6 billion per year in provincial spending, and scrap next Januarys $1 per hour increase in the minimum wage. But unlike Tim Hudak, the Tory leader in the 2014 election who said he would eliminate 100,000 public sector jobs, Ford repeatedly claimed his spending cuts would cost not a single worker his or her job.

A millionaire businessman who inherited his wealth from his father, himself a Conservative Ontario legislator, Ford postured Trump-style as the candidate of the people. He was the plain-speaking representative of the hard-working Joe fighting the corrupt downtown Toronto elite.

In his rambling Thursday night victory speech, Ford trotted out conservative and right-wing populist catch phrases. He declared Ontario open for business, said the party with the taxpayers money is over, and vowed to head a government that will reduce your taxes, reduce your gas prices and always put you first.

The popular repudiation of the Ontario Liberals is a body blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberal government. Not only was the Kathleen Wynne Liberal government Trudeaus closest provincial ally. Much of his governments modus operandi, including its close working relationship with the trade union bureaucracy and relentless promotion of identity politics, was modeled after the Liberal governments of Wynne and her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty.

More importantly, the new government will quickly come into headlong conflict with the working class, as the ruling elite uses it to push politics in Ontario and across Canada still further right.

The Ford Conservative government will assume office in the midst of a systemic crisis of world capitalism, punctuated by an anemic and increasingly fragile recovery from the steepest slump since the Great Depression; the resurgence of great-power military-strategic conflict; and trade war.

During the five-and-half years Kathleen Wynne led the Ontario Liberal government, it imposed sweeping social spending cuts, slashed corporate taxes, carried out the countrys largest privatization in a generation (Hydro One), and used anti-strike laws to police austerity. Yet big business soured on Wynne and her Liberals, particularly during the last year, when in an attempt to avert an electoral debacle they made a feint left, raising the minimum wage and outlawing zero-hour contracts.

In the run-up to Thursdays vote, leading corporate executives issued shrill warnings that Trumps tax handouts to big business have placed Canadas competitiveness at risk. Meanwhile, the entire corporate media, from the liberal Toronto Star to the neo-conservative National Post, castigated all three parties for failing to promise balanced budgets.

Significantly, Ford responded to Trumps imposition of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports, by calling for an intensification of the class war assault on the working class. We must work domestically to make Ontario and Canada more competitive, tweeted Ford, Only a (Conservative) government will create the business-friendly environment that is needed to bring jobs back to Ontario.

The Conservatives have pledged to immediately order a full outside audit of the governments books. This is a by now familiar ploy used by capitalist governments of all stripes. It provides Ford with a mechanism to declare Ontarios fiscal situation even more precarious than thought and a pretext to impose draconian public service cuts.

The working class will bitterly resist the ruling class attempt to destroy what remains of the social rights it won through the mass struggles of the last century and do so as part of a growing rebellion of the working class in the US and around the world.

But to mount a successful counter-offensive, workers in Ontario and Canada must break free of the political and organizational grip of the pro-capitalist trade unions and NDP, and advance their own solution to the capitalist crisisthe fight for a workers government and the socialist reorganization of society.

At the NDPs main post-election rally, party leader Andrea Horwath said the social democrats would be the voice for the people of Ontario who did not vote for cuts.

Ontario Federation of Labour President Chris Buckley later claimed, The labour movement will hold Doug Fords feet to the fire, while Jerry Dias, the president of Unifor, Canadas largest industrial union, said the premier-elect will be very surprised if he thinks that the result of this election is a carte-blanche to wage attacks on workers and unleash cuts to public services.

All this is bluster, aimed at positioning the unions and NDP to contain and politically derail working class opposition to the Ford government and ensure it does not become a threat to capitalist rule.

The NDP is a pro-war, pro-austerity party and like social-democratic and labour parties around the world utterly subservient to big business. If it was relegated to third-party status for a generation in Ontario, it was because the only NDP government in the provinces history, that headed by Bob Rae between 199095, cruelly betrayed the hopes of working people, slashing public services and imposing a wage- and job-cutting social contract.

As for the unions, they were close allies of the big business Liberal government in Ontario throughout its 15 years in office, just as they are currently partnering with the federal Trudeau government.

This reactionary alliance was born of the unions suppression of the mass working-class challenge to Ontarios last Conservative government and its Common Sense Revolution, a Reagan-Thatcher style program of savage cuts to public and social services. Between 1995 and 1997, hundreds of thousands of workers joined demonstrations and one-day strikes against the Mike Harris Conservative government. But when the opposition movement threatened to escape the unions control and a province-wide illegal teachers strike posed the need for a political general strike aimed at driving the Tories from office, the unions shut the movement down.

Soon after, the Canadian Auto Workers (Unifors predecessor) and other unions began forging close tie with the Liberals and promoting strategic voting as a tactic to defeat the Tories.
The United States government will be transferring 1,600 migrants, including asylum seekers, held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to federal prisons in the first large scale transfer of immigrants from ICE detention centers to institutions run by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The decision is part of the Trump administrations zero tolerance immigration policy.

The detainees, notwithstanding the absence of any prior criminal record, will be transferred to five federal prisons in Victorville, California; La Tuna, Texas; Sheridan, Oregon; Phoenix, Arizona; and Seattle, Washington. This appalling decision shows clearly that the criminalization of migrants by the US government continues to accelerate, with a new nadir reached almost every day.

Reuters, which first broke the story on Thursday, reported that the transfer is the result of a new agreement between ICE, the US Marshals Service, and BOP, as a means to provide more bed space. The detainees are expected to be in the prisons for 120 days while ICE finds new detention facilities. While administration officials make this sound like a hospitality issue, the reality is far more frightening.

Under previous administrations, there at least existed an important distinction between asylum-seekers and other types of undocumented migrants. The former were released and allowed to remain with their families as their cases were being considered by the courts. The latter, if found to be first-time offenders were generally put through civil deportation proceedings and held in ICE detention centers or county jails while awaiting hearings.

Under the new zero tolerance policy, all such distinctions have been erased. All undocumented migrants, regardless of circumstances, are treated as criminals, and are being subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment, including mass trials, summary sentencing and forced separation of parents from children.

Even with these measures, however, the arrested migrants up until this point were held in specialized detention centers. And while the conditions of many of these places left a lot to be desired, one cannot afford to lose sight of the fact that federal prisons are distinctly different types of institutions. As Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, told Reuters, Federal prisons are for hardened criminals. They are not physically set up for immigrant landscapers looking for a job or fleeing violence... They should not be used for immigration purposes.

John Kostelnik, the local president for the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals union pointed out that this decision has raised serious questions about staffing and safety within the prisons. Employees are now facing the unenviable task of trying to decide how the space can safely be shared between those whose only crime might be crossing the border without the proper documents and those who have been imprisoned for serious crimes.

There is so much movement going on, said Kostelnik. Everyone is running around like a chicken without their head. In the Victorville prison which will hold 1000 detainees, for instance, workers were moving 500 inmates in a medium-security facility to make space for the newcomers.

The proposed measure has raised worries even amongst former ICE employees. Kevin Landy, a former ICE assistant director responsible for the Office of Detention Policy and Planning under the Obama administration, voiced his concerns about the fact that the staff and administrators in federal prisons have spent their careers dealing with hardened criminals serving long sentences for serious felonies. As such, they do not have the training to deal with ICE detainees, who for the most part have no criminal records, and would thus be even more vulnerable in a prison setting.

The number of detainees that are intended for this kind of treatment has surged in the past month and half. In April 2018, nearly 51,000 people were apprehended at or near the southern border. Just last year, the figure for the same month was around 16,000. According to ICE, the average daily population of detainees in its facilities as of May 26 was 41,134, up from the 2017 daily average of 38,106.

The Trump administrations anti-immigrant stance is by now a matter of record, as is its horrific and criminal treatment of migrants. Despite this, the fact that thousands of working class men and women continue to make the dangerous trek across the Southern border, often with their children, is testament to the even more horrific conditions that they are trying to escape. To criminalize and de-humanize those who are trying merely to escape poverty and violence is a preview of the tactics which the ruling class is willing to use in the coming confrontations with the entire working class.

ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett declared, The use of (Bureau of Prisons) facilities is intended to be a temporary measure until ICE can obtain additional long-term contracts for new detention facilities or until the surge in illegal border crossings subsides. However, given that there seems to be no signs of the latter according to the governments own data, what can be expected is the creation of a network of new camp-like facilities, including the proposed use of military bases by the Department of Health and Human Services to hold the thousands of migrant children forcibly separated from their parents.
A young man from Mali was shot dead on June 2 in the Italian province of Calabria. Soumaila Sacko, 29, leaves behind his wife and a five-year-old daughter in Mali and friends and colleagues in southern Italy. He worked to bring in the harvest and was also an activist for the grass roots union, USB, which campaigns on behalf of African day labourers.

Soumaila Sacko was one of thousands of workers who work as harvesters and day labourers, earning a pittance on the orchards of vegetable and agricultural farms in the hinterland of Gioia Tauro. The workers are housed in tents, barracks or improvised huts made of wood and plastic sheeting.

The shooting must be viewed in light of the right wing policies of the government in Rome, which was sworn in on the same day. The Lega/Five-Star coalition has announced it will deport half a million refugees within 18 months and imprison all refugees without proper permits in detention centers. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is also deputy prime minister and the head of Lega, proclaimed a few hours earlier: We tell all illegals: The party is over! They should pack their bags.

On the same Saturday night, Soumaila was traveling with two compatriots in search of building materials for improvised accommodation. On the site of an abandoned former brick factory, they searched for pieces of sheet metal when a stranger stopped his Fiat Panda and began firing his rifle at them. Scrambling for cover, Soumaila was hit in the head and died on the spot. Another refugee was injured in the leg.

On Monday morning, more than 2,000 harvest workers stopped work in San Fernandino, where Soumaila had lived. Hundreds of workers took part in a protest march. Police responded by barring journalists from the immigrant workers accommodation.

A friend of Soumaila gave a speech denouncing absolute slavery and exploitation. He said, Soumaila, like many workers here, toiled for a few euros a day ... He was a man and a worker. He was a harvest worker like thousands in Italy. We want to know the full truth, we demand justice. And we demand reasonable accommodation for all workers!

The deadly incident has drawn attention to the appalling living conditions for thousands of immigrant workers in southern Italy who harvest the oranges, lemons, mandarins, tomatoes and kiwis sold across Europe. They receive about 25 euros per day, from which the foreman usually deducts a pizzo [protection money] of five euros. A large proportion of the workers have no employment contract and are hired as day labourers for a few hours and paid for filling boxes with fruit and vegetables.

The medical organisation Medu, which maintains maternity wards for migrant workers, has published reports of their extremely poor living conditions. Doctors complain that employers do not provide mineral water, work gloves or safety shoes. The workers are expected to walk long distances on foot because there is no public transport. As a result of the hard physical labour, workers are often ill and many are malnourished. The workers live together, crammed into mass shelters that lack electricity and running water. The situation with regard to toilets is catastrophic and completely unhygienic.

The town of San Fernandino is in the immediate vicinity of Rosarno, where mass unrest took place eight years ago. At that time, politicians made fulsome promises to improve the housing and conditions for migrant workers but, essentially, only two things have changed: the police presence has increased, and large tent cities have been set up outside Rosarno, where workers live today as miserably as they did before in warehouses.

Most of the young workers come from Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast or Senegal. Many of them have no proper papers and are treated like slaves.

Significantly, several newspapers initially wrote that Soumaila had been shot while attempting to steal. That is obviously not the case, since the crime scene is a brickyard which has been abandoned for years. The fact that Soumaila was an active trade unionist indicates that very different motives could be involved. In any event it is clear that someone shot in deliberate, cold-blooded fashion at the African workers.

On Tuesday, a 43-year-old farmer named Pontoriero was arrested on suspicion of murder. A police sketch, made with the help of the two survivors, and clues regarding the auto involved pointed to his involvement. The newspaper Corriere della Sera writes that the Pontoriero family is alleged to be associated with the Ndrangheta, the mafia branch which dominates much of the vegetable and citrus business in the Calabrian region.

On Tuesday and Wednesday there were strikes and protests by other groups of workers in Vibo (Calabria), Melfi (Basilicata), Teramo (Abruzzo), Cagliari (Sardinia) and Vicenza (Veneto). The USB union, several NGOs and other organisations have announced further demonstrations. The protests are also directed against the new government and its openly racist agenda.

The new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, was forced to respond to the shooting in his inaugural speech. We are not unfeeling, Conte claimed, calling the murder of Soumaila Sacko a tragic and disturbing incident. Politicians will take care of the dramatic situation of these people, Conte said.

The new government is evidently concerned that protests in the south could link up with strikes and demonstrations in the north. A major demonstration against racism and exploitation is due to take place in Milan on Saturday, June 9.
Asia

India: Rural childcare workers in Mohali to demand teachers salaries

Hundreds of rural childcare (anganwadi) workers protested from May 28 until May 31 in Mohali to demand the same pay rates as teachers. The demonstration was in response to a state government directive that children above three years of age be enrolled in pre-primary classes in government schools. Anganwadi workers already act as de facto teachers for the children in the three- to six-year age group.

The protesters said the state and central Indian governments had failed to provide adequate equipment to the facilities and that the decision to merge these centres with primary schools was worsening the situation. There are 64,000 anganwadi workers in almost 27,000 centres in Punjab state. They are not paid a proper wage but just receive an honorarium payment.

Around 35 protesters, all of whom were women, fainted due to heat and fatigue during the protest.

Hundreds of striking nurses arrested in Indias Chhattisgarh state

Six hundred protesting government nurses were arrested by police in Rajpur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state, on June 2. The nurses had been taking industrial action over the previous two weeks to demand a salary increase.

Two days before the arrests, Chhattisgarhs Bharatiya Janata Party state government imposed its draconian Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) and outlawed the strike.

The government nurses, who only receive 3,500 rupees ($US52) per month, want their wages increased to 4,600 rupees. While other government employees are paid according to 7th pay commission recommendations, the state government nurses receive less than the 6th pay commission.

Nurses called off their strike on June 4, following assurances from the state government that their demands would be met. The Indian media has failed to report what the nurses were charged with or whether they were later released.

Bangladesh coal miners end strike over unpaid wages

Over 1,000 workers and staff from Barapukuria Coal Mine returned to work on June 2 after walking out on May 13 to demand payment of nine months wages and 12 other claims. Picketing workers blocked management from entering the mine office and seven workers were injured in the first week of the strike when police attacked workers.

Workers had given management until April 26 to settle their claims. Residents of 20 nearby villages supported the strikers and also lodged a six-point log of claims.

The claims included permanent employment of outsourced workers, introduction of profit and gratuity bonuses, six-hour shifts for underground workers, rehabilitation of families whose homes were damaged due to mine operations and compensation for injured members in the form of jobs with the company.

While no precise details on the return to work are available, the strike ended after negotiations between the company, the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, mine workers and local villagers.

Bangladesh garment workers demand wages

Up to 250 protesting Ashiana Garments workers in Dhaka blocked the main road between Malibagh and North Badda on May 31 to demand unpaid wages and the Ramadan religious festival allowance. Workers said the company had not paid wages for the past three months or given any indication that they would receive the annual Ramadan allowance.

The company, which was hit by a major fire in April this year, had promised to pay outstanding wages by May 31 but when workers arrived at the plant, the doors were sealed shut.

Workers ended their protest after assurances from Bangladeshs department of labour and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association that the factory owners would pay the wages by June 2. According to its website, Ashiana Garments has an annual turnover of $US9 million.

Sri Lankan water supply workers strike for outstanding pay rise

More than 12,000 National Water Supply and Drainage Board workers in Sri Lanka have been on strike since June 4 to demand payment of their outstanding triennial salary increments. It followed a half-day walkout late last month.

Apart from water purification, all breakdown repairs, new water supply installations, meter readings and office work have come to a standstill. Water purification and pumping workers will join the industrial action if strikers demands are not met.

The Water Supply Joint Trade Union Alliance, which called the strike, said that national strike action and protests have been organized for next week. On June 5, about 2000 workers demonstrated outside the Ministry of National Water Supply and Drainage in Colombo.

The workers have not received a wage increase due to be paid for January 2018. Although the water authority management agreed to a 25 percent pay increase following industrial action in January and February, the promised payments have not been received.

Two-day strike paralyses Sri Lankan postal service

Two-day strike action by 4,000 postal workers beginning on midnight June 4 paralysed national postal services this week. The workers want proper recruitment procedures and several other demands.

While workers are determined to fight, the two main unionsthe Sri Lanka Postal and Telecommunication Services Union and the Joint Alliance of Postal Unionsare attempting to keep the workers divided while appealing to management for negotiations.

The walkout, which seriously impacted on Sri Lankas main post offices, including the Colombo central postal exchange, defied the postmaster generals threats to cancel strikers leave and impose punitive measures.

Migrant workers protest in Taiwan

About 60 migrant workers protested outside Googles Taipei 101 office in Taiwan last Sunday. The Filipino workers have accused HTC Corp, a consumer electronics company, of illegally docking their pay, including by forging agreements. They are demanding an end to the practice and an improvement of their working conditions.

The workers demonstrated outside Googles premises because in 2017, the tech monopoly bought a large stake in HTCs operations and smartphone intellectual property.

Early this year, HTCs migrant employees were pressured to sign an agreement terminating their existing contracts. Many signed under the impression that they had no choice. Others have claimed that management forged their signature on the deal.

The move has been used to reduce workers pay to cover $NT2,500 in monthly expenses per employee, including for food, accommodation and plane tickets. Under the previous contract, these expenses were reportedly covered by the company, without any pay decrease.

Australia and the Pacific

Downer Group workers strike for pay increase

Workers at Downer Groups construction and maintenance division in New South Wales (NSW) Hunter Valley and Illawarra began a three-day strike on Wednesday and have also imposed a month-long ban on overtime for a 3 percent wage rise.

Downer designs, builds and sustains assets and infrastructure facilities. Around 430 workers, members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), walked off Downer projects on a number of industrial sites including coal mines, steel works, power stations and light rail construction.

Around 200 of the workers marched in Newcastle on Wednesday and others demonstrated outside BlueScope Steel in Port Kembla on NSWs South Coast.

Negotiations between the unions and Downer for a new workplace agreement have been stalled since January. The company is offering a 2.25 percent pay increase and no improvement on current conditions.

The last union agreement with Downer imposed a two-year wage freeze and cuts to site allowances and redundancy benefits.

Downers profits are surging on the back of large infrastructure projects with the company paying some of its executives $500,000 in bonuses.

Bureau of Meteorology workers take action over wages

A protracted campaign of limited industrial action, including rolling stoppages and bans by workers at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) for a new enterprise work agreement and pay increase, is continuing. The previous agreement expired four years ago.

BOM management has rejected any pay increase above a government mandated 2 percent pay ceiling and wants to cut allowances for staff working in remote locations and other work conditions. It has also ruled out back-dating any wage rise effectively imposing a four-year pay freeze.

This week workers inserted messages in weather forecasts and social media posts on the Bureaus official weather channels to highlight the dispute. The messages included #BOMonSTRIKE and #5yearpayfreeze and links to a union petition.

Management responded by imposing additional quality control, requiring administrative checks on all social media posts before forecasts are transmitted.

Last year the Community and Public Sector Union agreed to low pay increases in retrograde work agreements across most of federal government departments.

Hunter Valley mine workers strike over safety

About 250 workers at Mach Energys Mount Pleasant coal mine near Muswellbrook in NSWs Hunter Valley went on strike for three days on Monday after a man was injured in a rigging accident.

According to an Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) spokesman, the workers upper-arm muscle was torn from the bone and he had to be taken to hospital for surgery.

The strikers were members of the AMWU, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Electrical Trades Union and are employed by G&S Engineering, a contracting company.

On Wednesday G&S Engineering made an application to the Fair Work Commission, the federal industrial tribunal, seeking to have the strike declared illegal but then dropped the action.

The strike has ended but workers will not participate in any high risk duties until G&S establishes basic safety systems, including a first-aid office and an emergency response team.

New Zealand: Fast food workers continue Wendys strike

Workers at the Dunedin branch of fast food restaurant chain Wendys took strike action last weekend. It was a continuation of a strike in Wendys stores throughout the country the previous weekend.

The strike was called after months of negotiations between Unite Union and Wendco broke down over pay and break times. Wendys has also failed to compensate workers for days-in-lieu owed to staff for working on public holidays. Last November, Wendys staff took the issue to the Employment Relations Authority, which ruled in favour of the workers.

Unite have limited all strike action. Unite Union organiser Sonja Mitchell told the Otago Times, Ideally, we would like a living wage for all workers but we think at least the people who are responsible for opening the store and closing the store.

This would leave a majority of staff on or just above the minimum wage. The supposed living wage of $20.55 is only a few dollars above the minimum wage and based on the bare necessities to survive.

New Zealand tug boat operators threaten strike

Tug masters and engineers at Port Nelson threatened to strike from yesterday 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. Monday. The notice was issued after negotiations around a collective agreement broke down.

According to the Merchant Service Guild, Port Nelson workers are on call 24 hours for 14 continuous days. The union continued negotiations with the Port Nelson company on Wednesday in an attempt to prevent the walkout.

New Zealand primary school teachers to discuss pay offer

Around 50,000 primary school teachers will begin meetings to discuss the latest government pay offer. The ministry of education has offered a pay rise of 2.2 to 2.6 percent for teachers with more than three years experience, which is about 86 percent of the workforce, and 4.3 to 4.7 percent for newer teachers. The increases would occur every year for the next three years.

New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) members have demanded a minimum 16 percent increase. If teachers reject the government pay offer they are likely to vote in favour of strike action.

The first teachers meeting will be on June 18 in Manukau. While the union is calling for teachers to reject the offer, it heavily promoted Labour during the 2017 election and after it formed government, claiming teachers would get better pay.
At a public hearing on Tuesday night, June 5, officials from the Metro Nashville City Council outlined a proposed 201819 budget, which includes no money for teacher and school employee pay raises but continues tax giveaways to the rich.

Dozens of teachers and school workers lined up before the City Council to have their brief say on a budget that mandates serious cuts to school personnel, programs and free lunches. It will also eliminate a paltry 2.5 percent pay raise that was proposed for teachers.

How can we proclaim to the world that we are such a smart and creative city when we spend between $3,000 and $4,000 a year less than the national average per public school student and $15,000 less than children in some private schools in Nashville? one participant asked.

Nashville resident Marti Profitt told councilmembers she knew of schools where children would run to the bathroom between classes in hopes of getting the only stall with a door. She spoke of schools where children had classrooms without furniture and of one teachers pleas for chairs.

She told me, Ive got 36 children and three are sitting on the floor, Profitt recalled. Councilmembers, do you ever have to look for chairs?

Nashville, Tennessee, which has been billed as the It city for its trendy restaurants, pubs and art galleries, is covered with corporate offices with lobbies that feel like cathedrals, Profitt added.

City and state officials have given away hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks, incentives and out-right grants to corporations to build those cathedrals. And they do not lack for chairs.... or doors on their bathroom stalls or toilet paper and paper towels like many schools.

One of the latest was a $1 million gift from the City Council to Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) to buy furniture for new offices despite the company making $2.1 billion in profits last year.

Among the incentives Metro provided HCA to move three of its subsidiaries into a headquarters building downtown was $1 million for the company to buy office furniture, CBS affiliate NewsChannel 5 reported recently. But less was said about the $66 million incentive package Metro gave HCA to build the headquarters for three of its subsidiary companies.

The furniture the city paid for with money that could have gone to the schools was a premium wood finishes table for $8,321.25, a Guitar Pick Table (Nashville is also known as Music City) for $4,190.18 and, for the executive lounge, a Tuxedo Sofa for $6,540.45.

Teachers across the United States and around the world have shown new energy and courage to fight back after decades of low wages and deterioration of public schools. Hundreds of thousands conducted statewide walkouts in West Virginia, Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma, North Carolina and the US territory of Puerto Rico.

One of the most common complaint wherever there was a teachers struggle was repeated at the City Council in Tennessee. Teachers are in the only profession where you steal from home to bring to work, one middle school teacher complained to the Council. This is a common joke among teachers, but it is no longer funny.

As the WSWS has previously reported, analysis of Census Bureau data in 2015 by the Brookings Institution revealed Nashville to be one of the most unequal cities in the nation. It ranked sixth out of the 50 largest metropolitan areas for income disparity.

Residents in the 95th percentile have an average annual income of around $170,000, 7.9 times more than those in the 20th percentile, who earn little more than $21,000, the WSWS reported.

The finance website GoBankingRates.com reported that Nashville last year experienced a cost of living increase of 15.4 percentthe fourth-largest increase of all major US cities. Meanwhile the median cost for homes rose by 30 percent in 20152017, from under $260,000 to nearly $340,000. That was the largest increase in the nation, according to the business site.

Home prices like this are well out of range for a starting Nashville teacher, who can expect to make barely $43,000 a year, well below the Nashville median income of $61,000, the WSWS concluded.

And teachers know it.

The cost of rental property has gone up another 3 percent this yearour salaries havent, one teacher told the assembled city officials. Teachers want adequate housing.

The Nashville Business Journal noted that, based on GoBankingRates.com, to live comfortably in Nashville today requires $70,150 a year.

Many of the speakers were deferential to the Council, thanking them for listening and pleading for money for the schools. One school employee, however, felt no need to curtsy before the officials. Instead he exposed the Councils dirty little secret of habitually opening city coffers to corporations.

Ive watched them build (sports) stadium after stadium, and a (new) convention center go up, he said. We always seem to find money for that. We find money to give tips to developers, we find money for corporate welfare (but) for some reason we always have to balance the budgets on the backs of working stiffs. Why are you taking money away from working people and handing it to millionaires?

As the WSWS reported in February of last year, sometimes the giveaways can only be described as nothing less than obscene:

The Nashville/Davidson County City Council has voted to grant almost $14 million in tax incentives for the construction of a private hotel water park, which few if any working-class residents will ever use.

In a press release describing the $90 million, 217,000 square-foot water park at its Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Ryman CEO Colin Reed said the project was a major demand inducer for families and adult leisure guests looking for upscale recreation options. This really, truly will be the first luxury water park of its kind in the United States of America, Reed told the Tennessean newspaper. This is a water park on steroids.

While city officials lavish millions on new playgrounds for the affluent, the remarks of one Nashville schools para-professional exposed the consequences of years of budget cutting and official indifference towards public school employees and students.

Para-professionals work with the most vulnerable and the most medically fragile students, she said. Some have eating problems, others behavior problems, and the job can mean lifting students as large as the school worker. Duties can include having to change everything from dirty diapers to sanitary napkins, she added.

I want you to imagine doing that kind of work and doing it every single day for $11.57 an hour, which is the starting pay for para-professionals, she told the panel. The average salary for a MNPS (Metro Nashville Public Schools) para-professional is $19,620. That is not a typo. That is not an errorthey make less than $20,000 a year.
This weekends summit of the G7 is the most contentious meeting in the bodys 43-year history. It has revealed deep and growing fissures between the United States and its European allies.

Press reports have indicated that the summit may conclude without the customary communique after acrimonious public exchanges between US President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, European officials and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

As late as Thursday, Trump was reported to have considered boycotting the summit altogether, and the administration subsequently announced that the president would leave early.

Looming over the summit is Trumps June 1 decision to impose sweeping tariffs of up to 25 percent on steel and aluminum imports from the EU and other countries. Both the EU and Canada have made clear they intend to take retaliatory measures, raising the possibility of a full-scale trade war between the United States and its nominal allies.

The bitter character of the divisions between the United States and its allies was made clear in a series of statements by Macron, who declared Thursday on Twitter: The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be. Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force.

Macron subsequently told reporters, The six countries of the G7 without the United States are a bigger market taken together than the American market. He added, There will be no world hegemony if we know how to organize ourselves. And we dont want there to be one.

Coming after Macrons so-called charm offensive last month, in which the French president paid obeisance to Trump with the hope of convincing him to change the administrations policy on trade and the Iran nuclear deal, Macrons blunt statement was a sharp about-face.

Trudeau echoed these sentiments, declaring, We are going to defend our industries and our workers, and, in a none-too-subtle threat, show the US president that his unacceptable actions are hurting his own citizens.

The summit is likewise riven by sharp differences over Trumps drive to launch a major new war in the Middle East. Forming an axis with Saudi Arabia and Israel, Trump has withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreementin the face of opposition from the European powersin preparation for an intensified economic, diplomatic and possible military showdown with Iran.

At the same time, Trump has opened the prospect of cooling off the United States two other major geopolitical conflict areas: with North Korea, including a US-North Korean summit scheduled in Singapore immediately after the conclusion of the G7, and with Russia, to which Trump held out the prospect of regaining membership in the G7 after it was ejected in 2014.

However, as with the fractured geopolitics of the 1930s, the deals offered by Trump to one or another country are merely the prelude to military conflict. War is on the horizon, though it is not yet clear between whom.

While the election of Trump and his America First nationalist economic policy has exacerbated tensions between the US and Europe, the increasingly fraught state of global geopolitics is bound up with much deeper processes.

With the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the American ruling class declared that it would not tolerate any competitor to its global hegemony. Using its military power to offset its economic decline, the United States embarked upon a quarter-century of wars in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Now these wars are metastasizing into great-power conflict, as the Pentagon declared late last year, involving Russia, China or even the European powers themselves. As Trump administration officials have repeatedly made clear, the United States' trade war policies are an integral component of this strategy of great-power conflict.

With the American president barreling into a full-scale trade war, the response of Trumps opposition party, the Democrats, has not been to denounce protectionism, but to press for its more aggressive application to Russia and China. After Trump this week announced moves to reduce trade restrictions on the Chinese technology company ZTE, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared, China is eating our lunch, and this president is serving it up to them. Trade war, once treated as an abhorrent mistake and prelude to war that must never be repeated, has been accepted as a fact of 21st-century capitalism.

Behind the scenes, there is talk of new geopolitical alignments to challenge the United States. Writing in the National Interest, former Reagan administration advisor Doug Bandow noted, Until now the Europeans have shown no inclination that they will make the necessary sacrifices to seriously challenge the United States. But if Washington's allies take a big step into a new future this G-7 Summit could be the start of a serious allied challenge to Washingtons leadership.

Such a geopolitical realignment would have vast consequences for the international order and for political life in every country. There is no peaceful means toward such a reorientation of the geopolitical and diplomatic relations that have governed world politics for nearly three-quarters of a century.

As the World Socialist Web Site warned last year, Anyone who asserted that a coalition of these powers will emerge to stabilize world capitalism, and block the emergence of large-scale trade war and military conflict, would be placing heavy bets against history. The demands by the European powers for an independent foreign policy are accompanied by calls for nuclear rearmament, police state measures and anti-working-class austerity. They are all seeking to leverage their expanded military power to advance their own imperialist interestseither in alliance with, or possibly against, the United States.

As in the 1930s, with its trade wars, rapid-fire peace treaties, small-scale wars and annexations, international geopolitics is entering an increasingly feverish phase. Treaties are signed, then broken, new alliances are made, borders are put up, and, perhaps most importantly, all the powers are rearming to the teeth.

In this immensely dangerous situation, the working class must seek to articulate its own program and perspective. As Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Fourth International, put it, the task is to follow not the war map but the map of the class struggle.

The reemergence of a global movement of the working class, expressed in an international strike wave of workers on every continent and in every industry, provides the objective basis for a renewed international movement against war and for socialism.
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
Professor Stuart Rees, is a retired academic, author and defender of human rights and civil liberties. He founded the Sydney Peace Foundation at the University of Sydney in 1998. In 2011, the Foundation bestowed its highest honour, its Gold Medal for Peace and Justice, to WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange.

Announcing the award, Professor Rees said: Assanges work is in the Tom Paine Rights of Man and Daniel Ellsberg Pentagon Papers traditionchallenging the old order of power in politics and in journalism. Assange has championed peoples right to know and has challenged the centuries-old tradition that governments are entitled to keep the public in a state of ignorance. In the Paine, Ellsberg and Assange cases, those in power moved quickly to silence their critics even by perverting the course of justice.

Professor Rees has issued the following statement endorsing the demonstrations and vigils that have been called to demand Assanges freedom.

* * *

Statement by Professor Stuart Rees

Professor Stuart Rees

Julian Assange has worked tirelessly to support free speech and to expose abuses of power by governments such as Americas and by state institutions such as those representing British and Swedish justice.

By contrast, the unashamed abusers of power have seen fit to guarantee that there would be no liberty for Julian if he leaves his refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Cowardly governments, such as Australias, have also colluded in their indifference to one of their citizens basic human rights.

The campaign to give liberty to Julian Assange is long overdue but deserves to be quickly successful. Unless that happens, it will look as though an inhuman political culture will continue to live with the violent, bullying, militaristic power of nations which dont like their abuse to be exposed.

I am grateful to the organisers of this campaign and unreservedly endorse it.

Dr. Stuart Rees AM

Professor Emeritus University of Sydney

Former Director Sydney Peace Foundation
Londons Metropolitan Police announced Thursday that the London Fire Brigade (LFB) is under investigation for the stay put strategy it implemented during the Grenfell Tower fire on June 14, 2017.

Stay put means advising residents to remain in their flat in the event of a fire in another flat in high-rise buildings. The police are investigating the possibility that the order could have breached health and safety law.

When asked by journalists whether senior LFB officers might face manslaughter charges, Matt Bonner, who leads the Mets criminal investigation into the fire, indicated that prosecutions would be more likely under health and safety legislation.

The announcement of a police investigation into the London Fire Brigade over the Grenfell fire is part of the cover-up by the state, aimed at shifting responsibility away from those responsible onto those who attempted to fight the blazethe firefighters.

Almost a year after the inferno, no arrests have been made or charges laid against any individual or company for the social murder of at least 72 people.

However, simultaneously with their announcement of the LFB investigation, police made another nine arrests in relation to alleged fraud by people claiming to be Grenfell survivors. Three individuals have already been jailed for this, and another two are awaiting sentencing. These swift arrests of people on minor charges were made by the same team responsible for not making any arrests of those guilty of mass murder.

This is despite the police stating that 36 companies and organisations involved in the construction, refurbishment, maintenance and management of Grenfell Tower are of special interest. The local councilthe Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC)and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), responsible for managing Grenfell Tower, are also under investigation.

Reports to the official public inquiry by fire safety experts and family members of the Grenfell victims criticised the stay put policy, saying that the LFB continued to implement it long after the fire spread.

The stay put strategy has long been standard procedure for high-rise blocks, with the aim of containing fires in individual flats. But its effectiveness depends on effective compartmentalisation of the building, i.e., ensuring that the fires spread is restricted by fireproof obstacles (doors, windows, etc.).

At Grenfell Tower, the use of inadequate and combustible materials massively compromised compartmentalisation, rendering stay put policy useless, with fatal results. Before firefighters had even extinguished the fire in its Flat 16 point of origin on the fourth floor, flammable materials used in window construction and external insulation and cladding in the 2016 refurbishment enabled the fire to spread to the outside of the building.

Fire expert Dr Barbara Lane said the stay put policy had effectively failed barely 40 minutes after the fire began, arguing that continuing to use the policy contributed to the loss of life.

Within the first half hour, concluded Lane, the stairs were free enough of smoke for escape by that means to have been viable. Most of those who fled the building did so during that period. Doors that were only fire resistant for 15 minutes rather than the half-hour they were supposed to be good for, coupled with the use of non-fire-resistant materials for the heating system in the buildings one staircase, ended the possibility of compartmentalisation.

Because of a switch fault, firefighters were also unable to use the buildings lift to move equipment up the building. They could not evacuate residents down the last four flights by lift and had to use the stairway.

Lane was also critical of the water source arrangements available to the LFB. Grenfell Tower had a dry fire main, meaning fire crews had to pump water into the building. A wet riser system, on the other hand, would have already been connected to the outside mains, meaning there would have been no need to connect internal pipes to fire engines. Wet risers also provide more water pressure, which might have assisted firefighters in getting to higher floors more effectively. Lane said the dry riser system was non-compliant with the design guidance in force at the time of the original construction and also non-compliant with current standards.

Lane expressed concern at the delay in formally ending the stay-put strategy for nearly two hours from the original emergency call to the fire brigade. However, while concluding, There was therefore an early need for a total evacuation, she was careful to recognise the difficulties confronted by the firefighters.

She had found no evidence that the LFB knew the buildings cladding was combustible and acknowledged that a call for evacuation was not an easy decision to make during the unfolding and complex events that occurred.

Jose Torero, Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland, told the inquiry that evacuation is not risk-free during the early stages of a fire, but can be considered a better strategy than stay put.

He reported that 70 minutes after the fire had started, the Grenfell firefighters were outside the bounds of conventional practice.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) counsel asked, in his opening statement to the inquiry, What alternative strategy might have been implemented [that night]? There was, he said, no obvious and safe alternative strategy nor detailed plan.

Given the multiple safety failings of the building, he suggested firefighters were always chasing a sinister fire they had no realistic chance of defeating. The building was a highly combustible death trap and firefighters were put in an impossible situation.

Matt Wrack, the leader of the Fire Brigades Union, said that firefighters that night faced an unprecedented catastrophe and did their utmost to save as many lives as they could.

The BBCs recent Panorama programme about Celotexwho manufactured the insulation material used on the Grenfell claddingbroadcast footage shot by attending fire crews, who are heard to be in shock at the way the fire was rapidly spreading and engulfing the entire structure.

The LFB told the inquiry that it is a fundamental misunderstanding to believe that a stay put policy can be changed to evacuation just like that. Fire safety advice for tall buildings is not set by the fire service, but by the buildings owners. The LFB asked, If there is no policy applied by the building owner which provides for a policy of simultaneous evacuation and there are no evacuation plans and there are no general fire alarmswhat is an incident commander on the fire ground to do?

Firefighters were placed in an intolerable position and were unaware of the shortcomings of the buildings maintenance and fabric.

Questions do need to be asked about the stay put strategy and its implementation, but the LFB noted that historically it has been generally successful. This depends, of course, on successful maintenance of the buildings compartmentalisation.

The inquiry has already heard a plea of limited responsibility from Arconic (formerly Alcoa), the cladding manufacturer, who have claimed their panels were at most, a contributing factor.

The companys argument is that if the window fittings had prevented the fire reaching the outside, then wrapping the building in highly flammable material would not have resulted in any deaths. Arconic withdrew the panels from use in high-rise buildings after the fire.
With the quadrennial convention of the United Auto Workers (UAW) set to open Monday in Detroit, there are signs of an upsurge in militancy on the part of US autoworkers. An explosion of anger against a sweetheart deal between the UAW and General Motors to bring low-paid subcontract workers into the Lordstown Assembly plant in advance of the layoff of 1,500 workers and a similar deal at Lake Orion Assembly were followed by a spontaneous walkout by Ford Flat Rock Assembly workers after a supervisor tried to restart the line following the horrific injury of a veteran worker.

With more than one year before the September 2019 expiration of the UAW contracts with GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler (FCA), attacks on autoworkers are escalating. There is a concerted effort on the part of the car companies to drive out older, legacy workers and replace them with lower-paid tier-two workers and temporary part-time (TPT) workers. The 2015 UAW agreement allowed the companies to flood the auto plants with TPT workers while maintaining in place the two-tier, in reality, multi-tier, pay and benefit system.

This takes place under conditions where the bureaucratic apparatus of the UAW is in deep crisis, rocked by an ongoing probe into illegal company payoffs to UAW negotiators. This focuses on the siphoning off of at least $1.5 million from the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center into the pockets of UAW officials, which FCA executives said was aimed at keeping union leaders fat, dumb and happy.

At the same time, all of the auto companies are in the midst of ruthless cost-cutting drives as Wall Street increases pressure for higher profit margins. This is taking its toll on safety conditions, as companies seek ways to crank up production through the erosion of work rules, faster line speeds and forced overtime. The development of new technologies, such as self-driving vehicles, is putting increasing pressure on car companies to free up cash for investment by sweating it off the backs of workers.

Autoworkers should not wait until the 2019 contract expiration to oppose these conditions. The time to organize a fightback is now. The World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter calls for the formation of rank-and-file factory committees to spearhead a counteroffensive against the management-UAW assault on workers.

The growth of rank-and-file militancy takes place under conditions where decades of betrayals have led to the deep discrediting of the UAW. Its program of extreme nationalism and corporatist union-management collaboration has alienated both younger and veteran workers alike.

So far, UAW executives Virdell King and Keith Mickens, plus Monica Morgan, wife of the late UAW Vice President General Holiefield, have pleaded guilty in the expanding federal corruption probe. At least four of the top eight members of the 2015 UAW National Bargaining Committee at Fiat Chrysler have been indicted or implicated in the scandal.

Federal investigators are also reportedly looking into a charity run by UAW Vice President for General Motors Cynthia Estrada, who had been expected to succeed UAW President Dennis Williams when he retires in June, and into joint UAW-management training centers at Ford and GM. Norwood Jewell, head of the UAW Fiat Chrysler department, has taken early retirement and UAW Secretary Treasurer Gary Casteel says he will not seek re-election.

The UAW 37th Constitutional Convention will select new international officers. However, the hand-picked successor to Dennis Williams, UAW Region 5 Director Gary Jones, is under a cloud. Jones was among UAW officials present at a resort in Palm Springs, California in January, 2015 in an event tied to thousands of dollars in illegal spending from joint training center money. Also present at the conference was Jewell. Jones, like other top UAW officials, headed a murky foundation, The 5 Game Changers Charity Fund.

The convention is a stage-managed affair, during which no expression of the genuine concerns of rank-and-file UAW members is tolerated. A large portion of the delegates are UAW officials or their cronies. Past attempts by dissidents to nominate opposition candidates have been squelched in short order. It was reported to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter that this year, for the first time, no nominated candidate will be allowed to make a campaign speech at the convention.

UAW officials will undoubtedly boast of the rise in union membership and the great advances and achievements obtained in the 2015 contract settlement. What hypocrisy! The deal institutionalized the two-tier wage system and removed the limits on the hiring of temporary part-time workers, who lead a precarious existence working for lower pay and few benefits.

As for expanding membership, it is largely outside of the auto industry. In 2017, Nissan workers in Canton, Mississippi and workers at the Fuyao Glass America plant in Dayton, Ohio delivered resounding defeats to UAW unionization attempts.

UAW executives can also be expected to line up behind the fascistic Trump administration's trade war policies, including possible import tariffs on the foreign trade rivals of US car companies.

As workers recall, at the last convention held in 2014, the UAW rammed through a dues increase, allegedly to build up the strike fund in preparation for the 2015 contract battle. In reality, the strike fund is a gigantic slush fund for the union bureaucracy, which regularly taps into it to finance its operations, giving the UAW a direct incentive to suppress strikes in order to preserve its own perks and salaries.

It is easy to predict that amidst the self-congratulatory speeches no mention will be made of the tragic death of a young TPT worker, Jacoby Hennings, who died last October, purportedly of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, in an incident that has never been fully investigated. Just prior to his death, Hennings spent an hour with UAW officials in the plant discussing an undisclosed grievance.

Amidst the visible disintegration of the union apparatus, several critics of the UAW bureaucracy have announced they are planning to challenge the administration caucus slate, including Brian Keller, who works at Fiat Chryslers Mopar operations outside of Detroit; Leroy McKnight, a GM retiree from Lansing, Michigan, who hosts a blog radio show; and Gary Walkowicz, a lower level UAW Local 600 official at the Ford Dearborn Truck Plant.

The current batch of dissidents all claim the UAW can be pressured into changing its policy of corporatist union-management collaboration. This is a false orientation. The evolution of the UAW into a right-wing corporatist syndicate is rooted in fundamental objective processes and parallels the corporatist degeneration of unions all over the world.

Based on its nationalist and pro-capitalist program, the UAW had no progressive answer to the rise of transnational production and the emergence of powerful global competitors to the US-based auto companies. From seeking to pressure the auto companies for concessions to the workers, it transformed its policy into pressuring workers for concessions to the US-based companies in order to attract globally mobile capital. Economic nationalism and protectionism went hand in hand with the renunciation of any interests of autoworkers independent of the profit drive of "their" companies and the establishment of joint union-management structures at every level. The inevitable outcome of this process was the surrender of virtually all of the gains won over generations of struggle going back to the 1930s.

As the membership of the UAW plummeted, the union developed new sources of income to offset the loss of dues. This included the setting up of joint labor-management committees that provide a legal means for the auto companies to pour billions of dollars into the coffers of the UAW. In addition, the UAW controls a multi-billion-dollar retiree health care trust fund, or VEBA, that was initially funded with auto company stock.

The UAW is not a workers organization but a business entity, with a small army of officials earning more than $100,000 in yearly salaries plus other undisclosed income and business ventures. In return for suppressing strikes and imposing concessions demanded by the companies. these parasites receive a portion of the profits extracted from the labor of autoworkers.

To answer those who claim the UAW can be reformed through the installation of new leaders it is instructive to examine the fate of past dissident movements. A case in point is the New Directions faction that emerged in the late 1980s. Once in office, New Directions leaders, such as Flint UAW Local 599 President David Yettaw, pursued the same class collaborationist policies as the UAW national leadership, imposing job cuts, speed-up and the gutting of working conditions. In the end, GM was able to shut down the massive Buick City complex in Flint without facing any opposition.

The current group of dissidents says not a word about the political issues facing the working class. However, all the vital issues facing workers are intensely political. Workers must advance their own strategy in opposition to the corporate-controlled two-party system and the subordination of every facet of life to the profit demands of American big business. They must reject the nationalism of the unions, which inevitably leads to war, and unite with workers throughout the globe in a struggle against the capitalist owners of industry and finance.

Workers must build a political party of their own to fight for a workers government and the transformation of auto and every other major industry into publicly owned entities under the democratic control of the working class.

In line with this perspective, the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter calls for the building of rank-and-file factory committees to be the genuine voice of autoworkers inside the plants. These committees should oppose the company-UAW gang-up against workers and forge the closest possible links between workers in different factories.

Workers interested in becoming involved are urged to contact the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter.
Chef. TV host. Storyteller.

Anthony Bourdain was many things. He was also something of a badass, boldly taking on new adventures and challenges. We were lucky that he took us along for the ride.

Here are six of the late CNN host's most jaw-dropping moments.

Eating brains and blood in Thailand

While roaming around Thailand, Bourdain didn't flinch as a friend ordered up a meal of pig's brain at a restaurant. But even he was shook when he found out the meal included a bowl of lou, basically a soup made up of raw pig's blood.

"That's like a horror movie," he said when the soup, mixed with bits of meat, lemongrass and other stuff, reached his table. "It's like CSI: Soup. I'm eating out of an open wound."

Yet he found it "completely delicious" and deemed it the best meal he'd ever had in Thailand.

Turning into the karate kid

While enjoying a meal in Okinawa, Japan, Bourdain mused about the city's most famous export -- karate -- and agreed to get a lesson from one of the discipline's true masters. Oh why did he do that.

The "open hand" technique employed by Bourdain's teacher left him squirming on the floor. He tried to tap out but "they don't know what tapping out means here."

Playing the eat-it-first-then-we'll-tell-you-what-it-is game

Right at the time "Parts Unknown" premiered five years ago, Bourdain popped up live on CNN and was game to eat from a platter of delicacies placed before him -- without knowing what they were beforehand.

In one sitting he had:

Bull penis ("Not bad"),

Turkey testicle ("If you didn't know, you'd have no problem with that"),

Steamed pig's feet ("That's great. Who doesn't like this?"),

Goose intestines in black bean sauce ("Good stuff. I'd order that in a restaurant.")

He sussed out the fetal duck egg before he even tasted it ("Not one of my favorite things on Earth, but it's really not that bad, if you can get past the feathers and the beak.").

He even said the maggot fried rice was "good," but ... he did have to cleanse his palate with a sip of wine after that one.

Going to Libya when it was still rife with conflict

Bourdain and his crew rolled through Libya just as the nation was dealing with the aftermath of civil war and the death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. It was not the show's typical production shoot and staying safe was paramount. They changed hotels frequently, stayed off social media and used young members of a militia to provide security.

A trip to the ruins of Gadhafi's former palace in Tripoli yielded the episode's most tense moment -- perhaps the most tense of the entire series -- when an armed group of men showed up and basically shut down Bourdain's crew from filming. But Bourdain still managed to tour a war museum, enjoy the country's Italian restaurant scene and share a meal with an ex-freedom fighter at a KFC knockoff named Uncle Kentaki. Bourdain called it the best piece of work he'd ever done.

Filming in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank

Bourdain didn't blink at the controversies when he went to the Middle East to check out the food, culture and politics of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. There was really no way he could make a show without ticking off one side or the other, but he made it anyway. Although he filmed most of this show in Jerusalem, he also spent some time in Gaza, a place few Westerners get to visit. He noted the extensive security there, but he was also happy that the episode, through food and conversation, was able to present a view of Palestinians beyond "crying women and men throwing stones."

Trying something new in Quebec

A trek to the Canadian wilderness meant an opportunity to try out one of the few foods Bourdain had never tasted -- beaver.

It was served in a thick, heavy sauce ("almost looks like chocolate, it's so rich looking") with vegetables.

What was the verdict? He joked that it tasted like chicken.

But of course.
NEWTON, Ill. (WTHI) - Pork burgers. In the state of Illinois, they are as identifiable as Lincoln's beard. Though all residents may not be the best at making them, just ask Brooke Murray.





Murray says, "This is my second year cooking, and if it wasn't for Jason, I wouldn't know what I was doing."

Learning curve aside, the reason to make the sandwiches today is important.

Villas of Holly Brook executive director Annie Wendt says, "we're selling pork burgers to the community to raise funds for the Craig A Nester foundation."

The foundation helps those in the community suffering from autism.

At two dollars and fifty cents, the burgers sold quickly. Every penny going right back to helping bring awareness to the condition. Last year, the fundraiser raised over a thousand dollars.

Sherry Smith with Meridian Senior Living says, "The more awareness and inclusion we can bring to the community then that's what we're trying to do."

When lunch arrived, cars lined up to get a chance to help out.

For Murray, the event hits home.

Murray explains, "My son has autism. He was diagnosed back when he was in first grade."

Giving her a reason to learn perfect her grilling skills.

Murray says, "I just find it very important that we all come together to handle it and deal with it. And do the right thing for our kids."
WASHINGTON, Ind. (WTHI) - News 10 has learned new information on an investigation out of Washington, Indiana.

Two people are behind bars.

Police arrested Brian Hill and Anne Johnson.

Johnson was taken into custody without incident.

Washington Police say when they tried to arrest Hill, he refused to leave his home.

Officers say they received information that there were children inside the house.

That is when they requested assistance from other agencies.

After about an hour, police say Hill left the home and was taken into custody without further incident.

Officials say no shots were fired.

Both of these arrests stem back to an incident that happened in May.

That's when police served a series of search warrants in Washington.

Officers say they found guns, drugs, and $100,000 in cash.

There were several other arrests in this investigation.

Original release from the Washington Police Department on May 23rd drug bust below -

On May 23, 2018, Officers with the Washington Police Department, Indiana State Police, and the DEA Task Force assembled to serve arrest warrants for Brian K. Hill (47), Ronald W. Shake (46), and Chelsea Baker (30). The 3 were all wanted on warrants for Dealing Methamphetamine after joint investigations by the above-listed agencies.

Officers had also obtained search warrants for three locations associated with Hill in Washington. During those search warrants, Officers reported locating Methamphetamine, more than 30 pounds of Marijuana, Schedule II Controlled Substance, 14 firearms, and more than $100k in cash. Hill faces additional charges of Dealing Marijuana, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Schedule II Controlled Substance, Possession of Schedule IV Controlled Substance, Maintaining a Common Nuisance, and Possession of Paraphernalia.

In attempts to locate Shake, Officers obtained an additional search warrant for another location in Washington. Officers reported locating Methamphetamine, Marijuana, and Paraphernalia at this location. As a result of this, Rachael Grow (30) and Deborah Miles (52) were also arrested. Grow faces charges of Conspiracy to Deal Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, Maintaining a Common Nuisance, Neglect of a Dependent, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Paraphernalia, and Trafficking with an Inmate. Miles faces charges of Possession of Methamphetamine, Maintaining a Common Nuisance, Possession of Marijuana, Neglect of a Dependent, and Possession of Marijuana. As a result of the additional search warrant, Shake is now facing additional charges of Conspiracy to Deal Methamphetamine also.

***All defendant(s) are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty***
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Every year, the Indiana Special Olympics Summer Games bring people together in Terre Haute.

The Annual Unified Relay happened Friday afternoon at the Gibson Track and Field Complex.

Local officers and Special Olympics athletes joined forces for a "4 by 100" relay.

They also took the Flame of Hope onto Indiana State University's campus
The US Embassy in Mozambique has warned of "imminent attacks" against government and commercial centers in a northern province of the southeastern African nation and urged US citizens to leave the area.

The warning, issued Friday, applies to the Palma district of Cabo Delgado province, where a string of beheadings reportedly occurred last month. The government envisions the region as being a major industrial center for mining and the development of liquified natural gas.

"In light of information pointing to the likelihood of imminent attacks on government and commercial centers in the district headquarters of Palma, Cabo Delgado Province in the coming days, we strongly advise American citizens in the district headquarters of Palma to consider departing the area immediately," the US Embassy said.

"Those who elect to remain in Palma district are strongly advised to avoid travel to the district headquarters and to postpone visits to both government offices and retail locations, including markets."

Americans with planned travel to the district "are strongly advised to postpone such travel," the embassy said. It urged Americans to avoid the area, monitor local media for updates, be aware of their surroundings and review their security plans.

According to the Mozambique News Agency, "unidentified criminals, believed to be Islamic fundamentalists, decapitated ten people" on May 27. The assaults took place "against two villages in the Palma district." Police said attackers wielding machetes beheaded people, including two teen boys.

Locals call the group Al-Shabaab, or the "youth." Authorities are not linking it to the Somali terror group of the same name, however.

In March, one person in the province was killed and homes were torched, the news agency said. Officials believe the Al-Shabaab group carried out the assault and believe the same group has been carrying out armed operations against the government since October.
SULLIGENT, Ala. (WTVA) - A man accused of abducting a woman in east Alabama now faces an attempted murder charge in Lamar County.

Marshall Lee Gray, 33, faces the charge as well as theft of property.

The abduction happened on Wednesday, June 6. Law enforcement say he forced a woman to drive at knifepoint in Marion County. RELATED: Woman abducted out of Marion County, suspect arrested

The woman was able to escape near Sulligent in Lamar County. However, police say Gray stabbed the woman as she escaped and took off in the car.

She was later released from a local hospital.
OXFORD, Miss. (WTVA) - A man will head to prison for his role in the trafficking of a woman for prostitution purposes across the South.

Mario D. Collins of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced to serve two years in prison for trafficking a victim from Georgia to Tennessee and ultimately to Oxford for commercial sex purposes.

On April 27, 2017, Oxford officers responded to an Oxford motel where they found Collins and his accomplice Paulette Clayton. Both were arrested.

Officers also found the female victim inside the motel.

Last week, Clayton was sentenced to three years' probation for her role in the case.

RELATED: Woman sentenced to probation for role in sex trafficking
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - Local governments have until August 1 to apply for grants, intended to reduce interactions between people and bears.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is making $500,000 in grants available for communities, with a preference going to those that have enacted, what they call, "BearWise" ordinances, requiring residents and businesses to bear-proof trash containers.

The money, in part, is generated through the sale of "Conserve Wildlife" license plates.

In 2015, FWC held the state's first bear hunt in more than two decades, with 304 bears killed.

The commission has declined to hold another hunt, with the state instead providing the grants to try to prevent potentially dangerous encounters between humans and bears.

"It allows whole communities to participate. When it's a community-wide effort, when almost everybody is doing the right thing by keeping their trash secure, the bears don't have a reason to even enter the neighborhood," said David Telesco, FWC Bear Management Program Coordinator.

FWC says the "BearWise" program has been used to purchase more than 10,000 bear-resistant trash cans, 97 hundred sets of hardware to secure regular trash cans, and 160 dumpsters have been modified to keep bears out.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The City of Tallahassee turned in all documents on Friday requested by the FBI in the latest subpoena.

The request was filed on May 31 and included several types of records including business plans, audit files, and communications between developer Adam Corey and the city about The Edison.

So far, the city submitted more than 150,000 records last October and about 90,000 more pages last July.

Talgov.com/publicrecords will continue to be updated as records are publicly available.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The City of Tallahassee has begun providing the FBI with the records requested in the latest subpoena delivered to city hall.

City officials announced Tuesday that the city already provided a portion of the records related to Adam Corey and the Edison Restaurant on Monday.

On May 31, the City of Tallahassee received their third subpoena from the FBI in regards to an investigation, focusing heavily The Edison restaurant and Adam Corey, an investor into the eatery.

City officials say they're continuing to cooperate and provide the needed documentation even though they aren't quite sure about the nature of the investigation.

"The FBI is doing their due diligence to investigate. I have no real knowledge of their investigation," said Cassandra K. Jackson, the Tallahassee city attorney. "As they see they need information, they contact the city or any other resource they believe may have the information."

The city has already submitted hundreds of thousands of records, with each subpoena differing slightly.

With the first, the FBI requested five years worth of records submitted to the city or CRA from 25 individuals, while the second called for communications with Commissioner Scott Maddox or Tallahassee's Downtown Improvement Authority CEO Paige Carter-Smith.

This most recent subpoena calls for any audit files, reports, business plans, and city commission votes surrounding The Edison, as well as all written communication to and from Corey, the city officials or employees regarding the restaurant at Cascades Park.

"Some of the information is very similar to what was previously requested," said Jackson. "It perhaps might be more in-depth as related to The Edison."

This investigation began last June, and it remains unclear how much longer it could last.

The city will provide the remaining records in the next 5-7 business days. In total, more than 10,000 records will be provided in an electronic format.

Jackson says, the city will continue to co-operate and provide any needed information to the FBI. Talgov.com/publicrecords will continue to be updated as records are publicly available.

We left messages with Corey Tuesday afternoon, but did not hear back. WTXL also reached out to the Jacksonville branch of the FBI for any details relating to this investigation, but they declined to comment.
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - Two men were shot and killed while trying to burglarize a residence in the Colonial Acres neighborhood, according to Memphis Police Department.

The shooting happened Friday evening on Myrna Lane near the intersection of Willow Road.

Both of the men were pronounced dead at the scene.

The homeowner, who asked not to be identified for his safety, said when he arrived home, the men were already inside.

"I see my house being ransacked and the dog was still going hysterical in the cage," he said. "When he saw me he notified the other individual that was with him, 'hey, they are here.'"

That's the moment he said when the suspected burglars pulled out guns, but he was able to get to a hall closet to get his.

"I had my own personal AK-47," he said.

The homeowner admits it's not the first time there's been a shooting at his home. Police markings show where the home was shot up less than a year ago.

"I don't know what's going on but I know I'm going to defend my life to the best of my ability," he said.

MPD identified the two men who were shot and killed as 28-year-old Azell Witherspoon and 17-year-old Demond Robinson.

"These boys need their father and need some type of discipline. They out here without any fear," the homeowner said.

He said he did regret the loss of life, but "it was either me or them."

MPD said the man responsible for the shootings was detained but later released. The District Attorney General's office determined that no charges will be filed at this time.

The homeowner gave MPD his home surveillance system to back up his story that the shootings were in self defense.

He said he does worry about possible retaliation.

"That's a possibility. You never know how someone else's family may perceive the situation, but I mean, I just have to take it one day at a time," he said.

Copyright 2018 WMC Action News 5. All rights reserved.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man has been arrested after being accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl multiple times over the last four years.

Correll Johnson, 55, was arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department on Friday.

On March 26, officers were called in reference to a sexual battery investigation. When officers arrived on scene, they made contact with the victim's mother.

While talking with officers, the victim's mother said on March 23, the victim was involved in an altercation with some students at school.

The victim's mother informed officers during the altercation, the victim reportedly threatened to kill herself.

When she tried to take the victim back to school, she was told the victim needed a mental health evaluation before being allowed back to attend school.

She said she then took the victim to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Behavioral Center for an evaluation.

According to the police report, the staff psychiatrist told the victim's mother that the victim said she had been victimized in an on-going sexual abuse by Johnson, a family friend.

The police report states the victim stated to the staff psychiatrist that Johnson threatened her with bodily harm if she told anyone, which made the victim afraid.

Staff at TMH Behavioral Center notified the Florida Department of Children and Families about the abuse allegations.

The victim's mother told officers that for several years she has lived with her children, including the victim, and extended family.

Over the last two years, a relative has been involved in a relationship with Johnson, but the mother says at this time the relative and Johnson are no longer in a relationship.

The victim's mother said Johnson was welcomed into the family homes and advised he was allowed to help as a caregiver for the children that lived in the home.

Johnson was given authority to pick the children up from their respective schools and drive them home, but he was not allowed to baby sit the children.

On April 2, the victim was taken to the Children's Home Society for a forensic interview.

During the interview, she said Johnson used to live with her, approximately three years ago.

The victim said she was "scared to tell" because he "threatened" her. She explained Johnson told her if she ever told anyone he would "get a knife and kill her," in which the victim replied, "I don't want to die."

The victim said it started when she was "5" and the first incident occurred at her mother's house.

She advised Johnson touched her with his hand on the "inside" of her "private." She said she was going to tell her mother, but Johnson "grabbed her arm" and threatened to kill her.

The victim disclosed another incident when she was 7 years old. She stated she went into the bathroom and locked the door, but somehow Johnson came into the bathroom with her.

She said she believes Johnson heard someone come in the house because he then "ran" out the back door. She told Johnson "when I get old I'm gonna tell everybody what you did to me," and he said, "you better not or I swear I'll kill you."

The victim gave an account of a third incident that happened in February when Johnson came up behind her to give her a hug and "touched" her backside on the outside of her clothing.

She disclosed a fourth incident that happened in 2016 where she was "in the car" and her clothes were off. The victim stated her cousin was also in the vehicle, but Johnson made him "turn around" so he was not looking at them.

She said Johnson "pulled over" and put his "private part" in her "private part."

The victim explained the last incident happened after Christmas of this year, but before the February incident.

She said that she saw Johnson "touch" other children/family members. The victim described an incident where Johnson called her and her cousins into a room to help "wash the dogs."

According to the victim, when the children came inside, Johnson locked the door and they could not get out. The victim stated they started "screaming," but no one could hear them.

She explained Johnson told them to "shut the f**** up," and made them get on the bed.

She states he started "putting his private part in my cousin," and he then let them out of the room.

The victim advised she told her brother and another relative over spring break of this year and said they "got mad she didn't tell them before."

An investigator with the Florida Department of Children and Families made contact with the other children mentioned by the victim, however, none of the children said they were the victim of sexual abuse or witnessed sexual abuse.

The investigator also made contact with Johnson and he denied the allegations, but admitted to driving some of the children to and from school.

Based on the evidence, Johnson is being charged with sexual battery on a victim under 12 and three counts of lewd/lascivious molestation.

Officers also learned during the investigation that Johnson is a high risk sexual offender and is currently on probation.

He was transported to the Leon County Detention Center and was given no bond.
DAVIE, FL (RNN) - Authorities identified the victim of a South Florida alligator attack on Friday.

Shizuka Matsuki, 47, of Plantation was the woman who was pulled into a lake by a gator while she was out walking her dogs, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

Earlier, trappers captured and killed the alligator.

After an initial necropsy, evidence was found that indicates that the victim of this incident was bitten by the alligator that was captured earlier today, a commission statement said.

A source close to the investigation told multiple news outlets that an arm was found inside the reptile.

"This tragedy is heartbreaking for everyone involved, and our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of the victim at this time," according to the FWC.

Victim of this tragic incident id'd as Shizuka Matsuki, 47, of Plantation. This is heartbreaking for everyone involved and our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of the victim at this time. https://t.co/dF67p1LcsZ  MyFWC (@MyFWC) June 8, 2018

Matsuki was walking her dogs at the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park when the alligator attacked, South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Her dogs wont leave the pond. One of her dogs got bit by the gator, Davie Police Maj. Dale Engle told the newspaper.

A witness saw the woman walking her dogs and then noticed she was suddenly gone, WSVN reported.

Davie is located about 8 miles southwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale.

UPDATE: Investigators have found a human arm inside the gator, per a source close to the investigation. https://t.co/uM0Per7nob pic.twitter.com/12SovqWasY  WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) June 8, 2018

Alligators are found in all 67 of Florida's counties, according to the FWC.

Florida was the scene of a fatal alligator attack in June 2016.

A 2-year-old Nebraska boy died at a Walt Disney's World hotel when an alligator snatched him, dragging him into a lagoon. His body was found intact in the pond a few days later.

Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.

DAVIE, FL (RNN) - Police are searching for a woman after an alligator reportedly dragged her into a pond on Friday morning.

The woman was walking her dogs at Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park when the alligator attacked, South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Her dogs wont leave the pond. One of her dogs got bit by the gator, Davie Police Maj. Dale Engle told the newspaper.

A witness claims to have seen the gator drag the woman into the water, WSVN reported.

Authorities from Broward County and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are on the scene, the Miami Herald reported.

Trappers are watching an alligator estimated to be nearly 12 feet long. Its presence is hindering search efforts, Engle said.

Alligators are found in all 67 of Florida's counties, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

Florida was the scene of a fatal alligator attack in June 2016.

A 2-year-old Nebraska boy died at a Walt Disney's World hotel when an alligator snatched him, dragging him into a lagoon, CNN said. His body was found intact in the pond a few days later.

Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
WORLAND  The Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE) Aerie and Auxiliary 3096 in Worland will be hosting the state convention with the theme Lets Score for the FOE Wednesday through Saturday.

According to Worland Auxiliary member Lory August, Wednesday night will be registration and a social time to kick off the state convention. The last time Worland hosted the state convention was 10 years ago in 2008.

August said there are 15 active aeries and auxiliaries in Wyoming. Worlands aerie and auxiliary combined have about 300 total members.

She said they are anticipating about 100 to 150 people coming for the state convention this year. Meetings will be held at the Eagles Club, Worland Community Center Complex and the American Legion Hall.

Thursdays festivities begin with a flag raising at the Eagles Club at 8:45 a.m. with a joint meeting between the aerie and auxiliary at 9 a.m.

Activities throughout the convention includes election and installation of new officers.

August said four club members will be seeking state or Worthy offices  Dan August, who is Wyoming Worthy Conductor will run for Wyoming Worthy State Inside Guard; Mike Karr is seeking one-year trustee; Chelle Watson, one-year trustee; and Lynn Tippets Wyoming Madam State Inside Guard.

The state Eagles Auxiliary will be selecting the Alta Browning Award, the highest award in Eagles. Wyomings winner will be submitted to the Grand, along with all other state winners.

Highlights include a hospitality event and competition between clubs on Friday night from 4-6 p.m. Saturday is the installation of officers, a memorial services for members lost during the past year (Eagles year runs June 1-May 31) and the Ritual competition and Ritual parade of champions.

August said the local Aerie and Auxiliary are excited to welcome members across the state. We want them to see Worland. The community has always been very big on supporting us. We want to give back to our community, she said.

She said there will be an opportunity during the convention for Eagles members to enjoy local restaurants (with only Wednesday and Saturday evening meals planned at the convention) and local shopping.

Worland, Eagles Aerie and Auxiliary 3096 will be welcoming several national Eagles officers to the state convention. August said many of the Grand members have never been to Wyoming.

Grand officers who will be attending include:

Chuck Weber of Casper. Weber is the Grand Worthy Chaplain of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, joining more than 38 years ago. He became a member in 1979 after a friend took him to the Eagles bowling alley and lounge and he was able to find out what the Eagles were all about. He began his service immediately upon initiation as he was elected as aerie treasurer.

He has held the position of worthy president six times, state president in 1993-94, Mountain Regional president in 1996-97 and was Wyomings first Grand Aerie officer when he was elected grand inside guard in 1997-98.

Grand Aerie Legal Advisor Creighton A. Thurman joined the organization in June 1994 in South Dakota. He has served as worthy president and Dakota State Worthy president.

Grand Madam Conductor Jacqueline Marble joined the Eagles in 1968 and is active in the Sunnyslope Auxiliary 2957 in Phoenix, Arizona. She has served as local and state auxiliary president and was Grand Auxiliary, Grand Auxiliary outside guard, inside guard, secretary and trustee.

Mountain Regional President Lucille Lawrence. She joined the Eagles in 1972 and has held many positions including president, past madam presidents secretary and was honors with the Mrs. Eagle Award for No. 2098. She received the Alta B. Smith Award in 2005.

Grand Madam President Helen Poehner who has been a member of the Eagles since 1972 in Ohio.

Grand Worthy President Tom McGrath of Vermont has been an Eagles member since 1962.

ABOUT THE EAGLES

The Fraternal Order of Eagles is an international non-profit organization uniting fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills and promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope, according to the website, foe.com.

This year the FOE is celebrating its 120th year. According to the website, The F.O.E. began in 1898, when six Seattle-area theater owners came together to share their passion for social progress and a dedication to philanthropy with the greater community.

The F.O.E., 120 years later, continues to work hard to bring citizens together in the name of bettering communities and raising funds to assist friends and neighbors in need. From the creation of Mothers Day, Social Security and Medicare to the hundreds of millions of dollars donated to various research and assistance organizations across North America, no life has been left untouched by the actions of an Eagle.

The Eagles website lists as their major accomplishments: Founded Mother's Day; created the $25 million Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa; served as driving force behind Social Security; helped end age-based job discrimination with the Jobs After 40 program; and distributed Ten Commandments monoliths across the United States.

The world has changed in many ways over the last 120 years, but the need to help those around us stands the test of time, Grand Worthy President Thomas McGrath said. The F.O.E. was built upon a strong passion for increasing quality of life for those in need and our desire to carry on that passion is what keeps us so strong more than a century later.

CHARITIES

Charity work is a big part of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles.

August said the Sunday dinners and other fundraisers they hold help the local community here. She said the money is sent to Grand and then the Aerie or Auxiliary can apply for grant funding for projects. August said they have been able to purchase large print books and audio books for the library, helped purchase items at Worland Healthcare and Rehabilitation, support D.A.R.E. and the Crisis Response and Prevention Center.

At the national level, they created the $25 million Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa.
LONDON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in Britain on Friday issued a warning on its website of telecom fraud in the name of Chinese Embassy or Consulate-General.

"Recently, the Chinese Embassy in the UK received phone calls reporting telephone fraud, in which scammers displayed their phone numbers as the Chinese Embassy in the UK (beginning with 44-20-7299) and fabricated kidnappings or accidents, notification of letters or parcels, notification of expiration of passports or other documents," said the embassy in a statement.

The embassy said that it has repeatedly issued warnings against such telecom fraud in the name of Chinese Embassy or Consulate-General, and has reported such fraudulent calls to the British police.

"The Embassy would like to once again remind that if anyone receives a suspected fraudulent call, please hang up immediately for self-protection.

"Please also be advised to contact the Chinese Embassy or Consulate-General in the UK to verify the situation if this is deemed necessary. In the unfortunate event of falling victim to such scams, they should immediately report the case to the police," said the statement.

Just on Wednesday, the embassy warned that Chinese students in Britain are being targeted in a new and two-way scam, cautioning the students to remain vigilant.

According to the warning, a number of such cases have been reported to the authorities recently. The embassy suggested that should Chinese students face such situation, they should call British police or the emergency telephone number for help and contact the Chinese embassy or consulate in Britain to verify the situation.
Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man during clashes with Israeli troops, on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on June 8, 2018. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

GAZA, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Four Palestinian protesters were killed and 618 others were wounded by Israeli soldiers on Friday during clashes near the Israel-Gaza border, Palestinian sources said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the health ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that Zeyad al-Briem, 25, and Haytham al-Jammal, 15, were killed in east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, while Emad Darabieh, 26, was shot dead in east of Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Yousef al-Faseeh, 29, was killed in east of Gaza City, al-Qedra added.

Among the injured Palestinians, 117 were hit with live gunshots, 60 with tear gas inhalation, and 77 by bullets shrapnels or tear gas canisters, said al-Qedra.

The clashes, which broke out on Friday afternoon, were part of the 11th Friday "Great March of Return" held by Palestinians in Gaza since March 30. More than 120 Palestinians have been killed so far.

The Palestinian organizers called the latest rally "the Friday of the One-million-men March for Jerusalem."

Palestinian protesters run to take cover from tear gas fired by Israeli troops during clashes, on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on June 8, 2018. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

Local media reported that tens of thousands of Palestinian demonstrators joined the protests at five different spots in eastern Gaza.

Hundreds of kites carrying Molotov cocktails flown by demonstrators landed on Israeli agricultural fields and caused large fires.

Eyewitnesses said Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at journalists and TV crew in eastern Gaza. Palestinian demonstrators brought down an Israeli drone carrying a camera used to film demonstrators in eastern Gaza City.

Five journalists were injured, including AFP photographer Mohamed al-Baba, who was shot in his right foot, and a cameraman working for the al-Aqsa Radio of Hamas, who was hit with a tear gas canister in his back, the Health Ministry in Gaza said.

The ministry also accused Israeli soldiers of firing tear gas at the medical workers who were treating the injured protesters.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 06:08:53|Editor: yan

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CHICAGO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Elastos Foundation, a Chinese high-tech company, has committed to giving 100,000 U.S. dollars to the University of Chicago for the Department of Computer Science in the Division of the Physical Sciences.

Han Feng, co-founder of Elastos Foundation, Bill Lynerd, Associate Dean and Director of Development at the University of Chicago Physical Sciences Division, and Edward W. Kolb, Dean of the Physical Sciences, jointly signed the scholarship agreement on Thursday.

According to the agreement, the scholarship will be awarded to students in the graduate program, with preferential consideration being given to students who have demonstrated strong interest in the areas of cyber security, computer operating system and blockchain technologies.

"By setting up this scholarship, we hope our company's computational thinking can be shared and spread in the university, in the meantime, we also hope talented students here can join us in developing a decentralized network together," Han told Xinhua.

Kolb said half of international graduate students in his department are from China, "they really perform very well, and it's a pleasure to have them here to watch them work."

"Our department will be helped by this gift by this foundation scholarship, it allows us to support the very best graduate students," Kolb said.

Elastos Foundation is building a smart web based on blockchain technology through its decentralized platform, the Elastos carrier. Elastos Foundation has received support from tech giant Foxconn, Tsinghua University and Chinese government departments.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 06:49:00|Editor: mmm

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Participants of the Group of Seven (G7) summit European Union Council President Donald Tusk, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (from L to R) pose for a group photo on the first day of the G7summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. The Group of Seven (G7) summit, which kicked off here on Friday, is expected to be a tough meeting between the United States and its allies amid raising concerns over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. (Xinhua/POOL)

QUEBEC CITY, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Group of Seven (G7) summit, which kicked off here on Friday, is expected to be a tough meeting between the United States and its allies amid raising concerns over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The leaders of the G7, the world's most powerful industrialized countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Japan and the United States, meet every year to discuss collaboration on issues like world economy, climate change, security and peace.

Upon his arrival in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, U.S. President Donald Trump had a brief discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron on issues concerning trade and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to media reports.

The official themes for this year's summit include increasing investments and creating jobs to boost growth and advancing gender equality.

However, the confrontation over Washington's unilateral decision to impose metal tariffs on imports from the European Union (EU) and Canada might dominate the summit.

Trump's rejection of the global climate accord and Iran nuclear deal have also divided the G7.

"It appears to be one against six since none of the other countries took aggressive action against the U.S. and it is the U.S. attacking its own allies," said Perrin Beatty, president and chief executive officer of the 200,000-member Canadian Chamber of Commerce, in an interview.

The head of Canada's largest business association is at a nearby media center looking for signs as to whether Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan -- and the European Union (EU) as a participant -- can convince the United States to rethink its anti-trade strategy.

"What we have is a president who has undermined the trust of the other six leaders around the table, and that will make it much more difficult to have a common front on other issues as well," said Beatty, a former senior Canadian cabinet minister.

In response to the U.S. import tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, Canada followed the EU's lead and threatened to impose its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

Canada has announced import duties against U.S. steel and aluminum as well as 71 categories of consumer and industrial goods that target the home states of prominent Republican members of Congress, such as fruit jams from Wisconsin -- the home state of House Speaker Paul Ryan -- and whiskies from Kentucky, -- the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"We are hurt and we're insulted," said Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland in a recent CNN interview on the U.S. tariffs against Canada.

Beatty credited the Canadian government with crafting the tariffs -- which would come into effect on July 1 if the Trump administration didn't withdraw its import taxes -- to "maximize the impact within certain regions of the U.S. while minimizing the impact on Canada, and trying to find, wherever possible, a Canadian or other supplier to provide the products."

However, he said Canada's business community has a "real concern" with how Trump is attacking what should be the goal of having "free and open" trade.

"We've seen a succession of measures taken by the president directed at close allies and friends of the U.S. that are destructive, and that will inflict serious and direct damage on the U.S. economy as well as its partners' economies," said Beatty. "Yet he seems oblivious to the consequences."

A tariff the U.S. Commerce Department imposed earlier this year on Canadian newsprint has increased costs for newspaper publishers and now imperils the fate of local papers across the United States, Beatty said.

The Trump administration has also slapped tougher tariffs on Canada's softwood lumber industry, but that has resulted in driving up the cost of housing and furniture in the United States and making American furniture manufacturers less competitive, Beatty said.

The trade war could heat up further if Trump next targets Canada's auto industry, which exports about 80 percent of the vehicles it manufactures to the United States, or Canada's dairy industry, based on the president's recent tweet that "Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time."

All of these actions further erode any hope that the North American Free Trade Agreement, currently under renegotiation by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will survive, according to Beatty.

"President Trump has made it clear that he is less interested in having an agreement when the United States wins than in having one where everyone loses," he said.

"It is a great irony that he casts himself as a businessman. In business, whether you are a customer or a supplier, you want to ensure that both have a fair deal that is mutually beneficial and you never want a situation where someone feels victimized."

"Yet this seems to be President Trump's strategy. He sees trade as a zero-sum game in which the United States can advance only if others lose," he said.

Beatty said he has never before witnessed such rancor directed from a U.S. government to its Canadian counterpart since coming to Ottawa in 1972 when he was elected to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament for the then-Progressive Conservative Party at the age of 22.

"I have never seen an instance like this where doing trade with each other is a bad thing - particularly when Canada is a close trading partner with the U.S., and has the closest relationship with the U.S. militarily, diplomatically, culturally and economically than with any other country in the world," he said.

The White House said that Trump will miss the G7 meeting on climate change as he will leave the two-day meeting earlier than originally planned.

Trump on Friday fired off tough tweets directed at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Macron and the EU on trade issues, saying he is looking forward to "straightening out unfair Trade Deals" with the G7 countries.

At the end of the summit, the leaders hope to sign a joint statement detailing the policy positions and initiatives they agree on.

France and Germany have warned that they will not sign the final agreement unless Washington makes some major policy concession.

The summit took place against a backdrop of Trump creating the highest level of tension between the United States and its allies in decades, from trade to the Iran deal to NAFTA, according to an article published on the latest issue of the New Yorker.

On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that he was "getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade." But other G7 leaders were preparing for an America more alone than ever before, and now Trump faces the very real risk of allies teaming up against him, the article said.

"The American president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted later on Thursday.

"Under Trump, 'America first' really is turning out to be America Alone," the New Yorker's article said. Before departing to Canada for this year's G7 summit, Trump told media that Russia should be invited back into the G7 meeting. His claim was unanimously opposed by the European members of the G7, the French president's office said Friday.
CHICAGO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) futures settled mixed on Friday with soybeans falling for the fifth session in a row amid uncertainty of U.S. trade policy.

The most active soybean contract for July delivery fell 5 cents, or 0.51 percent to settle at 9.6925 dollars per bushel. July corn went up 1.5 cents, or 0.40 percent to close at 3.7775 dollars per bushel. July wheat was down 6.75 cents, or 1.28 percent to settle at 5.20 dollars per bushel.

The downturn of soybean futures was a result of weak demand from China as well as pro-crop weather conditions in the U.S. Midwest, said market observers.

China, the top buyer of U.S. soybeans, has been active in booking Brazilian soybeans for July and August, amid unsolved trade issues with Washington. The weekly fall of CBOT soybeans has reached 5.09 percent.

Following significant rises in the past three days, the prices of CBOT wheat retreated sharply over profit-taking during the last session of this week.
QUEBEC CITY, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who came to Canada to attend the 44th G7 Summit in Charlevoix.

The two leaders discussed G7 cooperation on pressing global issues, including gender equality and preparing economies for jobs of the future. Trudeau and Merkel exchanged views on international peace and security issues, including the issue of Korea Peninsula.

They highlighted the importance of open, rules-based international trade to create economic growth that benefits everyone.

They also emphasized the importance of collective G7 action on oceans, including to reduce plastic waste, as well as the importance of contributing to education for girls and women, especially in fragile states and crisis settings.

The 2018 G7 summit, which kicks off in Quebec Friday, is seen a tough meeting between the U.S. and its allies because Washington announced last week to impose steel and aluminium tariffs on Canada, Mexico and European Union.
UNITED NATIONS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) said on Friday more than 1.25 million children are expected to be acutely malnourished this year because of flooding in Somalia.

Chief UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here at UN Headquarters during a regular briefing that flooding since April is being blamed.

He said the agency reported about half of children under five years old, or "more than 1.25 million are expected to be acutely malnourished this year. That includes up to 232,000 children who will suffer severe acute malnutrition, which requires specialized lifesaving care."

"Many of the flood-impacted areas are in the path of an ongoing measles outbreak, and a spike in acute watery diarrhea/cholera cases is a major threat," Dujarric said.

"The rains spread diseases that are particularly deadly for malnourished children with exhausted, fragile immune systems," said Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF spokesman in Geneva.

"The flooding has damaged water points, sanitation facilities and other critical infrastructure, and 22 nutrition centers treating over 6,000 acutely malnourished children in areas hosting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have had to shut down," he said.

Boulierac said short-term UNICEF funding is running out, and "it will hurt water, health and nutrition services."

UNICEF has received 24.3 million U.S. dollars this year of its 154.9 million dollar appeal which, along with funds carried over, leaves a gap of 110.3 million dollars, or 71 percent, he said.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's President Emmanuel Macron chat during a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

QUEBEC CITY, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Group of Seven (G7) summit, which kicked off here on Friday, is expected to be a tough meeting between the United States and its allies amid raising concerns over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The leaders of the G7, the world's most powerful industrialized countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Japan and the United States, meet every year to discuss collaboration on issues like world economy, climate change, security and peace.

Upon his arrival in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, U.S. President Donald Trump had a brief discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron on issues concerning trade and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to media reports.

The official themes for this year's summit include increasing investments and creating jobs to boost growth and advancing gender equality.

However, the confrontation over Washington's unilateral decision to impose metal tariffs on imports from the European Union (EU) and Canada might dominate the summit.

Trump's rejection of the global climate accord and Iran nuclear deal have also divided the G7.

"It appears to be one against six since none of the other countries took aggressive action against the U.S. and it is the U.S. attacking its own allies," said Perrin Beatty, president and chief executive officer of the 200,000-member Canadian Chamber of Commerce, in an interview.

The head of Canada's largest business association is at a nearby media center looking for signs as to whether Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan -- and the European Union (EU) as a participant -- can convince the United States to rethink its anti-trade strategy.

"What we have is a president who has undermined the trust of the other six leaders around the table, and that will make it much more difficult to have a common front on other issues as well," said Beatty, a former senior Canadian cabinet minister.

In response to the U.S. import tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, Canada followed the EU's lead and threatened to impose its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

Canada has announced import duties against U.S. steel and aluminum as well as 71 categories of consumer and industrial goods that target the home states of prominent Republican members of Congress, such as fruit jams from Wisconsin -- the home state of House Speaker Paul Ryan -- and whiskies from Kentucky, -- the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"We are hurt and we're insulted," said Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland in a recent CNN interview on the U.S. tariffs against Canada.

Beatty credited the Canadian government with crafting the tariffs -- which would come into effect on July 1 if the Trump administration didn't withdraw its import taxes -- to "maximize the impact within certain regions of the U.S. while minimizing the impact on Canada, and trying to find, wherever possible, a Canadian or other supplier to provide the products."

However, he said Canada's business community has a "real concern" with how Trump is attacking what should be the goal of having "free and open" trade.

"We've seen a succession of measures taken by the president directed at close allies and friends of the U.S. that are destructive, and that will inflict serious and direct damage on the U.S. economy as well as its partners' economies," said Beatty. "Yet he seems oblivious to the consequences."

A tariff the U.S. Commerce Department imposed earlier this year on Canadian newsprint has increased costs for newspaper publishers and now imperils the fate of local papers across the United States, Beatty said.

The Trump administration has also slapped tougher tariffs on Canada's softwood lumber industry, but that has resulted in driving up the cost of housing and furniture in the United States and making American furniture manufacturers less competitive, Beatty said.

The trade war could heat up further if Trump next targets Canada's auto industry, which exports about 80 percent of the vehicles it manufactures to the United States, or Canada's dairy industry, based on the president's recent tweet that "Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time."

All of these actions further erode any hope that the North American Free Trade Agreement, currently under renegotiation by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will survive, according to Beatty.

"President Trump has made it clear that he is less interested in having an agreement when the United States wins than in having one where everyone loses," he said.

"It is a great irony that he casts himself as a businessman. In business, whether you are a customer or a supplier, you want to ensure that both have a fair deal that is mutually beneficial and you never want a situation where someone feels victimized."

"Yet this seems to be President Trump's strategy. He sees trade as a zero-sum game in which the United States can advance only if others lose," he said.

Beatty said he has never before witnessed such rancor directed from a U.S. government to its Canadian counterpart since coming to Ottawa in 1972 when he was elected to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament for the then-Progressive Conservative Party at the age of 22.

"I have never seen an instance like this where doing trade with each other is a bad thing - particularly when Canada is a close trading partner with the U.S., and has the closest relationship with the U.S. militarily, diplomatically, culturally and economically than with any other country in the world," he said.

The White House said that Trump will miss the G7 meeting on climate change as he will leave the two-day meeting earlier than originally planned.

Trump on Friday fired off tough tweets directed at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Macron and the EU on trade issues, saying he is looking forward to "straightening out unfair Trade Deals" with the G7 countries.

At the end of the summit, the leaders hope to sign a joint statement detailing the policy positions and initiatives they agree on.

France and Germany have warned that they will not sign the final agreement unless Washington makes some major policy concession.

The summit took place against a backdrop of Trump creating the highest level of tension between the United States and its allies in decades, from trade to the Iran deal to NAFTA, according to an article published on the latest issue of the New Yorker.

On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that he was "getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade." But other G7 leaders were preparing for an America more alone than ever before, and now Trump faces the very real risk of allies teaming up against him, the article said.

"The American president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted later on Thursday.

"Under Trump, 'America first' really is turning out to be America Alone," the New Yorker's article said. Before departing to Canada for this year's G7 summit, Trump told media that Russia should be invited back into the G7 meeting. His claim was unanimously opposed by the European members of the G7, the French president's office said Friday.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 07:41:45|Editor: mmm

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Participants experience descending waterfall during the National Canyoning Festival 2018 at Thakre in Dhading, around 40 kilometers from capital Kathmandu, Nepal, June 8, 2018. The fourth edition of canyoning festival is organized by Nepal Canyoning Association to promote adventure tourism, attracting domestic and international tourists to experience the adventurous sport. Over 100 Nepalese and foreigners enjoyed canyoning in the two-day event which kicked off here from Friday.(Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 07:39:09|Editor: mmm

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UNITED NATIONS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian envoy said Friday that the Arab Group and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have requested a UN General Assembly emergency session to mobilize international protection for Palestinian civilians.

The President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak has received a letter from both the Arab Group and the OIC requesting the resumption of the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly "to have international protection for the civilian population" in the occupied territory, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, told reporters late afternoon in the backdrop that the tense situation in the Gaza Strip has been further escalating.

"We are preparing communications with all member states, explaining to them what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what we expect them to do in supporting this effort," Mansour added.

According to Mansour, on Friday alone, four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire power in the Gaza Strip, 650 were injured, including seven seriously, who might "live their life as we speak."

"We condemn in the strongest terms of these atrocities against Palestinian civilian population," he said, noting that "what happened today adds to our argument, and to the urgency of providing international protection."

He expressed the wish "to mobilize the largest number of countries to support our effort."

The 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly was convened for the first time in April 1997, following a request from the permanent representative of Qatar.

The session followed a series of Security Council and General Assembly meetings regarding the Israeli decision to build Har Homa, a 6,500 unit housing project, in the Jabal Abu Ghneim area of East Jerusalem.

The special session was last resumed on Dec. 21 2017 to consider the crisis in the Gaza Strip, at the request of the General Assembly president.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory unveiled Summit as the world's most powerful and smartest scientific supercomputer. (Xinhua/Carlos Jones, Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Dept. of Energy)

WASHINGTON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) said on Friday the country reclaimed the world's most powerful supercomputer.

The computer named "Summit" has a peak performance of 200,000 trillion calculations per second or 200 petaflops, breaking the record of China's top-ranking Sunway TaihuLight with processing capacity of about 125.4 petaflops, according to ORNL.

It is about a million times faster than a typical laptop. For certain scientific applications, it will also be capable of more than 3 billion billion mixed precision calculations per second, or 3.3 exaops.

"Summit" will provide unprecedented computing power for research in energy, advanced materials and artificial intelligence (AI), among other domains, enabling scientific discoveries that were previously impractical or impossible, according to ORNL.

Also, "Summit" offers opportunities for the integration of AI and scientific discovery, enabling researchers to apply techniques like machine learning and deep learning to problems in human health, high-energy physics, materials discovery and other areas.

"Today's launch of the Summit supercomputer demonstrates the strength of American leadership in scientific innovation and technology development. It's going to have a profound impact in energy research, scientific discovery, economic competitiveness and national security," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

The computer uses an IBM AC922 system consisting of 4,608 compute servers, each containing two 22-core IBM Power9 processors and six NVIDIA Tesla V100 graphics processing unit accelerators.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 08:53:47|Editor: mmm

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U.S. President Donald Trump waves to the press at the White House before leaving for the G7 Summit, in Washington D.C., the United States, on June 8, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump said here on Friday that Russia should be invited back into the Group of Seven (G7) meeting, which gathers a group of leading industrial nations. (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 08:54:19|Editor: Liangyu

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PARIS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Rafael Nadal could take revenge on Dominic Thiem in men's singles final of the 2018 French Open, while Chinese player Yang Zhaoxuan and her partner Chan Hao-Ching of Chinese Taipei failed to secure their spots in women's doubles final here on Friday.

Thiem remained the only player to have defeated Nadal on clay prior to Roland Garros, winning the duel in the quarterfinals at ATP Madrid Masters, snapping Nadal's streak of 50 straight sets won on clay.

Thiem withstood huge challenge from Italian underdog Marco Cecchinato in the first two sets of Friday's semifinal, winning 7-5 and 7-6 (10) respectively, before easing through the third set 6-1.

"The second-set tiebreak was the big key to the match, 100 percent, because obviously he felt all the matches from these two weeks after that. If he would have won the tiebreak, he would be full power in the third set," said Thiem.

"He's a big favorite against everybody. Still, I know how to play against him. I have a plan. I will try everything to make my plan also go to work out a little bit here and not only in Madrid or in Rome," he anticipated a final against Nadal.

Following Thiem's victory, Nadal also secured his 11th appearance in the final at Roland Garros after seeing off fifth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.

"It was a good second and third set for me, and a good hold in the first. Good tactics and mentality in the first set give me the possibility to play much better later in the match," said Nadal.

Nadal became the second man in the Open Era to reach the final at one Grand Slam event on 11 occasions after Roger Federer, who has reached 11 Wimbledon finals.

"He's been a very complex opponent, and one of the best players in the world on this surface. I hope that I can win," Nadal commented on Thiem.

Yang and Chan lost to Japanese pair of Hozumi Eri and Ninomiya Makoto 6-2, 6-2 in semifinals in 63 minutes.

"We hoped to give opponents much pressure from the net, but that didn't work quite well because of their excellent moving, and they managed to apply their tactics into the match," Yang pointed out.

Hozumi and Ninomiya will face Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of Czech Republic in Sunday's final.

Women's world No. 1 Simona Halep will chase her first Grand Slam title in Saturday's final against U.S. Open titleholder Sloane Stephens.

Local favorites Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut will battle for men's doubles champion against No. 2 seed Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 10:24:33|Editor: mmm

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GENEVA, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The International Labor Organization (ILO) called for building a global community with a shared future with decent work for all, as its annual conference closed here on Friday.

The 107th session of the International Labor Conference highlighted the call in a resolution it adopted with an aim to enhance effective development cooperation for the ILO to support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

"In support of the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, the International Labor Organization (ILO) should promote the understanding and recognition of its values, mandate and standards in its development cooperation and partnerships," the resolution said.

As the ILO approaches its centenary, "its development cooperation is an integral part of its service delivery to meet challenges in the world of work, build a global community with a shared future of decent work for all and support constituents in promoting the Decent Work Agenda within an overarching SDG framework," it said.

During the discussion process for the adoption of the new resolution, China stressed that the key aspects for development cooperation include the principle of "leaving no one behind", by ensuring adequate coverage of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, among others.

China regards development cooperation as critical for the provision of public goods to reduce decent work deficits for all and the related parties have a shared responsibility for achieving the SDGs, the Chinese delegation said at the conference.

Founded in 1919, ILO brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 members, to set labor standards, develop policies and devise programs promoting decent work for all women and men.

The 107th session of ILO's annual conference was held here in Geneva from May 28 to June 8, which gathered over 4,000 delegates from around the globe to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world of labor. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 10:54:37|Editor: Liangyu

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WASHINGTON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said here lately that the two nations shall work to strengthen their communication and cooperation to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation.

Cui made the remarks while meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan on Thursday. The two senior diplomats exchanged views on bilateral relations and other topics of mutual interest.

Cui noted that the China-U.S. relationship is at a critical moment, and the two sides should strengthen communication and cooperation, increase mutual confidence, and properly handle differences so as to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation.

He also stressed that both China and the United States have the responsibility and obligation to ensure the safety and security and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the diplomatic and consular officials residing in the respective countries.

Cui said that as the situation on the Korean Peninsula is further relaxing, all the parties concerned should work together for a political solution to the nuclear issue on the Peninsula.

China and the United States should enhance communication and coordination to this end, he said.
NEW DELHI, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for China on Saturday morning to attend the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit that begins Qingdao Saturday, confirmed the country's Ministry of External Affairs in a tweet.

"An early morning start! PM @narendramodi heads to #Qingdao, China for the annual meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the SCO on 9-10 June. This is India's first participation as a full member of the Council," said the tweet.

Before his departure, Modi also tweeted: "On June 9 and 10, I will be in Qingdao, China, to take part in the annual SCO Summit. This will be India's first SCO Summit as a full member. Will be interacting with leaders of SCO nations and discussing a wide range of subjects with them."
SYDNEY, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Air safety investigators headed to a beachside suburb in Melbourne on Saturday morning, a day after a pilot was killed when his small plane crashed and burst into flames amid homes, according to authorities.

The investigators "will examine the wreckage, gather any available recorded data and interview any witnesses, amongst other activities," the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a statement.

The Cessna 172 light plane crashed in the Mordialloc suburb late on Friday, with emergency services deployed to the scene soon after and a sole occupant found dead in the aircraft, according to state police. No one else was injured in the incident.

The pilot, in his 50s, an aircraft engineer with about 20 years of experience, had taken the plane out after he had been working on it, police told local reporters.

The plane hit power lines before it crashed on a street about 200 meters from the end of the runway at the Moorabbin Airport, the ABC News channel reported.
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Page: 1 2 3 4 5 ... 13 Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: 443067

06-09-2018 01:42 AM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #1 Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

Advertisement



Larijani admitted that Iranian officials did not stamp the passports of the al Qaeda militants in order to obfuscate their movements and prevent detection by foreign governments. Al Qaeda operative also were given safe refuge in Iran.



http://freebeacon.com/national-security/...r-attacks/



Watch the Iranian Television Interview



https://english.alarabiya.net/en/feature...ckers.html



Al-Qaeda operatives with safe refuge in Iran:

"A top al Qaeda operative asked bin Laden for permission to relocate to Iran in June 2010 as he plotted attacks around the world. That operative, Yunis al Mauritani, was a senior member of al Qaedas so-called external operations team, and plotted to launch Mumbai-style attacks in Europe.



As THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported, the al Qaeda cell selected to take part in al Mauritanis plot transited through Iran and some of its members received safe haven there after the planned attacks were thwarted."



https://www.weeklystandard.com/new-docs-...cle/868678  Ascended Master Mohammad-Javad Larijani, an international affairs assistant in the Iran's judiciary, disclosed in Farsi-language remarks broadcast on Iran's state-controlled television that Iranian intelligence officials secretly helped provide the al Qaeda attackers with passage and gave them refuge in the Islamic Republic, according to an English translation published by Al Arabiya.Larijani admitted that Iranian officials did not stamp the passports of the al Qaeda militants in order to obfuscate their movements and prevent detection by foreign governments. Al Qaeda operative also were given safe refuge in Iran.Watch the Iranian Television InterviewAl-Qaeda operatives with safe refuge in Iran:"A top al Qaeda operative asked bin Laden for permission to relocate to Iran in June 2010 as he plotted attacks around the world. That operative, Yunis al Mauritani, was a senior member of al Qaedas so-called external operations team, and plotted to launch Mumbai-style attacks in Europe.As THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported, the al Qaeda cell selected to take part in al Mauritanis plot transited through Iran and some of its members received safe haven there after the planned attacks were thwarted." Ascended Master (This post was last modified: 06-09-2018 02:30 AM by RiskyRob .) LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 445097

06-09-2018 01:43 AM











Post: #2 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks





HE ASKED US TO SLAUGHTER SYRIA EARLIER AND NOW HE'S AFTER IRAN!



OP IS AN ADL EMPLOYEEHE ASKED US TO SLAUGHTER SYRIA EARLIER AND NOW HE'S AFTER IRAN! RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: 443067

06-09-2018 01:49 AM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #3 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:43 AM) OP IS AN ADL EMPLOYEE



HE ASKED US TO SLAUGHTER SYRIA EARLIER AND NOW HE'S AFTER IRAN!





It's going to take more than an anonymous ALL CAPS moron shouting idiot accusations. It's going to take more than an anonymous ALL CAPS moron shouting idiot accusations.  Ascended Master LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 445097

06-09-2018 01:50 AM











Post: #4 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:49 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:43 AM) OP IS AN ADL EMPLOYEE



HE ASKED US TO SLAUGHTER SYRIA EARLIER AND NOW HE'S AFTER IRAN!





It's going to take more than an anonymous ALL CAPS moron shouting idiot accusations.

IS IT? IS IT? RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: 443067

06-09-2018 02:00 AM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #5 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:50 AM) RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:49 AM) It's going to take more than an anonymous ALL CAPS moron shouting idiot accusations.

IS IT?

Your 9/11 "Truther" house of cards just collapsed. Your 9/11 "Truther" house of cards just collapsed.  Ascended Master LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444952

06-09-2018 02:13 AM











Post: #6 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:00 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:50 AM) IS IT?

Your 9/11 "Truther" house of cards just collapsed.

Only if you think the dead pilots needed refuge in Iran.

Don't worry.

No need to turn your brain on.

You seem to operate just fine without it. Only if you think the dead pilots needed refuge in Iran.Don't worry.No need to turn your brain on.You seem to operate just fine without it. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444770

06-09-2018 02:14 AM











Post: #7 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:00 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:50 AM) IS IT?

Your 9/11 "Truther" house of cards just collapsed.

My Truther House of cards?



Tell me more about my Truther house of cards?



Please My Truther House of cards?Tell me more about my Truther house of cards?Please RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: 443067

06-09-2018 02:19 AM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #8 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:13 AM) RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:00 AM) Your 9/11 "Truther" house of cards just collapsed.

Only if you think the dead pilots needed refuge in Iran.

Don't worry.

No need to turn your brain on.

You seem to operate just fine without it.

"...viewed the passage of an airplane through Irans airspace, which had one of the pilots who carried out the attacks and a Hezbollah military leader sitting (next to) him on board, as evidence of direct cooperation with al-Qaeda through the Lebanese Hezbollah, he said."



So, because a man that later piloted a hijacked 9/11 airliner later died, he could not have earlier traveled through Iran? "...viewed the passage of an airplane through Irans airspace, which had one of the pilots who carried out the attacks and a Hezbollah military leader sitting (next to) him on board, as evidence of direct cooperation with al-Qaeda through the Lebanese Hezbollah, he said."So, because a man that later piloted a hijacked 9/11 airliner later died, he could not have earlier traveled through Iran?  Ascended Master LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444770

06-09-2018 02:21 AM











Post: #9 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:19 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:13 AM) Only if you think the dead pilots needed refuge in Iran.

Don't worry.

No need to turn your brain on.

You seem to operate just fine without it.

"...viewed the passage of an airplane through Irans airspace, which had one of the pilots who carried out the attacks and a Hezbollah military leader sitting (next to) him on board, as evidence of direct cooperation with al-Qaeda through the Lebanese Hezbollah, he said."



So, because a man that later piloted a hijacked 9/11 airliner later died, he could not have earlier traveled through Iran?

The 911 "suicide bombers" are still alive f*#k wad.



Go have a read about the Israeli moving company and their art students. The 911 "suicide bombers" are still alive f*#k wad.Go have a read about the Israeli moving company and their art students. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444952

06-09-2018 02:22 AM











Post: #10 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:19 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:13 AM) Only if you think the dead pilots needed refuge in Iran.

Don't worry.

No need to turn your brain on.

You seem to operate just fine without it.

"...viewed the passage of an airplane through Irans airspace, which had one of the pilots who carried out the attacks and a Hezbollah military leader sitting (next to) him on board, as evidence of direct cooperation with al-Qaeda through the Lebanese Hezbollah, he said."



So, because a man that later piloted a hijacked 9/11 airliner later died, he could not have earlier traveled through Iran?

I wonder if he's one of those "pilots" who ended up not being dead?



Don't worry.

I doubt it matters to the story. I wonder if he's one of those "pilots" who ended up not being dead?Don't worry.I doubt it matters to the story. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442496

06-09-2018 02:28 AM











Post: #11 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 01:43 AM) OP IS AN ADL EMPLOYEE



HE ASKED US TO SLAUGHTER SYRIA EARLIER AND NOW HE'S AFTER IRAN!









OP seems to relish at the idea of Palestinians and Syrians dying.



Now he is spewing this propaganda, Can't say it's unexpected. OP seems to relish at the idea of Palestinians and Syrians dying.Now he is spewing this propaganda, Can't say it's unexpected. RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: 443067

06-09-2018 02:33 AM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #12 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:21 AM) RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:19 AM) "...viewed the passage of an airplane through Irans airspace, which had one of the pilots who carried out the attacks and a Hezbollah military leader sitting (next to) him on board, as evidence of direct cooperation with al-Qaeda through the Lebanese Hezbollah, he said."



So, because a man that later piloted a hijacked 9/11 airliner later died, he could not have earlier traveled through Iran?

The 911 "suicide bombers" are still alive f*#k wad.



Go have a read about the Israeli moving company and their art students.

No, the Iranian government just pounded a stake through the heart of that "9/11 Truth". No, the Iranian government just pounded a stake through the heart of that "9/11 Truth".  Ascended Master LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442496

06-09-2018 02:34 AM











Post: #13 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:33 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:21 AM) The 911 "suicide bombers" are still alive f*#k wad.



Go have a read about the Israeli moving company and their art students.

No, the Iranian government just pounded a stake through the heart of that "9/11 Truth".

Only in your mind SqueakyBob.



Not everyone is Naive enough like you to believe Zionist Propaganda. Only in your mind SqueakyBob.Not everyone is Naive enough like you to believe Zionist Propaganda. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 444770

06-09-2018 02:36 AM











Post: #14 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:34 AM) RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:33 AM) No, the Iranian government just pounded a stake through the heart of that "9/11 Truth".

Only in your mind SqueakyBob.



Not everyone is Naive enough like you to believe Zionist Propaganda.





Op is a yo yo on a string, a puppet on the hand. Op is a yo yo on a string, a puppet on the hand. RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: 443067

06-09-2018 02:37 AM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #15 RE: Iran Admits Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks

LoP Guest Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:34 AM) RiskyRob Wrote: (06-09-2018 02:33 AM) No, the Iranian government just pounded a stake through the heart of that "9/11 Truth".

Only in your mind SqueakyBob.



Not everyone is Naive enough like you to believe Zionist Propaganda.

I gave you a link to the Iranian state TV broadcast! You can watch and listen. Did the Jews make this up? I gave you a link to the Iranian state TV broadcast! You can watch and listen. Did the Jews make this up?  Ascended Master Advertisement


















Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 11:29:42|Editor: mmm

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QUITO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- An Ecuadorian criminal court on Friday upheld a six-year jail sentence handed to former Vice President Jorge Glas, who was convicted of accepting bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

Ecuador's Prosecutor General's Office said via Twitter the court had rejected an appeal submitted by Glas in January, and ratified the conviction and sentence.

Glas has been in preventive custody since Oct. 2, 2017, on charges of accepting some 13.5 million U.S. dollars in exchange for granting Odebrecht lucrative public works contracts between 2012 and 2016, when he served in ex-president Rafael Correa's government (2007-2017).

Glas, surrounded by legislators loyal to him, was at the National Court of Justice to hear the ruling, and vowed to fight it.

"Everything is manipulated, this is a sham," he told reporters, adding that he would continue to pursue an annulment at the national court and even international courts.

His lawyer Eduardo Franco also rejected the decision by posting on twitter that "the appeals court continued the injustice against Jorge Glas. They ratified an arbitrary sentence."

Glas was sentenced to six years in December 2017. Before becoming vice president in 2013, he was coordinating minister of strategic sectors.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 11:54:44|Editor: ZD

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YANGON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government has held an emergency meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, focusing on national security, Rakhine issue and international relations.

According to a release issued by the President's Office on Friday, the meeting had discussions on the situation on signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the formation of an independent investigation commission as well as matters relating to Rakhine state and border security, among others.

Prior to the meeting, the country's Labour, Immigration and Population Ministry, the UNDP and the UNHCR signed a MoU on repatriation of displaced persons from Rakhine state on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, the UNHCR will join hands with the Myanmar government in the implementation of voluntary repatriation and conducting assessments at their potential pilot project sites, and will also work with the UNDP in preparation for recovery and resilience-based development in potential areas.

Also, the UNDP will cooperate with the government in undertaking the planning process for resilience-based recovery and development that will benefit all communities and promote social cohesion as well as support access to livelihoods.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has recently received first batch of 62 returnees through Nga Khu Ya reception camp in Rakhine state, who had fled to Bangladesh due to the Rakhine conflict, and they were being transferred to the Hla Pho Khaung transit camp in Maungtaw after proper verification.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army extremist terrorists launched attacks on police outposts in Rakhine State on Aug. 25 last year, displacing a vast number of residents to border areas with Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar government is also considering closure of the remaining internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the country.

There are more than 140 IDP camps in Myanmar, with a total population of more than 160,000 in 15 towns in four states of the country.

Three IDP camps in the western Rakhine state have been closed and three others are to be closed.

The camps in three other states will be shut down as efforts are being made to ensure the IDP's access to education and healthcare, free movement under law and and their participation in the nation's economic development.

An advisory commission, led by former UN chief Kofi Annan, recommended in its report closure of the IDP camps, and practical measures necessary to achieve development for all communities in Rakhine state.
WASHINGTON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has given interviews to three foreign media outlets over the Korean Peninsula issue, saying that China "certainly" has a role to play over the issue.

CHINA "CERTAINLY" HAS ROLE TO PLAY

According to the transcripts provided by the State Department on Friday, Pompeo said in the interviews that "China will certainly have a part" on relative issues, including the ultimate ending of the state of war on the Korean Peninsula.

"I'm very confident that China will play a role. Indeed, they have already to date," said Pompeo.

China has already been part of it, as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), have met for discussions, said Pompeo.

Pompeo will head to China on June 14 after the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim. This will be Pompeo's first trip to China as U.S. secretary of state.

"I'm very much looking forward to my trip to Beijing. I've been to Beijing many times in my life before, before I entered government, so I'm looking forward to returning," he said.

"I'm looking forward to meeting with China's senior leaders to talk about exactly the relationship between our two countries," he said.

"They are two big economies, two important places in the world, and we have lots of connectivity, and there are places we have challenges," the top U.S. diplomat noted.

"There are many places where China and the United States will do great things together. There are other places where the two countries are competing," he said.

"Our job as diplomats -- mine as the Secretary of State and my Chinese counterparts -- is to work so that it's not a zero-sum game between our two countries, where we can succeed together," he added.

Pompeo said that he will also share with China how the Trump-Kim meetings go.

HOPING FOR "FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT" IN U.S.-DPRK TIES

Pompeo said in the interviews that the exact timing and modalities of the denuclearization of the peninsula have not been agreed to yet, but the U.S. side has expected "a fundamental shift" in the relationship with the DPRK.

"Our objective for the summit is very clear: We want to achieve a fundamentally different strategic relationship between our two countries," he said.

"President Trump has been very clear all along that he is prepared to provide North Korea (the DPRK) with the security assurances, the warm political relationships that they want and are demanding in exchange for actions by North Korea, the denuclearization of the peninsula."

"We're hoping to make just as much progress on that as we can during the summit," he said. "And then along with our partners -- China, Japan, South Korea -- we can all move forward together."

As for the timeline of the denuclearization, Pompeo only said that Trump and Kim will discuss it during the meeting.

"Chairman Kim told me directly that he was prepared to sit with President Trump and talk about how that denuclearization would take place. The two of them will have a chance to have an extensive conversation surrounding that," he said.

"When you think about complete denuclearization, it would certainly be all of their sites, not just those that have been declared," he said.

"I would hope that there would be a statement that they would put out that each could agree to. But we'll have to see," he added. "The ultimate resolution of the problem will take lots of willing partners."

SECURITY ASSURANCES AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE LINKED

Pompeo noted that Trump and Kim will "begin to flesh out what both the security assurances will look like, what we can do together politically to provide better relations between our two countries, and then talk about denuclearization."

He also said that foreign economic assistance and security assurances to Pyongyang "are incredibly linked."

"For North Korea to have the security assurances it needs, it needs to know that it has an economic -- economically viable path forward ... it's difficult to separate them out," he said, adding that he imagines many nations, besides the DPRK's neighbors, will want to participate in its economic development "if we are successful in Singapore."

"It would be our expectation that the countries in the region would provide the initial financial support for just that; but over time, we would hope that, much like the other countries in the region, it would be able to achieve exactly what I described -- a connected, safe, secure North Korea without outside assistance," he added.

"It would be the opening up of the country, it would be their connectedness, it would be their ability to prosper on their own feet," he explained.

However, the foreign assistance, "much like the economic opening that will take place, it will only take place at such time as we have completed the denuclearization," he said.

He also reiterated that U.S. sanctions on the DPRK will not be lifted "until such time as the denuclearization itself has been completed."

"The economic relief, the sanctions relief ... can't take place until we see real action, real change, on the part of North Korea," he said.
SYDNEY, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Police in Australia's New South Wales state capital Sydney have busted a major fraud syndicate as part of a yearlong crackdown, authorities said on Saturday.

The gang was allegedly "responsible for porting mobile phones, stealing mail and using the identification details" of victims to fraudulently obtain about 250,000 Australian dollars (190,100 U.S. dollars), according to a police statement.

Items such as mobile phones, SIM cards, credit cards and methylamphetamine drugs were found during the police searches across the greater Sydney region, including the Guilford, Merrylands and Bankstown areas.

At least six people were arrested in the dragnet, including a 39-year-old man and 43-year-old woman charged with fraud and involvement in a criminal group.

Investigations are continuing and police said they expect to lay further charges.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 13:04:54|Editor: mmm

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RIO DE JANEIRO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Workers' Party (PT) on Friday launched Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as its candidate for the Brazilian presidency.

Several prominent PT politicians, such as former President Dilma Rousseff, attended the launching ceremony at Contagem, Minas Gerais state. However, the candidate himself did not attend.

Lula, who had already served as Brazil's president for two terms, from 2003 to 2010, is trying to return for a third term, but has a big obstacle ahead.

Lula is currently in jail. He was sentenced to 12 years of jail for bribe-taking and money laundering two months ago.

Lula was found guilty at an appeals court. The court could order him to start serving the sentence immediately. The sentence also means that, according to Brazil's electoral law, Lula cannot run in the election.

The former president is appealing to both the Superior Court of Justice and the Supreme Court, in order to keep his record clear until all appeals are judged, which would both get him out of jail and ensure his participation in the election.

By reaffirming Lula as its candidate, the PT sends the message that they are not looking for a substitute in case Lula is not allowed to run. However, the party reportedly has alternates in mind in case of necessity.

The party can also choose to support candidates from other parties, such as Ciro Gomes, from the Democratic Labor Party or Guilherme Boulos, from the Socialism and Freedom Party.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 13:14:55|Editor: mmm

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CARACAS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government has captured seven suspects in its operation to dismantle groups smuggling gold and other valuable metals and minerals out of the country, Vice President Tareck El Aissami said on Friday.

"We have prevented the extraction of 2.5 tons of gold, which is the total amount of this material that these criminal organizations handled to smuggle," said El Aissami.

The Operation Metal Hands was launched on Monday, with arrest warrants issued for 28 others, he said.

The groups buy gold from small mining operations in southern Bolivar state and then "smuggle the material out of Venezuela through organized crime networks," said the vice president.

Earlier this year, Venezuela launched an operation against cash smugglers, called Paper Hands, and arrested 216 suspects and froze nearly 5 trillion bolivars (62.5 million U.S. dollars) in different bank accounts, 90 percent of which belonged to a single bank, Banesco Banco Universal.

On May 3, officials said they were taking over the bank's operations for 90 says, after finding financial irregularities.

Authorities have also seized 12 trillion bolivars (150 million U.S. dollars) in cash that were to be smuggled across the border into neighboring Colombia, where the bills can be sold for up to three times their face value.

The rampant smuggling "aims to deal a blow to Venezuela's financial system and the country's economic stability," said the vice president.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 13:19:57|Editor: Liangyu

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HARBIN, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Li Xin carefully changes a diaper on a newborn Siberian tiger sound asleep in an incubator, trying not to disturb it, while around him a dozen cubs cry for milk.

Since its tigers began to give birth in early April, Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has seen the arrival some 60 cubs this season.

The park is home to more than 1,300 Siberian tigers and contains a branch of the Siberian Tiger Breeding Center, the world's largest professional breeding center for the Siberian tigers.

Tiger keepers like Li look after cubs at the breeding base if the mother doesn't have enough milk or the skills to care for her offspring.

The job requires constant care. Huang Haitao, head of the breeding and veterinary department at the park, told Xinhua that any abnormalities may be a sign the cubs have a fatal disease so their condition must be checked frequently.

"A tiger cub can die of an acute disease within six hours of the first symptoms appearing, unless treated in time," Huang said.

Therefore, Li and his colleagues, who take care of around 50 tiger cubs at the base, work on shifts around the clock attending to the cubs.

Every morning as soon as he arrives in the base, Li checks the cubs' weight, body temperature, and excrement, all indicators of their health condition. During the day shift, he feeds them and changes their diapers every two or three hours.

At lunch time, the cubs begin to howl, crying out for food. Li feeds them bottles of warm goat milk. After they drink enough, Li burps them and listens to their belly.

"Burping indicates the milk has already flowed into their stomach," he said.

Li majored in animal husbandry and veterinary in Heilongjiang Agricultural Technology College. He has been working as a tiger keeper at the park since graduation in 2004.

"When I first came here, I was curious but also afraid of being hurt by the tigers. Fortunately, my senior colleagues were very kind and patiently showed me how to work with the animals," Li recalled.

Now a senior keeper himself, Li works diligently caring for the animals. During the birthing season, his team works 32-hour shifts, and night shift is common.

"I think the job is harder than taking care of my own child," said Li, 35, who became a father eight years ago.

When his own child was born, Li had been a tiger keeper for six years. His expertise in taking care of tiger cubs had helped him care for his own child.

"Changing diapers, burping and bathing the baby... it was easy for me while my wife did not have this experience and was afraid to do it at first," Li said.

As the immune system of tigers does not begin to mature until around six months of age, Li said one of his greatest hopes is that his small charges will not fall ill during their infancy.
TRIPOLI, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan Red Crescent said that it evacuated more than 320 families in the eastern city of Darna from sites of clashes between the army and terrorist groups on Friday.

The Libyan Red Crescent also revealed that nine unidentified bodies were recovered and buried in a cemetery east of Darna.

Local media published images of hundreds of civilians leaving Darna, as clashes intensified and the army progressed towards taking over the entire city.

The army has made significant progress in Darna in the past few days, reaching the city center after fierce battles forced the terrorist groups to retreat and lose more than half of the city.

The army has been besieging Darna since 2015, demanding the armed group of the Shura Council of Mujahideen of Darna, which controls the city, leave. The army accuses the group of being loyal to al-Qaida.

The Red Crescent on Wednesday called on the people of Darna not to leave their homes until a safe passage is secured.

Humanitarian Coordinator for the UN Support Mission in Libya Maria Ribeiro recently called for a "humanitarian pause to allow life-saving humanitarian goods into the city and allow people to stock up on supplies."
NEW DELHI, June 9 (Xinhua) -- At least 35 workers have been injured in a major fire at a dyeing mill in the western Indian state of Gujarat, police said Saturday.

The fire broke out at Shalu Dyeing Mill in the state's Surat town, some 300 km from Gujarat capital Gandhinagar.

"The blaze started in the mill following a leakage in an oil pipe that was damaged after a concrete structure fell on it," a police official told the media.

Some six fire tenders have been pressed into service to douse the flames, he said.

"All the 35 mill workers injured in the fire have been admitted to Surat's Civil Hospital, where the condition of some are said to be serious," the official said.

A probe has been ordered into the incident, he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 13:55:01|Editor: mmm

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KABUL, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Taliban outfit has announced a three-day ceasefire with the Afghan government during Eid-ul-Fitr, the annual religious festival holidays, local media reported on Saturday.

The militant group, in a statement issued Saturday, according to 1TV television channel, ordered its fighters not to target Afghan security forces during the holidays which begin at the end of Muslim holy fasting month Ramadan, which probably falls on Thursday or Friday depending on sighting moon.

However, Taliban in its statement excluded foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan and said the militants would attack the foreign soldiers stationed in the war -battered country.

The Taliban announcement for truce comes after Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani announced on Thursday observing unilateral seven-day ceasefire starts from June 12 and covers Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.

The Afghan government ceasefire excluded al-Qaida and Islamic State (IS) group, saying the security forces would continue to target the said militant groups in the militancy- plagued country.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 14:00:03|Editor: mmm

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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Militants' multi-pronged attacks on security checkpoints in Qala-e-Zal district of the northern Kunduz province have left at least 20 pro-government forces including local police personnel dead on Saturday, a local official said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 14:25:05|Editor: mmm

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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Up to 20 pro-government forces have been confirmed dead and six others injured in attacks launched by Taliban militants on Saturday, police spokesman Inamudin Rahmani said.

The Taliban militants launched the multi-pronged offensives on security checkpoints in Qala-e-Zal district of the northern Kunduz province on Saturday, Rahmani said.

"Taliban rebels launched coordinated attacks on security checkpoints in Qala-e-Zal district early today morning, which resulted in martyrdom of 20 pro-government forces including local police and injuring six others," Rahmani told Xinhua.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 14:50:08|Editor: Liangyu

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CHANGSHA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli entrepreneur Oren Fuerst, founder of an investment and ideas nurturing boutique with offices in New York and Tel Aviv, has visited China three times this year.

Fuerst's business focuses on healthcare. He spends more time in China than in the United Sates which has by far the largest healthcare industry in the world.

China's market is growing very fast and he was watching the trend, said Fuerst.

He attended the first Hunan-Israel Economic and Trade Conference for Technological Innovation held from Tuesday to Thursday in central China's Hunan Province, which attracted nearly 100 Israeli companies looking for opportunities and partners.

"We plan to collaborate in both research development and manufacturing in Hunan and this is my goal for this conference," Fuerst said. "Israel is tiny but we are huge when it comes to technological innovation."

Like Fuerst, who held nearly 20 meetings and made three presentations during the conference on Wednesday alone, more and more Israeli entrepreneurs are seeking a market, funding, and partnership from China.

During the conference, companies from the two countries established 145 communication channels and 63 pairs of companies agreed to further exchange cooperation intentions. They signed seven projects on site and reached a primary intent of cooperation on 43 projects.

The China-Israel trade volume exceeded 13 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, up 15.6 percent from a year ago, according to the figures issued by the Chinese embassy in Israel.

"China's impressive economic development and Israel's innovative technologies are complimentary to each other and present vast potential for mutual benefits," said Ophir Gore, head of the Trade and Investment Mission at the Embassy of Israel in Beijing.

"China-Israel bilateral cooperation covers a wide range of fields, including agriculture, clean-tech, hi-tech, medical, investment, and many more," said Gore.

The Israeli diplomat regards China as a major driving force in the world's economy, saying that "the Chinese economy had shifted from a manufacturing focused one to a service-and-consumption based economy, by increasing its technological advances."

China and Israel announced an innovative comprehensive partnership in March 2017. Against this backdrop, many Chinese enterprises have already made investments in conducting research and exploring development in Israel, one of the leading nations for innovation.

Investment made by Chinese companies in Israel has totaled more than 6.5 billion dollars and is expected to further expand in the coming years.

Among them, China-Israel Biological Technology Company has set up its headquarters in Tel Aviv and introduced Israeli technology, products, and talent to China in a bid to establish a joint venture company.

"Israel's medical and health industry is widely recognized as one of the leading players in the world," said Huang Qingxi, chairman of the board of the company.

Huang said that they plan to introduce more Israeli technology projects and innovative companies to settle in Hunan in the near future, which is expected to help Hunan develop into a leading medical innovative region in the country.

Fuerst, a former faculty member of Columbia Business School and Yale School of Management, is interested and excited about the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which will "definitely promote cooperation with Chinese partners."

Wang Jin, a PhD candidate at the School of Political Science at the University Haifa in Israel, said that "as a country of entrepreneurship, Israel has a large number of start-ups and innovative technologies, and China's manufacturing industry is well-developed, which can help transform Israeli technologies into products, that then enter the Chinese market."

Wang also suggested that joint efforts are made to strengthen research and understanding about each other to smooth economic and trade exchanges.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 15:00:10|Editor: mmm

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QUITO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador on Friday marked World Oceans Day, which falls on June 8, and called for reduction in the use of plastic products.

"The oceans are the lungs of the planet and an essential part of the biosphere. Each year, 8 million tons of plastics end up in our oceans, harming marine life," Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Foreign Affairs minister and former environment minister, said on Twitter.

"Let's help reduce plastic consumption," urged Espinosa, who was recently designated as president of the United Nations 73rd General Assembly, starting in September in New York.

The UN has warned that by 2050, the earth and its oceans will be swamped by nearly 12 billion tons of plastics if action is not taken now to prevent accumulating plastic waste.

As home to the world-renowned Galapagos Islands which is a declared World Heritage site located 972 km from Ecuador's Pacific coastline, Ecuador has long boasted keen environmental awareness.

Although the archipelago is open for tourism, receiving some 200,000 visitors a year, the flow of tourists is restricted to limit environmental impact.

On May 22, Ecuador took further steps to protect the area's wildlife, adopting an initiative of restrictions on the use of plastics on the islands, known for their pristine habitats.

In an interview with Xinhua, Lorena Tapia, president of the governing council of the Galapagos, said the initiative aims to preserve the area's unique marine ecosystems.

"As Ecuadorians, we must be aware and take action in the face of a problem of global concern. We see islands and oceans that show the need to take action regarding our own consumer habits," said Tapia.

World Oceans Day is an "invitation for countries to make concrete decisions to tackle a problem that was prioritized at the last Climate Change Summit, and that must be tackled through government policy," Tapia said.

Even in the Galapagos, which enjoys a protected status, clean-up efforts in 2018 have collected some 22 tons of plastic waste from the coasts of the islands of Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, Floreana and Santiago, and much of the waste was swept into the sea by the currents, according to the governing council.

"We have seen dead animals that mistook plastic items for food," said Tapia.

The new restriction on plastics is to be gradually implemented, beginning with a ban on plastic straws and eventually including non-recyclable beverage bottles.

Tapia said plastic pollution is at this point harming wildlife, but eventually threatens to impact human health.

"There are plastics that never decompose and end up being microplastics that are ingested by animals and then consumed by humans," said Tapia.

Latin America, with its 16 million square kms of sea, provides 24 percent of the world's fish for food.

In a message to mark World Oceans Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned there are now more microplastics in the oceans than stars in our galaxies.

"Unless we change course, plastic waste could soon outweigh all the fish in the oceans," said Guterres.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 16:15:25|Editor: Yamei

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KUNMING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- At least twice a week, Ai Si, 12, takes two art classes at school, muddying himself in clay and learning how to use a potter's wheel.

The sixth-grader carefully rolls a piece of clay into several strips, circling them in layers on a pottery wheel, while rotating the wheel slowly to make a jar.

"The slow-wheel pottery manufacturing of the Dai ethnic group is a national intangible cultural heritage with more than 4,000 years of history, and is now being rejuvenated in the hands of our students," said Shi Dongfeng, an art teacher at Ai's school.

Ai is one of around 2,500 pupils doing such classes at the central primary school in Menglong County of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Dai pottery once prevailed in Xishuangbanna, where Dai people make up 30 percent of the population. Dai pottery can hold rice and water, and be made into cups and vases.

"The pottery can absorb impurities, making water clean to drink, as they are made of crude clay with large interspace among clay particles," Shi said. "It is also environmentally friendly. After a few decades, pottery becomes earth again after being put underground."

In the 1990s, a pottery pot could be exchanged for two pots of corn or rice for the same volume, according to Yu Nan'en, a slow-wheel potter. "At that time almost everyone knew the skill."

However, the pottery has declined as advances in society have given consumers more choice.

"Compared with iron pans, which can be easily bought in supermarkets, handmade-ware is too time-consuming," Yu said. "Parents don't like their children to learn it, as playing with mud often means getting dirty all over."

"If we didn't take action, less people would know about Dai pottery, especially kids. One day, the thousands-year-old heritage may disappear," Shi said.

In 2016, Shi's school invited Yu, as well as practitioners of other national intangible cultural heritage, such as Dai-style brocade and papermaking, to train art teachers for handicraft classes.

"The clay is natural and clean, gathered from about five meters below the ground," Shi said.

A specialized courtyard of more than 300 square meters was established to provide a better learning environment. It has a two-story bamboo house in the Dai-style serving as the classroom, a firing kiln and a pond for paper pulp.

The classroom exhibits hundreds items of handmade pottery by the students, some of which are traditional pots and jars and some are cartoon figures and animals such as Ultraman or of elephants.

"We did this with a very simple purpose, to let kids know more about the art and feel it deeply by practicing step by step," Shi said. "It doesn't matter whether their pottery is beautiful or not."

Pupils love the class, and Shi even has to ask them to leave after each 40 minute class.

"They are very proud of what they make, writing names on their works and sharing experiences with each other. Though some of the pottery is odd and funny shaped, they represents the creativity of our students," Shi said.

The school also displays dozens of handmade papers and has enlarged the brocade patterns drawn by the students to print them on the main buildings.

"Intangible cultural heritage is the essences of our ancestors and it is important that our children could know about it and are willing to pass it down," Shi said.
SUVA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Over 60 Fijians have died in UN peacekeeping missions across the world over the past four decades, said Fijian President Jioji Konrote on Saturday.

Delivering his statement on the Fiji-UN 40th anniversary on peace keeping, Konrote said that considering Fiji's small population of more than 880,000, the number represents one of the biggest losses of life amongst all peacekeeping nations.

He also said that currently Fiji has 882 peacekeepers deployed on eight missions overseas, which includes the Fiji Military Force, the Fiji Police Force and the Fiji Corrections Service.

According to Konrote, Fiji has one of the world's smallest militaries and this commitment represents a significant contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security and at any given time, half of Fiji's military is either deployed overseas or training to replace those deployed overseas.

He said that the reputation of Fijian peacekeepers is based on the highest standards of professionalism and honor and the need to strive for the highest standards of discipline and personal ethics is paramount.

Fiji's first 500 peacekeepers were deployed to Lebanon in June 40 years ago.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 17:10:33|Editor: Yamei

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Jiang Yue's father Jiang Yong (L) and cousin Xu Xiang attend a press conference in Los Angeles, the United States, June 8, 2018. A Chinese father on Friday appealed for justice for his murdered 19-year-old daughter in opposition to a prosecutor's arrangement with the perpetrator to mitigate criminal punishment. Jiang Yong, who arrived in the United States from China several days ago, told reporters that he was shocked and outraged by the plea agreement the local attorney's office has offered the American woman charged with first degree murder in the death of his daughter, Jiang Yue, in the state of Arizona in January 2016.(Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong)

LOS ANGELES, June 8 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese father on Friday appealed for justice for his murdered 19-year-old daughter in opposition to a prosecutor's arrangement with the perpetrator to mitigate criminal punishment.

Jiang Yong, who arrived in the United States from China several days ago, told reporters that he was shocked and outraged by the plea agreement the local attorney's office has offered the American woman charged with first degree murder in the death of his daughter, Jiang Yue, in the state of Arizona in January 2016.

Under the new arrangement, Holly Davis, in her thirties, would face a 25-year sentence and up to 250,000 U.S. dollars in restitution in exchange for pleading guilty to second degree murder and dismissal of all the other charges, Phoenix New Times reported.

Prosecutors initially sought to charge Davis on 14 criminal counts, including first degree murder, aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and endangerment. Davis pleaded not guilty to all the charges at the initial hearing in February 2016, and entered into a plea agreement in February this year.

The plea agreement is yet to be approved by a judge, with a hearing scheduled for next week. First degree murder would mean life imprisonment or even a death sentence for Davis.

Jiang Yong has asked for a justice to serve Davis right. Daniel Deng, the founder of Deng Law Center, who has offered legal assistance to the Jiang family, said, "The killing was clearly an intentional act," and that a conviction of second degree murder would fall short of Davis's crime.

Jiang Yue, a Chinese exchange student and sophomore with the Arizona State University based in the state capital Phoenix, died in hospital after being shot by Davis.

The tragedy happened when Jiang drove in the nearby city Tempe and was rear-ended by Davis, who got off her vehicle, walked over to Jiang's car and opened fire. Jiang lost control when trying to drive away and crashed into another car carrying a family of five. Davis fled the scene and was later taken into custody by the police.

Before the shooting, Davis had a handwritten note to her boyfriend indicating she would be on the news.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 17:15:33|Editor: Lu Hui

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Aerial photo taken on May 4, 2018 shows scenery of the Fushan Bay in Qingdao, the host city of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Heavyweight guests traveled across the vast Eurasian continent and gathered at the coastal city of Qingdao for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

It is the first such summit since the organization's expansion in June 2017 when India and Pakistan joined as full members.

The event was reminiscent of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) held two months ago though the guests are different.

However, the host is the same. On April 10, President Xi Jinping addressed the opening ceremony of the annual conference of the BFA, attended by more than 2,000 people.

This weekend Xi will chair the summit for the first time as Chinese president, receiving leaders of seven other SCO member states and four observer states, as well as chiefs of various international organizations.

In Boao, Xi unveiled new measures for expanding reform and opening up and heralded "a new phase of opening up" for common prosperity of both China and the world.

The same spirit of openness and inclusiveness has continued in Qingdao. A dozen agreements on security and economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges are expected to be signed.

Participants are encouraged to gain consensus on building a community with a shared future for humanity and building a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, said State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi when briefing the media last week.

The two concepts have been catchphrases of Chinese diplomacy over the past five years. Though, they are not mere catchphrases, but ideas backed with pragmatic initiatives and concrete diplomatic moves.

With the BFA conference hailing reform and opening-up and the SCO summit promoting regional security and cooperation, China will host another two major international events this year -- the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit to advance the Belt and Road Initiative, and the China International Import Expo for further market opening.

"With the growth of national strength and international influence, China is more confident in raising new ideas on global governance," said Professor Zuo Fengrong with the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. "China's initiatives are aimed at an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity."

FROM SHANGHAI TO QINGDAO

According to Wang, the Qingdao Declaration to be issued at the summit will call on all parties to continue the Shanghai Spirit of "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development."

In his speeches at previous SCO summits, President Xi had repeatedly upheld the Shanghai Spirit, acknowledging its significance in forging a community with a shared future in the region, maintaining security and stability and promoting exchanges.

"The 17-year-old Shanghai Spirit is in line with Xi's latest diplomatic vision," said Li Ziguo with the China Institute of International Studies, who also highlighted it was a platform for "building a community with a shared future for humanity."

Under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit, the region prospered with peace and stability, with countries in the region having settled complicated border issues, contained threats from terrorism, extremism and separatism, and launched initiatives of cross-border trade and infrastructure connectivity, often spearheaded by China.

The SCO has grown from six members to eight -- China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- covering over 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half the world's population and over 20 percent of global GDP.

"The organization has demonstrated strong cohesion and increasing influence," said Konstantin Kokarev, head of the Centre for Asia and Pacific Region, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, in an interview with Xinhua.

FROM QINGDAO TO BROADER WORLD

Qingdao is a symbolic choice to host this year's SCO summit, as it is at the eastern end of a vast railway network across Eurasia, and a logistics center linking the Silk Road Economic Belt with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Sea cargo is transferred here to five international railway lines to countries in the western end of the continent, 30 days quicker than using sea routes alone.

The vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt was first raised by Xi in Astana of Kazakhstan in September 2013, a few days before he first attended the SCO summit as Chinese president. It was later developed into the Belt and Road Initiative.

"China's initiative brings great opportunity to the SCO," said SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov. "The summit in Qingdao will also contribute to the implementation of the initiative."

The initiative has become an important practice to materialize the vision of a community of a shared future for humanity.

"China itself has engaged in profound cooperation with countries across the world. It will bring rich opportunities to connect the SCO with a broader part of the world," Kokarev said.
ANKARA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Saturday that the military operation against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq's Qandil is "a matter of timing."

"We can seize Qandil anytime we want. We have made our preparations on the Agri-Van-Igdir line. Our heroes will be in Qandil soon," Soylu said during an interview with private broadcaster CNNTurk.

On late Friday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed that the Turkish military has pushed 30 km into northern Iraq.

"Our troops have been deployed in 30 km deep in northern Iraq. It's maybe beyond Qandil, Makhmur or Sinjar," Yildirim said in a live interview on local NTV news channel.

Asked if there will be cooperation with Iran and Iraq over the operation in Qandil, he gave a positive answer.

"I don't think we will have any problem (on this issue)," the prime minister said.

Following the Operation Olive Branch in Syria, Turkish forces now have penetrated into northern Iraq to target the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara.

Located 40 km southeast of the Turkish border with Iraq's Erbil Province, the Qandil Mountains are being used as the headquarters of PKK militants.

The militant group frequently carries out attacks on Turkey from its camps in the Qandil Mountains. In response, Turkey has been conducting land operations near the border and airstrikes against PKK targets since March.
MOSCOW, June 9 (Xinhua) -- At least 60 students and two counselors at a summer camp run in Russia's Sverdlovsk region have been hospitalized for suspected food poisoning, the Russian Investigative Committee said Saturday.

The children aged 7 to 12 and the two camp counselors aged 18 at the Sosnovy health resort camp in the Urals area were taken to hospital on Friday and Saturday. They had developed "symptoms of abdominal pain, nausea and a general malaise," the committee said in a statement.

Their conditions are currently stable, it added.

The committee's local office has launched a criminal investigation into the incident, interrogating the camp's administration and examining the food supplies.
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KAMPALA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan police and military have launched a joint hunt for the gunmen who killed a legislator a day earlier, a police department spokesperson said Saturday.

"We are working together in the hunt for those assassins," Emilian Kayima told Xinhua.

The unknown gunmen shot dead lawmaker Ibrahim Abiriga and his body guard on the way they returned home.

President Yoweri Museveni on Friday called for expeditious actions to bring the killers to justice, and on Saturday visited the home of the deceased legislator to pay his respects.

Abiriga's death came on the same day when another legislator Lillian Nakate sought protection from police after anonymous letters were distributed threatening to kidnap her and her children.

The east African country is suffering a new wave of murders, with judicial officials and religious leaders killed, among others. Museveni, during a televised national address on Wednesday, blamed the situation on remnants of the Ugandan rebel group Allied Democratic Forces operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 18:40:45|Editor: Yamei

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LONDON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A selection of private photographs taken by iconic American artist Andy Warhol on a holiday to China are to be displayed in Britain for the first time ever.

Warhol, best known for his striking image of actress Marilyn Monroe and his famous one-liner "everyone will be famous for 15 minutes", took the black-and-white images in Hong Kong and Beijing in 1982, just five years before he died.

The set of 35 intimate photographs which have never been displayed in a public art gallery before, will be exhibited at the RedHouse Originals Gallery in Harrogate, Yorkshire from June 8 to July 7 as part of a forthcoming exhibition "Trooping the Color".

Taken on a Chinon 35mm point-and-focus compact camera and printed on silver gelatin, the collection includes shots of food, his hotel room, urban landscapes and selfies.

One image presents the iconic Jumbo Kingdom floating restaurant, while in another Warhol is seen mimicking a tai chi pose.

"The images reveal a highly personal side to the artist, and will also be familiar to today's Instagram generation," said a spokesperson at the gallery.

Warhol had initially been invited to Hong Kong by young businessman and entrepreneur Alfred Siu. Siu had commissioned the artist to create portraits of the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles and his then wife Princess Diana -- the world's most famous couple at the time -- for his private members club, the I Club.

Siu subsequently sent Warhol on a surprise three-day trip to Beijing, where Warhol, despite being one of the most famous names in the Western World, was virtually unknown, and was able to roam the city with freedom.

Warhol took over 200 photographs on the holiday, which also left a profound legacy on his work, according to the gallery.

The exhibition will run at the RedHouse Originals Gallery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, from the June 8 to July 7.
Qian Mingmin teaches the Chinese language to a class of Ugandan secondary school teachers, who will then impart their knowledge to Ugandan students nationwide, on May 29. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping)

by Ronald Ssekandi

WAKISO, Uganda, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Word after word, with emphasis on intonations, Hilda Ayebare together with her colleagues repeat after their Chinese tutor. The lesson is interactive and when they do not understand something they ask the tutor Qian Mingmin to repeat.

This goes on day and night for this pioneer class of language teachers who will be teaching Mandarin in rural schools across the East African country.

It is the first batch of the 100 secondary school teachers that China and Uganda agreed to train on how to offer Chinese language classes to Ugandan students.

By the end of nine months, the 35 teachers who are now in their second month of studying must have acquired the skills of teaching Mandarin.

At break time, Ayebare and her colleague Judith Uwimana sit under a tree shade in the quadrangle of their classroom blocks, reflecting on what they have just learnt. They try out the intonations and meaning of some of the words they have learnt.

They are later joined by their colleague Justus Muzuni, who has a background in teaching Swahili. Ayebare and Uwimana are English teachers.

The trio told Xinhua in a recent interview that Mandarin is quite different from English or Swahili, noting that there is emphasis on intonation while speaking Mandarin -- a change in intonation can change the meaning of the word.

The three have a positive attitude that by the end of their stay here at Luyanzi College, located in Bweyogerere on the outskirts of the capital Kampala, they will be able to teach it to students, as being language teachers gives them an edge to learn faster.

"It should not be hard, besides our instructors have said they will pay us a visit to asses our progress," said Ayebare.

"I find challenges in understanding the Chinese characters but I know with a positive attitude, I can not fail to grasp them," said Uwimana.

The break time is over and they dash back to class. This time the lesson is about Chinese grammar.

Back in the capital, at Makerere University, the country's top university, students at the Confucius Institute have just completed a Chinese language proficiency competition to select one person to soon represent the country at the final Chinese Bridge Competition to be held in China.

The Chinese Bridge is an international Chinese culture and language proficiency program where Chinese language and culture students from institutions worldwide compete in various categories.

In Uganda, Benedict Bataringaya emerged the winner out of 12 participants.

Speaking at the event held on May 26, Ayub Sooma, Chairperson of Uganda-China Friendship Association, said the competition cements the people-to-people relation between China and Uganda.

Other speakers noted that Ugandans who learn the language will be able to know the Chinese way of doing business and negotiate better with them in order to tap the opportunities.

Figures from the Ugandan government indicate that China remains one of the main sources of foreign direct investment in the country. In the last five years, the figures show that Chinese investment grew to 3 billion dollars with a potential of creating 45,000 jobs.

Hong Yonghong, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Makerere University, told Xinhua that they have 80 students studying Mandarin as one of their subjects at bachelor's degree level and over 2,000 people doing short courses in Chinese across the city. He said there are plans to increase the number of Chinese tutors to cater for the rising demand to learn Chinese.

He said when the over 100 secondary school teachers complete their training, they will also form a bulk of local people who can teach Chinese.

The National Curriculum Development Center, a state department, says plans are under way to introduce Chinese language at secondary school level. The training of teachers is one of the critical aspects that the department is considering.

Some private schools are already teaching Chinese on their own. Luyanzi College was the first secondary school in Uganda to offer Chinese culture lessons.

The school management says China is an economic powerhouse and therefore Uganda has to align itself in order to tap more from the opportunities offered by the Asian country.
by Eric J. Lyman

ROME, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The fate of one of Europe's largest steel smelters is becoming a central issue for Italy's new government when the steel trade itself is facing an unclear future due to the U.S. decision to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium, for the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico.

The Ilva steel plant in the southern Italian city of Taranto has long been under scrutiny for the pollution it produces for years. As long ago as 2005, the plant was seen as producing 90 percent of the dioxin in Italy and almost a tenth of Europe's dioxin.

Dioxins are toxic byproduct of some kinds of industry and tied to nervous system problems, damage to human immune systems, fertility and healthy development for children. Cancer rates around Taranto are also higher than the rest of the country.

Ilva employs nearly 14,000 workers and it produces around 13,000 metric tons of steel per day. It also has net financial losses of around 30 million euros (36 million U.S. dollars) every month. The plant, which has been run under state control since 2015, is reportedly set to run out of money within the next 60 days.

A year ago, Luxembourg-based steel conglomerate ArcelorMittal offered to buy Ilva for 1.8 billion euros (2.2 billion U.S. dollars), and to invest another 2.4 billion euros (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) to clean up and modernize the plant. But now the sale is on hold.

This week, Beppe Grillo, the comedian-turned activist who founded the Five-Star Movement, said Ilva should be shut down and turned into a kind of industrial museum. But Luigi Di Maio, who succeeded Grillo as leader of the Five-Star Movement, was quick to state that Grillo was expressing his personal opinion and that no formal decision on Ilva would be made without careful consideration.

The Five-Star Movement is the larger member of the two-party government coalition which was installed June 1. Taranto, the city where Ilva is based, is part of a stronghold for the Five-Star Movement, which won 48 percent of the vote there in the March 4 general election.

"This is shaping up to be a big internal problem for the Five-Star Movement," Nicola Borri, an economics and finance professor at Rome's LUISS University, told Xinhua. "Leadership would normally be in favor of closing down a dirty plant like Ilva. But Di Maio recognizes the political consequences of doing that to a major employer in a place like Taranto."

Mirco Rota, the national coordinator for Fiom-Cgil, the major trade union representing Ilva workers, said the union is eager to work with the new government to keep the plant open.

"We have sent a formal request to Rome to ask to discuss Ilva," Rota said in an interview. "We are just trying to understand what the government's plans are."

Further complicating the equation for Italy and Ilva is the U.S. plan to levy a 25-perfect tariff on steel sold from European Union companies in the United States. For its part, the EU has vowed to respond with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.
DUBLIN, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Tourism Ireland said that it aims to increase the number of the Chinese visitors to the island of Ireland to 175,000 by the year 2025.

This will represent a 150 percent increase over 2017 in the next eight years, said Tourism Ireland in an email received by Xinhua on Saturday.

Last year, an estimated 70,000 Chinese visitors visited the island of Ireland, which include the Republic of Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland, according to Tourism Ireland.

"China is the largest outbound travel market in the world and one that Tourism Ireland is committed to growing over the coming years," said James Kenny, Tourism Ireland's Manager China.

"The introduction of the new direct flight from Beijing (to Dublin) next week is a major game-changer and offers a real opportunity for us to build on this number," he said.

China's Hainan Airlines will launch a direct Beijing-Dublin flight service starting on June 12. This is the first direct flight route ever to be launched between the Chinese mainland and Ireland. Earlier this month, a Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific also launched a direct flight service between Hong Kong and Dublin.

With the launch of these two direct flight routes, we are in a strong position to achieve our Chinese market growth target, said Kenny.

Tourism Ireland is a Dublin-registered organization which is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a leading tourist destination in the world. Last year an estimated 10.65 million overseas visitors visited the island of Ireland, of which the number of the Chinese visitors only accounted for a meager 0.65 percent.

China is an emerging market for the island of Ireland with a huge potential, said Kenny.

To tap the potential of the Chinese market, Tourism Ireland has set up four offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu in the Chinese mainland apart from one office in Hong Kong. Last month Tourism Ireland sent its biggest ever sales mission to China to build awareness of the island of Ireland in the country.
HERAT, Afghanistan, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Up to 17 soldiers of Afghan army were killed as militants stormed a checkpoint in Shindand area of the western Farah province late Friday night, Jilani Farhad, spokesman for Herat police said Saturday.

"A group of Taliban militants attacked an army checkpoint in Zawol area of Shindand district in western Herat province late Friday night, killing 17 army soldiers and injuring another," Farhad told Xinhua.

He said the Taliban militants also suffered casualties, but did not give an exact figure.

Taliban also exploded the checkpoint and took all vehicles and equipments of the soldiers, Farhad added.

The attack happened after Afghan government on Thursday announced a ceasefire with Taliban starting June 12. Taliban on Saturday also announced three-day ceasefire with Afghan government during holidays of Eid-ul-Fitr, the second largest annual religious festival.

The first day of Eid-ul-Fitr probably falls on Thursday or Friday depending on the sighting of the moon.
NEW DELHI, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Four criminals were killed and six policemen wounded Saturday in a fierce gunfight in Indian capital city of New Delhi, police said.

The gunfight broke out in the Chattarpur area of the city.

"Four criminals were killed today in an encounter with police here at Chattarpur area," a police official said. "The dead include the wanted criminal Rajesh Bharti and his three accomplices."

According to the official, six policemen were also wounded in the shootout.

Police said the gunfight broke out after police laid a trap following an intelligence information.

Bharti, according to police, was a hardened criminal carrying a reward. Earlier this year he fled from police custody in Haryana.
BRUSSELS, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) respect Britain's decision to leave the union and will implement it, but if the two sides want to construct a new relationship, they need more realism about what is and is not possible, Michel Barnier, EU's chief Brexit negotiator, has said.

Commenting on this week's Brexit talk in Brussels, Barnier said on Friday that progress has been made over the past days on a certain number of subjects linked to the orderly withdrawal, which can be resolved before the next European Council in June.

However, "there is a lot of work to be done on the three other separation issues," including the protection of the personal data of EU citizens, protection of geographical indications and the infringement and administrative procedures concerning Britain which will be ongoing at the end of the transition, he noted.

In addition, divergences on the governance of the Withdrawal Agreement and the issue of Ireland and Northern Ireland remain large, he added.

Stressing the importance of a regulatory alignment, the chief negotiator reaffirmed that "it is in Northern Ireland's interest to keep the same rules in these areas, and to avoid new barriers to the daily exchanges on the island."

In the meantime, concerning Britain's newly released customs paper, which the EU received Thursday, Barnier said he personally welcomed the publication of this paper, which raised more specific questions.

On whether it is workable solution to avoid a hard border, the paper doesn't give a specific solution for the regulatory alignment to avoid a hard border, said Barnier.

As to whether Britain respects the integrity of the Single Market and the Customs Union, Barnier called on more clarity from Britain.

"The UK wants to continue benefiting from our free trade agreements. Does that mean that we will have to reopen, renegotiate or even re-ratify our existing agreements in order to keep the UK in our customs territory after the transition?" said Barnier, further noting that the paper should be an all-weather backstop.

"Let me be clear: our backstop cannot be extended to the whole UK... because it has been designed for the specific situation of Northern Ireland," said Barnier.

Barnier's Friday speech was widely seen as "pouring cold water" on Britain's UK-wide, time-limited backstop proposal.

Clearly enraged by the potential of Northern Ireland being left in alignment with the EU while the rest of Britain isn't, prominent Brexiteer Nigel Farage called on British Prime Minister Theresa May to be tougher in her negotiating stance.

"Barnier is trying to break up the United Kingdom," he was quoted by the Express as saying.
In this file picture taken on September 1, 2010 an airplane of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair takes off from Barcelona's airport. (AFP photo/Josep Lago)

DUBLIN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Ireland-headquartered Ryanair was fined 1.85 million euros (2.18 million U.S. dollars) by Itlian Competition Authority (ICA) over Ryanair's failure to provide adequate information to customers when the airline cancelled thousands of flights last year due to pilot strikes, local media RTE reported on Friday.

Ryanair has not made any response to the fine yet. An unidentified source from Ryanair told local media that the airline has noticed the ruling by the ICA and the ruling is being reviewed by its lawyers.

Last year about 400,000 passengers were reportedly affected due to the cancellation of more than 20,000 Ryanair flights, which was caused by the strikes of the Ryanair pilots over the rostering issue.

The ICA said that the cancellations of Ryanair's flights in September and October 2017, which had caused significant inconveniences to consumers, were not due to unforeseeable causes or problems beyond the airline's control, but rather were triggered by organizational and management problems.

It said that Ryanair had initially failed to correctly inform passengers of the existence of their rights to financial compensation as provided for under the European Union legislation.

However, following the opening of the ICA's investigation, Ryanair had altered its procedures by updating passenger information on its website and by sending individual communications to affected consumers on how to exercise their rights, it said, adding that otherwise a higher fine would have been imposed on the airline.

Ryanair is the largest budget airline in Europe with a fleet size of about 430 planes, all sourced from Boeing.
ADDIS ABABA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Morocco has vowed its commitment to supporting the African Union (AU) as the pan-African bloc pushes for the implementation of the continental agenda.

After its three-decade withdrawal from the pan-African bloc, Morocco rejoined AU in January last year during the 28th AU summit, whereby King Mohammed VI said Morocco has forged stronger ties with many African countries.

And as part of his regular interactions with the governments of member states, Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on Friday concluded a two-day visit to Morocco, according to an AU statement on Saturday.

During the visit on June 7 and 8, the chairperson met King Mohammed VI and other senior officials and discussed issues related to Africa's development initiatives, peace and security as well as the global decline of multilateralism.

The Moroccan officials have reaffirmed determination to support the AU Commission in implementing the Agenda 2063, a blue print towards a prosperous, united and peaceful Africa, said the statement.

King Mohammed VI has also reiterated Morocco's full support to the AU reform process and the realization of the union's financial autonomy, it said.

During the discussion, the two sides also underlined the need to strengthen coordination at the continental level to address terrorism in Africa.

They agreed that a follow-up mission of the AU Commission would be dispatched at a later date to deepen discussions with Morocco on integration and socio-economic development, said the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 20:00:58|Editor: Yamei

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QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a dinner on Saturday evening to welcome guests who gather in the coastal city of Qingdao for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

"It is such a pleasure to have you with us here in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on the shore of the Yellow Sea," Xi said while addressing the dinner.

"I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, a very warm welcome to all of you, particularly the state leaders and heads of international organizations who have come to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO," he said.
BUDAPEST, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian authorities announced the capture of the young brown bear on the run on Saturday.

The 2- to 3-year-old animal caused sensation and quite some panic in Hungary after a few weeks of wandering.

"Everybody can calm down, the director of the Wild Park of Szeged (close to the Serbian border), Robert Veprik managed to shoot the animal with a tranquilizer," the Kiskunsag National Park announced Friday via its Facebook account.

"The bear will be transported to the Bukk National Park (North), but this time, we will equip him with a tracking device so that we can monitor its movement easier if he wanted to get on the go again," the park added.

The young brown bear reportedly entered the Hungarian territory in May from Slovakia and was heading steadily to the south of Hungary.

Besides some rare footage, on which the bear has been seen sitting on railways or trying to get his lunch from some litter bins, the animal leaved marks in rural areas.

The bear has left many footprints and even destroyed ant farms. "The larva of the ants provides a good source of proteins to bears," according to the Kiskunsag National Park.
by Stefania Fumo

ROME, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A Nigerian national masquerading as an American missionary priest was nabbed upon landing at Rome's international airport with three kilos of pure heroin stitched into his laptop case, Italian police said Saturday.

That amount of heroin has street retail value of over one million euros (about 1.2 million U.S. dollars), according to a police statement.

The fake priest claimed he was returning from missionary work in the African country of Mozambique. When customs agents at Fiumicino Airport began taking his luggage apart, he brandished a cross hanging around his neck and threatened the officers with excommunication, saying they were committing sacrilege.

The incident points to a return to the consumption of heroin, also known as "the poor man's drug" because it costs just 20 euros a dose. The fact that the highly addictive opiate is so cheap makes it a favorite among youth, the statement said.

Just over 10 percent of the overall population, or four million people, used at least one illegal substance in 2016, according to a government report on drug use in Italy published last year.

That rate was much higher among students, where it stood at almost 26 percent or 640,000 individuals.

Also in 2016, over 143,000 people were in drug rehab programs, with 68.1 percent being treated for heroin addiction, 17.3 percent fighting a cocaine habit, and just over 11 percent trying to quit cannabis.

In the same year, police carried out 23,734 drug busts and seized almost 72,000 kilos of drugs. Of these, cannabis made up 58 percent, cocaine made up 6.6 percent, and opiates (including heroin) were 0.7 percent.

As well, drug offenders made up 34.1 percent of the prison population in 2016, the government report said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 20:46:08|Editor: Lu Hui

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QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a dinner on Saturday evening to welcome guests who gather in the coastal city of Qingdao for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

"It is such a pleasure to have you with us here in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on the shore of the Yellow Sea," Xi said while addressing the dinner.

"I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, a very warm welcome to all of you, particularly the state leaders and heads of international organizations who have come to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO," he said.

Shandong is the home province of Confucius and birthplace of Confucianism. An integral part of Chinese civilization, Confucianism believes that "a just cause should be pursued for the common good" and champions harmony, unity and a shared community for all nations, Xi told the guests.

Its emphasis on unity and harmony has much in common with the Shanghai Spirit, namely, mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, he said.

"The Shanghai Spirit's focus on seeking common ground while setting aside differences and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation has won widespread international endorsement and support," the Chinese president said.

Guided by the Shanghai Spirit, the SCO has delivered fruitful outcomes in security, economic and cultural cooperation and made historic strides in institution building, he said.

With eight member states, four observer states and six dialogue partners, the SCO has become an important force for upholding regional security, promoting common development and improving global governance, Xi said.

"Qingdao is a famous international sailing capital. It is from here that many ships set sail in pursuit of dreams. Tomorrow, we will hold the first summit of the SCO after its expansion and draw up a blueprint for its future growth," Xi said.

"The Qingdao summit is a new departure point for us. Together, let us hoist the sail of the Shanghai Spirit, break waves and embark on a new voyage for our organization," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 21:16:11|Editor: Yamei

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China and Tajikistan should continue helping and supporting each other to cope with challenges together and achieve common development, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday while meeting his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon.

As the two countries are at a critical stage of national development and rejuvenation, Xi said, China and Tajikistan should keep deepening bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to benefit the two peoples more widely.

He said China supports Tajikistan to take presidency of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and is willing to help Tajikistan prepare for the conference.

Emomali Rahmon is in the coastal Chinese city of Qingdao to attend the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 21:21:12|Editor: Yamei

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday agreed to take their April meeting in Wuhan as a new starting point to promote bilateral relations.

The two leaders reached the consensus during a meeting in the coastal Chinese city of Qingdao.

Recalling that he and Modi successfully had an informal meeting and reached important consensus in Wuhan of Hubei Province more than one month ago, Xi said the meeting had been well received by both countries and the international community, and a positive atmosphere is taking shape to pay close attention to and support the development of China-India relations.

China is willing to work with India to take the Wuhan meeting as a new starting point to continuously enhance political mutual trust and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, so as to push forward China-India relations in a better, faster and steadier manner, Xi said.
Moroccan men in traditional costumes ride horses during a Fantasia horse show in Rabat, Morocco, on May 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Aissa)

ADDIS ABABA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Morocco has vowed its commitment to supporting the African Union (AU) as the pan-African bloc pushes for the implementation of the continental agenda.

After its three-decade withdrawal from the pan-African bloc, Morocco rejoined AU in January last year during the 28th AU summit, whereby King Mohammed VI said Morocco has forged stronger ties with many African countries.

And as part of his regular interactions with the governments of member states, Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on Friday concluded a two-day visit to Morocco, according to an AU statement on Saturday.

During the visit on June 7 and 8, the chairperson met King Mohammed VI and other senior officials and discussed issues related to Africa's development initiatives, peace and security as well as the global decline of multilateralism.

The Moroccan officials have reaffirmed determination to support the AU Commission in implementing the Agenda 2063, a blue print towards a prosperous, united and peaceful Africa, said the statement.

King Mohammed VI has also reiterated Morocco's full support to the AU reform process and the realization of the union's financial autonomy, it said.

During the discussion, the two sides also underlined the need to strengthen coordination at the continental level to address terrorism in Africa.

They agreed that a follow-up mission of the AU Commission would be dispatched at a later date to deepen discussions with Morocco on integration and socio-economic development, said the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 21:56:19|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China's securities regulator has approved new IPO applications from two companies, which will raise no more than 2.1 billion yuan (about 327 million U.S. dollars) in the A-share market.

China Aluminum International Engineering Corporation Limited and Jiangsu New Energy Development Co., Ltd. will be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said Friday.

The two companies and their underwriters will confirm IPO dates and publish prospectuses following discussions with the exchanges.

Under the current IPO system, new shares are subject to approval from the CSRC.

China is gradually switching from an approval-based IPO system to a more market-oriented one based on registration.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 22:01:21|Editor: Yamei

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with his Pakistani counterpart Mamnoon Hussain in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to intensify high-level contact and strategic communication with Pakistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday while meeting his Pakistani counterpart Mamnoon Hussain.

"The China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperation is not only the shared asset of the two countries, but also offers a model for building a new type of international relations," Xi said.

Hussain is in the coastal Chinese city of Qingdao to attend the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Xi congratulated Pakistan on its participation in the summit as a full member for the first time.

China will steadily promote the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) construction, and strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas such as energy and transportation infrastructure under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

China also expects to enhance its anti-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan, Xi said.

He stressed that China would continue to support Pakistan in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and support Pakistan to choose its own development path.

"China and Pakistan will always support each other on issues involving each other's core interests, and safeguard common interests of the two countries as well as other developing countries," Xi said.

Hussain said that China is a reliable friend and steady partner of Pakistan, and relations between the two countries are unshakable.

Pakistan would adhere to one-China policy and support China's core interests, he said.

Pakistan is willing to maintain high-level contact with China, deepen their cooperation in such terms as economy and trade, and security, push ahead with the construction of CPEC, and enhance coordination on global and regional affairs, Hussain said.

"Pakistan supports China to play a bigger role in international affairs, which is important to maintaining global security and stability," he added.
ATHENS, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A new draft bill, that includes the main guidelines and steps of Greece's economic policy for the next four years after the end of the third bailout program, was tabled in parliament on Friday.

The draft bill, known as the Medium Term Financial Framework 2019 -2022, includes about 50 "prior actions" -- or "key deliverables" as the European Commission says -- with which ending the memoranda period.

The draft bill provides for high budgetary surpluses for this period, as well as restrictions and measures to make the plan feasible.

The objective is to achieve primary surpluses of 3.5 percent of GDP at the end of this four-year period.

It means 1.3 billion euros of surplus in 2019, 2.26 billion euros of surplus in 2020, 4.2 billion euros in 2021 and 2.5 billion euros in 2022.

Once the plan put in place, a financial "space" is created each year giving the government the margin of maneuver to take permanent relief measures.

The government sees room to cut taxes by about 700 million euros in 2019. It says 1.2 billion euros will be available with 75 percent going to tax cuts and 25 percent to higher spending.

By 2022, the extra money will reach 3.5 billion euros with half going to taxes and half to spending.

Greek Finance Minister Euclidis Tsakalotos confirmed in an interview with a Greek newspaper that from 2019 there will be tax cuts.

"Greece seems to have managed to return with dynamism and credibility to the international financial markets. All macroeconomic data and indicators show that the country has left the crisis behind it," Costas Zachariadis, director of the ruling SYRIZA party's Parliamentary Group, told Xinhua.

He noted that "the economy was growing in the last five quarters, and in the last quarter at a rate of over 2 percent, unemployment rate has fallen, normality is beginning to return. The country regains its financial viability and in a few months it will gain more freedom in politics."

However, Panayotis Petrakis, professor in the Department of Economics at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, told Xinhua that the four-year framework "is a relatively optimistic program for the Greek economy that predicts too high surpluses" Among other items, the draft bill reiterates the pledge for new pension cuts and a ceiling on spending for wages in the public sector, social security and health.

The draft also includes changing legal framework on primary residences, promoting labor sector liberalization and accelerating privatizations.

Petrakis said "the implementation of the program depends on the achievement of the investment objective." He said there may be room for significant tax relief, but so far the government does not choose this option.

Zachariadis said the next period's challenge is to regain social sustainability, heal the great social woes left by the crisis and build an economy that is outward-looking and productive.

The bill is expected to be ratified by the parliament until June 14. In this case, the government can have a positive compliance report in its hands on the June 21 Eurogroup, where Athens wants the discussion to focus on debt relief.
MOSCOW, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Syria only exist in areas controlled by the United States, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Saturday.

"The further expansion of the IS in Syria became possible due to the criminal inaction of the United States and the so-called international coalition," Konashenkov told reporters.

The IS militants quickly gained control of the main oil-bearing areas in the east of Syria and secured a constant inflow of financial resources from the illegal sale of oil products, he said.

While Washington financed and supplied arms and ammunition to "fictional" Syrian opposition, large chunks of it ended up in the hands of the Nusra Front, an offspring of al-Qaida, and the IS, whose goals coincided with Washington's policy to overthrow the legitimate Syrian government, he said.

Konashenkov said that in the Syrian provinces under the control of the Syrian government, peaceful life is actively recovering, mines being cleared, enterprises resuming work, while markets, schools and kindergartens are open.

The Syrian people were receiving humanitarian aid and food, nothing of which was financed by the United States, he said.

The real catastrophe for the Syrian people has been recorded by the United Nations and human rights activists in the U.S.-controlled areas in the country, Konashenkov said.
TIRANA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- 1,000 young people in Albania will be offered seasonal employment through the project "Smile Albania" launched on Saturday by the Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment Blendi Klosi.

In a meeting with students of environmental branches at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Agricultural University in Tirana, Klosi urged young people to be partners of the project that for the first time engages 1,000 young people in the promotion of touristic Albania.

Klosi called on young people to apply to the Albanian National Agency of Protected Areas in Tirana and its 12 branch offices in the districts.

According to Klosi, 1,000 young people will be in nine cross-border points and 15 info-points, as well as in the most developed tourist areas in Albania.

Throughout the summer season, at least five youth camps will be set up in the protected areas, in districts such as Velipoja, Divjaka, Jale, Saranda and Pogradec, where young people selected for the program "Smile Albania" will help promote tourism and protect the environment.

"We want to have 1000 Albanian hospitality ambassadors, 1000 Albanian environmental education trainers. It is an obligation that we have in the framework of a tourist Albania," said Klosi.

Moreover, Klosi said the program is a two-month employment opportunity and that university environmental students and university students have priority in selection.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 22:41:27|Editor: mmm

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Greek coast-guards officers are seen in a coast-guard boat, at Marina Zeas, in Athens, Greece, June 8, 2018. The search and rescue operations of thousands of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea, along with combating the illegal trade circuit are among the top priorities and challenges for the Greek Coast Guard, a Greek official told Xinhua here.

by Alexia Vlachou

ATHENS, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The search and rescue operations of thousands of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea, along with combating the illegal trade circuit are among the top priorities and challenges for the Greek Coast Guard, a Greek official told Xinhua here.

"The most important thing is to be out in the sea. To be responsible, to provide adequate search and rescue operations of human lives, to safeguard the Greek and European sea borders and to fight any illegal activity at the sea," the Commander of the Greek Coast Guard and head of the Integrated Maritime Surveillance Service George Christianos said on Friday.

The Aegean Sea route between Turkey and Greece has been the major way for migrants fleeing the Middle Eastern countries to get to Europe.

But, according to Christianos, the number of people illegally crossing the Aegean Sea has dropped significantly after the EU-Turkey agreement.

"In 2017, smugglers transferred illegally 31,000 migrants monthly from the Turkish shores to the Greek islands and European soil. In 2018, the number has stabilized monthly to 3,000. These numbers are manageable by the Greek coast guard with the contribution and the cooperation of the European means," he said.

Since 2015 over one million migrants and refugees entered the Greek islands from the Turkish shores.

"Unfortunately, most of the operations were search and rescue because the boats they used were small, inflatable boats, without the required seaworthy certifications. We saw boats sized 6-7 meters with 50 to 60 persons without lifejackets," he said.

Two facts contributed to stem the flow of refugees and migrants; the contribution of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to the Greek Coast Guards' efforts and the EU-Turkey statement agreement in 2016.

"In 2017 and the first months of 2018, we see the positive results of the deal and the cooperation with the Turkish authorities," Christianos noted.

For Christianos, there is no danger that the EU-Turkey deal will be disrupted.

"The EU-Turkey deal is valid and will be until further notice. There are constantly contacts in European level with the presence of the European Commission. From the Turkish parts, they want to continue the cooperation and to follow what the agreement requires. The financial motive provided by the European Union to the Turkish part is very important," he said.

More than 50 coast guard boats patrol day and night at the Eastern part of the Aegean Sea in cooperation with 20 Frontex vessels.

A total of 2,000 seamen from Greece and Europe are in the frontline to surveil the European and Greek borders and to provide help to all those migrants who will be traced and need to be rescued.

For Christianos, experience and calm are two major prerequisites for the success during a rescue operation.

"The Greek and European seaman who is on duty must have the experience to cope with such incidents. Also, calm because unfortunately under those conditions there could be human losses or babies and pregnant women in shock. With calm you need to approach, to help and save," he told Xinhua.

Currently the Greek Coast Guard consists of 250 vessels of all types: 5 offshore patrol vessels sized 45-60 meters in length, 12 patrol boats with lengths of 30 meters that can contribute under difficult weather conditions and coastal patrol vessels of various types with lengths of 18 meters.

"We are in the procedure of upgrading our fleet. Five more 30 meters high speed patrol boats will be added. While, more than 20 patrol boats sized 20 meters in length will come in the next 3 to 4 years," Christianos said.

Apart from the search and rescue operations, the Greek coast guard has stepped up its efforts in combating the drug trafficking rings and illegal trade especially in regions near the sea borders where there is no migrant activity, like offshore in south of Crete, or in south of Peloponnese.

"During the last years, due to the geographic position of our country which is strategic as a crossroad of three continents, we track illegal networks that try to smuggle drugs, cannabis and guns at sea," he noted.

"They try to transport illegally from the Turkish or African shores to European soils and other neighboring countries through cargo ships, leisure boats and even sailing boats. At first sight it doesn't seem anything strange, but if we search or there is an information, you can have scoops," he explained.

According to the latest data, in 2017 and 2018 more than 100 boats that performed illegal trade have been traced, there have been more than 500 arrests for drug trafficking and other illegal products.

More than 40 to 50 boats have been confiscated for that reason. Regarding the quantity, approximately 13 tons of cannabis, more than 100 kilos of heroin, cocaine, and other opiates, in addition to smuggled cigarettes and guns have been seized.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 22:56:29|Editor: mmm

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People attend the Baltic Pride parade in downtown Riga, Latvia, on June 9, 2018. Around 8,000 people gathered in a park in downtown Riga on Saturday to march in the Baltic Pride 2018 parade, an annual LGBT rights event each Baltic capital takes turn to host in summer. (Xinhua/Janis)

RIGA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Around 8,000 people gathered in a park in downtown Riga on Saturday to march in the Baltic Pride 2018 parade, an annual LGBT rights event each Baltic capital takes turn to host in summer.

The colorful parade in which lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people were joined by their relatives and supporters was the climax of a series of events, including conferences, film programs and various art events that took place in the Latvian capital this week to highlight LGBT-related rights issues in Latvia, the Baltics and the whole European Union, as well as to celebrate diversity, informed Mozaika, Latvia's LGBT rights group which organized the event.

The motto of this year's Baltic Pride was See Diversity! See Freedom!

Participants of the parade in Riga included people of various ages, and some marchers were dressed in fancy outfits, for example, one participant had arrived to the pride parade in a unicorn costume. Many participants were waving rainbow flags, the international symbol of the LGBT community, as well as the national flags of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

There were also guests from the UK, Germany, Denmark and other countries among participants of the Baltic Pride 2018. Also marching for LGBT rights were representatives of the recently founded political bloc For Development/For, the youth section of Latvia's ruling center-right Unity party and Satori online culture magazine.

The parade was watched by large crowds of onlookers and monitored by police.

Police spokeswoman Sigita Pildava said after the parade that the event, which in Latvia is always met by mixed public response, passed peacefully and that only one man was detained for hurling a smoke bomb at the marchers.

There were also a few dozen protesters around, whistling and making other loud noises as the parade began to demonstrate their discontent with what in their view was propaganda of immorality.

After the parade, its participants returned to Vermane Park for a concert that closed the Baltic Pride week in Riga.

The previous Baltic Pride in the Latvian capital drew 5,000 participants.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 23:11:31|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses a banquet held for guests attending the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a dinner on Saturday evening to welcome guests who gather in the coastal city of Qingdao for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

"It is such a pleasure to have you with us here in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on the shore of the Yellow Sea," Xi said while addressing the dinner.

"I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, a very warm welcome to all of you, particularly the state leaders and heads of international organizations who have come to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO," he said.

Shandong is the home province of Confucius and birthplace of Confucianism. An integral part of Chinese civilization, Confucianism believes that "a just cause should be pursued for the common good" and champions harmony, unity and a shared community for all nations, Xi told the guests.

Its emphasis on unity and harmony has much in common with the Shanghai Spirit, namely, mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, he said.

"The Shanghai Spirit's focus on seeking common ground while setting aside differences and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation has won widespread international endorsement and support," the Chinese president said.

Guided by the Shanghai Spirit, the SCO has delivered fruitful outcomes in security, economic and cultural cooperation and made historic strides in institution building, he said.

With eight member states, four observer states and six dialogue partners, the SCO has become an important force for upholding regional security, promoting common development and improving global governance, Xi said.

"Qingdao is a famous international sailing capital. It is from here that many ships set sail in pursuit of dreams. Tomorrow, we will hold the first summit of the SCO after its expansion and draw up a blueprint for its future growth," Xi said.

"The Qingdao summit is a new departure point for us. Together, let us hoist the sail of the Shanghai Spirit, break waves and embark on a new voyage for our organization," he said.

After the dinner, Xi and the guests watched an artistic performance of lights and fireworks with the theme of "A Warm Welcome to Friends from Afar."

Xi and foreign leaders had a group photo taken ahead of the dinner.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 23:21:32|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday agreed to take their April meeting in Wuhan as a new starting point to promote bilateral relations.

The two leaders reached the consensus during a meeting in the coastal Chinese city of Qingdao ahead of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

Recalling that he and Modi successfully had an informal meeting and reached important consensus in Wuhan of Hubei Province more than one month ago, Xi said the meeting had been well received by both countries and the international community, and a positive atmosphere is taking shape to pay close attention to and support the development of China-India relations.

China is willing to work with India to take the Wuhan meeting as a new starting point to continuously enhance political mutual trust and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, so as to push forward China-India relations in a better, faster and steadier manner, Xi said.

Noting that China and India have reaped quite a few early-harvest outcomes in implementing the consensus reached at the Wuhan meeting, Xi said the two sides should make persistent efforts to accelerate the implementation, maintain strategic communication, expand economic and trade cooperation, promote people-to-people exchanges and enhance coordination and cooperation on international and regional affairs.

Xi welcomed India's attendance at the summit as a full member of the SCO for the first time, saying the Chinese side stands ready to work with India and other member states to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit and promote the sound and stable development of the SCO.

Describing the informal meeting with Xi in Wuhan as "very successful and very important," Modi said it has further strengthened his confidence in the development of India-China relations, and will certainly be a milestone in the history of the bilateral ties.

India-China cooperation is of great significance to world peace and prosperity, and the Indian side is ready to advance the bilateral relations on the basis of the Wuhan meeting, said Modi.

As a new member, India is ready to play an active role in the SCO, and supports China in making the Qingdao summit a success, Modi noted.

After the meeting, Xi and Modi witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements.
RIGA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A military transport vehicle caught fire during a parachuting exercise that was held Saturday in Adazi training grounds, outside Riga, as part of the multinational Swift Response maneuvers, spokespeople for the Latvian Defense Ministry informed.

Over 500 U.S. and British paratroopers were descending on the training grounds from eight C-17 military transport planes in the exercise, said Defense Ministry representative Mairita Senkevicina.

In her words, one of the transport vehicles which was also involved in the drills started burning during the descent. The exercise was temporarily suspended. Luckily, nobody was harmed in the accident.

Organizers of the exercise are probing the causes of the midair fire.

Swift Response '18 is an annual U.S.-led multinational training exercise in which allied forces practice paratroopers' response to a sudden military threat. The Latvian troops involved in the drills practice provision of support to the allies as a host country.

This year, Swift Response '18 takes place in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland from June 7 to 15 with the participation of some 2,300 servicemen from seven NATO member and partner countries.
TOKYO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A man was killed and two others were injured in a stabbing incident on a Shinkansen bullet train in Japan Saturday night, local police said.

The police originally said three people aboard the Nozomi 265 bullet train bound for Shin-Osaka from Tokyo were injured, including a man in his 30s who was seriously wounded and lost consciousness.

The seriously-wounded man was later confirmed dead and the situation of the two other injured was not revealed.

The police detained the 22-year-old male stabber on suspicion of attempted murder and are now investigating the case.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-09 23:56:37|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China and Tajikistan should continue helping and supporting each other to cope with challenges and achieve common development, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon, who is in the coastal Chinese city of Qingdao to attend the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

As the two countries are at a critical stage of national development and rejuvenation, Xi said, China and Tajikistan should deepen bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to benefit the two peoples more widely.

Joint contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative has become a focus of bilateral cooperation, Xi said, stressing that the two sides should promote balanced development of trade, deepen cooperation in finance and investment, expand partnership in connectivity, and enhance people-to-people exchanges.

China and Tajikistan should continuously fight against "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, and organized cross-border crime, he said.

China supports Tajikistan to take presidency of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and is willing to help Tajikistan prepare for the event, Xi added.

Rahmon said Tajikistan firmly adheres to one-China policy and is committed to fighting against the three evil forces unswervingly, promoting bilateral comprehensive cooperation and improving coordination in managing regional affairs.

Tajikistan is willing to align the country's development strategy for the period up to 2030 with the Belt and Road Initiative, and expand cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology and other fields, he added.

Rahmon agreed that the more complicated the international situation is, the more necessary it is for the SCO to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit, namely, mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-10 00:06:39|Editor: yan

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Aerial photo taken on May 4, 2018 shows scenery of the Fushan Bay in Qingdao, the host city of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Dazzling against the city skyline of Qingdao, fireworks lit up the faces of guests who traveled across the vast Eurasian continent to the coast of the Yellow Sea for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, on Saturday night.

It is the first such summit since the organization's expansion in June 2017 when India and Pakistan joined as full members.

"Qingdao is a famous international sailing capital. It is from here that many ships set sail in pursuit of dreams," said President Xi Jinping at a welcome dinner Saturday evening. "The Qingdao summit is a new departure point for us. Together, let us hoist the sail of the Shanghai Spirit, break waves and embark on a new voyage for our organization."

The Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, was stated in the Charter of the SCO, a comprehensive regional organization founded in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and later expanded to eight member states.

This weekend Xi will chair the summit for the first time as Chinese president, which is attended by leaders of other SCO member states and four observer states, as well as chiefs of various international organizations.

The event is reminiscent of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) held two months ago though the guests are different.

On April 10, Xi addressed the opening ceremony of the annual conference of the BFA, attended by more than 2,000 people.

In Boao, Xi unveiled new measures for expanding reform and opening up and heralded "a new phase of opening up" for common prosperity of both China and the world.

The same spirit of openness and inclusiveness has continued in Qingdao, Shandong, the home province of Confucius.

"An integral part of Chinese civilization, Confucianism believes that 'a just cause should be pursued for the common good' and champions harmony, unity and a shared community for all nations," Xi told the guests. "Its emphasis on unity and harmony has much in common with the Shanghai Spirit."

At the summit participants are encouraged to gain consensus on building a community with a shared future for humanity and building a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, said State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi when briefing the media last week.

The two concepts have been catchphrases of Chinese diplomacy over the past five years. Though, they are not mere catchphrases, but ideas backed with pragmatic initiatives and concrete diplomatic moves.

With the BFA conference hailing reform and opening-up and the SCO summit promoting regional security and cooperation, China will host another two major international events this year -- the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit to advance the Belt and Road Initiative, and the China International Import Expo for further market opening.

"With the growth of national strength and international influence, China is more confident in raising new ideas on global governance," said Professor Zuo Fengrong with the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. "China's initiatives are aimed at an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity."

FROM SHANGHAI TO QINGDAO

According to Wang, the Qingdao Declaration to be issued at the summit will call on all parties to continue the Shanghai Spirit.

In his speeches at previous SCO summits, President Xi had repeatedly upheld the Shanghai Spirit, acknowledging its significance in forging a community with a shared future in the region, maintaining security and stability and promoting exchanges.

"The 17-year-old Shanghai Spirit is in line with Xi's latest diplomatic vision," said Li Ziguo with the China Institute of International Studies, who also highlighted it as a platform for "building a community with a shared future for humanity."

Under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit, the region prospered with peace and stability, with countries in the region having settled complicated border issues, contained threats from terrorism, extremism and separatism, and launched initiatives of cross-border trade and infrastructure connectivity, often spearheaded by China.

The SCO has grown to be an organization covering over 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half the world's population and over 20 percent of global GDP.

"The organization has demonstrated strong cohesion and increasing influence," said Konstantin Kokarev, head of the Centre for Asia and Pacific Region, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, in an interview with Xinhua.

FROM QINGDAO TO BROADER WORLD

Qingdao is a symbolic choice to host this year's SCO summit, as it is at the eastern end of a vast railway network across Eurasia, and a logistics center linking the Silk Road Economic Belt with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Sea cargo is transferred here to five international railway lines to countries in the western end of the continent, 30 days quicker than using sea routes alone.

The vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt was first raised by Xi in Astana of Kazakhstan in September 2013, a few days before he first attended the SCO summit as Chinese president. It was later developed into the Belt and Road Initiative.

"China's initiative brings great opportunity to the SCO," said SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov. "The summit in Qingdao will also contribute to the implementation of the initiative."

The initiative has become an important practice to materialize the vision of a community of a shared future for humanity.

"China itself has engaged in profound cooperation with countries across the world. It will bring rich opportunities to connect the SCO with a broader part of the world," Kokarev said.
CHICAGO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- One year after the kidnapping of Chinese visiting scholar Yingying Zhang at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the biggest hope of Zhang's family remains to find Yingying.

The Daily Illini, an independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois, has posted on its website a statement from Xiaolin Hou, Zhang's boyfriend.

"Our biggest hope will forever be to find Yingying and to bring her home," the statement says. The family hopes the police won't stop searching and people will continue paying attention to and providing clues. "We will never give up unless we find Yingying. No matter where she is right now, we believe we will be reunited one day."

In the statement, Zhang's family expressed their thanks to the police, the Chinese consulate, the school and the people who have helped them all the way throughout the year. "We will forever remember all the things everybody has done for Yingying and for us."

The family also reminds all Chinese students studying abroad: "Please learn to be careful and take care of yourselves when you're away from home and keep your families from worrying."

On the way to sign a rent lease, 26-year-old Zhang went missing after entering a black Saturn Astra sedan on June 9, 2017. She has not been seen or heard from since.

Police arrested 28-year-old Brendt Christensen, a former UI doctoral student, on June 30, 2017, charging him with kidnapping, torturing and killing Zhang. The trial is set for April 2, 2019. Christensen will face death penalty if found guilty of kidnapping resulting in death.
QUEBEC CITY, June 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will attend the upcoming meeting with the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un with "positive spirit."

Describing his talks in Singapore with Kim as entering "unknown territory," Trump told reporters before his early departure from the G7 summit in Quebec city, Canada, that he really feels confident.

"(It's) never been done,(it's) never been tested. So we are going in with a really positive spirit," the U.S. president said.

Trump and Kim are expected to meet in Singapore on Tuesday with talks focusing on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Calling his Asian trip a "mission of peace," Trump told reporters, "I think it's gonna to work very well." However, he cautioned that it will be "a process" when it comes to the denuclearization.

Trump revealed that the U.S. team had worked "very well" with the representatives from Pyongyang during the bilateral preparatory talks for the summit.

Trump will travel directly to Singapore from Canada to attend the meeting. He said earlier this week that his stay length in Singapore would be decided "depending on what happens."

The back-on-track summit followed a whirlwind of diplomacy after Trump called off the meeting in late May.
RABAT, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will start on Sunday a two-day visit to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan ministry of royal household, protocol and chancellery announced on Saturday.

The two sides will hold official talks, the statement said, adding that the visit reflects that the bilateral relations are based on partnership and common desire to consolidate the multidimensional relations between the two countries.

The Moroccan-Nigerian relations have witnessed positive momentum during the last few years.

During the visit of Morocco's king to Nigeria in December 2016, the two countries signed agreements and finalized a major gas pipeline linking West African countries.

The pipeline project will pass through several West African countries and may stretch to Europe.

No timeline was given for when the pipeline construction will start and how much it will cost, but several working sessions have been held in Morocco to push it forward.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on June 9, 2018, during the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada. (Xinhua/AFP)

QUEBEC CITY, June 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will attend the upcoming meeting with the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un with "positive spirit."

Describing his talks in Singapore with Kim as entering "unknown territory," Trump told reporters before his early departure from the G7 summit in Quebec city, Canada, that he really feels confident.

"(It's) never been done,(it's) never been tested. So we are going in with a really positive spirit," the U.S. president said.

Trump and Kim are expected to meet in Singapore on Tuesday with talks focusing on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Calling his Asian trip a "mission of peace," Trump told reporters, "I think it's gonna to work very well." However, he cautioned that it will be "a process" when it comes to the denuclearization.

Trump revealed that the U.S. team had worked "very well" with the representatives from Pyongyang during the bilateral preparatory talks for the summit.

Trump will travel directly to Singapore from Canada to attend the meeting. He said earlier this week that his stay length in Singapore would be decided "depending on what happens."

The back-on-track summit followed a whirlwind of diplomacy after Trump called off the meeting in late May.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-10 01:36:54|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (C), Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga attend a trilateral meeting in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. The trilateral meeting, the fourth of its kind, was chaired by Xi Jinping. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

QINGDAO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The presidents of China, Russia and Mongolia pledged to strengthen trilateral cooperation during their meeting here on Saturday.

The trilateral meeting, the fourth of its kind, was chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping and attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga. They reviewed the achievements of trilateral cooperation and discussed priority tasks and directions for the next phase.

Since the heads of state of China, Russia and Mongolia held their first meeting more than three years ago, the three countries have centered on aligning China's Belt and Road Initiative with Russia's development strategies, especially its transcontinental rail plan, and Mongolia's "development path" initiative, deepened cooperation and yielded results, said Xi.

The three countries are neighbors and traditional strategic partners to each other, and enjoy natural advantages and a good foundation for cooperation, he said.

As the economic globalization and regional economic integration deepen, the three countries should jointly pursue integrated, win-win development and set an example of cooperation among neighboring countries, said Xi.

For the next phase, the three sides should deepen political mutual trust and strategic coordination, enhance mutual support, respect the core interests of each other, take into consideration each other's major concerns, strengthen coordination and cooperation in regional and international affairs, and steer the course of trilateral cooperation politically, Xi stressed.

The Chinese president said the three countries should push the construction of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, actively explore cooperation in areas such as infrastructure interconnectivity, and promote sub-regional cooperation in adjacent areas of the three countries.

The cooperation and coordination within the framework of the SCO should be expanded, said Xi.

The level of Mongolia's ties with the SCO should be lifted and Mongolia is welcome to participate in SCO cooperation in a more in-depth way, said Xi.

Russia agreed to strengthen trilateral cooperation in transport, infrastructure, customs and tourism, and facilitate trade and personnel exchanges, said Putin.

Battulga said that it is Mongolia's top priority to develop friendly cooperation with the two permanent neighbors of China and Russia.

Mongolia stands ready to work with China and Russia to implement trilateral cooperation consensus and launch the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor construction as early as possible, while promoting cooperation in sectors such as infrastructure and energy transportation, said Battulga.

Putin and Battulga are in Qingdao for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-10 01:41:55|Editor: mmm

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A man works at the Saba'a Bahrat roundabout in Aleppo, Syria, on June 6, 2018. About 70 percent of the infrastructure facilities in Syria's northern city of Aleppo have been reconstructed since the city was fully retaken by the Syrian army in late 2016. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

by Hummam Sheikh Ali

ALEPPO, Syria, June 9 (Xinhua) -- About 70 percent of the infrastructure facilities in Syria's northern city of Aleppo have been reconstructed since the city was fully retaken by the Syrian army in late 2016.

After Aleppo's liberation from the rebels, the streets were cleared from the rubble amid efforts to rehabilitate bridges and intersections in the city, once known as the economic capital of Syria.

The efforts are considered as a prelude to the reconstruction process of the largely destroyed parts in east Aleppo, as the government was quick to remove the rubbles from main streets and open the closed roads to facilitate the return of civilians to their homes, after the war was over.

Fares Fares, an executive member of the Aleppo Municipal Palace, told Xinhua that the first stage of the rehabilitation process was clearing the streets, which took three to four months to open the main roads and later the sub-routes.

The second stage was preparing the infrastructure of the city, such as fixing the networks of the sewage, water, and communications, to enable the civilians to return home, he said, adding that some schools have been reopened as well as police stations and bakeries.

Then the third stage is reviving the production through rehabilitating the infrastructure in the industrial zones and marketplaces.

Fares said that all the efforts of rehabilitation have so far been implemented locally, without any help from foreign companies despite the wide-scale destruction.

Local restoring efforts will pave the way for reconstruction process in cooperation with foreign companies from "friendly countries."

"We are overcoming the difficulties with national efforts but the reconstruction of what had been destroyed needs foreign companies in addition to the national cadres," he said, reiterating that the difficulties are the wide-scale destruction.

A large number of the construction machines of the Syrian government had been destroyed by the terrorist groups "so we need heavy machines and large capital stocks," he said.

Fares expressed readiness to welcome foreign help, saying "we are ready to receive companies from Russia and China or any other friendly countries, which have a desire in taking part in the reconstruction process in Syria."

Jisr al-Haj, or the al-Haj Bridge, is one of the important bridges in Aleppo as it connects the western parts of Aleppo with the eastern neighborhoods and the airport of Aleppo.

The bridge has witnessed several explosions ahead of the rebels' withdrawal from the eastern part of the city.

Kumait Asi al-Sheikh, the engineer responsible for the rehabilitation of the al-Haj bridge, told Xinhua that the bridge is an important part of the traffic system and considered as an important cross point in the southern part of the city, as it's one of the main routes for delivering goods to neighborhoods.

The engineer noted that they have faced difficulties when attempting to fix the bridge due to the lack of heavy machines.

"The bridge is prefabricated and needed big machines to lift it up, and we lost such machines when the terrorists were in the city," he said.

He said the bridge will be back in service in two months, adding that it will be equipped with power-saving lights.

Al-Sheikh said that two other bridges have been rehabilitated as well, namely the al-Sha'ar and Sakhour bridges, as both are important to ease the traffic congestions in Aleppo.

The rehabilitation process also expanded to the destroyed roundabouts of the city, as currently the Saba'a Bahrat square in Aleppo is being rebuilt from scratch after its destruction during the war.

Muhammad Basul, another engineer, told Xinhua that the roundabout is under construction with a new design.

"The Saba'a Bahrat roundabout is considered as the gate to the old Aleppo city and it was completely destroyed as a result of the war. We are rehabilitating this area through local companies in cooperation with the Aleppo municipality," Basul said.

Aleppo could be an example of starting reconstruction in Syria, whose entire cities are in ruins with an estimated restoring cost of over 250 billion U.S. dollars.
ADDIS ABABA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is scheduled to arrive in Egypt on Sunday for a two-day visit.

In a press statement on Saturday, the Ethiopian Embassy to Egypt said Ahmed during his visit is expected to meet with senior Egyptian officials including President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to discuss issues of mutual interest.

The statement further said Ahmed is expected to hold discussions to upgrade the already strong political and economic ties of Ethiopia and Egypt.

Ethiopian media outlets reported that during the visit, the prime minister is expected to focus on issues including the 6,450 Mega Watt hydro dam that Ethiopia is building on Blue Nile river.

Named Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the hydro dam whose construction is currently 66 percent complete, is Africa's largest hydro dam project, with Ethiopia saying the dam will reignite an economic renaissance in the region once it is commissioned.

Ethiopia eyes massive benefits from the GERD construction, while Egypt is concerned it might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of the Nile River water.

Egypt, a lower riparian nation, fears the hydro dam will cut into its water supply, potentially crippling its agricultural sector that is already facing water shortages.
TBILISI, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and 16 others were injured in a car accident on Saturday in eastern Georgia, according to the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A minibus taking dozens of sixth graders of a public school in Tbilisi fell into a ravine on Gombori mountain pass in eastern Georgia, resulting in four people dead including one child. Sixteen others including 12 children were injured and hospitalized, said a statement from the ministry.

The ministry said investigation is underway, and there is possible violation of traffic safety rules.
People protest against U.S. strike on Syria outside the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on April 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin)

MOSCOW, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Syria only exist in areas controlled by the United States, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Saturday.

"The further expansion of the IS in Syria became possible due to the criminal inaction of the United States and the so-called international coalition," Konashenkov told reporters.

The IS militants quickly gained control of the main oil-bearing areas in the east of Syria and secured a constant inflow of financial resources from the illegal sale of oil products, he said.

While Washington financed and supplied arms and ammunition to "fictional" Syrian opposition, large chunks of it ended up in the hands of the Nusra Front, an offspring of al-Qaida, and the IS, whose goals coincided with Washington's policy to overthrow the legitimate Syrian government, he said.

Konashenkov said that in the Syrian provinces under the control of the Syrian government, peaceful life is actively recovering, mines being cleared, enterprises resuming work, while markets, schools and kindergartens are open.

The Syrian people were receiving humanitarian aid and food, nothing of which was financed by the United States, he said.

The real catastrophe for the Syrian people has been recorded by the United Nations and human rights activists in the U.S.-controlled areas in the country, Konashenkov said.
by George Georgakopoulos

ATHENS, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Greece aspires to become a regional marine bunkering and distribution hub for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Eastern Mediterranean through the European Union co-funded "Poseidon Med II" project, according to local officials.

The 53.3-million-euro international project started in June 2015 and is scheduled to conclude in the end of 2020. It offers a roadmap for the extensive adoption of LNG as propulsion fuel for vessels in Greece, Italy and Cyprus with the participation of six ports: Venice in Italy, Piraeus, Patra, Iraklio and Igoumenitsa in Greece, and Limassol in Cyprus. It also involves the LNG terminal on Revythoussa island, off the Athens coast.

In late May, Greek Shipping Panagiotis Kouroumplis presented the draft presidential decree that sets out for the first time the framework for the expansion of LNG use in Greece.

"We are very satisfied with the outcome of our cooperation with the ministry and the other partners, as this draft presidential decree was borne out of processing our proposals and constitutes the tangible implementation of the project's objectives," Dimitris Spyrou, Strategic Planning and Marketing Consultant at Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), told Xinhua this week.

Piraeus Port, Greece's largest port and a landmark Sino-Greek cooperation in the country, stands to benefit greatly from the introduction of LNG bunkering, as its proximity to the Revythoussa hub means ship-to-ship transfer is possible even without the need to build storage facilities, Spyrou explained.

Poseidon Med II's drafting of an integrated and efficient LNG supply chain in the region has aroused interest of other ports that are not part of the project yet, such as the central Greek port of Volos.

"We applied for inclusion in 2016, conducted and tabled a study last year and expect its assessment within 2018," Volos Port Organization President Thrasyvoulos Stavridopoulos told Xinhua.

The project is primarily run by Greece's Public Gas Corporation (DEPA). The company's Head of Commercial Division Stelios Bikos explained to Xinhua that it is instrumental to the country's gas industry.

"DEPA has 20 years of experience in gas distribution and considers itself capable of managing the infrastructures and commercial aspects involved in the project," he said, noting that Poseidon Med II doubtlessly also offers added value to DEPA ahead of its planned privatization.
MOGADISHU, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military vowed on Saturday to enhance fight against terrorism posed by al-Qaida and its affiliate, al-Shabab as well as the threat posed by the IS in Somalia despite the killing of its soldiers on Friday.

Thomas Waldhauser, Commander of the U.S. Africa Command, said its special forces will continue to partner with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to degrade terrorist threat posed by the extremist groups in the Horn of Africa nation.

"Our strategy in East Africa is to build partner capacity to ensure that violent extremist organizations, who wish harm in the region, wish harm on the European continent, and ultimately wish to harm the United States," Waldhauser said in a statement.

The statement came after the U.S. Africa Command (Africom) said its soldier was killed and four others injured during a joint operation on Friday afternoon, about 350 km southwest of Mogadishu.

Africom said about 800 U.S., Kenyan and Somali forces came under mortar and small-arms fire during a multi-day security operation.

Waldhauser said the wounded Americans have been treated and discharged and are currently in Kenya as they await follow-on transportation for additional medical evaluation.

Africom said the desired end state is to have a stable East Africa in which terrorist organizations are not able to destabilize Somalia or its neighbors or threaten Americans and its international allies.

"Accordingly, the desired end state includes transitioning security responsibility from AMISOM to the Federal Government of Somalia and Somalia's Federal Member States so the central and regional governments ultimately secure their own territory and neutralize the terror threat," said Africom.

Washington has stepped up operations in the Horn of Africa nation in the past year, killing several militants after President Donald Trump softened restrictions on the military in March 2017.
WINDHOEK, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Wang Ling, who was deployed to teach the Chinese language in Namibia in 2015, is one of the 10 Chinese volunteer lecturers at the University of Namibia's Confucius Institute.

First time setting foot in her class was nerve-wrecking yet exciting, said Wang to Xinhua.

"It was a new environment. I was yet to study the Namibian culture. Also, some things had to be repeated many times, which delayed the class," said Wang.

About 2,796 students have studied Mandarin at the Confucius Institute in the last five years.

Zhang Fan, Director of Confucius Institute at the University of Namibia, said that teaching and learning is supplemented by a library.

"The library not only has language books, but also books entailing Chinese culture, sight-seeing, traditions and history. Through that, students can have a deeper understanding about China," said Zhang.

Meanwhile, according to Wang, her biggest motivation and reward is seeing students progress academically.

"My higher level students are still learning Chinese language, and are in their third year. I'm proud of them because they're able to understand more complicated Chinese," she said.

Keith Mushonga, a student at the Confucius Institute, said that he has travelled to China on more than two occasions following his mastery of the Chinese language.

In recent years, learning Chinese has also become a rewarding experience in terms of landing jobs and winning scholorships, according to Zhang.

"Lots of Chinese companies want to hire local people who can speak Mandarin. If one can speak the Chinese language, it will increase chances to find a job. In addition, Chinese scholarships have been offered to students who are learning Mandarin. Once you get the scholarship, you can study in China," said Zhang.

"Life is full of changes. Therefore, while I'm doing my best to teach my students, I also help them to get scholarships and encourage them to go to China to study," she said.

In addition to meeting new people, Wang said that she personally also gained abundant soft skills from her job.

"It has been a valuable experience for me. I love my students. I also learned some life experiences including communication and presentation skills. In fact, I am now stage fear-free," she said.

In the interim, her wish is for more people in Namibia to learn Chinese and visit China.

"People from Namibia are always welcome to go to China. It's a good connection between our two countries. Our friendship is everlasting. It's a good way to exchange our cultures," she said.

Currently, there are about 500 students enrolled at the Confucius Institute.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-10 03:57:16|Editor: mmm

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People slowly stir around 2,000 litres of white kidney beans' soup in a giant cauldron during the "Simple As Beans" festival in Temerin, Serbia, on June 9, 2018. Thousands of people gathered on Saturday in Serbia's northern town of Temerin to celebrate the "Simple As Beans" festival. (Xinhua/Wang Huijuan)

TEMERIN, Serbia, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of people gathered on Saturday in Serbia's northern town of Temerin to celebrate the "Simple As Beans" festival.

As a "primitive" dish, pasulj made of white kidney beans is almost on every household table across Serbia. Rather than using "a piece of cake", Serbians use the phrase of "simple as pasulj" to describe something easy.

In Temerin, hundreds of amateur cooks have been competing in preparing the dish for a decade.

On Saturday the festival gathered 189 teams at the fairground in Temerin, each with eight members. On an open wood fire, they competed for the best pasulj in terms of the color (yellowish-brown), density, greasiness and flavoring.

On one side of the fairground, a giant cauldron with around 2,000 litres of the dish slowly boiled, while Bruno Skeledzija, an official cook of the festival, stirred it patiently. After some four hours of cooking, it was served to hundreds of people waiting in a line.

"In this cauldron we put meat of two piglets weighing around 200 kg of meat, 200 kg of white kidney beans, 100 kg of onions, and we also add green hot pepper, carrots. We are cooking in the giant cauldron for the ninth consecutive year," Skeledzija told Xinhua.

For Skeledzija, this is the ninth consecutive year of preparing the massive dish at the festival, and although cooking for him is just a hobby, he said that over time his team perfected a recipe that suits the taste of the local.

He agreed that the traditional passion of Serbians for cooking outdoors on an open fire continued to live in the form of festivals such as "Simple As Beans", where people can get together and have fun.

Tamara Site, director of the local tourist organization told Xinhua that around 7,000 people visit the one-day festival, which is a success for the small town of Temerin.

According to her, pasulj is not the only attraction of the festival. People come here to enjoy cultural program, including some odd but funny sporting competitions named "Temerin Games", and a big pasulj-related charity event.

As pasulj in hundreds of cauldrons was slowly being cooked by skillful hands of amateur chefs, audience covered in veil of smoke was entertained by performances of children singing and dancing on the main stage, followed by one of the oddest sporting competitions in Serbia, including a race of husbands carrying their wives.

The atmosphere at competitor's stands was also cheerful, with team members together with their friends enjoying music of live folk orchestras that circle among them and entertain the crowds.

Goran Boskovic, a local businessman said that for him this was "a really nice manifestation, and a chance to spend a great time with people".

Milan, Boskovic's guest and business partner from Czech Republic told Xinhua that "In Czech Republic we also prepare pasulj, but it is nothing like this here. We are very satisfied to see that people here are preparing pasulj so much," he said.

Zlatibor Sekulic, a Serbian who has lived 50 years in Vienna could not hide his excitement after visiting the festival for the first time. "One friend told me: Let's go to a place, it's a surprise. I ask him, where to? To Temerin, he says. When I saw this here, I was amazed. Something like this cannot be found elsewhere, even in Vienna. Believe me, I am 75 years old, so I know."

The recipe of pasulj is indeed very simple. Even children here know that garlic, onions, fresh and smoked meat together with vegetables would make a pasulj after several hours of cooking.

But if it is such "a piece of cake", or "simple as pasulj", what makes this festival so special?

Chef Skeledzija has a unique observation. "Any food tastes fantastic when you are in the right company," said the chef, hinting that "togetherness" is the magical ingredient.
How about your relationship?

The Yakima Herald-Republic is profiling couples who have been together for several decades or a few years, married or not, prominent in the community or not.

We will also want to take your photo, and if youve been together for awhile, would possibly include an earlier picture of you as a couple.

If you would like to tell us about your relationship (or nominate others who might be interested), email Features Editor Tammy Ayer at tayer@yakimaherald.com with the words our relationship in the subject line.

This is what were asking:

 How did you meet?

 Tell us about that first date  when, where and how it went.

 How do you make your relationship work?

 What is the best and worst relationship advice youve received?

 What relationship advice you would offer?

 Any inspirational couples?
HANCOCK  Co-operatively Yours, a 2017 film by Kristin Ojaniemi and the Finnish American Heritage Center, took home the Best Documentary honor at the 2018 Eclipse Awards.

The annual event in Grand Rapids was created to honor Michigans creators in film and television. The Finnish American Heritage Center is on the campus of Finlandia University in Hancock.

Eclipse Awards are chosen by past winners in the entrys particular category, as well as independent judges from Michigan, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

The documentary, which chronicles the history of the Finnish-American co-operative movement, centers on Settlers Co-op, the Finn-founded co-operative store in Bruce Crossing which celebrated its centennial in 2017.

Both Ojaniemi and Finnish American Heritage Center Director Jim Kurtti are Bruce Crossing natives, and hatched the idea for the film at a high school graduation party in their hometown. While the number of Finnish-American co-ops has dwindled substantially since heydays in the mid-20th century, there are still a few active stores in the United States; four are in the Upper Peninsula  in Chatham, Trenary and Rudyard, as well as Bruce Crossing.

I didnt expect a handshake at a graduation party to lead to a gold statue, Ojaniemi said. I also didnt imagine that Id become so immersed in Finnish-American culture. Doing this film presented an excellent opportunity to learn more about Finnish history and culture.

Even though Ojaniemi grew up in Bruce Crossing and knew of the co-op since she was a child, she didnt know a great deal about the stores history and its prominence in Finnish-American history.

I didnt think about it that way, but it is like icing on the cake to be presented with an award for a film thats about your hometown, she said. Its gratifying to be able to tell a good story about a place I knew, but not as well as I thought I did.

When Ojaniemi and Kurtti put their heads together, they came up with a way to overcome that hurdle, with the result being that Co-operatively Yours is truly an international production. Ojaniemi and Kurtti traveled to Finland in spring 2017 to conduct interviews with Finnish experts on the co-operative movement.

Later that year, the Finnish national broadcasting company YLE purchased exclusive rights to broadcast the film in Finland, and its scheduled to air at least twice on national television there. The dates of these broadcasts havent yet been announced.

Its a story about one store, but really is the story of the co-operative movement through the lens of one store, Kurtti said. To see this young Finnish-American woman start to appreciate what was right under her nose her whole life and unravel its history is very gratifying.

Thats what the Finnish American Heritage Center is here to do, to help people understand their roots.

For more information on the film, contact the center at 906-487-7549.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 20:36:54|Editor: Yamei

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Administrator of National Irrigation Administration (NIA) of the Philippines Ricardo Visaya speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony held in Pinukpuk city of Kalinga, the Philippines, June 8, 2018. The construction of a China-funded irrigation project in northern Philippines started on Friday. (Xinhua/Dong Chengwen)

PINUKPUK CITY, the Philippines, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The construction of a China-funded irrigation project in northern Philippines started on Friday.



The project will provide stable supply of water to nearly 9,000 hectares of agricultural land and create thousands of jobs in Kalinga and Cagayan, two northern Philippine provinces

The Chico River Pump Irrigation Project will provide water to 8,700 hectares of agricultural land, benefit 4,350 farming families and serve 21 villages in the two provinces in main Luzon island.

The project, which will be implemented by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) of the Philippines, costs an estimated 83.89 million U.S. dollars, according to the Department of Finance.

"This provides a perfect demonstration of our efficient work and close cooperation," Jin Yuan, the economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy to the Philippines said during the groundbreaking ceremony held in Pinukpuk city of Kalinga.

As the first infrastructure project financed by Chinese soft loan during President Rodrigo Duterte's administration, the project involves installation of pumps, construction of pumping station, irrigation canals and other structures.

It is estimated that 14,784 jobs will be created during its implementation and over 8,000 permanent jobs will remain when it becomes operational.

The irrigation project is among the flagship infrastructure projects that the Duterte administration is undertaking under its "Build, Build, Build" program as the linchpin of its strategy is to develop major alternative growth areas in central and northern Luzon.

Speaking on behalf of the Philippines, NIA Administrator Ricardo Visaya said it will take three years for the project to be completed.

He thanked China for its "unfailingly support" to the development projects of the Philippines.

Visaya said the breaking of the ground of the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project "marks the sailing of the first of the flagship projects to be implemented by NIA" under "Build, Build, Build" program.

"This is a strong move to carry on the power of redesigning the future of the country and uplifting the lives of greater Filipinos," Visaya said.

Project contractor China CAMC Engineering Corporation told Xinhua that they have completed three large scale projects in the Philippines since 2003.

This time, just as before, the company will hire thousands of workers from local labor market, the company said.
Coun Perez reiterates warning to barangay leaders involved in drugs

07 Aug 2017 Hits:37 Comments(0)

Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Jerry Perez yesterday reiterated his warning to all barangay officials from using or selling drugs. Perez said he is closely monitoring the activities of all the barangay officials and vowed sanctions against erring leaders. Aqui gane na mio barangay ya quita ya iyo na puesto cunel dos barangay leaders quien mas temprano ya sale positivo na...
Kabul: In two separate Taliban-led attacks, at least 41 Afghan security force personnel were killed in various parts of Afghanistan on Saturday.

According to Voice of America, citing Afghan officials as the source, six others have been injured in twin attacks in northern Kunduz and western Herat provinces respectively.

In the first attack, the Taliban militants struck at police posts in Qala-e-Zal district in northern Kunduz province on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, killing 24 Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel, as per the report.

Then on Saturday afternoon, 17 security force personnel were killed when about 150 Taliban militants ambushed the check posts of the Afghan National Army (ANA) in Zawal district of western Herat province, as told by a provincial government spokesperson in Herat.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the twin suicide attacks, adding that it seized military equipment.

The attacks came after Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani for the first time announced an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban on Thursday.

Subsequently, the Taliban today announced a three-day ceasefire, saying it will not target foreign security forces and defend itself if any attack on the group occurred.
DISPUR: Two men were mercilessly thrashed to death by a violent mob in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on suspicion of being child lifters following which the state government ordered an inquiry into the matter.

I have directed the DGP to look into the matter & have asked him to arrest the culprits at the earliest: CM Sarbananda Sonowal on 2 youth lynched to death by a mob yesterday in Karbi Anglong on suspicion of child theft. #Assam pic.twitter.com/Xwhh5JXGZ1  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Nilotpal Das (29), a sound engineer based in Mumbai, and his friend Abhijeet Nath (30), a businessman, had gone to the picnic spot Kangthilangso in Karbi Anglong last night to capture the sounds of nature, the police said.

On their way back, the two were intercepted by some villagers at Panjuri, pulled out of the car and thrashed on suspicion of being child lifters, the police said.

A video of the duo being mercilessly thrashed by some unidentified miscreants has also gone viral on the social media. In the viral video, the two men can be seen pleading for their lives and trying to explain to the livid crowd that they were Assamese but to no avail.

After being informed of the incident, the police reached the spot and immediately rushed the two youths to a nearby hospital. However, both died on the way.

The police have also launched a massive search operation to nab the culprits on the basis of the viral video.

However, no arrest has been made so far, said reports. The district administration authorities are, meanwhile, camping in the area and holding talks with the villagers.

Both Das and Nath's parents have been informed and they are on their way to Karbi Anglong from Guwahati where they reside.

The bodies will be handed over to them after conducting the post-mortem, the police said.

Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia had strongly condemned the lynching incident and called it yet another instance of the state government's "utter failure" to maintain law and order.

Saikia also demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

In view of the Opposition attack, the state's Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal ordered an inquiry into the matter and directed the police to nab the culprits at the earliest.

''I have directed the DGP to look into the matter and have asked him to arrest the culprits at the earliest,'' CM Sonowal said.

(With Agency inputs)
BHOPAL: At least four people were trapped under the rubble on Saturday after a two storey-building in Madhya Pradesh collapsed like pack of cards. The incident took place in Bhopal's Lakherapura Chowk.

#MadhyaPradesh: Rescue operation underway in Bhopal's Lakherapura Chowk, where portion of a building collapsed. At least 4 people feared trapped under the rubble. pic.twitter.com/Ga6wiohWmk  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

The video of the entire mishap was captured and shared by news agency ANI.

Watch the video here:

#WATCH: A two-storey building collapses in Bhopal's Lakherapura Chowk, trapping four people under the rubble. #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/1JkDn1Kphv  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

The rescue operation is underway. Administration with the help of local people is trying to rescue whoever is trapped under the debris.

The 37-second video shows part of the building falling down within a matter of seconds. The incident caused damage to several two-wheelers which were parked near the building.

The building seemed to be old. Following the mishap, dust and sand filled the area. A man is seen trying to escape the accident.
PATNA: Students who appeared for the Class 12th Bihar Board exams are perplexed by the inaccuracy of the marks that have been allotted to them. Some are claiming that they have got even more than the maximum marks in subjects that they appeared for. Some others claimed that they have been given marks in subjects for which they did not even take an exam.

As per a report in the Times of India, a student from Arwal district said he got 38 out of the total 35 marks in mathematics (theory) while 37 out of 35 in the objective-type questions for the board exams.

Others students too reported that they had got 38 out of 35 in the theory paper of physics and zero in the objective-type questions in English and Rashtra Bhasha.

Not just more marks, a candidate from Vaishali said she secured 18 marks in Biology, an exam she never appeared for. Another candidate from Ram Krishna Dwarika College in Patna has also been given marks for an exam he never wrote.

The case comes two years after the infamous topper scam in Bihar came to light. The Bihar topper scam was exposed when the toppers were asked basic questions but they could not even answer that. An example of the answers they gave was that when topper Ruby Ray was asked what was political science, she said: 'Political Science is a subject that talks about the preparation of food.' She couldn't even pronounce the subject's name and referred to it as 'prodigal science'.
New Delhi: Rajnikanth-starrer Kaala, which released across theatres on Friday, has not only garnered a great response in the domestic market but is also doing wonders in the international arena.

As per trade analyst and film critic Taran Adarsh, 'Kaala' opened to a terrific start in Australia. In fact, it is one of the best starts by an Indian film in the land of Kangaroos. The film collected Rs 54 lakh on Thursday and Rs 51 lakh on Friday. It stands with the net collection of Rs 1.06 crore at Australian market.

In USA, the film has crossed Rs 1 million-mark and collected 6.83 crore.

Check out his posts:

Rajinikanth mania grips AUSTRALIA... #Kaala takes a FANTASTIC START... As a matter of fact, its one of the BEST STARTS by an Indian film in Australia... Debuts at No 5 at Australia BO...

Thu A$ 105,672

Fri A$ 100,662

Total: A$ 206,334 [ 1.06 cr]@Rentrak  taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) June 9, 2018

As you read this, #Kaala crosses $ 1 million mark in USA... Total till Sat [9 June 2018] 10.36 am IST: $ 1,011,633 [ 6.83 cr] Updated numbers later... @Rentrak  taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) June 9, 2018

This is the first movie of Rajinikanth since he announced his political foray. 'Kaala' faced severe opposition in both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Several Tamil activists and political parties voiced their opposition to Rajinikanth's views on the violence in Thuthookudi.

In Karnataka, the film's release was opposed by some organisations after the southern superstar said the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) on the sharing of river water between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry has to be set up.

"Movie halls will be packed with Rajini fans during the first four days. General public will come only after that. While the hall is full for the first four days, there is no major demand for tickets post Monday," a theatre owner told IANS preferring anonymity.

According to him, the storyline is nothing new - rich versus poor - an age-old theme and reminds the viewers of Kamal Haasan-starrer "Naayagan".

Directed by Pa Ranjith, 'Kaala' stars Rajinikanth as a mob boss of the slum Dharavi. As per a Hindustan Times report, 'Kaala' has earned Rs. 230 crore through theatrical and music rights before release. The film requires another Rs. 280 crore to secure its place on the list of hit films of 2018.
New Delhi: Yash Raj Films has joined hands with Lightingale Productions, spearheaded by Pakistani actor Ali Zafar for the international theatrical distribution of his upcoming home production 'Teefa In Trouble'.

This will be the first non-Indian film to be distributed internationally by the Yash Raj Films.

NOted trade analyst and film critic Taran Adarsh shared the news on Twitter writing, "Yash Raj Films to release Ali Zafar's home-production #TeefaInTrouble in the international markets [Overseas]... Stars Ali Zafar and Maya Ali... Directed by Ahsan Rahim... 20 July 2018 release... Official announcement:."

Zafar too shared the news on his Twitter handle and wrote, "I am humbled to announce this historic partnership and news. @TeefaInTrouble @yrf #20July."

Zafar, who has previously worked with YRF in 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' and 'Kill/Dil', told news agency IANS, "any dream can be achieved with faith, right intentions and hard work."

"I have always believed that with faith, the right intentions, goodwill and hard work, you can achieve all of your dreams. Today, I feel deeply humbled to have a huge dream fulfilled. To take our cinema global in the best possible manner and to do it with a company that is not just a company but an idea that love transcends all," he added.

Avtar Panesar, Vice President at International Operations, YRF, said that the team at the production house would like to think that YRF is Zafars home in India.

'Teefa In Trouble' is a romantic-action-comedy film and will be hitting the screens on July 20 this year. The film is a directorial debut of Ahsan Rahim, who is known for directing the music videos and television commercials with several Pakistani artists under his Tadpole Films.

Apart from Zafar, the film features Maya Ali as the female lead.


CHENNAI: Days after the much-hyped release of Rajinikanth starrer 'Kaala,' Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK on Saturday took a dig at the iconic actor, saying his film's success can't guarantee the same in politics.

"Nobody can be accepted as a leader....Only on the basis of the success of a movie," senior AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister D Jayakumar said.

With the Tamil superstar's June 7 movie release in over 2,000 screens worldwide witnessing impressive openings, according to the flick's publicist, Jayakumar said a person is recognised only for his welfare work for the public.

"People accept a person as a leader, based on the policies and goals and for the work done by being on their side," he said, without naming anyone while answering a question over stars and their entry into politics.

"This is the yardstick and there is nothing else," he said, adding fans decide the success of a movie, which has got nothing to do with politics.

'Kaala', that shines light on the struggles of the oppressed people to secure their rights, is viewed by the actor's fans as giving him a better foothold when he enters politics.

The minister's remark assumes significance not only because of Rajinikanth's fans' high hopes from Kaala, but also over top actor Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam 2's release expectations, the production of which was already over.

Haasan, who launched his political party Makkal Needhi Maiam in February this year, is set to release the trailer for Vishwaroopam 2, a sequel to Vishwaroopam, on June 11.

The spy thriller is produced in Tamil, Hindi and dubbed in Telugu.

Kaala has hit 650 screens in Tamil Nadu, 600 in Andhra Pradesh, 243 in neighbouring Kerala and 126 in Karnataka, where the movie saw a delayed release due to protests and 1,000 overseas releases, the publicist said.

Notably, it was the AIADMK which backed Rajinikanth recently for his "graveyard" and "anti-socials" remark after visiting the injured in Tuticorin anti-Sterlite violence.

The actor, who had last year announced that he would float a political party, said anti-social elements had infiltrated the protest by locals demanding closure of Sterlite's copper smelter unit in the southern port town.

He had also remarked that too many protests would turn Tamil Nadu into a 'graveyard.'

Violence and police firing on May 22 and 23 resulted in the deaths of 13 persons.

The ruling AIADMK, apart from this issue, has been quite critical of the actor on other matters.

AIADMK mouthpiece "Namathu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma" had days ago pointed out that the actor had praised late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for dealing with anti-social elements with an "iron fist."

"Superstar Rajinikanth has spoken frankly with conscience... He has endorsed Chief Minister K Palaniswami's statement that anti-social elements had infiltrated the protesters," it said, adding the actor's remarks were "welcome."

DMK and other opposition parties in Tamil Nadu, however, had lashed out at Rajinikanth for his ''anti-social'' comment.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel today hosted an Iftar party, but did not invite Lt Governor Anil Baijal amid the ongoing tussle over an issue related to legislators asking questions on reserved subjects.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia, Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, Environment Minister Imran Hussain and party legislators attended the Iftar organised on the premises of the Delhi Assembly.

BJP MLAs did not attend Goel's event.

Goel had last year invited Baijal to an Iftar party, but the LG had given it a miss.

"I had invited him (L-G) to an Iftar party last year, but he did not attend it. He did not give any reason. This year, I decided not to invite him (Baijal)," the Speaker told PTI.

During the Budget Session in March this year, Goel had hit out at Baijal after the L-G communicated to him that he cannot admit questions on reserved subjects such as law and order, services and land.

Goel had slammed the Lt Governor for "his order" and worn black bands as a mark of protest.

Earlier this week, the Speaker had warned officers of strict action "as per rules" if they do not provide answers to three questions -- pertaining to revenue, education, and power -- asked by legislators.

Goel had on Wednesday termed the situation an "undeclared emergency where government officers are not providing answers asked by MLAs" and had blamed Baijal for it.

"Not only the House, this is also a bigger insult to democracy... This (situation) is worse than emergency -- (this is an) undeclared emergency," Goel said while expressing anguish over the matter.
New Delhi: After reaching record highs, fuel prices on Saturday continued its downward streak with petrol rates falling by 40 paise per litre and diesel rates being cut by 30 paise per litre.

While fuel prices have been steadily falling for 11 days now, the reductions were mostly much slower when compared to how prices were being hiked previously. Saturday's cut though is the biggest in last several days even though prices remain considerably high.

In Delhi, a litre of petrol will cost Rs 77.02 per litre while diesel would be at Rs 68.28 - significantly lower than Rs 77.42 per litre and Rs 68.58 per litre from Friday.

Similarly, the rates in other major metro cities like Mumbai (Rs 84.84 and Rs 72.70), Kolkata (Rs 79.68 and Rs 70.83) and Chennai (Rs 79.95 and Rs 72.08) were lower than Friday's figures.

The demand for bringing fuel prices under GST though is unlikely to subside because the existing prices across the country are still at all-time highs. While the government has said that it is considering the proposal to include the prices in GST, it has also blamed international factors for prices oil companies fix on a daily basis. The opposition though has repeatedly torn into the government for keeping excise taxes high and not providing enough relief to the common man.
LUCKNOW: At least 26 people were killed after dust storms and lightning hit in parts of Uttar Pradesh on Friday night, an official spokesperson said on Saturday. Storms and lightning wreaked havoc in places across 11 districts of the state on Friday night.

While five deaths each were reported from Jaunpur and Sultanpur, four died in Unnao, three each died in Chandauli and Bahraich, two in Rae Bareli and one each in Mirzapur, Sitapur, Amethi and Pratapgarh, the spokesperson added.

Kannauj district was also affected by a dust storm but no casualty was reported from there, he said.

Soon after the calamity, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government directed the concerned district magistrates of the affected areas to immediately provide compensation to families of those killed and relief to the storm-affected people.

Expressing grief over the deaths, he said the state government will extend all possible help to those hit by dust storms and related incidents, according to the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the weather department has warned that thunderstorm, accompanied by gusty winds, are likely at isolated places in Uttar Pradesh during the next 48 hours.

Earlier this week, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted heavy rains, thunderstorm, and dust storm in Uttar Pradesh between June 7 to June 12.

According to a press note released by IMD Lucknow, thunderstorm or dust storm was likely to occur in Bareilly, Moradabad, Meerut and Churk town in Sonbadra district. The maximum and minimum temperatures were likely to hover around 29 degree Celsius and 26 degree Celsius, respectively.

The thunderstorms and dust storms, a frequent in the state in May, has already claimed several lives. As many as 80 people were killed when a dust storm struck several parts of UP on May 2 and May 3. Most of the deaths had occurred in Agra district.

At least 18 people lost their lives in a thunderstorm that hit several places in the state on May 9 and 10. Fifty-one people died in similar incidents on May 14. Dust storms swept various parts of the state on June 1 claiming at least 17 lives due to uprooting of trees and incidents of house collapse.

(With inputs from agencies)
NEW DELHI: A nation-wide bandh has been called by agitating farmers in parts of North India on Sunday, June 10. The Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an umbrella body of 110 farmers' organisations have been protesting against the 'anti-farmer policies of the Central government'.

As a mark of protest, the farmers also stopped the supply of farm products such as vegetables, grains and milk to cities across the country for 10 days since June 1. They had urged traders' organisations to support their June 10 Bharat Bandh.

Among their many demands is a call for better prices for their produce.

The farmers claimed that though the government had promised a minimum support price (MSP) that was to be 50 per cent higher than the cost of production, they were yet to receive the higher prices.

The farmers' organisations demanded that the MSP be increased to the cost of production plus 50 per cent and a complete loan waiver from the government.

We have been demanding that MSP be 1.5 times the entire cost of production including the cost of land. Though the government had declared it in their last budget there are no specifications and it is not going to help us," Shiv Kumar Kakka, a farmer leader from Madhya Pradesh had said.

In Punjab's Faridkot, farmers had thrown their produce and stopped supplies of vegetable, fruits and milk to cities, demanding farmer loan waiver and implementation of Swaminathan commission.

In Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal too, farmers had joined the 10-day strike 'Kisan Avkash' demanding loan waiver and implementation of Swaminathan commission.

Sharma had added that more than 130 Kisan morchas from across the country joined their ongoing protest movement.

"More than 130 farmers organisations are with us. This has now become a nationwide agitation. We have named the protest 'Gaon Band'. We won't go to cities, as we don't want to heckle the normal lives of the people," Sharma had said, adding that the organisation will convene in Bhopal on 11 June to discuss the further course of action.

(With inputs from PTI)
NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid has alleged receiving death threats from fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari. He has also filed a complaint in this connection and asked for police protection.

The controversial JNU student leader also took to Twitter and tweeted, "Filed a complaint with @DelhiPolice regarding Ravi Pujari's death threat to Jignesh and me. He said that I am on his HIT LIST! I have asked for police protection, given the fact that this is the same person who had previously also issued similar threats of killing me in Feb 2016 (sic)."

A Delhi Police officer confirmed that Khalid had filed a complaint in this regard and the investigation is underway.

The student leader said that he was informed by Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani about the threats and that he has not received any call himself till now.

"Mevani has been receiving death threats for the last two-three days. In one of the calls he received, the caller had mentioned my name too. He had mentioned that if we don't stop giving speeches we would be killed,'' he alleged.

Third death threat to Jignesh in the last 3 days. This time, the person threatening to kill Jignesh mentions that I am also on his list. Death threats to journalist, activist & any critic of the govt is now becoming the norm. This is sinister. https://t.co/snjJoGCy68  Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) June 8, 2018

"Mevani informed me and I approached the police. A case has been registered and they said that they will do a threat assessment and take a call on providing police protection," Khalid was quoted as saying by PTI.

Mevani had on Friday alleged that he has received death threats from a caller who identified himself as gangster Ravi Pujari. When asked whether the calls were being received in relation to the arrests made by the Pune Police on June 6 in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, he said, "I am not aware about the context. Pujari has not mentioned that he was calling in that context. I don't feel it is a coincidence that the calls (to Mevani) started coming from that day (the arrests were made)."

''Elgar Parishad'', organised to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon-Bhima battle, was held on December 31 at Shaniwarwada. It was attended by Mevani, Khalid along with Rohit Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula and Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh President Prakash Ambedkar.

In 2016, Khalid's father Syed Qasim Illyas Rasool had filed a police complaint, claiming that he has received a phone call "threatening to kill" his son if he doesn't leave the country.

This incident had happened when the police was looking for Khalid in connection with the sedition case filed against him, former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly organising an event against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013.

(With PTI inputs)
A quick glance at the top news of the day:

1. Anti-social elements trying to break RJD, no rift with brother Tejashwi: Tej Pratap

Ending speculations about a rift with younger brother Tejashwi Yadav, RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Saturday said that two are very close to each other and share a good bandwidth. Tej Pratap, the eldest son of RJD supremo Laly Prasad Yadav, also accused some members of his party of trying to create a feud between the two brothers. Read full report

2. Two men beaten to death on suspicion of being child lifters in Assam, probe ordered

Two men were mercilessly thrashed to death by a violent mob in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on suspicion of being child lifters following which the state government ordered an inquiry into the matter. Read full report

3. Delhi-NCR hit by severe dust storm, several trees uprooted, flights diverted

Duststorm accompanied with strong winds hit parts of Delhi and NCR or Saturday. Following severe rain that lashed the Capital, as many as 18 flights were diverted from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport. Read full report

4. Congress is finished: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi after Pranab Mukherjee attends RSS event in Nagpur

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at the Congress after its veteran party leader and former president Pranab Mukherjee attended the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) annual event in Nagpur. Read full report

5. Dreaded gangster Rajesh Bharti, three aides killed in encounter with police in Delhi's Chhatarpur

Four criminals including wanted gangster Rajesh Bharti were gunned down in an encounter with the Delhi Police Special cell in Chhatarpur area on Saturday. The shoot-out, which went on for 25 minutes, also left six police personnel and a gang member injured. Read full report
HYDERABAD: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at the Congress after its veteran party leader and former president Pranab Mukherjee attended the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) annual event in Nagpur.

Training his guns at the Congress, the AIMIM leader said that the grand old party is finished now. The incident (Pranab attending RSS event) is enough to define the internal situation of the Congress, he said on Friday.

"The Congress is finished. A man who spent 50 years in Congress and was President of India visited the RSS headquarters. Do you still have hopes from this party?" Owaisi said.

#WATCH: At an event in Hyderabad, yesterday, AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, 'Congress is finished. A man who spent 50 years in Congress & was President of India visited RSS headquarters. Do you still have hopes from this party?' pic.twitter.com/3qV12JvieO  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Pranab Mukherjee had on Thursday attended the third year ''Sangha Shiksha Varga'' (SSV) event organised at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and addressed a huge gathering of the Sangh workers.

While addressing the RSS cadres, Mukherjee spoke on the concepts of nation, nationalism, and patriotism in the context of India, at the RSS event in Nagpur.

We accept and respect our pluralism and celebrate our diversity. Our national identity has emerged after a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation, the multiple cultures and faiths make us special and tolerant. The nation is defined as a large group of people sharing the same language, heritage. Nationalism is defined as identifying oneself with ones own nation. Patriotism is defined as devotion to ones own country. We derive our strength from tolerance. We respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity, the former president had said.

Pranab Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event had triggered a political slugfest in the country with many top leaders from Congress expressing their displeasure over the former president's decision, while the RSS and BJP hailing the move.

(With PTI inputs)
NEW DELHI: Four criminals including wanted gangster Rajesh Bharti were gunned down in an encounter with the Delhi Police Special cell in Chhatarpur area on Saturday. The shoot-out, which went on for 25 minutes, also left six police personnel and a gang member injured.

The gang members were severely injured in the encounter and taken to a hospital where they died. Acting on a tip-off, a trap was laid that resulted in the death of the four criminals.

More #visuals from the spot: 5 criminals and 6 police personnel injured in an encounter between the Special cell of #Delhi Police and Rajesh Bharti Gang in #Delhi's Chhatarpur pic.twitter.com/9miTjTQQpm  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Bharti a hardened criminal and wanted in several cases had escaped from the custody of Haryana Police. He was carrying a reward of Rs one lakh.

According to a police officer, Bharti along with three of his gang members was killed, while a fifth was injured. Two of the dead were identified as Sanjeev Vidrohi and Umesh.

The condition of two policemen is said to be critical and they have been admitted to the Fortis Hospital.

A lone gang member along and four police personnel have been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma centre.

"Four criminals killed and eight policemen have sustained injuries, six of these policemen have suffered bullet injuries. We'll give further details in a while," said Pramod Singh Kushwah, DCP (Special Cell).

(With inputs from agencies)
BEIJING: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in the Chinese port city of Qingdao on Saturday, was given a rousing welcome by Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit here.

According to reports, the two leaders exchanged pleasantries and greeted each other with a warm handshake and smile.

Qingdao: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders also held a bilateral meeting. #China pic.twitter.com/fVGC0IFiAD  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

Later, MEA spokerperson Raveesh Kumar too shared some pictures of PM Modi-Xi engagement in Qingdao.

Further strengthening the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship generated at the #Wuhan Informal Summit, PM @naredramodi had a warm and forward looking meeting with Chinese President #XiJinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit. #IndiainSCO #SCOSummit pic.twitter.com/dZ9dZzdNgl  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

PM Modi and Xi are due to hold a one-to-one interaction later during which they are expected to take stock of the progress in the implementation of decisions they had taken at their first informal summit in Wuhan.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi met General Secretary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Rashid Alimov. PM Modi might also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he had an informal meet in Sochi last month.

Besides PM Modi, several leaders from the China-led Eurasian bloc have come to attend the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit here which will explore concrete ways to bolster cooperation in the fight against terrorism, extremism and radicalisation besides deliberating on pressing global issues.

Modi and Xi are expected to explore ways to deepen ties in areas of trade and investment besides reviewing the overall bilateral cooperation.

Both PM Modi and Xi earlier held an informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan during which they exchanged views on solidifying the relationship between the two Asian powers.

Modi and Xi are likely to take stock of progress in the implementation of decisions they had taken at the Wuhan informal summit, official sources said.

Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries.

The SCO summit will discuss the regional security and the issue of terrorism with PM Modi likely to rake up terror emanating from Pakistan. One of the key highlights of the summit will be Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's presence. He was invited by China to attend the forum. This assumes significance as the US has junked the Iran nuclear deal, which China has vowed to salvage.

It is for the first time the Prime Minister will be attending the SCO Summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping, which has been increasingly seen as a counter to NATO.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran along with Mongolia, Afghanistan and Belarus have observer status at the summit.

After a year of turbulence marked by over a two-month military stand-off near their border in June 2017, China-India ties have seemingly improved in 2018.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Pune Police recently revealed that they intercepted a letter in which Maoists are considering an assassination bid on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The letter - dated April 18 of 2017 - was released on Friday by the cops and is addressed to a Maoist leader named Prakash and is signed 'R'. In it, ways and means to launch a dastardly attack is put forth.

Assassinating the Indian Prime Minister though is no walk in the proverbial park. Like any Head of State, PM Modi enjoys an extensive, exhaustive and almost impenetrable security cover that is second to none. Little surprise then that even the Maoist letter admits the task could be almost impossible.

So what is it that makes the security of the Indian Prime Minister absolutely watertight?

1) The Indian PM is always surrounded by highly-trained and extremely alert personnel of Special Protection Group (SPG). The PM - especially during public events - is surrounded by a number of SPG personnel whose selection is one of the toughest and involves a thorough background check of not just them but their immediate and extended families.

2) The personal security cover forms the second layer of security for the Indian Prime Minister. Like SPG personnel, these men too are highly trained to perceive possible threats by assessing a number of factors including body movements of people nearby and their gestures and expressions.

3) The third security cover is provided by commandos of National Security Guard. Once again, they are deployed for providing cover to the PM only after a gruelling training session and after an exhaustive background check.

4) The fourth layer is manned by personnel from paramilitary forces and police officials of different state units. When the Indian PM is visiting a particular state, it is the responsibility of the state's police machinery to provide the outer cover and ensure no untoward incident happens anywhere close to the VVIP.

Besides human security cover, the Indian Prime Minister also moves around in vehicles and aircraft which are specially designed to withstand any form of aerial or land-based attacks, as well as tackle chemical and biological threats.

Therefore, while Indian PMs in the past like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi have died due to extremely unfortunate assassinations, time, technology and experience has ensured that safety of an Indian PM now is paramount and quite capable of neutralising threats.
QINGDAO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday resolved to take forward the positive momentum in bilateral ties after holding "very substantive" talks during which they also agreed to hold the next informal summit in India next year.

The two Asian leaders also agreed to continue efforts to ensure peace and tranquillity along the border.

President Xi Jinping accepted PM Modi's invitation for a Wuhan-style informal summit in India next year, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale later confirmed in a press briefing.

The two leaders had their first informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27-28 to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Dokalam standoff.

Prime Minister Modi had detailed discussions with President Xi on bilateral and global issues which will add further vigour to the India-China friendship.

The two leaders also decided to set up a new mechanism for people-to-people cooperation to build on the momentum in bilateral ties from their unprecedented informal summit in Wuhan nearly six weeks back.

The meeting took place ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and covered key aspects of the bilateral engagement, reflecting the resolve by the two countries to reset relations and bring back trust in their ties, hit by the Doklam standoff and several other thorny issues.

"Met this year's SCO host, President Xi Jinping this evening. We had detailed discussions on bilateral and global issues. Our talks will add further vigour to the India-China friendship," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said one of the important outcomes of today's meeting was that the Chinese side accepted Prime Minister's invitation to President Xi to come to India for an informal summit next year, similar to the one held by the two leaders in Wuhan on April 27-28.

Xi conveyed to India that China's Defence Minister and Minister of Public security, who is equivalent to Indian Home Minister, will visit New Delhi this year.

Sharing some aspects of the nearly 50-minute meeting, the foreign secretary said Xi described the Wuhan summit as a "new starting point" in bilateral relations between the two countries while Prime Minister called it as a "milestone" in ties which will help in developing mutual understanding and trust.

Gokhale said the meeting had a "very positive forward-looking momentum" which was underpinned by the spirit of the Wuhan summit.

"It was a very substantive meeting. And both leaders made very positive assessment of the Wuhan summit," he said, adding both the leaders agreed to keep open the strategic communication.

The two leaders also deliberated on initiating a joint project in Afghanistan which will be in the sphere of capacity building.

President Xi said their Wuhan meeting had been well received by both countries and the international community, and a positive atmosphere is taking shape to pay close attention to and support the development of China-India relations.

Talking about the outcome of the meeting, Gokhale said both the sides agreed to set up a new people to people mechanism to enhance cooperation in several areas such as art and culture.

"On the Indian side, it will be headed by the EAM Sushma Swaraj while on the Chinese side, it will be headed by State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The first meeting of this mechanism will be held this year," he said. In this context, Xi also referred to growing popularity of Indian films in China and particularly mentioned about films Dangal and Bahubali.

The two leaders covered issues relating to peace and tranquillity along the boundary and agreed that militaries on the two sides will continue to talk to each other to maintain peace, said Gokhale calling the meeting "very positive and forward-looking".

After talks between the two leaders, the two sides inked an MoU on sharing hydrological information of the Brahmaputra River by China to India and another pact to facilitate export of non-Basmati rice from India to China.

He said next round of Special Representative-level talks on boundary question will be held during the second half of this year.

At the meeting, the Chinese side also agreed to import high-quality agricultural products from India and said they will also allow Indian pharmaceutical products Chinese market.

(With PTI inputs)
Lucknow: Security has been beefed up in and around railway stations across Uttar Pradesh after a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) at Firozepur in Punjab received a warning letter - believed to be from Lashkar-e-Taiba.

It has been learnt that the letter states that stations in UP will be targeted with explosives and that several religious sites across the states would be targeted as well. The letter has been signed by LeT's Maulana Abu Shaikh.

Following this, concerned agencies increased the presence of security personnel across major railway stations in the state. Travellers are being repeatedly asked to report any suspicious activity they may observe and also sound an alert if they spot any unclaimed bags.

Sources have revealed that LeT could be looking to target places across Uttar Pradesh which have a large daily footfall. Railway stations have seen an increased rush due to the ongoing summer vacations and therefore, are especially susceptible to being targetted by terror outfits. Security personnel on ground though have said that they do not want to create a panic situation among people and while they are keeping a strict vigil, they are also trying to ensure the usual order of process continues unhindered.

The risk of terror attack has gone up in recent weeks with terror organisations like LeT and JuD threatening strikes. Earlier this week, a top JuD operative - Maulana Bashir Ahmad Khaki, urged Muslims to wage war during Ramzan. "Ramadan is the pious month of `Jihad-o-Qital` (Jihad and killing). Those who attain martyrdom while waging Jihad, doors of heaven remain open," he said at a public forum.

Indian security agencies, therefore, are leaving no stone unturned to ensure the nefarious designs of terror outfits do not see the light of day.
BENGALURU: Amid infighting between the Janata Dal-Secular and Congress over portfolio allocation in Karnataka, BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa has claimed that several disgruntled leaders from the two partners in the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government are eager to join his party.

"Several disgruntled young leaders and leaders from Congress and JDS are eager to join the BJP," Yeddyurappa said.

The remarks from the Lingayat strongman came as dissident activities of the MLAs intensified in the Congress over not getting ministerial berths.

The former chief minister, who is also the state BJP chief, also urged his party workers to work as a strong opposition and prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing party workers, he said, "It is our responsibility to induct those who are disgruntled with the JD(S) and Congress and their style of administration in every assembly segment, and are willing to join the BJP, thereby strengthening the party in every constituency."

The BJP leader said the party has "complete strength" with 104 members in the assembly and "let's work as a "strong opposition."

"How long this government will function is a different matter, but without aspiring for a seat of power, let us all 104 members work as successful opposition with our good work," BSY said.

As the assembly polls threw up hung assembly with the BJP emerging as the single largest party, the BJP had formed the government but conceded the numbers game with Yeddyurappa resigning on May 19 without facing the trust vote.

Following this, Congress-JDS post-poll coalition formed the government in the state, under the leadership of HD Kumaraswamy.

Yeddyurappa also urged the BJP Yuva Morcha to strengthen the organisation at every assembly constituency level and to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

With his government facing birth pangs of coalition politics, Kumaraswamy yesterday stepped in to check the disquiet among newly elected Congress lawmakers who were left out during the Cabinet expansion, but they remained defiant.

Amid protests by Congress leaders who were expecting ministerial berths, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge today admitted that injustice has been done while allocating portfolios in the newly-sworn in Congress-Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) government.

"Injustice has been done to us and it should be corrected," Kharge said when asked about the distribution of portfolios in the Karnataka Cabinet.

However, he added that despite the differences, all Congress leaders stand united.

"Even those who complain that they are upset on not getting the Home Ministry, say that they will stay loyal to the party and have no plans of leaving it," he claimed.

(With PTI inputs)
BENGALURU: With protests going on by Congress leaders who were expecting ministerial berths, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge has admitted that injustice has been done while allocating portfolios in the newly-sworn in Congress-Janata Dal Secular (JDS) government. "Injustice has been done to us and it should be corrected," Kharge said when asked about the distribution of portfolios in the Karnataka Cabinet.

However, he added that despite the differences, all Congress leaders stand united. "Even those who complain that they are upset on not getting the Home Ministry, say that they will stay loyal to the party and have no plans of leaving it," he claimed.

Even those who complain that they are upset on not getting the Home Ministry,say that 'we will stay loyal to the party & have no plans of leaving it, but injustice has been done to us & it should be corrected':M Kharge, Congress on distribution of portfolios in #Karnataka cabinet pic.twitter.com/pgNfziZIno  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

He added that the compromises for the allocation of berths between the JDS and the Congress was a well-thought-of decision. "To save constitution and democracy, we have to sometimes make sacrifices. Some members are dissatisfied and the high command and their representatives will definitely talk to them about it. They are also aware of the reason behind the decision," Kharge told news agency ANI.

Earlier in the day, supporters of Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy protested outside Bengaluru's Town Hall demanding ministerial berth for him.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had on Wednesday expanded his cabinet by inducting 25 ministers, with 14 members from the Congress and nine from JDS and one each from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha.

After the portfolio allotment, several Congress legislators have been upset and have held meetings in Bengaluru. Earlier, protests were also reported from different places including Belagavi, Haveri and Chellakere, where supporters ofJarkiholi, B C Patil and T Raghumurthy respectively, demanded Minister's post for their leaders.

The Congress had dropped several key members of the previous Siddaramaiah ministry, including MB Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, HK Patil, Tanvir Sait, Shamanur Sivashankarappaand Satish Jarkhiholi.
KOTTAYAM: After days of meetings and discussions, the Kerala Congress (M) on Friday night announced that its leader Jose K Mani will be the candidate of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) for the Rajya Sabha elections. "Our party leadership that met here on Friday night has decided to nominate Jose K.Mani to the Rajya Sabha. The party felt that he was the most suitable candidate and hence his name was a unanimous choice," PJ Joseph, the KC-M's second in command said.

The decision to field Mani as the candidate to the Upper House was taken at the meeting of KC(M) leaders in Pala near Kottayam. Jose K Mani, son of K M Mani, is currently the party's lone member in Lok Sabha from Kottayam parliamentary constituency.

The decision was announced hours after the party led by veteran leader KM Mani rejoined the UDF after a two-year hiatus as the Congress decided to support its candidate for the Rajya Sabha election. Sacrificing the seat for KC(M) seems like a gift from the Congress-UDF combine to the allies for their return.

The seat is currently held by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurian of the Congress who will retire on July 1 but was expecting to get a fourth successive term.

Of the three Rajya Sabha seats that are falling vacant this month, the Left will contest on two seats and only one seat is with the Congress-led UDF alliance. The decision means that the lone seat for the Congress-led UDF alliance has been given to the allies who have returned to the fold.

However, the Congress's decision to spare the Rajya Sabha seat for KC(M) candidate has not gone down well with a section of the party. The state Congress's former president VM Sudheeran did not attend the UDF meeting, insisting the development would weaken the main opposition party and benefit the BJP. The decision, he said, lacked transparency and party workers were left disappointed and

called it "suicidal".

Long-time foe of Mani, veteran legislator PC George also called it 'the most shameful episode' witnessed in Kerala politics as everyone knows that Jose stands no chance of winning his sitting Lok Sabha seat next year and hence Mani felt that the Rajya Sabha would be the best bet for his son. "Since the law allows six months time for an elected member to take oath, Jose will wait for that time and after that, there will not be any time for conducting a by-election to the Kottayam seat that he vacates," he claimed.

The KC(M) had walked out of the Congress-led UDF in August, 2016, ending over three-decade-long association alleging it was being "insulted" by the party leading the alliance. Relations between the two parties had soured over the bar bribery scam, and the rift widened after Congress leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala attended the betrothal ceremony of the daughter of controversial hotelier Biju Ramesh and the son of Congress leader and former minister Adoor Prakash. Ramesh, the working president of the Kerala State Bar Hotel Owners Association, had levelled bribery charges against Mani when he was the finance minister.

After it snapped ties with the Congress nearly two years ago, the KC(M) has maintained that it was keeping equidistance from the UDF, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front, as also the BJP, which is trying to create a sustainable political space for itself in the southern state. The KC(M), however, extended support to the UDF candidates in all the three by-polls held in the state since it left the alliance.

Besides Kurian, those retiring are CP Narayanan of CPI(M) and Joy Abraham of the Kerala Congress.
MUMBAI: Most parts of Maharashtra are likely to witness an increased rainfall activity from June 9-12, as predicted by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). A statement from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued today informed that conditions were favourable for the further advancement of the Southwest monsoon into more parts of the central Arabian Sea and Maharashtra, including Mumbai, in the next 24 hours.

"Increased rainfall activity over coastal Karnataka, Goa and south Maharashtra is likely to continue till June 10. It is very likely to extend to north coastal Maharashtra, including Mumbai, from tomorrow," the statement on Friday said.

"Extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in these regions is also very likely during this period. The rainfall activity over these regions is likely to reduce from June 12," the statement informed.

It has also warned that winds, with speeds ranging between 40 kilometres per hour to 60 kmph, were likely along the coasts of Goa and Konkan between June 8-12. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into over east central Arabian Sea off Konkan and Goa coasts as well as west central and adjoining southwest Arabian Sea off Somalia coast till June 12.

Owing to the warning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is on its toes to ensure the city does not suffer due to waterlogging. "We are on alert mode and precautionary measures are in place. Preparatory work to coordinate with various agencies for any eventuality is also in place," a spokesperson of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.

The offs of BMC officers have also been cancelled due to the rain warning. "Our officers are ready and are keeping a close watch on the situation. Their weekly-offs have been cancelled as well," the official said.

Earlier, Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had held a meeting of top civic officials and those from the IMD in view of the forecast of heavy rain in the city during the weekend.
New Delhi: Bollywood stars like Anil Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and Swara Bhasker have poured birthday wishes for Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, who is celebrating her 33rd birthday on Saturday.

Doting dad Anil took to Twitter to share an old picture of the 'Veere Di Wedding' star and wish her a Happy Birthday.

"@sonamakapoor, u were the best bridesmaid on-screen & the most beautiful bride in real life. U've shown the world, once again, what an incredible force u are. & with @anandahuja by your side, you're gonna soar higher & prouder than ever! Happy B'day jetsetter!! Missing u & Mom!," tweeted the 'Race 3' star.

@sonamakapoor, u were the best bridesmaid on-screen & the most beautiful bride in real life. U've shown the world, once again, what an incredible force u are. & with @anandahuja by your side, you're gonna soar higher & prouder than ever! Happy B'day jetsetter!! Missing u & Mom! pic.twitter.com/ZhCznq2fb9  Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) June 9, 2018

Here's what the other celebs posted:

Rhea Kapoor: Wishing our co-founder @sonamakapoor a very Happy Birthday! May today be as phenomenal as you are! You continue to inspire us everyday. #RhesonsToBeHappy #EverydayPhenomenal

Wishing our co-founder @sonamakapoor a very Happy Birthday! May today be as phenomenal as you are! You continue to inspire us everyday. #RhesonsToBeHappy #EverydayPhenomenal pic.twitter.com/A7iSBF7VsS  Rheson (@WeAreRheson) June 9, 2018

Akshay Kumar: Happiest birthday dear @sonamakapoor. This has been a great year, wishing you even more happiness and success superseding it with every year :)

Happiest birthday dear @sonamakapoor. This has been a great year, wishing you even more happiness and success superseding it with every year :)  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) June 9, 2018

Abhishek Bachchan: Happy birthday Madame Ahuja. @sonamakapoor

Happy birthday Madame Ahuja. @sonamakapoor _  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) June 9, 2018

Swara Bhasker: Happy happy birthday @sonamakapoor knowing u has meant knowing that friendship & solidarity can exist even in this glittering world of glamour and showbiz.. May each year bring greater happiness, peace and fulfilment to you! love uuuuuuu and happy birthday! @reelsandframes

Happy happy birthday @sonamakapoor knowing u has meant knowing that friendship & solidarity can exist even in this glittering world of glamour and showbiz.. May each year bring greater happiness, peace and fulfilment to you! __ love uuuuuuu and happy birthday! @reelsandframes pic.twitter.com/Nyhll35bwl  Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 9, 2018

Arjun Kapoor: To the most fiercely loyal, beautiful, simple, unassuming, silly, goofy, funny, emotional, mad, happy, hard working, gutsy, & selfless soul I know... Happy birthday @sonamakapoor !!! You always got my back and I always got yours...

To the most fiercely loyal, beautiful, simple, unassuming, silly, goofy, funny, emotional, mad, happy, hard working, gutsy, & selfless soul I know... Happy birthday @sonamakapoor !!! You always got my back and I always got yours... (1/4) pic.twitter.com/TOlqUq8LTk  Arjun Kapoor (@arjunk26) June 9, 2018

You're married now but it feels like we are still kids in school together... @anandahuja is a lucky man to have you & a good man too because you have chosen well (you have fairly good taste) (2/4)  Arjun Kapoor (@arjunk26) June 9, 2018

I feel proud of @RheaKapoor & you everyday for being your own people, forging your identity, making things happen one way or another...(3/4)  Arjun Kapoor (@arjunk26) June 9, 2018

Diana Penty: Happy Happy Birthday, gorgeous!! Hope you have a super duper day and a rocking year ahead! Lots of love always sonamakapoor

Happy Happy Birthday, gorgeous!! Hope you have a super duper day and a rocking year ahead! Lots of love always ___ @sonamakapoor  Diana Penty (@DianaPenty) June 9, 2018

Riteish Deshmukh: Happy Birthday Dear @sonamakapoor & congratulations on the super success of #VDW ...this year has been great for you, may the coming years be even better. Much Love.

Happy Birthday Dear @sonamakapoor & congratulations on the super success of #VDW ...this year has been great for you, may the coming years be even better. Much Love.  Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) June 9, 2018

Aditi Rao Hydari: Happy happiest birthday @sonamakapoor... what an amaaaaaazing year it's been and I hope it keeps getting better... biggest hug and lotssssss of love

Happy happiest birthday @sonamakapoor... what an amaaaaaazing year it's been and I hope it keeps getting better... biggest hug and lotssssss of love _  Aditi Rao Hydari (@aditiraohydari) June 9, 2018

Ayushmann Khurrana: Happy bday @sonamakapoor. This year has been great! May you get greater love in future too.

Happy bday @sonamakapoor. This year has been great! May you get greater love in future too. ___  Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) June 9, 2018

Rajkummar Rao: Happy birthday my dearest @sonamakapoor. Have the best of everything. Lots of love and happiness always

Happy birthday my dearest @sonamakapoor. Have the best of everything. Lots of love and happiness always ____  Rajkummar Rao (@RajkummarRao) June 9, 2018

Maniesh Paul: Wish u a very happy birthday @sonamakapoor ...stay blessed

Wish u a very happy birthday @sonamakapoor ...stay blessed __  Maniesh Paul (@ManishPaul03) June 9, 2018

Rahul Dev: Happy Birthday @sonamakapoor ! This is definitely your year.. Progression in life, the wonderful #VDW & much to follow .. Stay blessed

Happy Birthday @sonamakapoor ! This is definitely your year.. Progression in life, the wonderful #VDW & much to follow .. Stay blessed  Rahul Dev Official (@RahulDevRising) June 9, 2018

Patralekhaa: Happy Birthday @sonamakapoor. I wish you copious amounts of love,and all the joy in the world. Have a great birthday

Happy Birthday @sonamakapoor __. I wish you copious amounts of love,and all the joy in the world. Have a great birthday______ pic.twitter.com/oH6iy3STW3  Patralekhaa (@Patralekhaa9) June 9, 2018

In the meantime, Sonam, who had been busy with her Cannes appearance and promoting her film 'Veere Di Wedding' after her wedding, is on a much-needed break. She is currently in London with husband Anand Ahuja.

As per reports, Sonam will celebrate her birthday with Anand and her gal pals Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karisma Kapoor, sister Rhea Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan.

Actor and Sonam's cousin Arjun Kapoor, who is also in London currently, shooting for his film 'Namastey London', may join in the celebrations.
New Delhi: Harshvardhan Kapoor's second outing in Bollywood, 'Bhavesh Joshi Superhero' clashed with sister Sonam Kapoor's 'Veere Di Wedding' on June 1. It was a proud moment for father Anil Kapoor as both his children's films released on the same date. While Sonam promoted Harsh's film extensively on social media, Harsh did the same. Both Kapoor siblings have time and again shared pictures together and given us major sibling goals.

June 9 is Sonam Kapoor's birthday and on the occasion, Harshvardhan took to Twitter to share an adorable childhood picture along with a really sweet caption.

The actor wrote-

Through thick, through thin, through laughter, through tears... you have always stood tall right by my side... Happy birthday, senior! Much love always @sonamakapoor #MiFamilia PS. Missing all the fun you guys are having in London

Through thick, through thin, through laughter, through tears... you have always stood tall right by my side... Happy birthday, senior! Much love always @sonamakapoor #MiFamilia PS. Missing all the fun you guys are having in London pic.twitter.com/Z2qF0bzZsg  Harshvardhan Kapoor (@HarshKapoor_) June 9, 2018

Sonam is in London with her sister Rhea Kapoor and cousin Arjun Kapoor. The latest Instagram pictures are a proof that Kareena Kapoor Khan is in London too, celebrating the success of 'Veere Di Wedding'. The movie also stars Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania besides Kareena and Sonam.

Sonam's husband, Anand Ahuja will also be with the actress to ring in the birthday celebrations. To brighten up her day, Anand too posted an adorable message along with a beautiful picture of his star wife. He wrote, "The look when @sonamkapoor sees her birthday !... Thats just my way of downplaying just how breathtaking this picture is!"
Mumbai: Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez, winner of Miss Sri Lankan Universe pageant 2006, was on Saturday announced as the first global ambassador of eyewear brand Nova, which has been operating in the Indian market for over a decade.

Jacqueline will be promoting its latest range of lenses, powered sunglasses and frames internationally.

The brand "effectively addresses the need of vision correction and protection without compromising on aesthetics, by combining high technology and high fashion," the actress said in a statement.

On her personal styling tips for eyewear, she said: "I am very particular about quality, comfort, clarity and style when comes to choosing eyewear whether or sunglasses. It should not only look good on me it but it should fit me well. So I try them on to make sure it fit me properly.

"Besides that, lenses are equally important. When it comes to sunglasses, I opt for lenses which provide optimum UV protection from harmful sun rays along with polarization to block unwanted glares. As for spectacle lenses I prefer lenses which are light in weight and provide adequate protection from digital strain and ensures clear and comfortable vision."

Jacqueline was found to be a perfect fit as brand ambassador as she is not just fashionable, but has also found fame in a short span of time, said Lalit Kumar Gupta, Chief Business Officer of Vision Rx Lab for the flagship brand Nova.

"We are hopeful and sure that Jacqueline's association with Nova will not only refresh regular style codes but also elevate the fashion statement of the generation making them conscious about eye care in general. We also wish Jacqueline the very best for her upcoming star projects," Gupta added.

The brand is available across 25 countries worldwide.
New Delhi: Jacqueline Fernandez is all set to set the silver screen on fire with 'Race 3'. The movie also stars Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem. Unlike the former parts, this time the movie will be directed by Remo D'Souza instead of Abbas-Mastan.

Jacqueline took to Instagram on Saturday and shared a piece of news that is heart-wrenching but also proves how optimistic she is. The actress suffered a permanent eye injury on sets of Race 3 and shared that her Iris (circular structure surrounding the pupil) will never be a perfect round again. However, she is grateful for the fact that she can still see!

She wrote- So its a permanent injury and my iris will never be a perfect round again but so so grateful I can see!! #race3memories #abudhabi

A post shared by Jacqueline Fernandez (@jacquelinef143) on Jun 9, 2018 at 4:12am PDT

Jacqueline's spirit is something that needs to be admired. While most of us crib about the little things in life, this Bollywood diva has certainly put forward an example of courage.

'Race 3' will be Jacqueline's second film with Salman. She had first romanced him on screen in Kick and will be next seen with him in Kick 2 too!

Interestingly, the actress and Anil Kapoor are the only two people from the current crew to have been a part of the first two instalments of the franchise - Race and Race 2. The rest of the main actors on board are a part of the franchise for the first time.
Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party and the BJP today hurled accusations at each other over the damage seen at the government bungalow vacated by SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

Pictures and video clips showed damage to a cycle track, on walls after air-conditioners seemed to have been removed and to the floor of what seemed to be a badminton court at the bungalow here.

The Samajwadi Party played down the damage, asking why the state of the homes recently vacated by other former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers in compliance with a Supreme Court order was not being shown.

The BJP mocked the SP chief, saying the damage showed Akhilesh Yadav's ''frustration.''

Last night, Yadav handed over the keys of the official bungalow on Vikramaditya Marg to the UP estates department, an official said.

After this, the authorities let photographers to enter the premises.

Yadav had moved out a few days earlier, complying with the Supreme Court order on May 7 that former UP chief ministers cannot retain government accommodation in Lucknow.

Following the SC order, the UP estates department had issued notices to six former chief ministers - Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav.

Barring Congress veteran N D Tiwari, who is ailing in Delhi, all of them have now handed over their official bungalows.

The SP said the video clips indicated that the BJP was worried over Yadav's popularity.

"This is an attempt by the Yogi Adityanath government to misguide the people of the state and tarnish Akhilesh Yadav's image," SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Sajan said.

He asked why the official bungalows allotted to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh were not shown to the media after they vacated them.

"The reason is that after the electoral losses in Gorakhpur, Phulpur, Kairana and Noorpur, Akhilesh Yadav's popularity is increasing, and it has given cause for worry to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath."

Sajan also asked why no estates department official was present when the bungalow Yadav vacated was shown to the media.

He said the estates department should provide an inventory of the work done by it at the bungalow. In a tweet, Yadav said his opponents were calling his home the 'White House' and asked if this meant they themselves stayed in a ''black house''.

UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, ''The damage done to the bungalow before it was vacated by Yadav shows his frustration.''

He said the SP and Yadav must tell the people why the tiles at the house were uprooted.

The party alleged that the SP leader got a ''grand bungalow'' built for himself at government expense after realizing that he would not take oath as chief minister for the second time.

Asked about the video clips showing the damage at Yadav's bungalow, estates department official Yogesh Kumar Shukla said the department will check its inventory to see what fittings were provided by it.

The department will serve a notice if it finds any shortcomings or "intentional damage," he said.

Of the six bungalows allotted to former chief ministers, only N D Tiwari's house is yet to be handed over.

His wife Ujjwala Tiwari has sought more time from the estate's department, pleading that the Congress veteran was in Delhi in the "last stages" of his life.

"He is bedridden for the past eight months and I am also not keeping well. It is not practically possible for me to come down to Lucknow and vacate the premises," she said on June 2.
HOWRAH: A Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker was on Friday hacked to death in Howrah's Jagatballavpur in West Bengal. Soon after the death, the TMC has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the murder. There have been no arrests made in connection with the death as yet.

His wife alleged that her husband's head was hit by a heavy object and his body had injury marks. She recalled that her husband left home for the party on Thursday but when he did not return till late in the night, she asked around and found that he never even reached office and was abducted midway.

She claimed that he was beaten up by BJP workers earlier during panchayat polls and had to be admitted to hospital for days then. She claimed that she along with the TMC had filed a complaint against 18 BJP workers.

The incident comes just a few days after another party leader was murdered in Howrah's Bagnan.

Earlier in June, bodies of two BJP workers were found hanging from in two separate incidents in Bengal. The BJP had blamed the TMC for the murders and said that the two murders were very similar. A poster was found near the body of one of the BJP workers where it was written that he had to die for his affinity to the saffron party. The BJP had termed the incident as a political killing by the TMC 'goons'.

There have been cases of violence during the campaigning and after the Panchayat elections in the state.
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expects his meeting with United States President Donald Trump to be "constructive." "He is a serious-minded person who knows how to listen to people and respond to their arguments. This leads me to believe that dialogue may prove to be constructive," TASS quoted Putin as saying.

The two leaders are likely to meet this year as Trump, in April, extended an invitation to meet with the Russian President.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov earlier said such a meeting is vital for improving relations between Moscow and Washington.

This will be the third time that both the leaders would meet face-to-face.

Putin and Trump first met during the G20 summit in Germany`s Hamburg in July last year and again met for the second time in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam in November last year.

Earlier in March this year, the two leaders held a telephonic conversation, where Trump had invited Putin to visit Washington D.C.It is to be noted that relations between US and Russia are greatly strained due to the crisis in Ukraine, Russia`s annexation of Crimea in 2015, differences regarding Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war, and the alleged meddling of 2016 US presidential election.
In total, the militants opened fire at the Ukrainian positions 38 times

The militants have violated the ceasefire 38 times over the past 24 hours. They used Minsk-banned weapons nine times, as the JFO HQ reported.

The situation in Luhansk region was the most intense  active battle actions were conducted near Krymske and Novotoshkovske. The occupants used 120- and 82-mm mortar launchers, small arms and grenade launchers trying to supersede the JF units form the firing positions and improve their tactical positions.

The units of the Joint Forces were firmly holding the frontiers, the enemys attempts to move further towards our defence remained unfulfilled, the message says.

Active combat actions near Vodyane and Shyrokyne in Mariupol sector at 18:00. Within two hours the enemy was firing from 120-mm mortar launchers. One Ukrainian soldier was injured as a result of the attack.

The defenders of Mariupol fought back against the enemy and made him stop provocation attacks.

The enemy was conducting the snipers fire near Krasnohorivka. As it is reported, the danger was eliminated immediately with the counter-sniper measures.

Two Ukrainian soldiers in other sectors were wounded over the last 24 hours.

According to the surveillance, three occupants were eliminated, 16  injured on May 8.
The decision was made in connection with the stoppage of the work of Donetsk filtering station

112 Agency

Authorities of Avdiivka declared state of emergency at the local level. The decision was made in connection with the stoppage of the work of the Donetsk filtering station (DFS), the Ministry for Temporary Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons reports to Twiiter.



The ministry stressed that all other objects of gas, water and electricity in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are working in the regular mode.



We recall that the DFS periodically falls under the shelling of militants. A few days ago, in connection with the fighting, it was de-energized.



Earlier, several explosions occurred in the vicinity of the filtering station. Also we reported that OSCE Mission is ready to facilitate the resumption of functioning of the Donetsk filtration station, as the Mission reported on Facebook.

OSCE urges parties to the conflict to provide credible security guarantees, required for the station to start working again.

The Mission contributed to the settlement of the ceasefire after 30 persons of the staff of Donetsk Filtration station came under attack.

'Yesterday, four patrols of OSCE SMS, consisting of 23 monitors, contributed to the establishment of local ceasefire to make conditions for staff safe movement. Despite this, the parties did not completely obey the ceasefire, that is why Donetsk Filtration station stopped working for a while', the Mission reported.

Earlier, on April 17 the convoy of the working shift was shelled, five people sustained wounds. On April 18, the Donetsk Filtration Station was closed. Thus the drinking water supplies were cut off to Avdiivka, partially to Donetsk and Yasynuvata, Chervony Partyzan, Kruta Balka and Verkhnyotoretske villages.

Counter-terrorism operation staff members are certain that this situation was staged and provoked by militia leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The US State Department condemned the shelling of Donetsk Filtration station and declared that Russia is responsible for the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine lost 100 billion dollars because of Russian aggression in Crimea and Donbas. This is stated in the study of the Atlantic Council analytical center, which was presented at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.



Thus, the study says that after the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine lost 1.4 million hectares of land, which are estimated at more than 1.8 billion dollars. In addition, banks lost their assets, which remained in the bank branches (from 1.7 to 1.9 billion dollars). Together with this, Russia confiscated "Krymenergo", that is, Ukraine lost $ 1 billion.



In Donbas, most of the infrastructure has been destroyed because of the fighting. In the study, experts estimated losses of 9.5 billion dollars.



And after the decrease in the share of trade with Russia, Ukraine lost another $ 14 billion.



It is specified that Russia has also suffered economic losses. In particular, Russia annually spends about $ 2 billion to support Crimea, and military embezzlement has recently risen to 5.3% of GDP.



Experts emphasize that Ukrainian companies and individuals who lost their assets as a result of Russia's aggression can file lawsuits to international courts demanding compensation from the Kremlin.



"Ukrainians have several ways to get compensation for the damage, one way is a bilateral agreement on investments between Ukraine and Russia that was signed in 1998. This agreement stipulates that each party will encourage investors of the other party to invest in its territory and will allow such investments, respecting the legislation of the other party," said the President of the World Congress of Ukrainians (UWU), Evgen Choliy.



Note that Russia began its aggressive actions on the territory of Ukraine in 2014, annexing Crimea and deploying military operations in Donbas.



As of February 2017, 9.8 thousand Ukrainians were killed, 23 thousand were injured and almost 1.8 people were internally displaced. Thus, Russia captured 7.2% of the territory of Ukraine.



On January 25, 2017 the Verkhovna Rada recognized the Russian Federation as an aggressor.
The doctors' consultation was held on June 8, the state of health of the Ukrainian political prisoner is not reported

wikipedia.org

Doctors examined Ukrainian director and political prisoner Oleg Sentsov who is now in Russian prison. This was reported by the press service of the regional department of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).



A series of clinical and instrumental examinations were conducted during the consultation of the doctors of the city hospital in Labytnanga, and recommendations were given "for further treating of the patient."



There is no information on the state of health of Sentsov yet.



Illegally sentenced to 20 years in prison in Russia, Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov announced an unlimited hunger strike on May 14. His main requirement is to release all Ukrainians, political prisoners who are in Russian prisons.



Ukrainians Kolchenko and Sentsov were detained by special services of the Russian Federation in May 2014 in Crimea. They were accused of organizing terrorist attacks on the peninsula. In the summer of 2015 Kolchenko was sentenced to 10 years in a strict-regime colony, Sentsov - 20 years. Both deny their guilt.

Earlier rally in support of Oleg Sentsov took place in Kyiv, as the correspondent reported on air of 112 Ukraine.

According to the reporter, the aim of the event was to draw attention to the illegally convicted Ukrainian political prisoners kept in Russia.

Within the two-hour action, the participants of the action plan to read 8 autobiographical fictions written by Oleg Sentsov. The organizers expect 30-40 people to join the action, the reporter added.

At the same time, Ukrinform reported that Ahtem Seytablayev, a Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar actor, Andriy Khlyvnyuk, the leader of Bumboks, a Ukrainian band, Rimma Zyubina, a Ukrainian actress, have already joined the protest.

It is not about why you came. One should remind all the people, primarily, oneself, Seytablayev stated.
Andriy Parubiy, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, signed a law on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court, as he stated at the press conference with the Irakli Kobakhidze and Andrian Candu, the chairmen of Georgias and Moldovas Parliaments, in Kyiv, 112 Ukraine reports.

As it was reported earlier, President Petro Poroshenko is convinced that the process of creating an Anti-Corruption Court will be completed already in the first half of this year. He said this in an interview to Focus magazine during the discussion of the issue of Ukraine's cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

At the same time, Poroshenko stressed that, along with the position on the need to further strengthen the fight against corruption, the IMF notes significant economic growth and the implementation of reforms in our state. "I am proud of the fact that we managed to improve the investment climate, for these four years we reached more than 25 years ago," he said, noting that this is not only an assessment of the IMF, but also of the World Bank.

The Verkhovna Rada supported in the first reading the presidential bill number 7440 on the Anti-Corruption Court on March 1. Since that day, the head of state has called upon the people's deputies to speed up the work on the adoption of the full document.

This bill provides that the Anti-Corruption Court will consider cases if the subject of the crime or the damage caused is at least 500 times higher than the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons (from January 1, this is UAH 881 thousand). This is the basic condition. And it does not matter who considered the case - the National Police, Prosecutor General's Office or NABU. Some of the articles describe violations related to drugs or weapons, but there are no articles regarding electronic declaration.
112 Agency

Tatyana Moskalkova, the human rights ombudsman in the Russian Federation, plans to visit four accused in state treason in Ukraine. This was reported by RBC.



According to her, we are talking about the head of of RIA Novosti - Ukraine Kirill Vyshinsky, former servicemen Alexandr Baranov and Maxim Odintsov, as well as activist of the Volunteers of Victory public organization Elena Odnovol.



All of them are accused of high treason.



Moskalkova clarified that the list is incomplete.



We recall that an agreement on the visit of the Russian ombudsman to Ukraine was reached today during a telephone conversation between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin.



In particular, it was decided that in the near future the human rights commissioners of both countries would visit the detainees.



President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has already instructed the Ukrainian ombudsman Lyudmila Denysova to visit Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia, Crimea and ORDLO in the near future.

Earlier doctors examined Ukrainian director and political prisoner Oleg Sentsov who is now in Russian prison. This was reported by the press service of the regional department of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).



A series of clinical and instrumental examinations were conducted during the consultation of the doctors of the city hospital in Labytnanga, and recommendations were given "for further treating of the patient."



There is no information on the state of health of Sentsov yet.



Illegally sentenced to 20 years in prison in Russia, Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov announced an unlimited hunger strike on May 14. His main requirement is to release all Ukrainians, political prisoners who are in Russian prisons.

Related: Groysman announces start of small privatization through ProZorro system
The relatives of the victims of the MH17 tragedy in Donbas conducted an action neat Russian Embassy in the Hague, as BBC reports.

Red roses were placed on 298 white chairs in memory of the mainly Dutch passengers and crew of flight MH17. The chairs, placed on a lawn near the embassy, represent 196 Dutch citizens and the others who perished on 17 July 2014, the news agency reports.

As is known, Boeing 777 of Malaysian Airlines, flight MH17 was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur, when it crashed in the militant-held area of Donetsk region in July 2014. The aircraft carried 298 people; no one survived. Experts found out that the passenger plane was shot down by a missile, fired from Buk, the Russia-made anti-aircraft missile launcher. The weapon was brought to Donbas by pro-Kremlin militants. Moscow has been denying any ties to the disaster.

As we reported the investigators from the Netherlands found another confirmation that MH17 plane was shot down from Russian 'Buk' missile system. Particularly, they got fingerprints from the ammunition.
hromadske.ua

Thirty-five deputies of the European Parliament signed a letter to the authorities of Ukraine with an appeal to support the March of Equality planned for June 17 in Kyiv. The relevant appeal addressed to President Petro Poroshenko, as well as members of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada, is posted on the website of the letter's initiator, European MP Rebecca Harms.



"Two consecutive Kyivprides without violence demonstrated the country's commitment to the right of peaceful assembly, for which so many people have sacrificed their lives during the revolution on Maidan. We urge the Ukrainian authorities to preserve peace this year on June 17 and ensure security during the forthcoming Kyiv Pride," the letter says.



"We regret that the legislative progress has stalled ... Ukraine remains one of the last places in Europe, where the laws do not protect the LGBT minority," the parliamentarians state.



"Human rights are not protected until the rights of all are protected. Big changes often begin with symbolic gestures, we urge Ukrainian leaders and the authorities to join their citizens at KyivPride on June 17. Make a historic step and be in the front row while the Ukrainians are going towards a strong, diverse and equitable democracy in our European family, "the deputies urge.



We recall, March of equality is scheduled for June 17. According to the representative of KyivPride, the organizers expect that about 5 thousand people will take part in the March. Although it is impossible to predict exact figures.

Related: Poroshenko discusses with Putin release of Ukrainian political prisoners
From 4 to 16 June, 4 KS-135 Stratotanker will fly within the framework of military exercises

112 Agency

The United States transferred to Ukraine its aircraft for refueling strategic bombers KS-135 Stratotanker. This is reported by the press service of the US Air Force in Europe and Africa.



Thus, on June 8, four USS-135 Stratotanker aircraft of the US Air Force flew to Lviv, carrying about 150 crew members and personnel.



The US Air Force reported that the planes are used to increase the range of flights of strategic bombers. As is known, from 4 to 16 June 2018 they will fly within the framework of the exercises.



Earlier, the US Air Force ordered the development of a new hypersonic cruise missile.

Also we reported that according to North American Aerospace Defense Command, US F-22 stealth fighters in international airspace intercepted two Russias TU-95 "Bear" bombers near Alaska on Friday, as CNN reports.

Russian long-range combers got into the Air Defense Identification Zone which extends for around 200 miles from Alaskas western coast.

At approximately 10 a.m. ET, two Alaskan-based NORAD F-22 fighters intercepted and visually identified two Russian TU-95 'Bear' long-range bomber aircraft flying in the Air Defense Identification Zone around the western coast of Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands," Andrew Hennessy, NORAD and USNORTHCOM Spokesperson, Canadian Army Maj, said.

According to Andrew Hennessys statement, Russias aircraft were "intercepted and monitored by the F-22s until the bombers left the ADIZ along the Aleutian Island chain heading west, and did not enter the U.S. airspace.

Related: Avdiivka declares state of emergency
The aim of the event is to draw attention to the illegally convicted Ukrainian political prisoners kept in Russia

A rally in support of Oleg Sentsov takes place in Kyiv, as the correspondent reported on air of 112 Ukraine.

According to the reporter, the aim of the event is to draw attention to the illegally convicted Ukrainian political prisoners kept in Russia.

Within the two-hour action, the participants of the action plan to read 8 autobiographical fictions written by Oleg Sentsov. The organizers expect 30-40 people to join the action, the reporter added.

At the same time, Ukrinform reported that Ahtem Seytablayev, a Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar actor, Andriy Khlyvnyuk, the leader of Bumboks, a Ukrainian band, Rimma Zyubina, a Ukrainian actress, have already joined the protest.

It is not about why you came. One should remind all the people, primarily, oneself, Seytablayev stated.

As it is known, Ukrainian movie director Oleg Sentsov and Crimean activist Oleksandr Kolchenko were detained by the Russian FSB in the annexed Crimea. Both were taken to Russia. Sentsov was charged with preparing a terrorist act in Crimea and sentenced to 20 years in the high-security penal colony. Kolchenko was sentenced to ten-years-long imprisonment.
The letter says that Kyiv demanded Russia to cancel the illegal decision on Sushchenkos case immediately, release him and provide a safe return to Ukraine

Ukraines Permanent Delegation to the UN passed Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, a letter from Ukraines Foreign Ministry with a protest against the sentence Russian court have chosen for Roman Sushchenko, Ukrinform correspondent, illegally arrested in Moscow.

I am grateful for your support spreading this letter as a document of the General Assembly according to the 72nd session agenda and the document of the Security Council, the message of Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraines Permanent Representative to UN, says.

The letter includes the text of the official comment of Ukraines Foreign Ministry concerning the sentence chosen for Roman Sushchenko.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry expresses a protest against the illegal decision made by Moscow City Court as of June 4, 2018 to sentence Roman Sushcheno, a Ukrainian journalist, to 12 years of imprisonment for fake accusation of espionage, the comment says.

As the representatives of the Foreign Ministry noted, the Russian court predicted the provocation committed against Sushchenko and proved by the defence, and the falsification of the case. This is another evidence of the fact that Russia lacks justice, the message says.

The fact that Russia neglects the fundamental human rights demonstrated that there is a need to intensify the international pressure on Moscow to stop the aggression, repression and oppression of the Ukrainian citizens, the representatives of the Foreign Ministry stressed.

Therefore, Kyiv demanded Russia to cancel the illegal decision on Sushchenkos case immediately, release him and provide a safe return to Ukraine.

We call the international community, the international human rights institutions for taking all possible legal and political measures to release Roman Sushchenko and return him to Ukraine as well as other Ukrainian citizens, who became the hostages of the Kremlin regime within the conditions of the continuous aggression against our state, the Foreign Ministry statement says.

On June 4, Moscow City Court of Russia has sentenced Roman Sushchenko, the citizen of Ukraine to 12 years in the hard labor colony for the espionage. The court session against Sushchenko took place in the closed regime and the court announced only introductory and resume parts of the decision.

Ukrainian Roman Sushchenko, the reporter of Ukrinfiorm news agency, was detained in September 2016 in Moscow and accused by the FSB of espionage. For this, he faces 20 years in prison. Ukraine has appealed to Russia with a demand to release the Ukrainian journalist multiple times.

The lawyer explained that Sushchenko, who lived in France for six years, being a Ukrinform correspondent in Paris, has visited Russia multiple times, and during the detention, he was there for his own reasons. He has relatives in Russia.
YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia Mikayel Pashayan met with the representatives of the European Investment Bank and the UNDP.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the SRC, during the meeting the results of the project Modernization of Bagratashen, Bavra, Gogavan Border Crossing Points of the Republic of Armenia were summed up. The directions of the future cooperation were also discussed, particularly the current situation and prospects of the reconstruction and modernization project of Meghri border checkpoint. SRC Deputy Chairman Mikayel Pashayan, highlighting the implementation of the project in line with international standards, emphasized that a 3rd side should be involved for conducting technical oversight of the project.

As a result of the modernization of Meghri border checkpoint customs procedures will be simplified on Armenia-Iran border and the time spent on border crossing will be decreased.

The sides expressed readiness to continue the cooperation.

English  translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
A successful ceasefire between Afghan security forces and the Taliban starting next week could help lay the groundwork for talks to end the nearly 17-year war, analysts said Saturday, but warned a peace deal was still a long way off. After previous efforts to end the conflict stalled, the Taliban's surprise decision to suspend fighting for the first time could be a "stepping stone" in the protracted process, a Western analyst in Kabul told AFP on the condition of anonymity. The Taliban said Saturday its fighters would stop attacking Afghan security forces for the first three days of Eid, the holiday capping the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in a move largely welcomed by war-weary Afghans. The announcement came two days after the Afghan government's own unexpected decision to halt hostilities against the militants for a week. "This mutual ceasefire, if successful, can possibly inspire or encourage future, more substantial steps towards peacemaking," Borhan Osman, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, told AFP. "Fighting has been the integral feature that has characterised the Taliban since the movement was born. A break from it, although very brief, represents an important departure from its modus operandi." The Western analyst said a move by both sides to respect the ceasefire -- which is not guaranteed -- would send a signal that "we can do this". It would also show that the Taliban leadership is able to control its fighters. The ceasefire could help build trust between the government and the Taliban, and provide "a very good stepping stone for further interaction", the analyst told AFP. President Ashraf Ghani's ceasefire declaration on Thursday came on the heels of a fatwa issued by Afghanistan's top clerics branding suicide attacks "haram", or forbidden. It also followed the Pentagon's announcement that senior Taliban officials had been negotiating with Afghan authorities on a possible ceasefire. Afghan political analyst Haroon Mir said the Taliban's reciprocal, albeit shorter, ceasefire was "positive" for the Afghan people, but he cautioned that significant hurdles to peace remained. "The question now is, is the US willing to accept negotiations with the Taliban?" Mir said. Before Ghani's peace talks offer to the Taliban in February, which the group ignored, the militants had issued a letter calling on the United States to negotiate directly with them. Washington refused. - 'Cautiously positive' - Despite the ceasefire, fighting on the battlefield is likely to continue. Both sides have vowed to retaliate if attacked and the Taliban's ceasefire does not extend to US-led NATO forces. US Forces said they would step up the fight against the Islamic State group during the ceasefire. There also are concerns that the Taliban's brutal arm the Haqqani Network, suspected of being behind many of the recent attacks in Kabul claimed by IS, could launch more assaults on behalf of the rival group. "It's a wait and watch," a foreign diplomat in Kabul told AFP. "I don't think the Haqqani Network will be on board (with the ceasefire). I wouldn't be surprised if some incidents happen and are claimed by Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. Hours before Saturday's announcement, Taliban militants launched two separate assaults on Afghan security forces in the western province of Herat and the northern province of Kunduz, killing at least 36 soldiers and police, officials said. The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on an Afghan military base in the southern province of Kandahar. One Western diplomat said he was "cautiously positive" about the Taliban announcement. "My sense is we have invested far more wishful thinking into this than we are likely to see," he said, adding the group traditionally wind down attacks over Eid. Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington, DC said the Taliban had no incentive to stop fighting and it was "unreasonable to think that this brief truce can be a prelude to a reconciliation process". But he said a ceasefire would at least give war-weary Afghans some respite from decades of violence. Civilians have paid a disproportionate price in casualties as a result of the conflict. More than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in 2017, down nine percent from the previous year, UN figures show. But casualties from suicide bombings and attacks were up 17 percent. "Given the horrific toll that conflict has taken in Afghanistan, any lull in fighting, even if only for 72 hours, is a good thing," Kugelman said. The announcement came two days after Kabul's decision to halt hostilities against the militants for a week
A craft brewing company has been forced to pull its beers from stores and restaurants, and make a public apology after misogynistic marketing caused a social media storm.

South African beer company Vale Bru copped backlash for its sexist campaign promoting new beverages including those reportedly named Filthy Brunette, Easy Blonde, and Ripe Redhead.

The brand which described itself as bold, direct, zero f***s given attached the tagline to its Easy Blonde: All your friends have already had her.

South African beer company Vale Bru copped backlash for its sexist campaign promoting new beverages including those reportedly named Filthy Brunette, Easy Blonde, and Ripe Redhead. Source: craftgeekza / Instagram

Other on-brand phrases like the best head in town and insinuations about sexual maturation also appeared to be used in Instagram posts.

South African craft beer blogger Thandi Guilherme, from Gauteng  the same province of the Vale Bru brand  on Tuesday slammed the company, sharing screen grabs of the offending posts with those following her craftgeekza Instagram account.

She said the brewer should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. Crass, sexist, misogynistic branding and labelling.

Only generic Vale Bru branded beers and messaging remain on its social media accounts. Source: Vale Bru / Instagram

Sexy is not always sexist  know the difference, she added.

Other beer bloggers agreed, calling on Vale Bru to clean up its act.

The brewery initially responded to the backlash with a social media statement apologising to any ladies out there we have offended, but also lashing out at keyboard crusaders.

Our attempt at making you and ourselves uncomfortable worked. However we never meant to belittle or degrade you, it read.

Vale Bru was forced to pull its beers from stores and restaurants and make a public apology after misogynistic marketing caused a social media storm. Source: Vale Bru / Facebook

But Vale Bru later deleted the post, along with pictures and messaging around the offending beers. On Thursday it issued a second statement apologising unreservedly and promising to immediately remove the beers in question from the market, and rebrand the products.

The company also called on the women it had offended, asking for suggestions on how to make its products more community inclusive  even offering to shout them a beer.
As an EU judicial mission prepares to leave Kosovo, the assessments of its decade-long mandate are mixed -- hailed by officials but criticised by the public. The EU's rule of law mission (EULEX) that will cease its judicial operations on June 14 was set up in December 2008, 10 months after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Spending several hundred million euros over the decade, hundreds of judges and police officers served with EULEX, the political bloc's largest civilian mission ever. They were dealing with some of the most serious crimes committed during and after Kosovo's 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian guerillas and Serb forces, the fight against corruption and organised crime as well as boosting citizen confidence in the judiciary. "I have every reason to be dissatisfied with EULEX," said 46-year-old Silvana Marinkovic, an ethnic Serb. Her husband Goran was abducted in the aftermath of the war and his fate, like those of about 1,600 other people, still remains unknown. "They did not even try to solve my problem," she told AFP. - 'Visible legacy' - Alexandra Papadopoulou, a Greek diplomat tasked with winding up EULEX's mandate, defended what she described as a "visible legacy in Kosovo with many achievements that are evident". European judges delivered over 648 verdicts, including for corruption, organised crime, money laundering, war crimes and human trafficking, she said. The authorities share her assessment of EULEX's achievements. "It has been a worthy decade for Kosovo," President Hashim Thaci said. "Kosovo institutions have benefited greatly from cooperation with EULEX." Even so, Kosovo is ranked only 85th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption perception index, above Albania and below Serbia, albeit up from 110 in 2014. In its latest report the European Commission said "corruption is widespread and remains an issue of concern" for the country of 1.8 million people. The Zeri newspaper referred sarcastically to EULEX's initial pledge to tackle "big fish", saying the mission eventually remained a "mission of small fishes". Of three key ethnic Albanian rebel leaders who were put on trial, Sami Lushtaku and Fatmir Limaj were acquitted of war crimes charges, while Sylejman Selimi was sentenced to eight years in jail for torturing prisoners. Among unsolved cases is the assassination of prominent journalist Xhemail Mustafa, who was shot dead at his home in 2000. In his columns, the former advisor to late president Ibrahim Rugova had denounced violence committed by Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas against opponents. For his daughter Beriane Mustafa, EULEX is "completely a failed mission". "It is not clear to me how it is possible that an EU mission with all those resources has failed to solve any of these murders," Mustafa, 36, told AFP, referring to a series of post-war political assassinations. - No wartime rape punished - Kosovo's war claimed 13,000 lives. But EULEX eventually solved only 25 war crimes cases, according to the Humanitarian Law Centre rights watchdog. "Despite systematic rape numbering thousands of victims committed by the Serbian security forces, there was no one single case solved and perpetrator punished," it said in a statement to AFP. "EULEX is a failure... a very good idea, but it was very badly implemented," said Andrea Capussela. Capussela, a former top official of the International Civilian Office (ICO), an international body charged with helping Kosovo function in its first independence years, wrote a book on the issue -- "State-building in Kosovo: Democracy, Corruption and the EU in the Balkans." "All available indicators suggest that over the 10 years of EULEX mandate the rule of law has not strengthened in Kosovo but even seems to have weakened." He blamed "managerial incompetence and opportunism, and a political preference for not upsetting the status quo". Although they have not been proven, several corruption allegations targeting EULEX judges did not improve the mission's image among local population. "It would have been better if Europe had invested this enormous amount money in the creation of jobs," said Jonuz Muftiu, a retired lawyer. However, Papadopoulou argued that her mission was "never to solve with a magic wand all Kosovo problems on the rule of law in just a few years". Ariana Qosja, a researcher at local think-tank KIPRED, said shee was pessimistic about the outcome of unfinished EULEX investigations now being transferred to the local judiciary. In Kosovo, she said, the "judiciary continues to be under political directives". Kosovo Albanians show support for jailed ex-Kosovo Liberation Army commander Sylejman Selimi, sentenced for torturing prisoners, and opposition to the EU-backed court that tried former fighters with varying degrees of success French gendarmes from the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), on duty in the ethnically divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica during 2014 parliamentary elections
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday strongly criticised Austria's move to close mosques and expel Turkish-funded imams, slamming the decision as anti-Islamic and promising a response. "These measures taken by the Austrian prime minister are, I fear, leading the world towards a war between the cross and the crescent," Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul. The crescent is a symbol associated with Islam. His comments came the day after the Austrian government announced it could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families and would shut down seven mosques as part of a crackdown on "political Islam", triggering fury in Ankara. Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), the junior partner in Austria's coalition government said the move concerned imams with alleged links to the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations (ATIB) organisation, a branch of Turkey's religious affairs agency Diyanet. Kickl added the government suspects them of contravening a ban on foreign funding of religious office holders. A Turkish presidential spokesman had on Friday described the Austrian move as "a reflection of the anti-Islam, racist and discriminatory populist wave in this country". However, other European far-right leaders welcomed the announcement. Even Austria's opposition parties were broadly supportive of Friday's announcement, with the centre-left Social Democrats calling it "the first sensible thing this government's done". But the Green Party pointed out it could serve as a propaganda victory for the Turkish government. Erdogan, speaking Saturday, said: "They say they're going to kick our religious men out of Austria. Do you think we will not react if you do such a thing?" "That means we're going to have to do something," he added without elaborating. Around 360,000 people of Turkish origin live in Austria, including 117,000 Turkish nationals. Relations between Ankara and Vienna have been strained since a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016 which was followed by a wave of arrests. Erdogan's speech comes in the run-up to presidential and legislative elections on June 24 in which he faces stiff opposition. The Austrian government has banned Turkish officials from holding meetings in the country ahead of the polls. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Ankara would "have to do something" in response after Austria moved to close mosques and expel Turkish-funded imams, slamming the decision as anti-Islamic
The G7, which ends a two-day summit in Canada on Saturday against a background of tensions, is an informal grouping of major powers created in 1975. Originally established as a vehicle for leading industrialised democracies to discuss the global economy, it has expanded its scope to issues such as peace, the environment and terrorism. Often the atmosphere between the partners becomes tense in the run-up to the annual summit, held in the country which holds the rotating presidency. However G7 summits traditionally end with a face-saving joint declaration regarding the most important outcomes of the meeting. This year's summit promises to be fractious due to new import tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on his partners. He has also called for the reintegration of Russia, a member of the group between 1998 and 2014 and which was thrown out after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. - Origins in global economy - The meetings date back to Rambouillet in France in 1975, in the wake of the first oil shock, during which oil prices soared. Six countries -- Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- took part in this first "G6", and were joined a year later by Canada making the "G7". The initiative came from French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing who wanted to elevate to the top level meetings already held by the countries' finance ministers to tackle burning economic issues. - From G7 to G8 - During the 1980s, tensions between the East and West during the Cold War gave a more political slant to the meetings. The Williamsburg summit in 1983 adopted, for the first time, a declaration on security in Europe. The text of support for the policies of US president Ronald Reagan towards Moscow was adopted despite the reservations of French president Francois Mitterrand. The collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991 proved a gamechanger. Russia, which attended the summit as a guest in 1992, was in 1998 allowed for the first time to attend all summit meetings. The grouping was officially renamed the "G8". - Exclusive club criticised - From 1999, during a period of successive financial crises, the G8 was criticised for being an exclusive club. The rich powers therefore also started meeting with emerging countries in the new "G20" grouping, in an attempt to resolve or avoid these crises. In 2001 the G8's summit in Genoa, Italy, was overshadowed by violent demonstrations by anti-globalisation protesters which left one person dead. The protesters challenged the usefulness and legitimacy of the G8 and called for the cancellation of the poorest countries' debts. Protests dogged other G8 summits, which from then on were held under tight security. - Putin and Trump - In 2014 Vladimir Putin's Russia was suspended from the G8 after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and sanctions were imposed on Moscow. The G8 summit planned for that year in Russia was cancelled and the G8 reverted to being the G7. In 2017 the G7's unity was shattered on the issue of climate change during its first summit with Trump in Sicily. Several days later he decided to pull out of the Paris climate accord. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gestures to his fellow G7 leaders on the first day of their summit at La Malbaie on Friday
Authorities believe a woman was attacked and dragged into a lake by an alligator after a human arm was reportedly found inside an animal measuring close to four metres in length.

It is believed the body part belongs to a 47-year-old woman who was last seen walking her dogs on Friday morning at the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park in Davie, Florida, Local 10 News reports.

Shortly after she was seen with her pets they were spotted wandering by themselves, and one appeared to have a fresh wound, authorities said.

The witness who called us went to the area where he thought that they had been walking, and he immediately spotted an alligator, Davie police Detective Vivian Gallinal told Local 10.

An arm located inside an alligator is believed to belong to a woman who disappeared near a lake in Florida. Source: Local 10 News

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman told Local 10 the autopsy suggested the woman was attacked by the alligator, believed to be about 3.8 metres long.

The FWC believes that the victim is deceased and we will continue recovery efforts on the lake with local authorities, FWC spokesman Rob Klepper said.

Locals have told US media outlets that the area is not safe  with some claiming there are numerous alligators in the lake.

Police are still searching for the womans body and despite the arm being found it is still not known if the animal is responsible for the womans death.


A man has died after he fell from a cliff in Sydneys south near a whale-watching platform.

Emergency services including the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter service were called to Cape Solander, in the Kurnell section of Botany Bay, about 1.20pm on Saturday.

After a search police found the body of a man, believed to be aged in his 30s.

A man has died after he fell from a cliff in Sydneys south near a whale-watching platform. Photo: 7News

Initial inquiries suggest there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident and its believed to be misadventure, a police spokeswoman said.

Officers from Sutherland Police Area Command continue with inquiries into the incident.

Emergency services including the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter service were called to Cape Solander. Photo: 7News

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter said emergency services performed CPR on the man after finding him unconscious in the water.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

The man is believed to have fallen near a whale-watching platform. Photo: 7News
Rafael Nadal admits that his desire to clinch an 11th French Open title on Sunday is fired by his growing realisation that the end of his career may not be too far away. The 32-year-old Spaniard, with 16 majors to his name, will play his 24th Grand Slam final at Roland Garros against Dominic Thiem who is in his first. Victory on Sunday will give Nadal an 11th title in Paris and equal Margaret Court's all-time record for wins at the same Slam event -- in her case, the Australian Open from 1960 and 1973 Nadal still trails great rival Roger Federer by four major titles although the Swiss star is more than four years older. "For me, the motivation to play here always is high, high as possible," said Nadal after breezing past Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in Friday's semi-finals in what was his 85th win in Paris against just two defeats. "But for me, I believe that there are limited chances in your career. "I have lost a lot of opportunities through injuries, and I know the years are going quick. So there is not 10 more chances to keep playing here." The statistics illustrate Nadal's concerns -- he has missed at least eight Slam tournaments in his career through a legacy of wrist and knee problems. Such is his motivation to win his 17th Grand Slam on Sunday, that the task facing Austrian 24-year-old Thiem was described as "almost impossible" by Del Potro. "It is almost impossible to beat Rafa," said Del Potro who had his chances in the semi-final but failed to convert any of his seven break points before his challenge petered out into weary hopelessness. Nadal raced away with 14 of the last 17 games. "He's too strong. He's improving his backhand a lot. That's why he's the No. 1 and beating all the guys. - 'He is fresh, healthy. Everything is perfect' - "He looks fresh. He is healthy. And the strength that he has and the mentality, everything is perfect, works perfect for him playing on clay." There have, however, appeared to be one or two chinks in Nadal's armour at Roland Garros this year. On Friday, del Potro was by far the better player in the first set while, in the quarter-finals, Diego Schwartzman won the first set. It was the first time in three years that Nadal had dropped a set in Paris. "You can win a set, but not a match against Rafa," said Del Potro keen not to over-egg any hint of weakness in Nadal's game. At least Thiem has in the past found the key to unravelling the Nadal clay court enigma. He is the only man to beat the world number one on clay in the last two years -- in Madrid this spring and in Rome last year. In Madrid, Thiem thrived in the quicker, higher altitude conditions to win their quarter-final in straight sets. But that was only after Nadal had allowed him just two games in a last-eight mauling in Monte Carlo. In Madrid, Thiem said the key was to be positive against Nadal. "If I want to beat him, I have to play that way like I did in Rome and in Madrid. But I'm also aware that here it's tougher," said Thiem, the first Austrian in a major final since Thomas Muster won in Paris in 1995. "He likes the conditions more here than in Madrid, for sure. Best of five is also a different story. "But I have a plan." Nadal and Thiem have met nine times -- all of them on clay. Thiem also defeated his rival in Buenos Aires in 2016, joining Novak Djokovic and Gaston Gaudio as the only men to have beaten Nadal three times on clay. However, Nadal has won both their clashes at Roland Garros -- in 2014 and in last year's semi-finals by a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 margin. "I'm facing Rafa so I'm not the one who has the pressure," said Thiem. Robin Soderling, who famously inflicted Nadal's first defeat at the French Open in 2009, insists Thiem has to take the initiative from the start. "To beat him in five sets on clay is difficult. It has to be a player that plays extremely well," said the Swede. "To beat him on clay, I would say the only chance for any player now is to be really aggressive." Final frontier: Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal Key stats on the two finalists in Sunday' French Open men's final
A ban on burqas and niqabs is set to come into force in schools in Norway after the countrys parliament passed a bill on the issue.

Students and teachers will no longer be able to wear the traditional Islamic clothing in places of education, or anything that partially or fully covers the face.

A similar measure banning all face coverings in public passed in Denmark last week.

A ban on burqas and niqabs is set to come into force in schools in Norway. Source: Getty Images

Voting on the matter took place over the course of three days, with representatives from the Socialist Left, Red and Green parties opposing it.

The Socialist Left voted in favour of applying the ban to teaching staff but not to students but the bill was passed despite their opposition.

The anti-immigration Progress Party expressed its delight at the passing of the bill, saying the move was very good news.

Students and teachers will no longer be able to wear the traditional Islamic clothing in places of education. Source: Getty Images

When Progress in 2003 proposed a total ban on the niqab and burqa, we were laughed at, the party told Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende.

We see now that we have succeeded in bringing the political environment around to our viewpoint.

The party suggested a total ban would come into force within a few years.

Several educational institutions in Norway opposed the measure, including the University of Bergen and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who both described it as unnecessary.
Pakistan's army has denied abducting a British-Pakistani activist known for criticising the military, in an incident that prompted a wave of condemnation and increased fears of a crackdown on free speech. Gul Bukhari, 52, was detained for several hours by unknown men in the eastern city of Lahore late Tuesday, one day after the military held a press conference warning that it is monitoring citizens who criticise Pakistan. She was released early Wednesday. Pakistan has a history of enforced disappearances, often of people who criticise the security establishment -- largely seen as a red line few dare cross. The kidnappings have become increasingly brazen in recent years. Bukhari is known for advocating human rights online and is also a prominent columnist whose articles are often highly critical of the military and its policies. When news of her abduction broke it caused a furore, with widespread calls for her release and fingers broadly pointed at the military. The British High Commission expressed "concern" at the incident as activists called on the army, which is the most powerful institution in Pakistan and has ruled the country for nearly half its 70-year history, to tolerate dissent. "(The) army is not behind the abduction of Gul Bukhari," Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief military spokesman, told reporters late Friday. "We actually want a thorough investigation in this case," he said. The military routinely says it is not involved in enforced disappearances, but the statement was a rare on-the-record denial. It came as the powerful army is facing growing criticism of its policies within Pakistan, from disappearances to the use of militant proxies in Afghanistan and India. A burgeoning civil rights movement by the country's ethnic Pashtuns and recent comments from former prime minister Nawaz Sharif have increasingly criticised the generals and caused uproar in the country. Journalists have spoken of "pressure" not to cover the criticisms, adding to an atmosphere of repression. During a wide-ranging press conference Monday that appeared to address the mounting criticism, the military issued a veiled warning to online critics, saying it has the capacity to monitor social media accounts. Ghafoor briefly flashed an image on screen showing what appeared to be Twitter handles and names, including of at least one prominent journalist, but refused to elaborate further, fuelling the outcry over free speech. Late Friday he said they "did not intend to implicate journalists". Activists remained sceptical of the military's role in disappearances and curtailing of free speech. "If they did not do it, then they need to come up with an action, a plan of enquiry (to investigate) who did," said Shahzad Ahmed, head of Bytes for All, a think-tank working for digital security and free speech. "So far the fingers are being pointed towards them." Journalists in Pakistan have spoken of 'pressure' not to cover criticism of the army


Police are asking the public for help to find a 29-year-old woman who was last seen in Brisbane nearly three months ago.

Police said Lusy Hutabarat told her family she was going to live with a friend in Kangaroo Point on March 18.

She has not been back in contact with family since this time, who hold concerns for her safety and wellbeing, authorities said.

An email from Ms Hutabarats email account was received by a Brisbane business on April 23.

Police also have an unconfirmed sighting of the 29-year-old on May 23 at a cafe in Kangaroo Point.

Lusy Hutabarat was last seen on March 18 and has not been in contact with family since that time, police said. Source: Queensland Police Service.

Ms Hutabarat, who is from Indonesia, is described as having long black hair, brown eyes, a proportionate build and is approximately 165cm tall.

Authorities are urging Ms Hutabarat or anyone who may know her current whereabouts to contact Policelink on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
NEW YORK  New York's governor on Friday asked for a federal investigation into the conduct of immigration officials after an Ecuadorean pizza shop worker was detained while trying to make a delivery to an Army garrison in Brooklyn.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo requested the probe in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general.

Officials said deliveryman Pablo Villavicencio was detained June 1 after a routine background check at the garrison's gate revealed there was a warrant for his arrest for immigration law violations. He is in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody pending removal from the country.

Cuomo said in his letter that Villavicencio's "arrest and detention appear to be a result of ethnic profiling and does nothing to make our communities safer."

The governor said recent detentions by ICE agents raise significant legal questions. Villavicencio's detention and a recent raid on an upstate dairy farm show "reckless contempt for the constitution," he said.

Villavicencio's wife, Sandra Chica, said he went to deliver pizza to Fort Hamilton last week and was asked for identification by the guard who received him. Villavicencio, who worked at a pizzeria an hour away by car in Queens, produced a city identification card, but the official told him he wanted to see a state driver's license, Chica said.

An Army spokeswoman told The New York Times that if visitors don't have a military identification card, they have to get a pass that requires a background check. The check on Villavicencio showed there was an active ICE warrant on file, at which point he was detained by military police, said Fort Hamilton spokeswoman Catherine SantoPietro.

ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow said in March 2010 Villavicencio was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge but failed to depart by July, as ordered. The voluntary departure order then "became a final order of removal," she said.

Jennifer Williams, Villavicencio's Legal Aid Society lawyer, said at a news conference Friday that she filed a motion to stop his removal and to allow Villavicencio to pursue legal residency through his wife, who is a U.S. citizen.

"The enforcement mechanism that was applied in Pablo's case is inhumane, unjustifiable and should shock the conscience," she said.

Villavicencio, 35, lives with his wife and two young daughters on Long Island.

"Let him come back to us because he is the center of our family, he is the main support, so we are really going to suffer if he is deported" Chica said in a video statement.

Cuomo said on Thursday that he spoke by phone with Chica to express his "deep frustration with the federal government's assault on New York's immigrant families." He said that a state-provided attorney had talked with Villavicencio, who is being held at a New Jersey facility.

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Worn, but not beaten.

That's the fitting description the National September 11 Memorial & Museum provided for the large stones that will point toward the sky and mark a new pathway at the World Trade Center: a tribute to survivors and first responders who are sick or have died from 9/11-related illnesses. The new section of the memorial will be located in a grassy section of the southwest end of the plaza.

It's been 16 years since first responders ended rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center. But in illness after illness, and loss after loss, the tragic impact of the months they spent at "the pile" reverberates in the ongoing suffering of tens of thousands of rescue and recovery workers, area residents and others who were exposed to toxins.

Nearly 70,000 first responders and more than 14,000 survivors receive monitoring, treatment and care through the World Trade Center Health Program.

The national memorial's plan to acknowledge their plight, through a space called the Memorial Glade, is especially meaningful given the years those victims spent fighting for care and treatment. After all, it was 2006 when NYPD Officer James Zadroga died of a respiratory illness attributed to his work on the pile, and the Zadroga Act was proposed. But it wasn't until 2010 that the act was passed. It became permanent in 2015.

The image of first responders, some of whom were already ill, in the halls of Congress, begging our nation's leaders to help take care of them, still resonates. So do the stories of first responders still getting sick, still dying. As recently as May 26, David Levalley, a special agent in the FBI's Atlanta office, died of complications from exposure to toxins from the trade center. A week earlier, retired NYPD Officer Scott Blackshaw of Huntington Station died of cancer; he had spent six weeks in the rubble. And South Huntington resident Mark Natale, also a retired NYPD officer, died of cancer on May 4. He had helped people escape on 9/11, and then stood guard near Ground Zero.

The new memorial at the World Trade Center plaza will pay tribute to Zadroga, Levalley, Blackshaw, Natale and thousands of others, to their strength, heroism and sacrifice, and to the debt we all owe them.

 Newsday, Long Island

Current laws and members of law enforcement have been unable to keep up with the seemingly ever-changing nature of telephone scam artists who seem to be as brazen as ever as they exhibit less and less of what most members of society would consider civil or appropriate conduct.

While the suspects are still due their day in court and have only been accused, not convicted of any crimes, this week marked something of a breakthrough when it comes to attempting to bring telephone scammers to justice as, after an investigation, the New York State Attorney General and New York State Police announced the arrest of three individuals.

The three suspects are accused of overseeing an elaborate telephone extortion scheme that took advantage of 55 victims across Niagara, Onondaga, Kings, Nassau, Oneida, Madison, Oswego, Cayuga, Cortland and Genesee counties.

According to the indictment in the case, the suspects called victims and claimed that their close relatives were in car accidents and demanded money after suggesting the relatives in question did not sufficient insurance to pay their related bills. The suspects are accused of threatening to cause physical harm to the victims' family members if the ransom was not paid, with at least one of the trio of suspects also claiming to be either a drug dealer or gang member in an effort to instill more fear into the targets. The indictment suggests some victims were told their relatives would be shot if they did not comply.

While tugging at the heartstrings of people who have wives, husbands, children and family members they adore is without a doubt one of the dirtiest tricks a scammer could employ, it is, unfortunately, very likely to be an effective one as well.

Being smart about what you say over the phone and reporting bad actors is the only way to stop these modern-day telephone thieves from reaping any benefit from their criminal activity.

 The Niagara Gazette

At first glance, it might make sense to support the rehabilitation of the Danskammer power plant in the Town of Newburgh.

According to the plans outlined by the plant owner, the new "Danskammer Energy Center" would include a natural gas-powered turbine and a steam turbine to replace the existing four steam turbine generators. Instead of operating as a "peaking facility" providing power to fill energy needs at times of high demand, often when extreme weather increases the use of air conditioning or heating.

There is a good regional case to be made for that extra generating capacity because it would help replace some of what will be lost when the 2,000-megawatt Indian Point nuclear power plant closes in April 2021.

At second glance, however, there are questions, some narrow, most very broad.

The narrow ones should be familiar to anyone who has been following the saga of the Competitive Power Ventures gas-powered generating plant in the Town of Wawayanda. It came with loads of promises both made and implied that it would not have a detrimental effect on the local environment, promises that many local residents and many local officials now feel were at best inaccurate, more likely misleading. While there are many efforts to keep the plant from becoming fully operational, efforts that deal with environmental, legal and political issues, they all fall under the same category:

We would not have let this plant be built if we had known all that we know now.

So that should be the first hurdle that the Danskammer project needs to clear, a thorough and believable investigation with assurances and, even more important, interim measures so that the project does not get to that almost-completed phase when it is even harder to stop.

 The Times-Herald Record, Middletown

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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.
I've always felt the urge to leave. Any place. No matter how beautiful. I want to go. When I was 18 and finished with high school, I attended my graduation ceremony, for the sake of my family, but I skipped my prom  Canada's east coast was calling. I'd never been there before. I didn't know what I'd find. But I was going. I made a life for myself out there, with university, work and music. I traveled up and down the coast. Cape Breton feels like a second home to me. I love the people of Maine. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have a place in my heart.

But eventually, I left the east. Rage, the self-entitlement that sometimes comes from surviving a shitty childhood and a need for control left me very much out of control. I destroyed a fine long-term relationship looking for who I was. I burned bridges. I did terrible things to myself and others. It was time to move on. My travels took me back home to Ontario. My father was dying. I loved and hated him for who he was and what he had done to our family. Coming home was a terror.

Uneasily settled back into my hometown, I fought to push the dogs of my recent past down into the cellar of my soul where their bark did not seem so loud. I'd gone to university for journalism, but felt too shattered by life to write. I took on a job I despised and worked it for years. I was haunted by nightmares, flashbacks and a mind full of mayhem. I met someone, even though I was in no shape to be dating. She was from what you might call a good family. They loved each other: open, seemingly honest people. I thought that, if I could be a part of something that seemed so right, then maybe there would be a chance for me. But there wasn't. I told them the truth of where I'd been and what I'd done; why I worked a gig that required no training or thought in favor of even trying to write for a living. I wanted to be as open with them as they seemed to be with me. It was a mistake. Despite my time with them at church, which I tried to believe in and with the very best behavior that I could muster, my partner and her parents saw the darkness in me and called it madness. For a time, I gave into despair. I felt unwanted anywhere, by anyone. I wanted to do violence to someoneanyone, really.

It was the first time that I can remember feeling the urge to kill myself.

Soon after. I left my hometown once more, this time headed west, to British Columbia. I had no expectations of happiness, but I could not bear to stay in the same place as something I had loved and wanted, so dearly. Reminders of her and my rage against life were everywhere I turned. While the wounds were still fresh, I landed in a new relationship: a poisonous thing with a woman who, in her own way, was just as broken as I was. We argued loudly enough that the police would come. I would drink. She'd do dope. We screamed at each other for a decade. In the end, we were nothing but roommates sharing a bed. In the time that we were together, I had found the strength to write again. A friend, who I can never repay, gave me a chance at working as a journalist for a well-known publication. It was very part-time and paid shit. But it was a start. It did not feel like enough.

So, once again, I found myself on the move.

I briefly returned to Ontario. I had not spent more than a few weeks with my mother in the ten years since I'd moved to the west coast. My father was years dead, burned and buried. I wanted time to get to know her new husband, a good man, before moving on to whatever would be next for me. My mother had moved on from my hometown of Guelph, setting up shop in the Grey Highlands. The winter I spent there was unforgivably cold, with blowing snow and whiteouts so frequently that the OPP often shuttered the highways and byways of the region for days at a time. When I wasn't writing, I watched a lot of Anthony Bourdain on Netflix. No Reservations. Parts Unknown. Whatever I could get my eyes in front of.

Something about how he viewed the world meshed with my need for motion and distance. He was a realist and at the same time, an idealist. He found beauty in places rank with pragmatism. He drank, perhaps not as much as I did at the time, and at times, still do. I felt that something dark followed him. I got around to reading his writing. We shared similar demons. It made me respect his looking for light in all places all the more. Driven by a yearning to explore as he did, I felt that, after a few months in Ontario, the time was coming to ramble on. I decided that I would go to Spain. I wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago. I'd start in the French town of Saint Jean Pied de Port. I'd cross into Spain and keep walking until I could smell the salt damp of Galicia and Santiago de Compostela.

Somewhere amidst my planning and training for the 791 km (500 miles) hike, I decided that I'd like to die in the Pyrenees Mountains. The idea of the quiet that the end of all things would bring felt like a warm bath to me. I was tired  but not so tired that I could bring myself to die in a way that would leave my family with a body and a mess to dispose of. Heavy from years of alcohol abuse, a lack of exercise and too much crap food, I thought that I could work towards a heart attack at the higher altitudes of the hike. Dying of exposure, by misadventure or falling off a cliff would have been fine too. My ticket was purchased, my pack was packed and I was off. I remember falling asleep on my flight, listening to The Clash, sure of my plans.

You may have noticed, close to five years later, I'm still here.

The day before my Camino was to begin, I toured Saint Jean Pied de Port, collecting supplies, having the occasional drink and sampling the local Basque cuisine. It was lovely. The people who served it were lovely. The other pilgrims I spoke to or, when no language was shared, drank with, were lovely. They made me feel ashamed in the darkness of my intent.

The next morning, so early that I saw my way by starlight, I began my walk into the mountains. The tang of sweat in my mouth and the smell of dew-fresh fields and turned manure in my nostrils made it hard to contemplate an end. As I gained altitude, the ache in my back from the 23 pounds of gear I'd brought with me made we want to lay my burdens down, once more. But there was so much beauty. I could find no ugly place in the Pyrenees where bringing an end to my life felt fit. Hours into the day, with the sun high, burning the side of my face, I fell in with a group of hikers from New Zealand. It was unintentional. We were all keeping the same pace. We spoke the same language. I couldn't find a way to be unpleasant in their company. It's hard to die, for me at least, when there's folks around you that think you're alright. That night, still alive, I ate a dinner of pub grub and wine in Orreaga, thinking that death could wait until morning. I would meet it rested and fed. At the cusp of daylight, I was woke by a monk who wished me a good journey. I dressed and walked. I did not die.

For a month, I planned on killing myself: each day, that evening, the next morning, in the seclusion of the Spanish countryside. For a month, I found reasons to live in the food, drink and people on the trails and in the villages I haunted. Along the way, I shed pounds of clothing, fat and hardware that I did not need for my journey. I found, with each step, that my depression, PTSD and the desire to die was left just a little bit further behind me. I never lost it, but it had to jog to keep pace. In a little under a month, I finished my Camino.

The manic pace I'd set for myself came at a cost of three trips to the hospital along the way, a slipped disk in my back and two lost toenails. It was a small price to pay for a journey that gave me, with each footstep, another reason to draw breath.

Finished with Spain, I took a week in Porto, Portugal, to rest and reflect upon what I'd just accomplished.

In the time since then, I've married. My wife sees me for what I am. She knows what I once was, and who I aspire to be. My urge to ramble has given way to a nomadic lifestyle where I have no roots save the love that I carry with me. My little family splits its time between Canada, the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico. My writing affords me the occasion to travel from time to time. I'll be headed to Boston and New York City this month. Last year, I roamed China and Japan. It feels like enough and more than I could have had if I'd taken my life. I still feel the urge to do it, at times. But I've found the strength to open myself to counseling and medication: treatment for my PTSD. My wife has so much patience for my bullshit. Mine is not a perfect life. But it has, of late, felt like a good one.

For many years, I wanted to meet Anthony Bourdain. Not for his celebrity, but to offer him my heartfelt thanks. His writing and television work showed me that there is delight and deep understanding of life to be found in the most simple of things: eating, talking and exploration. His work stoked my already burning wanderlust. I came to understand that, at least for me, inner peace is not something that one finds and keeps. It's something that one has to search for, each day and in each moment. There could come a time where I will be unable to find a reason to keep such peace. I could take my life. But the spirit of what he showed me and what I have found since my first day in the Pyrenees Mountains has been enough to sustain me years beyond where I thought I would end.

Thank you, Anthony, for the years that you helped to give me.

Image: by Peabody Awards  Anthony Bourdain and Charlie Rose, CC BY 2.0, Link

All other images via Seamus Bellamy
Women are on the rise in Spanish politics. Spain's newly-formed government consists of eleven women and six men. The newly-elected socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has put women in some of the biggest positions in his cabinet, including head of defence, economy, education and finance. Spain now has the highest proportion of women in top government positions than anywhere else in Europe. In a televised statement, Mr Sanchez said his new government consisted of people who wanted to move Spain forward. He said: "All are highly qualified and bring a vocation for public service and reflect the best of Spain. [They are]...open to the world but anchored in the European Union."

Mr Sanchez seems an unlikely leader. His Socialist party holds just 84 of the 350 seats in Spain's parliament. He took office on Friday, replacing the unpopular conservative leader Mariano Rajoy. Ex-prime minister Rajoy was the focus of a corruption scandal and had become unpopular because of his austerity measures. Sanchez promised to bring change to Spain. However, he has to work quickly to turn Spain's economy around. He has promised to call elections in less than two years, which may not be enough time to amend the outgoing government's budget for 2018. One of his biggest challenges will be rebuilding relations with the northeastern region of Catalonia.
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Mnangagwa yesterday took a dig at the former Women's League boss Mrs Grace Mugabe for soiling the image of the league.Mnangagwa was addressing the Zanu-PF Women's League National Assembly meeting at the party's headquarters in Harare."The perception created by the former women's leader that of hate speech before crowds should not come back again. My Government calls upon you to also promote good family virtues grounded on our African ubuntu/hunhu ethos," he said."My Government has put into motion various economic strategies that will see more opportunities, growth and productivity in the agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors. I am fully cognisant of the need to implement strategies and mechanisms that move our society in general and women in particular from a position of limited opportunities to wider prospects, stability and self-sufficiency."President Mnangagwa said he was aware of the land barons who were defrauding home seekers of their land especially women.He said he would soon publish their names.The law would also take its course.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Career diplomat John Chimbandi, who died last Saturday in Harare, has been declared a national hero and will be buried at the National Heroes Acre tomorrow.He was 67.Zanu-pf secretary for Administration Obert Mpofu confirmed the development last night."He has been conferred national hero status. He will be buried on Sunday at the National Heroes Acre."Politburo was unanimous in according him the national hero status. We acceded to a request by Mashonaland East Province that he be declared a national hero."He had a long history in the liberation struggle and worked consistently after independence," said Dr Mpofu.Government on Monday described the late national hero as a hardworking diplomat who represented Zimbabwe well wherever he was posted.In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said Chimbandi was the ministry's institutional liberation expert."The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Honourable Lieutenant-General (Retired) Dr S. B. Moyo, the Permanent Secretary Ambassador J. M Bimha and the entire staff in the ministry learnt with profound grief and sadness, the sudden passing on of John Chimbandi, on the 2nd of June, 2018 at Arundel Hospital, in Harare," said the ministry."The ministry expresses deep and heartfelt condolences to Mrs Chimbandi, the children and the entire family at this very sad and untimely loss."Chimbandi was born on October 1, 1951 in Zviyambe, Wedza.He attended St Anne's Mission Goto, Wedza and Ranche House College in Harare for his secondary education from 1964 to 1969.Chimbandi proceeded to Botswana where he acquired a Bachelor of Political Science degree at the then University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland between 1969 and 1971.He started his career as a school teacher in 1971 at Muchudi Secondary School in Botswana, and in 1972, as the war intensified back home, he traded the comfort of urban professional life for the liberation struggle.Chimbandi received his military training in Tanzania and was deployed to the war front in 1973. He rose through the ranks to the position of Field Operations and Camps Political Commissar in Mozambique in 1974, a position he held until 1976.From 1977 to 1980, Chimbandi was the Chief Representative of Zanu-PF for East Africa in the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Liberation Committee in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania.He joined the then Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Independence in 1980, as an Assistant Secretary.Chimbandi was the ministry's institutional liberation expert as he coordinated Zimbabwe's policy on all liberation movements in Southern Africa, including the African National Congress (ANC), the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO), and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in the 1980s.In spite of a health setback that semi-paralysed the left side of his body, Chimbandi had an illustrious career in the ministry that saw him serving as Deputy Director at Head Office and Minister Counsellor in West Germany (1990-1996), China (1998-2002) and Iran (2004-2011).In March 2015, Chimbandi was appointed Zimbabwe's Consul-General to Mozambique, based in Beira.He served in that position until his time of retirement at the end of September 2017.Chimbandi was instrumental in the building of Zimbabwe's Foreign Service."His revolutionary background was evident in the way he promoted and protected Zimbabwe's national interest at home and abroad," said the ministry."In Chimbandi, the country had a dedicated and astute diplomat who contributed immensely to the strengthening of relations between Zimbabwe and the countries he served in."In spite of these accomplishments, Chimbandi was humble and modest, tenets that endeared him to fellow workmates and acquaintances. He will be sorely missed by all those touched by his illustrious life."During this very sad period of their lives, may Chimbandi's family find solace in the knowledge that their loss is shared by the entire nation."Chimbandi is survived by his wife and three children.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE Bulawayo City Council has resolved to repossess 6,5 hectares of land that had been sold to the Minister of State for Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs, Cain Mathema, for the construction of a secondary school in Cowdray Park suburb.The council is repossessing the land after the Provincial Minister failed to comply with the conditions of sale, according to the latest council report.Mathema was allocated the land in 2012 when he was still the Governor for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province.BCC said it will be repossessing the land with effect from August 2 this year, without revealing the breached conditions."The Director of Housing and Community Services reported (16th May, 2018) that Council (2nd May, 2012) resolved to lease out Stand 22569 Cowdray Park to Cain Mathema for the purposes of establishing a school. Council (2nd August, 2018) repossessed the stand from Cain Mathema for non-compliance with conditions of offer," read the report.The council said in repossessing the stand, the municipality will sell it to PSM Wholesalers for the purposes of constructing a school.The land will be sold for $55 200."An application to purchase stand 22569 Cowdray Park had been received from PSM wholesalers c/o 5703 Luveve 4 P.O. Luveve, Bulawayo for the purposes of establishing a secondary school," read the report."The Chamber Secretary (Valuation) had advised that the recommended selling price for the above stand (6,9ha) was US$48 000 plus US$7 200 being 15 percent VAT. The minimum building clause was 500m2 plinth area. The department had no objections to the above mentioned stand being allocated to the applicant," reads the report.BCC after consulting its department resolved to sell the land to PSM Wholesalers in compliance with the Urban Councils Act.The council last year revealed that the city has a deficit of 65 new schools with some of the learning institutions having an enrolment of more than 2 300 learners.The municipality revealed that most of its new suburbs which include Cowdray Park, Pumula South and Emganwini are the most hit by a shortage of schools.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE National Patriotic Front - a political project linked to former President, Mr Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace - has officially split, a few days before the nomination court sits for harmonised elections set for July 30.The removal of Mr Mugabe from office last November through Operation Restore Legacy, saw the G40 cabal which had coalesced around his wife transforming into the NPF.The NPF members include Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri (Retired), Professor Jonathan Moyo, Mr Patrick Zhuwao, Mr Saviour Kasukuwere and Mr Jealousy Mawarire.Mr Kasukuwere, who liked Prof Moyo and Zhuwao were in self imposed exile, returned to Zimbabwe last month and announced he was quitting politics.A faction led by Mr Mawarire called for a press conference in Harare yesterday morning and announced it had recalled Rtd Brig Gen Mutinhiri, who was the NPF interim leader.The announcement was made by Mr Mawarire who said they had since appointed Mrs Eunice Sandi-Moyo as NPF interim leader and that they were going into a coalition with MDC Alliance.A few hours later and at the same venue, Media Centre, Rtd Brig Mutinhiri addressed a press conference and insisted he was the NPF interim president and founder of the political outfit, who could not be dismissed by unelected people.Rtd Brig Gen Mutinhiri announced that the NPF will hold consultative meeting to elect substantive national executive."The processes that replaced Mugabe and others was wrong in my view, I disagreed," said Rtd Brig Gen Mutinhiri."I could no longer continue to subscribe to Zanu-PF and at the same time had to resign from Parliament because I was there on Zanu-PF ticket," he said."I consulted with the former President Mugabe who said to me if you have the guts, go ahead. So myself and others, we decided to form the NPF, which I am the founding president of and it is registered as such by Zec."Rtd Brig Gen Mutinhiri said Mr Mawarire and his group that included the faction's interim leader Mrs Sandi Moyo, had expelled themselves from the party by virtue of their conduct.He said the NPF had not yet made a decision on whether to join MDC Alliance.He castigated Mawarire and his camp for publicly supporting the MDC Alliance presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa during last Tuesday's demonstration in Harare without first consulting other party members."NPF is open to join any of these alliances but has not taken a move yet towards that," he said."There are people who have gone out of their way to chant slogans of other political parties. Those have done it on their own. They have not been sanctioned by NPF. We believe we are a people's party and such decision like joining alliances cannot be done without the party holding wide-ranging consultations."He said as it stands the NPF leadership has not been elected.Earlier on Mawarire announced that the NPF had fired Rtd Brig Mutinhiri and that they were going into alliance with MDC Alliance ahead of the harmonised elections set for end of July.Both Mr Mawarire and Mrs Moyo addressed the press conference on the party's resolutions.Mr Mawarire said the party resolved to recall Rtd Brig Gen Mutinhiri from his current position for teaming up with a former cabinet minister to hire thugs to disrupt an NFEC meeting at the Margolis Resort in Harare on Thursday.He said the decision to recall Mutinhiri was unanimously endorsed by the NFEC members present at the meeting.Mr Mawarire said the NPF was expected to conclude an electoral pact with the MDC Alliance by Monday next week, saying the issue of parliamentary seats to be allocated to the party was a done deal.
News / National

by Staff reporter

GUKURAHUNDI victims and rights groups in Matabeleland region have accused the British government of being complicit in the mass killings and challenged the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) to summon the former colonial masters' representatives to come and testify in the matter.Speaking during a national healing and reconciliation indaba organised by Habakkuk Trust in Bulawayo on Thursday, various civic groups blamed the British government for allegedly aiding the atrocities by refusing to rein in then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace claimed that over 20 000 people were killed during the military-led atrocities, which occurred between 1982 and 1987, with most of the victims being innocent civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.The participants called on NPRC Commissioner Lesley Ncube, who was present at the meeting, to take the initiative to summon representatives of the United Kingdom government to respond to the allegations."Commissioner, it is clear that Britain was complicit in the killings of people in this part of the country. They did nothing to stop it and we feel that they have a hand in the Gukurahundi. Why can't they be brought in when we talk about this issue to tell us their position and answer our questions?" a participant asked.In response, Ncube said: "It's very important that when we have such important issues. Let's put them in writing and make submissions because word of mouth at times does not work. When you submit papers to the commission, you are building up your case through evident submissions and you will be able to say 'in a letter dated this day, I submitted to the commission, I said this'."Ncube told participants that Ibhetshu LikaZulu' filed a similar court case against Mugabe, current President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Kembo Mohadi and British Premier Theresa May, but the matter failed to take off because the complainants did not submit their papers to the commission.Sometime early this year, Ibhetshu LikaZulu secretary-general Mbuso Fuzwayo, civil rights activist Dumisani Mpofu and Gukurahundi survivor, Charles Thomas filed a High Court application seeking an order compelling the respondents to release the Chihambakwe and Dumbutshena Commissions report on Gukurahundi which were allegedly suppressed by Mugabe's administration.Speaking at the same event, Mpofu challenged the NPRC to demand the immediate release of the two reports by Mnangagwa's government."The findings of other commissions which were captured when the wounds were still fresh in people's minds must be released as at the moment the facts may be distorted," he said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A suspected cartel of five people was brought before Chiredzi magistrate Geraldine Mutsotso last week charged with smuggling 150 bales of second-hand clothes from Mozambique into Chiredzi.Representing the State, Rony Chibatamaoko told the court that on May 22, the suspected syndicate, made up of Leo Bhila (31), Tapiwa Mapfumo (32), John Madondo (32), Runyararo Zanga (30) and George Musvosvi (29) used an illegal route into Zimbabwe to evade payment of duty at the legitimate port of entry.The following day, the minerals and border control unit got a tip-off that the five accused persons' UD truck was parked suspiciously in the bush near Chilonga Bridge in Chiredzi.They went to investigate upon receiving the information, leading to the arrest of the five after they failed to produce declaration documents that are given at the border upon clearance with the customs department.The accused, who are being represented by Charles Vhudzi of Zimbodza and Associates, denied the charges and were remanded in custody pending their bail hearing on Friday, June 01.Mutsotso told the court that the accused had no right to do what they were being accused of doing and justice had to be served.Police seized and took to Zimra Chiredzi office 150 bales of second-hand clothes worthy US$76 405.
Opinion / Columnist

Knowledge Hakata is a political commentator and the co-founder of Demos Cratos. He can be contacted on knowledgehakata@yahoo.com

Zimbabweans should be worry of a leader in the caliber of President Emerson Mnangagwa. This military controlled President has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he is off better as a Vice President than a Head of State. His decision to legalize and later revoke the growing of mbanje in Zimbabwe parade clearly how the junta president is a poor policy maker.For starters every policy that will be gazetted in Zimbabwe would have been approved by the Cabinet and for sure to think that Zimbabwe's ministers in the capacity of some with PHD's would seat down and approve such a stinking policy one tends to ask if Mnangagwa's cabinet is full of psychiatric patients.You cannot revoke a policy because they have been a public outcry that is high level of incompetence in the capacity of the President of the Republic. More so the fiasco in which Gen Chiwenga had to exercise presidential powers and fire the government nurses in a case which have only been witnessed in Zimbabwe across the whole globe to the extent that even former Zaire President Mobutu in his moments of madness never did such an awkward thing which Chiwenga did.How can you fire all the government nurses surely Zimbabwe's top leadership is in turmoil some of these guys were better of as soldiers not as second in command. You cannot fire people because they were striking surely some of Mnanangagwa's policies are really bad this man instead of taking Zimbabweans to Canaan he will retain them to (Egypt) the biblical land of bondage.Zimbabweans should be worry of this man as they head for the crunch July 30 national elections. The military's strong dominance in the current government set up is extremely bad as Zimbabwe is now more or less under the military rule, history has shown us that a military rule in any state undermines both democracy and development, hence Zimbabweans should do themselves a favor by kicking Mnangagwa and his incompetence demagogues out of government.The marginalization in Matabeleland and the silence over the Gukurahundi issue by the EDM government should propel the people in Matabeleland to kick out the crocodile and its allies from the Munhumutapa Bulding.The Ndebele people continue to suffer from serious marginalization and such issues can only be addressed if Zimbabweans vote in a competent leader in the capacity of Hon Nelson Chamisa. President Mnangangwa was part of the Zanu Pf that lied to the Zimbabweans about 2 million jobs and the same man is uttering the same nonsense again everywhere he goes whenever he is addressing the long overdue suffering Zimbabweans. Zanu Pf wants to continue to take a ride on the people of Zimbabwe.In Manicaland the voters should kick this regime out of power considering that of all the diamond that have been mined in the province they have been no tangible development while most of the people in deep rural Manicaland are walloping in stinking poverty.In Mash West many voters in that area will always recount the violence that came prior to the runoff election of 2008, how innocent citizens were brutalized and murdered for voting for change surely 'a leopard will never change its sports', Mnangagwa and his military cabal should be shown the original exit door from Zimbabwean politics come July 30.In the major towns Zimbabweans especially educated citizens have been reduced to the platforms such as vending while the big cows in Zanu Pf continue to squander state resources.They is nothing good that will never come from Zanu Pf. The revolutionary party used Zimbabweans to kick out former President Robert Mugabe from power not for the benefit of the majority but for them to continue plundering state resources.Zimbabweans should unite and vote out Mnangagwa and his political demagogues
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at the the G-7 summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

By Rod Nickel

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his complaints about Canada's dairy system on Thursday ahead of a Group of Seven summit in Quebec that is likely to center on trade disputes.

In a tweet Trump said, Canada "doesn't bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300 percent on dairy - hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!"

HOW DOES CANADA'S DAIRY SYSTEM WORK?

Canada has managed supplies of dairy, eggs and poultry since the 1970s, restricting how much farmers can produce and limiting imports through onerous tariffs.

Quotas restrict how much farmers produce according to domestic demand.

The Canadian Dairy Commission, a government corporation, sets prices for butter and skim milk powder annually, which provincial boards use as a reference in establishing the price of milk.

DOES THE SYSTEM BREAK TRADING RULES?

Canada's dairy system falls outside of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

A WTO panel ruled in 2002 that Canada breached its trade obligations through its dairy support, siding with the United States. The result of the WTO ruling is that Canada is not allowed to export much dairy.

WHY IS TRUMP UPSET?

U.S. dairy processors want to increase sales to Canada but high tariffs of nearly 300 percent stand in the way. For several years, U.S. dairies rapidly boosted shipments to Canada of milk proteins, used to make cheese and yogurt, using a loophole in Canada's tariff system. But a 2016 deal between Canadian dairy farmer groups and processors including Saputo Inc, Agropur and Parmalat Canada [PLTPRC.UL] curbed the flow.

Even so, the United States shipped nearly C$600 million worth of dairy north in 2016, five times greater than Canadian sales to the United States.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF CANADA'S DAIRY SECTOR?

Farm dairy sales amount to around C$6 billion ($4.6 billion) annually. Processed dairy shipments are worth C$15 billion, according to 2016 government figures.

HOW MUCH IMPORTED DAIRY DOES CANADA ALLOW?

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Canada allows about 20,000 tonnes of cheese imports annually, a total that will almost double once a free trade deal with the European Union is fully implemented in five years. Cheese shipped to Canada above the quota is subject to a tariff of more than 200 percent, according to Al Mussell, research lead at Agri-Food Economic Systems.

Cheese imports still make up a small percentage, currently around 5 percent, of Canadian dairy consumption.

WHY DOES THIS SYSTEM SURVIVE?

All major political parties say they support supply management because it stabilizes incomes for dairy farmers. Producers in other countries have suffered from volatile price swings.

But the country's 11,280 dairy farmers form one of the most influential lobbies in Canada. Most farm in Quebec and Ontario, the Canadian provinces with the most Parliament seats.

WHAT DO CRITICS SAY?

Other dairy-producing countries such as the United States and New Zealand say it is an unfair way to shelter the Canadian industry. Within Canada, some groups say it prevents the country from becoming a dairy-exporting power, as it is in grain and meat. They say that severely restricting imports results in higher Canadian food prices.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Sandra Maler)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's oil production increased to 11.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first week of June, far exceeding production limits outlined in a global oil deal, Interfax news agency cited a source as saying on Saturday. Russia agreed to cut its production by 300,000 bpd from 11.247 million bpd as part of a global pact. The Russian Energy Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Interfax said Russian oil production stood on average at 1.513 million tonnes per day in the first week of the month and never got below 1.511 million tonnes. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other leading oil producers including Russia will meet in Vienna on June 22-23 to discuss the future of the deal, which is valid until the end of the year. Russia and OPEC leader Saudi Arabia have signaled there could be a need to gradually boost production to prevent any supply shortages. Most Russian oil majors have supported the increase in oil production as prices have reached $80 per barrel last month. Currently, oil is trading at more than $76 per barrel. Vladimir Putin has said a price of $60 "suits" Russia. Russian oil output was stagnant at 10.97 million barrels per day (bpd) for a third month in a row in May. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Mark Potter)
Doug Ford's Ontario PCs stormed to a majority victory in Thursday night's provincial election in part thanks to breaking through in Toronto's inner suburbs.

And Ford, a former city councillor and brother of the late mayor Rob Ford, may have big plans for this city.

-

OPINION | Doug Ford's next challenge? Making sense of all those promises: Robyn Urback

Ford made a number of promises for Toronto during his campaign and as premier will have a huge hand in a range of city issues  from transit to supervised injection sites to parks. While it's too soon to say exactly what his government will do, here are five things to keep an eye on.

Scarborough subway

Expect a return of the "Subways! Subways! Subways!" mantra  except this time it will be coming from Queen's Park.

Ford voiced his strong preference for subways in Toronto during the campaign. That includes going back to a three-stop subway extension to Scarborough, something the city has deemed too expensive.

The current one-stop plan is controversial enough, due to its price tag of $3.35 billion (an updated figure won't be released until after October's municipal election). How much more is Ford willing to spend?

That's a big question because Ford also wants to build the downtown relief line, extend the Yonge and Sheppard lines and potentially "upload" the entire subway system to the province. It's hard to see how he'll be able to afford it all.

The future of light rail

The city is also prioritizing the construction of a number of light rail lines, including one to serve the East Bayfront, which is poised to experience dramatic growth in the coming years.

Ford has said "transit will get built down there" but hasn't made a firm commitment to that project.

Meanwhile, some Etobicoke-area councillors who have been supporting Ford have been calling for the western section of the Eglinton Crosstown to go underground, which could add another cost.

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Ryerson University's Matti Siemiatycki, who specializes in transportation planning, says it will likely take Ford's administration some time to figure out its plan.

"During elections you hear a lot of slogans, you hear a lot of proposals, and all of the proposals now need to be vetted," he said.

Supervised injection sites

Doug Ford doesn't like supervised injection sites.

Ford says he supports drug rehabilitation efforts instead of harm reduction, telling a crowd at one campaign stop: "if your son, daughter or loved one ever had an addiction, would you want them to go in a little area and do more drugs? I'm dead against that."

But that puts him at odds with the city, which has established four supervised injection sites in the downtown core with support from the outgoing Liberals. Supporters of the programs, including those who sprung into action to open an unsanctioned site in Moss Park, say they've saved hundreds of lives.

It's unclear if Ford will cut the funding the city is receiving for these services, or try to reroute that money.

Ontario Place's development

As a councillor, Ford pitched the idea of building a massive Ferris wheel on Toronto's Port Lands. He also wanted to see a casino on the Exhibition grounds.

Well, now Ford controls Ontario Place, a huge chunk of land on the city's western waterfront.

Kathleen Wynne's government built Trillium Park on part of the land, and announced plans to turn the rest of the space into a massive park called Celebration Common.

However, that work is set to take years, which could leave the door open to a new idea from Ford. For now, he's provided no indication this will happen.

Are road tolls officially a no-go?

Mayor John Tory was left fuming after Wynne's government shot down a proposal to toll the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

But city officials kept urging Tory to not let the idea die  even though the PCs, NDP and Liberals all publicly opposed the plan.

It seems highly unlikely Ford will pull a U-turn on this file and let the city charge drivers a fee in order to generate some transit cash.

So the question is whether or not he will keep giving the city millions of dollars in gas tax revenue (the city received $182 million last year) to make up for that move.

Ford has promised to do that, but he's also promised to cut gas prices for drivers by lowering provincial taxes, which could make that difficult.
A Norway House animal rescue is pleading with Indigenous Services Canada for help feeding hundreds of dogs left behind after two Manitoba First Nation communities were evacuated because of fire.

Debra Vandekerkhove, the director of Norway House Animal Rescue, estimates about 700 dogs have been left behind in Pauingassi and Little Grand Rapids First Nations after a wildfire last month.

She was moved to act after seeing a photo of a handful of puppies gaunt and desperately eating food.

While the dog rescue is working with the Red Cross to fly food to the communities, Vandekerkhove says there are very few people left to distribute it.

She says volunteers need approval and funding from the federal government to get into the communities and help the dogs before they starve or form dangerous packs.

The Red Cross says they are working with the animal rescue and the RCMP to distribute the food.
It began with a single image of child pornography uploaded to Skype.

But that upload was the tip-off for Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit to begin an investigation that would lead not only to charges, but also the rescue of abused children a world away.

"All in all now, we've got 12 kids in the Philippines that are certainly in a better spot than what they were a few months ago," said ICE's Cpl. Jared Clarke, after returning from a trip to the Philippines to provide testimony about the investigation.

The ICE unit began its investigation in February of 2017, which led to the arrest of Philip Chicoine of Saskatoon, with Clarke having described Chicoine's collection as "some of the worst stuff I've ever seen."

Chicoine was sentenced to 12 years in prison last November, the longest sentence ever handed to a convicted child pornographer in Saskatchewan's history.

But the case didn't end with Chicoine's arrest, as ICE began working with the Philippine National Police and the International Justice Mission in a further investigation.

Armed with chat histories, IP addresses, online personas and more, the investigation uncovered one suspect in the Philippines.

That led to the arrest of one female suspect, and while searching the home, police found and rescued nine children. Following up on other leads and other suspects led to another arrest, and the rescue of three more children.

Clarke said some were biological children of the adult suspects, while others were nieces and nephews of the suspects.

Others were neighbourhood children, caught out by supposed offers of food or treats, said Clarke.

Children share meal, laughs with police

Clarke recently made a trip to the Philippines to provide court testimony that will serve against one of the female suspects and her husband, both of whom are facing charges.

During the trip, he and RCMP officer Sgt. Jay Schooley also visited with the rescued children, who had been taken to a shelter.

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"It was the quietest room of kids I've ever been in," Clarke said, recalling the only thing that seemed to get the kids going was the mention of a local fast food restaurant, Jollibee.

So he and Schooley came back after a day at court, armed with 40 happy meals of spaghetti and hamburgers from the restaurant.

"And then [we] got to sit there and eat some food and share some laughs with the kids," he recalled.

People often tell Clarke they couldn't do the same work he does, but he said that every ICE investigator in the world has the same goal  saving kids.

"This was a case where we obviously were able to do that and was super rewarding," he said. "It's success in that regard, and certainly keeps you driven to keep doing the work."
Astaldi Canada is suing an American company over the collapse of a concrete formwork at the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric site in Labrador two years ago.

At the time, senior Nalcor Energy officials called it "a very, very serious incident."

One worker was sent to hospital, and others received first-aid treatment.

Now, the Canadian wing of Astaldi  the Italian firm contracted to build Muskrat Falls  is blaming Kansas-based Contractor's Engineer Inc. for the collapse of the wooden framework during a concrete pour at the powerhouse.

"The defendant was negligent in providing such work which resulted in the aforementioned collapse of the wooden framework," Astaldi alleged in a statement of claim filed at Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court May 28.

Astaldi is accusing the Kansas company of breach of contract, negligence, and breach of its duty of care.

It is seeking an array of damages, although no dollar amount is specified.

None of the claims have been tested in court.

Contractor's Engineer Inc. has yet to file a statement of defence.

Neither company returned messages seeking comment Thursday afternoon.

1st such failure, U.S. firm said in 2016

A month after the 2016 incident, the owner of Contractor's Engineer Inc. told CBC News the collapse of the concrete formwork was the first such failure in the company's long history.

"It's a situation that's not good for anybody  me, the contractor, the owner  it's not good all the way around," Dave Kramer said.

A report commissioned by Nalcor Energy found that at least one of the following things happened:

- The shoring system was not designed properly;

- Wood integrity of the formwork was compromised;

- The shoring system was not installed correctly;

- The shoring system fabrication was inadequate.

That report, issued a year after the incident, also indicated a combination of those factors could have led to the collapse.

Troubled megaproject now 90% complete

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The Muskrat Falls megaproject is years behind schedule and billions over budget.

But in April, Nalcor Energy CEO Stan Marshall said it had "turned a corner" and was 90 per cent done.

The total Muskrat Falls price tag is now projected to come in at $12.7 billion, including interest and other costs.

The province has called a public inquiry to examine what led to those spiralling costs.

Read more articles on CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
Author Steven Galloway, fired by the University of British Columbia in 2016, has been awarded $167,000 in damages following arbitration.

Galloway admitted to having an affair with a student but was also critical of the university's handling of the case, which sparked a divisive debate on campus and in the country's literary community.

On Friday, an arbitrator on the case said that some communications by the school contravened Galloway's privacy rights and caused harm to his reputation.

In his four-page decision, John B. Hall writes mostly about the process of the arbitration with little detail about what specific communications were damaging.

In 2015, Galloway was suspended with pay from the school. At the time, a memo from the university's dean of arts said it involved "serious allegations."

He was fired from his position as head of UBC's creative writing program in the summer.

The university's handling of the suspension, and its investigation carried out by former B.C. Supreme Court justice Mary Ellen Boyd, was criticized by Canadian literary icons like Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje.

Cause to dismiss

In February 2018, during the arbitration proceedings, the Faculty Association withdrew its claim on behalf of Galloway for reinstatement, as well as the claims for compensation for lost income and benefits.

That meant the arbitrator did not have to deal with the issue of whether the university had cause to dismiss Galloway.

In a statement, the school said it accepts the decision.

On Friday, lawyer Brent Olthuis, who represents Galloway, said his client had no comment.
Canada is flatly rejecting Donald Trump's suggestion to reinstate Russia in the G7, four years after it was expelled from the group of industrialized nations for annexing Ukraine's Crimea.

Before departing for the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que., the U.S. president called on the G7 leaders to let Russia back in.

"It may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run. And in the G7, which used to be the G8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table," he told reporters.

But Canada, which pushed for Russia to get the boot in 2014, is not onside.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada's position has not changed.

"Russia was invited to be part of this club and I think that was a very wise initiation, and an invitation full of goodwill," she told reporters at the summit.

"Russia, however, made clear that it had no interest in behaving according to the rules of Western democracies."

Former prime minister Stephen Harper said Russia should never be allowed back in the G7 as long as Vladimir Putin is in power.

"Canada would very, very strongly oppose Putin ever sitting around that table again. It would require consensus to bring Russia back and that consensus will just not happen," he said in 2015.

"Russia is more often than not trying deliberately to be a strategic rival, to deliberately counter the good things we're trying to achieve in the world for no other reason than to just counter them."

In April, the Liberal government expelled four Russian diplomats, declaring them unwelcome in the country amid allegations about Moscow's role in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter.

Russia's Foreign Ministry responded by expelling an equal number of Canadian diplomats along with representatives of other countries, including Australia, France and Finland.

Russia became a full member of what became known as the G8 in 1997 and hosted the 2006 summit in St. Petersburg.

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Italy agrees with Trump

The group suspended Russia's membership after its annexation of Crimea. A meeting that Russia was set to chair in Sochi was moved to Brussels. Since then, the group has been known as the G7 again.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte agreed with Trump that Russia should be readmitted, saying it is "in everyone's interest."

European Council President Donald Tusk said Russia is less interested in the G7 format than other members. He prefers to keep the group to seven, quipping that it is a "lucky number."

According to the Russian government-controlled news agency Sputnik, Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov responded to Trump's statement by saying, "Russia is focused on other formats, apart from the G7."

Russia experts in Canada say there are more disadvantages than advantages to letting Russia rejoin the group.

Piotr Dutkiewicz, a professor and Russian foreign relations expert at Carleton University, said no global issue can be effectively discussed today without China and Russia at the table, and it's better to have a stable, open channel of communication than to deal with the unknown.

But swallowing principle and allowing Russia back in would validate Putin's bad behaviour and harm the reputation of the G7 leaders, he said.

No redemption, no reinstatement

Aurel Braun, a professor of international relations at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, said Russia was expelled for very good reasons and has done nothing since to redeem itself.

"It's very hard to see how, just for the sake of having dialogue, one can develop a kind of amnesia about all of the other actions that Russia has taken, including domestic actions against dissidents and external aggressiveness, and no indication that this is about to change," he said.

Braun said that Trump likely raised the Russia issue to throw the discussions off balance and distract from the topic of tariffs. It also suggests Trump is taking the G7 less and less seriously, he said.
Carmelo Gutierrez came to Canada fleeing war torn Guatemala when he was just three years old.

He is now in his late twenties and works as a waiter in a Leamington, Ont. restaurant.

But he still has about 40 relatives back in Guatemala. They weren't displaced by the volcano, but the devastation he sees on TV and hears about from them concerns him deeply.

"It hurts. It's my second home," said Gutierrez, who is a board member of the relief group, Guatemala Hope.

The agency organizes missions to Guatemala to bring medical aid and supplies to his coastal village of El Triunfo.

"They are the poorest of the poor," said Gutierrez.

He keeps in touch by phone and although his relatives from that village and those in Guatemala City have only experienced a fallout of ash from the volcano, family members of one of the translators they work with have been displaced.

Guatemala Hope is organizing a medical mission for November but Gutierrez said some relief might have to come sooner than later.

"We're actively soliciting what needs they have currently and we hope to gather much needed supplies to assist in the relief efforts," said Gutierrez.

"To hear the stories is horrific when you hear of the deaths," said Louise Elliott, vice president and head of the Mission Committee for Guatemala Hope.

Elliott is concerned the falling ash could affect the agricultural crop.

"Most of our guys are farmers so maybe it's going to affect their corn, their soy beans, their sesame seed output," said Elliott.

Local Rotarians are also concerned with students they are helping through a literacy program in the region.

Gisele Seguin has been to the area five times. She said a liaison they have in Guatemala said none of the students they sponsor have been affected but she is also concerned about the long term economic affects the volcano will have on the citizens.

"We know that it's hard enough to keep kids in school. If there's families that are going to be affected by someone," said Seguin.

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"We've seen kids in the literacy program dropout because maybe they need to help on the family farm, with business...so I think this is just going to put more pressure on the country," said Seguin.

Guatemala Hope is looking for volunteers in the medical field to travel to Guatemala to administer health care. They are also seeking donations for relief.

More information can be found at guatemalahope.ca.
Town of Assiniboia crew members had to don hipwaders to drain flash flooding in the southwestern community Thursday night.

Carol White, chief administrative officer with the Town of Assiniboia, said the flooding occurred on 1st Avenue W. and Highway 13.

The town had to close three blocks as a crew spent just over half an hour clearing it up.

White said she had received several notifications of a storm coming through, but there was no hail or wind, so the rain went straight down.

She said it added up to over six centimetres of precipitation and a pool of water accumulated at a low spot.

"Our crew had to have their hipwaders on. It was probably coming up to thigh height for a average-sized person," White said.

In 24 hours, peak precipitation levels included:

- Bratts lake 46.2 mm

- Weyburn 40.7 mm

- Mankota 31.5 mm

- Indian Head 29.5 mm

- Rockglen 29.3 mm

- Cypress Hills 25.8 mm

- Regina 25.7 mm

Two separate rain patterns brought between 80 mm and 100 mm of rain to Bethune and Gravelbourg respectively.

As Saskatchewan braces for more rain, White said her community is not worried, but is prepared.

Showers are expected in the area for Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights, according to Environment Canada.

Assiniboia is 133 km southwest of Regina.
A tornado was reported to have touched down near St. Paul, Alta. on Saturday and tornado warnings have been issued for three areas northeast of Edmonton  Lamont County near Andrew and Wostok, Smoky Lake County near Smoky Lake and Waskatenau, and Smoky Lake County near Vilna Saddle Lake and Whitefish Lake.

The warnings were issued around 3 p.m. Saturday. Summer-like weather across the province was hot enough in several eastern and central parts that heat and severe storm warnings were issued by Environment Canada.

St. Paul is about 200 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

Severe thunderstorm watches are currently in effect for:

- Co. of St. Paul near Ashmont St. Vincent and St. Lina, Co. of St. Paul near St. Paul and Lafond, Lac La Biche Co. near Fork Lake.

- Wheatland Co. near Strathmore Lyalta and Carseland.

- Rocky View Co. near Irricana Beiseker and Kathyrn, Wheatland Co. near Rockyford and Rosebud.

- Co. of Two Hills near Willingdon and Hairy Hill.

- Co. of Warner near Milk River and Coutts, Co. of Warner near Warner, Co. of Warner near Wrentham.

- Co. of Two Hills near Two Hills and Brosseau.

"An area of showers and thunderstorms are forecast to develop through portions of central Alberta this afternoon then move to the northeast. These thunderstorms will continue into the evening hours. Large hail, strong winds and heavy rain are possible with these thunderstorms," read the Environment Canada in the weather alert.

Environment Canada issued heat warnings for several parts of the province Saturday morning, all of which ended around 3 p.m.

Severe thunderstorm watches are also in effect for:

- Brooks, Strathmore, Vulcan.

- Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Foremost.

- Drumheller, Three Hills.

- Fort McMurray, Fort MacKay.

- Fort Saskatchewan, Vegreville, Redwater, Smoky Lake.

- Hanna, Coronation, Oyen.

- Leduc, Camrose, Wetaskiwin, Tofield.

- Lethbridge, Taber, Milk River.

- Lloydminster, Wainwright, Vermilion, Provost.

- Medicine Hat, Bow Island, Suffield.

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- Slave Lake.

- Westlock, Barrhead, Athabasca.

For more information on current conditions in Alberta, visit the Environment Canada alerts page.
The legalization of cannabis will not result in a dramatic increase in usage, says P.E.I. Senator Diane Griffin.

Griffin made the comments after Bill C-45 passed the Senate on Thursday night with 46 amendments.

"Anyone who thinks all of a sudden the gates are going to be wide open to marijuana use is daydreaming," Griffin said on CBC's Island Morning.

"A lot of people have been using it for many years, especially young people, and they were being criminalized for it."

Griffin and fellow Island senator Percy Downe voted in favour of the cannabis bill, while Mike Duffy did not register a vote.

'We were at this all week'

The bill passed by a vote of 56-30, with one abstention.

It will now go back to the House of Commons for deliberation on the amendments. The provinces have asked for 12 weeks to prepare for retail sales after the bill receives royal assent.

It was the most vigorous debate Griffin has participated in since she joined the Senate, she said.

"We were at this all week with amendments being made," she said.

Public safety an 'important factor'

Along with the end of criminalization for people using the drug, Griffin said she also supports legalization to eliminate impurities in the black market.

"It wasn't a guaranteed product. Now the product will be to certain specifications, so public safety is a really important factor in this bill," she said.

Among the significant amendments is one that would allow provinces to decide whether residents can cultivate the plants at home.

"That's very important for provincial authorities to have that autonomy  after all, most land use decisions are made by the provincial or municipal governments," Griffin said.

'More work to be done'

Charlottetown MP Sean Casey said cannabis will be retailed in P.E.I. by the end of the year.

"It seems to me we're pretty much on the same page in terms of the implementation. I don't see a concern with where P.E.I. is in its preparations," said Casey.

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The Liberal caucus in the house will now look at the proposed amendments, Casey said.

"There's more work to be done, clearly," he said.

"We've got to look at amendments and which ones we can support as a government. This was part of our platform, so it will be a caucus decision, I would think."

More P.E.I. news
By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Approximately 600 homes have been swallowed by lava flows from Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island since early last month, marking its most destructive eruption in modern times, Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim said on Thursday. The latest estimate of property losses from Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, far surpasses the 215 structures consumed by lava during an earlier eruption cycle that began in 1983 and continued nearly nonstop over three decades. Kim said Kilauea, one of five volcanoes on the Big Island, formally known as the Island of Hawaii, has never destroyed so many homes before in such a short period of time. The latest volcanic eruption, which entered its 36th day on Thursday, stands as the most destructive in the United States since at least the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state that reduced hundreds of square miles to wasteland, according to geologist Scott Rowland, a volcano specialist from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A similar, extremely violent eruption from Fuego volcano in Guatemala this week killed more than 100 people as it ejected deadly super-heated "pyroclastic" flows of lava and ash through nearby towns. The latest damage appraisal from Kilauea came moments after Governor David Ige, on a visit to Hawaii County Civil Defense headquarters in Hilo, the island's biggest city, signed a memorandum of understanding furnishing $12 million in immediate state disaster relief to the island. Ige and Kim also announced formation of a task force of federal, state and local officials to devise a recovery plan for communities devastated by the eruption, with an eye toward preventing such major property losses in the future. "Our responsibility is to try to work with the community to rebuild out of harm's way," Kim said. County civil defense officials had a day earlier put the confirmed number of homes destroyed during the past month at 130, all of them in and around the Leilani Estates community, where lava-spouting fissures opened up on the volcano's eastern flank on May 3. More recently a huge river of lava that has crept several miles across the landscape to the eastern tip of the island engulfed two entire seaside housing subdivisions - Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland. Over the course of about three days, a rolling wall of molten rock measuring half-mile across and 10- to 15-feet tall buried hundreds of homes, while vaporizing a small freshwater lake and filling in an inlet called Kapoho Bay, extending about a mile out from what had been the shoreline. Kim said Vacationland, a private development believed to comprise roughly 160 homes, was completely erased, and that at least 330 houses were devoured by lava at Kapoho Beach Lots. The rest were The rest of the losses have occurred in the Leilani Estates area, where the toll of destruction has been steadily rising by the day. "So if you combine the three of them (Kapoho, Vacationland and Leilani), we're talking about 600 homes," he told reporters. "I'm talking about 600 families. Don't forget the farmers, don't forget the ranchers, don't forget all the employees for them." An estimated 2,500 people have been displaced by evacuations across the island since the eruption began five weeks ago, spouting fountains of lava and high concentrations of toxic sulfur dioxide gas through about two dozen volcanic fissures at the foot of the volcano. Plumes of volcanic ash belched into the air by periodic daily explosions from the crater at Kilauea's summit have posed an additional nuisance and health hazard to nearby communities. So too have airborne volcanic glass fibers, called "Pele's Hair," wispy strands carried aloft by the wind from lava fountains and named for the volcanic goddess of Hawaiian myth. Seaside residents and boaters also have been warned to avoid noxious clouds of laze - a term derived from the words "lava" and "haze" - formed when lava reacts with seawater to form a mix of acid fumes, steam and glass-like particles when it flows into the ocean. Frequent earthquakes, mostly of relatively small magnitude but numbering in the thousands, have persisted throughout the eruption, adding to the jitters of residents living closest to the volcano. In addition to destroying homes and other structures, lava flows have knocked out telephone and power lines, causing widespread communication outages, and forced the shutdown of a geothermal energy plant that normally provides about a quarter of the island's electricity. (Reporting by Terray Sylvester in Pahoa; Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler, Paul Tait and Michael Perry)
Conduent Inc. CEO for Philippines and Malaysia Rishi Pradahan

Conduent Inc., the worlds largest provider of diversified business services, named Rishi Pradhan as chief executive for its operations in the Philippines and Malaysia. Rishi has been serving as interim leader for these countries since November 2017 and prior to that was finance, accounting, and procurement service delivery leader for the Philippines, responsible for all the FA&P services delivered to the companys clients from the Philippines. Rishi has extensive experience in account management, transition and solutions positions in the business services industry, said Pratap Sarker, group chief executive for financial services and healthcare of Conduent. As CEO for Conduents operations in the Philippines and Malaysia, Rishi will execute the companys growth strategy for each country, and work to ensure excellent service to clients. Conduent is a business process services company headquartered in New Jersey that was formed in 2017 out of Xerox.Conduents operations in the Philippines include 8,500 employees, based in Metro Manila and Cebu City, and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 700 employees, that are engaged in a range of activities including finance and accounting services, HR services, transaction processing, healthcare and customer experience services.Conduent has a significant presence in both the Philippines and Malaysia which are key service delivery locations for the company in the Asia Pacific region, said Pradhan. Our employees, that we will continue to grow in both countries, are our most valued resource and key to delivering excellent customer service. We will continue to enhance the employee experience as we grow. Pradhan will continue to be based in Manila and report to Sarker, the group CEO. Prior to Conduent, Rishi held various management positions at IBM Philippines in the companys finance and accounting group.
Tearful boss apologizes at inquiry for nurse who killed in nursing homes

The woman who hired a nurse who killed seven patients in a Woodstock., Ont , care home tearfully apologized on Friday at a public inquiry in St. Thomas, Ont.

Helen Crombez, the Caressant Care home's former director of nursing, said she knew Elizabeth Wettlaufer made frequent medication and nursing errors, but had no idea she was deliberately injecting patients with insulin to kill them.

"It was devastating," Crombez said of her own reaction to hearing the news that Wettlaufer had confessed to killing patients at her home and another in London, Ont.

"It was the most terrible thing that could have happened to anyone who works in long-term care, who loves her residents, who always wanted the best care possible," she said.

Crombez was the second witness to testify at the public inquiry into long-term care in Ontario.

The inquiry was established after Wettlaufer was sentenced to eight concurrent life terms for killing eight people, and is headed by Justice Eileen Gillese. It's set to hear from 17 parties over nine weeks.

Crombez said the news of the killings affected her as well as the staff and residents of the nursing home.

"It changed my life. I haven't been the same since. I'm so sorry that it happened. I can just imagine what the families went through."

During her 30-year career at the Caressant Care home, her goal was to offer residents comfort and peaceful, natural deaths as their lives came to a close, she said.

"To know that Beth committed these crimes, it's just awful," she said.

Her tearful apology also brought Justice Gillese to tears. Gillese thanked Crombez for her candor.

Opioids stolen from home

Earlier in the day, the inquiry heard that police officers in Woodstock were asked to canvass drug dealers in that city in April 2013 to find out if someone was stealing opioids from the Caressant Care nursing home and selling them on the street.

The police investigation began after 31 hydromorphone pills went missing from the home.

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It appeared a box for discarded narcotics had been tampered with and a gap created so someone could slide a hand or tongs in to retrieve the drugs, Crombez, told the inquiry.

Police were also going to check spouses and other family members of employees at the home to see if they knew anything about the missing drugs.

There were no cameras in medication rooms where insulin and narcotics were stored in the home.

But the home was given permission by its head office to install a hidden camera to catch the thief in the act.

"There was never a camera installed but we kind of talked like there was, so it would possibly hinder someone from taking more medication," Crombez said. "I would say things like 'candid camera, you never know.'"

Crombez also went over an incident in March 24, 2008, in which Wettlaufer didn't give a patient his insulin.

Crombez cried, saying that in retrospect, Wettlaufer was likely withholding insulin from some patients so she could use it on others to kill or harm them.

Less than a year later, that patient, Wayne Hedges, 57, was one of the people Wettlaufer tried to kill between September and December 2008. She pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Hedges.

Performance deemed 'competent'

In her first job performance review at Caressant Care, in June 2007, Wettlaufer was given marks of "competent" or "commendable." Crombez rated her medication administration skills as needing improvement.

Wettlaufer gave herself a rating of "competent" for medication administration skills.

Crombez said there were two medication rooms in the 163-bed facility, and a variety of people had keys to them.

One had a small window in the door and the other didn't.

Wettlaufer made a variety of medication errors, though the inquiry has heard she wasn't the only nurse to make such errors. In fact, the home's top administrator testified that such errors were common, partly because of the volume of patients and medications to be given, and because nursing staff were overworked.

As the director of nursing at the home, Crombez was in charge of hiring nurses and is also expected to testify about medication procedures.

Wettlaufer injected her patients with insulin to kill them. She also had drug problems herself, and in a previous job, she was found almost passed out while on shift after overdosing on a narcotic.
In whats being called the day of disruption, protesters in Quebec City are rallying against the G7 summit taking place in La Malbaie, Que.

Demonstrators took to the streets of the city with a variety of protesting methods, from lighting fire crackers, marching and chanting, to burning couches and flags of the G7 countries.

Protesters managed to block off portions of a road in that leads to the summit location at Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu. There have been numerous police officers around during the protest, detaining several individuals as well.

They shut down the legislature; 10,000 provincial civil servants were told to stay home; daycares have been closed. And we shut the road down leading to La Malbaie! a protester said to the crowd, according to The Canadian Press.

Leaders from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Italy will conclude their annual meeting on Saturday. The trade partners will have a highly anticipated discussion on tariffs that U.S. president Donald Trump imposed on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico.
By Nichola Saminather TORONTO (Reuters) - Jake Rowinski, a 20-year-old University of Toronto student, buys marijuana every week from one of the many self-described "medical" dispensaries in downtown Toronto. The illegal store sells openly to customers ranging from budget-minded recreational users like Rowinski to silver-haired grandmothers treating legitimate ailments. "Nobody really cares at this point," Rowinski said outside the shop, near the city's financial district. As Canada's Liberal government prepares to legalize recreational marijuana use this summer, the biggest remaining obstacle to regulated sales will be competition from a thriving black market, according to cannabis investors, researchers, policy analysts and government data. Many buyers of illegal pot will have little incentive to switch to legal weed, which is expected to be more expensive and less available because of strict regulations on sales, according to hedge fund GTV Capital, which invests almost exclusively in Canadian cannabis stocks, and the Marijuana Policy Group, a U.S. research firm. As the first major economy to fully legalize cannabis, Canada's regulatory rollout will be closely watched by other nations considering the same path - and by global investors, who have already poured billions into Canadian marijuana firms. Canada legalized medical marijuana in 2001 but still restricts it to mail-order purchases from licensed providers. That has spurred the proliferation of unsanctioned retailers like the one where Rowinski shops, which recently changed its name to Trees Station Medical Dispensary. Employees at the store declined to comment. Such illicit retailers may soon compete with new legal outlets, and many provinces plan initially to limit the number of government-operated or -licensed stores. Medical marijuana, meanwhile, will remain legal only by mail, despite a push by major pharmacy chains to sell it. The cautious approach could restrain legal investment in a market estimated by Statistics Canada at C$5.7 billion in 2017. About a fifth of Canadians between 15 and 64 years old used marijuana, spending an average of C$1,200 per person at C$7.48 per gram, the agency found. Ninety percent of that money was spent illegally. GTV Capital estimates an average pre-tax price of C$8.33 upon legalization, already higher than the average illegal price because of testing, packaging and security regulations. That doesn't include a planned excise tax of $1 per gram or 10 percent, whichever is higher, or sales taxes of 5 to 15 percent. If the price difference allows the black market to compete, that will hamper the public benefits of legalization - legitimate investment, job creation and tax revenue - and complicate efforts to stamp out crime associated with illegal drug trafficking. Statistics Canada, working with police data in a 2014 study, found organized crime involvement in about a third of marijuana production and trafficking. "Canada's been brave enough to take the step to make cannabis fully legal, but they've also taken the stance that they don't want to promote it," said Steve Ottaway, managing director for investment banking at GMP Securities. "I can appreciate their intent, but at the same time, this is an adult-use market." Canada's Senate voted late Thursday to legalize recreational marijuana, but included amendments that still need approval in the House of Commons. The proposed changes include tighter advertising restrictions and allowing provinces to decide if Canadians can grow cannabis at home. Mark Ware - a McGill University family medicine professor who served as vice-chair of the federal task force advising on the legalization - said the measured approach aims to curb underage use and install government-controlled supply networks, safety checks and legal processes before further expansion. "I don't think anybody can be under any illusion that it will happen right away," said Ware, who will become chief medical officer of cannabis producer Canopy Growth Crop on July 1. LIMITS ON RETAILING Most investors and analysts predict legal sellers will be able to compete on price in the next few years as regulations loosen and legal supply networks grow. At least for now, provinces plan fewer stores than needed to meet demand. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, plans 40 government-run stores at first, rising to 150 by the end of 2020; Quebec, the second largest, will start with 20 stores and decide the pace of expansion later. That compares to about 1,000 retailers in the U.S. state of Colorado, which legalized recreational marijuana use in 2012 and has seen prices drop from more than $12 a gram to less than $7 with the expansion of retailers, according to research firm BDS Analytics. Today, about 70 percent of Colorado marijuana users buy legally, a state spokesperson said. In response to questions about their policies, Quebec and Ontario spokespeople pointed to previous statements. Ontario officials have said they looked to their experience with alcohol and tobacco retailers to guide marijuana policy; a Quebec official has said the province will consider as many as 300 retailers in the long-term. Patchy availability and higher pricing are likely to reduce provincial tax revenues in the early years of legalization, Moody's Investors Service said in a recent report. It predicted British Columbia, with the most liberal retailing regulations, will collect far more tax revenue, about $50 million, than provinces with tighter rules. The federal government will get 25 percent of the excise tax revenue, with the rest going to the province where any given sale occurs. 'A LOT LIKE PIZZA' Canada's national legalization of recreational use has little precedent; it will be only the second country after Uruguay to do so. But it's clear from smaller-scale legalizations that heavy users drive pot-market economics - an obstacle in converting illegal sales to legal ones. "Heavy users use more than everyone else combined," said Damitha Pathmalal, portfolio manager at GTV. Many will "stick to the illicit market, given the price difference." Daily users are only 14 percent of the total but buy about two-thirds of all pot sold, according to GTV Capital and a 2016 report from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. (For a graphic on Canadian marijuana consumption, see: https://tmsnrt.rs/2JvANMH ) Recreational consumers who don't live near a legal store will be able to buy online. But many customers will turn to local outlets - legal or illegal - rather than wait for mail-order, said Miles Light, co-founder at the Marijuana Policy Group in Denver, Colorado. "These are comfort goods; they're a lot like pizza," he said. "The model works, but it's got to be pretty local." ENFORCEMENT DILEMMAS Jeremy Jacob, president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, said availability issues could be solved by giving illicit retailers a path to legal status. But most provinces want to "eradicate the existing industry," Jacob said. British Columbia is the exception. It plans to allow some existing dispensaries to apply for licenses, as Jacob plans to do for his Village Bloomery in Vancouver. The province also plans to step up raids on shops who continue to sell illegally. The goal is "to put a significant dent in the black market," said Mike Farnworth, the province's solicitor general and minister for public safety. Ontario will set aside C$40 million for enforcement after legalization, including policing impaired driving. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police plans to add analysts to monitor organized crime in the cannabis industry after legalization and determine what enforcement resources are needed, said the RCMP's Yves Goupil, a director of federal policing. "If the black market can still operate profitably, there will need to be significant justice resources devoted to enforcement," said Rosalie Wyonch, a policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute, a nonprofit economic policy think tank. Canada has no plans to allow storefront access for medical marijuana despite a pharmacy-industry push to dispense it. Pharmacies including Shoppers Drug Mart - Canada's biggest chain, owned by Loblaw Companies - and PharmaChoice, the country's second-biggest independent pharmacy group, have signed supply agreements with marijuana producers in case rules change. A survey by the Canadian health regulator Health Canada last year found that only 29 percent of those reporting medical cannabis use had a medical document from a health professional, a requirement for buying from licensed producers. The rest bought illegally. ($1 = 1.2855 Canadian dollars) (Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by Denny Thomas and Brian Thevenot)
PhilCare president and CEO Jaeger Tanco

From left: PhilCare vice president for IT James Indino Jr., assistant vice president for customer experience Sonia Nono and senior vice president for sales and marketing Christian Cristobal

Joseph Agustin Jaeger Tanco, the 37-year-old president and chief executive of PhilhealthCare Inc., a leading health maintenance organization, is using digital technology to redefine customer experience in the healthcare sector. PhilCare, which has over 300,000 members, 30,000 accredited physicians and 1,400 accredited hospitals and clinics, is the pioneer in prepaid health cards in the country. It is also the first to introduce mobile apps with artificial intelligence capability that allows members to consult with doctors using smartphones, skip the long lines in waiting for medical care, produce electronic vouchers, find the nearest clinics, generate letters of authority or obtain an electronic medical prescription. Tanco, a son of STI Group founder Eusebio Tanco, employs a team of developers in PhilCare led by vice president for information technology James Indino Jr.We would like to share some of the innovations we have done in our company and how we could better serve the Filipinos, says Tanco, who has a Bachelors degree in Entrepreneurial Management from the University of Asia and the Pacific and a Masters in Business Administration from the Ateneo de Manila University. There is a growing population that starts to move towards technological features. We are coming up with different ways through technology to give better service. We value our clients a lot. The way to show that we value them is by giving them a better service than what they would expect, he says in a news briefing at Azuthai Restaurant in Makati City. About 70 percent of PhilCares members belong to the millennial generation, as the company is one of the biggest healthcare providers to the business process outsourcing sector. The company has around 1,000 corporate clients. Tanco says PhilCare aims to reach out to more clients including uninsured families through social media. Of PhilCares existing 9,000 prepaid members, about 7,000 enrolled through the companys website. A subscriber of ER Vantage prepaid package pays a one-time fee of P1,200 for P40,000 coverage in case of emergency or hospitalization. Tanco cited a 2018 report by We Are Social which claimed that Filipinos had the highest social media usage in the world (three hours and 57 minutes) despite having an internet penetration rate of only 67 percent. The study also found out that 59 percent of Filipinos were using their mobile phones for social media, games and searching for products or information.Tanco, however, says only 4 percent of Filipinos had healthcare coverage which was mostly provided by employers. He says that with the help of social media, PhilCare aims to increase healthcare awareness among the other 96 percent of the population. Health insurance is very important. There is a lack of government support for healthcare. I know a few people, who after being hit by a certain illness, ran into debt. This is why health insurance is important, says Tanco.Christian Cristobal, the senior vice president for sales and marketing of PhilCare, says the company aims to change the traditional experience of HMO subscribers in falling in line and waiting for an hour or two for the letter of authority approval. Those are the things that we want to eliminate through technology, says Cristobal. Tanco says PhilCare introduces different ways to help clients have easier access to hospitals and clinics. We really want to give the clients the service that they deserve, he says. Indinos team developed apps such as PCare EASy (PhilCare Electronic Approval System) for a faster and more convenient way for LOA issuance; PhilCare Snap, or Near Field Communication-enabled membership which is designed to make hospital transactions faster, more efficient and paperless; and Hey Phil, a mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to help members find doctors, clinics and hospitals. Indino says an exciting innovation that PhilCare will soon introduce is Digimed, or digital medical experience, as a feature of Hey Phil. It can do online consultation. Think of Uber for doctors. Unlike others that launched a telemed app where doctors are confined to a call center setting, ours is truly mobile. This means that the doctors can answer patients calls at his or her mobile phones at the convenience of his or her house. It is borderless. We can even get doctors from abroad. There are some foreign doctors who want to partner with us, says Indino. Digimed now has 20 doctors on board, a number that is expected to reach 200 soon, according to Indino. Hey, Phil app has been downloaded 52,000 times and now has 10,000 active monthly users. Indino expects the number of active Hey Phil users to double this year. Were confident that the rest of the HMO industry will take our cue and work towards improving our industry as a whole. Technology has been the focus of PhilCare for the past five years and we have more in store to keep our trajectory moving forward, Indino says. Tanco says technology offers a growth opportunity to the healthcare sector. Healthcare has to make sense to Filipinos for them to purchase it and we need to provide them with sensible healthcare from the acquisition, to benefits and up to actual utilization, he says.
Now that the rehabilitation of their offices, consultation rooms and facilities has been completed, the health workers of San Juan District Reproductive Health Center and Birthing Facility in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte are even more motivated to serve their constituents. The health center is the second health facility in Surigao del Norte rehabilitated by BDO Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank. Weeks earlier, the foundation also completed the renovation of San Francisco Rural Health Unit in the neighboring town of San Francisco. In San Juan, BDO Foundations initiative helps improve the delivery of primary health services to 14 barangays, some of which are island barangays. We are so grateful that our health center was chosen by BDO Foundation as its beneficiary, said assistant city health officer Dr. Charito Arriba as she accepted their new and improved rural health unit. This will inspire us to work harder. In fact, we are all excited to get back to work. The rehabilitated health center was turned over to local officials by BDO Foundation president Mario Deriquito, BDO Foundation program director Rose Espinosa, BDO Surigao branch head Domilyn Villareal and officers of One Network Bank, the rural bank subsidiary of BDO.BDO and ONB branches support the foundations corporate citizenship initiatives nationwide. BDO Foundation improved the health centers reception and waiting areas, doctors and nurses offices, consultation room, multi-purpose room, dental office, and laboratory. Its birthing facilities were also refurbished so good quality patient care is available to mothers and their babies. The health center averages around two births per day. BDO Foundations rehabilitation program is in line with its advocacy to help improve primary and maternal healthcare services all over the Philippines, particularly in places affected by disasters. A 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Surigao del Norte in 2017, affecting at least 300 families.
Groysman admits Ukraine might not reach target on privatization proceeds

The 2018 Budget lays down UAH 21.3 billion in revenues from the sale of state assets.

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Verkhovna Rada's constitutional majority adopted the Anti-Corruption Court it earlier resented, thus, fortunately, retaining cooperation with the IMF, but then immediately sacked Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk, who had dared accuse of corruption the entourage of President Poroshenko. The National Energy and Utilities Regulation Commission received a new leader: its notorious ex-chief was not given even an advisor post. These are the main economic of the outgoing week.

This week, the confrontation between Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk which suddenly spilled into the open resulted in the dismissal of the latter.

It was possible for the public squabble between two top officials to end differently. However, the head of the Ministry of Finance decided to go for an escalation when he appealed to the G7 ambassadors with the letter, claiming that President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko attempted to impose on him a new deputy lobbied by MPs Ihor Kononenko and Nina Yuzhanina.

The prime minister decided not to start a philosophical dispute on whether it's better to keep it in the family, considering it easier to get rid of the obstinate member of government. And although it seemed to some that the Rada will not collect the required number of votes for the minister's dismissal, further developments proved otherwise. It is worth noting the speed at which Danyliuk got sacked.

At the beginning of the outgoing week, Groysman on his Facebook page said he had signed a submission to the Verkhovna Rada on dismissal of the Minister of Finance, accusing him of disseminating distorted information among international partners on the eve of negotiations with the European Union zo important for Ukraine that "could pose a threat in terms of their outcome."

"Unfortunately, Oleksandr Danyliuk did not make adjustments to his chosen line of conduct even after discussing the situation with members of our government team. Therefore, I do not see the possibility for him to remain in it, so I ask the people's deputies to support my idea. In the face of the challenges that we face, the question of changing the head of the Ministry of Finance must be resolved without delay," the prime minister wrote.

On the same day, the parliament's budget committee supported the draft resolution on the dismissal of the disgraced minister, after which it became clear what the outcome of this story would be.

Danyliuk himself did not intend to quit quietly, saying that there had been attempts to involve him in "political corruption."

"Throughout the year, I've been under tremendous pressure. They demand that I support the program titled "Subventions for the socio-economic development of the regions." In human language, it is the distribution of money to the projects of deputies in majoritarian constituencies. This is political corruption," the minister wrote on Facebook.

Before the vote, Danyliuk chose to deliver a "farewell show" in the Verkhovna Rada, reminding MPs that he had joined the government team "to build a modern financial system, fight against corruption and squandering of public funds."

"With honor and dignity, I defended the interests of our country before our international partners," stressed Danyliuk.

As for the ill-fated letter, in his words, he simply stated in it some "well-known facts."

"We need to make state decisions rather than be guided by teenage complexes that will cost the state billions," he pricked Groysman.

The prime minister had the last word and called the minister's behavior inadequate.

"I invited him and told him that it was impossible to act against the state, and gave him two weeks to fix the situation and to absolutely objectively brief our international partners," Groysman said in his short speech.

It seems that the minister did not "fix" anything, which was followed by the premier's further actions. His arguments were supported by 254 people's deputies.

Of course, Ukrainians, first of all, care about how this turbulence in the Cabinet will affect them personally. The prime minister assured that the Ministry of Finance employs a strong team of professionals who will keep the situation under control after the departure of their leader.

It is possible that this is the way it will be, but UNIAN sources reported that two deputy finance ministers Yuriy Butsa and Serhiy Marchenko after the voting in the Rada also decided to resign. The former was responsible for issues of debt policy, cooperation with international organizations and European integration, and the latter - fiscal decentralization, budgetary process and tax policy.

So far, the Cabinet of Ministers has entrusted the duties of the head of the Ministry of Finance to First Deputy Minister Oksana Markarova, appointing her an acting minister.

The IMF expressed its concern about the changing of the role of the Ministry of Finance in fiscal policy after Danyliuk's resignation.

"The finance ministry should retain in our view its central and crucial role in fiscal policy. A finance minister is obviously an important counterpart for the IMF in our discussions. And Minister Danyliuk had been a strong supporter of the reforms," Gerry Rice, Deputy Spokesperson at the IMF Communications Department, told a traditional Thursday briefing in Washington DC, answering a question by UNIAN.

IMF to make next move

Another long saga of the Ukrainian politics ended this week - the Verkhovna Rada adopted the presidential law on the High Anti-Corruption Court.

On Monday, Groysman added more tensions into a protracted discussion - first about whether or not Ukraine needs the Anti-Corruption Court, and then whether it is necessary to grant the right to international experts to choose judges to the new court.

"If this fair and independent court is not created, I will forfeit the authority of the Prime Minister of Ukraine and resign," he promised.

It's difficult to say whether his words were decisive, but given the numerous amendments to the law, the parliament nevertheless supported it.

It is possible that the prime minister sent out a signal about a not very bright prospect for the national economy, which needs foreign injections as much as people need air. And the creation of the Anti-Corruption Court is one of the main conditions for the continued cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF responded rather quickly to the adoption of the law: its spokesman Gerry Rice said that it would be assessed to determine the decisive role of the panel of international experts in the selection process for the judges of the new body.

"Regarding the parliament adopting the law on the anti-corruption court today... That happened a few hours ago. So we will now need to assess that law as it was adopted, we will take a look at that. And we will be looking to see is that it ensures the establishment of an independent and trustworthy anti-corruption court that meets the expectations of the Ukrainian people. And in this regard, the selection process for the judges who will serve on that court is critical. And it's important that the panel of independent experts to support this process has a crucial role in verifying the applicants to the position of a judge have the necessary qualifications. So those are the things we're going to be looking at as priority items as we assess the law that was passed," he said.

An excellent background explaining the vital need to receive financial assistance was the National Bank's report saying that the international reserves of Ukraine in May decreased by 1.6% - to $18.120 billion.

The reduction of reserves is due to the implementation of payments on public debt nominated in foreign currency. In particular, in May, the government and NBU paid $455.1 million in favor of the International Monetary Fund, $214.4 million was spent on government payments for servicing and repaying public debt.

Ukraine's leading economists, members of the Strategic Group of Advisers for Support of Reforms under the Government of Ukraine and representatives of businesses also commented on the situation. According to them, the country may find itself in a deep economic crisis in the event of a breakdown of the program of cooperation with the IMF.

"The Ukrainian state is on the verge of a deep economic crisis. In the second half of this year, the government must pay more than $3 billion to creditors. Next year - about $7 billion. The state has no such money, and sources of their receipt are not yet available. Non-payment of debt would mean a catastrophic devaluation of the hryvnia with the inevitable rapid impoverishment of the majority of Ukrainian citizens," they said in a public statement.

In their opinion, Ukraine has three options for debt repayment: continued cooperation with the IMF, loans from private investors or a drastic reduction in budget expenditures, but the signatories of the statement consider the only option is to continue cooperation with the IMF.

Now we all wait for the IMF response and hope that the creditor does not come up with other requirements for securing the treasured tranche.

NEURC reshuffle

In the outgoing week, a former employee of the regulator's office Oksana Kryvenko was elected the new chairperson of the National Energy and Utilities Regulation Commission. Speaking with journalists, she dispelled rumors that the former head of the National Commission, Dmytro Vovk, will keep working there as an adviser.

"There is no position of an adviser," Kryvenko said.

She also told that the NEURC plans to hold its first meeting in the updated composition on June 12. According to her, the priority directions in the work of the National Commission for the near future will be the unblocking of the licensing process, approval of investment programs for licensees, and work on reforming gas and electricity markets.

Such approach by the new leader inspires certain optimism, if we take into account the fact that the NEURC has not held a meeting since the end of March 2018 due to the lack of a quorum.

One cannot but note an important statement by Kryvenko that the National Commission does not plan to raise the cost of electricity for the population in the near future. She said that the Commission needed time to thoroughly study the issue.

Needless to say, almost all tariffs have a considerable component in the form of the cost of electricity, so after a significant price increase for this resource during 2015-2017, a new price increase could lead to unpleasant consequences.

Gas war continues

An important event of the outgoing week was the decision of the Dutch court granting the petitions of the National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine to arrest the assets of Russian Gazprom, which did not fulfill the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration to pay the Ukrainian side $2.56 billion.

"The petitions were filed to ensure the right of Naftogaz to receive $2.6 billion from the Russian monopoly on the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration, adopted in February 2018. The Dutch court granted these motions, but six of the seven subsidiaries of Gazprom in the Netherlands refused to cooperate with judicial executors. However, all of this will not affect the arrest in any way," the press service of Naftogaz said.

Company CEO Andriy Kobolyev noted that Naftogaz would use all available legal means and tools to secure the implementation of the Swedish Arbitration award and receive from Gazprom the whole sum.

In this regard, it is worth recalling that the supervisory board of Naftogaz decided to pay bonuses to company management worth $46.3 million in connection with the victory in the Stockholm Arbitration in a dispute with Gazprom over the gas transit contract.

Speaking at a Government Hour in the Verkhovna Rada, Prime Minister Groysman told the deputies that he applied to the supervisory board of Naftogaz with a proposal to reconsider the bonuses. According to him, he, like many Ukrainians, was concerned about such a decision, which he does not support because he considers such compensation amounts untimely.

Most likely, the next week will begin with the abolition of scandalous bonuses. However, in case it doesn't happen (after all, such payments are stipulated by the contract), nothing prevents the management of Naftogaz from receiving them and then transfer them for the needs of the Ukrainian army fighting with the Russian aggressor or for the treatment sick children.

Dmytro Shvarts

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The project aims at building trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.

About 30 Ukrainian experts held a roundtable in Kyiv Friday to discuss Ukraine' s role in building the China-proposed modern Silk Road.

The roundtable brought together Ukrainian international relations experts, sinologists, scientists, economists and representatives of business community, according to Xinhua.

Experts have presented their scientific reports on the Belt and Road to inform the public about the goals and objectives of the project, which was followed by a professional discussion on China-Ukraine cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. They also exchanged their views on the projected economic effect from the Initiative for Ukraine.

While speaking with Xinhua during the event, Viktor Kiktenko, the head of Ukrainian Association of Sinologists, mentioned that Ukraine and China are developing their cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, particularly in such areas as transport and logistics, agriculture and industry.

Read alsoUkraine plans major port infrastructure modernization worth USD1.68 bln - Xinhua

In December 2017, China and Ukraine signed an action plan on jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

"In Ukraine, there is a growing understanding that the Belt and Road is not only a landmark transport and logistics project, but also a new philosophy of interaction for the states," Andriy Goncharuk, a senior researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, told Xinhua during the roundtable.

In the same time, he pointed that much work for Ukraine lies ahead to enhance its role as a link on the modern Silk Road. An important component of this work is the development of relations with China, the expert noted.

"First of all, each ministry and each institution should establish a position of Chinese-speaking professional. There should be government officials, whose professional responsibility would be the development of Ukrainian-Chinese relations," Goncharuk said.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims at building trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

In the past five years, China signed cooperation agreements on the development of the Initiative with over 80 countries and international organizations, while more than 100 countries and international organizations have voiced their support for the Initiative.
Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte has asked the Department of Education to discourage schools from inviting politicians to any graduation rites. To avoid turning graduation rites into political events, public school officials must not invite or allow candidates to speak in any commencement or moving-up ceremonies, especially in the months or weeks leading to the May 2019 mid-term elections, Belmonte said. With the upcoming election season, those running for public office would naturally compete for a chance to appear and speak in public events, such as schools graduation ceremonies, she added. Perhaps our local division [schools division office of Quezon City] can consider this to maintain order and fairness in 2019 graduation ceremonies, she said. I have suggested this to our division superintendent several times [that] those who are running for public office are not allowed to speak to avoid politicking. They can only attend and be recognized, Belmonte stressed. According to the vice mayor, DepEd regional directors who joined her in the weeklong learning and partnership visit on education governance, sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development, raised the issue with her. Last April, Education Secretary Leonor Briones reminded school officials to avoid making the graduation and moving-up ceremonies as a political forum. Meanwhile, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has signed an ordinance establishing the Nick M. Joaquin Senior High School, located within the campus of Toro Hills Elementary School in Barangay Bahay Toro. City Ordinance 2663-2018, introduced by Councilor Julienne Alyson Rae V. Medalla, aims to provide senior high school students more facilities suitable for their chosen tracks in academic and technical-vocational livelihood.Nick M. Joaquin Senior High School will initially offer the following courses: a. Academic tracks: accountancy, business and management strand, humanities and social sciences strand, and general academic strand; and b. Technical-vocational livelihood tracks: animation/technical drafting strands. City Council Resolution No. 3, Series of 2017 has earlier mandated that the new senior high school shall be named after the late National Artist for Literature Nick M. Joaquin in recognition of his significant contribution to Philippine literature and journalism. Joaquin was a Filipino journalist, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, and biographer who received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts in 1996. The Special Education Funds of Quezon City will be the source of the supplemental budget necessary for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the Senior High School as determined by the Local School Board. The Bautista administration continues to comply with its mandate to provide basic social services and facilities, including the establishment of school buildings under Section 17 of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.
Sovereignty, cooperation, and freedom were themes sounded by U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis in his recent address to defense ministers and academics from Pacific Rim nations and others at the Annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore: Standing shoulder to shoulder with India, ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], and our treaty allies and other partners, America seeks to build an Indo-Pacific where sovereignty and territorial integrity are safeguarded  the promise of freedom fulfilled, and prosperity prevails for all.

Secretary Mattis emphasized that [w]e continue to support ASEAN centrality in the regional security architecture, and seek to further empower it. The more ASEAN speaks with one voice, the better we can maintain a region free from coercion, one that lives by respect for international law.

To these principles, he said, America is true in both word and deed. In our economics, we seek fair competition. We do not practice predatory economics, and we stand consistent with our principles. The U.S. Strategy recognizes no one nation can nor should dominate the Indo-Pacific.

Cooperation with China is welcome, where possible, Secretary Mattis said: We are prepared to support Chinas choices, if they promote long-term peace and prosperity for all in this dynamic region.

However, Secretary Mattis declared that Chinas militarization of the South China Sea is a destabilizing move that runs counter to the peace, security, and inclusiveness sought by U.S. strategy. The advanced weapons systems China has placed on disputed features in the Spratly Islands are used for the purposes of intimidation and coercion, he said. For this reason, China was disinvited from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific Exercise. Secretary Mattis warned of further consequences if China does not find the way to work more collaboratively with all of the nations who have interest in the region.

The United States offers strategic partnerships not strategic dependence, Secretary Mattis said. Working together on a basis of shared principles, we can create a future that provides peace, prosperity and security for all, a constellation of nations, each its own bright star, satellites to none.
The United States condemns the Nicaraguan governments violent response to peaceful Mothers Day marches in Managua and other cities on May 30, including assaults on mothers mourning their children killed since protests began April 18. Government-aligned gunmen and thugs opened fire on the peaceful marches killing 19. At least five more people have been slain in the days since. To date, more than 120 protesters have been killed and over 1,000 injured.

The United States also condemns the beatings of journalists and attacks against local TV and radio stations. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Nicaraguan authorities to ensure the prompt release of some six detained human rights defenders. The UN is also extremely concerned at continuing reports of death threats, acts of violence and intimidation against journalists, students, human rights activists, and members of the Catholic Church, among others.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has reiterated its request made on May 7 to the Nicaraguan authorities to be granted immediate access to the country.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on May 30, The international community and the citizens of Nicaragua have repeatedly urged the Nicaraguan government to order its police and thugs to stop the violence, respect human rights, and create conditions for a peaceful path forward. Those individuals responsible for human rights violations will be held accountable by the international community in international fora, vowed Ms. Nauert.

The United States urges an immediate investigation by the independent interdisciplinary group of experts to investigate the deaths and violence in Nicaragua, as agreed upon by the Nicaraguan government and Inter American Commission on Human Rights.

Despite the suspension of the church-led dialogue, the United States supports peaceful, good-faith negotiations to provide a democratic future for all Nicaraguans.
Chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy, his Georgian and Moldovan counterparts Irakli Kobakhidze and Andrian Candu have signed a joint statement on the establishment of an inter-parliamentary assembly of the three countries.

"I believe a historical event has just happened. We have signed a declaration on the establishment of the Ukraine-Georgia-Moldova inter-parliamentary assembly. Obviously, the signing of this document is laying the foundation for a new stage of relations between our states and interaction between our states," Parubiy said at a joint briefing with the speakers of the parliaments of Georgia and Moldova after signing the statement in Kyiv on Saturday.

He also noted that all three countries felt the Russian occupation first-hand and jointly oppose the aggression of the Russian Federation, which "makes our tasks and our goals conjoint."

"We are also implementing the joint program "Eastern Partnership", defining our key goal - the entry of our countries into the European Union," said Parubiy.

In turn, Kobakhidze noted that today's statement shows serious intentions to deepen cooperation in many directions.

Candu said, "Our countries face almost the same challenges. That is why it is important for them to exchange experience and knowledge while looking for solutions that would be useful for all of our countries, rather than for any individual country."
Prime Ministers of Canada and Great Britain, Justin Trudeau and Theresa May, have exchanged views on the DPRK and Ukraine during a meeting "on the sidelines" of the G7 summit in the Canadian province of Quebec.

"The prime ministers discussed G7 priorities, including economic growth and job creation, as well as global peace and security, including with regard to North Korea and Ukraine," reads the press release posted on the summit's website.

They also exchanged views on promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, including through increasing financing for girls' and women's education, particularly in fragile states and conflict settings.

Prime Minister Trudeau emphasized the importance of collective G7 action on oceans, including to reduce plastic waste.
Return of Russia to G7 cannot happen unless substantial progress is made in terms of problems with Ukraine  Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that it will be possible to talk about Russia's return to the G7 after significant progress is made in the Ukraine situation.

"We are in agreement that a return of Russia to the G7 cannot happen unless substantial progress is made in terms of the problems with Ukraine," Western media quoted Merkel as saying.

Earlier, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron said that the European member countries of the G7 had unanimously opposed the call of the U.S. president to restore Russia in this institution.

Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte agreed on a common position on Russia at the G7 summit in Canada.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was in favor of Russia's return to the G8. He spoke to reporters with this statement before heading to Canada for the G7 summit.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has called on the World Congress of Ukrainians and the Ukrainian Diaspora to join the united effort of supporting the process of releasing political prisoners of the Kremlin.

Poroshenko met with Head of the World Congress of Ukrainians Yevhen Choliy. The importance of mobilizing the efforts of the world community to strengthen political and sanctions pressure on Russia was noted in the context of the discussion of the Donbas situation and in the temporarily occupied Crimea, the website of the Ukrainian president says.

They also agreed on close coordination of actions with the Ukrainian community abroad to ensure recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people.

The president expressed gratitude to the Congress and Ukrainians abroad for financial and humanitarian assistance, as well as active efforts to attract international support to Ukraine.
WOMAN IN SCIENCE. Marine scientist Dr. Charissa Ferrera was named National Fellow of 2018 L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science fellowship.

Marine scientist Dr. Charissa Ferrera was named National Fellow of the 2018 LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding research on the water quality in coastal areas in Anda and Bolinao, Pangasinan. Dr. Ferrera, whos currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Marine Science Institute of the University of the Philippines, specializes in marine biogeochemistrystudying the relationship among chemistry, geology, and biology of the marine ecosystem. Her research on the water quality of the two western towns in Pangasinan led her to discover the excessive amount of phosphorus in the water and sediments leading to phosphorus pollution, which is linked to harmful algal blooms or red tide. Dr. Ferrera pushes for sustainable mariculture by advocating for effective science communication to help communities recover from the effects of phosphorus pollution. During the awarding on June 5, Dr. Ferrera said she hopes to encourage women who want to become researchers to stay motivated and confident to ask. I see my win as an opportunity to create a ripple effect that will allow for more individuals to be inspired to pursue careers in science, she said. The FWIS fellowship aims to recognize women scientists and encourage a new generation of women to pursue careers in science.The awarding ceremony marked a milestone for the Philippines as FWIS has been reintroduced in the country this year. The LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science program was founded with the mission to ensure that critical research across various fields in science takes full advantage of the intelligence, creativity, and passion of women, Carmel Valencia, corporate communication manager of LOreal Philippines, said during the awarding ceremony. According to Valencia, the Laureates, Fellows, and awardees across various fields, who are contributing to the advancement of science, are proof that women in science have the power to change the world. Along with Valencia, LOreal Philippines managing director Thibault de Saint Victor, UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific director Shahbaz Khan, and National Academy of Science and Technology president Dr. Rhodora Azanza took to the stage to tackle the multifaceted challenges of gender inequality in the field of science, recognize womens contributions across various fields, and underscore the critical need of their full participation in driving the sustainable development agenda. The event also featured distinguished panel speakers and women leaders from the science field, which included Dr. Didith Rodrigo, Dr. Laura David, Dr. Marieta Sumagaysay, and Dr. Aletta Yniguez. The panel of women scientists shared their views and experiences as a woman in the field of science, thus encouraging young women to enter the field. The ceremony was indeed more than just awarding one Fellow but recognizing women in all fields of science as people capable of change and power.
Representatives of the legislative and executive authorities resisted the creation of mechanisms to combat corruption, fearing that this will be applied to them, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said.

"The mechanisms for effectively combating corruption  I think that these are huge changes that we managed to do despite the fierce resistance. Because those who prepare laws, those who approve them, those who implement, there are afraid that this can be applied against them," said the president during a meeting with students of the Law Faculty of Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University on Friday.

"And the recipe is very simple - do not take part in corruption acts - and everything will be fine," Poroshenko said.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stands for the cancellation of the money bail in the event of choosing a preventive measure for the suspect in large-scale corruption crimes.

"On the most complex corruption crimes, I am absolutely convinced: the money bail should be canceled," Poroshenko said during a meeting with students of the Law Faculty of the Kyiv National University named after Taras Shevchenko on Friday.
Medics examine convict Sentsov in Russian jail, who went on hunger strike, issue their recommendations

A team of medics from Labytnangi, the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district, have examined Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, who went on hunger strike 26 days ago, in a Russian prison, the press office for Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) said.

"Yesterday, another medical consultation took place with participation of medical specialists from Labytnangi City Hospital. Several clinical and instrumental studies were made on Sentsov. Recommendations have been issued on further treatment for the patient," the FSIN's press office said in a statement received by Interfax on Saturday.

Sentsov, who refused to eat, "is constantly under dynamic observation conducted by the medical workers of the penitentiary where he is serving his term", the statement said.

However, the press office did not elaborate on Sentsov's current health condition or tell what the medics' recommendations were on the 27th day of his hunger strike.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has assured that the Ukrainian military will continue to participate in the NATO mission in Afghanistan and are ready to send additional personnel.

"Ukrainian Armed Forces have been accomplishing tasks in Afghanistan for 11 years and we will continue to participate in this operation. We are ready to increase our contribution and assign more personnel to the Mission HQ and triple our personnel," said the minister on Friday at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council with the countries-contributors of the NATO mission "Resolute Support," the press service of the defense ministry said.

Poltorak stressed that the Ukrainians express condolences and all feelings are with fallen NATO military and civil personnel, as well as all Afghan people fallen for fighting against terrorism.
Chinese President Xi Jingping has praised the "unity" of the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement at the opening ceremony of the organization's summit in the coastal Chinese city of Quingdao.



Xi said on June 9 that the SCO "focuses on seeking common ground while setting aside differences and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation."



The SCO is led by China and Russia, and includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia have SCO observer status.



The current summit is the first to include India and Pakistan as members after they joined in 2017.



The main working day of the summit will be June 10.



Ahead of the summit opening, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rohani, to discuss the 2015 deal between Iran and leading world powers that restricted Iran's nuclear program.



The United States recently withdrew from the agreement and Iran was seeking a commitment from China, Russia, and European signatories to uphold the deal.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists that Moscow and Beijing have outlined a "roadmap" for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.



He emphasized that the first step was to stop "belligerent rhetoric on both sides" and to convene multilateral peace talks.

"Everything is happening under the outline of the Russian-Chinese roadmap," Lavrov said.



The comments come just days before a historic summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.



Putin also held a separate meeting with Xi and Mongolian President Khaltmaagin Battulga to discuss proposals to build oil and gas pipelines from Russia to China through Mongolia.



Putin said he supports the Mongolian proposal generally but said it needs further study.



Officials of the SCO also met with counterparts from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), two other Russia-dominated Eurasian organizations.



The three organizations signed a memorandum of understanding on improving their "counterterrorism cooperation" and on creating "a joint approach" to countering drugs trafficking.



The next SCO summit will be held in Kyrgyzstan in June 2019.



with reporting by AFP, TASS, and Reuters
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 90 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said June 9.

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, June 9

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

The Baku Summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) started on June 9.

At the opening of the summit, the Azerbaijani president's aide for social and political issues Ali Hasanov read out a letter addressed to the summit by President Ilham Aliyev.

The summit will include panels on the topics of Energy Security, Economic Freedom, Digital Economy, Transport and Communication, etc.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The international community hasnt so far taken effective measures to stop the Armenian aggression, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev in his letter to the participants of the Baku Summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE).

"I congratulate you on the kick-off of the next summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe. The alliance, which unites various political parties of Europe on a single platform, has in a relatively short time turned into a reputable organization that plays an important role in the socio-political life of the continent, said the president.

I stress with a sense of satisfaction that such fundamental values as national sovereignty, parliamentary democracy and free society have an important place in the modern life of the Azerbaijani people, who have preserved rich historical traditions.

"It is noteworthy that today's summit coincides with the period when the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim world where women were granted the voting right before in most of the Western states, is widely celebrated," said the head of state.

As the legal successor of the Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan took the path of market economy, democracy, rule of law and secular state-building in the years of independence, established relations based on mutually beneficial cooperation with individual countries, becoming an equal member of the world community," President Aliyev said in his letter.

President Aliyev noted that transnational gas and transportation projects that are being implemented on Azerbaijans initiative and with its active participation make a significant contribution to ensuring Europes energy security and sustainable social and economic development of the countries in the region.

"The launch of the Southern Gas Corridor, which was officially opened on May 29, will create new opportunities for further increasing the success achieved in this sphere," he said.

The head of state went on to add that Azerbaijan attaches special importance to international humanitarian cooperation.

It diligently supports intercultural dialogue, the ideas of multiculturalism and tolerance, helps to solve global problems to the best of its ability. But I should note with regret that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that began 30 years ago continues to be the most serious obstacle both to the countrys development and the expansion of regional cooperation, said President Aliyev.

The head of state pointed out that Armenia, which pursues expansionist policy, has occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, turning more than a million people in Azerbaijan into refugees and IDPs.

Despite the fact that the UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Non-Aligned Movement and other reputable organizations have made decisions on the conflicts fair settlement on the basis of the principle of territorial integrity, the international community hasnt so far taken effective measures to end the aggression, he said.

I hope that taking into account the existing reality, the Alliance members will give an adequate assessment to the fact of occupation accompanied by a gross and massive violation of human rights, which poses a serious threat to security in the region. I believe the meeting organized by you in Azerbaijan will be held in conditions of high efficiency, the proposals put forward and the decisions taken will serve the fulfillment of the tasks set, the development of democracy and free society, the maintenance of peace and prosperity. I wish each of you success on this path! President Aliyev said in his letter.
Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 09:49)

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The international community hasnt so far taken effective measures to stop the Armenian aggression, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev in his letter to the participants of the Baku Summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE).

"I congratulate you on the kick-off of the next summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe. The alliance, which unites various political parties of Europe on a single platform, has in a relatively short time turned into a reputable organization that plays an important role in the socio-political life of the continent, said the president.

I stress with a sense of satisfaction that such fundamental values as national sovereignty, parliamentary democracy and free society have an important place in the modern life of the Azerbaijani people, who have preserved rich historical traditions.

"It is noteworthy that today's summit coincided with the period when the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim world, where women were granted the voting right before in most of the Western states, is widely celebrated," said the head of state.

As the legal successor of the Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan took the path of market economy, democracy, rule of law and secular state-building in the years of independence, established relations based on mutually beneficial cooperation with individual countries, becoming an equal member of the world community," President Aliyev said in his letter.

President Aliyev noted that transnational gas and transportation projects that are being implemented on Azerbaijans initiative and with its active participation make a significant contribution to ensuring Europes energy security and sustainable social and economic development of the countries in the region.

"The launch of the Southern Gas Corridor, which was officially opened on May 29, will create new opportunities for further increasing the success achieved in this sphere," he said.

The head of state went on to add that Azerbaijan attaches special importance to international humanitarian cooperation.

It diligently supports intercultural dialogue, the ideas of multiculturalism and tolerance, helps to solve global problems to the best of its ability. But I should note with regret that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that began 30 years ago continues to be the most serious obstacle both to the countrys development and the expansion of regional cooperation, said President Aliyev.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

It is necessary to put an end to the adoption of biased decisions on Azerbaijan in the Council of Europe, the President of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE), Vice-Chairman of International Trade Committee of European Parliament, MEP Jan Zahradil said at the ACRE Baku Summit June 9.

"This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. Unfortunately, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, based on the parliamentary form of government, existed for only two years. At yesterday's meeting with me, President Ilham Aliyev noted that nine European countries have signed agreements on strategic partnership with Azerbaijan. I hope the number of such states will increase. Unfortunately, the Council of Europe takes unilateral and biased decisions on Azerbaijan. Such practice must end," said Zahradil.

Stressing the importance of stability, Jan Zahradil noted that it is impossible to achieve success without stability.

"It is gratifying that our Alliance is working closely with Azerbaijan and, despite all the difficulties, is close to it. Yesterday, we were offered to hold every year in Baku an event of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe. I think this is a good offer," said Zahradil.

He noted that Azerbaijan is a country worthy of great respect at international level.

"Azerbaijan plays and will continue to play a very important role in geopolitical issues, transport and energy. Therefore, the EU and the Council of Europe attach great importance to Azerbaijan. It is true, there have been cases of adoption of unilateral decisions on Azerbaijan, but, such cases must end in the nearest future. It is necessary to put an end to turning Azerbaijan into a victim of certain political games," the president of the Alliance said.

Today, the Baku Summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe started its work in the capital of Azerbaijan.
The House of Representatives has recommended for Senate action a measure mandating the Philippine Postal Corp. to print postage stamps depicting the countrys tourist attractions and destinations. The Lower House approved on final reading House Bill 7510, or the proposed Philippine Tourism Stamps Act, authored by Paranaque City Rep. Eric Olivarez. Under HB 7510, the PHLPost shall be mandated to coordinate with the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotion Board to identify, illustrate and label the tourist attractions and destinations to be depicted in the postage stamps. Meanwhile, the DoT and the TPB shall assist the PHLPost in the preparation of posters and other promotional materials to be displayed in strategic places in the Philippines and in foreign countries, in support of the promotional drive to elicit interest in the Philippines as a major and world-class tourism destination.Olivarez, a member of the majority bloc, said that to further accelerate the tourism promotion efforts using the campaign slogan Its more fun in the Philippines, there is a need to make known the existence of the famous tourist destinations in the country and whet foreigners appetite about the extraordinary beauty of these Philippine tourist spots. This we can do by means of postage stamps affixed on outgoing mail especially to foreign destinations. These postage stamps will depict the tourist areas in the country and advertise the beautiful spots to these foreign potential tourists without extra cost for the government, said Olivarez.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

The World Bank is calling for accelerating reforms in Azerbaijan's financial sector, WB leading expert in finance and private sector in the South Caucasus, Angela Prigozhina told Trend.

"The actions of the Financial Market Supervisory Authority of Azerbaijan, aimed at increasing capital, transparency, corporate governance of the banking system, reforming the financial reporting system, risk management and tightening supervision of financial institutions in accordance with international practices and standards, are key factors in the resumption of [growth of] lending to the economy and increasing the confidence of the people and investors in banks. Therefore, the World Bank supports Azerbaijan in these reforms and recommends to accelerate them in order to improve the stability of the financial sector and to attract investment into the economy," Prigozhina said.

Unfortunately, the expert continued, the progress of some reforms slowed down due to changes in the legislation in mid-2017, which led to a decrease in the powers and/or independence of the key participants of the financial stability system, namely FIMSA, the Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund and the Central Bank.

"We would be glad to see progress in the adoption of new important laws, such as a special law on regulation of financial markets, which is designed to modernize the regulation and expand the powers and independence of FIMSA in accordance with the international standards mandatory for regulators around the world," she told Trend.

Nevertheless, Prigozhina positively assessed the actions of the economic section of the Government of Azerbaijan over the past few years.

"In many areas, significant measures were taken in 2015-2017, which allowed preventing further negative phenomena in the economy, to achieve greater stability and positive economic growth in 2017. The actions of FIMSA, the Government, the Central Bank, the Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund and the Financial Stability Board in responding to the financial crisis are commendable. Many decisions were painful and fiscally expensive, but they were critical to support the people, to restore confidence and to improve the stability of the financial sector, to remove the insolvent financial institutions from market in order to reduce future losses," she said.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanli
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

Trend:

The Islamic Development Bank Group Business Forum - THIQAH and the Bosna Bank International (BBI) entered into a joint strategic collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate cooperation between both parties to work closely on promoting and supporting the Sarajevo Business Forum (SBF) on a yearly basis and globally throughout the year.

The MoU was signed between Mr. Mohammed AlAmmari, The Acting CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the private sector (ICD), the private sector arm of IsDB Group (on behalf of THIAH) and Mr. Amer Bukvic, CEO, Bosna Bank International during the coordination meeting with Saudi Business Community on 6 June 2018 at THIQAH Premises.

The main aim of the SBF is to strengthen business and investment opportunities in the Southeast Europe region with the sole objective to foster its economic development. Therefore, the cooperation between THIQAH and BBI as organizers of SBF will bring about greater impact with regards to their respective mandate and objectives in creating a platform for business networking.

Under the terms of MoU, THIQAH and BBI will share knowledge, information and collaborate on activities such as media outreach to promote SBF in IsDB member countries, Moreover, the MoU will enable both the institutions to invite participants that are prominent leaders, important investors and successful businessmen from IsDB member countries to attend SBF, cooperate on areas that enhance the investment opportunities in their premises, share best practices and explore bilateral business opportunities.

Along with the organization of Sarajevo Business Forum as a central investment event, this partnership reinforces to work throughout the year in introducing potential projects, companies and targets in CIS and SEE regions to potentially interested investors worldwide.

Besides, THIQAH and BBI will cooperate to organize Sarajevo Halal Fair (SHF), an annual international halal industry event and exhibition of halal producers/products, as well as join efforts in the promotion of Islamic banking and capacity building of Islamic banks. Sarajevo Halal Fair (SHF) 2018 is scheduled for September 27-29 in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

AlAmmari said, "The signing of this MoU represents the step towards wider cooperation between THIQAH and BBI, and the creation of a business networking platform will facilitate the growth of investment opportunities on global level and generate strong and consistent returns.

Likewise, Amer Bukvic stated, The organization of Sarajevo Business Forum represents an exciting opportunity for partnership by both parties. The MoU enhances mutual assistance, exchange of relevant information and co-operation on initiatives that promote SBF.

About THIQAH: The Islamic Development Bank Group Business Forum (THIQAH) is the main window of the IsDB Group that facilitate contact and coordination between entities concerned of the IsDB Group and private sector firms and related institutions in IsDB Group member countries. The main objective of THIQAH is to establish a platform for dialogue, cooperation and inclusive partnership for business leaders committed to partnering in promising investment opportunities. THIQAHs vision is to position itself as the leading business platform of the IsDB Group serving the private sector and maximizing the achievements of successful investment projects. Through facilitation and catalyst roles, THIQAH will be leveraging IsDB Groups resources to offer necessary services and confidence to investors and to establish strategic partnerships with the leaders of the private sector. The primary focus will be on maximizing cross-border investment among member countries to be supported by IsDB Group's financial products and services. For more information, please refer to THIQAHs Portal (www.idbgbf.org)

About BBI: Bosna Bank International is the first bank in South East Europe which operates in accordance with Islamic financing principles. BBI operates since 2000 and is headquartered in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. BBI is founded and owned by Islamic Development Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, and it serves both retail and corporate clients. The bank is oriented towards development of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is highly regarded in the market for its corporate social responsibility efforts. Compliance of its operations with Islamic principles is granted by Shari'ah Board of BBI composed of both local and globally recognized experts in Shari'ah law. For the least ten years, BBI Bank has had consistent and strong growth as one of the fastest growing banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bank's assets have grown nine fold between 2006 to 2017 and its branches now number 32 throughout the country. Since 2010, BBI and BBI VIP Business Club organize Sarajevo Business Forum, an annual international investment conference which has gained global reputation and prestige during these last 9 years, positioning Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region on the investment map of the world.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Daniyar Akishev and Chairman of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina signed the Agreement on Cooperation and Information Exchange in the Field of Financial Market Supervision and the Agreement on Cooperation in the Information Security Provision, the press service of the Kazakh National Bank said in message.

The sides agreed that that the agreements will create conditions for the financial organizations of both countries to provide quality services in the securities market, insurance, banking services and in the field of microfinance.

In addition, the central banks of Russia and Kazakhstan are stepping up their work in information security and countering cybercrimes in the financial sphere.

In 2017, Russia's trade with Kazakhstan amounted to about $17.25 billion, increasing by more than 32 percent compared to 2016.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

Uzbekistan and Spain will discuss cooperation in energy, transport, water supply and solid waste management, the press service of the State Investments Committee of Uzbekistan announced on June 9.

Reportedly, discussions will be held on June 19-20 in Tashkent during the "Multilateral Partnership" Uzbek-Spanish Business Forum. The event is organized by the State Investments Committee of Uzbekistan, the Institute of Foreign Trade of Spain (ICEX) and the Trade and Economic Department of the Embassy of Spain.

The Spanish delegation will include representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain, the Spanish FIEM Foundation and over 20 Spanish companies operating in engineering and implementation of civil and infrastructure projects.

The sides are planning to hold special sessions with participation of representatives of the ministries of agriculture, water management, housing and communal services, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the State Motorways Committee of Uzbekistan, Uzbekenergo JSC, Uzbekneftegaz JSC, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Kazakhstan plans to export high quality frozen beef to China, the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan said in a message.

A protocol on inspection, quarantine and veterinary-sanitary requirements for beef exported from Kazakhstan to China was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan and the main customs office of China, during the visit of the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to China.

The protocol will allow the export of Kazakh frozen boneless beef to China.

"The next step will be to hold talks with the Chinese side on opening access for Kazakhstan's cooled beef and livestock to the Chinese market," the message said.

According to Kazakh state statistics, the country fully provides its internal market with beef and lamb, and now seeks to increase the export potential for these types of meat by increasing the number of livestock.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is not an internal matter of Italy, but a pan-European project supported by the European Commission, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan Farhad Mammadov told Trend, commenting on the recent skeptical statements of the new Italian government.

This is a large consortium, which includes large multinational companies. This project is pan-European and is in the competence of the European Commission. If the new government of Italy has questions and makes skeptical statements, the European Commission, which lifted the project from the national level to the supranational one, must react first," Mammadov said.

He reminded that earlier, when SOCAR announced its willingness to participate in privatization of the gas distribution network of Greece, and successfully completed the first stage, having acquired 66 percent of DESFA shares, the third energy package of the European Union, according to which one company cannot be a supplier, distributor and seller of the goods, eventually made SOCAR cede 17 percent of the shares.

This slowed the process down, resulting in the deal being thwarted. This was the fault of the European Commission. If they support the TAP project and seek to implement all strategic goals for diversification of gas supplies, they should influence the Italian government, so that the matter does not go beyond the statements and this gas pipeline is commissioned on time," said the director of the Center.

Mammadov pointed out that if the project is not completed on time, then the consortium will have to challenge all the issues that arise in court, because all the gas that must be transported by this gas pipeline is contracted and the periods of supply of this gas to the European market are clearly marked.

Earlier Reuters reported that Italian Environment Minister Sergio Costa said Italys involvement in the TAP would be reviewed along with some other major projects.

TAP worth 4.5 billion euros is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italys south.

TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).

TAPs shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 9

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has signed a decree pardoning convicted persons in honor of the sacred Gadyr gijesi.

Gadyr gijesi is the Holy Night of Omnipotence for the Islamic world, which falls on the days of Ramadan.

The document says that this decision was made in order to further strengthen the unity and cohesion of the Turkmen society and each family.

The decree reads that 611 citizens will be released from further serving the main imprisonment punishment as well as from additional punishment in the form of residence in a certain area.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 9

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau in Saudi Arabia Mamadou Sano, who arrived in Ashgabat for a working visit, the Foreign Ministry said June 9.

During an exchange of views on strengthening cooperation, the sides discussed the possibility of developing cooperation in the political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields.

The prospects of further cooperation within international organizations were also considered.

It was stressed that political consultations on a permanent basis give impetus to development of not only bilateral political, but also trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian relations.

The parties noted the need to bring bilateral relations to a higher level that meets the long-term interests of the countries.
Tehran, Iran, June 9

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad- Trend:



The director of Marun Oil and Gas Production Company said two Russian firms are preparing their technical proposals for the development of Shadegan oilfield located in southern Iran.



"Two Russian companies, along with their two Iranian partners, are preparing their technical proposals (to develop Shadegan oilfield)," Jahangir Pourhang told the YCJ news agency on June 6.



He added that the proposals will be later submitted to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the National Iranian South Oil Companys (NISOC) committee of experts will study their plans and take the final decision.



"Within the next two to three months, it will be certainly clear which companies have been selected to develop the Shadegan field," he said.



The Shadegan oilfield is located in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan. It was discovered in 1968 and the production was started in 1988. The field has 23 km in length, 6 km in width and includes two reservoirs. Shadegan field currently has 20 active oil wells and crude oil production is 7,000 barrels per day.



In June 2017, Tatneft was one of the new entries along with Russias Gazprom Neft and Rosneft, which National Iranian Oil Company added to its list of international companies eligible to bid for Irans massive oil and gas projects.



Last year, Tatneft signed a memorandum of understanding with National Iranian South Oilfields Company (NISOC) for carrying oilfield development studies on Shadegan oilfield in Khuzestan province.



The state-run Zarubezhneft also submitted the result of its technical survey on Shadegan Oilfield to the NISOC.



Besides the aforementioned oil firms, Schlumberger has also signed an agreement to survey the oilfield.



The NISOC, Iran's largest oil company, produces about 83 percent of crude oil and 16 percent of natural gas in the country. The company has earlier signed deals with Schlumberger, Tenco (affiliated to IRGC), Pergas (a consortium of international companies), MAPNA Group and Persia Oil & Gas Industry Development Co. for carrying out development studies of four fields of Parsi, Karanj, Rag-e Sefid and Shadegan, including nine oil reserves.



The nine reserves include Asmari, Pabdeh and Khami in Karanj field, three reserves in Asmari, Bangestan and Khami in Rag Sefid field, Asmari field in Parsi field and two reserves of Asmari and Bangestan in Shadegan field.
Tehran, Iran, June 9



By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:



Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Irans former governor to OPEC, said Washingtons new sanctions against Iran are politically motivated, calling the EUs support for Iran at this juncture a crucial factor.



Foreign firms can continue to work with their counterparts in Iran if Tehran and the EU governments manage to reach a general agreement and address the concerns of investors in the oil and non-oil sectors, Khatibi told the Trend on June 9.



Referring to impending US sanctions against Iran, he urged the Iranian and European governments to address the investors concerns and support them in the face of the US threats.



He also raised his forecast for oil prices for this year due to rising demand and the potential for supply loss from Iran after the sanctions come into effect.



The potential rise in oil prices will be more of a physiological war if not accompanied by practical steps, Khatibi said.



The former Iranian envoy to the OPEC further said that Iran would certainly find new clients for its oil if the foreign firms walk away from their contracts.



In a speech from the White House on May 8, US President Donald Trump accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and seeking nukes before announcing the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).



Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.



The new US sanctions will take six months to kick in, but a number of European companies have already halted their businesses in Iran despite verbal pledges by their governments to protect them against any fallout.
The Philippines continues to attract attention from Danish companies, Denmark ambassador to Manila Jan Top Christensen said on Saturday. Citing a vibrant diplomatic relationship since it reopened its embassy in Manila four years ago, Christensen said that there is already rich potential for greater economic engagement between the two countries. The Philippines continues to attract attention from Danish companies. They are certainly interested in doing business in the Philippines, the envoy said during the celebration of Denmarks Constitutional Day in Taguig this week. The envoy said that from 2013 to 2017, Denmarks export of goods to the Philippines rose by 82 percent, which it said is a good indication of a vibrant economic relationship between the two countries. The increase in trade is due to the preferential trade status, or GSP+, granted by the EU, where Philippine manufacturers are given preferential opportunity to sell more products tariff-free to the European market including Denmark. In 2017, the Danish embassy reported that more than 25 percent of Philippines goods went to the EU market. European companies are playing an important role in the Philippine economy, Christensen said. He added that due to the recent ease of Doing Business Act, which was approved by the Congress in March, more Danish companies are looking into the possibility of doing business in the Philippines. With the recent ease of Doing Business Act, the Philippine market will become even more interesting for foreign companies, he said. The approved The Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 will relax rules that will govern the conduct of business transactions in the country. The measure seeks to amend Republic Act 9485, otherwise known as the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007. The consolidated bill covers business-related transactions (and other transactions specified by the Act) on all government offices and agencies including local government units, government-owned or controlled corporations and other government instrumentalities, whether located in the Philippines or abroad. Things are changing in the Philippines. We view favorably a number of actions taken by the Duterte government, the envoy said. He cited recent administration policies such as the Presidents executive order on freedom of information, the fight against high level of corruption, the executive order on reproductive health, poverty alleviation, and the countrys huge infrastructure Build, Build, Build program.Time has clearly shown that it was the right decision to return to the Philippines, he said. Today, we are very busy helping Danish companies engaging with both private and public sectors in the Philippines, Christensen added. In 2016, there were 16 companies from Denmark established their presence in the Philippines to explore investment opportunities in port management, seafood processing, and trade. The Philippines and Denmark established diplomatic relations in 1946. In 2016, the two countries 70 years of strong and continuous cooperation. Denmarks focus has been on trade, and over the years many Danish companies and products have found their way to the Philippines. Currently, the Philippines and Denmark are partners in development, shipping, cultural exchanges, health technology, corporate responsibility, education and most of all, in labor, social services, and trade. In January 2015, the Embassy of Denmark in Manila re-opened thirteen years after it closed. Christensen said the Embassy affirms the potential for expanding cooperation and trade between the two countries. Both countries have exchanged a number of delegations and missions to further develop more areas of cooperation. But even before that, there were already a number of well-known Danish companies which have made their way to the Philippines, such as Maersk, Lindberg AS and Sonion. In March this year, there are two important delegations from Demark which had visited the Philippines. Christensen said that the delegation from Denmark Foreign Policy Committee met with interesting interculators where both countries tackled different issues in the Philippines.
Tehran, Iran, June 6

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:



Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mehdi Karbasian said a consortium of Iranian and Russian companies is expected to jointly invest in Irans mining sector.

"Two Russian firms have come to Iran and started negotiations. A consortium led by Iranian and Russian firms will cooperate with Iranian companies and jointly invest in mines located in the cities of Gol Gohar, Mes-e Sarcheshme, and Chadormalu," Karbasian said recently, according to ISNA news agency.

The Russian firms will soon present the details of their proposals, he added, noting that they are expected to allocate a credit line of $1 billion for the exploration of the Iranian mines.

The consortium has plans to identify new mines and mineral reserves, the Iranian deputy minister further said.

"No deal has yet been reached between the two sides," Karbasian said.

The Russians sat down with Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation, known as IMIDRO, the Iranian official said, adding that the state-owned holding company will take all necessary measures to strike a deal.

On May 27, a Russian metallurgical company based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, the second largest copper producer in Russia, expressed willingness to cooperate with Iran in the country's mining sector.

"We can cooperate with Iran in various fields by having access to Irans projects," Sergo-Shakhzada Kurbanov, an official with UMMC (Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company), said during a meeting with Karbasian in Tehran.

Irans mining sector has staged an underwhelming performance and accounts for only 5-7 percent of Irans GDP. This is while mineral trade volume and value have been continuously on the rise for the past two years, accounting for close to 30 percent of Irans total non-oil trade.

Mining companies account for 15-20 percent of the total 4.1-quadrillion-rial ($102.54 billion) value of Irans stock market, according to reports.

Iran is home to 68 types of minerals with more than 37 billion tons of proven reserves and 57 billion tons of potential reserves.
President Rouhani made the remarks in a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani on Saturday on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, Irna reported.

He described a secure and stable Afghanistan as required for regional security and development.

Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no effort in maintaining peace and fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, President Rouhani added.

Over the past 40 years, Iran has always stood by Afghanistan, he said, adding that both countries enjoy common culture, security and trade interests.

Expressing hope over facilitating the implementation of cooperation agreement between the two countries, President Rouhani said that Iran is determined to develop relations with its neighbors, especially Afghanistan, and setting up joint investment in various projects namely transit transportation infrastructure.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Iranian president hailed reinforcing cooperation in political, economic, security and cultural fields.

Transit and connecting regional countries such as Central Asian countries to Persian Gulf is of importance, he said.

Chabahar Port plan which is underway with India and Afghanistan is a big step in reinforcing regional transit ways, he reiterated.

President Rouhani also underlined both countries support of private sector, urging political and economic attempts for promoting Khaf-Harat railway.

Referring to the US withdrawal from Iran deal, he said Trumps act was not only pulling out of a multilateral accord, but breaching United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Rouhani also welcomed Ghani's initiative for peace declaration.

Ashraf Ghani in a message declared a nine-day ceasefire in the country called for in a fatwa issued by Afghan Ulema.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan announces ceasefire from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr following the historic ruling [Fatwa] of the Afghan Ulema, he said.

President Rouhani also called for fighting narcotics smuggling and terrorism in the region.

President Ghani, for his part, urged both sides to accelerate economic relations.

He said that Afghanistan considers developing relations with Iran in line with its national interests.

'Developing Chabahar Port is not only important for Iran, Afghanistan and India, but for promoting ties between China and Central Asia,' President Ghani added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Afghan president expressed readiness for maintaining all-out ties with Iran in fighting drug smuggling.

Referring to nine-day truce he said we will continue fighting Daesh seriously.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps announced on Saturday that its forces have disbanded a terrorist cell near Irans northwestern borders with Iraq, Tasnim reported.

In a statement, the public relations office of the IRGC Hamzeh Seyed al-Shohada Base said thanks to intelligence and operational supremacy, the forces of the base managed to destroy the armed terrorist cell in Oshnavieh border region, killing and injuring 7 terrorists.

The statement said that the terrorist group had planned to infiltrate into Iran from northern Iraq but was totally annihilated.

The statement also noted that Iranian forces had no casualties in the operation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

It is no secret that the West seriously fears the Russian-Turkish rapprochement, which is very important today primarily for the resolution of conflicts in the Middle East.

A serious shift occurred in the resolution of the Syrian conflict after the creation of the Turkey-Russia-Iran format.

But there is another country - Armenia that also extremely fears rapprochement between Turkey and Russia.

The simplest reason is that now a friend of Armenia - Russia - has a different relationship with the enemy of Armenia - Turkey.

Armenians lived peacefully in the Ottoman Empire for centuries, and the Ottoman sultans called Armenians "Millet-i sadika" or "Tebai sadika", which mean faithful nation or loyal subjects. In the Ottoman Empire, Armenians held high positions at the courts, occupied leading positions in the financial sector and trade. Ottoman Armenians also held important positions in the civil service.

But despite all this, the "faithful nation" always looked for a reason to rebel against its master.

One of such "significant" events for the "faithful nation" was the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, as a result of which Armenian gangs rebelled in a number of areas of present-day Turkey and found support from the Russian Empire.

I would not like to compare the current Russia with the Ottoman Empire, but still some parallels can be drawn.

While the West imposed pressure on the Ottoman Empire, today a similar pressure is imposed on Russia.

It has already been noted above that the weakening of the Ottoman Empire led to the Armenian uprising, which means that the "faithful nation" has no permanent friends, but only its own ambitions.

In fact, today, Armenia, which has become a parliamentary republic headed by Nikol Pashinyan, pursues a policy of getting out of Russia's influence.

The policy pursued by Pashinyan once again proves that Armenia can turn away from Russia to the West at any moment, and this is well understood in Russia, which has rich and long-term traditions of statehood.

On the other hand, representatives of the "faithful nation" are well aware that Armenia is less interesting to Moscow than Turkey, as evidenced by the economic, political and military cooperation between Moscow and Ankara against the backdrop of tense relations between Turkey and the West.

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Rufiz Hafizoglu, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Trend

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Prime Minister of Georgia Kvirikashvili has assessed the 140 million USD support of the US government, the second installment of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as an important source for the development of Georgias economy, Agenda reports.

The projects and activities carried out by the Millenium Challenge Account in Georgia were discussed at a supervisory board meeting headed by PM Kvirikashvili yesterday.

The MCA develops several project in the country under the 140 million USD grant of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) including public schools rehabilitation, teachers professional development program, vocational education support program and San Diego State University baccalaureate programs being delivered in Georgia.

"The second installment is going to improve the lives of 1.7 million Georgian citizens as a result of an increase in education level and human capital development. The Georgian government praises possibilities of cooperation with US government to further develop the outcomes of the first and second installments, Kvirikashvili said adding that talks about future cooperation under the third installment with the MCC have already started.

He said the Georgian government plans to carry out research to identify factors hindering economic growth in the country.

"As various international studies have proven, there is an inadequate workforce problem in Georgia, as well as the problem of limited access to capital and finances. So we offer to renew the process of research for finding the needed conclusions and arguments in order to ensure that the support of these important directions continues in Georgia, PM kvirikashvili said.

As the Charge dAffaires Elizabeth Rood said at the supervisory board meeting PM Kvirikashvili plays an important role in the success of the MCC installments in Georgia. She has expressed gratitude towards the PM for his "strong and continuous leadership ensuring the money of American taxpayers that are invested in MCA Georgia are spent appropriately.

"I have visited some of the rehabilitated schools out of 40 so far and the transformation is very impressive. Many motivated and smart students have started acquiring highly demanded skills during the last six months and almost 400 future leaders are studying STEM fields at SDSU in Georgia currently. All these results were made possible through our firm partnership, Rood added.

She has expressed her hope that the US governments support will increase Georgias stability and accelerate the countrys advancement on the way towards the Euro-Atlantic space.
Saudi Arabia will host a regional summit to discuss the ongoing economic crisis in Jordan, where a proposed income tax rise recently triggered some of the largest protests in years, Al Jazeera reported.

The meeting on Sunday in Mecca will be attended by Saudi King Salman, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The leaders agreed to meet in order to "discuss ways to support Jordan to overcome the economic crisis the country is going through," Saudi Press Agency said on Saturday, quoting a statement from the Royal Court.

Jordan relies heavily on foreign aid, and the $3.6bn assistance programme it receives annually from the Gulf Corporation Council has not been renewed since last year.

Daoud Kuttab, a journalist based in Jordan's capital, Amman, said most of the financial aid given to Jordan by Gulf Arab states "has dried up or gone on to specific programmes" which do not help the country's budget.

"There are different schools of thought on this issue," he explained. "One says that the Gulf countries support programmes like building schools and highways [in Jordan] rather than just giving them money.

"Then there are some people who think that there is some kind of a political connection to the stopping of the direct support," Kuttab told Al Jazeera.

"The fact is Jordan is suffering because of this absence of financial aid," he said, adding that Amman considers Arab countries have a responsibility to keep it afloat, due to its role in protecting Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday agreed to take their April meeting in Wuhan as a new starting point to promote bilateral relations, Xinhua reported.

The two leaders reached the consensus during a meeting in the coastal Chinese city of Qingdao.

Recalling that he and Modi successfully had an informal meeting and reached important consensus in Wuhan of Hubei Province more than one month ago, Xi said the meeting had been well received by both countries and the international community, and a positive atmosphere is taking shape to pay close attention to and support the development of China-India relations.

China is willing to work with India to take the Wuhan meeting as a new starting point to continuously enhance political mutual trust and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, so as to push forward China-India relations in a better, faster and steadier manner, Xi said.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday called for continued support for Jordan to address challenges, Xinhua reported citing the state-run Petra news agency.

She made the remarks at a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Amman, where she commended Jordan's efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East.

The king reviewed challenges Jordan is facing in various economic areas due to the regional conditions.

The two sides also discussed cooperation between Jordan and the EU and means to enhance cooperation in various areas.

The two sides stressed the need to reach a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue, and voiced support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital based on the two-state solution.

The king also called for a political solution to the Syrian crisis and preserving the de-escalation zone in south Syria.

The zone was created last year following a tripartite agreement by Jordan, the United States and Russia.
The main points in the Ministry of Finance's monthly report on implementation of the state budget and tax revenues show disappointing tax revenues in May and a likely budget deficit. Tax revenues totaled $25.1 billion in May, a figure affected by an exceptional NIS 2.1 billion in tax refunds. An analysis of the composition of revenue shows that revenue fell 4.8% in comparison with last year, Globes reports.

The update published today by the Ministry of Finance show that the cumulative budget deficit is projected to grow substantially starting in August due to exceptional revenues in August-October 2017, the Ministry of Finance says. The cumulative deficit over the past 12 months is 1.9% of GDP, and the target set for 2018 is 2.9% at the end of the year. Outgoing chief economist Yoel Naveh told "Globes" that the deficit would reach the target this year, following a number of years in which it was substantially lower than the target.

The report indicates that tax revenues in May were considerably lower than in May 2017. Assuming uniform tax rates, which means excluding legislative changes, excess collection, deferred refunds, and bringing forth of auto imports in December 2016, revenues were down 5% in real terms in comparison with May 2017. Revenue from direct taxes was down 9% as a result of larger than usual refunds, while revenue from indirect taxes was unchanged.

The report also showed that spending by civilian ministries has grown 5.8% since the beginning of the year, while defense spending was up 1.3%, compared with the corresponding period last year.
Real Madrid have reportedly offered Cristiano Ronaldo an improved contract that could see the 33-year-old's earnings rise to 32.5 million (28.5 million) per year, bleacherreport.com reported.

Ronaldo wants an increase on the wages in his deal so his pay is closer to that of rivals Lionel Messi and Neymar. Journalist Manolo Lama told Cadena Cope's El Partidazo programme that a new offer has been made (h/t AS).

The new deal is said to comprise a basic annual wage of 25 million (21.9 million), plus a further 7.5 million (6.5 million) in add-ons.

AS showed how the deal would break down: "2 million for winning the Champions League, 1.5 million for La Liga, 1 million for the Copa del Rey, 1 million each for the Ballon d'Or and Fifa's The Best Player prize and 500,000 for the Trofeo Pichichi, with another 500,000 tied into an appearances target."
RUNWAY EXCURSION. A Skyjet (B461) plane sits at the end of Busuanga runway 08 after experiencing runway excursion upon touchdown on Friday. All 80 passengers and six crew members are safe, while extraction of the aircraft is still in progress. Eric Apolonio

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines has ordered the temporary closure of Francisco Reyes Airport in Palawan after a Skyjet plane with 80 passengers and six crew on board overshot the runway late Friday afternoon. The closure also resulted in the cancellation of eight flights of Cebu Pacific Airs sister airline CebGo and six flights of Skyjet to and from Manila on Friday and Saturday. Initial reports from CAAP showed that the Magnum Air Skyjet Inc. flight M8-717 that left the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 4 overshot the runway after landing at the Francisco Reyes Airport around 4:40 pm Friday. CAAP chief information officer and spokesperson Eric Apolonio said the passengers and crew on board were all safe and were transferred to the airport terminal upon landing. He added the agency also issued a notice to airmen (Notam CO423/18) announcing that all flights to and from Busuanga have been cancelled on Saturday. The aircraft was stalled 150 meters at the end of Runway 08 and had to be removed while awaiting the arrival of the equipment that will tow the aircraft to a remote parking bay, said Apolonio.Apolonio added that the CAAP has sent Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry board investigators led by Col. Aberto Dulay and Reineer Baculinao to conduct an investigation and determine the cause of the accident.The Francisco Reyes Airport handles at least 16 domestic flights daily from carriers, CebGo, Philippine Airlines Express, Skyjet and Air Juan. Formerly known as Busuanga Airport, the facility is an airport serving the general area of Coron, located on Busuanga Island in the province of Palawan. On Nov. 10, 2008, the airport has been named after Francisco B. Reyes, the mayor of Coron from 1936 to 1939 who donated the land that forms the current airport complex. Meanwhile, the Manila International Airport Authority also announced the cancellation of Skyjet flights (Manila-Basco-Manila) and CebGo flights (Manila-San Jose-Manila) because of the bad weather condition brought by Tropical Storm Domeng on Saturday.
At least one civilian was killed and 23 others wounded Saturday in a bomb explosion at a busy marketplace in a town in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a local official said, Xinhua reported.

The explosion took place at sunset during the rush hour, when a roadside bomb ripped through a vegetable market in the town of Khalis, north of the provincial capital city of Baquba, which located some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, Udai al-Khadran, the mayor of Khalis, told Xinhua.

The blast destroyed many stalls and several nearby shops and civilian cars, while many people were shopping for the iftar meal to break their fast in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The month is characterized by fasting from dawn until sunset, as Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and all sinful thoughts and deeds.

Despite repeated military operations in Diyala province, remnants of Islamic State militants were still hiding in rugged areas near the border with Iran in eastern Diyala, as well as the sprawling areas in west and north of Baquba.

The militants are still capable of carrying out attacks against civilians and the security forces despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to hold a series of bilateral meetings on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organizations summit in Chinas resort city of Qingdao scheduled for June 9-10, TASS reports.

The Russian leader is scheduled to hold negotiations with the leaders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran and Mongolia. The SCO summits major events will be held on Sunday and on the same day the Russian president will hold talks with Pakistani leader Mamnoon Hussain.

"The SCO summits, just like other summits, provide a good opportunity for holding bilateral contacts," Kremlin Aide for international issues Yuri Ushakov said. "This time we have planned a whole range of bilateral meetings."

The Russian presidential aide pointed out that there would also be a trilateral meeting involving Russia, China and Mongolia. The contacts in this format began on September 11, 2014 in Tajikistans capital of Dushanbe on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Heads of States meeting. Last year, no such meeting was held. "We continue consultations on this meeting," Ushakov said, noting that "the meetings participants will mostly discuss economic issues."

Ushakov added that the first trilateral meeting was initiated by Mongolia at a meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State held in Dushanbe in September 2014. Russia, China and Mongolia reached an agreement then to hold such summits on a regular basis. This time, leaders of the three countries are expected to exchange views on ways to boost trilateral cooperation in various areas, the implementation of a road map on cooperation and a program to establish a Russia-Mongolia-China economic corridor.

At the meeting between Putin and Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga, the sides plan to exchange views on vital regional and international issues and pay attention to the Russian-Mongolian cooperation in multilateral organizations and boosting cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the SCO.

Speaking on Putins meeting with President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain, Ushakov said one of the most important areas of cooperation is countering terrorism. In particular, Russia is providing assistance to Pakistan in enhancing its counter-terrorism potential.

At the meeting with President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Putin is scheduled to exchange views on topical international issues. The Kremlin aide said Russia and Tajikistan have similar positions in the framework of integration associations and international organizations such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

During the meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Putin plans to pay special attention to the issues of fighting against international terrorism.

Putin also plans to discuss with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a range of issues of regional agenda, including the situation around the Iran nuclear deal and also the preparations for the 5th Caspian Summit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes his expected meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump will be constructive, as he himself told the Vesti v Subbotu (Saturday News) with Sergei Brilev show, TASS reports.

"He is a serious-minded person who knows how to listen to people and respond to their arguments. This leads me to believe that dialogue may prove to be constructive," Putin said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov earlier told TASS that the Foreign Ministry was making comprehensive preparations for a meeting between the Russian and US presidents. He added that such a meeting was necessary for launching the process of improving relations between Moscow and Washington. According to Ryabkov, the US shares this stance.

On March 20, Putin and Trump held a telephone call and agreed to hand down instructions to start preparations for a Russia-US summit. Moreover, later news came that Trump had not only mentioned the possibility of a meeting but also invited Putin to Washington.

Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov said in late May that no preparations were underway for a meeting that could take place before the G20 summit in November.

Putin and Trump earlier held talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit held in Germanys Hamburg in July 2017. They had another opportunity to hold negotiations during the APEC summit in Vietnam in November 2017 but managed only to exchange a couple of phrases.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon plan to discuss regional security issues and the situation around the Tajik-Afghan border, TASS reports.

"We have a lot of issues related to maintaining security, I mean the difficult situation along your southern borders, in Afghanistan. We will talk about all that today," Putin said at a meeting with Rahmon.

The Russian leader also noted that the two leaders will have also have an opportunity to discuss various issues at the CIS summit in Dushanbe scheduled for September. "We will have an opportunity to see each other again in Dushanbe in September. I am glad to meet you today and to have an opportunity to continue our work in the future," Putin said.

For his part, Tajikistans president noted that he would like to discuss regional security issues with Putin, including the situation at the Tajik-Afghan border.

Putin stressed that Russia and Tajikistan are developing their strategic partnership. Russia continues to be the main trading and economic partner of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member-states followed by Kazakhstan and China. "The trade turnover grew more than 18% in the first quarter of this year, so vigorous efforts are underway," the Russian president said. According to Putin, Russian companies have invested nearly $2bln in Tajikistans economy. "We are modernizing the armed forces and train military personnel. As many as 500 military servicemen from your country are being trained at the Russian Defense Ministrys institutions of higher learning," the head of state said.

Rahmon noted that this is the two leaders first meeting since Putins re-election. "I am glad to have another meeting with you," he said, adding that he would like to discuss certain aspects of strategic partnership between the two countries with the Russian president.
Iran and Russia must establish tighter dialogue regarding the United States unilateral pullout from the nuclear deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, TASS reports.

"As for the United States illegal walkout from these agreements, a far more serious and important dialogue between our countries is required," he said.

Rouhani said Russia had played a very important and constructive role in effecting nuclear agreements [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action].
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the Rossiya-1s Saturday News with Sergei Brilev show that he expects his US counterpart Donald Trump to fulfill his election promises concerning the improvement in relations with Moscow, TASS reports.

Putin pointed out that Trump has been implementing the promises he made during his election campaign. "One of the promises was to improve US-Russian relations. I hope that it will happen, at least we are ready for that and I think that the ball is in the US court," the Russian president stressed.

"We are ready to boost, deepen and improve relations with the United States," Putin said adding that "various tools may be used for that, including personal meetings (between the two countries leaders)."

In response to Brilevs question as to whether he was concerned about the possibility that even if friendly relations were established between the two presidents, the US may still put forward conditions unacceptable for Russia, Putin said that "it does not work with anyone."

"Relations between leaders should be appropriate and civilized but it does not rule out decisions that leaders believe to be important for their countries," the Russian president noted. "One can take the US decisions, including those made by the US president, in different ways, they may be criticized as there are lots of things worth criticizing. However, there is one thing I have already pointed to - Trump is implementing his campaign promises," Putin added.

"We believe that such personal meetings are expedient and not only possible. We met with the US president at various international venues. But, of course, this does not give a possibility to pay necessary and due attention to the Russian-US relations," Putin said.

"Generally, I consider such a meeting to be useful. The only question is that the internal political situation in the United States should make it possible to do this," the Russian leader said.

Responding to the anchormans question about what results the negotiations with Trump might produce, considering that the US president was to a certain degree "a hostage to the internal US political process," Putin said he hoped that "the dialogue can be constructive."

"My experience of communication with the US president suggests that although his actions are frequently criticized, especially lately, including on the international scene and in the economic sphere, this experience tells me after all that he is a thoughtful person who can listen to and who responds to arguments given by his interlocutor. All this gives me the grounds to believe that the dialogue can be constructive," the Russian president said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The north of Iraq, and in particular Kandil, will soon be completely cleared of terrorists, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Turkish media reported June 9.

As Erdogan said, the north of Iraq is the den of the PKK terrorists, and if the Iraqi authorities are not able to clean up the region, the Turkish armed forces will do everything possible to clean up those lands of terrorists.

Earlier, the Turkish armed forces established control over a base of the PKK terrorist organization in the area of Avashin in northern Iraq.

Earlier, the spokesman and deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey Mahir Unal said that the Turkish armed forces are moving deep into the north of Iraq, establishing control over the positions of the terrorist organization PKK.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier that Turkey has 11 military bases in northern Iraq, which greatly facilitate the fight against the PKK.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, lasts more than 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
A US commando has been killed and four others wounded in Somalia when they came under fire during an operation against al-Shabab militants, according to the US military.

The American soldiers were on a mission Friday to clear al-Shabaab from contested areas as well as villages the militants controlled, "and establish a permanent combat outpost" to expand the reach of the Somali state, the US military's Africa Command said in a statement.

"The US provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission," it said.

They were members of US special operations forces, who were fighting the militants along with 800 troops from the Somali National Security Forces and Kenyan Defense Forces.

One local soldier was also wounded when they were attacked by mortars and small arms fire, added the statement.

Al-Shabab, Africas most-feared militant group which has links to al-Qaeda, still controls large parts of land in southern Somalia. The group has a history of fighting Somalias government since the 1990s.

Despite being ousted from large parts of southern and central Somalia, al-Shabab continues deadly attacks across the country, which has been ravaged by decades of war and poverty.

The militant group aims to oust the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and drive out African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops. It has been carrying out militancy since 2006.

The US military has stepped up its airstrikes in the Horn of Africa nation after getting President Donald Trumps approval for expanded military operations there.

In June 2011, American forces began using drones to carry out the strikes, in a mission which has so far failed to uproot the militancy in the country.
US President Donald Trump and Group of Seven leaders had a bitter exchange over trade tariffs, ratcheting tensions at a summit that he planned to leave early on Saturday before talks on climate change and the health of oceans, Reuters reports.

The six-plus-one tone of the gathering in Quebec means the leaders from Canada, Britain, the United States, France, Germany Italy and Japan are unlikely to issue a joint statement, too sharply divided on trade or the environment to reach consensus.

In an extraordinary exchange between the leaders on Friday, Trump repeated a list of grievances about US trade, mainly with the European Union and Canada, a French presidency official told reporters.

And so began a long litany of recriminations, somewhat bitter reports that the United States was treated unfairly, that the trading system was totally unfavorable to the United States, the American economy, American workers, the middle class, the official said.

In short, a long, frank rant which is undoubtedly very unusual in this kind of formats, the official added.

French President Emmanuel Macron responded in a courteous but very firm tone to present the European side of the story, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chimed in as well, the official said.
Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio on Friday said the Philippines could use video of the Chinese Coast Guard apparently raiding Filipino fishermens catch in Scarborough Shoal, inside the countrys exclusive economic zone, to bring another complaint before the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The PCA had already ruled in favor of the Philippines in 2016 after finding that Beijings claims in the area were excessive. We can bring another case against China for not abiding with the ruling, Carpio told reporters after speaking at a program marking the Supreme Courts 117th anniversary. Carpio, part of the team that argued the Philippines case before the PCA, said Manila could seek damages for economic losses suffered by Filipino fishermen from Beijing for violating the arbitral ruling. However, Malacanang said it would first authenticate video captured by GMA News that showed the Chinese asking for fish from Filipino fishermen before filing a diplomatic protest. Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said he had asked GMA to authenticate the video because it was inconclusive. If established, its a ground for protest. Didnt actually see any bullying, Roque said in a text message. GMA News reported Thursday that fishermen in the area complained that the Chinese Coast Guard were in the habit of sorting through their catch and taking the best without their permission. In the report, cameras stowed on one of the boats showed the Chinese asking for fish, then leaving when fishermen told them they had not caught any. Roque said he would ask the fishermen to submit their written statement to prove that they were bullied or that their catch was confiscated. Former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario, meanwhile, said President Rodrigo Duterte might need a fuller briefing from his people because of how he reacts to developments in the West Philippine Sea. The most recent illustration was the harassment of Philippine troops in Ayungin Shoal, of which the President had no knowledge, Del Rosario said. Another example attributed to the absence of a less than full briefing appears to be the loss of effective control of Sandy Cay by the Philippines, which was not given much importance, he said.Del Rosario said if China acquires sovereignty over Sandy Cay, it could claim Subi Reef as part of the territorial sea of Sandy Cay. This would aid in legitimizing Chinas claim over Subi Reef, and would significantly reduce the territorial sea of Pag-asa Island, he said. In Congress, lawmakers denounced the Chinese for endangering the lives of Filipino fishermen by stealing their catch. Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, an administration ally, assailed what he described as kotong Coast Guard of China. If it cannot feed its own troops patrolling contested areas in the West Philippine Sea, how can it assume a position of leadership in a family of nations, Albano said. Magdalo Party-Iist Rep. Gary Alejano, member of the opposition bloc, echoed Albanos view, saying the Chinese Coast Guard is acting much like pirates bypassing small Filipino fishermen and stealing their catch. If the Chinese consider the Philippines as a friend, they will not prey on small helpless Filipino fishermen? China does not seem to treat us as a sovereign equal anymore, Alejano said. Trust is earned and we have to see that they are doing something, he added. Paranaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting, another administration ally, said the recent issue on China must be raised through proper diplomatic channels. The very presence of Chinese Coast Guard elements in our Exclusive Economic Zone is already a challenge to our sovereignty. And these incidents are a cause for concern. However, we must also capitalize on the good diplomatic relations with the Chinese government which [President Duterte] has worked hard on. So these incidents must be raised through these proper diplomatic channels, Tambunting said.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 9, 2018 - 21:49 | World, All

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will arrive in Singapore on Sunday for his historic meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the city-state, a Singapore diplomatic source said Saturday.

Trump and Kim are scheduled to hold talks in Singapore on Tuesday in the first-ever summit between sitting leaders of the United States and North Korea, with the focus on whether Washington and Pyongyang will alleviate security tensions and eliminate the threat of war.

Kim will be making only his second overseas trip by plane since taking power in 2011.

When Kim visited Beijing in March in his first foreign trip as leader, he went by a special train, following the tradition set by his father and grandfather, former leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

Early last month, however, Kim visited the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian using his private jet, which he previously used only for travel within North Korea. That sparked speculation that he would use the same aircraft to visit Singapore.

Some media have reported that Kim may head to Singapore using a different airplane offered by China.

Trump, meanwhile, is also expected to arrive in Singapore on Sunday. The White House has said he would leave the Group of Seven summit in Canada earlier than initially planned, skipping the last session on climate change and oceans on Saturday to head to Singapore.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 9, 2018 - 15:11 | All, World

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations were divided Friday over U.S. President Donald Trump's recommendation that the G-7 bring Russia back into the club, according to a senior Japanese official.

In the first day of a two-day G-7 summit in Quebec's Charlevoix, some members pointed to the importance of Russia's involvement in major issues of the international community, while others opposed Moscow's re-entry into the G-7, the official told reporters.

(German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump)

[Pool photo]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not show a clear stance on the issue, the official said.

Abe was quoted by the official as saying it will be necessary for the international community to get Russia to play a "constructive role" in dealing with pressing issues such as North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Abe said G-7 members need to hold dialogue with Russia and seek its involvement in key international and regional issues.

But at the same time, he stressed the importance of the G-7 -- as a group -- sharing basic values such as freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

(G-7 leaders attend a photo session.)

[Pool photo]

Speaking to reporters earlier Friday, Trump said, "I would recommend -- it's up to them, but Russia should be in the meeting. It should be a part of it."

"Whether you like it or not -- and it may not be politically correct -- but we have a world to run, and in the G-7, which used to be the G-8, they threw Russia out," he said.

In 2014, the G-7 expelled Russia from what was then the Group of Eight nations in protest at Moscow's annexation of Crimea, southern Ukraine.

The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 9, 2018 - 17:10 | All, World

Japan is considering informal talks with North Korea on the sidelines of an international security forum in Mongolia next week after a historic U.S.-North Korea summit, government sources said Friday.

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his willingness to hold direct talks with North Korea, Tokyo hopes to lay the groundwork for realizing such a meeting and resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang decades ago, according to the sources.

Abe has placed priority on resolving the abduction issue and U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to raise it during his June 12 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

Japan plans to send a senior official from the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau to the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue from June 14 and 15.

On the fringes of the security forum, the official at the deputy director general level is expected to talk with a senior official from the Disarmament and Peace Institute, North Korea's Foreign Ministry think tank, the sources said. The Mongolian government has been serving as an intermediary.

Tokyo is expected to explore contacts with Pyongyang in the months ahead.

(Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un)

The most immediate opportunity may come next week when the U.S.-North Korean summit is held in Singapore as the government plans to send Abe's national security adviser Shotaro Yachi and Kenji Kanasugi, who heads the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.

In August, a foreign chiefs' meeting could be arranged between Japan and North Korea on the sidelines of an international meeting in Singapore.

If Kim, accepting an invitation from Russia, takes part in an economic forum in September in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, Abe may seek to meet with the North Korean leader.

Through such exchanges in third countries, the Japanese government would explore the possibility of an Abe-Kim summit in either Tokyo or Pyongyang.

"I would like to directly face North Korea and talk with (Kim) so as to achieve an early resolution of the abduction issue," Abe said Thursday after meeting with Trump at the White House.

Since Trump expressed in March his intention to meet with Kim, Tokyo has conveyed through multiple channels to Pyongyang it hopes to resume bilateral talks.

Japan will urge North Korea to follow through on a 2014 bilateral agreement under which Pyongyang agreed to reinvestigate the whereabouts of all of the abductees, the sources said.

It is also expected to explain its basic stance that the normalization of bilateral ties and the extension of economic support will not come unless the abduction, nuclear and missile issues are resolved in a comprehensive manner, according to the sources.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 9, 2018 - 16:42 | Feature, All

Crown Prince Naruhito, on the occasion of his 25th wedding anniversary Saturday, expressed resolve to "firmly play the role of emperor as the symbol (of the state) as stipulated in the current Constitution" ahead of his enthronement next May 1.

The crown prince, 58, in a statement issued with Crown Princess Masako to mark their silver wedding anniversary, said he believes it is important to inherit the tradition of the imperial family while responding to changes in society.

(Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako at their palace in Tokyo on June 5)

[Photo courtesy of the Imperial Household Agency]

In relation to his 54-year-old wife the crown princess, who has spent more than half of the past 25 years battling a stress-induced illness, the crown prince said she is "doing her best to recover."

He also said he hopes the public will "take a long-term and warm look" at her efforts. Her condition has improved in recent years and she has appeared more often in public.

The crown princess said in the statement she will "continue praying for people's happiness" after becoming empress. The couple also expressed gratitude to each other for providing support.

Crown Prince Naruhito will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne the day after his 84-year-old father, Emperor Akihito, abdicates on April 30, based on his desire to step down due to concern about his age and failing health.

The crown prince, who has made research into water issues his lifework, was educated at Tokyo's Gakushuin University and studied for two years at the University of Oxford's Merton College.

At a Gakushuin reunion in January this year, the crown prince told friends who were chatting about reaching the retirement age of 60 in the near future, "In my case, I will be getting started," according to Yuko Matsuoka, who studied with the crown prince and was also at the gathering.

Matsuoka said she felt the crown prince's "positive feelings about his enthronement" in the remark.

(The imperial couple and their daughter Aiko, right, at JR Utsunomiya Station in May 2018)

The crown prince and crown princess married on June 9, 1993, after courting for years since first meeting at a reception for Spain's Princess Elena in 1986.

Harvard-educated Crown Princess Masako, a commoner like Empress Michiko, 83, accepted a marriage proposal and quit her career at the Foreign Ministry, saying she was moved when the crown prince told her, "I will protect you with all my might for my entire life."

Eight and a half years after their marriage, their only child, Princess Aiko, was born in December 2001, following a miscarriage. But the princess cannot ascend the throne as Japan's current law stipulates that only males born to the male lineage of the imperial family can.

The crown princess remained under pressure to bear a male heir and began receiving treatment for a physical and mental ailment in late 2003. She was later diagnosed with adjustment disorder.

There has been media speculation of a family rift in the imperial household, especially after the crown prince said in May 2004 in a press conference, "It is true there were developments that were regarded as denying Masako's career (as a diplomat) as well as her personality."

He was referring to the fact that the crown princess had thought she could play a meaningful role in furthering international relations in her new position, but found that she was not easily allowed to travel abroad and that this caused the former diplomat considerable anguish.

The crown prince's younger brother Prince Akishino expressed regret that the crown prince made the remarks without consulting the emperor. But the comments comforted the then 40-year-old crown princess, who was struggling under the pressure to give birth to a boy and not being easily able to go overseas, an Imperial Household Agency source said.

In 2013, she accompanied her husband on a visit to the Netherlands to attend the coronation of Dutch King Willem-Alexander, making her first official overseas trip in 11 years. Notably from last year, she has engaged in an increasing number of official duties and ceremonies.

A former aide to the couple said Crown Princess Masako's recovery was due to the dedication of Crown Prince Naruhito, who would "stay up all night with her when she couldn't sleep even if he had an official duty the next morning," and Princess Aiko having grown up.

A senior agency official said although the crown princess will likely continue recuperating from her illness after becoming empress, "the way the couple help each other in difficulties must win empathy from the public."
Travellers vaccinated in over 100 countries and territories, including India, will also be treated the same as returning fully vaccinated UK residents, the government said.
Bratislava, SlovakiaThousands of Slovaks rallied in the capital Bratislava on Friday to pay tribute to a murdered Filipino expat, beaten to death by a man believed to be a neo-Nazi. Henry Acorda, a 36-year-old Filipino living in Slovakia, was assaulted in the heart of the capital on May 26 by 28-year-old Juraj H., whose surname has been withheld pending trial. Five days later, Acorda died in hospital from injuries he sustained in the attack. Organizers told the local Dennik N daily that around 3,000 protesters, mostly in their twenties, turned out for the memorial rally that began with a violinist playing a mournful tune. Some carried banners reading Justice for Henry and Nazi brain burn in hell. Others laid flowers and lit candles at an improvised memorial where the attack occurred. CCTV footage made available to the media showed that Juraj H. hit Acorda, who then fell and became unconscious. The attacker continued to kick Acorda in the head and used a mobile phone to photograph him laying in the street. Prosecutors have charged Juraj H. with manslaughter and placed him in pre-trial detention. If found guilty, he could face up to 12 years in behind bars. Police have neither confirmed nor denied that the attack was racially motivated. Juraj H. said he will be sorry for what happened for the rest of my life. But I dont remember anything, while being escorted from court on Monday.The Friday rally was organized on Facebook by four anti-fascist groups. The information that we have about Juraj H. makes it clear that he is inclined to support the far right, they wrote. Lets make sure this brutal murder does not go without consequences for him. The organizers pointed to the fact that Juraj H. used his Facebook profile to post a white Ku Klux Klan robe captioned: Ku Klux Klan outfit not bad. He also posted a photo of a Russian vodka bottle captioned white power. Several Slovak politicians have also condemned the attack, including leftist Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini. These are very bad signals to our society. We must not have mercy on the murderer and justice must be served immediately, he told the Dennik N daily. However, his Smer Social Democracy party and its SNS nationalist coalition partner both campaigned on a staunchly anti-Muslim and anti-refugee platform ahead of the 2016 election that brought them to power, something analysts say paved the way for the extreme right Our Slovakia to enter parliament for the first time. Its leader Marian Kotleba is known for harsh anti-Roma and anti-migrant views and for leading street marches with party members dressed in black neo-Nazi black uniforms.
The Department of Education is asking the Philippine National Police for a meeting regarding the latters plan to conduct surprise inspections of student lockers as part of its anti-drug campaign. In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB on Saturday, DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said Education Secretary Leonor Briones had expressed concern regarding the PNP plan. National Capital Region Police Office director Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar on Wednesday proposed to implement random bag and locker inspections in schools to nip the countrys drug problem in the bud. Briones wants to make sure we have coordination and protocols are in place, Malaluan said. If there are law enforcement operations or initiatives that would, example, target students, we would like that to be properly coordinated with the Department of Education due to considerations such as child protection policy and schools as zones of peace, Malaluan said. Malaluan noted that for the school year opening last Monday, the DepEd and the PNP coordinated well, and he was confident this would continue for the drug prevention campaign. In a related development:  The military has intensified its support to law enforcement campaign against terrorism and illegal drugs, which both target young people, following the opening of academic year 2018. This developed as 10 Abu Sayyaf bandits surrendered on Saturday to the 64th Infantry Battalion headquarters in TARBIDC Compound, Tumahubong, Simisip, Basilan, the Western Mindanao Command said. Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, WestMinCom chief, said the group led by Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Bobong Mastul was compelled to lay down firearms following severe losses in the militarys intensified campaign against lawlessness. At the frontline of the persuasive campaign is the 64th IB under Lt. Col. Philip Fagel, which formed part of Joint-Task Force Basilan, Dela Vega added. Basilan Gov. Hajiman Salliman Hataman said Basilenos were thankful for the military efforts in the surrender, which signalled assurances of a more peaceful season of schools reopening. Hataman said locals had asserted that Bobongs group had been enlightened by persistent community engagement by ulama (religious authorities) and other sectors on the teachings of Islam.It was also said that they finally decided to re-embrace Islam and ask forgiveness for all their wrong-doings upon [learning of the challenges posed by] the Armed Forces and by President Rodrigo Duterte himself, said Dela Vega in a press statement. Hataman also said much of the grievance had been addressed by the social and infrastructure programs of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, under his brother, ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman. In a related development, elements of the 5th Special Forces Battalion here backed the ARMM field unit of the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency in two operations that netted high-value targets that posed drugs menace in local schools. Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6th Infantry Division commanding officer, told Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi that the military would continue its law enforcement support operations to the City Local Government Unit, and other government agencies to intensify the governments campaign against terrorism and illegal drugs. Arrested in PDEAs drugs watchlist Thursday were Alton Sansawi Racman, 27, and Nasrolah Sambolawan Salipada, 33. They were caught selling illegal drugs for P65,000 in marked money to an agent at a business establishment in Barangay Rosary Heights 10 in Cotabato City. Seized from the suspects were two pieces of heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets containing methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, weighing 25 grams and 50 grams, with a total street value of P510,000. They were riding a red Honda XRM motorcycle when caught and frisked face-down in full-view of market-goers. In a separate backup operation, two men found in possession of illegal drugs were also arrested in the evening of June 6 at a military checkpoint in Barangay Kanguan in Datu Piang, Maguindanao. The arrested men were both residents of Datu Piang. Seized from them was a sachet of shabu. The suspects are currently in the custody of Datu Piang Police Station.
DETROIT - As people around the world live longer, the prevalence of age-associated cognitive disorders is growing. Alzheimer's disease (AD), for which advanced age is the most significant risk factor, currently defies all therapeutic efforts. Experts argue that identifying the onset of this progressive disease as early as possible will advance the fight against its devastating effects.

A research team at Wayne State University hopes to give clinicians tools for identifying the early signs of impending disease by measuring subtle deviations in the way the brain modulates its chemistry during the formation of new memories. Their research project, "Task-related modulation of hippocampal glutamate, subfield volumes and associative memory in younger and older adults: a longitudinal H FMRS study," was recently awarded a two-year, $423,500 grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.

The study, led by Jeffrey Stanley, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences in Wayne State's School of Medicine, and by Naftali Raz, Ph.D., professor of psychology in Wayne State's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of the Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience Program in the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State, will use a noninvasive technique called functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) to characterize memory function based on the modulation of the brain's most common neurotransmitter, glutamate, in real time, as study participants engage in a memory task.

Stanley and Raz will examine changes in glutamate within the hippocampus -- one of the brain regions that is critical for memory -- during creation of new associations between pictorial stimuli and their location.

"Studying glutamate, sometimes called the brain's light switch, will help us better understand the brain chemistry behind basic memory processes," said Raz. "Most of what we know about glutamate changes with age, and its relations to memory comes from animal models and measurements of stationary levels of glutamate in humans. The fMRS technique perfected by Dr. Stanley will allow us to examine age difference and age-related changes over time in task-related glutamate modulation, in intact human participants."

The research team will acquire a structural MRI of the whole brain, a high-resolution scan of the hippocampal body, and a H fMRS of the hippocampus during formation of associations between common objects and locations in healthy, young and older participants. An important feature of this study is a one-year follow-up that will help gauge the rate of change and individual differences in change over time in a fundamental memory-related brain process, while avoiding potentially misleading conclusions based on cross-sectional comparisons of age groups.

The investigators believe that the results of this study will lay the foundation for intervention aimed at mitigating cognitive decline.

The grant number for this National Institutes of Health project is AG059160.

###

Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research institutions in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit research.wayne.edu.
President Trumps overall job rating is holding steady, buoyed by a record number approving of his handling of the economy. A Fox News poll released Thursday also finds that most like that hes meeting with North Korea.

Forty-five percent of voters approve of the presidents performance, while 51 percent disapprove. It was 44-53 percent in April. Trumps highest approval, 48 percent, came in February 2017, soon after taking office. While more voters strongly disapprove (41 percent) than strongly approve (27 percent), that 14-point intensity gap is down from a high of 24 points in October 2017. The president gets net negative ratings for his handling of immigration (43 percent approve vs. 52 percent disapprove), foreign policy (42-49), and international trade (41-49).

A strong jobs report released June 1 showed the U.S. with a seasonally adjusted 3.8 percent unemployment rate. The president seems to get some credit for that. His handling of the economy brings his most positive job ratings, as a record 52 percent approve, while 41 percent disapprove.

There was a bump in economic optimism when Trump first took office: the number feeling optimistic went from 49 percent (January 2016) to 66 percent (January 2017). Now, that number sits at 59 percent. Since his inauguration, optimism is up 19 percentage points among Republicans, down 31 points among Democrats, and holding steady among independents.

Optimism is increasing on North Korea, as more voters now think it could be convinced to give up its nuclear weapons. Twenty-eight percent feel that way, up 12 points from 16 percent three months ago (March 2018). Still, a majority, 60 percent, says North Korea wont let go of its nukes.

By a narrow margin, voters think war with North Korea is less likely than it was two years ago (33 percent less likely, 28 percent more likely, 35 percent the same), and most approve of the president meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (66-24 percent).

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More expect Trump (40 percent) than Kim (30 percent) to negotiate the better deal.

Americans have mixed feelings on North Korea. They want the U.S. to negotiate with Kim Jong-un even though they doubt the North Koreans would ever concede on the main sticking point between our countries: nuclear weapons, says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson.

They also seem to think President Trump might be able to get a good deal, even though no one has a clue as to what that deal might entail.

In March, Trump expressed interest in meeting with Kim and the administration announced May 10 that a U.S.-North Korea summit was in the works for June 12. After being cancelled briefly in late May, the summit is officially back on the schedule.

Since March, approval of the summit has ticked up by three points, while the number who think Trump will get the better deal has narrowed by six points.

Voters explain why they approve (or disapprove) of President Trump

President Trumps job rating stands at 45 percent approve vs. 51 percent disapprove.

Okay. But why do voters think hes doing a good job or a bad job?

The latest Fox News poll asks voters to explain in their own words what is behind their approval or disapproval of the president. Most could give fairly specific answers, as youll see below.

The top reasons for approving of President Trump are hes helping the economy (24 percent), getting things done (18 percent), keeping his promises (17 percent), putting America first (10 percent), shaking things up (7 percent), and cutting taxes (6 percent).

Among those disapproving, the most popular reasons are he doesnt know what hes doing (22 percent), he doesnt have the temperament (20 percent), while others say hes divisive or racist (13 percent), corrupt (9 percent), and lies (7 percent). Six percent say they are afraid hell start a war.

Opinions of how the president is doing are underpinned by strong and specific beliefs about the fundamental character of Donald Trump, says Anderson.

Dont expect his approval rating to change unless something happens to challenge core beliefs about him personally.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,001 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from June 3-6, 2018. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.

Methodology:

https://static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2018/06/1a97b72b-Fox_June-2018_National_Topline_June-7-Release.pdf

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Florida Supreme Court [/caption] The Florida Supreme Court on Friday rejected stipulated settlement in disciplinary cases against Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stephen Millan and Miami-Dade County Court Judge Maria D. Ortiz. Millan faced a 30-day unpaid suspension after admitting he used racial slurs to describe black defendants and their relatives. He also repeatedly reached out by cellphone to the defendants attorney after the incidents, but one lawyer said he was uncomfortable with the ex parte communications and reported Millan for ethics violations. The judge discussed six pending cases with the attorney and offered to help out by setting the cases for a plea hearing, according to the charging document. But the high court, which has the final word on judicial discipline, rejected the stipulation. "Upon consideration of the Judicial Qualifications Commission's findings and recommendation of discipline and the parties' stipulation, the court rejects the stipulation and disapproves the proposed sanctions," the justices ruled. "We remand for further proceedings to include a full hearing before the Judicial Qualifications Commission in order to fully develop the facts regarding any misconduct that occurred, so that the court, in determining the appropriate discipline, will be apprised of all the facts and circumstances bearing on the alleged violations." Ortiz also got bad news from the high court. She stipulated to ethics violations for free hotel stays with her husband, who faces public corruption charges. Her husband is the former director of Miami Beachs building department, Mariano Fernandez, who lost his job amid scandal. Her husband is charged with felony counts alleging he accepted free hotel stays and other valuable gifts to speed up city permits for Spains RIU Hotel Group. The high court rejected the stipulated agreement and ordered a full hearing before the JQC. Read more: Miami Judge Faces Ethics Charge Over Free Hotel Stays Tied to Husband's Corruption CaseBlack Bar Association Wants Miami Judge Off the Bench for Using Racial SlursMiami Judge Faces Suspension for Directing Racial Slurs at Black Defendants
FILE PHOTO: Security guards walk in front of containers at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, China April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

By Lusha Zhang and Elias Glenn

BEIJING (Reuters) - China maintained solid export growth of 12.6 percent in May, slightly slower than in April, but still providing good news for Beijing's policymakers as they deal with tough trade negotiations with Washington.

Imports also rose more than anticipated in May and at the fastest pace since January, with the data coming at a time when China has pledged to its trade partners - including the United States - that steps would be taken to increase imports.

China, the world's largest exporter, has so far escaped any major blow to its foreign trade sector despite rising trade tensions with the United States, which last week warned it would continue to pursue tariffs on Chinese imports.

That bodes well for the world's second-largest economy, as policymakers tighten access to credit domestically to prevent asset bubbles and limit heavy industry in many regions as part of a big effort to clean up severe air, water and soil pollution.

"Trade performance in Q2 so far has been better than expected and may offer some upside to Q2 GDP growth," Betty Wang, senior China Economist at ANZ, wrote in a note.

But trade tensions with the U.S. remain a risk.

A third round of talks between the two economic heavyweights concluded in Beijing last weekend with few signs of progress, as China issued a counter-warning that any trade and business deals reached with Washington would be void if the United States implemented tariffs.

The median forecast from a Reuters survey of 32 analysts had pointed to 10 percent export growth in May, but the actual outturn showed little loss of momentum, coming in just a shade below the 12.7 percent growth posted in April.

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Irrespective of chances of a trade war, analysts warn that China's export growth is likely to stall.

"Even if a trade war is avoided, Chinese trade growth is still likely to edge down over the coming year as the global economy loses momentum and headwinds to domestic demand from slower credit growth intensify," Julian Evans-Pritchard, Senior China Economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note following the data.

Imports grew 26 percent in May, the General Administration of Customs said, beating analysts' forecast of 18.7 percent growth, and compared with a 21.5 percent rebound in April.

Strong growth in imports were driven by purchases of computer chips as well as commodities including agricultural crude oil, copper ore and concentrate and natural gas.

China is reported to be importing record volumes of U.S. oil and is likely to buy more U.S. soy after Beijing signalled to state-run refiners and grains purchasers they should buy more to help ease trade tensions.

Among major trading partners, China's imports from Australia saw biggest turnaround in growth in May, rising 22.4 percent year-on-year after falling 3.1 percent in April. Imports from South Korea rose 31.8 percent in May.

China's imports and exports both showed stronger growth over the first five months of the year than they did during the same period a year ago, customs data shows.

China' trade surplus narrowed to $24.92 billion in May from $28.38 billion in April, and came in well below analysts forecasts for a $31.9 billion surplus.

Still a widening in China's surplus with the United States is likely to further irritate Washington.

TRADE SURPLUS WITH U.S. WIDENS

China's exports to the United States rose 11.6 percent in May from a year earlier, compared with a 9.7 percent rise in April. Its imports from the United States rose 11.4 percent in May, far slower than the 20.3 percent growth shown in April.

That widened China's surplus with the United States to $24.58 billion in May from $22.15 billion in April, according to Reuters calculations based on customs data released on Friday.

For January-May, the surplus stood at $104.85 billion, compared with about $92.9 billion in the same period last year.

China and the United States had appeared to have been on the verge of a truce over trade until the White House warned in late May that it would pursue tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, as well as impose restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States and tighter export controls. (Full Story)

A final list of Chinese imports subject to 25 percent tariffs will be announced on June 15, with more detailed investment restrictions to be unveiled by the end of the month.

China agreed to import more energy and agricultural commodities to narrow the $335 billion annual U.S. goods and services trade deficit with China following intensive talks in Washington last month.

Beijing also said it would cut tariffs on nearly 1,500 consumer products as it looks to boost imports as part of efforts to open up the economy. (Full Story)

But analysts say it would be a tall order for China to cut its trade surplus by $200 billion a year as the White House is demanding. To do so, it would have to buy the equivalent of more than 600 Boeing BA.N airliners annually.

So far, China's customs hasn't released final April commodities trade statistics which had been due on May 23, and some traders have speculated that Beijing may want to conceal statistics that could somehow undermine its negotiating stance.

(Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Elias Glenn; additional reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
The Florida government did not conduct background checks on thousands of applicants for concealed weapons for a year because the state employee was unable to log into the system.

According to a February 2016 investigative report from Floridas Inspector General, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, a state Division of Licensing employee identified as Lisa Wilde was unable to log into the system to actually complete these background checks. She never mitigated this issue.

When determining eligibility for purchasing a firearm, applicants must undergo a background check known as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is administered by the FBI. In Florida, these background checks are used as indicators of eligibility for concealed weapon licenses.

In March 2017  over a year later  an employee with the Bureau of Licensing realized the NICS records were not being reviewed. The report was issued in June of 2017.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, applications for concealed weapons permits in Florida at this timewhich coincided with the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando that left 49 deadwere at a record high.

The report concluded Wilde as negligent in failing to send over these background checks. The Division of Licensing is housed under the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service. Adam Putnam, the commissioner of that department, is now running for Governor.
Opposition lawmaker Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano on Saturday claimed the Duterte administration had ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to stop patrolling the disputed West Philippine Sea, a claim immediately impugned by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. I received information that the Duterte administration ordered our Armed Forces not to patrol the West Philippine Sea anymore, Alejano said, citing what he called military sources. Isnt that an impeachable offense already? he asked during a weekend forum. Alejano, however, clarified he did not have hard evidence to support his claim but added he trusted his sources. Im confident with the information coming from my sources, he said. But Lorenzana, sought for comment, underlined there was no such order but he stopped short of elaborating. The lawmaker also claimed the alleged order to stop patrols in the disputed waters had been in place since the latter part of 2017. In a related development:  The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan on Saturday condemned the China Coast Guards unacceptable harassment of Filipino fishermen in the waters of Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal), urging the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a diplomatic protest. Bayan condemns the recent harassment of Filipino fishermen by the Chinese Coast Guard at Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal. The actions of the Chinese Coast Guard are unacceptable, it said in a statement.  In the Senate, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III on Saturday said the recent incident of Chinese Coast Guard taking Filipino fishermen s catch from Panatag Shoal did not call for another international arbitration. Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio on Friday said Manila could bring another case against Beijing before the court that invalidated the latters excessive claims over the South China Sea after Chinese Coast Guard was caught on video taking Filipino fishermens catch in Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal. Alejano said Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano filed only one diplomatic protest against China on the WPS dispute, belying the Foreign Affairs chiefs earlier claim the Duterte administration filed between 50 and 100 diplomatic protests in the last two years. The reality is [Foreign Affairs Secretary Cayetano] only filed one protest...in the form of a note verbale; and he was forced to do that because there was a demand within the administration on what the Foreign Affairs [department has been doing to address the issue involving China], Alejano said on Saturday. Alejano alleged that Cayetano did the filing of the protest in haste and that it was sent to the residence of the Chinese ambassador on a weekend in May. Alejano also hit the seeming uncertainty of Cayetano as regards the number of protests the government had filed against China when the latter responded during a congressional hearing maybe 50 to 100 protests. The information coming to us is that only one diplomatic protest was filed by the government, and it was done in haste to prepare for the hearing in the House of Representatives, Alejano said. He added Cayetano was justifying the meaning of diplomatic protest that if you say something against the direction of China its already a protest. Meanwhile, the DFA has kept mum on a video footage where Chinese coast guards were seen taking fishes from the Filipino fishermen in the Philippines maritime territory. In a comment sought for hours, DFA acting spokesman Elmer Cato said they would respond to requests for statements, reactions, clarifications, etc, as soon as they got necessary clearance that would allow the Philippines to respond. We will respond to requests for statements, reactions, clarifications, etc that are posted here as soon as we have the information and necessary clearance to allow us to respond, Cato said. Sought again for reaction this Saturday, but the question fell on deaf DFA officials ears. The DFA has been quiet on any foreign-related issues, particularly on Chinas continuous militarization in the disputed South China Sea. During the Congress hearing, Cayetano admitted there were incidents of Filipino fishermen being harassed by China in the fishing ground at Scarborough Shoal. However, instead of explaining the incident, Cayetano insisted the situation in Scarborough Shoal was better now than the tension during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III and former DFA secretary Albert del Rosario.Several Filipino fishermen have alleged in television interviews that the Chinese Coast Guard had made a habit of taking their catch. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Friday dismissed the video footage, explaining he did not actually see any bullying by Chinese Coast Guards. If established, its a ground for protest. I have asked GMA 7 to authenticate it, but the video that I saw was inconclusive. I didnt actually see any bullying, Roque said. Anyway, he added, I asked the fishermen for their written statement. Maritime expert and University of the Philippines professor Jay Batongbacal rejected Roques comment, saying his belief that there was no bullying done by the Chinese men in the video footage was impertinent. Batongbacal said such action by the Chinese coast guard was not bullying but it was robbery or piracy. Government states that there is no bullying is impertinent. The fish caught are already the fishermens property, and it has been taken without their consent by armed men. Thats robbery or piracy, not bullying, Batongbacal said. He added it was a dismay the government was too quick to defend the Chinese Coast Guard and doubt its own people. He also rejected the request of Roque for authentication. The need for authentication and written statement is likewise impertinent given the video evidence and news report. It demonstrates government reluctance to act on the grievances of its own fishermen vs China despite the evidence before it, Batongbacal said. He said that that Chinas persistent action in the disputed sea demonstrated the Philippines ineffectiveness of the governments actions. In a statement, Del Rosario, on the other hand, said the Presidents recent admission that he was unaware that Filipino troops guarding Ayungin Shoal had been harassed by Chinese forces showed he needed a fuller briefing from his people. Of utmost primacy is the protection of the hard-earned gains of the Filipino people as handed down by the  arbitral tribunal, he said. Our President may want to consider having his people closely coordinate with the acting Chief Justice on matters related to the South China Sea, he added. He said the Philippines could work on a proposed UN resolution urging China and the rest of the world to respect the decision of the arbitral tribunal. Over the past years, China has claimed some of the features of the disputed South China Sea particularly the Philippine-owned-reefs-turned-islands in the Kalayaan Group of Islands (Spratlys) where Beijing has installed weapon system in the region. The reclamation in the South China Sea started when a standoff happened between the Philippines and China after Manila caught Beijing for catching live turtles and other resources within the countrys territory. Chinas activities over the disputed sea have become more visible when the Philippines filed a case before the Arbitral Tribunal and ruled in favor of Manila three years after declaring Beijings nine-dash line claim as excessive and illegal. The Philippines has won an arbitration case against China on July 12, 2016, invalidating Beijings nine-dash line of its so-called Chinese ancient map. China, on the other hand, slammed the order and said it would not recognize the Tribunal ruling stressing that its claim to the sea is indisputable. Manilas arbitration case is limited to determining the role of historic rights and the source of maritime entitlements in the South China Sea and did not tackle territorial ownership. The Permanent Court of Arbitrations mandate is limited to the interpretation or application of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea. Duterte set aside the ruling in order to forge better ties with China, but vowed to raise it at a proper timethe exact timeline was not disclosedduring his presidency which ends in 2022.
Franco-Nevada Corporations (TSX:FNV) most recent return on equity was a substandard 4.56% relative to its industry performance of 11.07% over the past year. FNVs results could indicate a relatively inefficient operation to its peers, and while this may be the case, it is important to understand what ROE is made up of and how it should be interpreted. Knowing these components could change your view on FNVs performance. Today I will look at how components such as financial leverage can influence ROE which may impact the sustainability of FNVs returns. See our latest analysis for Franco-Nevada

Peeling the layers of ROE  trisecting a companys profitability

Return on Equity (ROE) is a measure of Franco-Nevadas profit relative to its shareholders equity. It essentially shows how much the company can generate in earnings given the amount of equity it has raised. Generally speaking, a higher ROE is preferred; however, there are other factors we must also consider before making any conclusions.

Return on Equity = Net Profit  Shareholders Equity

Returns are usually compared to costs to measure the efficiency of capital. Franco-Nevadas cost of equity is 17.41%. Since Franco-Nevadas return does not cover its cost, with a difference of -12.85%, this means its current use of equity is not efficient and not sustainable. Very simply, Franco-Nevada pays more for its capital than what it generates in return. ROE can be dissected into three distinct ratios: net profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. This is called the Dupont Formula:

Dupont Formula

ROE = profit margin  asset turnover  financial leverage

ROE = (annual net profit  sales)  (sales  assets)  (assets  shareholders equity)

ROE = annual net profit  shareholders equity

TSX:FNV Last Perf Jun 9th 18

Basically, profit margin measures how much of revenue trickles down into earnings which illustrates how efficient the business is with its cost management. The other component, asset turnover, illustrates how much revenue Franco-Nevada can make from its asset base. The most interesting ratio, and reflective of sustainability of its ROE, is financial leverage. Since ROE can be artificially increased through excessive borrowing, we should check Franco-Nevadas historic debt-to-equity ratio. Currently, Franco-Nevada has no debt which means its returns are driven purely by equity capital. This could explain why Franco-Nevadas ROE is lower than its industry peers, most of which may have some degree of debt in its business.

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TSX:FNV Historical Debt Jun 9th 18

Next Steps:

ROE is one of many ratios which meaningfully dissects financial statements, which illustrates the quality of a company. Franco-Nevadas ROE is underwhelming relative to the industry average, and its returns were also not strong enough to cover its own cost of equity. However, ROE is not likely to be inflated by excessive debt funding, giving shareholders more conviction in the sustainability of returns, which has headroom to increase further. ROE is a helpful signal, but it is definitely not sufficient on its own to make an investment decision.

For Franco-Nevada, Ive compiled three fundamental aspects you should further examine:

Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Valuation: What is Franco-Nevada worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Franco-Nevada is currently mispriced by the market. Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Franco-Nevada? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!



To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.
Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier delivers a statement after the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin, Germany June 6, 2018. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

By Andrea Shalal

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier called on Friday for Europe to remain unified in the face of rising trade tensions with the United States, saying it was unclear how a summit of the Group of Seven rich nations would end.

"We have a serious situation, not just since last night or this morning, but rather the entire last few weeks," Altmaier told broadcaster ZDF.

He underlined the importance of European unity on free trade and economic interests, especially since domestic debate was continuing in the United States about punitive sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump on G7 allies like Canada, Japan and the European Union.

Leaders of G7 nations meeting in Canada from Friday are more divided than at any time in the group's 42-year history, with Trump's "America First" policies at risk of causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms.

Trump has already imposed hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and threatened to do the same for cars. His decisions to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and a global climate change accord have also fueled tensions.

Altmaier said the EU had long resisted imposing tariffs of its own but had shown it would do so if left with no other choice.

European leaders remained committed to continuing the dialogue with the United States if both sides were willing to make concessions, he said, although there was no sign of that at the moment.

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A business leader also expressed concern. Joe Kaeser, chief executive of the engineering group Siemens, warned against deepening the transatlantic trade dispute. "Escalation was never a good answer. That's why we must try to find areas of agreement," he said in Munich.

Germany's BDI industry association said U.S. protective measures could hit exports from Europe's largest economy and so reduce German growth by up to 0.25 percentage points, adding that if the situation escalated, a lot more would be at stake.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the United States remained Germany's closest partner outside Europe. However, there were significant differences that could not be ignored, and Europe needed new partnerships, he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

He took aim at Trump's actions on the Iran deal, trade and climate change, saying the president was willfully ignoring the negative consequences that his decisions would have on Europe and focusing solely on U.S. interests.

"None of that will make the world better, safer or more peaceful," he told the newspaper. "We were used to relying on what had been agreed. That has fundamentally changed."

Maas called for creation of a European security council, an idea backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, and said ending the current requirement for unanimous decisions on foreign policy and security issues would make the EU more agile.

Maas also called for Europe to forge alliances with other regions, including countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Michelle Martin and David Stamp)
BOJA vs. SBUX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now? BOJA vs. SBUX: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

The Financial Times and Politico have broken the story that the EU is getting ready to fine Alphabet GOOGL for its monopolistic practices regarding Android. They also say that the fine could be significantly higher than the $2.7 billion charged last year over Google Shopping.

Since the European Commissions report isnt out, its reasons for charging Google arent clear as of now. But complaints against Google include the companys policy of requiring hardware manufacturers to pre-install its suite of apps while preventing them from pre-installing certain competing apps.

As investigations are generally long-winding, they allow the accused, in this case Google to make changes to deal with certain objections. So Google has in the meantime relaxed its rules regarding the pre-installation of competing apps.

The case started with Yandex, which was the dominant search engine in Russia, losing significant market share to Google as a result of this policy. One might argue of course that in this case Google increased competition in the market dominated by Yandex. But the EU, to which Yandex went, decided to pursue the case anyway.

Googles arguments (from earlier on) do look convincing:

The EU isnt considering Apple AAPL as Googles competitor, although its own findings showed that they do in fact compete. So Android being offered free to hardware makers means that many more hardware companies could take a shot at the market and many more and cheaper devices could enter the market, thereby increasing choice for customers.

Second, Googles bundling creates a consistent Android experience across devices and prevents fragmentation, which is both expensive and cumbersome for developers since a fragmented ecosystem would require them to make multiple versions of their apps. Destroying this balance would kill the app ecosystem hurting millions of developers.

Third, hardware makers can also pre-install competing apps (Google apps now make up a third of pre-installed apps).

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Fourth, the pre-installed Google bundle is free for hardware makers and users. Moreover, since Google earns from app usage, this helps it provide necessary support to Android and Play at no extra cost to users.

Fourth, Google doesnt prevent any user from downloading any app of their choice from Play Store. It says that the average Android user in Europe downloads an additional 50 apps over the lifetime of their device. So if they prefer any app over Googles, they are free to download it (they probably cant delete the Google apps although this may not be such a big problem since they occupy a very small part of device memory).

To Conclude

Googles position is rather unique because it has successfully created an ecosystem of not just developers but also hardware makers, content providers and advertisers. While this has created some tensions between various parties and its ability to earn profits from the system has been questioned, its impossible to deny Googles contribution.

So the EU fine is not the end of the story. Google is definitely a monopoly of huge proportions but the service it provides is so unique that the EU will be hard pressed to find an alternative solution thats also fair for all concerned.

We are at a point in history where we are re-thinking the concept of monopoly. Is a monopoly always evil? What about Amazon AMZN then, for instance, which has the effect of lowering prices across the industry? And what is the best way to regulate benevolent monopolies, if I can use that term? There are no easy answers. So these are questions that we will continue to debate as the Internet grows to take over even more of our lives. In the meantime, Googles ordeals could well continue.

Google shares carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). But better investment ideas are captured in the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.

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Here's some good news for your Friday: Honda is bringing back some classic bikes from its past. The Monkey and the Super Cub C125 will be available for U.S. customers from the 2019 model year on.



Make no mistake, these are new bikes with modern touches like LED lights and digital displays, but Honda has kept their design and functionality very close to the mid-century originals. Both were first unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show last fall, in concept form, but Honda was eager to bring them quickly into production. Both have a remarkably large 125cc engine, as 50cc units were common in the originals.



The Monkey originally started as an amusement park ride bike some 60 years ago, but it was quickly seen as viable for large-scale production. They've always been cheap, fun and robust, and celebrities like John Lennon have bought them just to get around on a farm. The 2019 model year Monkey will be available in two colors, and if it's a Banana Yellow, you know it doesn't have ABS brakes, as the ABS version only comes in Pearl Nebula Red. The non-ABS one is just under $4,000, while the ABS one costs $200 more.



The Super Cub C125 has ABS brakes as standard, and it costs $3,599. The original, American Honda Super Cub was available in the U.S. from 1958 to 1974, and it's been manufactured continuously for other markets. It's the highest-selling motor vehicle in the world, as over 100 million Super Cubs have been made! The new bike is fuel injected and only comes in pearl blue. It will be available from January 2019.



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It already boasts the digital loyalty of more than 40 million Thais, but now Asia's ubiquitous social-media messaging app Line is breaking into the real world with a Bangkok theme park.

By turns colourful, creative and ever-so-slightly creepy, the 1,500 square metre (16,000 square foot) "Line Village" in Bangkok's commercial heart immerses visitors in the internal world of the app with cut-outs, projections and life-size models of its cutesie 'sticker' characters.

Bears "Brown" and "Choco" sit in rooms painstakingly adorned with details of the siblings' 'lives' and passions -- sport for the former and social media and fashion for the latter.

Mirrors and interactive screens add to the sensory blast of bright colours as each character gets a full treatment, gifting selfie backdrops for superfans of the Japan-made app.

"The concept of Line Village is to actually bring Line characters into reality," Rupop Shinawatra, the theme park's executive advisor told AFP, adding the concept is a Thai "first".

"Like... Brown, you go to into his bedroom, there's the forest area, there's a lot of activities, both digital and physical experiences."

The target market is Thai -- nearly two thirds of Thailand's 68 million people use Line, as well as Asian tourists to Bangkok and curious westerners to whom the app may be less familiar.

"Thai people are very social media savvy... Line connects groups, it's constant communication. We are hoping people will bring that here," Rupop added.

burs-apj/kaf
A majority of Americans dont know how much money they need to save for retirement, while 19 million Americans dont think they will retire at all, according to a new survey from Bankrate.com

Bankrate found that 61% of Americans are unsure about their savings. For those that do have an estimate, the median amount is $650,000. Millennials are more likely than other generations to be unsure about their retirement needs.

Nine percent of both millennials (18-37 years old) and baby boomers (54-72 years old) said they never plan to retire.

The key to retirement savings is to actually save for retirement. Put away at least 10% of your pay, including any employer contributions, into your retirement account and do it yesterday," said Bankrate analyst Taylor Tepper, adding that online calculators can help savers estimate how much they need to sock away.

More than half of Americans have sought advice on retirement planning, according to Bankrate. The survey found that 26% of respondents consulted a personal financial advisor, 21% asked family or friends, 11% used an online retirement calculator and 10% contacted a bank or financial institution. Others relied on expert commentary and roboadvisors.

Seven percent of respondents in Bankrates survey said they need between $250,000 and $500,000 for retirement. Eight percent believe they need to save either $250,000 or less, $500,000 to $1 million, or over $1 million.

Gen Xers are twice as likely as other age groups to say they need over $1 million to retire. Residents of the Northeast and West are also more likely to target $1 million in savings.

More than half (61%) of Americans expect little to no contributions from Social Security, while 20% said the program will likely fund about half of their retirement savings. Another 17% said most to all of their retirement money will come from Social Security.

Tepper said Social Security will help fund a sizable portion of most retirements, even for millennials, despite erroneous declarations that the pension program will soon go bankrupt.

Related Articles
norwegian air

Billionaire Norwegian Air CEO Bjrn Kjos launched the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) in April, a company executives say will explore and exploit potential opportunities that lie in blockade and ledger technology.

The company raised $250,000 in a first capital round and is owned by a company called Observatoriet Invest, although Stig Kjos-Mathisen, Kjos son-in-law and chairman of NBX, says Norwegian will be the main owner of the exchange in time.

NBX is rolling out a cryptocurrency exchange later this year and will also be opening up the airline business for cryptocurrency adoption.

Were look at things that are easy to scale. Among other things, having a crypto currency as payment option in the airline, Kjos-Mathisen said yesterday. We see that there is a need for a serious marketplace where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

NBX has ambitious plans with a goal of rivaling exchanges like GDAX and Kraken.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is the largest airline in Scandinavia, the third-largest low-cost airline in Europe, and the ninth-largest low-cost carrier in the world, having transported 30 million people in 2016. Norwegian operates in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and runs 500 routes to 150 destinations in 35 countries.

One of the most important thing for us is to build an ecosystem around the solutions we develop. In particular, the ecosystem within the Norwegian group is important, but also ecosystems in the airline industry, said Kjos-Mathisen.

norway

Norway has not always been hospitable to cryptocurrencies, with small crypto exchange Bitmynt AS losing a lawsuit against Nordea Bank recently. That said, adoption and integration is on the rise  the nations largest bank has adopted bitcoin integration and the central bank even proposed a state-issued cryptocurrency as an alternative to cash.

Stig-Mathisen states that he is not concerned with regulation, saying that he met with financial regulators recently.

Story continues

It is not long since we met with the Financial supervisory authority. My impression is that they are positive about the technology and do not want to inhibit the adaptation, but they have a cautious approach.

The relationship between a major airline and a related crypto exchange could be a very interesting one, with Stig-Mathisen citing KYC processes as being much smoother for existing Norwegian customers with registered passports on the system. By looking at both blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption for the airline in conjunction with a new cryptocurrency exchange, the wealthy Norwegian family could be about to make some big moves in the world of air travel business for crypto.

Images from Shutterstock



The post Norwegian Air CEO Launching Bitcoin Exchange, May Sell Tickets for Crypto appeared first on CCN.


Lima, PeruA group of archaeologists has discovered the remains of more than 50 children who were ritually sacrificed by the pre-Columbian Chimu culture on the northern coast of what is now Peru. The site is located a close to another where evidence of the biggest-ever sacrifice of children was found, with more than 140 youngsters were slain. But the most recent discovery may be even bigger. So far we have found the remains of 56 children who were sacrificed by the Chimu culture, archaeologist Gabriel Prieto told AFP. At this new site, we can easily double the number of remains we found in Huanchaquito, he said, referring to the nearby location where over 140 dead were found. The new sacrifice site was discovered in the Pamapa La Cruz area in Huanchaco, a coastal district of Trujillo, Perus third-largest city.In Huanchaquito, the remains of over 140 children and 200 llamas slain some 550 years ago were discovered, National Geographic reported in late April. Prieto said that the remains of the children, who were aged between six and 14, were found in early May wrapped in cotton shrouds facing the sea, a kilometer (less than a mile) north of Huanchaquito. The interesting thing is that they were sacrificed with a cut in the sternum and display opened ribs like in Huanchaquito, which reinforces the idea that Huanchaco was a place where massive sacrifices of children were made during the Chimu culture, he said. Those excavations date back to 2011, when the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas were discovered in a 3,500-year-old temple, according to the report.
FILE - In this Tuesday, May 29, 2018 file photo, Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, waves to people during White House Sports and Fitness Day on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington. A series of seemingly authoritative assertions in recent weeks about the shape and scope of special counsel Robert Muellers probe into Russian election interference have helped define it in the public eye. But none of those pronouncements about Muellers probe were made by Mueller. They were made by Giuliani, who is trying to color the perception of the investigation among voters and lawmakers, all while confident that Mueller will never speak up to correct him. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A series of seemingly authoritative assertions in recent weeks about the shape and scope of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election interference has helped define it in the public eye, generating countless headlines and cable chyrons about the ongoing saga that has shadowed President Donald Trump's White House.

But none of those pronouncements about Mueller's probe were made by Mueller.

They were made by Rudy Giuliani, the president's attorney, who has used a media blitz to frequently set  and later move  the goalposts of the investigation, making public declarations about the probe to color its perception among voters and lawmakers, all while confident that Mueller will never speak up to correct him.

"Our strategy is: When we weren't talking, we were losing," Giuliani told The Associated Press on Thursday from Israel. "Normally in a criminal or civil investigation, the audience would not be the public. But in this one, it is."

Among Giuliani's declarations in the last month: that Mueller's probe will end by Sept. 1 so as not to affect the midterm elections; that an interview with Trump will be limited and take place only under certain conditions; that prosecutors have ruled out indicting a sitting president.

On Thursday, he shifted expectations yet again, suggesting that Trump would not sit for an interview with investigators unless his legal team gets a firsthand look at the documents generated by an FBI informant who had contacts with the celebrity businessman's Republican presidential campaign in 2016. Previously, Giuliani had said a briefing on the information would suffice.

The special counsel has not responded to any of those claims. Indeed, Mueller has shown no interest in combating the White House on cable or in print; seemingly, the most consistent line in a story about the probe is "A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment for this article."

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A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment for this article.

Some of Giuliani's statements have been outlandish, and some have arguably been damaging to the president's cause. But nearly all have been intended to set the public discourse, whether to defend Trump or discredit those investigating him. Giuliani argued that, as much as the White House was trying to preserve Trump's presidency by fighting on legal terms, the public relations battleground was just as vital.

The former New York City mayor has repeatedly stated that Mueller won't criminally charge the president  again, a claim made without rebuttal from the special counsel  and believes that, therefore, the probe will conclude when Mueller delivers a report to the Justice Department, which, in turn, may release it to Congress, whose members could be susceptible to public pressure while debating possible impeachment.

"They have the capacity to report and so do we. We're reporting in real time as we go," Giuliani said. "So whose report will the public accept? Who do they believe? We're looking to win that argument."

Mueller's investigation has operated largely in secrecy, with the public getting only glimpses into its operation through witnesses who are questioned or when indictments and guilty pleas are unsealed. There is no evidence that Giuliani's rhetoric has influenced the special counsel, and Mueller's silence may be the right approach, according to some experts.

"You never want to wrestle in the mud, and engaging publicly would mean wrestling with Trump and Rudy," said Tobe Berkovitz, a longtime political media consultant who is now a professor of communications at Boston University. "He shouldn't respond. There are lawmakers and pundits who will do so on his behalf. And it's not like he is going to listen to Rudy anyway."

Giuliani's outspokenness, when taken in tandem with the president's powerful Twitter feed, has tried to undercut the credibility of the investigation and muddy the waters, turning the perception of those involved into political actors rather than above-the-fray investigators. He has painted former FBI Director James Comey, a key witness for Mueller, as untrustworthy and has derided the informant as "a spy," pressuring Republican lawmakers to hold unprecedented briefings on the asset's classified findings.

The attacks appear to have pushed public opinion on the special counsel. While the majority of Americans believe Trump should cooperate with the probe, recent polling suggests that an increasing number of people have begun to view the investigation as politically motivated.

One of Giuliani's recent talking points was that Mueller's team indicated to him that the probe would conclude by the end of the summer in order to not overshadow the midterms, a claim that has echoed across cable. But, when pressed, Giuliani acknowledged that Mueller's team did not make that commitment and any sort of timeline would depend on whether Trump sat for an interview, something his legal team has discouraged.

"He is setting expectations from the White House's point of view," said Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush. "And the primary audience of people who will listen to him are those who could influence Congress."

Giuliani has known Trump for decades  his bomb-throwing rhetorical style can at times mirror that of the president  and he became an aggressive surrogate for Trump from the early days of his insurgent presidential campaign. Although passed over for secretary of state, his preferred Cabinet position, he joined the legal team in April.

His in-your-face strategy has yielded some missteps.

He drew the president's ire when he contradicted Trump's earlier statements by claiming the president knew about hush money payments from his personal attorney Michael Cohen to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who has said she had sex with a married Trump in 2006. Giuliani received a torrent of criticism for suggesting this week that he doesn't respect Daniels "the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation."

On Thursday, first lady Melania Trump's spokeswoman upbraided the attorney for recently invoking her name while discussing Daniels, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed that Giuliani does not speak for the administration on foreign policy matters after the former mayor weighed in on the upcoming North Korea summit.

Trump has told allies that, despite some mistakes, he is glad to have Giuliani onboard as an attack dog and dominating news coverage. Giuliani did not apologize Thursday for the inflammatory remarks.

"We need to drive the story," Giuliani said. "You have to go on and be willing to take the arrows, especially if you're going to deliver more arrows."

___

Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire
By Karen Freifeld

(Reuters) - Chinas No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker ZTE secured a lifeline from the Trump administration on Thursday after agreeing to pay a $1 billion fine and overhaul leadership in a deal that will lift a ban on its doing business with U.S. suppliers.

The agreement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks trade concessions from China and negotiations continue to avoid a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Shares of U.S. companies that do business with ZTE rose on Thursday.

U.S. lawmakers immediately attacked the agreement, citing intelligence warnings that ZTE poses a national security threat.

ZTE pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to evade U.S. embargoes by selling U.S. equipment to Iran. The ban on buying U.S. parts was imposed in April after the company lied about disciplining some executives responsible for the violations. ZTE then ceased major operations.

Under the deal, ZTE will change its board and management within 30 days, pay a $1 billion (744.7 million) fine and put an additional $400 million in escrow. The deal also includes a new 10-year ban that is suspended unless there are future violations.

"We will closely monitor ZTE's behaviour," Ross said in a statement. "If they commit any further violations, we would again be able to deny them access to U.S. technology as well as collect the additional $400 million in escrow."

Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that ZTE had signed a preliminary agreement with the Commerce Department, along with the fine and other terms.

Ross said the penalty is the largest the Commerce Department has ever levied.

The agreement does not take effect until ZTE pays the $1 billion fine and puts the $400 million in escrow, which is likely to take at least a few days, according to a person familiar with the matter.

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ZTE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Under the new agreement, ZTE must also retain a compliance team selected by the Commerce Department for 10 years. The company already has a U.S. court-appointed monitor.

#VeryBadDeal

U.S. senators said they plan legislation to roll back the agreement. [L2N1T91GJ]

"I assure you with 100 percent confidence that #ZTE is a much greater national security threat than steel from Argentina or Europe," Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio tweeted with the hashtag #VeryBadDeal.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that ZTE poses a "significant" national security threat.

"ZTE is a state-controlled telecommunications company that poses significant espionage risks, which this agreement appears to do little to address," U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the agreement "a 180-degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China."

Eric Hirschhorn, a former U.S. undersecretary of commerce who had been involved in the ZTE case, said "the government is merely setting a price for doing business instead of giving them the punishment they deserve."

A U.S. investigation into ZTE was launched after Reuters reported in 2012 the company had signed contracts to ship hardware and software worth millions of dollars to Iran from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies. (https://reut.rs/2GbpCmO)

The probe found that ZTE bought U.S. components and incorporated them into its equipment, illegally shipped them to Iran, and devised elaborate schemes to hide the illegal activity. The company pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Texas last year.

Shenzhen-based ZTE has a subsidiary in Richardson, Texas.

ZTE's survival has been a topic of discussion in high-level U.S.-China trade talks. Trump tweeted on May 14 that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working together to help ZTE get back into business, fast.

Trump met with his trade advisers on Tuesday to discuss China's offer to import an extra $70 billion of American goods over a year in hopes of defusing a potential trade war between the world's two largest economies.

One of the U.S. companies caught in the international crossfire is Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), whose products account for the lions share of chips inside ZTE smartphones. Separately, Qualcomm is trying to get Chinese approval for its pending $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI.O).

Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Steven Mollenkopf said on Thursday he hoped the ZTE agreement would pave the way for the NXP approval. Shares of Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) rose as much as 4.7 percent while NXP jumped as much as 6.7 percent.

ZTE supplier Oclaro Inc (OCLR.O) was up 1.3 percent while Acacia Communications Inc (ACIA.O) was down 0.6 percent. Oclaro got 18 percent of its business from ZTE last year, while 30 percent of Acacia's total revenue was from ZTE.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Eric Walsh, Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the second phase of Project Natick, a research experiment that aims to understand the benefits and challenges of deploying large-scale data centers under water. In this second phase, the team sank a tank the size of a shipping container with numerous server racks off the coast of the Orkney islands and plans to keep it there for a few years to see if this is a viable way of deploying data centers in the future.

Computers and water famously don't mix, as anyone who has ever spilled a cup of water over a laptop, so putting server racks under water sure seems like an odd idea. But as Microsoft Research's Ben Cutler told me, there are good reasons for why the bottom of the ocean may be a good place for setting up servers.

The vast majority of people live within 200 kilometers of the ocean, Cutler noted, and Microsoft's cloud strategy has long been about putting its data centers close to major population centers. So with large offshore wind farms potentially providing renewable power and the obvious cooling benefits of being under water (and cooling is a major cost factor for data centers), trying an experiment like this makes sense.

"Within Microsoft, we've spent an enormous amount of energy and time on cloud -- and obviously money," Cutler explained when I asked him about the genesis of this project. "So we're always looking for new ways that we can innovate. And this idea sort of gelled originally with one of our employees who worked on a U.S. Navy submarine and knew something about this technology, and that this could maybe be applied to data centers."

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So back in 2013, the team launched phase one and dropped a small pressure vessel with a few servers into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. That experiment worked out pretty well. Even the local sea life seemed to appreciate it. The team found that the vessel didn't heat up the water close to it by more than a few thousandths of a degree Celsius warmer than a few feet further away from it. The noise, too, was pretty much negligible. "We found that once we were a few meters away from the vessel, we were drowned out by background noise, which is things like snapping shrimp, which is actually the predominant sound of the ocean," Cutler told me, and stressed that the team's job is to measure all of this as the ocean is obviously a very sensitive environment. "What we found was that we're very well received by wildlife and we're very quickly colonized by crabs and octopus and other things that were in the area."

For this second phase, the team decided on the location off the coast of Scotland because it's also home to the European Marine Energy Center, so the infrastructure for powering the vessel from renewable energy from on- and off-shore sources was already in place.

Once the vessel is in the ocean, maintenance is pretty much impossible. The idea here is to accept that things will fail and can't be replaced. Then, after a few years, the plan is to retrieve the vessel, refurbish it with new machines and deploy it again.

But as part of this experiment, the team also thought about how to best make these servers last as long as possible -- and because nobody has to go replace a broken hard drive inside the vessel, the team decided to fill the atmosphere with nitrogen to prevent corrosion, for example. To measure the impact of that experiment, Microsoft also maintains a similar vessel on land so it can compare how well that system fares over time.

Cutler stressed that nothing here is cutting-edge technology. There are no exotic servers here and both underwater cabling and building vessels like this are well understood at this point.

Over time, Cutler envisions a factory that can prefabricate these vessels and ship them to where they are needed. That's why the vessel is about the size of a shipping container and the team actually had it fabricated in France, loaded it on a truck and shipped it to England to test this logistics chain.

Whether that comes to pass remains to be seen, of course. The team is studying the economics of Natick for the time being, and then it's up to Microsoft's Azure team to take this out of the research labs and put it into more widespread production. "Our goal here is to drive this to a point where we understand that the economics make sense and that it has the characteristics that we wanted it to, and then it becomes a tool for that product group to decide whether and where to use it," said Cutler.
A 58-year-old man has been charged after an estimated 3.6 million suspected illicit cigarettes were seized by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the Gartcosh area, a few miles east of Glasgow.

Police Scotland executed a warrant at a business address on Friday 1 June and discovered the cigarettes inside a 20-foot container.

HMRC officers attended the scene and seized the cigarettes, worth an estimated 1.3m in lost duty and taxes. A 58-year-old local man was arrested by HMRC officers and later charged in relation to the discovery.

Joe Hendry, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: Tobacco fraudsters are costing the UK around 2.5bn a year in lost taxes. This is theft of money which should be going to fund public services and is ending up in the pockets of criminals.

We are disrupting the distribution of illicit tobacco across the UK and levelling the playing field for local businesses who cannot compete with their criminal competitors.

We encourage anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco to contact our fraud hotline on 0800 788887.

Detective inspector Colin Campbell, Police Scotland, said: This operation is an excellent example of partnership working, resulting in a significant seizure. We remain focused on tackling criminality in our communities and we will continue to work closely with our partners, sharing information and intelligence which will lead to the detection and disruption of criminal activity.
Kano, NigeriaA flood of illegal small arms has swamped Nigeria, bringing with it a surge of violence that has left hundreds dead. Boko Haram Islamists, whose insurgency has killed at least 20,000 in the northeast since 2009, have long been reputed to have received weapons smuggled from North Africa. But a recent influx of small arms is also fueling violence in other arenas, including clashes between cattle herders and farmers in central states. It is also adding to the plague of kidnapping and cattle-rustling by gangs in the north of the country, and of armed robbery and attacks on oil installations in the south. Without the firearms... we would not have the kind of violence of the magnitude we have today, Interior Minister Abdurrahman Dambazau said in January. In April, Kano state police commissioner Rabiu Yusuf said the solution to illegal weapons was clear: We need to put them out of circulation. Doing that is a tall order, however. The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament (UNREC) has said more than 350 million small arms and light weapons are circulating in Nigerianearly two for every member of its population. AFP Nigeria accounts for some 70 percent of the 500 million or so weapons thought to be in West Africa, UNREC director Anselme Yabouri told a conference in Abuja in December last year. Periodic seizures are made: on May 31, soldiers on patrol in the southwest intercepted three trucks carrying boxes of ammunition from Benin. But with some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) of borders -- most of them porous -- Nigeria has struggled to stem the tide. In Nigeria, there is no legal right to gun ownership and regulation is by the president. Civilians are banned from owning handguns, military rifles, or machine guns. Licenses can be obtained from the police for double-barrel shotguns and hunting guns, but permission for this has been suspended because of the security situation. President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed the 2011 fall of Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and its chaotic aftermath for the rise in the smuggling of prohibited arms. Sophisticated weapons have found their way into the country, ending up in the hands of nomadic herders who previously carried only sticks and machetes, he said in April. But security analyst Babaji Katagum said blaming the influx on lawlessness in Libya was a restrictive explanation. Chad has for long been an important source of illegal weapons to Nigerian criminals, including Boko Haram, the former Nigerian Army captain told AFP.Civil conflict has hit Nigerias military partner in the regional fight-back against Boko Haram several times in the last 30 years. Weapons from rebel groups have then ended up in Nigeria, said Katagum. In 1998, troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad operated as a joint force against arms and drug smuggling in the Lake Chad area where their borders meet. But it became clear that it was too small to police the vast northern frontier effectively, particularly after its mandate was later expanded to tackle Boko Haram. An aerial surveillance unit -- the Air Border Guards -- was set up in 2007 comprising Nigerian immigration, customs, and air force personnel. But it was grounded just five years later by mismanagement and internal rivalry.As well as overland routes, Nigerias sea ports have been used by cartels to import weapons, by declaring containers as household goods or construction material to evade detection. In September 2017, customs officers in the commercial capital, Lagos, seized 470 pump-action shotguns labelled as plumbing supplies in a container from Turkey. That brought the number of weapons seized in the first nine months of last year to nearly 2,700, said the comptroller-general of customs, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali. Last month, the head of Nigerias federal police, Ibrahim Idris, said some 4,000 illegal firearms were recovered across the country in just three months. Officials also publicly destroyed nearly 6,000 guns surrendered by about 3,000 kidnappers and cattle thieves as part of an amnesty in northern Zamfara state. But Katagum said such discoveries were an insignificant number compared to the huge numbers of weapons in circulation. All these seizures are only an insignificant fraction of the huge flow of illegal weapons that pass through our ports into the country, a customs officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. We dont have the capacity to check the contents of all cargo container imports -- we rely on intelligence and our instincts.
For years, Pakistani political and military leaders have claimed credit for defeating terrorism by forcing the Taliban and allied militants out of the Pashtun tribal regions along the countrys western border with Afghanistan.

But in one part of this region the Taliban have apparently thrived by becoming a government-backed militia that officials, members, and supporters call the Aman (Peace) Committee.

The role of this committee in the remote South Waziristan tribal district came to light after at least four people were reported killed and scores more injured in a June 3 clash between committee members and activists from the Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement (PTM).

More than 300,000 residents of Wana, the regional capital and scene of the clash, endured curfew for four days in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when adult Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.

In Wana, people have been putting up with the excess of these Taliban [peace committee] for years, Dilwar Khan Wazir, a local journalist wrote. They sometimes imprisoned respectable residents, which contributed to resentment and anger against the committee among locals.

He says that after concluding an agreement with the authorities in 2007, the committee exercised a lot of control over life in the agricultural valley of Wana and the neighboring Shakai region mainly inhabited by an estimated half a million members of the Ahamdzai Wazir tribe.

According to locals, the committee is made up of several armed groups and has regulated public life, fought against anti-government militants, collected taxes, punished alleged offenders, and silenced government critics.

A journalist in Waziristan who requested anonymity because of fears of reprisals from the committee says it is composed of militants who are locally dubbed as good Taliban. They were opposed to the bad Taliban, who mostly targeted Pakistani security forces and followed the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allies. The TTP also originated in South Waziristan.

They have the support of the government and even have offices in government compounds. They are well-armed, he said.

His claims are supported by the April 2007 agreement that established the committee. Titled Parameters Of The Peace In Wana Bazar And The Main Points Of The Peace Agreement, this arrangement allowed the Taliban to punish alleged offenders.

If anyone injured another person within these parameters [of the Wana Bazaar] they will pay 200,000 rupees [$1,700] as a fine, one provision said. Another noted if anyone supported the Uzbek militants and any local or foreign terrorists, their houses will be demolished, and they will be fined 1 million rupees [$8,700].

The agreement identified Mullah Nazir as the head of the committee and named Malang, Haleemullah, Metha Khan, and Abdul Hanan as his deputies.

Nazir emerged as a senior Taliban commander in South Waziristan after the region became a main hideout for the Afghan Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), mainly comprising Central Asian militants following the demise of Afghanistans hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001.

By early 2007, the jihadist factions operating in Waziristan had begun fighting each other. Some wanted to only fight against NATO and Afghan forces in neighboring Afghanistan while others wanted to take on the Pakistani military for launching operations against them.

These disagreements were further fanned by suspicions that the IMUs mainly Uzbek fighters were involved in an assassination campaign in Waziristan targeting tribal leaders, clerics, and pro-government politicians.

In the spring of 2007, Nazir joined forces with the Pakistani military and tribal volunteers to expel the IMU from Wana. He remained one of the regions most influential figures until his death in a suspected U.S. drone strike in January 2013. His fighters also battled against NATO and Afghan forces across the border. Some believe the practice continues.

The committee, however, survived Nazir. Today, his four successors -- Bahawal Khan, also known as Salahuddin Ayubi, Ainullah, Malang, and Taj -- head the four factions of the committee. A fifth faction in Shakai is headed by Thesil Khan, who retains an office in the nearby district of Dera Ismail Khan, according to Wazir.

He says these commanders are a formidable force and over the years have amassed considerable wealth by taxing more than 6,000 shops and businesses in Wana. Fines and fees extracted for mediating disputes add to their coffers.

Such wealth has translated into the Taliban enjoying a better life compared to most locals, he wrote. Gradually, the locals began to resent these Taliban. The administration [in Wana] even attempted to improve their relations with the locals by forming a jirga [tribal council], but it failed.

In Islamabad, however, they are seen in a different light. Chief military spokesman Asif Ghafoor says the committee has played a major role in stabilizing Wana.

The peace committee has fought in the war against terrorism for years, he told journalists on June 4. They fought in the war against terrorism and are now doing their part in the [current] phase of stabilization.

Ghafoor said that Ali Wazir, a senior leader of the PTM, went to his hometown Wana recently and led locals in raising anti-army and anti-state slogans, which the peace committee opposed.

A jirga was called to sort out this issue [through dialogue], he noted. While the peace committee waited, they [the PTM supporters] came and they had an altercation. As is their culture, they had weapons, and they began shooting each other.

But the PTM leaders claim that the armed members of the peace committee killed and injured their unarmed supports. In videos uploaded to the Internet, people can be seen taking cover as shots ring out in the background. In one video, a man accuses the Aman Committee Taliban supported by the government of firing on them.

In a speech to his supporters on June 1, Ali Wazir had reportedly questioned the committees conduct and called on it to stop harassing locals.

Ali Wazirs brother, Muzamil Wazir, says the committee is filled with diehard militants who have always tormented locals.

Its only the government that calls them the peace committee. We have called them terrorists and the Taliban, he said. Their numbers have swelled, and they are armed with heavy weapons.

Late on June 7, a 120-member local tribal council succeeded in getting the PTM and the peace committee to agree to a temporary truce.

Sohail Ahmed Khan, an administration official in Wana, told Radio Mashaal that they lifted the curfew after the two sides agreed to stay away from the bazaar in Wana until June 25.

The one side will not hold a rally, demonstration, or protest while the other will also not intervene, he said.
jaysaccharide wrote:



I am aiming for a 700+ in GMAT and at this point I really doubt I will ever get there. I saw some charts for mean GMAT scores by age and looking at the scores drop with age was really a downer for me



Motivation please!! Well, I am looking for some motivation here, I am 35 years old and I intend to the take the GMAT this year. I graduated from college more than a decade ago and haven't prepared for any major exams after that. I wish to pursue a full time executive MBA in India from either the IIMs or ISB and I realize how important it is to have an impressive GMAT score to get an edge over other applicants for their programmes. I am having a tough time grasping concepts in quants whereas I am comfortable with verbal.I am aiming for a 700+ in GMAT and at this point I really doubt I will ever get there. I saw some charts for mean GMAT scores by age and looking at the scores drop with age was really a downer for meMotivation please!!

I just turned 33 and am taking it (for the 3rd time) on Saturday.Yeah - it's not easy. I'm sure it would have been easier when I was younger. Especially with quant.After ~600 hours of study over 8 months, my last practice test was a Q44/V47. It took this long for me to realize that I will never be great at quant, but I can get close to a V51 without much effort (of that 600 hours, I probably put in 20 hours of verbal prep.)My point is...play to your strengths. You might not have a great quant/verbal split, but you aren't applying to full-time HBS. Do what you need to do to get over that 700 mark. Take your time, practice daily, sign up for an online course, and do whatever it takes to get around a Q45 and use your comfort in verbal to prop up your overall score.Another thing I noticed about our advanced age...our bodies - including our mind - react more extremely to how you treat it. If you eat terribly and do not exercise, you will be sluggish and unmotivated. Treat your body right. Make sure you are eating well and exercise regularly. My best practice test came after a great 1.5 hour olympic weightlifting session. Take care of yourself. A clean body and motivated mind will help both in your study sessions and test. Along those lines - take at least 10 practice exams. Those are great tools to train yourself to be able to take a 4 hour test.An 800 might be impossible. A 700 will take longer than you think, but it will be easier than you think.
We are stumped by how President Rodrigo Duterte could easily and decisively distance himself from individuals he perceives as liabilities in the government, yet stand by his communications assistant secretary despite proof she does his agenda more bad than good. Margaux Uson earned her stripes by being a member of a dance group, a popular blogger, and a campaign supporter of Mr. Duterte prior to her appointment to the Presidential Communications Office. Hired supposedly for her expertise in social media, Uson lost no time stirring controversy by blurring the definite line that separated news and opinion.

Sometimes she also blurred the line between reality and imagination, for instance using a picture of Honduran soldiers when referring to Filipino troops, using a photo of the body of a Brazilian girl supposedly killed by drug addicts here, accusing a school of forcing its students to participate in rallies, citing a year-old news story to counter opinion on the killing of a teenager accused of peddling drugs, and referring to a non-existent article of the Philippine Constitution. Among others. When outed for these gaffes, Uson responds haughtily, refusing to own up to her mistakes. Her army of online supporters emboldens her. The Presidents unconditional support makes her believe she can get away with anything.Most recently, Uson got into a fight with the sister of former President Benigno Aquino III for likening President Dutertes act of kissing a Filipina worker in Seoul to the kiss given to Aquinos father by two women just before he was assassinated in 1983. Duterte himself ordered Uson to apologize but she refused, publicly defying him. Still, Mr. Duterte backs her. For as long as she hasnt been fired, she enjoys trust and confidence because all presidential appointees serve at the pleasure of the President, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said. Close presidential aide Christopher Go was reportedly asked whether he thought Uson was an asset or a liability to the administration. His answerno comment. We dont purport to share many things with Go, but his answer was telling. We know that appointees serve at the pleasure of the President. But when these appointees encourage a disrespect of facts, and fan divisiveness, and display arrogance that bring the public only displeasure because, after all, we foot the bill for their hefty salaries, the President should know better than listen to haughty online voices of their supporters. Uson has long been a liability to the Palace. We wonder how much more damage to his administrationand to his own authority and credibilityhe will tolerate before putting her in her place, outside of his government.
David Akast, British Council Tests Manager, East Asia; Nicholas Thomas, Country Director, British Council in the Philippines; Ian Cortez, Head of Partnerships and New Business, British Council in the Philippines

Together with the celebration of its 40th year in the Philippines, the British Council opened the doors of its new Learning Hub last May 18 at The Curve, Bonifacio Global City. The Learning Hub is a center for learning English and preparing for English tests, particularly the International English Language Testing System. Yearly, tens of thousands take IELTS to fulfill requirements for employment, study or migration to English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, United States and Ireland. Through the Learning Hub, IELTS test takers can avail of high-quality and reliable services to help them prepare for their tests and achieve their best possible scores in the IELTS. Here are some of the offers available at the British Council Learning Hub that potential test takers of IELTS can expect:The IELTS Orientation is a free 2-hour talk for those who plan to take IELTS test. This seminar provides attendees with an overview of the IELTS test, the different test sections and tips and techniques to achieve their desired band score.The IELTS One-day Preparation Workshop familiarizes test takers with the test format, along with test-taking tips and techniques. The workshop takes a practical approach to learning covering all four sections of the IELTS test: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. This is open to both registered and non-registered test takers for a fee.The IELTS Exceed Writing Workshop aims to assist IELTS test takers and prepare them for the Writing section of the IELTS test. It uses content derived from evidence-based research using the writing task outputs of IELTS test takers in the Philippines. This offer was developed by a group of British Council IELTS practitioners to address common mistakes in the Writing section. This is a free offer to all British Council IELTS-registered test takers.Organized in partnership with Cambridge Assessment English, IELTS pre-tests allow potential IELTS test takers to experience a simulation of the actual IELTS test. Test takers answer sample questions under test conditions and receive raw scores from IELTS test administrators and markers. Through the raw scores given, test takers can have an idea about the test sections they need more work on and increase their confidence in taking the actual test. The IELTS Pretest is offered free quarterly to British Council-registered test takers.IELTS Information Sessions, conducted through the British Councils expansive network of partners, aim to inform potential IELTS test takers about the different destinations all over the world where IELTS is recognized. Details and steps on how to secure visa for work, study or immigration are discussed along with how IELTS can help test takers land their dream countries of destination.The IELTS Library houses a full shelf of IELTS books, practice test materials, audio CDs, and other resources made available for British Council IELTS test takers. Test takers are given unlimited access to this library and may schedule their visit through the British Council IELTS website. The new British Council Learning Hub is located at the British Councils new office on the 7th floor of The Curve at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City. To learn more about the learning hub, the IELTS test, and the British Council, visit their website at www.ieltsasia.org/ph or connect with them on social media via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ielts.britishcouncil.philippines.
Has a West Wing source claimed that Melania Trump has been dead for days after a failed liver transplant? No, that's not true: the story was invented out of whole cloth by a website set up to troll conservatives and Trump supporters into sharing fake news so the fans of the site can then point and laugh at them. Although this kind of "news" might get certain liberals overly excited too. There is no truth to the rumor at all.

The latest Melania death hoax originated from an article published by Daily World Update on June 9, 2018 titled "UNCONFIRMED: West Wing Source Claims 'Melania Has Been Dead For Days'" (archived here) which opened:

A man nobody wants to claim yet nobody can deny has started what may be one of the most harmful rumors to date of this White House. Art Tubolls, chief correspondent to the President for the Office of Information and Propaganda, told Skip Tetheluda of the New York Examiner-Tribune that Melania Trump hasn't been seen for days because she was "laying on a slab at Annapolis." According to Tetheluda: "Melania's 'emergency' surgery was a liver transplant to save her life. Her body rejected the new liver and she died. Plain and simple. I don't understand why we're supposed to keep that a secret. the First lady is dead. That can't be kept below board."

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:

UNCONFIRMED: West Wing Source Claims 'Melania Has Been Dead For Days' The press corp was just evicted from the White House and escorted from the grounds.

The site comes with a clear satire disclaimer at the bottom of each article:

satire ~sati()r

noun

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

If you disagree with the definition of satire or have decided it is synonymous with "comedy," you should really just move along.

The owner and main writer of the site is self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has made it his full time job to troll gullible conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his articles. He runs several other websites, including potatriotpost.us, dailyworldupdate.us and nofakenewsonline.us. Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". A second man working on the sites is John Prager as revealed in this earlier story we wrote.

The phrase "nobody can deny" in the original article links directly to his Twitter account @BustaTroll. And "Art Tubbols" is an anagram of "Busta Troll".

Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up and he keeps knocking them down.

If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.

We wrote about dailyworldupdate.us before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
Super-high resolution view of pregnancy

The gestational-age test was developed by studying a cohort of 31 Danish women who gave blood weekly throughout their pregnancies. The women all had full-term pregnancies. The scientists used blood samples from 21 of them to build a statistical model, which identified nine cell-free RNAs produced by the placenta that predict gestational age, and validated the model using samples from the remaining 10 women. The estimates of gestational age given by the model were accurate about 45 percent of the time, which is comparable to 48 percent accuracy for first-trimester ultrasound estimates.

This is the first real, significant scientific progress on this problem in a long time.

Measuring cell-free RNA in mothers blood also could provide a wealth of new information about fetal growth, Ngo said. This gives a super-high resolution view of pregnancy and human development that no ones ever seen before, she said. It tells us a lot about human development in normal pregnancy.

To figure out how to predict preterm birth, the researchers used blood samples from 38 American women who were at risk for premature delivery because they had already had early contractions or had given birth to a preterm baby before. These women each gave one blood sample during the second or third trimester of their pregnancies. Of this group, 13 delivered prematurely, and the remaining 25 delivered at term. The scientists found that levels of cell-free RNA from seven genes from the mother and the placenta could predict which pregnancies would end early.

Its mostly maternal genes, Moufarrej said, noting that the genes that predict prematurity are different than those that give information about gestational age. We think its mom sending a signal that shes ready to pull the ripcord.

Biology of preterm birth still mysterious

The scientists need to validate the new tests in larger cohorts of pregnant women before they can be made available for widespread use. A blood test to detect Down syndrome that was developed by Quakes team in 2008 is now used in more than 3 million pregnant women per year, he noted.

The biological mechanism behind preterm birth is still a mystery, but the scientists plan to investigate the roles of the genes that signal prematurity to better understand why it happens. They also hope to identify targets for drugs that could delay premature birth.

Other Stanford authors of the paper are graduate student Keli Liu; postdoctoral scholar Joan Camunas-Soler, PhD; research affiliates Wenying Pan, PhD, Jennifer Okamoto and Norma Neff, PhD; senior research scientist Ronald Wong; Robert Tibshirani, PhD, professor of biomedical data science and of statistics; Gary Shaw, DrPH, professor of pediatrics; and David Stevenson, MD, professor of pediatrics.

This gives a super-high resolution view of pregnancy and human development

Scientists from the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Alabama-Birmingham also contributed to the study.

Quake, Tibshirani, Shaw and Stevenson are members of Stanford Bio-X; Tibshirani, Shaw and Stevenson are members of the Stanford Child Health Research Institute; Quake and Tibshirani are members of the Stanford Cancer Institute; Stevenson is an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; and Quake is a member of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford ChHEM-H and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.

The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University, the March of Dimes Prematurity Initiative Grant at the University of Pennsylvania and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, of which Quake is co-president.

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has submitted a patent application for the new technology.

Stanfords departments of Bioengineering, Applied Physics and Pediatrics also supported the work. The Department of Bioengineering is jointly operated by the schools of Medicine and of Engineering.
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
The report, released by Iran Human Rights Monitor on Tuesday, cites 16 executions, 17 extrajudicial killings, five flogging sentences, as well as increases in intimidation or violence against prisoners, protesters, strikers, and women.

Protests

In Kazerun, peaceful protesters were violently attacked by the state security forces. The Regimes agents can be seen in video footage opening fire on the crowd from a rooftop, killing four and wounding many more.

Then, the security forces arrested many of the protesters as part of their ongoing attempt to suppress the nationwide anti-regime uprising that first took hold of the country in December.

Deaths

Iran carried out 16 executions in May, three of them in public. They also gave the names of 57 people on death row.

Regime agents also murdered 17 people without any semblance of justice, including the four protesters mentioned above and nine porters who were killed by Border Guards.

As for prisoners, two inmates have committed suicide in protest to the inhumane conditions they are living under and at least one more died after being denied medical care.

Arrests and Imprisonment

There were 410 people arrested in Iran in May, including 148 on political grounds, seven on religious/ethnic grounds, and 255 on social grounds.

In May, 16 inmates went on hunger strikes to protest the denial of their rights.

Women in Prison

Female prisoners in Iran face harsh conditions  including having to raise their young children inside the prison  but around 73% have been jailed for poverty, which is caused by the policies of the Regime. These poverty crimes include making promises to pay and then not having the money or not paying a dowry.

Women who are a member of a religious minority fare worse, with Yaresan women in Qarchak Prison facing horrible and harsh treatment. One Yaresan woman arrested at a recent protest was badly injured, but is still being denied medical care while in prison.

Food and water shortages

This is a constant problem in Iran. In Sistan and Baluchistan provinces, 75% of residents are living in poverty and do not have adequate access to food. Some people have even been forced to move to areas where there is less pressure on resources.

The Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) said in a statement: Human rights abuses under the ruling regime are a constant and growing atrocity. The MEK believes that the only solution to the suffering of the Iranian people is regime change, and the recent uprising across Iran shows that the people of Iran agree.
Former IAEA consultant Behrouz Bayat told Radio Farda that these remarks about increasing enrichment while still abiding by the 2015 nuclear deal were designed specifically to rally support from his base, which includes the suppressive security forces.

Bayat said: Khamenei wanted to pretend he was standing firm against international pressures. Khamenei tells domestic audiences that he is resisting what he always calls the enemy, but he makes it clear to foreign audiences that he wants the enrichment to be limited to the framework of JCPOA.

This apparently means that, although it seemed like Khamenei was threatening to pull out of the nuclear deal, nothing much has changed.

Bayat said: This means Khamenei hasnt decided yet whether to pull out of JCPOA.

The Supreme Leader has repeatedly said that wants the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) to work within the framework of the Iran deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Even when he gave the orders for the IAEO to start enriching uranium at a wildly increased rate from June 15, he stressed that it was still within the framework of [the] JCPOA.

But you should know that while Iran is technically able to increase the uranium by that amount, it does not have the ability to do so because of another clause in the deal.

Bayat said: It is not currently feasible because, in order to do this, Iran needs 190,000 centrifuges, while it cannot have more than 5,060 centrifuges based on the JCPOA. Iran could move toward that target after 15 years.

Of course, other members of the government are giving much shorter timeframes, with the head of the IAEO Ali Akbar Salehi saying that it will only take two years.

He recently sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna to reconfirm Khameneis boasts and say that Iran will act in accordance with the 2015 deal for as long as it is in place. He said that Iran would continue developing infrastructure for new centrifuges, including a centrifuge assembly line, which takes two months to be built, without violating the nuclear deal.

However, whats really happening remains unclear. Iran cant produce enough centrifuges to reach that level of enrichment without breaking the nuclear deal, but it is apparently creating more centrifuges within the deal to reach that level of enrichment. Is this just bravado or is Iran violating the deal? Its probably a little of both.
The Deputy Head of the Department of Information and Digital Diplomacy A.Shuplyak answers the question of the Press Agency BelTA

09-06-2018

Press Agency BelTA: How would you comment on the decision of the US Administration to extend restrictive measures against the Belarusian side?

Andrei Shuplyak: This decision was initiated by the George W. Bush Administration in 2006. Since then Belarus-United States relations have changed significantly, but it is obvious that when it comes to certain matters unfortunately Washington still fails to review its outdated position towards Belarus.

The notion that Belarus that has been doing its utmost to strengthen regional and international security could possibly pose any threat to other states sounds ever more absurd.

Moreover, we believe that the decision taken by the American side does not reflect the actual situation in the relationship between Belarus and the United States currently engaged in a dialogue discussing matters of mutual interest, as well as reciprocal concern.

The Belarusian side is interested in continuing constructive engagement with the United States. We count on American sides taking results of this process into consideration while making decisions related to our bilateral relations.

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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 []
Seng Luangrath has been cooking since she was seven years old.

Cooking is my passion. When I cook, I put 100 percent of my heart and soul into what I am making.

Seng Luangrath learned many of her skills from her grandmother in Laos.

Now, she operates a popular restaurant in Washington, D.C. She spoke to VOA recently about her life and cooking.

My mom was too busy working. So I had to cook for my three other siblings. I remember it was a joy for me to learn, to observe whatever my grandmother will give me an assignment to do.

Her family fled Laos in 1981 as the country struggled with the effects of the Vietnam War. They went to Thailand, where they spent two years at a refugee camp. There she learned to prepare different kinds of food.

I was 12 years old. I learned how to cook from my neighbors. We have neighbors from all over Laos. So, I got myself exposed to different types of Lao cooking.

Then, her family moved to the U.S. West Coast and settled in the San Francisco Bay area.

Seng Luangrath was the oldest child. She continued to cook for the family while her parents had jobs and worked long hours.

Many years later, she has taken that experience and used it to launch the first Lao restaurant in Washington.

Sticky rice

Chef Seng, as she is called, opened her restaurant in 2014. At the time, Lao food was unknown in the D.C. area.

She started in the restaurant business by working at a Thai eatery just outside Washington. Once that business was profitable, she began to offer its customers some Lao dishes.

She said few of the people who come to her restaurant know about Lao dishes or even where Laos is.

So, she has to teach Americans about the food and her homeland.

Lao food, or cuisine, is different from other cooking traditions in Southeast Asia. But it is also the same as the cuisine of northeastern Thailand, an area called Isan. It was once was part of Laos.

On her website, Chef Seng says people in the Isan area speak a form of the Lao language and they eat many of the same foods, including sticky rice. She says the Lao probably eat more sticky rice than any other people in the world. It also helps explain the name of her restaurant, Thip Khao.

Thip Khao means a basket, a vessel that hold stick rice. Its a part of Lao culture. If you go to Lao households, youre always going to see Thip Khao. Its a basket that is also meaningful for our Lao culture as well.

An important part of her success is the fresh taste of her dishes. There are some herbs and vegetables that she cannot find in stores near Washington. So she grows them at home.

She said an example of this is Kaffir lime leaves, which she adds to salads.

The restaurant industry also has noticed Sengs work. She said she was surprised to learn that her business was nominated as one of the 50 best new restaurants in America by the food magazine Bon Appetit. The nomination came less than one year after her eatery opened.

And this year, Seng was nominated as a Best Chef  Mid-Atlantic semifinalist for a restaurant industry award: the James Beard Award. She also was nominated last year.

However, the biggest award, Seng said, is doing what she loves. She said cooking makes her happy and is an important part of her life.

Im Mario Ritter.

June Soh reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

types  n. kinds, forms

dishes  n. food that is prepared in a special way

cuisine  n. a kind of cooking

vessel  n. a container for holding liquids

passion  n. a strong feeling

soul  n. the spiritual part of a person; the ability of someone to feel kindness for others

grandmother  n. the mother of your mother or father

sibling  n. brother or sister

assignment  n. the act of giving out a job or duty

expose  v. to remove shelter, protection of care from someone or something

customer  n. someone who buys a service or product
The United States space agency says its Mars exploration vehicle has discovered chemical substances necessary for life.

Scientists reported that NASAs Curiosity rover found large amounts of organic molecules in 3.5 billion-year-old rock in an area called Gale Crater. The area on Mars is believed to have once contained a large lake.

The discovery of organic molecules suggests that ancient conditions on Mars may have supported life.

Ashwin Vasavada is a scientist working on the Curiosity project at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He said the chances of being able to find signs of ancient life with future missions - if life was in fact present  just went up.

Jennifer Eigenbrode is an astrobiologist with NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. She said there are three possible ways the organic material was created.

The first one would be life, which we dont know about. The second would be meteorites. And the last one is geological processes, meaning the rock-forming processes themselves, she said.

NASA announced that Curiosity also discovered sharp seasonal increases in methane gas in the Martian atmosphere. This could also support the case for life. Ninety-five percent of the methane gas found in Earths atmosphere is produced by biological activity. Methane can come from animal and plant life, as well as the environment.

However, researchers said it is too early to know if the methane on Mars is related to life. This is because the gas - just like organic molecules  can also be formed by geological processes.

Eigenbrode believes the latest discoveries give scientists a good reason to keep looking.

I think that we need to give the search for life on Mars due diligence, she said. We need to go to places that we think are the most likely places to find it.

NASAs latest findings were announced during a press conference last week and also released in the publication Science.

NASA head wants astronauts in orbit in perpetuity

Earlier this week, NASA Administrator James Bridenstine met with reporters to discuss the agencys goals. He said there will likely be major changes related to the International Space Station (ISS) program.

President Donald Trumps recent budget requests for 2019 have called for ending space station funding by 2025.

The U.S. government estimated it has spent more than $75 billion on building and supporting the International Space Station. After the space shuttle program ended in 2011, the U.S. has paid Russia to transport its astronauts to the space station.

The first piece of the International Space Station was launched in 1998 and was completely finished in 2011. It has been used to collect information and carry out many experiments.

Bridenstine said NASA is already in talks with private companies about possibly taking over the space station after 2025. But he added that any changes would have to be agreed to by the other 21 nations involved in the project.

But no matter what happens with the space station, the NASA chief said the U.S. remains committed to keep sending astronauts into space for many years to come.

There are kids graduating from high school this month, that their entire lives, weve had an astronaut in space, Bridenstine said. And we want that to live on in perpetuity, forever.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from AP and NASA. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

rover  n. a small vehicle that can move over rough ground, often used on the surface of other planets

organic  adj. of, relating to, or created from living organisms

meteorite  n. piece of rock from outer space

due diligence  n. the detailed examination of something

graduate  v. earn a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

perpetuity  n. forever
American chef, writer and television personality Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room Friday in France.

CNN confirmed his death. The media company called his death a suicide.

Bourdain was 61 years old.

He was in France working on his CNN series about food traditions around the world.

Bourdain gained fame after the publication in 2000 of his best-selling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.

The book combined details of his life and career with observations on the food and restaurant business. It was both serious and funny and appealed to a wide group of readers, although it was written for people working in the food service industry.

Bourdains popularity grew wider in 2005, as the star of the Travel Channel show No Reservations. The show was broadcast for nine seasons. Bourdain gained an even larger international following after the launch of his CNN series Parts Unknown.

CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker sent a note to employees about Bourdains death.

Tony was an exceptional talent. A storyteller. A gifted writer. A world traveler. An adventurer. He brought something to CNN that no one else had ever brought before, Zucker wrote in the letter. This is a very, very sad day.

President Donald Trump was among those shocked and saddened by the news.

I want to extend to his family my heartfelt condolences, Trump said.

Chef and television star Nigella Lawson tweeted she was Heartbroken.

Other television personalities, including broadcaster Megyn Kelly, offered sympathies. They urged those who need help to contact suicide prevention telephone hotlines.

Bourdains death came three days after fashion designer Kate Spade took her life at her home in New York City. Spades husband and business partner said the 55-year-old business leader had suffered from mental health problems for many years.

Bourdains Parts Unknown seemed an unusual choice for CNN when it started in 2013. It was part travel show, part history class, part love letter to food.

Bourdain mixed in a wild quality true to the rock n roll music he loved.

Bourdain said he did not claim to understand exactly why the show was so popular.

You go out there and show the best story you can as best you can, he told AP. If its interesting to you, hopefully, its interesting to others. If you dont make television like that, its pandering.

Bourdain was born in New York City and was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. He said his youth was troubled by drug use and he left college after two years.

Working in restaurants led him to the Culinary Institute of America, where he completed his studies in 1978. Then he began working at eateries in New York City. He became executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in 1998.

Bourdain wrote that he was shocked by the success of Kitchen Confidential.

What I set out to do was write a book that my fellow cooks would find entertaining and true, he said. I wanted it to sound like me talking at say...ten oclock on a Saturday night.

CNN is currently broadcasting the 11th season of Parts Unknown.

I'm Lucija Millonig.

The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted the report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

chef  n. an experienced cook who prepares meals for others

talent  n. an ability to do something well

adventurer  n. explorer

condolences  n. an expression of sympathy

hotline  n. a telephone service available to the general public

pander  v. to do what someone wants, even when it is not a good idea
The following companies are subsidiares of Zimmer Biomet: Abbott Spine, Beijing Montagne Medical Device Co. Ltd., Beijing Montagne Medical Device Co. Ltd., BioMet, Biomet 3i Australia Pty. Ltd., Biomet 3i Belgium N.V., Biomet 3i Benelux Holdings N.V., Biomet 3i Dental Iberica SL, Biomet 3i LLC, Biomet 3i Mexico S.A. de C.V., Biomet 3i Netherlands B.V., Biomet 3i Nordic AB, Biomet 3i Portugal Lda, Biomet 3i Switzerland GmbH, Biomet 3i Turkey, Biomet 3i UK Ltd., Biomet 3i do Brasil Comercio de Aparelhos Medicos Ltda., Biomet Acquisitions (Unlimited), Biomet Argentina SA, Biomet Australia Pty. Ltd., Biomet Biologics LLC, Biomet Brazil Medical Device Ltda., Biomet C.V., Biomet CV Holdings LLC, Biomet Cementing Technologies AB, Biomet Chile SA, Biomet China Co. Ltd., Biomet Deutschland GmbH, Biomet Deutschland Holding GmbH, Biomet Fair Lawn LLC, Biomet Finance US LLC, Biomet France Sarl, Biomet Global Supply Chain Center B.V., Biomet Healthcare Management GmbH, Biomet Holdings B.V., Biomet Hong Kong CBT Ltd., Biomet Hong Kong Holding Ltd., Biomet Hong Kong No. 1 Ltd., Biomet Inc., Biomet Insurance Ltd., Biomet International Inc., Biomet International Orthopedics LLC, Biomet Leasing Inc., Biomet Manufacturing LLC, Biomet Mexico S.A. de C.V., Biomet Microfixation B.V., Biomet Orthopedics LLC, Biomet Orthopedics Puerto Rico Inc., Biomet Spain Orthopaedics S.L., Biomet Sports Medicine LLC, Biomet Trauma LLC, Biomet U.S. Reconstruction LLC, Biomet UK Healthcare Ltd., Biomet UK Ltd., CD Diagnostics, CD Diagnostics Inc., CD Laboratories Inc., Cayenne Medical, Cayenne Medical Inc., CelgenTek Innovations Corporation, Centerpulse Ltd, Changzhou Biomet Medical Devices Co. Ltd., Citra Labs LLC, Clinical Graphics, Compression Therapy Concepts Inc., Compression Therapy Products, D.S. Comp Ltd., Dornoch Medical Systems, Dornoch Medical Systems Inc., EBI Holdings LLC, EBI LLC, EBI Medical Systems LLC, EBI Patient Care Inc., ETEX Corporation, ETEX Holdings Inc., Electro-Biology LLC, Endius, Espanormed S.L., Etex, ExtraOrtho, Hakuho Company Ltd., IC Guided Surgery SRL, Implant Concierge LLC, Implant Innovations Holdings LLC, Implex, InnoVision Inc., Interpore Cross International LLC, JERDS Luxembourg Holding Sarl, Kirschner Medical Corporation, Knee Creations, LDR Brasil Comercio Importacao e Exportacao Ltda., LDR Holding, LDR Medical Hong Kong (branch), LDR Medical S.A.S., LVB Acquisition Inc., Lanx Puerto Rico LLC , Lanx Srl, Medical Compression Systems Inc., Medtech SA, Medtech SAS, Medtech Surgical GmbH, Medtech Surgical Inc., NORMED Medizin-Technik GmbH, ORTHOsoft ULC, Ortho Transmission, Orthopaedic Advantage LLC, Ospol Participacoes Ltda., Representaciones Zimmer Inc. S. de R.L. de C.V., Respondwell, SM Re Ltd., Scandimed Holding AB, Shanghai Biomet Business Consulting Co. Ltd., Synvasive Technology, Synvasive Technology Inc., ZB COOP C.V., ZB COOP LLC, ZB Cayman (Asia) Holding Ltd., ZB Cayman Island CBT 2 Ltd., ZB Dental India Private Limited, ZB EMEA 1 LP, ZB EMEA Finance UK 1 Ltd., ZB EMEA Finance UK 2 Ltd., ZB EMEA Finance UK 3 Ltd., ZB EMEA US UK LLC, ZB Hong Kong CBT 2 Ltd., ZB Hong Kong Holding Ltd., ZB Hong Kong Ltd., ZB Manufacturing LLC, ZB UK Group Holdings Limited, ZH2LX Barbados Branch (branch), Zfx, Zfx GmbH, Zfx Innovation GmbH, Zhejiang Biomet Medical Products Co. Ltd., Zimmer (Shanghai) Medical International Trading Co. Ltd., Zimmer Asia (HK) Ltd., Zimmer Australia Holding Pty. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Asel Alarabiya Limited Company, Zimmer Biomet Asia Holding B.V., Zimmer Biomet Asia Holdings Pte. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Austria GmbH, Zimmer Biomet BVBA, Zimmer Biomet CBT, Zimmer Biomet CBT 2, Zimmer Biomet CMF and Thoracic LLC, Zimmer Biomet Canada Inc., Zimmer Biomet Centroamerica SA, Zimmer Biomet Comp Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Denmark ApS, Zimmer Biomet Dental Canada Inc., Zimmer Biomet Dental K.K., Zimmer Biomet Deutschland GmbH, Zimmer Biomet Distribution LLC, Zimmer Biomet Finance Srl, Zimmer Biomet Finance US Holding Inc., Zimmer Biomet Finland Oy, Zimmer Biomet France Holdings SAS, Zimmer Biomet France SAS, Zimmer Biomet GK, Zimmer Biomet Global Holdings Switzerland GmbH, Zimmer Biomet Hellas SA, Zimmer Biomet Ireland Limited, Zimmer Biomet Italia Srl, Zimmer Biomet Korea Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Nederland B.V., Zimmer Biomet New Zealand Company, Zimmer Biomet Norway AS, Zimmer Biomet OUS Holdings AG, Zimmer Biomet Polska Sp. z.o.o, Zimmer Biomet Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Zimmer Biomet Pty. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Romania S.R.L., Zimmer Biomet South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Spain S.L., Zimmer Biomet Spine Inc., Zimmer Biomet Sweden AB, Zimmer Biomet Taiwan Co. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet UK Ltd., Zimmer Biomet US 2 Holding Inc., Zimmer CBT I Holding Inc., Zimmer CBT II Holding Inc., Zimmer CEP USA Holding Co., Zimmer CEP USA Inc., Zimmer CIS Ltd., Zimmer CV Inc., Zimmer Caribe LLC, Zimmer Cayman Islands Holding Co. Ltd., Zimmer Co-op Holdings LLC, Zimmer Colombia SAS, Zimmer Czech sro, Zimmer Dental (Shanghai) Medical Device Co. Ltd., Zimmer Dental Chile Spa, Zimmer Dental GmbH, Zimmer Dental Inc., Zimmer Dental Italy Srl, Zimmer Dental Ltd., Zimmer Dental SAS, Zimmer Finance Ireland, Zimmer France Manufacturing Sarl, Zimmer Germany Holdings GmbH, Zimmer GmbH, Zimmer GmbH Euro IP Branch (branch), Zimmer GmbH Winterthur Branch (branch), Zimmer Gulf FZ LLC, Zimmer Inc., Zimmer India Private Ltd., Zimmer International Logistics GmbH, Zimmer Investments LLC, Zimmer Knee Creations Inc., Zimmer Luxembourg II Sarl, Zimmer Luxembourg Sarl, Zimmer Manufacturing B.V., Zimmer Manufacturing B.V. (branch), Zimmer Medical Malaysia SDN BHD, Zimmer Netherlands Cooperatief U.A., Zimmer Orthobiologics Inc., Zimmer Orthopedics Manufacturing Limited, Zimmer Production Inc., Zimmer Pte. Ltd., Zimmer Slovakia sro, Zimmer Southeast Florida LLC, Zimmer Spine Next Inc., Zimmer Spine SAS, Zimmer Surgical, Zimmer Surgical Inc., Zimmer Surgical SA, Zimmer Switzerland Holdings LLC, Zimmer Switzerland Manufacturing GmbH, Zimmer Tibbi Cihazlar Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, Zimmer Trabecular Metal Technology Inc., Zimmer Trustee Ltd., Zimmer UK Limited, Zimmer US Inc., and Zimmer do Brasil Comercio Ltda..
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5 hours ago

3 Stocks Cowen Thinks Are Going Higher

Earlier this week, the folks over at Cowen released their findings from a consumer survey of millennials and Generation Z. In a published note, they said "our proprietary survey of 18-34-year-old consumers suggests the themes of sustainability, social commerce and shifts to digital will have profound effects on growth and risk across retail, e-commerce, restaurants/food, cannabis, and payments sectors.

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Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. The company's personal banking products and services include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and financial and investment advice services; and commercial banking products and services comprise business deposit accounts, commercial credit cards, business loans and commercial mortgages, cash management solutions, foreign exchange, specialized banking programs, treasury and payment solutions, and risk management products for small business and commercial banking customers. It also offers investment and wealth advisory services; digital investing services; financial services and solutions; and investment management, and trust and custody services to institutional, retail, and high net worth investors. In addition, the company provides life insurance, accident and sickness insurance, and annuity products; creditor and travel insurance to bank customers; and reinsurance solutions. Further, it offers client's debt and equity capital-raising services, as well as loan origination and syndication, balance sheet management, and treasury management; strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and recapitalizations, as well as valuation and fairness opinions; and trade finance, risk mitigation, and other operating services. Additionally, the company provides research and access to markets for institutional, corporate, and retail clients; trading solutions that include debt, foreign exchange, interest rate, credit, equity, securitization and commodities; new product development and origination services, as well as risk management advice and services to hedge against fluctuations; and funding and liquidity management services to its clients. It operates through approximately 1,400 bank branches and 4,800 automated banking machines in Canada and the United States. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

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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., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., 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, 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., Piton Paints Limited, 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., Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, 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) Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, 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 Unitary Enterprise, 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 Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.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 UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, 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 (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 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 (Japan), Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.
Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells robotic-assisted systems for use in interventional vascular procedures in the United States and internationally. The company offers CorPath system, a medical device with robotic-assisted precision for coronary and peripheral interventional procedures. Its CorPath system allows the physician to perform procedures with a control console located within an interventional cockpit; and CorPath GRX system enables the precise robotic-assisted control of guide catheters, guidewires, and balloon/stent devices from the safety of a radiation-shielded interventional cockpit. The company sells its products through direct sales force, as well as through distributor and partnership relationships. It serves vascular, coronary, peripheral vascular, neurointerventional, and structural heart markets. Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc. is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

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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.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise: 3Com International Inc., 3PAR Inc., Apogee, Aruba Networks Inc., Aruba Networks International Cayman, Aruba Networks International Limited, BlueData Software, Cloud Cruiser, Cloud Technology Partners, Cloud Technology Partners Inc., Compaq Computer (Mauritius), Compaq Trademark B.V., Cray, Cray Inc., EDS World Corporation (Far East) LLC, EYP Mission Critical Facilities Inc., H3C Holdings Limited, HP Enterprise Services Australia Pty Ltd, HP Financial Services (Australia) Pty Limited, HP Financial Services (Chile) Limitada, HP Financial Services (Japan) K.K., HP Financial Services Arrendamento Mercantil S.A., HP Financial Services Company (Korea), HP Financial Services International Holdings Company, HPE Government LLC, HPFS Global Holdings I LLC, HPFS Global Holdings II LLC, HPFS Rental S.R.L., Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co. Ltd, Hewlett Packard Caribe BV LLC, Hewlett Packard Colombia Ltda., Hewlett Packard Enterprise (China) Co. Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise B.V., Hewlett Packard Enterprise B.V. Amstelveen Meyrin Branch, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Co., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Co. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Cie, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Costa Rica Limitada, Hewlett Packard Enterprise GlobalSoft Private Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India Private Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ireland Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Luxembourg SCA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Polska sp. z o.o., Hewlett Packard Pathfinder LLC, Hewlett Packard Taiwan Ltd., Hewlett-Packard (Israel) Ltd., Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn. Bhd., Hewlett-Packard (Nigeria) Limited, Hewlett-Packard (Schweiz) GmbH, Hewlett-Packard (Tanzania) Limited, Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) Limited, Hewlett-Packard ApS, Hewlett-Packard Argentina S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Australia Pty Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Belgium SPRL/BVBA, Hewlett-Packard Bermuda Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard Brasil Ltda., Hewlett-Packard Bulgaria EOOD, Hewlett-Packard Caribe B.V., Hewlett-Packard Caribe Y Andina B.V. LLC, Hewlett-Packard Chile Comercial Limitada, Hewlett-Packard Cyprus Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Hewlett-Packard Egypt Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Financial Services (India) Private Limited, Hewlett-Packard Financial Services Canada Company, Hewlett-Packard Financial Services Company, Hewlett-Packard France SAS, Hewlett-Packard G1 SPV (Cayman) Company, Hewlett-Packard Gesellschaft mbH, Hewlett-Packard Ghana Limited, Hewlett-Packard GmbH, Hewlett-Packard Guatemala Limitada, Hewlett-Packard HK SAR Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Hellas EPE, Hewlett-Packard Holdings Ltd., Hewlett-Packard International Bank Designated Activity Company, Hewlett-Packard International Bank Public Limited Company, Hewlett-Packard International Sarl, Hewlett-Packard Italiana S.r.l., Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Korea Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Leasing Limited, Hewlett-Packard Limited, Hewlett-Packard Luxembourg Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard Macau Limited, Hewlett-Packard Manufacturing Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Marigalante Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Hewlett-Packard Middle East FZ-LLC, Hewlett-Packard Mocambique Limitada - Sociedada em Liquidacao, Hewlett-Packard Nederland B.V., Hewlett-Packard New Zealand, Hewlett-Packard Norge AS, Hewlett-Packard OY, Hewlett-Packard Operations Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Hewlett-Packard Peru S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Philippines Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Portugal Lda., Hewlett-Packard SARL, Hewlett-Packard SIA, Hewlett-Packard Servicios Espana S.L., Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales) Pte. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Hewlett-Packard Sverige AB, Hewlett-Packard Technology Center Inc., Hewlett-Packard Teknoloji Cozumleri Limited Sirketi, Hewlett-Packard The Hague B.V., Hewlett-Packard Venezuela S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Vision Limited, Hewlett-Packard d.o.o., Hewlett-Packard s.r.o., Limited Liability Company Hewlett Packard Enterprise, MapR Technologies, New H3C Technologies Co. Ltd., Niara Inc., Nimble Storage, Nimble Storage Inc., Nimble Storage Israel Ltd, Nimble Storage Japan GK, Nimble Storage UK Limited, Plexxi, RedPixie, SGI (Silicon Graphics), Sapphire Holding Co, Scytale, Shanghai Hewlett-Packard Co. Ltd., Silver Peak, SimpliVity, Sinope Holding B.V., Trilead, UAB ES Hague Lietuva, and Unis Huashan Technologies Co. Limited.
The list of warning factors for suicide reads, in part, like a catalog of everyday modern ills: lagging self-esteem, depression, loss of relationships or economic security, insomnia.

"When you look at those lists," says Eric Beeson, core faculty member at Northwestern University's Counseling@Northwestern, "it almost seems like who's not a candidate for suicide?" And yet, in the wake of highly publicized deaths by suicide like that of fashion designer Kate Spade and television personality Anthony Bourdain, our scrutiny of the act centers on a need to quickly settle on a cause and, on some level, to distance ourselves from it.

Spade's longtime friend Elyce Arons told The New York Times that when the subject of celebrity suicides came up in their discussions about Spade's depression, her friend assured her, "'I would never do that. I would never do that. I would never do that.' And I believed her."

"At some point in everyone's life," says Beeson, "they have said they would never do that. But I believe we are all just a few life events away from considering it. So for me, we're all on that continuum."

National Institute of Mental Health data show that, in 2016, 1 million U.S. adults made plans for death and attempted suicide. Yet most of us lack even the most basic understanding of what leads to these deaths, beyond those well-known risk-factor lists. The picture is much more complicated, says Beeson, and it might be time to take a more nuanced view.

Suicide risk is not as simple as a list of risk factors. "We talk about suicide as this one thing," says Beeson, "but suicide is really this spectrum of behaviors. You always ask, 'Are they suicidal?' and for me that's really a limiting question." In assessing whether people might kill themselves, Beeson looks at "key variables that seem to be more related to death." Those are:

Perceived burdensomeness, "this idea that my death is more valuable than my life."

Thwarted belongingness, "meaning I try to make meaningful connections, and they just don't work out."

Hopelessness, "OK, I have this, and it's never going to get better."

Acquired capability, the ability to set aside normal psychological and physical constraints and perform an act that may be painful or horrifying.

With the first two factors, Beeson says, people begin to have ideas about suicide. Adding hopelessness can bring on planning of a suicide. But the final factor is the hardest to discern.

Clinicians like Beeson look for clues that the person might have become more inured to pain, shame or guilt. Past histories of abuse, substance abuse disorders, assaults or even professions such as medicine that make contact with death part of the everyday can constitute a slow wearing away of the mental and physical barriers to self-harm.

"People work along that continuum until they start to overcome the pain, the shame and the guilt," he says, "and then the value of suicide starts to outweigh the pain, shame and guilt."

Suicide is not typically an impulsive act. "People talk about it being selfish; people talk about it being irrational," says Beeson, "but actually I think a lot of suicides are very well-thought out, very well-contemplated. And generally not impulsive.

Generally, this is a long process for an individual that started with a faint idea that gradually took hold as those risk factors mounted and as the capability came into their purview." Leaving behind a note, as Kate Spade reportedly did, can be interpreted as evidence of the contemplation suicide often entailsit may be an attempt to remove the last psychological barriers to death.

"Some people might say that it's a last way to cope with some of the guilt," says Beeson. "The guilt can be a protective factor in a certain way, so some people might say that's a way to reduce that. There's something about this that the person is still not OK with, so they are trying to address that."

The philosophical debate on suicide is more present than ever. In ancient societies, suicide was sometimes interpreted as an available and even noble choice. Today, in countries like Switzerland, where there are euthanasia clinics, assisted suicide is accepted. And five U.S. states and the District of Columbia have "Death With Dignity" laws that allow assisted suicide in cases of terminal illness.

"That gets us into the discussion of whether it is ever OK and under what circumstances," Beeson says. "Some people would argue that if I have a chronic mental health condition that interferes with my quality of life, is that any different than a fatal medical condition? And that's a really really hard discussion to have."

To shift your perspective on suicide, think back to the events of 9/11 and how you felt about the people who chose to jump from the Twin Towers before the burning buildings collapsed. "That analogy is not too different from someone who has a depressive disorder," says Beeson. "It's not true flames, but it's the flames of something.

It's easier for us to look at the 9/11 example and say, 'Yeah, I'm not going to judge that person,' but what if it's flipped around and these are not real flames, but it's something that's very real to that person?" Given any of these circumstancesthe burning building, the terminal cancer or the extreme, persistent mood disorderBeeson points out, none of us really know what we would choose to do.

Condemning suicide might hinder prevention. "I think we run the risk of looking at it as a black and white thing," says Beeson, "and that's just not the way it is. I really do view suicide as a continuum and frankly we are all on it in some way. Some of us are just much farther from it than others."

There is a movement aimed at destigmatizing suicide, including changing the ways in which we talk about itcommitted suicide" conjures an image of committing a crime, while more straightforward languagedied by suicide" or "killed himself" avoid those punishing overtones. Willingness to view suicide as a part of human behavior, without judgment, may be difficult. But, Beeson says, it can be the key to helping someone who is considering killing herself.

"If we view ourselves as too separate from people and we think that we'll never be there, then it's really hard to connect with people in a meaningful way." Before talking to someone who might be contemplating suicide, he suggests, think about where you're coming from.

"Have the hard dialogue with yourself: 'Am I so far removed from this?' and if I am, I'm probably going to be perceived as coming from a judgmental place. That's going to make it harder to connect with someone and catch it sooner, if you will.

You want people to be able to be open enough to share with you before it gets to the point where they've made the plan, they're set on this and it's going to happen." The goal? To get past the suicidal thoughts and offer an alternative. "We try to find out what they are trying to achieve with this choice," says Beeson, "and then show them another way to get there."

Explore further Sobering report teases out factors leading to suicides

2018 Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Feel like earning a little extra money and maybe improving your health at the same time?

Consumers will soon be able to sell or rent their DNA to scientists who are trying to fight diseases as different as dementia, lupus and leukemia.

Bio-brokers want to collect everything from someone's 23andMe and Ancestry.com gene data to fully sequenced genomes.

The data would be sold or rented to biomedical institutes, universities and pharmaceutical companies, generating money for consumers who share their genetic secrets.

The roundup is mostly led by LunaDNA of Solana Beach and Nebula Genomics of San Francisco, startups that are still figuring out how much a person would be paid for their contribution.

It's part of the booming bio-economy, where so-called "sequencing subsidies" are starting to emerge.

Scientists say they need enormous amounts of genetic data from across different ethnic, racial and age groups, and different genders, to develop diagnostics and drugs.

The need for new and better therapeutics is deep and broad.

Most people never develop a genetic disorder. But single genes are responsible for causing more than 6,000 human diseases, including cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. There are also many diseases influenced by multiple genes, notably obesity and type 2 diabetes.

LunaDNA is asking people to share data they've gotten from such direct-to-consumer personal genomics companies as 23andMe and Ancestry.com, both which are highly popular.

A subsidiary of Ancestry.com reportedly sold about 1.5 million saliva test kits last year between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

"That's like 2,000 gallons of salivaenough to fill a modest above-ground swimming pool with the genetic history of every person in the city of Philadelphia," said Wired.com.

Nebula Genomics wants people to contribute their entire genome, and is prepared to help consumers get sequenced at reduced costs. The consumer could then sell or rent the data on Nebula's data exchange. Consumers would be paid in some form of cryptocurrency that could be converted to dollars.

The bio-brokers sense that a grand opportunity is at hand.

The cost of sequencing a person's genome has fallen dramatically over the past 15 years and now stands at about $1,000. The price could drop to $100 within three years.

Scientists also are benefiting from the invention of Crispr, a quick, easy and accurate way to modify DNA for therapeutic purposes.

"Thanks to continuous technological advancement, we have now reached a tipping point where the genomics revolution will spread beyond academic laboratories and affect the lives of millions of people," said Dennis Grishin, co-founder of Nebula Genomics.

"If remaining challenges such as data privacy protection are addressed, the number of people who have their genomes sequenced is going to grow exponentially, possibly more than doubling every year.

"Genomics will become an integral part of personal healthcare. Pharma companies will be buying large genomic data sets and using them to develop new drugs."

The medical, financial, legal and ethical implications of such change will be daunting and, in some cases, hard to fathom. So the San Diego Union-Tribune decided to answer what are likely to be some common questions.

The answers were produced with help from scientists at the University of California, San Diego, the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, Nebula Genomics and LunaDNA.

Q: What specific kind of data are scientists seeking from consumers?

A: You, me, the next personwe all have the same genes.

But there's variation in those genes. Some "variants" are neutral; they determine things like our hair color and height. Some are beneficial; they help protect us from illness. And some variants can make us susceptible to disease. We call those mutations.

Scientists are largely interested in the mutations because they can cause diseases and disorders.

23andMe tests the DNA in your saliva for more than 500,000 variantswith an eye for trouble. Last year, the FDA gave the company permission to screen people for genes associated with 10 diseases and disorders, including Huntington's disease and late-onset Alzheimer's disease. More recently, the agency gave 23andMe permission to screen for three genes associated with cancer.

The company uses this data to estimate a person's risk for developing the various diseases.

This is not a diagnosis; it is risk analysis based on an incomplete and changing understanding of human genetics.

"Tests like Ancestry and 23andMe only look at small areas of the genome, and aren't considered to be useful tests for medical care by most genetics experts," said Lisa Madlensky, director of the Family Cancer Genetics Program at UC San Diego.

"However, they can sometimes identify something medically important that needs to be confirmed in a medical genetics laboratory."

The data always has to be put into perspective. The FDA emphasized that point last year when it approved 23andMe's first screening tests, saying, "It is important that people understand that genetic risk is just one piece of the bigger puzzle. It does not mean they will or won't ultimately develop a disease."

Q: If I take one of these tests, do I own the data that's generated from my DNA?

A. Generally speaking, yes. But you have to read the fine print. You should make sure that you say no if you don't want a company like 23andMe selling your data to a pharmaceutical company or some other type of institution.

Nebula Genomics and LunaDNA are trying to build databases that would be of commercial and scientific interest to the bio-pharma industry. There's nothing wrong with that. You just need to be aware that they need your permission to sell your data.

Q: Is it likely that a consumer could make a significant amount of money from either of these two companies?

A: That remains to be seen. They're both startups, so they haven't finalized how they're going to do things. Dawn Barry, the president of LunaDNA, told the Union-Tribune:

"Individuals will be rewarded when proceeds are generated through the sale of access to the data.

"Think of it like a co-op where the value comes from the data set as a whole and dividends are paid out to the individuals that contribute their genomic and health information. The more data you share, the more shares in the database you own, the greater your percentage of the proceeds."

Q: Is Nebula Genomics looking for something different from consumers?

A: The test used by 23andMe offers a very limited look at a person's genes. Nebula wants to get a complete look. So they're asking consumers to undergo so-called whole genome sequencing. As the name implies, this technique maps out a person's entire genetic makeup. Such data is widely used by biomedical researchers. And this kind of sequencing is moving into clinical settings. For example, this test is used to sequence bacteria, which helps hospitals fight infection diseases.

Q: There are many types of genetic testing. How accurate are the results?

A: Mistakes can be made in every type of testing. And it can be difficult to determine overall accuracy, especially with direct-to-consumer DNA tests that involve ethnicity and genealogy.

Some consumers have reported getting different results when they've used the tests marketed by 23andMe and Ancestry.com.

To be fair, Ancestry.com says that it's only providing an estimate when it calculates what percentage of your DNA that comes from different parts of the world.

But the company touts its reach, noting that it maintains "the world's largest online family history resource, which includes millions of family trees and over 20 billion historical records."

Tufts University researcher Sheldon Krimsky studied this kind of testing and told a campus publication, "Companies selling these servicesand there are close to 40 of themdon't share their data, and their methods are not validated by an independent group of scientists and there are not agreed-upon standards of accuracy ...

"So you have to look at the percentages you receive back with skepticism."

Consumers also have to be prepared for surprises.

"You may discover things about yourself that trouble you and that you may not have the ability to control or change (e.g., your father is not genetically your father, surprising facts related to your ancestry, or that someone with your genotype may have a higher than average chance of developing a specific condition or disease)," says 23andMe's Terms of Service statement.

"These outcomes could have social, legal, or economic implications."

Sometimes, the outcome is joyful.

"I found my birth family using 23andMe, specifically my mother who had been trying to find me," BreAnne Custodio told the Union-Tribune. "We now talk weekly."

The results can also be jarring.

"You should not assume that any information we may be able to provide to you, whether now or as genetic research advances, will be welcome or positive," 23andMe says in its Terms of Service.

"You should also understand that as research advances, in order for you to assess the meaning of your DNA in the context of such advances, you may need to obtain further services from 23andMe, your physician, a genetic counselor, or other health care provider."

Q: Do most people understand the risk analysis they get from a company like 23andMe?

A: It's difficult to say.

DNA is a popular topic in books, movies, TV and on the web. Basic genetics is taught in school. Most people probably have a rudimentary understanding of DNA testing.

But drawing meaning from DNA is a complex, nuanced, fast-changing field. It can be hard for consumers to keep up.

The public also has to cope with conflicting claims. We saw an example of that in March after the FDA gave 23andMe permission to check to see if a person has any of three specific BRCA gene mutations that are associated with cancer.

The National Society of Genetic Counselors said the test could help reveal undetected mutations, but stressed that "the results may be confusing or misleading without appropriate education."

Such comments reminded Anne Wojcicki, chief executive officer of 23andMe, of how some physicians lobbied against the use of at-home pregnancy tests when they were introduced 40 years ago

"They thought women might not be able to handle such information on their own and claimed that the results might trigger them to make irrational decisions," Wojcicki told Stat News.

"Some went so far as to claim it would lead to suicides. Looking back, it seems unthinkable that we questioned women's ability to access this kind of information."

Q: Should I be worried about the privacy of my data?

A: Barry said, "An individual's data contains no personal identifiers and is combined with the broad population to create the scale and scope necessary to drive medical discoveries."

You hear similar things from other companies, and from the government.

Keep in mind that hackers have stolen data from everyone from the National Security Agency to local hospitals. Anyone can be hacked.

Explore further Five things to consider before ordering an online DNA test

2018 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Effective Measure has released its website traffic statistics for May 2018, which show that News24 is the largest website in South Africa.

Effective Measure is the official traffic measurement partner of the IAB South Africa and provides accurate traffic and demographics statistics for SAs top websites.

According to the latest statistics, News24 attracted 6.2 million unique South African browsers, with Gumtree second on just under 5.3 million.

Top websites

The table below shows the top websites in South Africa, based on South African unique browsers.

Only IAB-affiliated websites running Effective Measures tracking code are included in the table.

A comprehensive look at South Africas websites and their visitor numbers is available here: South African Internet Map.

Biggest South African Websites Website Unique SA Browsers Page Views news24.com 6 208 203 62 942 697 gumtree.co.za 5 278 136 137 142 596 timeslive.co.za 4 435 492 24 870 293 iol.co.za 4 021 985 20 951 444 ewn.co.za 3 199 354 17 702 358 msn.com 3 010 035 46 976 400 Vodacom Vlive 2 571 103 18 089 632 enca.com 2 380 583 8 597 233 thesouthafrican.com 2 297 716 9 601 944 sowetanlive.co.za 2 201 473 17 796 090 sport24.co.za 2 148 379 12 584 585 mybroadband.co.za 2 077 934 8 265 436 citizen.co.za 1 974 624 11 489 466 channel24.co.za 1 917 318 6 947 824 dstv.com 1 898 068 28 813 440 businessinsider.co.za 1 835 621 6 378 607 autotrader.co.za 1 799 383 62 495 068 BusinessTech.co.za 1 683 653 5 030 253 fin24.com 1 683 615 6 145 703 soccerladuma.co.za 1 656 974 34 006 673

Biggest business publications

With the recent launch of BusinessInsider South Africa, there is a battle for the title of top business publication in South Africa.

BusinessInsider, BusinessTech, Fin24, and BusinessLive all have over 1 million unique monthly browsers.

Biggest South African Business Publications Website Unique Browsers Page Views businessinsider.co.za 1 835 621 6 378 607 BusinessTech.co.za 1 683 653 5 030 253 Fin24 1 683 615 6 145 703 businesslive.co.za 1 083 032 4 734 270 moneyweb.co.za 635 749 3 822 294

Biggest tech publications

The table below shows the top technology publications in South Africa.
Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH) recently acquired 34.9% of Vumatel, with plans to acquire the remaining 65.1%, subject to funding and regulatory approvals.

CIVH is owned by a group of investors  Remgro, New GX Capital Holdings, Chlanich, Community Investment Holdings (CIH), and Consolidated Capital Investments.

While Vumatel and its fibre projects are well-known, not many people know about CIVH.

CIVH owns numerous telecom infrastructure players, including Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) and MCT Telecommunications.

DFA has built and operates over 10,000km of fibre infrastructure, which is leased to its wholesale customers on an open-access basis.

Vumatels 8,000km fibre network will significantly strengthen CIVHs position in the fibre market and creates a strong competitor to Openserve and Neotel.

The open access business models of DFA and Vumatel have radically changed the South African telecoms landscape.

It has also created a more competitive fibre infrastructure market, which has accelerated fibre-to-the-business and fibre-to-the-home rollouts.

Their open access strategy lowered the barriers to entry and facilitated a far more dynamic telecommunications ecosystem.

Much more to come

CIVH non-executive chairman Pieter Uys said the acquisition of Vumatel will significantly strengthen its ability to contribute to, one day, getting broadband to every suburb, home, and business in South Africa.

Both companies [DFA and Vumatel] will operate as independent subsidiaries of CIVH and will continue to build open-access networks across the country, he said.

Uys told MyBroadband that CIVH continues to look for opportunities in the telecoms infrastructure market, which includes data centres.

He said demand far outstrips supply in the fibre infrastructure market, and that demand from their clients in other areas will guide their moves.

He explained that CIVH will remain focussed on offering open access network infrastructure, however, and has no plans to start offering services directly to consumers.

He said their ISP partners are doing a great job at providing Internet services on top of their infrastructure.

We paid a fair price

The amount which CIVH paid for Vumatel was not disclosed, but market speculation suggests it was very high.

Uys, however, said he feels comfortable with the price which they paid for Vumatel.

He said a thorough analysis of Vumatels assets was done and compared to their own business plans related to fibre infrastructure rollouts.

They also looked at what similar assets sold for in the market, which shows they did not pay a significant premium for Vumatel.

The new CIVH portfolio

The image below shows what the CIVH portfolio looks like after the Vumatel acquisition.

Update: This article previously listed Dartcom as a subsidiary of CIVH. This is no longer the case, and the article was amended accordingly.

Now read: CIVH buys Vumatel
Scott Owens was awarded the John Wagenknecht Leadership Award at Leadership Napa Valley Class 31s graduation on May 24.

Passionate, thoughtful, positive, encouraging, driven, kind, helpful, and friendly are just a few of the words his classmates used to describe him in making their selection, said a news release.

Owens makes everyone feel included, said one classmate. He is a great ambassador for our community.

Owens currently serves as executive assistant to the president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the health care delivery system of California.

Leadership Napa Valley established the John Wagenknecht Leadership Award to celebrate the achievements of the late John Wagenknecht, who launched Leadership Napa Valley in 1987 and served as the organizations first program coordinator.

The annual award is presented to a member of the current class who exhibits a positive attitude, shows vision, is a team player and a resource for others, and makes it a priority to keep the class connected, said the release.

Scott Owens graduated Class 31 with fellow classmates:
The Atlas Fire, which burned 51,624 acres, destroyed 783 structures and resulted in six deaths in Soda Canyon and Silverado areas, started in two locations on the same PG&E power line, Cal Fire said. At one location, a large limb broke from a tree and came into contact with the line and, at the other location a tree fell into the line.

The Partrick and Nuns fires in Napa County  part of a series of fires that merged in Sonoma and Napa counties  have also been connected to PG&E, Cal Fire said.

The Partrick Fire in west Napa was caused by an oak tree falling into power lines and the Nuns Fire was caused by a broken tree top coming into contact with a power line, Cal Fire said.

The Partrick and Nuns fires were part of a combination of Napa-Sonoma blazes that burned a total of 56,556 acres, destroyed 1,355 structures and resulted in three deaths. The Atlas Fire is not part of this total.
For 37 years, Jim and Carol Beazley have been checking in guests at their namesake bed and breakfast on First Street.

But on May 31, instead of checking in, the Beazleys checked out.

The couple sold the Beazley House to two wine industry entrepreneurs, John and Michele Truchard. The sale price was $4.35 million. For now, the name of the inn will remain Beazley House.

After almost four decades on the job, It was just natural for us to retire, Jim Beazley said.

The Beazleys said that theyve had the property, located at 1910 First St., for sale on and off in the recent past, but hadnt found the right buyer.

And then, Out of the blue comes John Truchard who absolutely fits the profile we had been looking for, Carol Beazley said. This is a perfect match.

Truchard fits their requirements of a future owner: Somebody who would care for the property like we did, and someone who would continue the stewardship of the historic home, she said.

Truchard said he decided to buy the inn because it will complement his businesses, which include John Anthony Vineyards, JaM Cellars and FARM Napa Valley.
So a state might offer government-run coverage to its seniors and disabled, but it cant change or take away their Medicare. And any politician who tried would likely be unemployed after the next election.

About 73 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. While states have some say over Medicaid, the feds set the parameters and provide most of the money.

A state might petition the federal government for a block grant of its Medicaid funding to help subsidize its single-payer system, but dont count on them getting it.

Republicans have been pushing the Medicaid block-grant idea for years, and Democrats have consistently blocked it.

And then theres employer-based coverage. About half of the 160 million workers with employer coverage are in self-insured plans  where the company pays their employees claims rather than health insurers. Those plans are governed by federal law.

States have some ability to micromanage employer plans that depend on health insurers to pay the claims, but not self-insured plans.
Dear Earth: Firstly, Id like to thank you for all of the things and people that inspire me to get up every day. Id also like to thank you for allowing me to exist in the time and place I do, where I dont have to worry about the black plague or spend my free time gutting poultry.

I appreciate all of the things I have received from you.

However, there are some very serious matters that Id like to discuss. I know that many things that occur in this world are a matter of personal decisions, but its becoming ridiculous at this point.

Maybe you can help me understand.

One of the things that confuses me is poverty. How can people all over the world starve while we build mansions for others? Surely theres something you can do about that. I heard recently that in America, vacant homes outnumber homeless people six to one. How does that work? It cant possibly be the fault of every individual. People blame it on the poor, but you know as well as I that poor people arent the problem. Its the system, which is a lot harder to fix. Many people think they know how to fix it, and surely if we came together, we could think of something better than a system that allows 3 billion people to live in poverty. Surely.
As an editor and reporter, Ive spent a lot of time covering local elections and this year has been no different. Weve discussed Measures C & D until were blue in the face, especially on the opinion pages in this paper, and considered the candidacies of incumbent Diane Dillon and challenger Cio Perez.

Ive also spent many memorable hours at election parties on Tuesday night  waiting for election results, getting peoples reactions and in one memorable case, drinking a glass or two of wine that I could not afford  no way, no how.

That was in November 2012 when I was at the home of Del Britton and Marielle Coeytaux-Britton. Del was running for mayor and I was an invited guest to a small election party. In addition to taking photos of the critical moment when Del and Marielle found out that Del won the election, I also sipped some Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon from a big bottle. It was delicious and made that party remarkable.

Im writing this column on May 31, and on Tuesday, June 5 I will have spent another evening at an election party  maybe at the Native Sons Hall, where Perez and the Yes on C campaigns will gather.
Bill Clinton recovering from infection in hospital

US to lift curbs for vaccinated foreign travelers starting November 8

Iran MFA responds to Aliyev's allegations

Opposition 'Armenia' faction receives leaders of Karabakh's parliamentary factions

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker receives leaders of Karabakh legislature's factions

Taliban announce creation of Supreme Court in Afghanistan

Armenia ex-defense minister Davit Tonoyan to not be released

Armenia Justice Ministry: Officials aren't mandated to get COVID-19 vaccine because they can't be relieved of posts

Voytolovsky: Any escalation of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh will require direct involvement of peacekeepers

Digest: Latest on Azerbaijani fire near Artsakh border, more on injured soldier's health condition

Armenia Ombudsman: Azerbaijanis deliberately set 8,000 ha of grass of Yeraskh villager on fire with gunshots

Yerevan Investigation Department of Armenia Investigative Committee has new head

Russian academician: Yerevan has never recognized Artsakh and has not addressed Russia for assistance

Lavrov: Armenia's leadership is interested in plan to open Russian schools

Karabakh FM pays working visit to Russian Federation, holds meetings

Voytolovsky describes consequences of deterioration of Russian-Turkish relations for Yerevan and Baku

Pashinyan: Armenia ready to hand over minefield maps to Azerbaijan in exchange for captives

Artsakh State Minister: Only one of 6 soldiers wounded yesterday is in severe condition (PHOTOS)

Ambassador: Russia is, in practice, the only country that stood by Armenia's side last year

Lukashenko calls on Armenia, Azerbaijan not to turn CIS into platform for clarifying separate matters

Armenia premier: Many not only do not believe in but also do not want peace, stability in region

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan fires at Yeraskh, resident's barn and haystacks burning

Karabakh MFA: Azerbaijan policy is terrorism

Armenia PM: Yerevan-Baku peace talks must resume under OSCE Minsk Group auspices

Artsakh ombudsman: Recorded incident another proof that Azerbaijan theses on peaceful coexistence are false

Russian Orthodox Church to establish diocese in Armenia

Armenia PM: South Caucasus is on threshold of major transformations

Armenia's Pashinyan: Russia and its president played a crucial role in stopping 44-day war in Karabakh

Armenian and Belarusian FMs touch upon bilateral cooperation agenda in detail

Putin: Russia peacekeepers are guarantors of ceasefire in Karabakh

Armenia MFA highlights undertaking necessary steps through mediation of Russian peacekeepers

Pashinyan: Armenia ready to start border delimitation, demarcation with Azerbaijan

Karabakh prosecutor's office: Provocative actions from Azerbaijan outpost only 400m away had started Wednesday

Azerbaijan uses drone yesterday, Artsakhs President spokesperson says

Night passes calmly in Harav, Norshen villages of Karabakh after Azerbaijan shooting

PAUL Armenia will be located at a historical building in Yerevan: details of the long-awaited project have been released

Armenia ombudsman: There were Azerbaijan attacks also at Harav village, some other Artsakh civilian settlements

1,765 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Artsakh MOD: Azerbaijan armed forces opened fire on Defense Army sanitary vehicle

Part of downtown Paris is named after Armenia

PM: Armenia highly values development, deepening of friendly relations with Austria

Monumentwatch.org: Azerbaijani roads, endangered Armenian cultural heritage

Newspaper: Imprisoned Armenia community leaders will remain in prison even if re-elected

Newspaper: Russia peacekeepers concerned about rate of emigration from Artsakh

Karabakh state minister: Wounded soldiers surgeries went successfully

FM: There will be no large-scale war as long as Russian peacekeepers are in Artsakh

Karabakh defense army: Armenian side has no positional, territorial losses

Artsakh State Minister: Situation has stabilized along entire line of contact (PHOTOS)

Karabakh Defense Army: Situation along entire length of line of contact relatively stable at this moment

Karabakh Ombudsman: Artsakh Defense Army has no casualties

Head of Karabakh's Harav village: There were shootings at military posts, shootings have mainly stopped

Karabakh Defense Army: Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire at military base, 6 injured

Azerbaijani Armed Forces use weapons of large caliber in direction of Karabakh's Nor Shen village

Attorney: Armenian MP Artur Sargsyan to be released on bail for AMD 20,000,000

Armenian Unified Info Center: Karabakh Defense Army will provide official information soon

Armenia Ombudsman: Azerbaijani army's attack leaves 6 Armenian soldiers injured, 2 of them in critical condition

Eduard Sharmazanov: Republican Party of Armenia will hold its congress on Dec. 18

Armenia ex-defense minister Seyran Ohanyan: Azerbaijan can't be compared with Iran in terms of capabilities

Karabakh Defense Army: Azerbaijan MOD's news that Azerbaijani soldier died from Armenian soldier's gunshot is false

Armenia ex-defense minister assesses possibility of start of Iran-Azerbaijan war

Armenia ex-defense minister: Military exercises held in Iran were great support for Yerevan

Armenia court rules to release Goris deputy mayor on bail for AMD 30,000,000

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another 2 Armenian servicemen found in Hadrut region

Armenia receives batch of 50,000 doses of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

Armenia defense minister holds consultation over preparation for the winter

Azerbaijani FM 'on need for Armenia to transfer precise mine maps to Azerbaijan'

Russia welcomes disposition of Azerbaijan and Armenia to normalize relations

Karabakh Defense Army: Azerbaijan MOD's news about seizure of reconnaissance UAV is disinformation

BREAKING: UN court hears Armenia case against Azerbaijan; Erdogan, Aliyev to open airport in Shushi

Taliban's high-ranking delegation arrives in Turkey

Mirzoyan, Lavrov and Bayramov meet, discuss issues related to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Latvia President tests positive for COVID-19

Sergey Melikov elected leader of Dagestan

Armenia official: Zero vacant bed at coronavirus treatment hospitals

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan meets with National Security Service reserve officers' union founders

Azerbaijan plans to increase natural gas supplies to Turkey and Europe

Dollar loses value in Armenia

Armenia Parliament Speaker receives Sweden Ambassador

Armenia PM attaches importance to formation of common electricity and natural gas markets within EEU

Azerbaijan states readiness to normalize relations with Armenia, but on several conditions

Rustaveli Avenue blocked in central Tbilisi

Armenian, Russian FMs meet in Minsk

Armenia representative asks UN court to end vicious cycle of violence perpetrated against Armenians by Azerbaijan

PM: Air Arabia, Armenia government will invest $10m each, establish national air carrier

Prison burning in Georgia's Rustavi, Mikheil Saakashvili in adjacent jailhouse

Armenias Mirzoyan attends CIS foreign ministers' meeting in Belarus

Armenia State Revenue Committee chief: YouTube, Google, Facebook and others agreed to fulfill tax obligations

Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan FMs trilateral meeting expected in Minsk

Armenia Parliament Speaker receives representatives of SEPPA program's partnering organizations

Armenia Representative delivers speech at UN International Court of Justice

CSTO says reached agreements contribute to creation of necessary conditions for political settlement of Karabakh crisis

Pilgrims will be able to visit Dadivank Monastery again, says Artsakh minister

Zakharova: Russia peacekeepers in Karabakh determining circumstances behind civilians death

Artsakh official: Azerbaijan does not even value its own culture

UN Court to hear Armenia's petition for interim measures against Azerbaijan

Russia MFA: Armenian, Russian, Azerbaijani spiritual leaders meeting is important format for overcoming problems

Zakharova: Russia favors unwavering implementation of all Karabakh provisions

34 new cases of coronavirus, including kids, reported in Artsakh
Moscow never asked to be allowed back to the Group of Eight (G8), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Channel One, TASS reported.

While commenting on US President Donald Trumps suggestion to bring Russia back to the G7, making it G8 once again, Lavrov said that Moscow "never asked to be allowed back."

"When our western partners decided to return to the G7 format, we accepted their decision and have been working on other platforms since then," Lavrov noted. "Members of the SCO [the Shanghai Cooperation Organization], BRICS and the G20 share our approaches," he added.

"Ultimatums are not enough for the G20, one needs to make agreements there. The Group of 20 is a mechanism for achieving consensus. I believe it is the most promising platform for the future," the Russian top diplomat pointed out.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Russia should attend the G7 meeting. "We have a world to run and in the G7, which used to be the G8 they threw Russia out, they should let Russia come back in," he said at the G7 meeting in Canadas La Malbaie. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte welcomed Trumps idea to bring Russia back, saying that "it is in everyones interest."




The Duke of Cambridge attends Trooping the Colour, The Queen's Birthday Parade, on horseback #TroopingtheColour pic.twitter.com/p6WFrRw9fR  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) June 9, 2018





And cute gifs of Harry and Meghan



Harry and Meghan join the procession as they make their way back to Buckingham Palace ahead of the Royal Family's balcony appearance. #TroopingTheColour pic.twitter.com/6roprnsGGP  Omid Scobie (@scobie) June 9, 2018





 pic.twitter.com/IgljsrRMuE  Omid Scobie (@scobie) June 9, 2018





Meghan looks amazing, and I love her dress (Kate's too)! Enjoy William in this weird giant hat thingAnd cute gifs of Harry and MeghanMeghan looks amazing, and I love her dress (Kate's too)!

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this GIF made me smile, I hadn't seen any pics of Harry smiling during the day!!

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he's so in love with her, it's so cute.

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She is so pretty, I love that dress!

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Daaaaaang. Harry must really be the fave because Meghan is literally right next to the Queen.



(Im never going to be able to spell her name correctly but I feel like I should get a pass. My name aint even Megan and I get called that 90% of the time by people i just met because my name is similar.)

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My best friend whose basically a royal stalker tells me a Louise is the favourite. Idk whose child that is

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daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

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edwards daughter, she definitely is the favorite granddaughter imo

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Harry is her favorite GrandSON. Her overall favorite grandkid is Either Louise or Zara.

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love the colors of the dresses Camille, Kate, and Meghan are wearing. And keep the royal posts coming, love them!

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omggg the little girl who bolted to the front of the balcony to get a great view. that would be me as a kid

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she's so fucking beautiful. just stuntin on each and every one of them.



i have nothing good to say about the rest of them lol.

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Charlotte is so cute



and Elizabeth looks amazing and still so fit for her age. she is 92!



Edited at 2018-06-09 04:30 pm (UTC)

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lmao! this is literally all that i'm getting out of this.

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lmao amen

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Girl, yes! I been said this was a step up for THEM, not her.

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YAS

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for fucking real.

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meghan looked so great. love her styling choices so far.

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Im still laughing at Prince Andrew up in the front. He wants himself and his daighters to still be seen as so relevant. Meanwhile Meghan is pushed to the back. Lol

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i think they stand in accordance with their rank. andrew is a prince, son of the queen, she is a duchess, wife of queen's grandson.

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Yeah but Camilla outranks Kate and shes still in the back. I think theyre supposed to stand in accordance to their rank but I feel like its nbd if they dont. Will is kinda hanging back, too, and hes second in line.

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riiight. he ruuushed out! lmao.

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So beautiful and gorgeous.

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The Queen looks so happy aww

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yas and she don't care.

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i think she believes that it's been traditionally important, but i'm sure she's aware of what 2018 is and she's maybe settled.



i like her, personally.

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To think what could be done with the money ... like the countries they conquered and left to rott

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did they? spain and portugal were the ones leaving their colonies to rot, while england stayed until they were kicked out. at least for the most part.

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https://labourlist.org/2016/03/osbornes-austerity-is-nothing-more-than-a-transfer-of-wealth-from-the-poor-to-the-rich/



or pumped a few more billions into stabilizing the Pound post-Brexit. Awesome, right? Dude, you know what UK government would have done with the money... just made this tax cut biggeror pumped a few more billions into stabilizing the Pound post-Brexit. Awesome, right?

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Oh, dry up.

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no and she never will. they were raised with the belief that this was bestowed upon them by god

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100% they ALL think they're super important and necessary. They believe they're there to set an example and various other crap like that

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no. they are all a bunch of arrogant hypocrites. I will never understand why the Brits accept them

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I think the idea of royalty is stupid but I feel like the British ones at least contribute to tourism? I feel like half the people that visit England go because of the royals (and the other half go because of Harry Potter)

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She does, she's very religious and believes that it's her God-given mission to rule the country until death

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She's a white woman who's been the head of the biggest colonialist force of the past century, she's been gassed up since birth. Just look at the royal stans, if they believe it from their computers, 100% Elizabeth believes it from her luxurious bed.

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Complete trash.

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So glad this is the first comment. We really could've ended the post here.

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Both of them are, yep. She's dumb as rocks and he looks like he legit just rolled out of a filthy dumpster. Makes sense that they would have zero class or intelligence.

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ugh fuck you. y'all hate for cardi is suspect af to say the least.

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why? she's been openly transphobic and is happily engaged to some homophobe idiot so "trash" is completely accurate

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Yeah shouldn't you have gotten a warning or ban for telling OC "fuck you" cause it ain't allowed.



Also not liking Cardi because she called dark skinned women roaches, is homophobic and transphobic under the guise of being from "the hood" is completely valid.



Edited at 2018-06-10 12:35 pm (UTC)

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She's so ignorant. SHS can be incredibly harmful, lead to SIDS, etc.



Offset, who is seen smoking and blowing clouds of smoke in front of Cardi's face.

Well, fuck him too.

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Sigh the poor child is doomed before its even out of the womb.

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They should blame offset for putting his own child in danger like that, more so than Cardi.

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She's the one carrying a child, she's responsible for where she goes and who she's around. She has legs, she can get up and go. Instead she's making these ignorant clap backs.

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it's HIS child too and he could choose not to blow smoke in her face, what the fuck

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Blowing clouds of smoke in your girlfriend's face is already fucked up enough, even if she's not pregnant. She has to get the fuck away from him if he's pulling this shit, and thinks it's entertaining to harm her and the child.

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It's pretty much 50/50 imo, fuck him for doing it, fuck her for being there and letting him.

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Ah no, no, fuck this. Theyre both to blame. They both have brains to THINK. Enough with this cancer of a mentality.

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This isn't a case of faux concern, there's a real danger your child could face. He's shit for smoking around her anyway.

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She's dumb, Offset is dumb.

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drama and stress can hurt a baby but you know what also hurts a baby Cardi? second hand smoke

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everybody was laughing and celebrating when Azealia Banks was attacking cardi and causing ha stress (which is really bad too for pregnant women and the baby) but now suddenly everybody cares about the baby lol



the internet i'm telling ya

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aren't you tired? if cardi keeps acting like this she'll be azealia in a few years and you'll be embarrassed you caped for her so hard, assuming you are capable of shame

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lol mte

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this place is vitriolic with the hate for cardi. I see right through their classism and racism. they hate women like cardi fr fr, her success just gave them the ok. transparent fucks.

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But you have more than enough money for diapers, that's not even...



man, whatever. She's probably getting car exhaust pumped down her lungs every day anyway. As long as she doesn't drink enough to give her bb Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or have it be born addicted to some horrible street drug, AND FUCKIN' VACCINATES IT, I can't work up an outrage.

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A reasonable comment? In this post? I cannot believe!

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what the ignorance is going on? i sometimes miss the times before social media where people just did their damn art and you had the guise that they weren't complete idiots lol.

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Nah Cardi im sure secondhand smoke is worse than drama for your baby but what do I know? Anyway, I used to work in HR (in a retail store) and one of the employees used to come to me like I was her counselor and tell me about her pregnancy and relationship woes. One day after work I saw her sitting outside smoking a cigarette AND DOING THAT BELLY RUB PREGNANT PEOPLE DO and I got sick. I never spoke to her again which is unprofessional as hell but fuck that. On my last day she was like 7 months along I think and sitting with her friends who were smoking and I said something to her about it and she was like "oh I quit" and I was like "secondhand smoke is more dangerous than firsthand smoke. you're fucking horrible." Almost got my ass beat by a pregnant woman on my last day but I hope I embarrassed her enough. Triffling ass.

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"secondhand smoke is more dangerous than firsthand smoke"



that's not entirely true

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lol my fave excuse for smoking when all my friends are tho

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It's weird though because my mom's doctor told her to keep smoking while pregnant lmao he said that the stress of quitting was going to be way harder on the baby. I don't think that's really true but the 90s were wild, I guess.

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I hate this kind of people ... I just saw a pregnant gypsy at the park choking a whole beer bottle. It made me FURIOUS



Edited at 2018-06-09 07:51 pm (UTC)

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Isnt that what they are called? I just used the English translation cuz we call them Zigeuner here

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In England and ONTD it's a slur

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ppl still are falling for you ignorant German schtick huh, your performance art has stood the test of time

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Ah, classic European anti-Romani bigotry. You can't fuckin' miss it.

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This child is suffering shitty parents before it's even been born.

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She also recently posted on her instagram that her dog had puppies. i was furious because the puppies were just sprawled out on the dirty floor. she was dumb not to spay and neuter her pets let alone get a whelping box.

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Ugh I saw that too, made me so mad for both reasons!!

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I had this same issue! Once she even announced her dog was pregnant, I wanted to punch the damn screen.

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I bet you were foaming at the mouth in fury

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stay pressed.

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i didn't know her dog was pregnant and when i saw the insta......i was appalled

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Shes so fucking stupid.



Good luck, little baby.

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The requested page is currently unavailable on this server.

Back to [RTHK News Homepage]
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.
Africa practice, a pan-African strategy and communications consulting firm, has joined Casablanca Finance City, the 1st financial center in Africa, according to the 2018 Global Financial Center Index

Set up in 2003, Africa practice advises some of the largest institutions, companies and investors on the continent. It operates from seven African offices and delivers assignments in over 40 countries across the continent.

This Africa-focused risk firm provides services to industry and governments. It gathers information and intelligence, analyzes it and develops advocacy and engagement strategies for its clients to succeed in challenging and competitive operating environment.

Launched in 2010, Casablanca Finance City attracts more and more investors seeking growth opportunities in Africa. This leading African and business hub is located at the crossroad of continents.

Recognized as the leading financial center in Africa, and partner of the largest financial centers, CFC has built a strong and thriving community of members across four major categories: financial companies, regional headquarters of multinational companies, service providers and holding companies.

CFC offers its members an attractive value proposition and a premium doing business support that fosters the deployment of their activities in Africa.

CFC status offers investors tax incentives, streamlined visa and work permit application processes, and free management of assets in foreign currencies from foreign sources.

Currently, about 150 companies are labeled CFC. Over 43 pc of these companies come from Europe. They cover or target 46 African countries.

According to CFC management team, 74 pc of Moroccan investments in Africa in 2017 were made by companies with CFC status. These investments represent $3 billion.
Nigerias president, Muhammadu Buhari, will pay an official visit to Morocco on June 10 at the invitation of King Mohammed VI, Moroccan media said.

Three leading Moroccan news outlets, Le360, Telquel and Media24, reported the news citing authorized sources that preferred not to be named.

Relations between the two countries have improved significantly following the Kings visit to Abuja in 2017.

The visit featured the launch of flagship projects permeated by a south-south cooperation approach with Morocco offering to establish a fertilizers factory that will help Nigeria meet its food security goals with an export potential.

The two countries are also planning an Atlantic pipeline that will run about 4,000 Km along the West African coast from Nigeria to Morocco.

Coastal countries that will benefit from this project include Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote dIvoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania. The pipeline will help West Africa bolster its energy security while channeling Nigerian gas as far as Europe.

The pipeline will also help Nigeria gain a steady flow of gas export and will drain investments to boost production. With 30% of the continents gas reserves, Nigerias production remains largely untapped and this project may trigger production.
The Moroccan humanitarian aid destined to the Palestinian people, at the instruction of King Mohammed VI, reached the Gaza enclave Friday night.

Twelve large trucks from Cairos Eastern airport base conveyed the humanitarian assistance through the Rafah border crossing post, while the medical delegations of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) to manage and supervise the medical-surgical field hospital to be deployed in Gaza were driven aboard buses. The operation was conducted in coordination with the Egyptian and Palestinian authorities.

In total, 16 Moroccan military aircrafts loaded with foodstuffs, medical equipment, medicines, and blankets had landed at Cairos eastern airport base since last Monday.

The multidisciplinary field hospital deployed in the Gaza Strip part of Moroccos humanitarian assistance will provide care to the Palestinians who have been injured by Israeli forces last May and this June, as well as to the entire population of the area, in various specialties, including general medicine, dentistry, emergency medicine, cardiology, ophthalmology, ENT, gynecology-obstetrics, trauma, pediatrics and radiology.

King Mohammed VI had supervised in person at the Casablanca International Airport on May 29 the airlifting of the humanitarian aid destined to the Palestinian people.

This humanitarian gesture reflects the steadfast and acting solidarity of King Mohammed VI and the Moroccan people towards the Palestinians.

In addition to other actions taken by the Kingdom as part of its multidimensional support for the Palestinian people, the humanitarian assistance will alleviate the sufferings of Gazans who are subjected to the Israel-imposed embargo and ongoing Israeli aggression. The assistance will also offer qualitative support to Gazan humanitarian and health institutions, which are crippled by lack of human resources and medical equipment.

Over 100 Palestinians were killed and thousands were wounded in the demonstrations staged along the border fence between Gaza and Israel since March 30, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, when an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes in 1948 to set up Israel.

Israeli forces, which have been firing with live ammunition at the unarmed demonstrators, increased their repression on May 14, when more Palestinians took to the street to protest the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Al Quds. At least 62 Palestinians were killed that day and hundreds were injured.

Besides the inhabitants of Gaza, the inhabitants of Al Quds and Ramallah will also benefit from the Moroccan assistance.

The aid to Ramallah and Al Quds will be shipped through Jordan.
Compassionate conservatives. Photo: Pool/Getty Images

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that a Honduran man committed suicide in May after being separated from his wife and 3-year-old son, in a stark reminder of the emotional toll exacted by the Trump administrations unprecedented policy of dividing families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Marco Antonio Munoz, 39, was found on May 13 in his Texas jail cell, in a pool of blood with an item of clothing twisted around his neck. The Department of Homeland Security did not announce his death. The Post learned of it through a local sheriffs report, which characterized it as a suicide in custody. The paper was unable to obtain an autopsy report, or a comment from authorities.

But the Post reports that, according to Border Patrol agents with detailed knowledge of what occurred, Munoz was apprehended in a small Texas town by U.S. authorities, after crossing the border illegally with his family on May 13.

Soon after Munoz and his family were taken into custody, they arrived at a processing station in nearby McAllen and said they wanted to apply for asylum. Border Patrol agents told the family they would be separated. Thats when Munoz lost it, according to one agent, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the incident.

The guy lost his s, the agent said. They had to use physical force to take the child out of his hands.

Munoz was placed in a chain-link detention cell, but he began punching the metal and shaking it violently, agents said.

According to the agents, Munoz had to be restrained during his ride to the jail. He attempted to escape once he arrived, before being placed in the padded cell where he ended his life. His wife and son were later released from custody.

It is impossible to draw a straight line between one traumatic event in a persons life and that persons decision to kill themselves. And, especially given Munozs erratic behavior, it would be unwise to do so in this case. But at the very least, the incident highlights  in bright red  the psychological devastation the Trump administration is sanctioning on a daily basis.

Reuters reported on Friday that nearly 1,800 children were separated from their parents at the border between the end of 2016 and February. That was months before Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced family separation as official U.S. policy. In recent weeks, the pace of children being taken from parents has shot up dramatically.

When he announced the new policy, Sessions also vowed to prosecute every immigrant who crosses the border illegally, including those who seek asylum once theyve entered the country, rather than presenting themselves at established border checkpoints. (The administration is also making that process difficult.)

Sessions has defended the harsh legal approach, as well as the strategy of separating families, as a deterrent for would-be border-crossers.

I do think its clear, its legitimate to warn people who come to the country unlawfully bringing children with them that they cant expect that theyll always be kept together, he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt this week.

But if it really is a deterrent, it hasnt yet shown to be an effective one. In May, for the third straight month, authorities arrested more than 50,000 people who had crossed the border illegally. The May total more than tripled the number from April 2017, which saw the fewest arrests since the Department of Homeland Securitys creation in 2003  a downswing attributed to President Trumps tough immigration rhetoric.

This week, 40 Senate Democrats signed a letter calling for an end to the family separation policy, calling it frighteningly callous.

Though he has endorsed it behind closed doors, Trump continues to hold Democrats responsible for his own draconian policy.
Everyone lights up when Trump drops by. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP

During the few hours he spent at the G7 Summit in Quebec, President Trump effectively acted as a one-man turd in the punch bowl, distancing America from its supposed allies at just about every opportunity.

On Saturday morning, Trump threw in straight-up rudeness to his list of offenses, showing up conspicuously late to a meeting assembled by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the topic of womens empowerment  which, admittedly, is not high on Trumps list of concerns.

From the Toronto Star:

Trump missed Trudeaus introductory statement at the meeting and entered the room while council co-chair Isabelle Hudon, who is Canadas ambassador to France, was speaking.

His arrival was impossible to miss as security personnel had to open a path for Trump through a mob of journalists, many of whom were holding large cameras.

Trump stopped at the edge of the room and flashed a big smile in Trudeaus direction before continuing to his seat.

The rapid-fire clicks of cameras intensified as Trump made his way into the room  to the point that the noise of all the cameras almost drowned out Hudons remarks.

Trump had already antagonized his supposed partners on issues from trade, Iran, and climate change since the day he became president, but particularly over the last several months. On Friday, he made an already bad situation worse. Before departing Washington, he suggested, to the consternation of his fellow crew of world leaders, that Russia rejoin the G7, after having been expelled over its 2014 annexation of Crimea. He then arrived late at the summit, forcing the postponement of a one-on-one meeting with President of France Emmanuel Macron.

Then, on Friday night, Trump essentially acting out his Twitter feed, ranted at his companions about how badly he believes the U.S. is being screwed on trade. Trumps recent imposition of tariffs on Canada and the European Union on specious national security grounds have infuriated Canada and the European Union, who are increasingly realizing that Trump cannot be coaxed or flattered into rationality on that, or any other, issue. The rift between Trump and other leaders has gotten so bad that the group may forego its traditional, end-of-summit statement of joint purposes.

The American side objected to including the phrase rules-based international order in the G7 communique, even though it is standard phrasing for such statements. @shearm https://t.co/a2Or5LUwlM  Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) June 9, 2018

After the meeting, in hastily announced remarks to reporters, Trump contemplated cutting off trade with G7 countries altogether if they didnt bend to his unreasonable demands, though he said his personal relationships with Angela Merkel, Macron, and Trudeau were all a 10. He also reiterated his desire to see Russia admitted back into the delegation.

Trump then departed the summit early  missing the climate change portion of events, which he presumably cares about even less than the womens empowerment breakfast  to jet off for Singapore, where he will sit down with a leader he currently appears to feel more kinship with than any leader of a liberal democracy: Kim Jong-un.
The all extremes, all the time, president. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Leaving the G7 summit on Saturday, President Trump said that the U.S. might end all trade with Americas closest allies if those countries dont submit to his demands over reduced trade barriers. Trump also confirmed that he had told the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Italy that there should be no tariffs between them and the U.S. of any kind. Whether Trumps characteristically hyperbolic threat, or overarching proposal, will be taken seriously is another matter.

Referring to what he called ridiculous and unfair tariffs on U.S. imports, Trump said, Its going to stop  or well stop trading with them. And thats a very profitable answer, if we have to do it.

Related Stories Trump vs. the West

Were the piggy bank that everybody is robbing, and that ends, added Trump, who also repeated his exaggerations of U.S. trade deficits by tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. The president framed his trade attacks as a defense of U.S. national security, citing the weakening of the countrys balance sheet as the corresponding threat.

Regarding the elimination of tariffs, Trump confirmed that he had suggested totally free trade among the G7 during the summit, explaining that, Ultimately, thats what you want. You want a tariff free. You want no barriers. And you want no subsidies. Because you have some cases where countries are subsidizing industries and thats not fair.

But in regard to his his administrations ongoing effort to renegotiate NAFTA with Canada and Mexico  an agreement aimed at literally promoting free trade between the U.S. and those countries  Trump suggested the U.S. would be better off without the pact at all.

Related Stories Trump Confesses Illegal Motive, Blows Up Legal Basis for His Trade War

Trade tariffs around the world have been dropping as a result of agreements like NAFTA. The average tariff on imported goods to the U.S. is 2.4 percent, while Canada and the European Union impose average tariffs of around 3 percent, according to the World Trade Organization. Manufacturing makes up only 10 percent of the U.S. economy.

Even if Trumps proposal is taken at anywhere near face value, its not clear how such an agreement would or could be reached and what impact it would have  nor is it clear that the president understands any of the trade numbers he tosses around to begin with.

An extraordinary photo from the G7 today posted on Merkel's official Instagram account. https://t.co/rgjBeZv6Tz pic.twitter.com/0Ru3ZSfD0V  Roland Hughes (@hughesroland) June 9, 2018

Trump left the G7 while it was still underway so that he could travel to Singapore to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The trade-warring president claimed that his relationship with other G7 leaders was a 10, but the contentious summit clearly proved otherwise.

The Trump administration recently imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU and Canada, having already imposed them on Japan. Those countries, along with Mexico, have pledged to impose their own higher tariffs on billions of dollars of U.S. imports in retaliation, as Americas allies appear to have become fed up with the combative and chaotic Trump administration, and are shifting their strategy from trying to reach and educate Trump about the complexities of international trade, to seeking to punish the U.S. economy instead.

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau says he will with absolute certainty impose retaliatory measures on July 1st, in response to President Trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trudeau said Canadians are nice but said, We will not be pushed around"  Steve Brusk (@stevebruskCNN) June 9, 2018

If they retaliate, theyre making a mistake, Trump said on Saturday, meaning that he believes U.S. allies have more to lose than gain by entering into a trade war with the U.S.

Trump, famous for his forceful handshake, has become a victim of Emmanuel Macron. See how the French left his mark on poor Donald's hand. Force is strong with this one. pic.twitter.com/eeEhl2BTj0  Chungyan Chow (@ChungyanChow) June 9, 2018

Trump not only staked out improbable  if not impossible  positions on trade to an already skeptical collection of world leaders at the meetings, but endorsed readmitting Russia to the group, essentially brushing off the reason it was kicked out  Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. (Italy, a country with close ties to the Kremlin, was the only member of the G7 to support Trumps idea.) Considering Trumps ongoing efforts to upend long-standing global alliances and international agreements, it seems likely that the other leaders would be more inclined to exclude the U.S. from future meetings than re-include Russia.

(Update: Trumps 10 relationship with his G7 counterparts became an even bigger fantasy not long after the press conference when the president started rage-tweeting at Prime Minister Trudeau from Air Force One.)
President Yoweri Museveni has called the killers of Ibrahim Abiriga, the Arua Municipality member of parliament idiots.

The MP, who shot to fame when he triggered debate on the removal of the presidential age limit, was gunned down together with his bodyguard, Saidi Buga on Friday night on the way to his residence in Matugga between 6.30pm and 7pm.

Addressing mourners at the legislator's residence in Kawanda in Wakiso district this morning, Museveni said Abiriga's killing, demonstrates the stupidity of those opposed to NRM. Museveni addressed mourners in Swahili.

President Museveni addressing mourners at Abiriga's home. Photo: @AnnetKamya

According to Museveni, although investigations into Abiriga's assassination are ongoing, there is a high possibility that the masterminds of the murder wanted to hurt his National Resistance Movement (NRM). Abiriga was a renowned admirer of the NRM, president Museveni and the yellow colour.

At the height of the heated presidential age limit amendment debate last year, Abirigas Arua home was attacked by possible arsonists who failed in their deadly mission. A small jerrycan full of petrol was thrown into his house but it didnt spark fire.



Museveni said the assassins are looking for avenues to destroy the country but found defeat them like his government has done in the past.



Museveni reiterated the government's proposal to install CCTV cameras on highways to monitor the entire the country. Museveni explained that government hadn't prioritized the installation of the cameras because it was concentrating on infrastructure development.



He also said government will consider restoring Local Defence Unit personnel in all villages, saying in the case of Abiriga, residents could have confronted the killers but couldn't do much since they aren't armed.



Residents through Rajab Lamu, the Nansana Municipality NRM chairperson tasked Museveni to explain delayed conclusion of high profile murders. They include among others the murder of former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi, senior principal state attorney Joan Kagezi and Sheikh Maj. Mohammed Kiggundu.



Museveni tasked Asuman Mugyenyi, the police director of operations to update the residents on the case. In his response, Mugyenyi, said several suspects are being prosecuted in court. However, the president cut him short and told him to use the media and update the country detailing the names of the suspects and how far their trial has reached, a thing Mugyenyi said they will do.

One resident said she saw the gunmen. "There were two men riding on a boda boda and had big guns. In fact I had never seen them before, and when they fired bullets we all had to hide, bullets were many and I couldn't count them," she said.



Residents say although there is police post a few meters from the scene of crime, the first officer arrived almost 40 minutes after the shooting. More police officers started arriving at the scene after 8pm and cordoned it off to give a lee way to the forensic analysts to do their job.
The Accra Circuit Court has granted bail to the Chief Executive of the Obengfo Hospital, Dr Dominic Obeng -Andoh aka Dr Obengfo, in the sum of Gh50,000 with two sureties.



Dr Obengfo was granted bail Friday after he pleaded not guilty to practicing medicine without licence and operating an unlicensed medical facility.



The embattled plastic surgeon had failed to appear before the court on two occasions due to ill health.



He, however, showed up in court on Friday, but had to be assisted in order to walk.



Hearing continues on July 6, 2018 by the court presided over, Mrs Harriet Jane Akwely Quaye.



Alleged murder



Dr Obeng-Andoh, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Advanced Body Sculpt Centre, also known as the Obengfo Hospital, was charged with practising medicine without licence and operating an unlicensed medical facility.



He was slapped with the charges just three days after he had been remanded by the Accra Central District Court for the alleged murder of Ms Stacy Offei Darko, a Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan (NEIP).



Ms Darko died while on admission at the Obengfo Hospital on May 21, 2018 after undergoing a surgery allegedly performed by Dr Obeng-Andoh.



The medical officer was expected to appear before the Accra Circuit Court last Friday but failed to turn up because he was on admission at the Ridge Hospital.



No licence



According to the facts of the case, in July 2015, investigations by the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) revealed that Dr Obeng-Andoh had failed to renew his annual registration to practise since 2013.



The MDC, after further investigations, reported the matter to the police, and on December 20, 2016 the police went to the Obengfo Hospital to arrest Dr Obeng-Andoh.



The police met him in the process of performing certain medical procedures on someone. Further investigations revealed that Dr Obeng-Andoh also failed to license his health facility, as required by law, the facts indicated.



Trial on hold



Dr Obeng-Andoh was charged with the offences and was expected to appear before the Accra Circuit Court on February 7, 2017, but he petitioned the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to review the investigations against him.



Based on that, the facts stated, the court process was temporarily suspended and the case docket was forwarded to the Attorney-Generals Department for advice.





Source: Graphic.com.gh









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When I returned to rhode island last month and participated in gallery night providence I was in for a pleasant surprise. That was the fact that gallery night providence had disassociated themselves from berge zobian, who had helped start gallery night, and his gallery/studio z, as I noticed on the brochures and list of galleries on their website

The conflict between me and berge which had been going on since 2010 when he and his associates began harassing me because my father's mother's is the daughter of a woman who had been raped by a Turkish soldier in 1917 who had participated in the armenian massacres and because of my relationship with leslie yeransian helped highlight this, and the more the city of providence and the state would back berge the more the artistic community became disgusted at berge's bigotry

as it was chasing businesses from the area

, hence gallery night's decision not to deal with him.

Should anyone still choose to believe the slander from berge and his dashank associates about me the picture below of me at Bank RI from their gallery night event last night says enough

You can clearly see Bank RI's artistic curator Paula Martesian behind be. Paula has known me for over a decade and her and the bank would not deal with me for a minute if I were violently opposed to Armenians, and Bank RI would not deal with Paula if she were a dashank like berge and his associates. However, those who fall for slander spread from dashanks like berge have poor comprehension.




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
Kathmandu, Nepal: Health condition of senior neurosurgeon Dr Upendra Devkota has been deteriorated.





According to the hospital source, his health condition was begun to deteriorate from Friday evening.





Dr. Devkota is undergoing treatment of leaver cancer at Neuro Hospital, Bansbari after returning from the treatment at the Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London.





As Dr. Devkotas heath begun to deteriorate, relatives and well wishers have thronged at the Hospital premises.




Dhading, Nepal: Two persons have been missing at Trisuli River after a truck veered off the road and plunged into the River at Jogimara-Tikrangkhani of Benighat Rorang rural municipality, Dhading on Friday night.





According to the police mobilized in the rescue operations, the driver Top Bahadur Shrestha (27) and his assistant Shyam, permanent residents of Sindhupalchowk are missing.




UN official: Any attack on Hodeidah will affect thousands of innocent civilians [09/June/2018]

SANAA, June 9 (Saba)  The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, warned that any military attack or siege on Hodeidah province will affect hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.



In a statement issued on Friday, Grande expressed her concern that "Up to 250,000 people could lose everything, even their lives" as a result of a possible military attack on the coastal city of Hodeidah.



According to the statement, the United Nations and its partners estimate that as many as 600,000 civilians are currently living in Hodeidah and neighboring areas.

Grandi pointed out that the cessation of imports through Hodeidah for any period of time will put Yemen's population at serious risk that can not be justified.



"In addition to being one of the most densely populated areas in Yemen, Hodeidah is the most important entry point for food and basic supplies needed to prevent famine and cholera recurrence," the statement said.



Almost 70 percent of Yemen's imports, including commercial goods and humanitarian aid, enter through the Hodeidah port and Salif port, north of Hodeidah.



The statement affirmed that Yemen is already witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, calling on all parts to conflict to work on protecting civilians and ensure that life-saving assistance reaches them.



BA





Saba
Seminar Report

The Rohingya Refugee Crisis: Causes and Consequences:

Search for a Durable Solution

11th May 2018, India International Centre, New Delhi

The Rohingya Refugee Crisis: Causes and Consequences: Search for a Durable Solutiona was a daylong Consultation held on May 11, at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The conference was organised by the South Asia Forum for Human Rights in collaboration with Development and Justice Initiative, India International Centre and Euro-Burma office. It brought together around 80 leading activist voices from civil society in Myanmar, the Rohingya community in Bangladesh and India, exile groups in the UK, official representative from Bangladesh, diplomats, lawyers, academics, social justice and womenas groups activists, the media, international agencies, faith based organisations and students.

The Conference on the Rohingya crisis was organised with a view to encourage the emergence of an informed discourse on the Rohingya, a people rejected by the country they call home and unwanted by their neighbours. The conference aimed to shift the emphasis from a security centric approach to the Rohingya refugee crisis to a human security one. Over-determination of the national security threat risks producing improper policy responses, undermining the human security of the refugees and rendering them vulnerable to extremist influences.

Opening Session, aSetting out the thematic terrain: the humanitarian and human rights crisis,

It sought to situate the Rohingya crisis within the global challenge of global refugee/migrant flows and the limitations of the international protection regime. It brought into the discursive framing of the international response, the role of South Asian states- in particular India and global response. It identified the different perspectives and priorities of various stake- holders on the Rohingya crisis, and the near impossibility of their return with security and dignity. Within Myanmar, over the last few decades the Rohingya has been psychologically and socially dehumanized as the aothera, and as amigranta, denying their claim to ancestral domain in the Arakan, renamed Rakhine. This aotheringa has got further overlaid by the aIslamic terrorista discourse and uncritically echoed by many governments, and obscuring the genocidal tragedy of the Rohingya. Meanwhile, in Myanmar as well as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh exclusionary extremist discourses find easy ideological echo in the social media exacerbating tension, legitimizing exclusion even within Myanmaras democratic rights civil society.

The discussion was initiated by a mapping of the challenges facing Rohingya, not least being the inadequacy of the Indian and international community response, with Bangladesh with a most adverse land:man ratio sheltering more than a million. As the chair Rita Manchanda, scholar aactivist reminded, the Rohingya are not even recognized as refugees and thus afforded the protection of international refugee law. Deliberately, they are called amigrantsa, their protection and care the responsibility of the International Organisation of Migration.

Rohingyas are an impoverished and a stateless ethnic minority community settled predominantly in the Rakhine province representing the largest percentage of Muslims in Myanmar has co-existed peacefully alongside Buddhists for decades. The latest cycle of violence allegedly carried out by Myanmar security forces compelled more than a million of the Rohingya to flee extrajudicial killings, rape, abuses, communal violence, persecution and terror to neighboring Bangladesh for refuge and security. The UN human rights body has described the brutal military action that caused the mass exodus as aa textbook example of ethnic cleansinga .

Tapan Bose, Secretary General of South Asia Forum for Human Rights, located the Rohingya crisis within global movements of refugees and migrants, and in particular, Myanmaras role in creating a crisis of statelessness and refugees fleeing persecution and aslow genocidea. Empasising the regional repercussions of the crisis, he pointed out that the refugees had crossed international borders largely into Bangladesh, but also spread into India, Pakistan, and Nepal in South Asia. They have travelled in leaky boats to Sri Lanka, to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

Since the 1970s, military governments in Myanmar have been persecuting the Rohingyas, categorized as aillegal Bengali immigrantsa, so as to obliterate the evidence of the Rohingyas long habitation in Arakan territory, hundreds of years prior to colonial rule and even before the Burmese conquest of the territory now renamed Rakhine. In fact the Rohingya were living in Arakan long before the Burmese conquered the region.

The installation of a democratic government in Myanmar has only worsened the persecution of the Rohingyas. The ticking bomb of Rohingya statelessness exploded in August 2017. In less than two months, about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims and Hindus, women, children and men fled from an attacking army and gangs of Burmese Buddhist. Thousand were raped, killed, tortured, children and the elderly if they survived were burnt alive in whole villages set alight. Bose recalled his two visits to the refugee camps in Coxa Bazaar. According to the Bangladesh governmentas Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissionas Family Counting Exercise (supported by UNHCR), by March 18 there were 836,210 refugees in total in all the camps. Quoting Yanghee Lee, UN Special Rapporteur, he said, aNo amount of videos, photographs or news footage can prepare you for witnessing in-person the immensity of the camps and gravity of the loss and suffering experienced by the Rohingya population.a

Myanmar and Bangladesh have concluded an Agreement in Nov 2017 on the return of amigrantsa, but the impracticability of such failed status quo solution was already evident. More than a million desperate and dispossessed Rohingyas languishing in camps with no future is a certain recipe for destabilizing South and South East Asia which comprise the largest Muslim population in the world. If Rohingya women children and men were not to fall victim to self-fulfilling Islamophobia about radicalization and violent extremism, it was crucial to intervene now, and assert the Rohingya peoplesa right to life, citizenship and dignity.

Focusing on the crisis within India where the Rohingya face the threat of deportation, Bose mapped the spatial spread of the 40,000 Rohingya refugees - Hyderabad, Jammu, West Bengal, Northeast India and Delhi. Indian government classifies them as illegal immigrants and a threat to national security on the basis of unsubstantiated links with aterrorista organisations. The Supreme Court of India has provided a temporary reprieve. But there were reports of the Border Security Force using "rude and crude methods" to block new comers. A BSF officer recently said to the media that they had started using chili sprays and stun grenades.

Sahana Basavapatna, lawyer researcher and human rights defender of the rights of refugees, sought to demystify the hyper security jingoism which was at the root of fostering an anti-refugee/migration sentiment. It was undermining Indiaas historical record of an accommodative ahosta country which has upheld the international principle of non-refuoulement. The countryas lack of recognition of the legal category of arefugeea resulting in the clubbing of all as aillegal foreignersa had resulted in arrests of several Rohingya (and other refugees) who had crossed over into Manipur, India. She expressed concern at the in/security pathology was giving popular legitimacy to the governmentas decision to deport the 40,000 Rohingya Refugees. India has extended humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh, but it has been reluctant to use its considerable influence on Myanmar to end the violence and politically address the crisis of making people stateless, including hundreds of thousands of peoples of Indian origin, Hindus and Muslim.

Ravi Nair, South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, an expert in monitoring the effectiveness of international institutions and mechanisms, was openly critical of the inadequacy of the UN systemas response to the crisis which according to its own assessment bears the ahallmarks of genocidea . The warnings of a potential genocide were evident years ago when the Myanmar military began targeting Rohingya civilians and it made international headlines. A comprehensive arms embargo then, could have pressured Myanmaras military into ending the assault. UN system afailed miserably to halt the crimes against humanity, or make the necessary noises.a Myanmar has benefitted from the role of Russia and China. Singling out culpability of UNDP, he reminded that in 2012 when Rohingya were being killed and forced out of their villages, the head of UN country team (UNDP Resident Representative) in Myanmar had tried to prevent human rights advocates from visiting sensitive Rohingya areas and isolated staff who tried to warn that ethnic cleansing might be happening. Despite ominous warnings of a genocidal threat and ethnic cleansing by its own officials, the UN and its member states have failed the Rohingya people in appalling ways.

Prof. Nasreen Chowdhary, opened up the discussion by drawing critical attention to Indiaas ad hoc and discriminatory policy toward refugees and called for the need to formalize a legal policy for refugees to bring in predictability of response and obligation, and not leave it to the discretion of the judiciary and issues of aethics of admissiona. Focusing on the threatened Rohingyas refugees in Jammu she contextualized it within the politicization of demography and the situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Session 2:

The session on aLooking Inside Myanmar and Indiaas role in restoring Human Rights and Peacea was a rare opportunity to join an exceptional Burmese civil rights thinker-activist (professional dentist) Khin Zaw, and Tun Khin, a leading voice of the Rohingya community in exile, advocating Rohingya rights, globally. Also on the panel was veteran diplomat and author on Myanmar Amb. Malik and Bangladesh Deputy High Comissioner, Rokebul Haque. Steering the session was Amb. Vijay Nambiar, former special adviser on Myanmar of UN Secretary General 2011-2016.

Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, personalized the Rohnigya situation of forcible displacement and statelessness in his own experience ---growing up in Aarakan, the grandson of a former Member of Parliament from his fatheras side, the grandson of a judge from his motheras side, being rendered stateless by the 1982 nationality law. It excluded the Rohingya from the list of 135 ethnic groups considered indigenous and therefore eligible for Burmese nationality. aI grew up in the Arakan state, went to school but the oppressive restrictions imposed on the Rohingya, and chocked the possibility of higher education. (Offcial approval was required for higher education, work permits, travel or marriage which took up to 3 years) I left. Travelling between villages was hard and to other districts was really hard, but I managed to bribe my way and reached Bangkok, seven years ago and got an education. Eventually, I went to the U.K and am currently doing post graduate studiesa . From 1990 onwards the situation got worse - the military imposed restrictions on movement, education, religious practices, and marriage. Permission was necessary to get married, and there were at any point in time an estimated 10,000 pending applications. Emphatically, he denounced the systematic campaign of rape and killings of the Rohingya as apre-planned, the alleged aterrorista attack of ARSA as a manufactured ruse to execute the operation of apreplanned expulsiona (For more details please see - aPre-planned Expulisona Kaladan Press Network 2017).

aThis is genocidea . He had been a supporter of the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi, but was extremely critical of her silence against human rights violations and open complicity in the militaryas genocidal campaign. He pointed out that Myanmar government was using divide and rule policy to systematically drive the Rohingyas out of Myanmar The Rohingyas refugees want to go back to their own land, but without a aprotected return to a protected homelanda , we will face mass atrocities. The international community must intervene to ensure protection, he hoped the recent visit of UNSCas team to Bangladesh would yield action.

Dr. Khin Zaw Win, Director Tampadipa Institute, is one of the very few Burmese Human Rights and Democratic activists to speak up for the rights of the Rohingya, within a context where the very identity of the community, Rohingya has been obliterated, and are constructed as aBengalia migrants. History is being rewritten, but ironically, in recent memory, VOA used to broadcast in the Rohingya language. In 1961 July, Vice Chief of Army Staff, recognized Rohingya as an ethnic group. That changed with the 1982 Citizenship law resulting in the Rohingyas as well as some other ethnic groups were made stateless in Myanmar. He spoke about the aotheringa of the Rohingya by the governmentas systematic administrative and military methods, rendering them stateless and finally categorizing them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. In mainstream Burmese- Buddhist discourses Rohingyas are demonized as evil people out to destroy Buddhism. To call it anationalista was too polite a term, as this nationalist-populist impulse came from inciting racist phobias and demonizing the aOthera.

Pointing to the paradox of the revival of the democratic system in Myanmar after half-a-century of military dictatorship opening up core contradictions and multiple ethnic challenges, he suggested that the quasi democratic- military regime was whipping up a racist, authoritarian populism targeting the Muslim minorities, notably the Rohingya, as a prop. This short sighted dangerous policy was threatening not only the economy and governance, but also social and ethnic cohesion. Looking within Myanar, he stressed the importance of civil society action in opening up a dialogue involving other ethnic groups and pointed to existing initiatives such as inter-faith dialogues that need to be strengthened. Internationally, he expressed optimism in the recent development of the International Criminal Court taking cognizance of the criminal offence of the crime of forced deportation, being forced to cross into the territory of Bangladesh would be a part of that aconduct.

[On Wednesday April 11, 2018, ICC judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua issued a decision that Bensoukas request for a ruling on jurisdiction over the Rohingya deportation met existing criteria and assigned the request to a pre-trial chamber.] The prosecutoras office on May 7, 2018 sent a areferencea to the Bangladesh government to allow an investigation. Bangladesh is a signatory to the ICC, Myanmar is not. Characterising Myanmaras response to the ICC judgeas decision as unsophisticated and defensive, Khin Zaw Win said Aung San Suu Kyias attempt to invoke the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states to block the ICC was another attempt to protect the military. He said Ms. Suu Kyias office statement that athat it has not deported any individualsa was completely untrue.

Amb. Preet Malik brought a historical overview, locating it in a colonial-post colonial continuum of frontier geographies and ethnicities and the challenge of integration and social cohesion which the Burmese-Myanmar state is grappling with. The situation is exacerbated by these areas being economically underdeveloped as afrontiera territories. The autonomy envisaged by the Panglong Agreement, including the right to secede has been removed from Myanmaras constitution. The 2008 Constitution was drafted in an undemocratic manner, without input from representatives elected by the people, and its clauses do not facilitate the establishment of a democratic union. He stressed that ayou cannot isolate the peace process with ethnic grouping and rethinking the citizenship law. Despite the governmentas structure of peace accords, ethnic conflicts persist. Economic backwardness, he believed, had led most ethnic groups of the frontier areas to form insurgent armies in rebellion against the Burmese government. Locating the Rohingya within the context of Myanmaras multiple troubled ethnicities (many in armed struggle), he pointed to the anomaly of the construction of the Muslim Rohingya as a demographic athreata in a context where the population is: Buddhist 88%.Christian 6% and Muslim 4% (uncertain whether statistics include refugees). aFour percent of the population threatened 88 percent of the population!a Emphasising the role of economics in the reconciliation process, Amb Malik argued that India should coordinate with Myanmar and Bangladesh on a trilateral basis to develop the sub-region. The Chinese he believed are interested in a stable settlement.

Mr. Rokebul Haque, the Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh, the country that is sheltering 1.2 million Rohingya refugees, spoke of the countryas formidable responsibility for the aforcibly displaced Myanmar nationalsa as they are categorized. Discussions were ongoing with Myanmar for implementing the bilateral Agreement for their repatriation, but the response on return under present circumstances makes implementation look very difficult. Meanwhile Bangladesh is confronting a humanitarian crisis that will become even more challenging in the coming monsoon season of rain and mudslides. He defended the plan to shift 100,000 refugees to the island of Bashan Char which human rights activists have decried as there is fear that there will be absolute restriction of movement and communication.

The Bangladeshi government wants the Rohingyas to go back to the Rakhine state. If the crisis continued indefinitely, it would destabilise the entire region of South Asia. He acknowledged Indiaas support on providing relief, but urged that India play a more pro-active role in persuading the Myanmar government. Amb Nambiar, in pulling together the rich discussion, expressed his own perplexity and disappointment at the Lady (Su Kyi) drawing upon his own personal encounter and expectations.

Session 3:

aVoices of Rohingyasa brought to the centre of the discussions, the perspectives and lived experiences of the rohingya in Bangladesh and India, and as the chair Rita Manchanda emphasised, it challenged the dominant policy framing of others ---UNHCR, IOM aspeaking for the refugees. Arguing that aparticipation itself was protectiona, she argued against the infantalisation of the refugee especially refugee women, and emphasised the importance of refugees (women and men) being involved in determining the decisions that directly affect their lives. She regretted camp policies as evident in Coxas Bazaar that desisted from involving the refugees in building basis infrastructure and thus reinforcing sense of disempowerment and agency.

Razia Sultana, assertively identifies herself as a Rohingya, and is a feminist, a lawyer, human rights defender. When the Burmese military junta nationalized businesses her father a prosperous businessman shifted his business and his family to Chittagong Bangladesh. Razia is a Bangladesh citizenship but deeply involved in campaigning for Rohingya rights,and rohingya womenas rights. She is the author of the devastating pamphlet, (Kaladan Press Network 2017 aRape by Commanda) which documents the widespread and systematic rape by the army of more than 300 women/girls as part of the military offense of ethnic cleansing and planned mass expulsion.

She asserted, aWe are not asking for citizenship. We are reclaiming our rightsa . She ridiculed the aofficiala story of the coordinated aterrorista attack of hundreds by armed men of the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army on police amilitary posts in the Arakan. Where would they have trained in the hills, when in every corner of the highly militarized territory there are police posts and patrols. When people are not able to move from one house to another, forget about a coordinated attack with bombs. Attack pre-planned. Razia expressed sadness and anger at her fallen icon, Suu Kyi.

On working in the camps, Razia spoke of the accommodative welcome of the local people but recognized the growing strain resulting from competition for resources and livelihood. The refugees are obliged to work for one fourth the minimum wage rate. And there is resentment that the refugees get free rations, health care etc. Ironically there are considered aricha because of access to these resources. It has the girls vulnerable to amarriages that are nothing more than pieces of papera. The camps have become a magnet for traffickers and ayava industrya drug dealers who prey upon the ignorance and innocence of the refugees. For as little as a amobilea, promise of an escape to India, a job they are sucked in. aRohingya girls have become acheapa. I used to be so proud of saying, I was Rohingyaaa Rohingya girls were being brainwashed into anormalizinga prostitution in the refugee camps of Bangladesh. She was critical of women activists focusing on humanitarian and welfare needs and ignoring the need for awareness on gender equality and empowerment.

In India, the 40,000 plus Rohingya refugees have been facing increasing challenges after the governmentas policy directive (stayed by Supreme Court) on deportation. Allegations of involvement with terrorist groups and rumors spread by media reports have made more difficult an already difficult their daily life struggles of shelter, health care schooling for children, livelihood and the hazards of being a non-citizen. The four Rohingya asylum seekers came from Jammu, Haryana and Delhi. Many made their way from Bangladesh to India hearing that there was possibility of schooling of finding some job. Sultan (not his name) , aAfter making our way to Delhi we applied for asylum seeker status to UNHCR. We got a card categorizing as a refugee. No other assistance. For 41 days we protested in front of UNHCR office. The police dispersed us and forced us to stay at a railway station for two days. Eventually we were asettleda on government land property, ano construction areaa , a makeshift camp constructed out of scraps of recycled wood and plastic, which we bought ourselves. That is home.

Seema (not her name) spoke of the difficulties girls face. Female sanitation and hygiene is a daily struggle. Till 6 months ago there were no toilets installed. UNHCR is providing sanitary napkins for 6 months a year. But in a camp there is nowhere the women can dispose of them.

Sultan (name changed), spoke of how he felt when he saw his father, once a senior government official, carrying loads at a construction site or he an educated young man, loading sacks, tears streaking his face. A benefactor rescued him. He had skills, he was lucky. Refugee children have the right to go to school, but there are just not enough entitlements of books, uniforms or the most important amid day deal provisions. aWe are called dirtya , made to sit apart. A small number of NGOs have been engaged in supporting the residents in camps. The children have received 47 scholarships for free education in primary school. UNICEF also provides facilities for education, but the schools are too far for the children to reach, and public transport is unaffordable.

Sakina (not her name), one of a family of three women/girls, with middle school education, demonstrates the resilience of her family to learn and build a new life for themselves. In Jammu, the refugees have monopolised the digging works required by the city and the railways, the women are busy shelling walnuts but at Rs 100 ait is bare subsistence. Even that could be jeopardized by the xenophobic jingoism stoked by allegations of the aMuslima Rohingya being a security threat. So far there has been no tension in their day to day interaction with the immediate local community, she said. All of the refugees were emphatic, they wanted to return, but in safety and dignity.

Session 4:

aEstablishing accountability- Should the Myanmar governmentas acts be considered as genocide?a was introduced by Prof. R. Sudharsan, of Jindal University who referred to the aright to protecta which qualifies the fundamental principle of the UN charter, respect for the sovereignty of member states , overriding it in order to extend protection to vulnerable people. It is the role of the UN to uphold the principles of the UN Charter and to ensure implementation of International Conventions and Protocols.

Nitya Ramakrishnan, Supreme Court of advocate, unpacked the Genocide Convention elaborating on whether the scope and nature of the violations against the Rohingya fitted the International law on Genocide and Indiaas position. Why did it matter whether the plight and flight of the Rohingya across the borders of the Rakhine state as genocide within the meaning of Article II of the Convention of 1950 and Article 6 of the Rome Statute? If covered the International Community will be duty bound to intervene in terms of Article VIII and VIII and failure of Member states to do so may amount to complicity within the meaning of Article III.

Critiquing the Genocide Convention she said, aIntenta as a governing principle was limiting. Knowledge of ensuing consequences should be added, as is the case in even normal criminal statutes like the definition of culpable homicide. She stressed that the nature of some acts must ipso facto be deemed genocide prone- such as enforced statelessness. In addition, complicity in genocide should be incorporated as an inclusive definition. There should be a presumption of agenocidal intenta, agenocidal conspiracya and aactual genocidea predicated upon an incremental threshold of objective facts. This would be in keeping with the purport of the Convention- of prevention, retribution and reparation.

She listed the reasons why Myanmaras actions against the Rohingya constituted Genocide - 1. Its refusal to acknowledge Rohingyas as citizens is of long standing- (Article II (b), ((c); 2. Killing by State agents like the military as well failure to act against the killing of Rohingyas by the majority forces (Article II (a); 3. Imposing the conditionality that they deny their identity for bare habitation (Article II (b), (C) (d); 4. sexual assaults and trafficking (b); (c) (f); 5. Impossibility of survival (Article II (a) (b) (c) (d); 6. And the sheer number of deaths, rapes and killing of children argues for intended extermination. Intent is inferable from objective and acknowledged data. Instigation and complicity, so consistent that intent is apparent is in addition to actual genocide. The offences are thus under articles II and III; Buddhist and other groups are jointly and severally guilty.

On what was the scope of Indiaas responsibility in terms of International Law in relation to the treatment of Rohingyas within its territory, Nitya Ramakrishnan explained that Article 51 of Indian Constitution was a Directive Principle obligating arespect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealing of organized peoples with one anothera . The Directive Principles are not justiciable- in the sense that the legislature cannot be mandated to pass a law or the executive to act by a judicial writ, she pointed out that these were to be followed in interpreting existing law or in assessing policy. However, the state is obliged to follow these principles in governance. International Law has been incorporated in the Indian legal system in two ways- by reading it into the content of Fundamental Rights and in interpreting the Indian Stateas duties. Non refoulement and aspects of the Refugee Convention have commonly been read into judicial relief, as also covenants on custodial justice.

Referring to Indiaas obligations in terms of Article VIII of the Genocide Convention, She said that while it might not be amenable to a direct writ- but could be referred to in preventing acts that go against the spirit of the Convention. There are many such acts. Endorsing Burmese anti Rohingya acts as aanti-terrorista would constitute as direct violation of its constitutional obligations. In her opinion, Indiaas silence and failure to act in favour of Rohingya rehabilitation and positive approval of Myanmar action - was indicative of complicity- in creating the conditions of genocide- and covered by the Convention. She felt that Indian Courts could be moved to challenge Indiaas stance in the international arena not so much as inviting a writ to act in a certain way but a direction not to act in a contrary way.

Saumya Uma, Asst. Professor of Law, Ambedkar University emphasized the need to create a legal framework in order to deal with refugee crisis. A campaign lobbyist on the ICC, she took up Khin Zaw Winas earlier reference of ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensoudaas request to The Netherlands-based international tribunalas judges to rule on whether the ICC acan exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh.a The Prosecutor has raised the jurisdiction issue because Bangladesh was a member of the ICC, while Myanmar was not. This is the first request of its kind filed at the ICC. It is an attempt to assert jurisdiction over adeportationa of the Rohingya by Myanmar army soldiers during the crackdown. It is based on the ICCas ability to assert jurisdiction if the aconduct in questiona for a deportation was committed on the territory of a member state. Ms. Fatou Bensouda in her reference has pointed out since crossing a border was a legally required element of the crime of deportation, victims.

The real challenge, Saumya said would be to overcome Myanmaras non-member status. That challenge could be overcome by the involvement of the UNSC which has the power to refer the Myanmar situation to the ICC under Articles 13(b) and 87(7) of the ICC statute. Clearly, the Myanmar Situation presented an opportunity for the UNSC and ICC to stand above geopolitical rivalry and be active in ending impunity for heinous international crimes. Unfortunately, neither the UNSC nor the ICC has yet addressed the perennial problem of their competence and jurisdiction.

In the past, the UNSC was very quick to refer cases of Sudanese President and Libyan leader to the ICC Prosecutor, which launched these cases at a record speed. However, the UNSC has made no such referral as yet regarding the unabated commission of crimes which are covered by the ICC Charter in Syria and Yemen a clearly to protect the permanent members of UNSC. She spoke of a crisis of confidence and rise of popular skepticism about the exercise of the ICC referral jurisdiction. The Rohingya crisis presents another opportunity for the UNSC to refer the situation to the ICC Prosecution, which must act expeditiously as both organs did in case of Sudan and Libya. A failure would mean a support for impunity to prevail over justice and the rule of the jungle over the rule of law and further erode public confidence in the two important international institutions.

Bringing a more political and moral perspective to the discussion on holding the state to account on protection, Assoc. Profesor Centre for Policy Research, Dr Nimmi Kurian provocatively asked aWhy the aGooda refugee is a bad idea?

Session 5:

The concluding session brought focus on aBangladesh- Facing the Rohingya Exodusa. Maynmar in effect has forcibly displaced what it believes is its Rohingya aproblema and made it Bangladeshas. Journalist-scholar Sukumar Muralidharan, chaired a session that unpacked the material reality of the camp situation and the geo political contextual reality of the regional response to finding a durable solution. Based on his visit to the camps in Coxas Bazaar, Bharat Bhushan, senior editor and policy analyst mapped the condition of the aforcibly displaced Myanmar nationalsa spread across 58,000 acres of land sheltering more than 40,000 orphans, 17,000 pregnant women, 3000 new born infants, etc. He alluded to a recent article in Foreign Policy Magazine that referred to them as the aNew Palestiniansa.

Bharat pointed out that Bangladesh in addition to confronting a major financial crisis because of the massive influx of Rohingya refugees, was also staring at serious environmental damage due to the refugee settlements that have sprung in the hilly regions near Kutupalong and Balukhali that have denuded considerable areas of forests. He also highlighted the rampant problem of prostitution and trafficking taking place inside the camps. Bharat was critical of the of the resettlement of Rohingya refugees in Bhashan Char Island was not a durable solution. Relations between the host community and the refugees had been supportive. Indeed Bangladesh government, initially had blocked entry of the refugees, it was civil society pressure that had obliged Sheikh Hasinaas government to allow them in. But with the competition for resources becoming more intense and donor support dwindling, the burden is beginning to strain relations.

He said while by hosting such a large number of refugees, Prime Minister Hasina has got more space internationally for herself and more importantly, for her governmentas domestic policies which her critics claim are verging towards intolerance and authoritarianism. However, this international approval unless it is backed by financial support for the refugees was not going to help much.

Speaking about the fear of Islamic radicalization, Bharat Bhusan said, most Bangladeshis, including government officials, felt that Islamic radicalisation of Rohingya refugee youth in the camps was a real possibility and there were enough radicalizing elements within Bangladesh. The prospect was of a desperate excluded generation of young people growing up with virtually no access to education. It was a ripe constituency for extremist recruitment. Rohingya youngsters who have seen their family members shot dead, tortured or raped can easily be prompted to fight back. A lot of Islamic NGOs have emerged suddenly and they are working in the camps. Many have names which people have never heard of earlier. Bharat pointed out that if radicalisation of Rohingya youngsters took place, then it was not going to be a threat only for Bangladesh. It would be a regional problem with the internal security of Myanmar as well as India being directly affected.

Ravi Hemadri, Director of Development and Justice Initiative reiterated the need for humanitarian aid and assistance from the international community. He talked about the response of South Asian states to Bangladeshas call for international intervention in Myanmar. He reflected on whether the regionas sole mechanism for regional cooperation, SAARC could serve as enabling a regional response. Given the current impasse in SAARC an initiative looks unlikely. In the recent past, the South Asian countries have not been able to forge a collective regional response to the Afghan or Bhutanese refugee crisis. However, more successful has been sub-regional cooperation as in the case of the Bhutanese refugees which involved trilateral aBhutan-Nepal-India cooperation. Bangladesh seems more interested in appealing to the western countries and the UN than SAARC, though it is working closely with neighbours India and China.

The seminar concluded reiterating the demand for urgent international intervention to ensure aprotected return to protected homelanda . It reminded the international community of its obligation under the 2005 UN resolution on Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and recommended that no Rohingya should be forced to return till their citizenship was restored and their safety was guaranteed by an international force. At the South Asian level, it called on the governments of India and Bangladesh to actively engage the Chinese government to put pressure on Myanmar, to change its citizenship laws and to create a safe environment for the Rohingya to actively participate in the democratic life of Myanmar.
Introduction

Since Independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has witnessed three unsuccessful armed struggles. Two of these (1971 and 1987-89) have been confined mainly to the Sinhalese South. The last one in the North and East of Sri Lanka waged an armed campaign for almost 30 years until the Tami Tigers were defeated in 2009. The manner of the Sri Lankaas state victory created acute political wounds and left unresolved the fundamental problems that gave rise to Tamil militancy. The devastating effects of all three armed campaigns conducted by the state and non-state actors have scarred democratic governance in the country and its commitment to pluralism. These violent struggles have torn apart Sri Lankaas social fabric and hindered economic wellbeing of its citizens. It has damaged the continuing efforts to create a healthy and pluralistic democracy for our young and fragile nation.

When SWRD Bandaranaike first attempted to reach an understanding between the Tamil and the Sinhalese in 1957, faced stiff opposition. James Manor observed a this was an important moment in the Islandas political history. It marked a first cycle in a pattern, which recurred as central and poisonous feature of the political process at critical junctures. The party in power strives to foster communal accommodation. The majority party in opposition manipulates Sinhalese parochialism to wreck that attempt a. [1] This destructive cycle has continued, damaging fragile ethnic relations and the political unity as a nation.

The successive armed campaigns and the cumulative damage of the 30-year civil war has landed massive blows to democratic pluralism and narrowed our political space. Where democratic activity should have expanded and deepened peopleas understandings of the collective challenges facing all citizens, it has instead narrowed them. Rather than healing ethnic frictions, it has exploited them. It has been too easy for the Sinhalese political leadership to whip up narrow nationalist sentiments to bolster their voter base.

Even 30 years after Manoras observation the pattern has not changed despite the obvious need for a just political settlement after a long and brutal war. It has become a severe testing ground of the countryas political leaders and as well as the leading political parties particularly of their political honesty and responsibility towards plural democracy. There is a huge gap between political promises and the willingness of their leadership to achieve them.

Democratic Political Space and Pluralism

Modern democracy cannot offer meaningful freedom and basic rights unless it is able to expand and deepen the democratic political space incorporating diverse needs of the people it serves. If the space is not dynamic enough to incorporate such needs the potential for political emancipation becomes a difficult task. a Pluralism lies at the very core of modern democracy: if we want a more democratic society, we need to increase that pluralism and make room for multiplicity of democratically managed forms of associations and communitiesa [2].

However, the introduction of the Westminster model of majoritarian democratic governance to Sri Lanka in 1948 without any accommodation of an inclusive multi-ethnic notion meant Sri Lanka was politically and constitutionally unprepared for what was to come. The new nation came into being with democratic and emancipatory aspirations amongst its ethnically diverse communities abut without the means to meet them. However, this was a logical extension of British colonial policy that had begun prior to Independence. Nissan and Stirrat have highlighted a major paradox at the heart of Sri Lankan polity under colonial rule. aOn the one hand all citizens in Sri Lanka were to be treated equally: the island was subject to one set of rules and one set of governors; in terms of citizenship, all should be equal. Yet at the same time, British rule substantialized heterogeneity, formalizing cultural difference and making it the basis for political representation. This should not be interpreted as the manifestation of a wish to adivide and rule; it was done out of misguided aliberala sentiments which sought to protect different customs of different racesa [3]. However, this British policy and its continuation since Independence thus favored the further growth of majoritarian Sinhala Buddhist sentiments. Sinhala Buddhist supremacy occupied as the hegemonic ideology of the post -Independence political space, marginalizing minority communities and their right to be equal citizens. This marginalization has continued with utmost vigor despite some reformist zeal shown by the Sinhala leaders, which has tended to evaporate overnight when they faced with vociferous Sinhala Buddhist opposition,

The social and political spaces within a country or society are crucially important for human affairs and for any bond that is forged by the people as a collective. Limiting this space either politically and socially has an impact on human freedom and dignity. For an example the white rule in South Africa restricted and segregated political and social space on the basis of race or color and gender. Such spaces in a country should function without any restriction based on oneas nationality, language, religion or colour, gender or sexual orientation. aThis is because whenever human beings come together be it in private or socially, be it in public or politically aa spaces in a country are generated that simultaneously gathers them into it and separates them from one another. Every such space has its own structure that changes over time and reveals itself in a private context as custom, in a social context as convention, and in public context as laws, constitutions, statutes, and the like. Whenever people come together, the world thrust itself between them, and it is in this in between space that all human affairs are conducteda [4]. If public space is restricted by the discriminatory laws based on personal characteristics, human freedom and dignity will be deeply affected.

In Sri Lanka, since Independence, such discriminatory laws were introduced for the first time by depriving the citizenship rights of the Tamil community of Indian origin in the hill country. aOf these, most notable were, first, the Citizenship Act of 1948, the Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act of 1949, and Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Act of 1949) which deprived the great majority of the Indian Tamil residents in Sri Lanka of their citizenship rights and franchisea [5]. This set the scene for a post-independence political era where citizenas rights were not protected or enhanced, but communities and groups were discriminated against by the state. . Already, the project for democratic pluralism had suffered a setback. Sri Lanka was now ready for a journey towards violence, the suppression of minority sentiments, and their democratic rights with Sinhala Buddhist supremacist tendencies occupying the driving seat.

The introduction of athe Sinhala Only Billa in 1956 as an election pledge of the 1956 general election, in which Bandaranaike was elected to power set the ground for communal disharmony between Sinhalese and Tamils as never before. It created decades of friction and sowed the seeds for the violent confrontation that finally engulfed the country. In 1956 the Federal partyas negotiations on behalf of the Tamils, with autonomy for the North and Eastern Provinces on the basis of federalism, parity status for the Sinhala and Tamil languages, and the citizenship status of the Indian residents could have formed the basis for a democratic solution. However, it was strongly opposed by the hardline Sinhala Buddhist extremists whipping up anti-Tamil sentiment and political opposition within parliament led by the UNP (United National Party). That set off waves of communal outbursts and violent communal clashes all over the country in May 1958.

After the 1958 communal clash, in 1966 there was another attempt by the UNP (United National Party) government to introduce a devolved political power structure through District Councils but this was opposed by the SLFP (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) who were now in opposition along with the traditional left wing parties, namely the LSSP (Lanka Sama Samaja Party) and the CP (Communist Party). The wreckers were successful again.

Left Parties and Democratic Pluralism

The role played by the Sri Lankan left wing parties and their lack of commitment to oppressed Tamil people in the North and East as well the upcountry Tamils of Indian origin provides a useful lesson in how they effectively drove the Tamil community into the hands of extremist organizations. The traditional radical left parties committed this mistake when they turned their back on the oppressed Tamils in the North and East and in the upcountry areas. But the radical left also took significant steps forward in excluding the Tamils a ideologically politically and organizationally a from their ranks shattering any hope of their liberation in unity with the Sinhalese in the South.

Sri Lankaas project for democratic pluralism had already come under attack from both the Right and the Left when the 1970as began. In 1972, the then SLFP government in coalition with traditional left parties the LSSP and the CP introduced a new Constitution and accorded the foremost place to Buddhism as the state religion, which meant it was the duty of the State to protect and foster Buddhism. The Constitution also recognized Sinhala as the state language. These moves enshrined discrimination within Sri Lankaas Constitution and within our democratic and social life.

Along with these developments, there had been dozens of secretive and radical left wing political groups in formation in the South, amongst the rural Sinhala Buddhist youth, making preparations for the armed struggle. By the end of 1960as the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna/Peopleas Liberation Front) emerged as the largest and most successful militant organization. In their political camps, they introduced in their indoctrination program a class entitled aIndian Expansionisma which branded the Indian Tamils of the up-country as an alien force who would be sent back to India by their revolutionary government. They also did not do political or organizational work in the North and East in the Tamil areas. When they attacked police stations on 5 April 1971, in their abortive insurrection, the JVPas ideological and political practice was further revealed as to what they really meant in their exclusion of Tamils. There was no military activity in the Tamil dominant areas in the North and East as well as the upcountry tea growing areas.

By the late 1970as the Northern youth organized themselves in armed groups similar to the process that took place in the South in the mid 1960as. By this time it appeared that sections of the Tamil community felt peaceful agitation had been exhausted. The TULF (Tamil Liberation United Front) fought the 1977 general election on the slogan for a separate Tamil Sate in the North and East and received a landslide victory a but it had no mechanism or political vision to make it a reality. The armed groups filled that vacuum by the end 1970as and continued to do so afterwards.

The communal clashes that erupted in 1983, in which Tamils were attacked, killed and their properties were burnt down in Colombo, was a turning point for the Tamil community. Many Tamils in their thousands had to be sheltered in refugee camps in Colombo and others went back to the North and East. The youths who were affected by daily anti-Tamil discrimination were now confronted by this unprecedented communal violence by Sinhalese mobs. Many joined the armed groups in the North to be trained as fighting carders. They also had established rear-guard bases in Tamil Nadu in India. They were able to extend their theatre of war to the South that made the Sri Lankan state very vulnerable. India made efforts to facilitate a peaceful settlement but it appeared both sides were hardening their positions.

In 1987, India had worked out with the Sri Lanka Government to offer devolution of power under 13th Amendment to the Provinces. The Sinhala hardliners and all opposition Sinhala political parties branded it as a sell out which would lead to separation of the country. India sent the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) to facilitate the implementation of the package in the North and East.

The JVP who were then a banned organization at the time falsely accusing of supporting the communal clashes in July 1983 launched an armed struggle against the supposed division of the country by the Jayewardene regime in collusion with India. According to them, this was a patriotic war to unite the country. They opposed the devolution of power under the 13thAmendment and asked the government to send the IPKF back to India. Anyone who supported the devolution package became a military target. They killed thousands and the government used similarly barbaric methods of killings and abductions to put down the rebellion. The JVPas military campaign was an extension of their 1971 insurrection. This time they not only excluded the Tamils a they demonstrated their violent opposition to an ethnically inclusive democracy itself.

In the meantime the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) were also embroiled in military clashes with the IPKF. Both the LTTE in the North and East and the JVP in the South had similar approaches in dismantling the basic democratic rights of the people and closing the democratic space violently. Both groups were unable to deal with political dissent, branding all critics as traitors. Many thousands in the South who supported the devolution paid the ultimate price. The LTTE destroyed all the other armed groups in the North becoming the asole representativea of the Tamil people. The LTTE also forcibly expelled the Muslim community from Jaffna in October 1990 giving people only 24-hours notice to leave, a tragedy amounting to the ethnic cleansing of Tamil areas. It was also a narrowing of Tamil identity and the Tamil community. The LTTE made clear that it mirrored the intolerance shown by the Sri Lankan state towards minority communities.

By 1990, the government had defeated the JVP armed struggle and now they have become a legally recognized party. In 2009, the government decimated the entire Tamil Tiger leadership and they do not exist today as a meaningful organization. However, their defeat has left a huge political vacuum created by the unresolved issues arising out of the 30-year brutal war and the failure of the Sri Lankan state to make any progress in the creation of a democratic, pluralistic country.

The JVP also supported the war efforts of the Sri Lankan state and this further eroded trust of the Tamil people who had historically placed their trust on the Left wing parties to gain justice and equality for their community. The JVP as the radical left in the country, ideologically and politically could not draw a line between the democratic rights of the Tamil community and the parochialism of the Sinhala Buddhist Forces in the country. Theoretically they envisaged that once they captured power, a democratic transformation was possible. They have not entirely changed their theoretical and political positions but have shown some willingness to change their hardline approach. But they are still classical Marxists. aThe classic conception of socialism supposed that the disappearance of private ownership of the means of production would set up a chain of effects, which over the whole historical epoch would lead to the extinction of all forms of subordination. Today we know that this is not so (Local and Moufee, [6]. In refusing to understand this, the radical left as well as the traditional left could offer only equality and justice to the Tamil community once they are in power in the distant future a and not before.

Aftermath of the War

Why, when the Tamil Tigers were defeated, did the prospects for a sustainable political settlement look as bleak as ever? The Sinhalese political elites seem to take the view that military terms imposed by the battle that decimated the Tiger leadership should be accepted as the condition of peace. The military victory in 2009 was followed by a huge wave of triumphalism that refused to countenance any concessions or measures to tackle social and political injustices.

The current regime that came to power promising a new Constitution to reform the state structure has now started delaying any progress through to the next stage. The security forces are still holding on to houses and lands taken from the people during the war even though some progress was made solely due to the agitation carried out by those affected. There are the other crucial issues of those who were made to disappear without any trace athousands youths- which have not been addressed. No death certificates have been issued for those who are disappeared and missing. The war widows of about 60,000 single mother headed households are without any financial support.

The issue of the existing political prisoners has not been resolved. The JVP political prisoners of the 1971 insurrection and of the 1987-89 armed campaign were pardoned and released but there are Tamil political prisoners who have not been offered pardon. We are now witnessing a political situation worse than that before the civil war began but the Sri Lankan state still has not made any concession that would reassure a community that underwent a war that they never demanded.

Roeder and Rothchild have highlighted the importance of political concessions after a civil war to lay the foundations for peace and democracy aThe dilemma of power sharing emerges from the gap between the promises needed to initiate the transition and the performance necessary to consolidate peace and democracy. At the end of a civil war, partiesa agreement to accept the constraints associated with power sharing institution is a powerful signal of their commitment to resolve future disputes peacefully and not to abuse the other side once it has laid down its arms. In particular, the willingness of the majority to tie its hand or at least to submit to rule a power sharing government is a costly signal that may convince the minorities of the majorityas commitment to treat them fairlya [7]. Such gestures or commitments from the majority community are not forth coming in Sri Lanka. The Sinhala leadershipas commitment and capacity to build a sustainable democracy is very limited and the fear of contracting their voter base in the South is a real political nightmare for them compared to creating a lasting political solution by tackling the thorny political issue of reconciliation with the Tamil community. They have become entangled in the corrupt political web, ensnared by populism and a loss of their political soul.

How long will it take for Sinhala hardline forces to understand that the Tamil community needs to have a dignified existence and political rights in order to be [i]equal citizens? Despite the Tamil moderate leadershipas assurance to live in a united Sri Lanka there is no such accommodative gestures to reassure the Tamil community. aA nation never has a real interest in being annexed or holding on to a country despite itself. The desire of nations to be together is the only real criterion that must be always be taken into accounta [8].

The victory against the LTTE has not addressed the Tamil communityas real and just demand for democracy and justice. They continue to be excluded within a nation, which fought a 30-year war to keep Sri Lanka united. They are forced to live within a nation which doesnat recognize them; as a feelings that they are compelled to live in a country that does not make them part of the Sri Lanka nation. aThis situation cannot but make men into nationalists, and it is better to try and deal with the conditions which engender nationalism than to preach at its victims and beg them to refrain from feeling what, in their circumstances, it is only too natural to feela [9]. The inability of the current regime to reassure the moderate Tamil leadership will only strengthen the hardliners in the Tamil community over time and this will increase further the nationalist feelings in the Tamil community. The possibility of another armed uprising is very remote and the regional and the Indian concerns would not encourage such an outcome. However, dynamics in the Tamil community could change in view of the hopelessness that prevails without resolving at least the issue that has arisen after the war. When it comes to national humiliation and loss of dignity one should not take anything for granted. In the late 1970as, the relative peace in the Jaffna society was so conspicuous that any observation on the proliferation of armed groups would have belonged to the fanciful world of nationalist political discourse. However, they emerged. They were real. They lasted for decades. aFinally, it is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship. Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as wiling to die for such limited imaginingsa [10]. While Sinhala supremacist forces felt more comfortable facing the violent LTTE rather than the democratic demands of the civilian community, is the responsibility of the State to deal with the political reality of the challenges facing all Sri Lankans.

Conclusion

The State and the armed actors who claim to be the agents of liberation have attacked Sri Lankaas democratic pluralist project a and its prospects. The Tamil community has been left in a worse situation after the 30-year war than before and now they have no one to stand by them but themselves. With mounting difficulties in sustaining their families and the community is in fragile political circumstances after a barbaric war, it is inevitable that resentment will grow and nationalist sentiments will grow with them. Unless the Sri Lankan state and the Sinhala political class and the parties in the South can reformulate their political strategy towards democratic inclusiveness the political unity as a nation state will be an unstable entity.

The greatest challenge for Sri Lanka now is to liberate our people from the oppression of the past and create resilient and democratic structures for a peaceful future that does not repeat the mistakes of the past. It is a challenge that must be grasped by our political leaders before it is too late.

References

[1] James Manor, The Expedient Utopian, Bandaranaike and Ceylon, Cambridge: 1985, Cambridge University Press, P.269.

[2] Chantal Mouffe, The Return of the Political, London: 2005,Verso, P.98.

[3] Elizabeth Nissan and R.L.Stirrat, aThe Generation of Communal Identitiesa in Sri Lanka History and Roots of Conflict, Jonathan Spencer, ed. London: 1990:Routledge, p.29.

[4] Hannah Arendt, The Promise of Politics, New York: 2005 Choke Books, p.106.

[5] K.M.de Silva, A History of Sri Lanka, and Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, p.605.

[6] Ernesto Laclau & Chantale Mouffe, Hegemony & Socialist Strategy, Towards Radical Democratic Politics, London, 1985,Verso, p.178.

[7] Philip G.Roeder and Donald Rothchilda Dilemmas in State Building in Divided Societiesa , in Philip G.Roeder and Donald Rothchild, eds. Sustainable Peace, Power and Democracy After Civil Wars, Ithaca and London: 2005Cornell University Press, p.13.

[8] Earnest Renan,a Quaest-ec quaune nation?a in Nationalism, John Hutchinson and Anthony D,.Smith eds.Oxsford:1994:Oxford University Press,p.18.

[9] Ernest Gellner, Nationalism, Phoenix: 1997,p.103.

[10] Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, London: Verso, p.7
The seminar themed Where does our food come from?-Dutch solutions for sustainable food production in Vietnam is one of the activities marking the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Netherlands (April 9).



Participants including Dutch and Vietnamese enterprises exchanged and shared knowledge and experience on solutions and technology applications.

At the meeting, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Rijk Zwaan Viet Nam Limited Liability Company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on agriculture cooperation.

Since the arrival of foreign investors, Lam Dong has emerged as a leading province in high-tech agricultural production with an area of around 50,000 hectares, accounting for 18 percent of the total agricultural land in the province.

There was also a meeting between the Deputy Chairman of the Lam Dong Provincial Peoples Committee Pham S and a delegation of Dutch enterprises operating in the province, led by Consul General Carel Richter on the same day.

The provincial deputy chairman, Pham S stressed that Lam Dong province has approved a plan on building sustainable agriculture production chains, to reach 90 percent of target of supplying the chains products and manage the quality, consumption and production in the food supply chain.

As his part, Mr. Carel Richter informed the process of research and development center of the Rijkzwaan company on vegetable breeding and seed production, and the development of Fresh Academy, a training center of the agricultural and horticultural sector in the province.

The provincial authorities expected to strengthen cooperation with Netherlands, the worlds 2nd largest food exporter to be able to share its experience in developing the agricultural industry in Vietnam and Lam Dong.





By DOAN KIEN - Translated by Kim Khanh
Burn Em Up Burr has not missed a cheque since arriving in Nova Scotia last September, but he had yet to find the winner's circle in 2018. That slump was busted with authority on Saturday (June 9) in the $1,200 Winners Over Pace at Northside Downs.

With regular pilot Gerard Kennedy at the controls, Burn Em Up Burr was given his cue as the wings of the gate folded marched right to the front. He opened up a quick three-length cushion on his six rivals through a brisk :28.3 opening quarter, kept those foes at bay with a :59 middle half and polished them off with a :29.4 final panel en route to the 1:57.2 triumph. Elm Grove Ladyluck (Greg Bailey) sat the pocket throughout and attempted to challenge late, but finished two-plus lengths in arrears. Keep A Secret (Roddy Hurley) grabbed show dough.

A seven-year-old gelded son of Whosurboy - Armbro Bailey, Burn Em Up Burr is owned by trainer Heather Hawkins of Sydney, N.S. His seasonal summarys now sits at 1-2-1 in five starts, with the win giving him 16 lifetime along with $64,244 in purses.

For results from Saturday's card of harness racing at Northside Downs, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.
Their smell reminds Devon Granger of a bait truck. And when she runs them over with her car, the sound makes her think of popcorn, popping.

Granger is talking about the caterpillars. Thats right. Millions of caterpillars have invaded Blue Hill, Maine for the last few weeks, eating everything on their path and even triggering a statewide traffic advisory for slippery conditions.

Millions of caterpillars have invaded Blue Hill in Maine in June 2018. Picture by Margaret Perkins Tufts

Millions of the fuzzy little beasts have flooded Mines Road between Second and Third ponds for the last few weeks or so.

It has created such a hazard that state officials have placed an electronic sign in the area and posted a statewide traffic advisory warning motorists to go slow in the slippery conditions lest they have an accident.

The caterpillar invasion in Maine

The approximately 2-mile stretch of the road, which is also known as Route 176 or Route 15, features trees almost completely denuded of leaves, said Aaron Osborn, a 23-year-old plumber from Brooksville whose mother, Margaret Perkins Tufts, lives between the ponds on Douglas Loop road.

Theres a crapload of them all over the place, and my mother is right in the middle of it, Osborn said. The roads look like theyre freshly paved from all the caterpillar guts. It is pretty nasty, really.

It looks like fall, out that way, said Granger, a 37-year-old waitress and bartender at Marlintinis Grill at 83 Mines Road, of the trees that have been eaten bare by the insects.

The front of [my mothers] house, all by the front door, is just covered, Osborn said. Theres not much you can do other than scrape them off and hope they dont come back.

Get a leaf blower and flamethrower

The above video shot by Margaret Tufts shows caterpillars swarming over an outside wall of her home, with her groaning in disgust. Her friends Facebook comments on her problem mix horror with wry fascination.

Maybe this is the storm before the calm??? That is just amazing, said Lori Jablon.

Im never going there again, John Veazie said.

Def[inetly] need a flamethrower, Elizabeth Rice said.

Is this the foundation for a Stephen King novel? Teresa Watson wondered. Release the chickens! And the ducks and geese!

Several friends recommended hiring an exterminator. One called the situation her worst nightmare.

Get out the leaf blower, blow them into a pile and pour some gas on them and then FLAME on. Well get some clear packing tape, blow them off the house and put the tape on the building, Rick Blouin advised.

Disgusting caterpillars kill everything

Tufts said it has been sad and disgusting to live under siege from caterpillars.

All of our oaks have no leaves in them. It has kind of driven us in our house and then out of our house just to get away from them, she said.

Every time we walk to our cars, theres a popping noise because they explode underfoot, Tufts added. They pop. It sounds like you are walking on bubble wrap.

Why this caterpillar invasion?

The caterpillars seem to come to the area every five to seven years. Nobody seems to know why they return to this stretch of road without flooding other, nearby areas as well, Granger said.

People have speculated that the caterpillars find the humidity and water supply provided by the ponds a good source of regeneration. Some, Tufts said, have said that a dry spring is responsible for the infestation, but she doesnt buy that.

We have had other dry springs before without this happening, she said. People have said, Wow, I remember when that happened in 1970. That was the last time it was this bad.

How to get rid of caterpillars?

The Tufts havent hired an exterminator or sprayed bug killer themselves because they dont want to harm anything else.

Instead, they are following the advice of an arborist who told them to wrap duct tape around the bottom of tree trunks and to cover the tape with petroleum jelly, she said. That actually works.

They wont go over the tape, Tufts said.

Tufts said she could see her family moving out of their home if the infestation becomes a more regular event.

Such insect invasions are widespread in North America

The next video shows a man in Alberta, Canada trying to sweep similar creepy caterpillars off his doorstep on May 26, 2018, saying: The infestation has been happening every spring for the last two years, this year has been particularly bad and it is going on for two weeks now.

This bizarre video shows hundreds of caterpillars flinching whenever they hear a loud scream:

I dont know what trigger these caterpillar invasions but it is kind of really disgusting! [WGME]

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Afghan Taliban raise hopes with surprise Eid ceasefire

The Taliban\'s surprise announcement comes as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to sit down to a summit in Singapore on Tuesday.

Reuters, Kabul :

The Afghan Taliban on Saturday announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Muslim Eid holiday in the middle of June, their first offer of its kind, days after the government declared an unconditional ceasefire of its own.

The militants said foreign forces would be excluded from the ceasefire and that operations against them would continue. They also said they would defend themselves against any attack.

"Members of the Taliban should not participate in public gatherings during the Eid festivities because the enemy could target us," they said in a statement.

There was no immediate official response from the government but Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan's Ambassador to neighboring Pakistan, described the announcement as an "important step towards prospects for peace".

"Hope the pleasure of shedding no Afghan blood in Eid becomes so overwhelming that rest of year is also declared as Afghan Eid," he said on Twitter.

The Taliban attacked security outposts in the Zawul district of western Herat province on Friday night, killing 17 troops and wounding several, Jelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

It was not clear exactly when the ceasefire would begin, as Eid starts when the moon is first sighted, but Afghan calendars mark Friday June 15 as the end of Ramadan.

Eid is the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar when families visit each other's homes, enjoy feasting and in Afghanistan tend graves of fallen loved ones. The Taliban, seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster at the hands of U.S.-led troops, have launched attacks during Eid in the past.

"In three days, maybe the unity of Taliban insurgents will be put to test," a European diplomat told Reuters. "If different factions don't accept the ceasefire, then attacks will continue."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban on Thursday, until June 20, but excluding other militant groups, such as Islamic State.

Ghani's decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul. The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban and Ghani endorsed the recommendation. Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war.

Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians.



In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory.

The Taliban's announcement comes as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to sit down to a summit in Singapore on Tuesday, something few people would have predicted just months ago when threats between the two sides were at their most bellicose.




ICT Vs WITSA

Md. Hamidul Haque Khan (Murad) :

Information and Communication Technology means the new world as set of tools, processes and methodology (Such as programming, data communication, data conversion, storage and retained, system analysis and design, system control) and associated equipment employed to collect, process and present information. In board terms, IT includes office automation, multimedia and telecommunication. In a nutshell we can say without it this new era of present world is a big zero.

It is the infrastructure and components of that enable modern computing. Though there is no single universal definition of ICT. The term generally accepted to mean all devices, networking components. Applications and systems that combined and allow the people and organizations to interact in the digital world like business, non-profit organizations, Governments and criminal enterprises. Almost every day the concept of ICT evolving, the broadness of ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information automatically in a digital form.

We the Bangladeshi are passing this era. Bangladesh is dreaming, the present Government has created this dream and now implementing effectively through IT expert Mr. Sajib Wazed Joy the IT advisor of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. A substantial achievement has already been made and it will be continued in future to do hundred percent digital Bangladesh in a short span of time.

The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) represent the global information and communications technologies (ICT) industry sector. The ICT sector and the Internet are now one and the same. Both enable growing trade in information goods and services and are the basis for 21st century commerce and communications, and central to global economic, social and development. Wherever it is available, the Internet provides, and must continue to provide, information that reduces gaps and inequalities in health and education. The single, global Internet, not multiple national versions, enables this, and must be preserved, extended and enhanced.

The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is a leading consortium of ICT industry association members from over 80 countries/economies around the world. WITSA's members represent more than 90 percent of the world ICT market. WITSA was founded in 1978 as the World Computing Services Industry Association, and participates in advocacy in international public policy that affects the "global information infrastructure". It voices the concerns of the international IT industry in organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the G8. WITSA's motto is "Fulfilling the Promise of the Digital Age"

WITSA members are leaders in a globally interconnected marketplace. As the challenges facing the ICT industry are undisputedly global in nature, their members work together to achieve a shared vision on important issues of common interest. It is possible for the members throughout the world to identify common issues and priorities, exchange valuable information, and present a united position on industry issues.

WITSA is the leading recognized voice of the global ICT Industry which is the key driver of global economic growth. To promote and facilitate the global growth of the information and communications technology and services industry through public policy development and advocacy, the promotion of global trade and investment, global forum and experience.

WITSA has identified and adopted eight key critical forces to propel the organization to greater height which has appended below:

Public Policy: To strengthen WITSA's advocacy role in the development of ICT-related international public policy.

Global Trade: To facilitate global trade among WITSA members that impacts the growth of the ICT industry.

Membership: To increase and to retain WITSA members by providing greater membership value.

Partnership/Collaboration: To build and to enhance WITSA's relationships with corporations, globally recognized organizations and institutions and governments in order to garner greater support, participation and recognition of WITSA.

Flagship Events: To continue hosting WITSA's flagship events in different parts of the world in order to strengthen WITSA's global thought leadership position.

Global Recognition: To improve WITSA's brand and public relations efforts in order to increase and enhance WITSA's image and reputation globally.

Operational Efficiency: To improve WITSA's operational efficiency in financial capabilities, organizational capabilities, and increase value to WITSA's members and partners.

Organizing Global ICT Excellence Awards: To recognize outstanding ICT users from around the globe.

Capacity building: To focus on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations from realizing the benefits from ICT and its development.

These key critical forces will be supported and implemented via various initiatives, activities and tasks.

WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards

The WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards honor achievements in the application of information technology around the globe. Winners have exhibited excellence in one of four categories: Public Sector Excellence, Private Sector Excellence, Sustainable Growth and Digital Opportunity. A Chairman's Award is presented to a nominee selected from the entire pool of candidates from all four awards categories. The award ceremonies are a signature event of the proceedings at the World Congress on Information Technology.

Global Trade Committee

The Committee was established in September 2008. The Committee played a key role in facilitating global trade among WITSA members to spur the growth of the ICT industry and support the following key objectives:

To promote global trade on ICT leveraging on WITSA's global network and members;

To offer a platform for members to engage in business matching and multilateral meetings; and

To promote the ICT economy in global trade

The Committee was responsible for the establishment of the Soft Landing Zone. It was first announced in October 2009. Through these soft landing zones, members, global partners and their affiliates would have at their disposal the necessary infrastructure and facilities to identify and build business alliances with buyers, sellers or investors.

WITSA Trade Mission is another initiative by the Committee to provide a platform for member economies to host trade missions, attract potential investment and promote the ICT industry of the host economy. Through the trade missions, WITSA provides opportunities for participants to network with potential business partners, to forge strategic alliances and to explore global business opportunities.

Mr. Sabur Khan re-elected WITSA director and GTC chairman

To represent Bangladesh in Global Information and Communication Technology, Bangladesh Computer Samity nominated the Chairman of Daffodil family Md. Sabur Khan, getting highest votes, has been re-elected as WITSA (World Information Technology Services Alliance) Director and GTC (Global Trade CommitteeChairman)

This competitive election took place at the WITSA General Assembly held at Sao Paolo in Brazil on October 4, 2016. This achievement has been possible due to have continuous and regular communication of BCS with WITSA. It is naturally expected that Bangladesh will play a more significant role in the field of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) sector through this remarkable achievement.

Bangladesh gets WITSA global ICT award

Bangladesh was awarded with the prestigious 'Global ICT Excellence Award' in the category of 'Public Sector Excellence' for outstanding contribution in social development of the nation using IT. ICT division State minister Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak received the award on behalf of Bangladesh Government at World Congress on IT-WCIT in Mexico.

After receiving the award, in reaction, State Minister said that with the active guidance of the PM we were able to make a huge leap toward a true digital Bangladesh. Mr. Palak also added that the award was in fact the achievement of 16 million people of Bangladesh as they all cooperated to make this happen.

The expert committee of World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), comprising of 80 nations, nominated Bangladesh in this particular category. The Awards program aims at identifying the most outstanding users of information and communications technology. Held every two years, the WCIT is covered by hundreds of local and international media representatives as well as approximately 2,000 high ranking delegates from around the world. WITSA represents IT industry associations in over 80 countries or economies.

WITSA Awards 2021 World Congress on IT to Bangladesh

The WITSA Board of Directors at its March 10th meeting in Canberra, Australia, selected the Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) to host the 2021 World Congress on IT in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh, a 147,570 square kilometer land of diversity that is truly an amazing nation filled with natural beauty, resource and warm hospitable people. Bangladesh is one of those few high potential nations that smartly harnesses its strengths while utilizing information technology to leap into the digital age and go on to become one of the strongest economies of the world. With the ambition to set the stage as the upcoming technologically advanced nation, Bangladesh as a nation is looking forward to hosting the 25th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in Bangladesh in 2021.

In fact, hosting this illustrious event fits very rightly in the overall Vision 2021 of "Digital Bangladesh" agenda. As per Vision 2021, Bangladesh with the Midas touch of ICT will graduate to a Middle Income Country by 2021 where the knowledge based population of the country will create wonders. Vision 2021 is a strategy that also has its clear reflection in the country operation plan, namely the "Seventh Five Year Plan". For operational excellence, Bangladesh does an extensive planning every five years. Likewise, the reflection of "Digital Bangladesh" and it's involvement for future development is apparent in the plan. Hence, the year 2021 is a year of celebration for Bangladesh and hosting the WCIT 2021 will be one of the central pillars to this celebration. This will be the immense and diversified goal which has been dreamt by our Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at all the times.



(Md. Hamidul Haque Khan (Murad), Treasurer, Daffodil International University).
IDB launched new brand

Business Desk :

For the first time in four-decade history, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) unveils a new brand identity that reflects its modern values, strategic direction and relationship with its 57-member countries.

The Islamic Development Bank, one of the world's largest multilateral development banks, has been undergoing significant strategic reform in the last year, led by the bank's new President, Dr. Bandar Hajjar, former minister of Hajj of KSA.

As development enters a new era, Dr. Bandar is reimagining the traditional role of a development bank, making the organisation more globally facing, placing partnerships, technology and innovation, and global engagement at the heart of his modernising programme.

The new brand identity maintains the core elements of the IDB's heritage while signalling modernity, independence and transparency, future proofing the bank's identity and evolving it for an international audience.

Dr. Bandar Hajjar, President of the Islamic Development Bank explained the momentous decision: "The Islamic Development Bank has been a symbol of trust, credibility, strength and stability for over 44 years, with a proud heritage of providing resources, fighting poverty and restoring dignity in our member countries.


Myanmar army's meeting with its government must deliver results

MYANMAR'S army and civilian leadership reportedly held a 'national security' meeting on Friday and discussed an internal investigation into the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State. The meeting - only the third of its kind since Aung San Suu Kyi's government took power in 2016 - also discussed a deal to allow the UN to enter the Rakhine province to assess the current situation while preparing a probable timeframe for taking in the refugees.

However good and promising the meetings may appear, they must deliver results. Coupled with the summer heat pre-monsoon rainfall has begun, international funds are shrinking for accommodating the million plus refugees and we want the Myanmar military and government to jointly implement their plans in the ground.

Until this week's deal with the UN, Myanmar had dragged its feet for months over the repatriation of the stateless minority, insisting the region is safe for their return but refusing access to outsiders to evaluate conditions. The country has said 'it will establish its own independent probe to investigate human rights abuses'.

The point here is that if the new probe is sincere and accountable to its job, its findings will not be any different from what was discovered by the Kofi Annan Commission report following UN's successive investigative teams. Their findings were all based on death, destruction, carnage, murder, looting and rape, and we don't know what better revelations the new probe team of Myanmar government would come up with. The last thing we expect to hear from a new investigation is that - nothing happened; there was no looting or rape taking place in Rakhine.

Most importantly, the purpose behind launching a fresh investigation will buy Myanmar more time. But time is of essence and value, and as long as Myanmar fails to ensure the safe and voluntary return of the refugees - it must come forward to share the lion's share of the cost for sheltering the refugees in Bangladesh.

Analysts assume high-level meetings between the civilian government and military could help smooth differences which continue to perforate their power-sharing agreement, as of now. Though Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a repatriation deal in November but up until now its application has been non-existent.

Most importantly, the latest meeting took place in the light of UN's interest to broker a deal for safe repatriation of the refugees last week. It's expected, whatever internal meetings or steps are taken - Myanmar should engage the UN and inform all developments on the Rohingya repatriation issue.
15 BRTC buses burnt in a city depot

Staff Reporter :

At least 15 buses were burnt after a fire broke out at a Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) depot, Joar Sahara in the capital in the early hours of Saturday, just one week before Eid-ul-Fitr.

Of 15 buses, eight were out-of-order. Four double-deckers, two single-deckers and one minibus were completely burnt, said Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Manager of BRTC Joar Sahara depot.

The origin of the fire could not be identified immediately. However, a primary investigation suggests that a short circuit in one of the vehicles in the depot around 1:30am might have caused the fire, said Shafiqul Islam, Senior Station officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) in Uttara.

Being informed, six units of firefighters from Uttara, Kurmitola and Baridhara fire service station rushed to the spot and doused the fire after an hour-long effort, the fire service officials said.

The fire blew up around 1:30am on Saturday while the workers were working in the night shift. Fire fighters reached there to fight against the blaze but were not able to extinguish the fire immediately due to lack of water. Later the blaze was brought under control using the water from another pump near the depot, according to him.

Secretary Md Nazrul Islam said that a probe team headed by an Additional Secretary has been formed for investigating the incident.

In some depots, there are many BTRC buses that are not used for various reasons including strong influence from private bus owners. For example, in Khanpur bus depot in Narayangonj more than 50 buses are found that are not used. Many wheels and parts of engines were found scattered here and there. Due to lack of proper care and maintenance these parts are being destroyed. However, Manager of the depot Azizul Haque did not want to make any comment on this.


Khaleda suffers `mild stroke`: Physicians

Staff Reporter :

BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia suffered a mild stroke in jail on June 5, according to her personal physicians.

"Khaleda Zia suddenly fell on the floor at noon on June 5. She failed to recall her memories of the incident. It seems that she has suffered a mild stroke," Professor of Medicine Dr. FM Siddque told journalists on Saturday after checking the BNP chief in Old Central Jail in the capital.

A four-member team of personal physicians of the former Prime Minister met her in the jail for one and a half hours after noon on the day.

The team members included Prof of Medicine FM Siddque, Eye Specialist Professor MA Quddus, Professor of Neuro-Medicine Syed Wahidur Rahman and Cardiologist Mohammad Al Mamun.

The doctors met Khaled Zia in the jail on Nazimuddin Road and checked her health condition at around 4:10pm.

After checking her health condition, the doctors recommended shifting Khaleda Zia to a specialised hospital for necessary tests and urgent treatment.

"Khaleda needed to undergo more physical examinations at a specialised hospital to confirm if she had suffered a stroke and to know the details of her present health condition," said the FM Siddique.

He said such a mild stroke often bears the risk of severe heart attack afterward.

The doctor said, "Khaleda Zia was stuttering when she was communicating with us."

FM Siddque also handed over a four-page report to the jail authority suggesting proper treatment to the BNP chairperson.

On Friday evening, BNP Senior Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced protest demonstration in cities and district headquarters across the country demanding the party chief's proper treatment.

In an emergency press briefing he announced the programme after several members of Khaleda Zia's family informed about her serious ill health condition after meeting her in jail.


Highways turn death trap

Eid holidaymakers worried about safe journey

The condition of highways all over the country is in a sorry state.

Staff Reporter :

Dilapidated condition of highways and intra-district roads with countless potholes due to poor quality repair, illegal occupation of roadsides spaces and four-lane development works has made the holidaymakers worried about their safe journey during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr.

Ramshackle condition of Dhaka-Tangail, Dhaka-Mymensingh, Dhaka-Chattogram and Jashore-Khulna highways, deteriorated by rainfall, has created a dark shadow over the joy of the home going commuters to perform the holy occasion with their near and dear ones.

At least 27 percent roads of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has been reported in a very bad condition for long due to absence of required maintenance by the authorities concerned, it was alleged.

According to the Annual Maintenance and Rehabilitation Needs Report 2018-19 of RHD, at present about 27 percent national and regional highways and inter-district roads are in a poor to very bad condition, especially in Rajshahi, Khulna and Dhaka areas.

It surveyed 17,976 km of roads of the RHD's total network of 21,481 km for roughness from November 2017 to January 2018.

The survey shows that about 54 percent highways and roads are in good condition, 20 percent in fair, about 12 percent in poor, about 6 percent in bad and about 9 percent in very bad condition.

Dhaka-Tangail highway that connects 22 northern districts with capital Dhaka, port city Chittagong and Sylhet via Bangabandhu Bridge, is now in very poor condition.

At least 68 kilometre roads from Gorai to the Bangabandhu Bridge have potholes in Gorai, Dherua, Mirzapur, Pakullah, Jamurki, Korotia bypass, Ashokpur bypass, Rabna bypass, Rosulpur, Pouli and Elenga areas.

The traffic comes to snail's pace because of the potholes and under construction work of four-lane, creating gridlock for hours on the highway.

Tangail Bus-Minibus Workers' Association President Khandaker Ahsanul Haque Titu alleged that the sub-standard repair works would be washed away in a slight rainfall and damaged under heavy pressure of transports.

He also said Tangail police did not have enough wreckers to cope with situation along the 78 km highway from Dhaka to Bangabandhu Bridge, 70 km zonal highway from Tangail to Mymensingh and 40 km zonal highway from Tangail to Aricha zonal highway.

Juvraj Miah, a driver of Nirala Parbahan plying on Dhaka-Tangail highway said, it takes about six to eight hours to go Dhaka from Tangail while some places on the highway were made single lane, especially in Gorai, Pakulla and Baoikhola areas.

Transport workers also alleged that illegal kitchen market, cattle market, hawkers and other makeshift shops, which cause regular accidents, also occupied the highway.

Tangail Superintendent of Police Sanjib Kumar Roy said construction work of the four-lane project would be stopped seven days before Eid.

Ongoing construction of Bus Rapid Transit on Gazipur-Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport created huge congestion at Chandina intersection and Bhogra bypass areas, which turned even worse due to construction materials on roads, illegal shops and parking on highway and rainfall.

Last month, people suffered from severe tailback of about 32-km from Chowddhogram-Cumilla Cantonment-Daudkandi on Dhaka-Chattogram highway due to huge number of potholes and the four-lane construction work.

Transport workers and passengers alleged that slow inspection at toll plazas and weighbridges at Cumilla's Meghna and Gomati bridges are causing the traffic congestion as huge number of both goods-laden and passenger vehicles regularly gather at these weighbridges.

In Feni, repairing work on 27 km road between Mohammad Ali and Dhumghat Bridge points on Dhaka-Chattogram highway, and on six-kilometre on the old Dhaka-Chattogram highway's Star Line pump to Trunk road has created traffic congestion.

About one kilometre stretch of road, near under-construction Fatehpur railway overpass, on Dhaka-Chattogram highway is in a dilapidated condition causing traffic congestion too.

In Jashore, potholes developed in front of Manihar Cinema, Bakchar, Murali, Rajarhat, Ramnagar, Rupdia, Janamghata, Basundia, Prembagh, Chengutia, Bhangagate, Nawapara, Rajghat and many other places on the Jashore-Khulna highway.

Bumps on highway make journey dangerous on Jashore-Benapole highway too.

Temporary repairs were seen on Jashore -Magura and Jashore- Narail roads that are in a dilapidated condition.

BJKS Secretary General Mozammel Haque said, "Around 40 percent of the national and regional highways have become dilapidated due to lack of regular maintenance."

Speaking at a meeting at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) headquarters in Dhaka, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader blasted dishonest engineers for the rundown condition of the country's roads and highways. He also directed to cancel contractors who are doing poor work.

According to the report by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samiti (BJKS), at least 1.15 crore people will leave Dhaka during the Eid holidays of whom 60 lakh will use the highways.

Besides, 3.85 crore holidaymakers will make their journey from one district to another. Of them, 2.8 crore will use the highways.

The BJKS suggested that there should be some sort of a "rationing system" for the holidays, government transports should be used to carry family members of officials, illegal structures should be removed from highways, illegal tolls on highways should be stopped, selling of tickets on the black-market should be stopped and unfit vehicles should not be allowed to ply on highways to make the journey smooth for holidaymakers.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader claimed that homebound people would face no trouble on the highways during the Eid holidays.

Quader is confident it will not be the same this time. He made the claim in a post on his Facebook profile on May 28.

Regarding the tailbacks on Dhaka-Chattogram four-lane highway, Quader said the construction work of the railway overpass in Feni's Fatehpur area would be completed within June 15 and there would be no more traffic congestion in the area.

The second bridges at Kachpur and on Meghna and Gomati rivers would be completed by December, six months ahead of the scheduled time, he added.

These three bridges would ease traffic congestion in the country's busiest Dhaka-Chattogram highway, he hoped.
Unfit launches made fit for Eid journey

A section of unholy persons engaged in repairing old launch for plying ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. The snap was taken from Keraniganj Dockyard on Saturday.

Reza Mahmud :

A good numbers of unfit launches and other water crafts are getting ready to transport Eid passengers to southern districts from Dhaka and Chattogram.

But it risks accidents on account of probable stormy weather.

"The launches and other water crafts owner are found busy to reform their unfit vessels in different dock yards across the country to transport Eid passengers," Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, the Secretary General of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity told The New Nation on Saturday.

He said the launches have average capacity of boarding three thousand passengers, but they load nearly 10 thousand passengers, especially during Eid vacations.

"It is difficult to calculate the number of passengers in overcrowded vessels during Eid vacations," he said.

Mozammel Haque said, "The Eid holidays in this year we are observing in stormy weather. The vessel owners have planned to sail more than 40 years old launches which invite serious risk for the Eid passengers."

The expert wants the authority to start strong surveillance to stop cruising of the unfit watercrafts ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

According to the ISO-1976, the vessels and water transports of more than 40 years are unfit to sail on.

But the experts said, there are wide gap between the number of passengers and the launch capacity especially in Eid vacations.

The transport owners use it as great chances to make money, carrying passengers by unfit vehicles.

Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said, not only launches, but the goods carrying trawlers also transport passengers in river routes due to shortages of passenger vehicles which pose serious risks of accident in this monsoon.

The related sources said many unfit launches are running between Mawa-Kawrakanda and Paturia-Daulatdia ghats.

Besides this, many of such vessels are also carrying passengers from Sadharghat Terminal.

One launch which is cruising between Naryanganj and Chandpur was manufactured in 1960, another launch cruising between Narayanganj and Munshiganj manufactured in 1974 and two others in 1964 and 1973.

Munir Hossain, a passenger from Sadarghat said, "I and my family members observe Eid in our village home in Barisal. But I am afraid as the unfit vessels are in the river this year."

He said there are many unregistered vessels in the rivers.

When contacted, Commodore Mohammad Mozammel Haque, Chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority told The New Nation on Saturday, "There is no chance to sail on unfit and unregistered water transports during Eid journey."

He said the authority will be highest alert to stop all unregistered and unfit vessels in every route.


Saga of a Russian Oligarch Abridged story from The New York Times

David Segal :

With a spa, a swimming pool, two heliports and room for 18 guests, the Luna is more

like a floating luxury villa than a yacht. A crew of 50 keeps all nine decks in pristine shape. The lifeboats cost $4 million apiece. Gleaming engines propel the vessel at a maximum speed of 22 knots.

But for now, the Luna isn't moving. It sits in a dry dock in Dubai at the center of a most expensive divorce case in a British court. In December 2016, a High Court judge ordered Farkhad Akhmedov, a Russian billionaire oligarch who has owned a home in England since the '90s, to pay the equivalent of $646 million to his ex-wife, Tatiana Akhmedova. He refused, arguing that the couple had been divorced in Russia more than a decade ago.

Unconvinced and unable to enforce his ruling, the judge in April ordered Mr. Akhmedov to hand over the yacht, valued at roughly $500 million, to his ex-wife. It has since been impounded by authorities in Dubai where





it remained docked for maintenance.

For more than a decade, Russian oligarchs have been parking their families and some chunk of their net worth in England. A deal was implied: The oligarchs got a haven from the pitiless realities of Putin-era Russia, and Britain got an influx of very rich people.

Now some oligarchs are learning that life here has hazards of its own. That goes even for nonresidents like Mr. Akhmedov, who never became a British citizen. Eager to keep British tax collectors away from his money, he limited the number of days he stayed in England to a maximum of 180 a year to 90 days.

In January, he appeared on the "Putin List," an inventory of business and political elites in Russia, published by the Trump administration. Seven oligarchs - though not Mr. Akhmedov - have since been subject to sanctions.

Even the Luna having a missile detection system, an anti-drone system, bulletproof windows and bombproof doors is a painful to part with.

Nothing is there to protect Mr. Akhmedov from the British justice system. As the nine-figure settlement was gaveled into divorce court history, Mr. Akhmedov began what the judge called a "campaign" to hide his assets "in a web of offshore companies.

Initially, the seizure of the yacht in Dubai sounded like a setback for Mr. Akhmedov. Then, he and lawyers for the family trust that owns the Luna filed a claim that the fate of the yacht should be decided by a local court in Dubai, using Islamic law, known as Shariah, claiming that he is a practicing Muslim and he can get better verdict against a Christian wife in Shariah court.

Mr. Akhmedov has a total of $1.4 billion fortune and Titiana wants her share as she is living poor and needs the money. She said had always wanted to settle the case out of court. Married in 1993 in Moscow they moved to London.

Over the years, he acquired a summer house in the south of France, two helicopters, vintage cars, fine art - by Rothko, Warhol and others - and a $26 million home in an upscale county outside London.

She said she filed for divorce a second time in 2013 - she had rescinded the first petition a decade earlier. In 2014, Mr. Akhmedov acquired the Luna from a friend. Meaaanwhile the attitude of her husband changed and she sued second tine for divorce.

In 2003, Mr. Akhmedov had produced documents to the court to show that the couple had gotten a divorce from a Moscow court three years earlier. Meanwhile Mr. Akhmedov refused to participate in the British divorce case fearing that tensions between Britain and Russia would prevent him from getting a fair trial. He regarded the case as political, part of Britain's efforts to seize assets from well-off Russians.

On the divorce certificate from the Moscow court Judge Charles Haddon-Cave said the papers were "forged" and that couple had "remained married.

Meanwhile Dubai International Financial Center Courts impounded the vessel.

Dubai Joint Judicial Tribunal in 2016 Mr. Akhmedov contends to get the decision by a local Shariah court to uphold that British court order to transfer ownership of the yacht cannot be enforced in Dubai.

Predicting how the tribunal will rule is not easy Ms. Akhmedova look for a buyer to sell the yacht if the judgment goes to her favor. Mr. Akhmedov will litigate this case until he wins it or the vessel melts into decrepitude.


Looking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

1 year ago
Richwood, TX (77531)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Dubai Startup Hub, an initiative of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has launched the second edition of its Market Access programme inviting innovative ideas and solutions to challenges faced by prominent organisations in Dubai.



The programme, open to startups and SMEs from around the world is now accepting submissions on the Dubai Startup Hub website. Startups will have until July 1 to submit their ideas by visiting on Dubai Chamber website.



DP World, Emirates NBD, Sanofi, and NIKAI Group are the four leading entities participating in the second edition of the programme. The companies have listed projects or core challenges they are facing with the aim of attracting innovative solutions from startups and SMEs which can be implemented within their organisations.



DP World is looking for various smart technologies that can be implemented within the organisations headquarters building, including virtual reality, face recognition and urban farming.



Emirates NBD is seeking innovative solutions that can enhance customer service and operational efficiencies, in addition to new banking products for retail, SME and corporate customers and digital only offerings for millennials, among other key areas.



Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company, will aim to attract solutions to enhance its relationships with its customers, which include healthcare professionals, patients and consumers. These solutions will be used by the company to better access and communicate with these stakeholders.



Global conglomerate NIKAI Group is looking for innovative products and services in the areas of technology, digital transformation, blockchain, logistics, education and healthcare.



Following a very successful first edition of Market Access, we are aiming to broaden the scope of participants and attract startups and SMEs with new ideas and cutting-edge solutions. This unique programme provides an ideal platform for participants to market their solutions and products and benefit from new growth opportunities, said Dubai Chamber's manager for Entrepreneurship Strategy Natalia Sycheva.



Selected candidates will be given an opportunity to tailor their ideas to meet specific needs, gain industry experience and network with industry players, she said, adding that Market Access aligns with Dubai Chambers efforts to nurture the emirates entrepreneurial ecosystem and foster a culture of innovation within the local business community.



Dubai Chamber launched Dubai Startup Hub in 2016 as an online platform to connect startups, entrepreneurs, developers, venture capitalists and students, enabling them to learn about new opportunities and create new partnerships that stimulate economic growth.  TradeArabia News Service
New Delhi (IANS): Demanded a fair investigation into the Bhima-Koregaon riots, the Congress on Friday slammed BJPs double speak after NDA ally and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale had remarked that it was not right to arrest Dalit rights activists branding them as Maoists.

Seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modis intervention in the matter, it said he should make it clear whether the probe by the Pune police was correct or the statement by Athawale, who had also demanded a probe into the role of Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide for allegedly instigating violence against Dalits.

BJPs duplicity and double speak exposed again in Bhima-Koregaon! Union Minister, Athawale calls arrests of Dalit activists as injustice and says no relation of Elgaar Parishad with violence.

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Maharashtra Govt describes them as maoist operatives. Who is lying? asked Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewla in a series of tweets.

Noting Athawale had also called for arrest of RSS acolyte Bhide, who Modi visited in 2014 and praised in a public rally, he asked if this was the reason whether the Maharashtra government is not acting against him.

A fair investigation, bereft of politics, is the need of the hour, he added.

Congress spokesperon Shaktisinh Gohil said: If the union minister is telling a lie, he should be removed from his post. If the Pune police investigation is correct, then it should specify the basis of the probe.
New Delhi (IANS): Umar Khalid, student leader of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), has filed a police complaint alleging he has received death threats from gangster Ravi Pujari, a police officer said on Saturday.

A case in this connection was registered on Friday, and the investigation is underway, he added.

Khalid also tweeted: Filed a complaint with @DelhiPolice regarding Ravi Pujaris death threat to Jignesh and me.

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Claiming to be on the hit list of Pujari who is on the run, Khalid has sought police protection. He said earlier in February 2016, also he had received similar threats

On Friday, Dalit leader and independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani also alleged that he has received death threats from Pujari.
Despite a Western media smear campaign portraying Turkey as an enemy of Kurds, the enemy is actually the PKK, which has been internationally condemned as a terrorist organization. As Daily Sabah writes in an article "Turkey's enemy is the PKK, not the Kurdish people", Turkey is currently undertaking a series of security operations in Syria and northern Iraq simply to secure its borders against the PKK, which is using these countries as a launch pad for terrorist attacks.

Yet, we see claims in the Western press that Turkey is actually targeting "the Kurds." This once again is a sad perception campaign to create the image that Turkey is against the Kurds in general and not the terrorists, who are waging a secessionist war. Turkey is not against the Kurd, who are actually the co-founders of the Turkish Republic. This country is their land as much as it is the Turks'. Turkey is against the secessionist PKK terrorists who want to divide the country and create a Kurdish state on our territory. Thus Turkey has been fighting for nearly the group for four decades  something that has inflicted extensive material and moral damage to our country. Almost 50,000 people have lost their lives in the violence instigated by the PKK.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tried everything to bring an end to the secessionist war, even putting his own political career on the line. Yet, he has been let down badly by the PKK militants who used his peace process to lay the groundwork for an uprising in Turkey's southeastern cities in 2014 and 2015. Unfortunately, the Kurdish people living in these towns and cities paid for the PKK's folly. They lost their homes and their belongings in the process and now they cannot forgive the PKK for all this mess.

In Syria, Turkey is not fighting the Kurds either. On the contrary, President Erdogan has been at loggerheads with Syrian leader Bashar Assad in the past over the Syrian Kurds, criticizing the Damascus administration for totally disregarding the community as a non-entity and denying them basic citizenship rights.All that Assad did for the Kurds was to help the PKK create terrorist bases in northern Syria in the past. The PKK has driven out more than 400,000 Kurds from northern Syria during the current civil war. Most of this Kurdish population has sought refuge in Turkey.

Thus, Turkey is not against Syrian Kurds but is dead against the PKK and its affiliates like the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Protection Units (YPG). As part of its campaign to flush the PKK, PYD and YPG out of the region, Turkey entered the Syrian enclave of Afrin. The idea behind Turkey's Operation Olive Branch is to cleanse the area of the PKK and its affiliates and hand back the region to Syrian Kurds. The same is valid for Iraq. Turkey has very effectively cooperated with Iraqi Kurds and supported the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil. But again Turkey is dead against the PKK, which has its main bases in northern Iraq's Qandil mountains.

Turkey is currently preparing for an all-out assault on Qandil, where the PKK leadership is hiding. This assault is not against the Kurds but the terrorists who have used the region as a launch pad for attacks against Turkish targets. So when prominent newspapers like the London Times run a headline saying, "Turks preparing assault against the Kurds," they are either misinformed or running a mean perception campaign. Any Turkish operation in the region is targeting the PKK and the PKK only  not the Kurds.
U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated that he has not ruled out abandoning his much anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, leading many to question what the fallout of a breakdown in talks would be. As Nihon Keizai writes in the article What happens if Trump 'walks away' from Kim summit?, Trump said he was "totally prepared to walk away" from the meeting, which is scheduled to take place in Singapore on June 12, at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. "I did it once before," he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that Trump would "not stand for a bad deal," and that "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" would be the only acceptable outcome. Pyongyang has so far made no firm commitments in this regard.

Experts appear divided on the consequences of a potential breakdown in negotiations.

According to Bruce Jones, vice president and director of the Brookings Institution's foreign policy program, the risks of war are paradoxically "higher now than before the drive to the summit." "The contemporary history of peace negotiations is riddled with examples of failed diplomatic processes leading directly to heightened escalation or dramatic conflict," Jones had earlier written in April in the Nikkei Asian Review. The failure of a summit could substantially undermine the option of diplomacy and "put us directly on the pathway to military conflict," he warned. The main proponent of the summit -- Trump -- is also the main proponent of military solutions to the conflict, he added.

Former British ambassador to North Korea John Everard concurred. "There's a risk that things will go wrong," he commented. "And if they go wrong, they might go badly wrong." In a worst-case scenario, he said, "people in the White House will start to talk again about military strikes. I really hope that doesn't happen, but in today's White House that's entirely possible."

Others say a sudden reversal of the current atmosphere of rapprochement is very unlikely, especially as memories are still fresh of how close the two countries got to a second Korean War last year. The fear, at the time, was that North Korea's repeated ballistic missile tests would eventually force the U.S. to take military action, which North Korea would interpret as an attack on the regime, and begin a nuclear war.

The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University has estimated that a nuclear attack on Tokyo and Seoul would kill 2.1 million.

"The U.S. government will continue to leave a path to diplomacy open," predicted Michael Bosack, a regional security expert and former deputy chief of government relations for the U.S. Forces in Japan. "The cost of military conflict is too great to close the door on alternatives."

The cost would not be limited to the loss of lives. The world's biggest and 11th biggest economies -- the U.S. and South Korea -- are guaranteed to be embroiled in any conflict, and so are the second and third economic powers -- China and Japan. The effects of large-scale conventional warfare on the Korean Peninsula would be a shock to the global economic system, Bosack said.

It would also "provide a window for an opportunistic revisionist power to exploit other regions of the globe" while the rest of the world is focused on resumed war on the Korean Peninsula, he added.

That leaves either diplomacy or a continued campaign of pressure on North Korea as the favored course of action for the U.S.

Diplomatic efforts are also likely to be pushed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has made it his personal mission to bring Washington and Pyongyang together and achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula.

"It should be expected that the less interested in diplomacy the Trump White House becomes, the more adamant the Moon administration will be in pushing for continued diplomacy," Bosack said. Bosack argued that a return to the pressure campaign, backed up by the U.S.'s overwhelming military strength, would be the most likely scenario in the event of the talks breaking down.

"We have a list of over 300 massive, in some cases, sanctions to put on North Korea," Trump said on Thursday. "And I've decided to hold that until we can make a deal, because I really believe there's a potential to make a deal. I don't want to use them unless it's necessary. And I don't think it will be necessary, but we will soon know."
The Russian Diplomatic Academy honored Natalia Bazhanova's memory. An outstanding orientalist, historian, diplomat passed away on June 7 four years ago. She wrote 26 books, 24 reaserches, over 400 articles for various publications around the world. She delivered lectures in scientific and public organizations of different countries, teached almost three dozen diplomats. Natalia Bazhanova was often called the world's best specialist on North Korea.

"Work of talented people means a lot. But the most important thing is the fact that Natalia Evgenyevna was very different from so many women - she live in complete harmony with Evgeny Petrovich," said Father Vladimir, Natalia Bazhanova's confessor.

Rector of the Diplomatic Academy Yevgeny Bazhanov spoke about his work on autobiographical series of books "Moment and Eternity". In a year he published sixth, seventh and eighth volumes of these memoirs, which detail the life of the academy in the early 1990s, visits of Bazhanov and his wife to New Zealand, Jerusalem and Japan, as well as Natalia Bazhanova's scientific research.

"She published a lot of works, but one thing that truly amazed me is how she, unfortunately, predicted current events back in 1993. She wrote that even though right now we have good relations with the US, and they will stay at that level for a while, in the end we will begin a conflict over Georgia, Ukraine, NATO expansion and military issues. This negative forecast shows that she was able to see the future," Yevgeny Bazhanov said.

President of South Korea, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Kim Dae-jung, was a student of Natalia Bazhanova. "We were on a visit to the Republic of Korea and met with President Kim Dae-jung who said: "We receive presidents of newly independent states, who come to us and want to learn the secret of Korean economic miracle. I tell them that professor Natalia Bazhanova knows all secrets of the South Korean economic miracle better than anyone else," former Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev said.

Natalia Bazhanova was born in Baku and she always cherished memories of this city. Speaking about Bazhanova, attache on culture and tourism of the Azerbaijani embassy in Russia Nigar Akhundova, said: "I was born and grew up near the place where Natalya Evgenievna was born and grew up. Perhaps we even saw each other when we were children, because her school was right in front of our house. This feeling that we were growing up somewhere nearby, maybe even played similar games, it still fills me with excitement."
The international community hasnt so far taken effective measures to stop the Armenian aggression, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev in his letter to the participants of the Baku Summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE).

The presidents message was read out by Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijani president's assistant for public and political affairs.

"I congratulate you on the kick-off of the next summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe. The alliance, which unites various political parties of Europe on a single platform, has in a relatively short time turned into a reputable organization that plays an important role in the socio-political life of the continent," the president said.

"I stress with a sense of satisfaction that such fundamental values as national sovereignty, parliamentary democracy and free society have an important place in the modern life of the Azerbaijani people, who have preserved rich historical traditions," he added.

"It is noteworthy that today's summit coincides with the period when the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim world where women were granted the voting right before in most of the Western states, is widely celebrated," the head of state stressed.

"As the legal successor of the Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan took the path of market economy, democracy, rule of law and secular state-building in the years of independence, established relations based on mutually beneficial cooperation with individual countries, becoming an equal member of the world community," President Aliyev said.

Aliyev noted that transnational gas and transportation projects that are being implemented on Azerbaijans initiative and with its active participation make a significant contribution to ensuring Europes energy security and sustainable social and economic development of the countries in the region.

"The launch of the Southern Gas Corridor, which was officially opened on May 29, will create new opportunities for further increasing the success achieved in this sphere," he said.

The head of state added that Azerbaijan attaches special importance to international humanitarian cooperation. "It diligently supports intercultural dialogue, the ideas of multiculturalism and tolerance, helps to solve global problems to the best of its ability. But I should note with regret that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that began 30 years ago continues to be the most serious obstacle both to the countrys development and the expansion of regional cooperation," the letter says.

The head of state pointed out that Armenia, which pursues expansionist policy, has occupied 20% of Azerbaijani lands, turning more than a million people in Azerbaijan into refugees and IDPs. "Despite the fact that the UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Non-Aligned Movement and other reputable organizations have made decisions on the conflicts fair settlement on the basis of the principle of territorial integrity, the international community hasnt so far taken effective measures to end the aggression," he said.

"I believe the meeting organized by you in Azerbaijan will be held in conditions of high efficiency, the proposals put forward and the decisions taken will serve the fulfillment of the tasks set, the development of democracy and free society, the maintenance of peace and prosperity. I wish each of you success on this path!" President Aliyev said in his letter.
Iranian authorities will sue the U.S. plane-maker Boeing at international tribunals for the latter's cancellation of an Iranian order for 80 aircraft, Iranian MP Taqi Kabiri said.

"The Islamic Republic will seriously pursue the cancellation of the Boeing agreement through international, legal and judicial tribunals," Press TV cited Kabiri as saying.

The news came after Boeing had backtracked on an earlier agreement to supply Iran with dozens of aircraft. AirBus is expected to follow suit having been stripped of a respective license in the wake of the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear pact.

Kabiris statement arrived two days after Boeing stated it would not fulfill a lucrative multi-billion-dollar contract to sell jets to the national carrier Iran Air, given the fact that it no longer has a license to trade with Iran.

In May, the US Treasury said that Airbus and Boeing would no longer be licensed to sell to the Persian Gulf state, thus dooming the 2016 and 2017 contracts with Iran, worth roughly $39 billion in total, which oversee the delivery of 110 Boeing passenger jets and 100 Airbus planes to the country.

The licenses were revoked following US President Donald Trumps announcement in May to pull out of the historic P5+1 nuclear deal, which stipulated the eventual lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions in exchange for Tehran ensuring the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker rejected US President Donald Trump's complaint that the European Union has treated the United States unfairly in trade, saying he would try to change the president's mind with facts and figures.

"When it comes to trade - the positions are very clear. The President of the United States thinks that the U.S. has been treated in an unfair way by Europe and by others, and the others think that this is not the case," Reuters cited Juncker as saying.

"We will explain this through facts and figures, that this is not the right view one should have on this topic," Juncker said before the start of a summit of leaders of the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, Germany, France and Italy.
While commenting on US President Donald Trumps suggestion to bring Russia back to the G7, making it G8 once again, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow "never asked to be allowed back."

"When our western partners decided to return to the G7 format, we accepted their decision and have been working on other platforms since then," Lavrov told Channel One. "Members of the SCO, BRICS and the G20 share our approaches," he added.

"Ultimatums are not enough for the G20, one needs to make agreements there. The Group of 20 is a mechanism for achieving consensus. I believe it is the most promising platform for the future," TASS cited the Russian top diplomat as saying.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Russia should attend the G7 meeting.
Russia is ready to boost relations with the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Rossiya-1s Saturday News.

Putin pointed out that US President Donald Trump has been implementing the promises he made during his election campaign. "One of the promises was to improve US-Russian relations. I hope that it will happen, at least we are ready for that and I think that the ball is in the US court," the Russian president stressed.

"We are ready to boost, deepen and improve relations with the United States. Various tools may be used for that, including personal meetings," TASS cited Putin as saying.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the two presidents discussed that Vienna could be one of the cities to host their bilateral meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he plans to visit Uzbekistan this coming fall.

"I remember about your invitation, thank you," Putin said during his conversation with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. "I will try to come for a working visit, which is tentatively scheduled for this autumn."

Russia's president noted that much had changed for the better since his counterparts latest visit to Russia. "Our trade turnover is growing at a fast pace. It grow 33.9%, almost 34%, last year, and more than 43% in the first quarter of this year," TASS cited Putin as saying.

He stressed that Russia and Uzbekistan are implementing some joint projects. "Thanks to your initiative, we have organized the so-called green corridor at the border. As for the growth of vegetable and fruit supplies, the pace is quite impressive, from 33 to 36%, so everything is developing," the Russian leader noted.

Putin added that, in addition to Lukoil and Gazprom, other Russian companies are operating in Uzbekistan, mentioning the machine building industry as an example. According to him, the overall dynamics of developing cooperation with Uzbekistan is very good.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran and Russia must establish tighter dialogue regarding the United States unilateral pullout from the nuclear deal.

"As for the United States illegal walkout from these agreements, a far more serious and important dialogue between our countries is required," Rouhani noted at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said Moscow had played a very important and constructive role in effecting nuclear agreements the JCPOA, TASS reported.
The two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit is set to kick off in the Chinese city of Qingdao, bringing together the leaders of such member states as Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

During the summit, SCO countries are expected to ink a batch of documents on customs cooperation, trade, agriculture, tourism and environment. The leaders are also supposed to focus on the issues of global trade and counterterrorism.

Along with the Heads of State Council (HSC) session, which is the SCO's supreme decision-making body, the leaders will hold a number of bilateral meetings on the summits sidelines.

Kremlin Aide for international issues Yuri Ushakov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a series of bilateral meetings today on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

Putin is scheduled to hold negotiations with the leaders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran and Mongolia. The SCO summits major events will be held on Sunday and on the same day the Russian president will hold talks with Pakistani leader Mamnoon Hussain.

The Russian presidential aide pointed out that there would also be a trilateral meeting involving Russia, China and Mongolia.

At the meeting between Putin and Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga, the sides plan to exchange views on vital regional and international issues and pay attention to the Russian-Mongolian cooperation in multilateral organizations and boosting cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the SCO.

Speaking on Putins meeting with Mamnoon Hussain, Ushakov said one of the most important areas of cooperation is countering terrorism. In particular, Russia is providing assistance to Pakistan in enhancing its counter-terrorism potential.

At the meeting with President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Putin is scheduled to exchange views on topical international issues. The Kremlin aide said Russia and Tajikistan have similar positions in the framework of integration associations and international organizations such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

During the meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Putin plans to pay special attention to the issues of fighting against international terrorism.

Putin also plans to discuss with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a range of issues of regional agenda, including the situation around the Iran nuclear deal and also the preparations for the 5th Caspian Summit.

SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov said that around 20 documents have been put on the agenda of the forthcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of State, which concern almost all regional and global issues  from the uncompromising war on terror and extremism to the expansion of cooperation in the areas of the economy, trade and environmental protection.

In addition, the Plan of joint actions for the implementation of the SCO Tourism Cooperation Program for 2019-2020 will be adopted in the framework of the summit.

At the end of the two-day summit, the leaders are expected to sign a Qingdao Declaration.

It will be the first SCO summit since its expansion, when India and Pakistan were included as full members at the Astana summit in Kazakhstan last year.

Putin has started his state visit to Beijing yesterday and already met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime minister Li Keqiang in Beijing.
The Afghan Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire over the Muslim Eid holiday in the middle of June, their first offer of its kind, days after the government declared an unconditional ceasefire of its own.

The militants said foreign forces would be excluded from the ceasefire and that operations against them would continue. They also said they would defend themselves against any attack.

"Members of the Taliban should not participate in public gatherings during the Eid festivities because the enemy could target us," Reuters cited the statement as saying.

There was no immediate official response from the government but Afghanistans Ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, described the announcement as an "important step towards prospects for peace."

It was not clear exactly when the ceasefire would begin, as Eid starts when the moon is first sighted, but Afghan calendars mark Friday June 15 as the end of Ramadan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump discussed during their latest telephone conversation that Vienna could be one of the cities to host their bilateral meeting, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Various cities, which can be suitable for a meeting between the two presidents, are often considered," he noted. "The two presidents discussed the need for such a meeting during their latest telephone conversation, including that Vienna could be such a city," the Kremlin spokesman said.

At the same time, he added that there are no specific agreements on the issue ye. "However, there are no specific agreements, specific understandings or specific discussion at the moment. That is, nothing has changed in this respect," TASS cited Peskov as saying.

When asked whether Putin discussed the possible meeting in Vienna with Austrias Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the spokesman said, "It was mentioned that Vienna could be such a city." He noted, however, that the issue is the Russian-US discussion point.

First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, a representative of the legislative body of the Jewish Autonomous Region, Vladimir Dzhabarov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the causes of uncertainty as to the Putin-Trump summit should be sought in Washington, not in Moscow. "Vladimir Vladimirovich always said he was ready for negotiations and cooperation. Trump has his own point of view on this issue, for example, at first he almost nearly canceled his meeting with Kim Jong-un, but then appointed it again. Therefore, I think everything depends on Trump's final decision on the negotiations, and then real preparations for the summit will be started," he said.

According to the senator, it is quite likely that Putin and Trump will not meet until the next presidential election in the United States. "Trump is not a predictable politician, nothing can be ruled out. Although logic should tell Trump that he can no longer retreat. Even his recent statement that Russia needs to be returned to G8 suggests that the US president thinks about it more and more often. Most likely, the meeting will still take place," Vladimir Dzhabarov predicts.

Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev, drew attention to the non-randomness of the choice of Vienna as a potential venue for the meeting. "Vladimir Putin visited Austria recently, held talks with the country's leadership, apparently, the possibility of holding a meeting of the leaders of Russia and the United States in Vienna, and it is likely this idea was approved. It would be fine for us. Austria understands that sanctions against Russia should be lifted, it wants the restrictions to be at least weakened in the part in which Austria is interested. It should be noted that the sanctions are not beneficial for the Austrians as well, their losses amounted to approximately $750 million," he said, adding that Vienna would be the most favorable option in terms of safety, as the Austrian secret service work very good.

"As for delaying the talks on the meeting, the White House is now more concerned about meeting with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-no on June 12 in Singapore. However, the Trump administration at least made it clear that they are ready to meet in neutral territory. Russian-US relations are at an extremely low point, it's been a year and a half since Trump's inauguration, but an official meeting has not took place yet. But I'm sure that after June 12, the Russian and US sides will try to schedule the meeting as soon as possible. In any case, no matter how the relations between Russia and the United States develop, the official meeting of the two presidents will necessarily take place," Alexander Gusev said.
Azerbaijan has long been calling on international organizations to take a fair decision on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Ziyafat Asgarov said at the Baku Summit of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe.

Azerbaijani territories have been occupied as a result of the Armenian aggression, "but the necessary steps have not yet been taken," he said.

First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Azerbaijan expressed confidence that the ACRE Summit would serve to resolve conflicts on the basis of international law.
National Assembly to pass eight laws at fifth session Updated: 08:04 - 09/06/2018

The 14th National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan addresses the opening meeting of its 5th session__Photo: Nguyen Van Dan/VNA

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The fifth session of the 14National Assembly (NA) opened in Hanoi on May 21, with eight laws expected to be passed during the event that will last for 20 working days to mid-June.As scheduled, lawmakers will spend 12 days on lawmaking work, including debate and adoption of three new laws on special economic zones, topography and cartography, and cyber security; amendments to four other laws concerning denunciations, competition, national defense, and physical training and sports; and revisions to the laws related to the Planning Law.The NA will also give comments on three drafts laws on livestock production, crop production, and coast guard; and draft amendments to five laws on corruption prevention and combat, peoples public security force, special amnesty, education, and higher education.Addressing the opening ceremony, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said the draft laws to be passed and debated at the session have extremely great significance, aiming to further institutionalize the Partys line and policies, especially the resolutions of the Party Central Committee plenums and the 2013 Constitution.She said the session took place in the midst of the countrys positive developments. The national growth rate in the first quarter of 2018 was the highest in the last ten years. However, she felt worried about unexpected regional and international developments.The top legislator suggested the country focus on developing its potential, maintaining macroeconomic stability, boosting production and business activities, and preparing to minimize the negative impacts of global changes to ensure sustainable development of the national economy.The country should also continue to strengthen national security and defense, enhance diplomatic activities and safeguard national sovereignty, while upholding anti-corruption, thrift practice, and waste combat efforts, Ngan said.At this session, the NA will reserve three days for question-and-answer activities with innovations expected to increase dialogues and face-to-face debates in the NAs activities, thus meeting voters aspirations.Specifically, each NA deputy will have only one minute to give a question and, after three NA deputies raise questions, the questioned official will have three minutes to give answers.The NA will exercise the supreme oversight of the implementation of policies and laws on the use and management of state capital and assets in enterprises and the equitization of state-owned enterprises during 2011-16.The legislative body will also adopt a resolution on the 2019 program on NAs oversight activities and the establishment of the NAs specialized oversight delegations for 2019.The NA will consider and make decisions on several important issues, including a report assessing the implementation of the socio-economic development and state budget plans in 2017 and the first months of 2018, the ratification of the 2016 state budgets final accounts, and personnel work.Debating the draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units of Van Don, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc, NA deputies urged for adjusting the jurisdiction and competence of peoples committees in these special zones.The model of administration for the special zones introduced in the draft law won the approval of most deputies.Specifically, the Peoples Council of a special zone would have no more than 15 deputies with a majority being full-timers and without any standing board or supporting units. The Peoples Committee would have only one chairperson and two vice chairpersons. The Peoples Council and Peoples Committee of a special zone would share a supporting office and specialized units.Lawmakers made many comments on Article 32 regarding management and use of land in the zones, which says that investors may use land in special economic zones for production and business activities for up to 99 years.NA deputy Nguyen Van Than of Thai Binh province backed the allocation of land to investors for up to 99 years, saying this is a major breakthrough policy to attract investors in these zones.Meanwhile, NA deputy Truong Trong Nghia from Ho Chi Minh City proposed scrapping this provision, explaining this is actually an additional incentive for investors to transfer land which seems to be inappropriate.NA deputy Duong Trung Quoc from Dong Nai province suggested careful consideration of this provision, saying that special economic zones would be applied on a pilot basis only and may succeed or fail, so adventure is not accepted.Prudent attention should be paid to the political significance of special economic zones, especially Van Don zone, otherwise, these zones might become places for population migration, Quoc said.Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said the law-drafting committee proposed retention of this provision as the draft law would clarify which projects are eligible for 70-year land lease term and which ones are considered special and eligible for a land lease term of up to 99 years, and would also set criteria for identification of special projects.Voters and people nationwide hope that the NA, Government and all-level administrations will continue working to solve the problems they used to mention, said President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFFCC) Tran Thanh Man while reporting on voters and peoples opinions and petitions.He said since the NAs fourth session in late 2017, the VFFCC Presidium and NA Standing Committee have received more than 3,460 opinions and petitions from voters and people nationwide.He noted the public expressed their trust in the Partys leadership and the States steering and management role. They hope that due attention will be paid to settling the problems they have raised, such as ensuring social welfare; prioritizing development resources for disadvantaged, ethnic minority, disaster-hit and climate change-prone areas; ensuring social order and safety; and fighting crimes.The VFFCC Presidium asked the NA and Government to promptly institutionalize and effectively materialize the resolutions of the Party Central Committee (PCC), especially those on economic development, personnel work, and salary and social insurance reforms, which were issued at the fifth, sixth and seventh plenums of the PCC.They should promote their responsibility toward major issues discussed at this fifth session, Man said, noting that the parliament needs to press on with reforming NA deputies meetings with voters so that more people can express their opinions.In his report, the official asked the NA and Government to instruct related agencies and authorities at all levels to attach importance to agriculture, farmers and rural areas. Particularly, the cabinet should step up administrative reforms in all sectors and agencies, from central to grassroots levels.The Party and the State need to take drastic and effective solutions to fight corruption and waste and promote thrift practice in the entire political system and society. They also need to direct the strict handling of persons involved in corruption and waste cases, boost the recovery of assets related to corruption, and heighten the responsibility of leaders of ministries, sectors and administrations in this work, the report says.Man also called on the Government to overhaul urban planning and construction licensing activities and take drastic actions to combat illegal sand mining and deforestation, which were continually reported to the parliament at its sessions from 2013 to 2017 but still linger.-
HA NOI  Dragon fruit has dominated Vietnamese fruit exports in the first four months of 2018 with total exports reaching US$427 million, a year-on-year increase of 9 per cent.

According to the General Department of Viet Nam Customs, dragon fruit accounted for 32 per cent of the total export value of Vietnamese vegetables and fruits. The export value of dragon fruit was nearly four times higher than the two fruit exports ranked below it  longan, which had an export value of US$121 million, and mangos, whose export value stood at US$104 million. Dragon fruit exports also outperformed the vegetables group, which had an export value of US$143.8 million, and processed products, at US$143.6 million.

Thanks to favourable exports, prices of different variations of dragon fruit in the raw materials sector have remained high since the beginning of the year. The price of white dragon fruit currently stands at about VN20,000 (US$0.87) per kg while red dragon fruit sells for VN40,000 per kg. In addition to Binh Thuan, called the dragon fruit capital, the fruit is now being grown in many southern provinces in Viet Nam, specifically Long An and Tien Giang.

Aside from dragon fruit, mango exports also made a strong impression by doubling its export value in the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year, reaching US$104 million and pushing its market share from 5 per cent in 2017 to nearly 8 per cent from January to April 2018. Mangoes are mainly exported to China, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and Japan.

The value of mango exports to Chinese market during the same period reached US$95 million, up 119 per cent over the same period last year and accounting for 91 per cent of Viet Nams total export turnover of mangoes.

According to statistics from the Department of Farm Produce Processing and Market (DFPPM) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, fruit and vegetable exports from January to May reached US$1.62 billion, an increase of 16.4 per cent against the same period last year.

China remains Viet Nams largest importer of vegetables and fruits.

In the first five months of 2018, Viet Nams total import value reached $575 million, a year-on-year increase of 15.3 per cent.

In order to maintain the export growth of vegetables and fruits and avoid devaluation, the DFPPM said Viet Nams fruit and vegetable industry must maintain control over quarantine and food hygiene and safety, especially pesticide residues. In addition to inspecting and speeding up the processing of factories every year, they must coordinate with localities to concentrate on reinforcing the raw materials sector to ensure the quality of raw materials for production and processing for export, the DFPPM said.  VNS
HA NOI  Representatives of MobiFone and Vietnam Multimedia Corporation (VTC) has proposed to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to consider scratch card payment for digital content services.

The proposal comes after the businesses of both operators and multimedia companies have taken a hit.

At a regular meeting with MIC on Tuesday, VTC chairman Luu Vu Hai said the halt of scratch card payment for digital content services had greatly affected its business. Its five-month revenue and profit were only 38 per cent and 33 per cent of the yearly targets, respectively, partly due to restricted payment methods, he said.

According to Hai, VTC is trying to overcome difficulties in payment services on its own, but without policy support from the management authority and the approval of scratch card payment, the digital content industry will still be in the back foot.

Tran Manh Hung, chairman of the Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), which manages mobile phone operators VinaPhone and MobiFone, said due to the ceasing of scratch card payment for non-telecommunication services, VNPTs May revenue had dropped by 4 per cent against the same period last year while the five-month revenue this year fell by 10 per cent.

MobiFones general director Cao Duy Hai suggested that the management authority allow the use of scratch card to pay for digital content services as well as work out measures to solve the difficulties faced by businesses in providing services.

In April, major mobile phone operators, including VinaPhone, MobiFone and Viettel, announced a temporary halt of scratch card payment for digital content services.

The move came after the security authority busted an online gambling ring worth nearly VN9.6 trillion (US$422 million), of which some VN9.3 trillion were made through pre-paid telecom cards and game cards.

Pham Hong Hai, deputy minister of information and communications, said in principle, the ministry had no problem allowing the use of scratch cards for telecommunication and non-telecommunication services. However, after the online gambling incident, the issue was subject to reconsideration, he said, adding that the use of scratch cards for non-telecommunication services was under the management of payment services of State Bank of Viet Nam.

He affirmed that the ministry did not prohibit the use of scratch cards for payment, but without clear legal regulations for payment related to services outside its scope of jurisdiction, network operators must consider scratch card payment in accordance with the existing law.

Nguyen uc Trung, head of MICs Department of Telecommunications, said SBVs divisions had recently coordinated with his department and other management authorities to come up with the best solutions involving the use of scratch card payment for non-telecommunications services.

Network operators and digital content companies are asked to jointly study and propose solutions based on the management experiences of other countries, Trung said.

In May, many online gaming businesses complained that by stopping scratch card payment, their revenues had dropped between 50 and 65 per cent, while small businesses lost up to 90 per cent of their revenue as they did not have enough resources to develop a separate payment channel.

The three largest operators VinaPhone, MobiFone and Viettel  also said their sales of scratch cards plummeted by 80 per cent after the halt.  VNS
The Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has asked the Government to strengthen the control of temporary imports for re-export of shrimp from India and Ecuador. Photo VGP

HA NOI  The Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has asked the Government to strengthen the control of temporary imports for re-export of shrimp from India and Ecuador.

VASEP said that China was moving to buy Indian and Ecuadorian shrimps rather than Vietnamese shrimps as they say it is larger in size and very cheap. VASEP wants the Government to minimise commercial fraud in this activity through the Northern Hai Phong Port to China.

This is one of the recommendations written in a letter that VASEP sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), as the price of shrimp has dropped significantly in recent times. It is expected to develop sustainable production and export of shrimp from Viet Nam.

In order to share the current difficulties with shrimp farmers, VASEP said that suppliers of shrimp breeds should consider reducing prices of feeds and other necessary things for breeding, for the breeders.

Meanwhile, VASEP recommended the Government and MARD have support policies to encourage input suppliers to have a buying and selling mechanism with appropriate price policies for farmers, helping them overcome difficulties and stabilise shrimp price in the future.

VASEP also urged the Government to discuss this issue with the US side during high-ranking diplomatic activities so that they could quickly remove trade barriers, particularly the imposition of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp.

This is a big obstacle for the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp in the US market recently, the letter noted.

In the long run, to increase the value of shrimp in the international market, the Secretary-General of VASEP, Truong inh Hoe, said that Vietnamese shrimp must be bred in accordance with international standards such as Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Best Aquaculture Practices. Thus, Vietnamese shrimp will have the opportunity to be placed on shelves in large supermarkets at high prices and stable consumption.

However, Hoe said that small farmers cannot raise shrimp under international standards because of the high cost. Meanwhile, most Vietnamese shrimp are now produced from small ponds.

"Large shrimp farming is becoming an urgent and long-term necessity. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the model of shrimp farming co-operation as well as strong solutions for the building of shrimp farms according to international standards to get better results in the long term," Hoe said.

As planned by MARD, the Vietnamese shrimp industry will strive to achieve an export turnover of US$10 billion by 2025, with an average growth rate of about 15 per cent per year and keep the leading position of export turnover in the countrys seafood industry.

In the first four months of this year, the shrimp sector earned $1.02 billion, marking an increase of 13.8 per cent over the same period last year. However, in May 2018 the price of shrimp material decreased deeply causing psychological panic among farmers and may affect the export plan in 2018.  VNS
Blockchain technology will play an important role in building the digital economy and the fourth industrial revolution. Photo vnmedia.vn

HA NOI  Blockchain technology will play an important role in building the digital economy and the fourth industrial revolution.

The Viet Nam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Viet Nam E-commerce Association (VECOM) co-organised the Viet Nam Blockchain Summit 2018 in Ha Noi on Friday.

Up to 10 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) will be saved by blockchain technology by 2025, it was heard at the summit.

Speaking at the forum, ang Hoang Hai, VECITA director, said blockchain was a continuous series of information blocks using code technology to link and secure safety, thus effectively preventing data modification.

Blockchain is designed to resist data changes because information in blockchain can not be altered and can only be if there is consensus of all nodes in systems, explained o Van Long, presidents office director of the Infinity Blockchain Lab (IBL).

Even if a part of the blockchain system collapses, other computers and nodes will continue to work to protect the information, he said.

Blockchain promises to be a breakthrough for the socio-economy, transactional and data-related activities that require transparency, sharing and information security, he said.

Blockchain technology can also be applied in many different fields.

For example, it can help improve some of Vietnamese weak sectors such as logistics or traceability.

Blockchain can also effectively support the implementation of e-government.

"With the efforts of the State, expert community and businesses which are researching blockchain, we hope to be in line with blockchain projects worldwide by 2020. In Viet Nam we will also see a breakthrough of the technology like the birth of the internet," said Long.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister issued Directive No.16 on enhancing the capacity to approach the fourth industrial revolution in May last year.

However, to date, there has not been orientation at the macro level to lead research, training and application of blockchain technology in economic sectors.

Facing the challenges and great opportunities of blockchain in the global digital economy in general and Viet Nams economy in particular, the VECOM has recommended the country to accelerate research and application of blockchain in economic fields, considering it as one of the fundamental technologies for the digital economy.

According to analysts, the global blockchain technology market is expected to increase 70 times in 2024 compared to 2015 with a value of $20 billion.

In Viet Nam, businesses are starting to deploy research groups or pilot projects on blockchain including Viettel, Napas and TMA Solutions.

Experts also said that the Prime Minister issued a decision approving the scheme on completing the legal framework for management and handling of virtual assets, electronic money and virtual money.

One of the objectives of the decision is policy and legislative proposals should not affect creative and start-up activities, ensuring flexibility in line with changes of the ongoing development of information technology and e-commerce.

Speakers said the legal framework should consult with the online business community and stakeholders for their input.  VNS
HCM CITY  In 2016, when Wai Zin Min was 20, his country went through an event that would change its history: the US lifted its two-decade-old embargo on Myanmar.

Wai Zin Min was a student at a top university in Myanmar and understood that the lifting of the embargo would change not only his generation but also many future generations.

Soon after, Myanmars economy and society underwent significant changes and opportunities arose for new graduates like Wai Zin Min.

He decided to work for Mytel, a newly established joint venture between Viettel Global, a Viettel subsidiary, and its two local partners, Star High Public Company and Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public, after turning down job offers from several other foreign companies.

Min became one of the first Mytel technicians, but of course he was not the only Myanmarese to join the company.

Min and his compatriots, along with 60 Vietnamese youths, created a 1,000-soldier-army to race against time to deploy one of the most unique telecom networks in the world: installing 4G infrastructure for the whole country, a country where only 5 per cent of the population had used mobile phones a few years earlier.

The plan had an ambitious goal: by the time of its opening Mytel aimed to have a network of 7,000 4G base transceiver stations (BTSs) and more than 30,000km of fibre-optic cable, which would enable Myanmar to have a real broadband network.

Mytel faced many difficulties in installing this infrastructure as the newest entrant in the market and because of extreme weather and poor transportation.

Myanmar has two seasons: wet and dry. The rainy season lasts only a month, but it rains day and night. Sometimes, the sun cannot be seen for four to five days and widespread floods 23 metres high occur.

The rest of the time is dry but the weather is severe. Myanmar is considered an Africa inside Asia.

As many as 1,000 Mytel workers had to install their telecom network over a total area of 700,000sq.m.

Most of Myanmar is still poor and without good transport links due to the long, crippling embargo. Most rural areas have primitive transportation. Mud roads account for the majority at district and commune levels.

During the rainy season, no vehicle can traverse these mud roads, and materials and equipment are transported by hand.

Such difficulties did not deter the spirit of the Vietnamese who arrived to work with the Myanmarese. They ignored the difficulties and focused on the goals they had to achieve.

After a year of toiling what the Mytel staff accomplished was scarcely believable: they had dug holes, laid optic-fibre cables and installed a huge number of base transceiver stations.

Today Mytel, Myanmars fourth mobile phone company, will officially begin operations. In its first year Mytel will have telecom infrastructure with more than 7,000 4G BTSs and more than 30,000km of optic-fibre cable.

Min and the other 1,000 Viettel staff have installed telecom infrastructure that none of the three existing mobile phone service providers can match. And of the 10 nations where Viettel operates, Myanmar is where it has installed infrastructure fastest, especially for 4G.

In Kachin, the northernmost state in Myanmar and the one with the countrys tallest mountain, locals were sceptical when first told they would be able to access the internet on their smart phones using 4G services provided by a new company.

In the remote, mountainous Kachin, it is incredibly hard to believe that a newly established mobile service provider can offer 4G services.

Min said: Mytel was the name chosen by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Myanmars armed forces, and means telecommunications network of Myanmarese.

There is no reason for the fact that people who live in the capital and other cities can get 4G services but not rural and remote residents. This is our mission: to connect Myanmarese nationwide.

Like all other Mytel staff, Min is eager for the grand opening ceremony today.

Truong Vu Son, director of the Mytel office in Naypyidaw, capital of Myanmar, said: I have been waiting for the opening day for a very long time.

His very long time refers to the one year and four months since he arrived in Myanmar.

But for those who had to race to install a 4G network throughout Myanmar, the grand opening hasnt come a second too soon.  VNS
CAN THO  As the main rice producing area of the country, the demand for rice seeds in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta was very high.

But certified seeds produced by professional rice research institutes or enterprises are not enough to support this industry, and only account for 20 per cent of the total supply, meaning that there is no guarantee of quality for the remaining 80 per cent of the supply.

This creates a loophole for enterprises which ignore state regulations by trading in fake and low quality rice seeds, earning high profits, the Nong thon Ngay nay (Countryside Today) newspaper reported, adding that farmers are suffering the consequences.

Le Van Phuoc, a farmer from Long An Province, said he was surprised to hear that there was a mix of rice strains in his 2.5ha plot of land.

The agent that sold him the rice seeds told him that he had bought the certified variety, when in fact, this was not entirely true. .

He said a lot of farmers in his neighborhood are facing the same problem, but they failed to secure compensation from their supplier.

This happened despite the fact that the sale of rice seeds was placed under State management. Accordingly, enterprises who engage in the trading of rice seeds must obtain licences from the provincial agriculture and rural development department.

In addition, these companies agree to provide certified seeds which meet criteria on moisture, mixed rate and expiration date. To continue their operation, these enterprises must be certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) before every new crop is sown.

While the issue of trading in low quality rice seeds remains unsolved in the Mekong River Delta, experts are pointing the blame to loose management and lack of staff in relevant departments.

According to Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute, with close to 1.7 million hectares of land used for rice production, the Mekong Delta needs about 400,000 tonnes of rice seeds to produce each harvest.

However, rice seed production facilities can only meet half of the demand.

Unannounced inspections conducted by MARD investigators in Can Tho and ong Thap have revealed a number of violations in the trading of rice seeds.

Specifically, inspectors from Can Tho Citys Agriculture and Rural Development Department have coordinated with relevant agencies to inspect manufacturing facilities and traders of Hung Phat Company, taking rice seeds back to the lab for testing.

While high quality was printed on its packing, the result of the tests showed that both rice strains didnt meet the necessary standard.

This raises the question of how many tonnes of unqualified rice seeds have been put on sale since the enterprise set up since 2002.

Various violations were also found at other rice production and trading enterprises in Thot Not District.

Inspectors noted that there were hundreds of tonnes of raw materials and rice seeds in their storage warehouses.

Enterprises failed to show relevant papers relating to certified production at the time of inspection.

The same problem was also detected by the inspection team in neighbouring ong Thap Province.

Enterprises such as Van Tan and That Hien, who trade in rice seeds, were found to have copied the packaging of other enterprises, and sold rice seeds with unclear origins in quantities of up to 30 tonnes.

Inspectors from Bac Lieu Provinces Agriculture and Rural Development said they received a lot of letters from enterprises complaining that their rice seeds were fake or low quality.

Suppliers of rice seeds sometimes trade in low quality seeds which look good, and use packaging with the same labels as certified brands.  VNS
The Government Inspectorate will carry out an inspection targeting State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in which the Ministry of Industry and Trade controls State capital. Photo viettimes.vn

HA NOI  The Government Inspectorate will carry out an inspection targeting State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in which the Ministry of Industry and Trade controls State capital.

The inspection will be conducted within 70 working days on SOEs which the ministry (MoIT) restructured during 2011-17, via re-arrangement, equitisation and divestment, the Inspectorate said in a decision on Thursday.

The inspection team contains 11 members, led by Nguyen Duy Binh, senior inspector of the Government Inspectorate.

Bui Ngoc Lam, Deputy General Inspector of the Government Inspectorate, has asked the ministry to provide records and related documents required by the inspection team.

MoIT also has to request its agencies to work with the inspection team and assist the team to fulfill and perform its work well, Lam said.

Lam has asked the inspection team to co-operate with MoIT and the SOEs under the management of the ministry to carry out the work efficiently, avoiding costing those firms time and money.

According to the former director of the Viet Nam Institute of Economics, Tran inh Thien, 508 SOEs were equitised in the 2011-15 period, fulfilling 96.5 per cent of the plan, and it was considered a good result.

However, only 8 per cent of the State shares were sold to private investors, thus the SOE equitisation in the last five-year period could be considered inefficient as those firms had failed to re-allocate their resources to improve performance, he said.

Equitised SOEs are still owned by the State with problems relating to business transparency, losses and inefficient use of State assets, while private companies have stood outside the management board of those SOEs, Thien said.

He acknowledged the fact that equitisation of Vietnamese SOEs did not mean privatisation when the State not only wanted to offload its ownership at high prices and use the resources efficiently but also expected the private sector to remain outsiders and transfer the State capital to units that have poorly performed in using the resources.

Therefore, it was necessary to change the mindset of those SOE leaders towards market-based principles so that the restructuring of SOEs can be improved, he added.

According to the Ministry of Finance, 570 SOEs were equitised in 2011-16. The total value of those companies was VN797 trillion (US$35.4 billion) with the Government holding nearly 27 per cent of the figure.

In 2017-20, the Prime Minister approved a plan that targets 127 SOEs to be equitised, including 44 for 2017, 64 for 2018, 18 for 2019 and one for 2020. The MoIT since 2016 has sold stakes in 17 SOEs, including six corporations and groups.

On January 1, MoIT offloaded shares in Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemicals Corporation, PetroVietnam Power Corporation and PetroVietnam Oil Corporation.

The ministry plans to sell its stakes in some large-cap firms such as the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), Ha Noi Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Habeco) and Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM).  VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nams economy is on a more positive growth momentum than last year, with strong foreign direct investment (FDI) capital inflows, increased foreign exchange reserves and strictly controlled foreign debts, according to Fitch Ratings.

At the Fitch on Vietnam forum held in Ha Noi on Friday, Sagarika Chandra, Fitchs associate director and primary sovereign analyst for Viet Nam, said Fitch Ratings last month upgraded Viet Nams long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) to BB from BB- with a stable outlook, thanks to the countrys improved external buffers and strong macroeconomic performance.

Compared to other emerging countries as well as other BB rated peers, Viet Nam currently has a high growth rate, Chandra said, adding that the countrys GDP (gross domestic product) growth accelerated to 6.8 per cent in 2017 and looks set to grow by another 6.7 per cent this year.

This is one of the important factors in upgrading Viet Nams credit rating, she added.

Besides, the countrys macroeconomic stability, a cushion against external shocks and satisfaction in certain financial criteria were also key drivers for Fitchs upgrading to Viet Nam, she said, adding that the Vietnamese Government adopted a flexible exchange-rate mechanism in January 2016 besides pledging to limit the national debts and restructuring State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

According to Fitchs forecast, Viet Nam will remain among the fastest-growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region, and fastest among BB rated peers.

At the forum, many experts also pointed out that Viet Nams economy has several internal and external strengths, ranging from capital inflows, labour and productivity in the agricultural, processing and manufacturing sectors, which creates a sustainable structure.

Can Van Luc, chief economist of the Bank for Development Investment of Vietnam (BIDV), said that the Vietnamese economy has many positive outlooks with the recognition of international organisations such as the World Bank (WB) that has recently also raised its outlook for Viet Nams economic growth to 6.8 per cent from the previous forecast of 6.5 per cent.

According to Luc, increase in the private sector spending (at about 10 per cent in the past year) and the private investment capital source are also causes making Vietnamese economy more attractive.

In addition to positive factors, Sebastian Eckardt, lead economist of the World Bank in Viet Nam, pointed out some risks and challenges for the countrys economy in the coming time.

With a highly open economy, Viet Nam is likely to be exposed to external factors, such as trade wars, high oil prices or geopolitical instability, he said.

In addition, tightened monetary policies of central banks will also have a great impact on the worlds economy and of course, Viet Nam is not out of the circle of influence, he said. - VNS
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue attends a forum on production and consumption of litchi and 52 key agricultural products in Bac Giang Province yesterday.  Photo VGP

BAC GIANG  The northern province of Bac Giang should pay more attention to development plans for regions growing lychee trees and closely follow market demands.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue made the statement at a forum on production and consumption of litchi and 52 key agricultural products held in Bac Giang Province yesterday by provincial Peoples Committee.

This year, Bac Giang has harvested a large volume of lychee at a high selling price, but should improve post-harvest storing and processing of lychee, Hue said. The province should develop co-operatives to produce and trade lychee and other major products at a large scale.

The deputy PM asked China to create favoUrable conditions for customs clearance of Viet Nams agricultural products.

In addition, Bac Giang should focus on logistics to support the distribution of lychee and work with the border provinces and cities to promote consumption of this product.

Especially, the provincial authorities should collaborate with Chinese agencies to help businesses of two countries trade lychees. That would lead to official trade contracts, reducing risk for both lychee growers and consumers.

In addition, the province should promote the application of technology and production models according to the standards of GlobalGAP and VietGAP.

Meanwhile, he asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to negotiate with countries that Viet Nam has signed free trade deals with to export agricultural products.

To promote the consumption of lychee at home and abroad, deputy minister of industry and trade o Thang Hai said Bac Giang needs to maintain stability in areas growing lychee trees and increase areas growing lychee according to the standards of VietGAP and GlobalGAP. That would ensure clean standards for products.

For the domestic market, it is important to continue to promote the consumption of lychee by connections between production regions of the farming products and wholesale markets, trade centres and supermarkets, Hai said.

During the forum, representatives of farming districts in Bac Giang province proposed the township authorities of Pingxiang Town, Hekou District, Guangxi province, China help agricultural products get customs clearance as soon as possible.

Representatives of Lang Son and Lao Cai provinces pledged to not let agricultural products export stagnated at the border gate and to work with Chinese authorities in solving difficulties in import and export activities.

Chinese representatives lauded the quality of Bac Giang lychees this year and said they will try to quickly solve customs procedures. There are more than 200 traders purchasing large numbers in the districts of Bac Giang Province and some localities of Hai Duong Province.

Duong Van Thai, deputy chairman of Bac Giang Province Peoples Committee, said this year, Bac Giang has 28,000ha growing lychee trees, 1,000ha less than last year. It is expected to have output of 150-180 thousand tonnes, including 90,000 tonnes developed under VietGAP standards and 10,000 tonnes under GlobalGAP standards.

Tran Quang Tan, director of Bac Giang Department of Industry and Trade, said the provincial Peoples Committee has a plan to promote lychee consumption and State agencies and sectors would have production and business plans for the fruit.

This year, the province expects to sell about 80,000-90,000 tonnes at home, accounting for 50 per cent of total output, and export the same volume.

In the export market, China is still a big market, with most of the fresh lychee exported to this market.

In addition, Bac Giang will look to increase its exports to the US, EU, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Malaysia and expanding export markets in the Middle East, Thailand and Canada.

Many businesses have registered to buy lychees to export to the US, Australia, EU, Middle East, Canada and Thailand, said Tan. - VNS
Hoang Phuoc Thuan, Director General of the General Department of Network Security, under the Ministry of Public Security, speaks to the Viet Nam News Agency about the draft Network Security Law

Will you please explain why Viet Nam wants to have its own Network Security Law?

As we all know, the network security in both Viet Nam and other countries has experienced quite a lot of challenges, particularly cyber attacks, in recent years. In our country, the information network has experienced tens of thousands of cyber attacks each year, with social networks being a common target.

Nowadays, cyber space has become a safe heaven for criminals, particularly for organised criminal groups. One of the reasons leading to this situation is that we lack a proper legal corridor.

This is a key reason for us to develop our Law on Network Security, to protect our national security, the State secrete, social law and order and the rights and interests of our citizens and organisations.

Furthermore, the development of the law is in line with our 2013 Constitution on Human Rights and Vietnamese Citizens Basic Rights, as well as to protect our national security and integrity. The development of the law is totally in line with international norms and practices.

Will the draft law contain any provision regarding the requirement to archive data of users and the countrys important data?

Archiving important information has become compulsory in the laws of many countries, including the USA, Canada, Russia, China and others

To my knowledge, on May 25, the European Union Law on protecting individual data came into effect. Under the law all European citizens have the right to control their own data when they join any forum or social network, as well as track and make changes to their personal.

Under such a provision, any service company seeking to use their clients information must first ask permission from the clients themselves. If any encroachment is detected, the fine may be up to 20 million Euros.

However, here I just want to reiterate that our Law on Network Security is optional for any offices or organisations to apply and the Law does not require that all the data must be archived. The Government will issue a list of offices/organisations or the type of data they have to archive.

Some people have said that the Governments decision has run against the countrys international agreements. How do you respond to these comments?

During the construction of such a regulation, the compiling board reviewed thoroughly all documents and treaties in which Viet Nam is a signatory, including the WTO and the CPTPP. Thats why I can say that Viet Nams requirements on archiving types of data as written in the Law on Cyber Information Security do not run counter to the countrys commitment towards international treaties and agreements.

Furthermore, cloud computing technology has allowed us to retrieve data we want from anywhere at any time, regardless of where the data is archived. Our daft Network Security Law only requires certain types of data must be archived on Vietnamese territory, not to prevent access to the data.

The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) recently claimed that such localised data has made Viet Nams GDP slide down 1.7 per cent, and reduced its FDI by 3.1 percent.

But the source of this data was from ECIPE in March 2014 under the title The costs of data localisation: Friendly fire on economic recovery. However, in reality, by 2015, Viet Nam showed the highest growth rate in the five years, and even now the country has still maintained an impressive economic growth rate.

Some people have argued that the regulation on cloud computing will not be workable as the enterprises have already used cloud computing and virtual master machines to archive their data. How do you respond to their argument?

As we all know cloud computing has allowed us to retrieve or archive our data any where. Thats why our Network Security Law does not cause any problems with data flow. This has already been applied in many countries around the world.

To our knowledge, Google and Facebook have both installed almost 2,000 of their master machines in our territory for the betterment of their services.

What we have done is for the betterment of our public service, and not to cause difficulties to enterprises.

Under the Vietnamese law, any foreign enterprises doing virtual business in Viet Nam must have their offices in Viet Nam. Such a requirement has caused financial costs and time constraints for those enterprises. How do you respond to their complaints?

I think their anxiety is reasonable. One of the objectives of our draft Law on Network Security is to protect the rights and legal interests of all organisations or individuals of both Vietnamese and foreign businesses. Furthermore, as I have mentioned before, the law is not designed to cause difficulties or challenges to enterprises.

To my knowledge, Google and Facebook have around 70 and 80 offices around the world, respectively. In Southeast Asia alone, Google and Facebook already have their offices in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Dont you think that having their offices in these countries has made their business operate more successfully?

As I have mentioned already, our draft Law on Network Security does not require all enterprises must have a representative office in Viet Nam. For the sake of national security and social law and order, the Government will give detailed instructions on this particular issue once the law is in place. _VNS
Imperial Valley News Center

Technology, from robotics to ghost ships and unmanned fighter jets, can change the face of war

Washington, DC - The robot soldiers of the future, so-called battle bots, are still in basic training.

"Being able to take soldiers out of harm's way and accomplish the mission is a very attractive option to any commander," according to Lt. Col. Jesse Curry, commander of the 82nd Brigade Engineer Battalion. Curry, participated in a recent joint American-British military exercise in Germany, designed to test what the army calls, the Robotic Complex Breach Concept.

The exercise, which used robotic vehicles, proved the value of technology in warfare, paving the way for the development of humanoid robotic soldiers. The idea of replacing infantrymen with androids is a concept that may be in its infancy, but it is an attainable goal. Battlefield drones that can be armed with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, already exist, says Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.

And then there is the Sea Hunter, a full-size unmanned submarine chaser, which was developed by Americas Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [DARPA]. The ship is undergoing further development at the Office of Naval Research. At 132 feet long and weighing in at 140 tons, the Ghost Ship is the largest unmanned vessel in the world.

The vessel can stay at sea for months at a time, traveling thousands of miles in search of enemy submarines. Its the ideal sub chaser, but it also paves the way for an assortment of sea going tasks.

Fred Kennedy, director of DARPAs Tactical Technology Office says the ACTUV [Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel] represents a new vision of naval surface warfare that trades small numbers of very capable, high-value assets for large numbers of commoditized, simpler platforms that are more capable in the aggregate. The U.S. military has talked about the strategic importance of replacing king and queen pieces on the maritime chessboard with lots of pawns, and ACTUV is a first step toward doing exactly that.

War is fought not just on land and at sea. Battles have an important aerial component, as well. And, the U.S. Air Force is already developing its own unmanned systems. In fact, it has already turned its F-16 drone aircraft, used as realistic targets in training fighter pilots, into a pilotless air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. In one of its first test flights, the unmanned fighter was able to successfully conduct an air-to-ground attack on its own. And, when it was faced with a surprise attack by an enemy plane, it responded appropriately and continued its mission.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is developing its own carrier based, unmanned combat aircraft.

The U.S. has been developing technologies that have already changed the face of war. The goal is to keep our sons and daughters in the military safe by taking them out of the equation on battlefields, whether they are fought on land, sea or in the air. Weve made strides in achieving that aim, but we have a long way to go before we can win a human conflict with automatons. In the meantime, lets continue to be proud of our service men and women and pray for their safe homecomings, says AMACs Weber.
Making the Perfect Parts

Gaithersburg, Maryland - On a recent morning, Rick Lake stopped in the middle of giving a tour of NISTs Machine Shop to ponder a part sitting on a shelf. It was about 25 centimeters long and made of metal coated in a sheen of purple and blue. Along the top, gaskets, nuts and bolts stuck out like spines on a steampunk caterpillar. At the top, one big opening poked out like a head.

Its a manifold made for integrating gasses, Lake explained, and each opening was supposed to provide an attachment for a nozzle. The dramatic, almost psychedelic color was the result of coating the entire piece, made of stainless steel, in vaporized glass. The coating was experimental, and was meant to reduce reactions between the metal of the piece and the mixture of the gasses in the scientists experiments.

Although interesting in appearance, it had failed. It was impossible to hook up anything to the piece, because each thread got clogged, Lake said. There was no way to coat only the underside. The entire piece would need to be redesigned.

Invention in the movies takes a moment and comes like a flash to a single, remarkable protagonist. But in real life, innovation is often slow and takes a large team of people working together. Technology helps move the process along. But in the end, you are still likely to encounter unexpected challenges that demand creativity, persistence and patience. And sometimes, as was the case in the groovy-looking manifold, you must go back to the drawing board, literally.

Perhaps no one appreciates this more than the people who work in the Machine Shop, which sits in building 304 on the Gaithersburg Campus. These are the people who often end up helping the innovators and inventors of NIST take an idea from dream to reality.

A lot of times, customers come in and kind of bounce ideas off us, said Rick Lake, who is the shops cost estimator and Job Coordinator. We give them some feedback. We then have our designers generate a computer drawing so that its a little more formal. And if its a bigger project, theres an assembly of everything thats translucent so that they can see what the inside of the part is actually going to look like.

Or it could be they come to us and say, Were going to do this experiment, and weve got this idea of how were going to do it, but we need some help, added Mark Luce, the division chief overseeing the shop.

The building itself is approximately the size and shape of an airplane hangar. An acrid smell of machine grease lingered in the air the morning Lake and Luce were showing visitors around. T-shirt-wearing machinists worked at more than a dozen workstations and attended to various interactive project screens, watching as pieces of shiny metal pivoted around on small platforms inside blue cabinets with see-through doors. In some cabinets, a mix of water and oil cascaded over cutting surfaces to prevent overheating. In others, filings of shiny metal were being scraped away like bits of carrot in a kitchen grater. In the background, heavy-metal music mingled with the hum of large motors, the sound of steel pipes being moved, and the occasional flare of a welding torch being fired up.

On one workbench, a set of clamps and plastic encasements held up two large pieces of thick, heavy aluminum about the size and shape of a turkey roasting pan. Along the exterior, various square compartments glinted in the light. When fitted together, they will house electronic instruments needed to photograph the phases of the Moon.

At another workstation, machinist Luther Vulgamott stood in front a of Computer Numerical Control machine housed inside a box roughly the size of an ice cream truck. With the confidence of a concert pianist, Vulgamott punched instructions into a complex key pad, causing the platform inside to move in carefully choreographed movements. Atop the platform, a piece of metal about 20 centimeters (8 inches) long turned from a rectangle into a complex shape complete with divots and screw holes.

If you can draw it, we can make it, Vulgamott said with pride, displaying two other made-for-tech pieces hed fashioned that same morning for work in the NIST Center for Neutron Research. One was no bigger than a pencil eraser, the other, about the size of a postage stamp.

Interestingly, NIST has always had a machine shop, though those who worked here decades ago might not recognize many of the tools currently on the shop floor. In the early 1900s when the organization was still known as the National Bureau of Standards, the machinists were likely helped by a few blacksmiths, and everything was done with fundamental machines from the first and second Industrial Revolutionslathes, mills and drill pressesthat allowed craftsmen to shape the pieces manually.

When the Gaithersburg campus opened in the 1960s, the NIST machine shop employed approximately 50 people, who were assigned to tasks like model and pattern making, woodworking, instrument making, glassblowing, optics and electroplating. An old black-and-white photo hanging on the wall shows the factory-like look of the shop before it opened for business in 1966.

Although the shop people still do some manual milling and lathe work and even use a few of the heavy lathes in that early photo, they have, for the most part, traded in their rulers for high-tech computer modeling software. In fact, most modern machinists must get a college degree in fundamental manufacturing before they can begin the formal four-year apprenticeship needed to operate the tools of the trade. And at NIST, the certified machinists also need to be flexible and creative.

We need to have very qualified people in the shop because they have to be able to program their own part and machine their own part, andin essenceinspect their own part when its all done, Lake noted.

This is different from those who work in modern production facilities in private industry, where speed is prized above all else.

In production theyll have one person who does all the set ups, and then theyll turn it over to another guy who loads, hits a button and then unloads it when its done, Lake, the estimator, said. Producers like that make thousands of copies of that one thing every day for weeks, months or years.

In contrast, those who work at the NIST shop make prototypes. They consult with the research staff and see an idea through from start to finish. It might take 10 years to get the device just right for the science experiment to work out. And they might only make one copy of the new device, ever.

For example, when physicist Jim Fedchak needed to create a dynamic expansion chamber for his work on a cold atom vacuum standard, he knew the machine shop would be able to help him. Fedchaks research is used in advanced manufacturing and applied to things like the semiconductors used on the tiny chips inside of smartphones. The shop has helped him numerous times since he began at NIST in 2003.

You can go to outside shops for lots of things, but quite often you only get what you submit and theres not a lot of feedback, Fedchak said. If, for instance, the scientist makes a mistake on the drawing or wants to adapt the design based on new information, it isnt always easy to correct problems or make changes mid-process when you outsource, which can slow down research momentum and increase costs.

It is very useful to have them here, Fedchak said of the shop staff. It is great to be able to go down and talk to the people in the shop face-to-face.

Mechanical engineer and chief of the Quantum Measurement Division, Jon Pratt, also has lots of praise for the NIST machine shop and their work. The past few years of Pratts career have centered around building a better way to realize the kilogram in the form of a new and improved Kibble Balance, formerly known as a watt balance. The complicated work has involved some incredibly complex math and will eventually impact how mass measurements will be made in the United States and around the world. But what many dont know is that Pratt began his time at NIST as a post-doc 20 years ago, working on manufacturing research in the machine shop.

He said the experience gave him an increased appreciation for the value of being able to fix and make things by hand and for those with an intuitive knowledge of how pieces of precision instruments could come together. The process of getting the best Kibble Balance has taken more than a decade of continual adjustments, tinkering and reconfiguration.

In my land of balances, I still need people who can make amazing parts, he added. During the years, he spent hour upon hour in the shop, going over every detail of each new balance with the team and watching as it was all made and put together.

Pratt said hes fought against outsourcing shop work for years.

If you are making the same part over and over again, [outsourcing] works just fine. But what were doing here, were making custom stuffthe best in the world, and youre really going to be asking people to do things that are a little out of the ordinary because no ones ever seen it before, nobodys ever thought about doing it before, Pratt said. It just works a lot better if you can just have people sitting around a table actually talking about it.

Colin Wrenn, an engineer and researcher from the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), said the machine shop is essential to performing the wide array of work the centers users perform. One week, they might be working on a part for a major automotive company who needs to test a new coil spring assembly. Another, they may be helping to investigate the Big Bang theory, or the way medicines react to human fat cells. Although most of the time the engineers on his team bring the machinists finished drawings and CAD models for the parts they need, the shop often provides key insights as to whether a piece can be manufactured as designed or not.

An engineer might be able to do a lot of nice things on CAD, but it doesnt mean they can make the part work. Those might just be pretty pictures, Wrenn said. At the shop they can usually tell quickly if something isnt going to come together. The machinists in the shop are quick problem-solvers.

Were a user-based facility, Wrenn said, noting that the NCNR is one of only two facilities in the U.S. able to do certain types of neutron research, and that many come here from outside of NIST to conduct unique tests. It is vital that the shop stays here. Without them our ability to stay competitive would be severely impacted.

Although some wonder if 3-D printing and additive manufacturing will make the work the shop does obsolete one day, those running the shop envision that, while they will increasingly use those technologies in concert with the Additive Manufacturing Lab (ADML), they will never entirely be replaced by them.

People often come in now with a part theyve made on a plastic printer, wanting us to make it out of metal, Lake added.

They are making toys, theyre making replicas, said Luce. In the end, customers need functional metal parts that enable testing and experimentation.

Luce said he negotiated to get the ADML lab housed in the shop because we know 10 years from now, in the future as technology matures, thats going to be an option and it is going to be an option that needs to be provided by this organization.

In the meantime, when you ask Luce and Lake what they like the most about their jobs, the answer comes quick and is said almost in unison: Variety.

Every day something new walks in the door, Luce said. And in some cases, we only get to see a part of it, but six months from now we get to see how what we did impacted the development of this device, and maybe it ended up creating a new standard thats going to affect some technology. Thats part of the satisfaction of doing this.

We are NISTers, like everyone else who works here, he said, rubbing his hands together and grinning.
U.S. Support of Memorandum of Understanding between UNHCR, UNDP, and the Government of Burma

Washington, DC - We welcome the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by UNHCR, UNDP, and the Burmese government to support the creation of conditions conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Burma, whether to their places of origin or of their choosing.

This is a positive step. We see this MOU as a confidence-building measure that, if effectively implemented, could allow much-needed humanitarian assistance to reach all affected communities and assist Burma in creating the necessary conditions for voluntary return and to support recovery and resilience-based development for the benefit of all communities living in Rakhine State.

We encourage the Burmese government to fulfill its commitment to work with UNHCR and UNDP to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State.
Dismissal of Director General of Montenegro's Public Broadcaster

Washington, DC - The United States is disappointed by the dismissal today of Adrijana Kadija, the director general of Montenegros public broadcaster, RTCG.

This decision by the public broadcasters governing council undermines media freedom in Montenegro, the reform and preservation of which is central to Montenegros integration into the Euro-Atlantic community. Montenegro must do more to safeguard media freedom and the editorial independence of its public broadcaster.
In her commencement speech to MIT's graduating class of 2018 on Friday, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave one piece of advice that every entrepreneur should consider. She said that technologists who change the world approach the future with "clear-eyed optimism."

When challenges inevitably arise in technology, Sandberg said (in reference to Facebook's recent privacy problems), a leader has three options:

Retreat in fear. Barrel ahead with a single-minded belief in their technology. Fight like hell to do all they can, knowing that what they build will be used by people who are capable of "great beauty and great cruelty."

"I encourage you to choose the third option," Sandberg said. "Building technology that supports equality, democracy, truth and kindness means looking around corners and throwing up roadblocks against hate, violence and deception."

Technologists have always been optimists, Sandberg reminded MIT graduates. "We're optimists because we have to be. If you want to do something that's never been done before, so many people will tell you that it can't be done."

Although the world feels polarized and dangerous, Sandberg reminded students that they are better off in ways that were unimaginable even when she graduated. From the rise in global life expectancy to the decline in extreme poverty, "We have made more progress in our lifetimes than in the rest of human history."

Optimists have a competitive advantage.

Optimism is a key personality trait of most of the inspiring leaders I've interviewed, studied or written about. When I worked with executives at Intel, a quote from Intel co-founder Robert Noyce greeted everyone as they entered the building: "Optimism is an essential ingredient of innovation."

Why would he say that? Intel executives explained that optimistic personalities welcome change over security, adventure over the status quo.

In the book How Luck Happens, prominent psychology professor Dr. Martin Seligman is quoted as saying that if you could choose one person to take along on a space ship, you should choose the optimistic one. They tend to be "luckier" because the personality trait allows you to take advantage of good events and not get bogged down when things go south. Those who believe in a positive future tend to get lucky more often than people who constantly say self-defeating and pessimistic things about the future.

Sandberg isn't talking about blind optimism. The future won't just take care of itself. Clear-eyed optimism means recognizing that while things can be bad, you can influence the future for the better.

Earlier this year, I sat down with Bill Gates's favorite author, Steven Pinker. His book, Enlightenment Now, reveals some of the positive data about human progress that Sandberg quoted in her commencement speech. Pinker told me that optimists have a built-in advantage:

"One reason might be that, because most people are pessimistic about the world, the optimist has a competitive advantage, taking advantage of opportunities others might not take. Also, there are so many things that can go wrong in anything you do. The odds are really stacked against us. There must be some degree of optimism to embark on a project that have a chance of failure. If you don't have a sense that the gamble you're taking will pay off, you won't have the gumption to try it in the first place."

Being a clear-eyed optimist doesn't ignoring the problems facing your career, your field or the world. It does mean, according to Sandberg, that you embrace your potential to build technologies that improve lives, build teams that increase diversity, and build products and services that expand human progress even further.
Although the UK, and particularly London, has a rich history of gin production, some of the earliest reports claim that Holland or Italy could be its true birthplace. Spain is also well known to have a thirst for gin which they happily free pour into glorious copa goblets (our favourite glass for gin if truth be told).

Of course, were not here to start a gin turf war, but its clear that if youre in the market for trying gins that are a little different, its definitely worth casting your net wider than Britain. Packed full of exciting botanicals from across the continent, European gins feature a whole host of ingredients not found in their British equivalent.

I think a growing interest in both provenance and locality is propelling the popularity of European gins, says Kristiane Sherry, Master of Malt editor. Smart distillers will play on both, selecting local botanicals in their production and then championing provenance in their marketing. Consumers like to taste something distinct, and a gin that captures a specific location by offering a genuine point of difference through flavour makes for a compelling offer.

Its also worth playing around with serves, reaching for fragrant herbs and ingredients like olives to garnish and using in cocktails to create punchy new twists on old classics. Although dont be afraid to try it neat, a good quality gin will be smooth as a whistle and just as enjoyable with a chunk of ice as it is with tonic.

The team at food and drink website Crummbs have scoured the continent looking for exciting botanicals to breathe a breath of fresh air into your G&T. Here are their favourites

(France) Citadelle Gin 70cl 44%: 30.20, Master of Malt

French distiller Alexandre Gabriel found himself with time on his hands during cognacs off season  so the obvious answer was to create a gin. Created in beautiful copper stills, its made up of 19 aromatics and botanicals including coriander, orange peel and liquorice which has resulted in it being the most awarded gin in the world. Particularly excellent served alongside a juicy oyster, although if youre not feeling quite as decadent, ice and a slice will suffice.

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Audemus Spirits Pink Pepper Gin 70cl 44%: 40, Waitrose Cellar

This is the marmite of the gin world. Youll either love or hate the powerful hit of pink peppercorn but we cant get enough of the savoury spice, complimented with a touch of sweet vanilla and honey. Its really unlike anything else so would make a great point of difference to your drinks cabinet and is best served simply with tonic to really allow the gin do the talking.

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GVine Floraison Gin 70cl 40%: 29.79, Drink Supermarket

Traditionally most gins are made with grain but GVine do things a little differently and create theirs with Ugni Blanc grape spirit. The botanicals include green cardamom, ginger roots and the vine flower. This hero botanical blossoms just once a year in mid-June and exists for just a few days before maturing into a grape berry. The result is a very elegant and floral-forward gin which works well in a martini.

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(Spain) Gin Mare 50cl 42.7%: 28, Marks and Spencer

If one gin sums up the taste of the Mediterranean, its Gin Mare. Infused with basil from Italy, thyme from Greece, rosemary from Turkey and citrus fruits from Spain, this pan-Mediterranean gin is calling out to be drunk in the sunshine. A particularly good spirit to pair with food thanks to the savoury pepper finish, forgo lemon for a sprig of rosemary and garish with an olive.

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(Italy) Malfy Gin Con Limone 70cl 41%: 25.85, 31 Dover

Malfy Gin takes its name from the Amalfi Coast and the lemons grown there, which are used to make this citrus-packed gin. Theres also a version with sun kissed blood orange and zesty pink grapefruit, all sourced from Italy and produced by the Vergnano family who have been making gin for over 100 years. Keep things simple and team with premium tonic and a slice of lemon  what else?

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VII Hills Italian Dry Gin 70cl 43%: 36.72, Master of Malt

If youre not au fait with your roman numerals, VII is seven and this Italian gin is named as such thanks to its combination of seven botanicals taken from the seven hills on which, according to legend, ancient Rome was built. These include juniper, pomegranate, celery, artichoke, blood orange, rosehip and Roman chamomile which results in an aromatic spirit with citrus and herbal notes. Its the ideal Italian gin to create the perfect negroni.

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(Germany) Elephant London Dry Gin 50cl 45%: 30.75, The Whisky Exchange

Although distilled in Germany, its actually the spirit of Africa they hope to capture in this fragrant gin. South African buchu offers a delicious blackcurrant flavour, whilst the African superfood baobab has sharp citrus qualities. The gin was created to support the conservation of African elephants, with 15% of profits from each bottle going to Big Life Foundation and Space for Elephants.

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(Netherlands) Rutte Celery Dry Gin 70cl 43%: 35.95, Master of Malt

Rutte have been making their spirits since 1872, using only natural ingredients to create the unique flavours. Although the citrus and juniper is still there, its really the celery that grabs your attention here. If youre a fan of Bloody Marys with your brunch, try switching the standard vodka for this very special gin  it makes for the best Red Snapper weve ever tried.

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(Belgium) Filliers Dry Gin 28 50cl 46%: 33.95, Master of Malt

Famous for beer and chocolates, Belgium is also the home to the Filliers family who have been producing gin for decades. Using a whopping 28 botanicals on top of the standard juniper, this dry gin includes Belgian hops, allspice and fresh oranges. Created in traditional copper stills in small batches, you should be able to detect cardamom and coriander.

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(Finland) Kyro Distillery Napue Gin 50cl 46.3%: 34.95, Amazon

If youre looking for a new style of gin to shake up your drinks trolley, this award-winning gin from Finland is a revelation. The rye-based Napue gin boasts locally foraged fresh botanicals, including sea buckthorn, cranberries and birch leaves. Produced in small batches, youll detect meadowsweet, citrus, cumin and juniper on the nose, whilst the taste is subtle and leafy with refreshing menthol notes. Enjoy your Napue gin with plenty of ice, a sprig of rosemary, a few cranberries and your favourite tonic water.

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Verdict

The award-winning Citadelle team create gin that we could drink all-day long for any occasion (although thats probably not advisable). Lending itself to making great cocktails while also being premium enough to sip neat, its this versatility that has ensured its place as Indy Best Buy.

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.
E3 marks the halfway point of the video game world's annual calendar. That means we all get to be teased by trailers of amazing triple-A titles that dont release until the holiday season. Thats the bad news. The good news is that its the perfect time to catch up on all the amazing games released in the first half of the year.

While the list may change by the end of the year, here are the top 10 games of 2018 so far:

God of War: $59.99, Amazon

Experience a whole new God of War. This isnt just the best game of 2018 so far, this may go down as the greatest PS4 game of all time. Explore the evolution of a previously one note character as Kratos becomes a fleshed out and truly interesting person. God of War is no longer just and action game, like Kratos, its evolved into an emotional father son tale, with an amazing antagonist, and supreme world development. If you had to pick one game to play this year, this is it. Even if you dont like the previous God of War games, I cant foresee anyone playing this and not, at the very least, enjoy their time.

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Shadow of the Colossus: $29.99, Amazon

If youve never felt the heartache and conflict of Shadow of the Colossus, this is the time to fix that. Its gorgeous, emotional, and awe inspiring. Ride your horse through the beautifully lonely valleys. Feel the emotional turmoil as you climb and slay each Colossi in the name of love. The ending will have you contemplating the very nature of love itself. Even if youve played the original, play this one. Its a complete remake, so not only does it look better, but it plays better too.

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Monster Hunter World: $59.99, Amazon

Easily the most creative and inspired game of 2018, Monster Hunter makes its glorious return to the home console. Monster Hunter World continues its predecessors tradition of making every hunt feel like a boss battle. Prepare for each hunt by crafting weapons and studying each monster. Then reap the rewards of all your hard work in a thriving fully realized ecosystem. From studying, to crafting, to hunting, Monster Hunter World makes every step feel epic and rewarding.

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Dark Souls Remastered: $39.99, PlayStation Store

Dark Souls Remastered will have you traversing the classic and incredibly well connected Lordran, once occupied by gods, now a world full of death and darkness, now a land of ruin. Hidden within its dreary aesthetic is a classic, real time, RPG world teaming with personality and beauty. Dark Souls is a classic, and this is the definitive version. The difficulty of this game is legendary, but thats the point. Embrace the challenge: 'Prepare to die.'

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Dragon Ball Fighter Z: $59.99, PlayStation Store

Dragon Ball Fighter Z is both fun fan service, and great fighting game. Everything Dragon Ball fans have been waiting for. The look, the sounds, the fun and feel of Dragon Ball has been captured in this simple, but strategically deep fighter. Come for Dragon Ball and stay for the well-crafted, explosive, 3V3 tag team style fighter. Dragon Ball Fighter Z is a fun casual experience, but also has a thriving competitive scene for those whore interested.

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Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom: $59.99, Walmart

Enter the vibrant and bright cell shaded world of Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom. A JRPG core with a hint of civilization. Not only does Ni No Kuni 2 offer a fun crisp real time battle system, but it also offers a fun nation building game. Recruit citizens from the other distinct lands of Ni No Kuni 2 and defend your nation. The biggest surprise is the high concept story. Battle, build, philosophize.

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Celeste: $19.99, PlayStation Store

Super Meat Boy fused with Metroid, Celeste is the best platformer on the PS4, hands down. The interesting and challenging 16-bit, wall clinging, platform action on its own, is good enough, but where Celeste truly shines is in the narrative. An out of nowhere story about depression and the pit falls of modern life make this a must play game. If nothing else, the story alone is worth every penny.

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Owlboy: $24.99, PlayStation Store

Short, simple, creative, and endearing. Owlboy is a 10-hour pixel art journey of an Owl boy and his friends. A metroidvania-style game where you use various power ups to creatively, and carefully dispose of enemies. Only, instead of power ups, you literally pick up your friends and fly them around while using each of their unique abilities. A fun lesson on the power of friendship.

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Far Cry 5: $59.99, PlayStation Store

Far cry 5 feels the same as its predecessors, but thats more good than bad. All the weapons, the story, and the open world craziness youve come to love return in Far Cry 5. This time a cult leader and his siblings need to be dealt with, and youre the man for the job. The open world, and all the crazy things you can do, thats the reason to play this.

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Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition: $39.99, PlayStation Store

The original Street Fighter 5 that released back in 2016 felt like a hollow cash grab, but the 2018 Arcade Edition feels like the version we all deserve. Street Fighter 5 Arcade Edition comes with actual fighters, new moves, and the classic Arcade mode. All an all, this feels like a fresh new game. Every fan of fighting games needs to own a copy of Street Fighter 5 Arcade Edition.

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The Verdict: PS4 games of 2018:

Monster Hunter World and Shadow of the Colossus are strong contenders, but if you want the best of the best, God of War is the easy choice. Not only is it the best PS4 game on the market, but it will go down as one of gamings greatest achievements.

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Psychotherapists are offering free counselling to EU citizens residing in the UK whose mental health has been adversely affected by Brexit.

The scheme was launched in a bid to tackle the current climate of uncertainty and insecurity that has arisen as a result of the vote to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum.

Those interested in taking part will be offered up to 10 free sessions, conducted either online or over the phone, with an accredited psychotherapist affiliated with the Existential Academy, the community interest company behind the scheme.

Known as the Emotional Support Service for Europeans (ESSE), the service was launched in June 2017 and has proved incredibly popular thus far, says Emmy van Deurzen, a psychotherapy professor at Middlesex University who is spearheading the project.

We set up this service when we became aware of the considerable distress that had been generated for EU citizens in the UK because of the Brexit referendum, she tells The Independent.

Not only did they feel disenfranchised by not having been given a vote on their own future, they also felt deeply threatened by the way in which they were becoming second class citizens, whose acquired rights were being restricted.

She explained that one year in, the ESSE is still experiencing high demand.

There is no doubt that there is a huge need for this, she added.

People are still feeling dazed, anxious and depressed and have no faith in the notion of settled status, which does not apply to everyone and still leads to a loss of acquired rights.

Van Deurzen recently carried out a survey with Dr Helen de Cruz of Oxford Brookes University on 1,300 remain voters.

The two academics found that almost all of the participants were still emotionally traumatised by the referendum result, with many using the words devastated, ashamed and depressed to describe their current psychological states.

In light of the findings, van Deurzen added that her team is considering extending the ESSE to British people too and she is currently in the process of recruiting further qualified psychotherapists who are willing to volunteer and take part in the scheme.

We should think carefully about what is happening in the country, she continued, particularly when so many peoples mental and emotional health is adversely affected by it.
Ordinary savers could be losing out from the flood of rescue proposals being put forward by high street chains to axe stores and slash rents, industry figures have warned.

The issue came to a head this week as House of Fraser became the latest big name to propose a turnaround deal known as a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). It followed New Look, Byron, Jamies Italian, Carpetright, Mothercare and Prezzo.

Pension funds are landlords for many of the buildings on UK high streets. Slashed rents mean millions of pounds less will flow into those funds, to the detriment of people whose savings are invested in them.

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The British Property Foundation  the landlords trade body  says the process is being abused to cut bills at failing companies.

But is this just a case of wealthy property owners crying foul to protect their own interests or does the system need to change to stop ordinary savers losing out?

Matthew Weaver, a barrister specialising in insolvency at Radcliffe Chambers, says CVAs are a legitimate tool but have the potential to be abused.

The first problem is the voting system. A company needs three-quarters of its creditors to vote in favour of a CVA. As part of the proposal, it can divide those creditors into different levels, with some receiving next to nothing while others walk away unscathed.

This gives firms an incentive to load all of the pain onto certain, less favoured, groups, safe in the knowledge that 75 per cent of creditors will get off lightly and so will vote for the CVA.

There is the potential to manipulate creditors in order to get the CVA through and leave the remainder dead and buried with no legal recourse, says Weaver, although he adds that he does not have evidence that this has happened in practice.

Toys R Us entered a CVA but went bust months later after failing to turn around its business

Mark Fry, a partner at turnaround specialist BTG, which is representing a group of House of Frasers creditors, says the process is further stacked against landlords because the CVA voting system means their votes are worth less than those of other creditors.

Landlords are particularly aggrieved by House of Frasers rescue deal because, if it goes through, it will allow one of the companys main shareholders to cash out 70m while creditors take big losses.

It is very unusual for a shareholder to exit at that point, says Fry. Shareholders are lower in the value chain than creditors, meaning they generally get their money last, once a companys debts are paid off.

Meanwhile, banks that have made big loans to the company have not been asked to take losses, making landlords feel unfairly targeted.

Lack of transparency is also a big problem, Fry says, sentiments echoed by Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the British Property Federation.

Fletcher says the advisers who draw up the deals have too much power. Theres no second opinion on a CVA, he says. The insolvency practitioner is judge, jury and executioner.

Those practitioners collect lucrative fees. KPMG billed 970,000 for its work on Byron, while Deloitte charged 320,000 for drawing up and supervising New Looks CVA, for example.

Then there is the question of whether they actually work. While there have been some good examples where companies have turned around, failures are far more common.

Virtually all high-profile retailers who have gone into a CVA later went into administration or liquidation: BHS, Toys R Us, Game, JJB, Blacks, to name a few. Fletcher can think of only Travelodge and bed retailer Dreams that successfully restructured. Matthew Weaver recalls only Tie Rack, which launched its CVA four years ago.

If all you are doing is putting of the evil day but not changing the fundamental business model, you are just moving a date, Matthew Weaver says. That stuffs creditors even more.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Formal insolvency would be a better option in some cases, he says. Some of these companies just need to be rescued rather than desperately trying to keep the wolf from the door; trying to save something that, in reality, cant be saved.

That assessment is backed up by the data. Of 65 per cent of CVAs entered into in 2013, less than a fifth were ever fully implemented, 16.5 per cent are still ongoing, and 65 per cent were terminated without achieving all of their objectives, according to recent research commissioned by R3, the trade body for the restructuring industry.

Despite the gloomy figures, Duncan Swift, vice president of R3, says a CVA remains the best option in many cases.

Without a CVA, creditors would be very likely to see less money back from the insolvency process, there would be even bigger disruption for related supply chains, and we would see more job losses, he says.

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However, there is room for reform, Swift concedes. He recommends capping the length of the agreements at three years, which he says will give companies a better chance of survival.

The responsibilities of company directors and CVA supervisors also need to be clearer and standard terms and conditions must be introduced he says.

Ian Fletcher of the BPF wants to see an independent body set up to assess CVAs to ensure companies and advisers treat creditors fairly.

Lance Ashworh QC, a barrister at Serle Court, cautions against giving landlords too much thought. They would be entitled to full rent under a formal insolvency, as opposed to a fraction of it under a CVA, but this can hasten the downfall of a struggling company, he says.

In the end it might be said that [a CVA] ends up spreading the effects of a business running into financial difficulties more fairly among all creditors.

The need for reform is not as pressing as landlords and their agents would have it.
Out of the windy darkness a fine sand was blowing across the road from Medina to Al-Ula. Flat desert on either side, a few lights. The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta passed this way on camel back in 1326, and wrote of its emphatic wilderness: He who enters it is lost and he who leaves it is born.

Before mass tourism ruined them for a second time, Id travelled to the so-called lost cities of Petra, Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat. My destination tonight was the isolated sandstone valley eulogised by Charles Doughty, the first European to enter it in 1876, as the fabulous Madain Saleh which I was come from far countries to seek in Arabia.

The prospect of following in Doughtys flapping shadow gave me a jolt of anticipation that I hadnt experienced since my twenties. Doughtys classic book Arabia Deserta was championed by his friend TE Lawrence, who later used it as a military textbook, as the greatest record of adventure and travel in our language.

It begins with Doughty trying to smuggle himself into Madain Saleh in the guise of a poor Syrian pilgrim. Even up until recently few Europeans have visited this cradle of forgotten civilisations, which, though designated a World Heritage Site in 2008, remains a blank page on the archaeological record, closed off by geography, politics, religion.

Visitors last year from abroad? I can say zero, my guide Ahmed tells me.

The temples of Mada'in Saleh near Al-Ula have survived for 2,000 years

This is set to change. Last July, under the impetus of Saudi Arabias progressive new Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, or MBS as he is popularly known, a Royal Commission took charge of Madain Saleh and its surrounds  the only crown jewel of a site the country possesses, says one of the archaeologists recruited to excavate it.

In December, public access was halted; first in order to survey what actually is there, next to develop a strategy for protecting it, and then to open up Madain Saleh to the outside world. My advance visit is aimed at providing an amuse-bouche, as it were.

In the bright morning sunlight, Ahmed escorts me through locked gates, past the German-built railway-line linking Damascus with Medina, which Lawrence bombed (there are still local tribes which call their sons Al-Orans), to the celebrated Nabatean rock tombs.

Doughty first heard about these in Petra, 300 miles north. Fifty years earlier, an awe-struck British naval commander had gazed in disbelief at Petras imperishable Treasury, murmuring, as many continue to do: There is nothing in the world that resembles it. He was wrong.

If a little less rosier than her sister city, Madain Saleh shares her capacity to stagger. Out of the flat desert, one after another, the ornate facades rise into sight, 111 of them, carved into perpendicular cliffs up to four storeys high, their low doorways decorated by Alexandrian masons in the first century AD, with Greek triangles, Roman pilasters, Persian flowers, Egyptian sphinxes, birds.

This is a twin to Petra, Ahmed says. Except that in Petra we would be bobbing among crowds.

Tour guide Ahmed is descended from a long line of imams (Nicholas Shakespeare)

Standing in reverent silence, with the valley to ourselves, I recall how the Victorian artist who supplied the first images of Petra to the world, David Roberts, responded to that other city. I turned from it at length with an impression which will be effaced only by death.

These tombs were carved for the Nabatean tribes who ruled this region for 300 years until the Romans annexed them in 106AD. Nomads who had settled and grown wealthy, the Nabateans controlled the lucrative spice route from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

Then, like the civilisations theyd replaced, the Dedanites, the Lihyanites, the Thamuds, they galloped off into obscurity. Their tombs were looted: the acacia doors plundered for firewood, the marble statues melted to make lime for plaster, the porphyry urns smashed.

All that survives of their caravan city, Hegra, is a flat expanse behind a wire fence: her clay-built streets are again the blown dust in the wilderness, Doughty wrote.

The same desolation holds true for the still more ancient Biblical city of Dedan, situated on the lip of an oasis a few minutes drive way. To visit both sites is to gain the sense of a narrative even now being worked out. Until the 20th century the story of these civilisations was scrawled on the rocks in Nabatean or Thamudic script. Ahmed leads me between two steep cliffs to the oldest inscription, written 6,000 years ago.

Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Show all 12 1 /12 Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Tombs in Mada'in Saleh were decorated by Alexandrian masons in the first century with Greek, Roman and Persian symbols Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures The ancient Biblical city of Dedan is situated on the lip of an oasis Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Cliffs formed out of red and black sandstone have eroded into crazy, hallucinatory shapes such as elephants, mushrooms, and seals Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Ancient Dedan inscriptions. Holes in the rock floor denote a sacrificial spot from the time of the Dedanites Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures A street in the old town of Al-Ula Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Mada'in Saleh, the archaeological site with the Nabatean tomb from the first century Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Ahmed comes from a long line of imams descended from a grand tribal judge who arrived c1400 in Al Ulas 'old town' Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures The cliffs in the distance: out of the flat desert, one after another, the ornate facades rise into sight, 111 of them, carved into perpendicular cliffs up to four storeys high Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures The temples of Mada'in Saleh near Al-Ula have survived for 2,000 years Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures 'Charles' is scratched on the oat-coloured mud wall not by Charles Doughty but by Prince Charles (in 2015, with his key) Nicholas Shakespeare Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Al Gharamil Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures Mada'in Saleh tombs

Below, a square hole in the rock floor denotes a sacrificial spot from the time of the Dedanites. Ahmed could be speaking of the cavity in the historical record when he says, They were making sacrifices to one god, Dhu-Ghaibat, which means the one who is absent.

Out in the desert, the wind has chiselled its own mysterious deities and hieroglyphs. The scene is stunning. In Petra, which forms part of the same massif, David Roberts threw away his pencil in despair at being able to convey it, believing that the ruins sink into insignificance when compared with these stupendous rocks.

Its hard to disagree. Cliffs formed out of red and black sandstone have eroded into crazy, hallucinatory shapes: elephants, mushrooms, braying seals. If they were transcribed into music, it would be Wagnerian.

They make you believe in mountain gods, I tell Ahmed, who smiles. I never try smoking weed, but when I hear someone react, I feel like that. It makes you high, naturally.

For sheer high spirits, no one yields to the British archaeologist I meet that night. Jamie Quartermain is part of an international team employed since March to survey these sites.

A surveyor who pioneered the use of drones, Quartermain says: Weve been wanting to get involved here, but Saudi has been a closed shop, a completely untapped reserve."

"The perception is that its big, open desert. When I tried to find out anything about it, there was essentially one book. The discovery that there are so many archaeological sites is a big shock for most people. It was a big shock for me.

Advised by the Royal Commission to expect 450 unexcavated sites, Quartermain estimates the truer number between 6,000-10,000. The survival of the archaeology is remarkable, some of the best condition remains Ive ever seen. Were not finding it close to the surface, its above surface, well and truly visible.

Ancient Dedan inscriptions. Holes in the rock floor denote a sacrificial spot from the time of the Dedanites

Deploying a drone, he has begun creating a three-dimensional textural surface of the area. Already, what he has found is ground-breaking. You can see all the archaeology jumping out and biting you on the bottom.

When, aged 20, I visited Petra, sleeping in one of the caves, I talked to the head of the Bdoul tribe, allegedly descendants of the Nabateans, who told me: We have a saying that the more wealth you have, the more brain cells you need to be able to cope with it.

What impresses about MBSs plan for Madain Saleh is his determination to use his nations resources to avoid the pitfalls of Petra.

Wadi Rum is pretty disastrous, says Chris Tuttle, an American archaeologist seconded to the project. Tuttle spent many years excavating in Petra. He saw at first hand the ruinous impact of tourism, both on the ruins and the local community.

By contrast, in Al-Ula, the local town for Madain Saleh, there has been a concerted drive to educate the locals, giving scholarships to 150 children, but also to attract experts armed with the latest methodol

One reason for the blankness on Saudi Arabias archaeological map, says Tuttle, has been the resistance of conservative religious leaders to question their history. You dont need to study the past when youve been given a manual from God.

Suddenly, a multi-thousand-year-old story has become an open book, not a closed one, and the revelation it contains could be a complex of sites more significant even than Petra. My guide Ahmed Alimam is a perfect representative of Al-Ulas past and future. He comes from a long line of imams descended from a grand tribal judge who arrived c1400 in Al Ulas old town

Abandoned in 1983, the year of Ahmeds birth, this haunting labyrinth of mud houses and twisting streets replaced Dedan and Hegra. It was built using stones from those cities. They can be seen fortifying the occasional doorway.

Ahmed leads the way down an empty street to the house where his parents used to live  collapsed beams, upturned crates. He shows me the mosque, erected over the spot where the Prophet Mohammed stopped in 630AD, and with a goat bone drew in the sand the direction of Medina; Ahmeds uncle was the last imam.

And a modern inscription: the name Charles, scratched on the oat-coloured mud wall not, as momentarily Id hoped, by Charles Doughty, but by Prince Charles (in 2015, with his key), and below it the Islamic translation.

During the Islamic period, Al-Ula, or El-Ally as Doughty knew it, became an important station on the haj road south, and marked the last place where Christians were permitted to travel. Ibn Battuta described how pilgrim caravans paused here for four days to resupply and wash, and to leave any excess baggage with the townspeople who are known for their trustworthiness.

I hope we are still doing our best to be like that, Ahmed says. You can try, if you want, to leave something.

The only thing I left behind after my four days here was an urge to come back.
The National Assembly (NA) on Friday passed a resolution on building laws and ordinances in 2019 and adjustments to the programme for 2018 during its ongoing fifth session in Ha Noi. VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Hoa

HA NOI  The National Assembly (NA) on Friday passed a resolution on building laws and ordinances in 2019 and adjustments to the programme for 2018 during its ongoing fifth session in Ha Noi.

The NA decided to add 17 bills into the law-building programme in 2018, including the Law on Food Safety, Law on Children, Investment Law, Law on Public Investment, Law on revision and supplementations to a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment, Law on Chemicals, Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy, Law on Construction and Law on Urban Planning and a resolution of the NA Standing Committee on environmental protection tax rates.

The NA will also change the time for the submission of some bills, including the Law on amendments and supplementations to a number of articles of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments, which will be discussed in the NA sixth session instead of the fifth session, and the law on amendments and supplementations to a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection, which will be debated in the eighth session instead of the fifth.

Meanwhile, the draft Law on Populations, Law on Urban Development Management and Law on Communal Police were scrapped from the 2018 law-building programme.

Under the programme for 2019, in the seventh session, the NA will discuss the Law on Public Administration; Law on Architecture; Law on Prevention and Combat of Harmful Effects of Alcohol; Law on Tax Management (revised); Law on amendments and supplementations to a number of articles of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments; Law on amendments and supplementations to a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment; and a resolution on law and ordinance building for 2020.

Bills to be submitted to the NA for discussion in the 7th session will comprise the Labour Code (revised); Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (revised); Law on amendments and supplementations to articles of the Land Law; Law on amendments and supplementations to articles of the Investment Law and Law on Enterprises; Securities Law (revised); Law on Library; Law on Reserve Forces; Law on Civil Defence (revised); and Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens.

The eighth session is scheduled to pass the Labour Code (revised); Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (revised); Law on amendments and supplementations to articles of the Land Law; Law on amendments and supplementations to some articles of the Investment Law and Law on Enterprises; Securities Law (revised); Law on Reserve Forces; Law on Library; Law on Civil Defence (revised); and Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens.

During the eighth session, legislators will also debate the draft law on amendments and supplementations to a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection Tax, the Law on amendments and supplementations to articles of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents and the Youth Law (revised).

The resolution stressed that ministries, agencies and individuals should ensure the quality of the bills they submit to the NA along with timely submission of bills while creating favourable conditions for NA deputies to access the bills early.  VNS
Five people have been arrested during a violent protest that saw crowds of Tommy Robinson supporters in a tense stand-off with riot police.

Hundreds of far-right demonstrators descended on the capital on Saturday afternoon, occupying the road around Trafalgar Square.

The protest is the latest in what appears to be a bid to secure the former English Defence League (EDL) leader's release from jail.

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Supporters chanted "Free Tommy Robinson" and hurled missiles and smoke bombs at police. Right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders also delivered a speech.

Scotland Yard said two people were arrested for assaulting a police officer, and three others were detained on separate charges of possession of an offensive weapon, possession of a flare and criminal damage to a bus.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "During the protest there were scenes of violence which saw bottles, metal barriers and other objects thrown at officers.

"Five officers have reported injuries, which are not serious.

"The Met will now launch a post investigation collating the CCTV in the area."

Hundreds of supporters crowded on to an open-top Megabus sightseeing vehicle waving Union Jack flags, while one supporter posed on the roof in a Donald Trump mask.

By 6pm, officers had removed protesters from the bus and had kettled many of the remaining protesters on the traffic island overhead.

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Other Robinson supporters crowded on to the steps of Nelson's Column and continued to chant slogans.

A spokeswoman for megasightseeing.com said: "Our London sightseeing bus was on its normal route when it got caught up in the demonstrations.

"The bus was stormed by demonstrators and the driver and a small number of customers got off.

"The demonstrators have caused a significant amount of damage to the bus which meant it had to be towed away.

"We have reported this to the police and will help them with any investigations."

Videos posted on social media appeared to show police being significantly outnumbered by demonstrators.

The Metropolitan Police have not yet responded to requests for comment about the protest.

Saturday's protest was the second in as many weeks.

Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Show all 11 1 /11 Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Alamy Live News Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Alamy Live News Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Alamy Live News Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Rex Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Alamy Live News Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Alamy Live News Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Alamy Live News Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Rex Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Rex Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Rex Free Tommy Robinson protest  in pictures Alamy Live News

Robinson was jailed for contempt of court after he used social media to broadcast details of a trial which is subject to blanket reporting restrictions.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Robinson filmed himself and people involved in the case, in footage that was watched around 250,000 times within hours of being posted on Facebook.

Robinson, who was listed by his real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon on court documents, was sentenced to 13 months in jail on the same day as his arrest.

He was given 10 months in jail for contempt of court, and an additional three months for beaching a previous suspended sentence.

Additional reporting by PA
Animal welfare organisations have raised concerns about how much faith shoppers can have in the Red Tractor assurance scheme after animals at a farm it inspected were found to be suffering from infected injuries.

Dozens of pigs at the intensive farm in Lincolnshire  which supplies major retailers including Tesco  were seen with untreated wounds, which critics said suggested long-term mismanagement on the farm, where last month workers were shown attacking the animals, in one case with a pitchfork.

Bosses at the Red Tractor scheme, which claims to offer shoppers rigorous standards of farm produce, said then that they had inspected Fir Tree Farm five times in the past year.

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But animal welfare campaigners say the footage brings into question the effectiveness of the Red Tractor inspections because it also reveals that pigs there were suffering from infected injuries and hernias.

Many animals were suffering severe pain from untreated wounds, especially deep tail-biting wounds and body scarring, said a spokeswoman for Animal Equality, which shot the undercover footage.

Four workers were sacked from the farm last month after secret filming exposed more than 100 incidents of them violently and repeatedly kicking pigs in the face and head. The men jabbed the animals repeatedly with metal forks, sprayed marker paint directly up one pigs nose and slammed gates on animals heads.

But Toni Shephard, of Animal Equality, said the painful injuries were overlooked because the violence by workers was so shocking, but the suffering caused by the infected wounds is equal  if not greater than  the abuse.

A young pig shows bad scarring from wounds (Animal Equality)

We filmed multiple pigs with deeply infected tail-biting wounds and severe body scarring in several sheds on the farm in each visit we made, he said.

Can consumers really trust the Red Tractor if they didnt notice this severe suffering?

Red Tractor scheme chiefs suspended the farm after the violent attacks by workers were exposed, but they say the tail-biting did not warrant suspension.

Animal Equality investigators said they saw the dozens of injured pigs in multiple pens in a large shed marked growers yard.

Dr Shephard said boredom in barren conditions or aggression arising from overcrowding was likely to be behind the unhealed wounds: tail injuries would have been caused by pigs biting others tails, and the body and neck injuries by repeated mounting of females by males.

Steven McCulloch, a vet and lecturer at the University of Winchester, said the insanitary housing left the pigs at risk of slowly dying from infections from their wounds travelling up their spines.

Many were kept on barren slatted flooring and given no separate area  as they would naturally  to relieve themselves, so the dirt on their skin was their own waste, he said.

In a report on the video footage and photos, Dr McCulloch said: The pigs lying on slats are dirty. This dirt is likely to be faeces from the slats. These pigs have open skin wounds caused by fighting that will be infected due to the faecal contamination.

He said the video and photographs demonstrated that the pigs would have been stressed as well as in pain.

Highlighting one animal with multiple wounds seen in photos, he said: There is no evidence that this pig has been provided with veterinary care. Basic medical treatment for an animal with open wounds would include bathing them in antibacterial solution. This pig is also likely to be bullied by another pig in part due to the poor housing and other factors causing stress.

Tail stumps had been bitten by other pigs, potentially causing serious infections (Animal Equality)

Dr McCulloch concluded: It is likely that some pigs will die from severe tail-bite injuries, for instance caused by ascending bacterial infection along the spinal cord causing a systemic infection. There is no evidence from these photographs the pigs are being treated for these injuries.

Some have deep wounds caused by fighting, almost certainly contaminated by faecal matter from the slatted housing. The pigs have not been moved to a hospital pen.

A Red Tractor spokesman cited five dates between February last year and February this year on which Fir Tree Farm had been inspected by independent vets, who did not suggest suspending it from the scheme. The tail-biting outbreak was being dealt with by the farmer, and the pigs had been moved into a hospital pen under the care of a specialist vet, he said.

There has been a very robust, detailed and frequent vet inspection regime at Fir Tree Farm, the spokesman added.

The pigs with tail-biting injuries that are on straw in the footage had been removed from the general population of pigs and housed in a hospital pen where they were receiving treatment  which is required in our standards.

Following the violence by the four workers, a management plan was put in place for the farm, which is owned by Elsham Linc, one of Britains largest pig producers.

I would stress that we would never ignore a tail-biting outbreak. Serious outbreaks may result in suspension, the Red Tractor spokesman said.

Tail-biting is a complex issue but the farmer together with the vet must put in place a plan to deal with the problem. If they do not they will be suspended. We closely monitor what action they take to stop it.

However, Dr Shephard denied the wounded pigs had been in a hospital pen.

You simply would not have 20 animals or more, some injured and some not, mixed together in a hospital pen. The vet report also states that the injured animals do not appear to have been isolated, she said.

She added: Any animal with a wound that bad should be isolated in a pen alone, because you can clearly see in our video footage that other pigs are chewing on the tails of pigs with injured tails in these crowded pens. So these wounds will never heal.

She branded Red Tractors insistence that the animals were in a hospital pen a pathetic attempt to try to account for their negligence which caused these animals to endure prolonged suffering.

But Red Tractor insisted: In terms of overcrowding, hospital pens are subject to the same spacial allowances as elsewhere throughout the scheme. These are based on the weight of the pig and entirely supported by science. Pigs may also cluster or move around together.

Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami Show all 8 1 /8 Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami Jennifer Nelson, senior keeper at Zoo Miami, leads a cheetah named Koda to a hurricane resistant structure within the zoo, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017 in Miami. AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami Ryan Martinez, a trainer at Zoo Miami, places an Eurasion Eagle Owl into a crate AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami Flamingos at Zoo Miami, are shown in a temporary enclosure in a hurricane resistant structure within the zoo, (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami Brown pelicans and an American white pelican take refuge in a shelter ahead of the downfall of Hurricane Irma at the zoo in Miami REUTERS/Adrees Latif Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami An African crested porcupine is moved into a shelter ahead of the downfall of Hurricane Irma at the zoo in Miami, Florida, REUTERS/Adrees Latif Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami A macaw parrot looks out of it's cage after being put into a shelter REUTERS/Adrees Latif Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami An African grey parrot is moved into a shelter ahead of the downfall of Hurricane Irma REUTERS/Adrees Latif Animals take shelter from Hurricane Irma at Zoo Miami Cheetahs are photographed in a shelter ahead of the downfall of Hurricane Irma at the zoo in Miami, Florida, REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Fir Tree Farm said Animal Equalitys claims were not true. A spokesman said in a statement: The animals shown in this part of the video are in the hospital pen.

Injured pigs are removed to a hospital pen where we can isolate them and treat any injuries.

The wounds that can be seen are consistent with bite injuries, not from animals fighting. The care and welfare of our pigs is of paramount importance to us.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is investigating allegations that traces of pork and turkey were found in vegan and "meat free" foods sold in two major UK supermarkets.

"Our priority is to ensure consumers can be confident that the food they eat is safe and is what it says it is," a spokeswoman said. "We are investigating the circumstances surrounding these alleged incidents and any resulting action will depend upon the evidence found."

The investigation was was launched after laboratory tests conducted by The Telegraph reportedly found traces of pork in vegetarian meatballs sold in Sainsbury's and traces of turkey in a vegan macaroni ready meal by Tesco.

The newspaper reported that it sent a number of samples to a German Government accredited food testing laboratory.

The results reportedly showed traces of pork DNA in Sainsbury's own brand Meat Free Meatballs 380g, which retail at 1.50.

It also allegedly found traces of turkey DNA in Tesco's Wicked Kitchen BBQ Butternut Mac 385g ready meal, which is labelled as being vegan and retails at 4.

The presence of whole animal DNA indicates that a dish contains meat or animal skin, the laboratory told the newspaper.

The Sainsbury's product has been approved by the Vegetarian Society, which means it has been independently checked.

Both supermarkets said their own tests have not found any meat traces.

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "These products are produced at a meat-free factory. Sainsbury's and the Vegetarian Society also carry out regular checks and no issues have been found. We are concerned by these findings however and are carrying out a comprehensive investigation alongside our supplier."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 13 October 2021 Police officers detain a man as Insulate Britain activists block a roundabout at a junction on the M25 motorway during a protest in Thurrock Reuters UK news in pictures 12 October 2021 The aerial climate installation by Swiss artivist Dan Acher 'We Are Watching' is unveiled at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty 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

A Tesco spokesperson said of the allegations: "We take the quality and integrity of our products extremely seriously and understand that our vegan and vegetarian products should be exactly that. Our initial DNA tests have found no traces of animal DNA in the BBQ Butternut Mac product available in stores today.

"We would urge The Telegraph to share full details of their testing, including the lab used as we continue to investigate."

Sainsbury's has faced criticism recently after it was revealed they might be forced to close multiple stores following their merger with Asda.

Press Association contributed to this report.
Same-sex couples have been denied full access to Northern Ireland's largest Protestant church.

As a result of a new policy formally adopted by the Presbyterian Church at its annual meeting in Belfast, they will no longer be able to have their children baptised.

However, a church spokesman insisted that same-sex couples will not be prevented from attending worship, coming into church, receiving communion, or having access to pastoral care.

On many issues the church provides guidance to our ministers and elders in Kirk sessions and we wanted to consider what a credible profession of faith means for same-sex couples who want to become communicant members of the church, he added.

The same principle also applies to everyone, regardless of background or circumstance and those who want to baptise their children.

The move comes in a week in which the church agreed to distance itself from the Church of Scotland, because ot its more liberal views on same-sex relationships.

The head of the Scottish church, which is considered the mother organisation of the Irish Presbyterian Church, will no longer be invited to the annual meeting of the Presbyterian general assembly in Belfast.

Last month, the Church of Scotland took a step towards allowing ministers to conduct same-sex marriages.

Alliance Party leader and Presbyterian, Naomi Long, has criticised the general assemblys decision.

As a Presbyterian this grieves me greatly: my heart is broken today, she wrote on Twitter. I can only imagine the hurt this has caused to those from the LGBT community. It does not reflect the views of so many of us who love, respect and value you as family, friends and members of our community.

Presbyterians in Ireland have also agreed their moderator, the Rev Dr Charles McMullen, should meet Pope Francis when he visits Dublin in August.

Earlier in the week its general assembly agreed to strongly oppose any legislation that allows assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Lindsay Conway, secretary of the Council for Social Witness, said the assembly needed to be aware of the slippery slope principle.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty 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

She claimed mental health issues were now grounds for assisted suicide and euthanasia in the Netherlands.

The Republic of Ireland's government was also urged to keep to its promises that abortion will be rare in the state and that children with disabilities will not have their lives terminated.

The Presbyterian Church opposed repeal of the eighth amendment of the constitution, which outlawed abortion in most cases, ahead of the 25 May referendum.

Additional reporting by PA
Tens of thousands of families in England are being forced to wait for more than a decade to move into social housing, analysis has revealed for the first time, as the number of social homes dwindles to a record low.

More than 100,000 households have been stuck on council housing waiting lists for more than 10 years, as the declining number of homes sees families forced into poor and overcrowded temporary accommodation or paying hideously unaffordable rents.

New analysis of official figures shows that of the 1.15 million households currently on wait lists, at least 310,500 have been waiting to be moved into social homes for more than half a decade, with some waiting for as many as 18 years.

The findings by Shelter were obtained using existing government figures showing that 27 per cent of adults in need of social housing had been waiting for more than five years, while 9 per cent had been on wait lists for more than 10 years. The charity said the true figures were likely to be much higher.

Twelve months after hundreds of households were displaced by the Grenfell tragedy, the figures have prompted politicians and campaigners to call for a bold new plan for social housing to ensure that families are not condemned to waiting lists.

It comes amid an overarching downward trend in the number of social houses since figures started to be recorded in their current form in 2007-08. In the nine-year period, the number of homes let for social rent fell from 366,820 to 290,060, with nearly 40,000 fewer social houses rented in 2016-17 than the year before.

This decline in social housing has seen soaring numbers of households forced into temporary accommodation, with the latest figures showing that almost 79,000 families were staying in temporary housing in the last three months of last year, compared with 48,010 in the same period eight years before.

Others have been forced into the private rented sector, where high rents can drive tenants into overcrowded living conditions or out onto the street.

Freddy Emmanuel, 56, is a part-time commercial engineer who has been stuck on a west London waiting list for the past 18 years, and is currently privately renting nearby.

I grew up here, went to school here, worked here. I have been on the waiting list for a solid 18 years. Ive been homeless, in private renting or sofa surfing all that time, he said.

Not having a settled place makes it hard to do anything, even getting letters delivered so you can get accepted for doctors is hard. Im in my mid-fifties and at this age I should be looking after my family and relaxing in the job that Ive been doing for a long time. But I cant do any of that until I get my own place.

Freddy Emmanuel has been stuck on a waiting list for the past 18 years (Shelter)

I feel that I should be helped by the council. My family has been in this borough for a long time and for me to stick in the area would be good for the community. I know a lot of people here and work with loads of charities. This is my neighbourhood.

Housing lawyer Giles Peaker told The Independent social housing had become an area of considerable struggle, with families left in cramped and badly maintained accommodation for years because theres simply nowhere to go.

People are having to stay wherever they can. Some move in with family members, others are in temporary housing, which is often cramped and badly maintained, or emergency housing  B&Bs and hostels. They can be moved at very short notice, so its deeply unsettling, he said.

Many of them are just remaining in really bad private sector accommodation  which is crowded and can be hideously unaffordable. People can stay in this situation for years and years.

Unless there is a concerted effort to turn around this social housing crisis its going to remain that way.

Responding to the findings, John Healey, Labours shadow housing secretary, accused Conservative ministers of allowing the number of new social rented homes built to fall to a record low through reckless decisions.

After eight years of failure on housing, the country urgently needs Labours long-term plan for new affordable housebuilding, with a million new genuinely affordable homes more than 10 years, he said.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: The fact that one year on from Grenfell, some survivors are still homeless has totally shaken peoples trust in the safety net the state supposedly provides. And this is despite them being fast-tracked outside the usual waiting list system, too.

Imagine then how frustrating life must be for the millions of people elsewhere in the country who have been stuck on waiting lists, often for years on end. This is not just confined to London but happening right across the country, from Brighton to Blackpool. Families are unable to get settled and unable to get on with their lives.

The Grenfell tragedy must mark a turning point in our nations approach to social housing and its tenants  we clearly need a bold new plan for social housing so families are not condemned to waiting lists but given safe, secure and affordable housing as quickly as possible.

Instead of socially rented homes, which are typically available to families at about 50 per cent of the market rate, the government has prioritised the building of affordable homes, which can be rented at up to 80 per cent of market value.

It comes after groundbreaking research revealed England needs to build four million new homes to deal with the escalating housing crisis.

The findings by Heriot-Watt University found the country has a backlog of 3.91 million homes, meaning 340,000 new homes need to be built each year until 2031  which is significantly higher than the governments current target of 300,000 homes annually.

The housing issue has been fuelled by a policy change in 2011, which enabled councils to adopt strict criteria for those applying to go on social housing waiting lists, such as having to work of even volunteer in the local area.

A survey by Inside Housing magazine in 2016 found 159 English councils have struck 237,793 people off their waiting lists and barred a further 42,994 new applicants since the Localism Act came into effect in June 2012.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty 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

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: Everyone deserves a safe and decent place to live and since 2010 we have delivered more than 357,000 new affordable properties.

We are determined to do more, and are investing a further 9bn in affordable homes, including 2bn to help councils and housing associations build properties for social rent.

We have also committed to giving councils the power to borrow 1bn to build new properties in the areas were there are the greatest affordability pressures.
A Sikh Coldstream Guards soldier who became the first to wear a turban during the Trooping the Colour parade said he hoped it would seen as a new change in history.

More than 1,000 soldiers took part in the ceremony which marked the Queen's official 92nd birthday.

It was the first time Guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall has taken part in the ceremony and he was the first in his regiment to do so while wearing a turban.

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"I hope that people watching, that they will just acknowledge it and that they will look at it as a new change in history, said 22-year-old from Leicester before the parade.

"I hope that more people like me, not just Sikhs but from other religions and different backgrounds, that they will be encouraged to join the Army."

Gdsm Lall, who joined the British Army in January 2016, was born in Punjab, India, before moving to the UK as a baby.

The turban worn during Trooping the Colour wasbe black, featuring the ceremonial cap star to match the bearskin hats worn by the other soldiers.

Coldstream Guards soldier Charanpreet Singh Lall will become the first of his regiment to wear a turban during the Trooping the Colour parade for the Queen's official birthday (PA Wire/PA Images)

"I'm quite proud and I know that a lot of other people are proud of me as well," he said. "It is a good feeling... there's going to be a lot of eyes and I am going to have an influence on other people."

Trooping the Colour originated from traditional preparations for battle.

Colours, or flags, were carried, or trooped, down the ranks so they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.

In the 18th century, guards from the Royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to "troop the colours", and in 1748 it was announced the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday.

This year the ceremony, which is staged every June in London's historic Horse Guards Parade, saw the Colour of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards being trooped.

"Being the first turban-wearing Sikh to troop the colour and to be part of the escort is a really high honour for myself, and hopefully for everyone else as well, he said.
Nigel Farage has said Britain could be worse off after leaving the EU unless Theresa May gets tough with Brussels in the Brexit negotiations.

The former Ukip boss said Ms May was the wrong leader to take Britain out of the bloc, as the EU knows she would never walk away from the negotiations, despite her mantra that no deal is better than a bad deal.

Mr Farage, who is regarded as one of the architects of Brexit, has been bullish in the past about Britains economic prospects after leaving the EU.

But he warned that Ms May was being forced into a series of damaging concessions by failing to make a show of strength to Brussels.

Mr Farage told the Today programme: We have the got wrong leader. If we had a leader who actually believed in Brexit and was prepared to see there was a vision for the future we could make a success of it.

We will finish up perhaps in an even worse place than we are now because we wont be free to deregulate, we wont be free to go out in the world and make our own deals, we wont be controlling our own borders and we will still be accepting rules from Brussels.

He added: Heres the problem  Trump walks away from things, he rather enjoys it actually. Theresa May parroted no deal is better than a bad deal, I think just to get votes in the general election and [Michel] Barnier knows the one thing the prime minister will not do under any circumstances is walk away.

Thats why we are having to make a series of concessions, and kicking the can down the road to the extent that even if things go to plan we are not going to get any form of Brexit until at least six years after the people voted.

It comes after a bruising couple of days for the prime minister, where rebellions over Brexit from both David Davis and Boris Johnson risked overshadowing her appearance at the G7 summit in Canada.

Ms May will gather her warring ministers at Chequers to thrash out key parts of the governments Brexit position, where she will attempt to unite her cabinet on the details in the much-anticipated white paper.

However the away day at her Buckinghamshire residence will come after a crunch summit with EU leaders later this month.

She told EU leaders at the summit in Quebec that well be talking about finalising withdrawal agreement but also pressing on the future relationship during the cabinet trip.

Tensions over Brexit threatened to bubble over this week, when Ms May had to make a last-minute customs compromise with David Davis, her Brexit secretary, after he threatened to resign over her backstop proposals for the Irish border.

She was also forced to say she had full confidence in Boris Johnson, when leaked recordings emerged of the foreign secretary directly criticising her approach and warning of a Brexit meltdown.

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 prime minister told reporters at the G7: People like Boris have strong views on Brexit but so do I. I want to deliver Brexit for the British people  thats what people want. And I am getting on and doing it.

She added: At every stage of these negotiations we have seen people casting doubt on whether or not we will achieve what we want to achieve.

It also comes ahead of a Commons showdown next week, where MPs are gearing up for a fraught two-day battle over the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, the governments flagship piece of Brexit legislation.
Warring cabinet ministers will be summoned to another Chequers away day when Theresa May will try to end bitter infighting on plans for Brexit.

The prime minister has confirmed that a detailed white paper  designed to give the UK the initiative in the troubled talks  has been shelved until next month, because of the disagreements.

She will now host a second lengthy lock-in at her country residence to try to enforce order, replicating the get-together when her Brexit strategy was on the rocks in February

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On that occasion, No 10 trumpeted agreement on seeking ambitious managed divergence  only for Brussels to dismiss the plan as pure illusion less than 24 hours later.

Ms May faces daunting odds in trying to thrash out an agreement in July on future customs rules, with ministers as far apart as ever on two proposals.

But, speaking at the G7 summit in Canada, she insisted people want us to get on with it and thats exactly what were doing.

The prime minister denied the timetable for a deal with the EU was slipping from October to the end of the year, because the cabinet was still negotiating with itself.

Instead, she said: Next week, of course, were bringing the EU withdrawal bill, the lords amendments on the EU withdrawal bill back to the House and well be dealing with those.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 14 October 2021 A red deer stag during rutting season in Bushy Park, Richmond, south west London, which is home to over 300 red and fallow deer PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2021 Police officers detain a man as Insulate Britain activists block a roundabout at a junction on the M25 motorway during a protest in Thurrock Reuters UK news in pictures 12 October 2021 The aerial climate installation by Swiss artivist Dan Acher 'We Are Watching' is unveiled at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty 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

After that, Ill be going to the European council in June where Ill be discussing, dealing with the final withdrawal agreement arrangements and also pressing the case for the negotiations on our future relationship.

After that, well be having another away day with ministers at Chequers where well be finalizing our white paper for publication - and then, before we break for the summer in the Commons, well be taking the other two bills that need to be addressed.

Theres going to be a lot happening over the next few weeks. You know people want us to get on with it and thats exactly what were doing.

In a leaked letter to Tory MPs, Ms May admitted her proposals to effectively stay in the EU customs union for many years - to avoid a hard border in Ireland - were unpalatable.

But, speaking to journalists, she insisted: What were doing is working to develop that future relationship, because theres a big prize for the UK here at the end of this.

The white paper was due to be published before the two-day Brussels summit, starting on June 28, but is said to still be riddled with red ink.

The delay has been seized on as fresh evidence that the cabinet is fatally split on customs arrangements and how to avoid border checks in Ireland.

As well as customs, the white paper is also designed to cover long-term arrangements for security, financial services, aviation and fisheries  which are meant to be agreed in principle by October.

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, was keen to publish before the summit, but was unable to convince the prime minister to demand cabinet consensus immediately.
Donald Trump failed to name Theresa May among his closest allies as he walked out of the G7 summit early with a blast at its members for robbing the US.

In an extraordinary closing press conference, the US president attacked the worlds other economic powers, telling reporters: We are like the piggy bank that everyone is robbing.

Mr Trump said he would be able to judge within a minute of meeting North Koreas leader on Tuesday whether he was serious about giving up his nuclear weapons.

And he insisted his relationship with other G7 leaders was a 10, despite deep rifts over Russia and steel tariffs  but, strikingly, without mentioning the British prime minister.

I would say that the level of relationships is a 10. We have a great relationship  Angela [Merkel] and Emmanuel [Macron] and Justin [Trudeau], he said.

The snub to Ms May came despite her praising Mr Trumps positive contribution to the G7 when she spoke to journalists on the flight out to the summit in Canada.

However, there have been claims the US president has told allies that he resents her school mistress tone  and he snubbed the idea of formal talks between the pair at the two-day get-together.

Ms May also joined other Western leaders in rejecting Mr Trumps call for Russia to be readmitted to the G7, because of the malign poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal.

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

On tariffs, the president warned the EU would be making a mistake if it carried through its threat to retaliate, saying. We cant lose. They do so much more business with us than we do with them.

He accused EU countries of behaving in a brutal fashion towards the US by denying open access to its markets. The gig is up. They cant believe they got away with it, he added.

Mr Trump also continued to insist the gathering should be expanded back to the G8, saying: I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in.

I think the G8 would be better, I think having Russia back in would be a positive thing. We are looking for peace in the world, we are not looking to play games.

By walking out early, Mr Trump left before the summit got around to discussing climate change and damage to the oceans.

At the start of the day, the US president arrived late for a breakfast meeting of G7 leaders and members of the Gender Equality Advisory Council.

Mr Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, spoke for several minutes with all the other G7 leaders were present  but one empty chair.

Isabelle Hudon, Canadas ambassador to France, was speaking when Mr Trump finally arrived in the room. Security officers had to open a path for him through a mob of journalists.
MPs have moved a step closer to voting on overturning Northern Irelands near-total ban on abortions, after Theresa May conceded it was an option.

In her first comments on the controversy, the prime minister declared a woman should be able to access safe legal abortion  and paid tribute to MPs who revealed their own moving experiences.

No 10 had insisted Northern Irelands strict abortion laws were a devolved matter, but Ms May has now said that a decision in Belfast is only her preferred option.

The comments will raise the hopes of MPs in all parties that Westminster can step into the void left by the collapse of devolved government in Belfast, 17 months ago.

They also risk a furious row with the Democratic Unionist Party, which is propping up the Tories in power and remains fiercely opposed to abortion reform.

Speaking on her trip to the G7 summit, Ms May said: I believe that a woman should be able to access safe legal abortion.

And she added: There was some very moving testimony given by MPs across the House the other day, in the debate that took place on this particular issue.

The prime minister repeated the governments stance that it was working to get the Stormont assembly and power-sharing government back up and running.

But, significantly, she said: My preferred option is for it to be dealt with and addressed by those people who are elected and accountable politicians in Northern Ireland.

Obviously, in the House of Commons, any votes on abortion, because it is a conscience issue, are always and will continue to be treated as a free vote.

Pressure is growing on the prime minister to act after the UKs highest court said Northern Irelands abortion laws are incompatible with human rights.

Terminations are only allowed where there is a serious risk to a womans mental or physical health and not in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, rape or incest.

The Supreme Court said preventing women from seeking abortion in those circumstances was incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to a private and family life.

Although it ruled that Northern Irelands Human Rights Commission had no legal standing to bring the case, the justices have thrust the controversy centre stage.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty 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

Meanwhile, senior cabinet ministers, including Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland Secretary, have also come out decisively in favour of change.

Ms Mays views will encourage the chances of any future amendment for reform passing the Commons, by encouraging other Tory MPs to follow suit.

A cross-party group is seeking repeal of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which would prevent abortion being treated as a criminal offence in Northern Ireland.

The government would then be forced to discuss how to change the laws  possibly by staging a referendum, the mechanism for reform in the Republic of Ireland.

During Tuesdays debate, Heidi Allen, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, revealed in an emotional speech that she had had an abortion.

I was ill when I made the incredibly hard decision to have a termination, she told MPs. I was having seizures every day, I wasnt even able to control my own body, let alone care for a new life.
HA NOI  The vote to approve the controversial draft Law on Special Administrative and Economic Units will be postponed until the sixth National Assembly session, to commence in October, instead of the on-going fifth.

According to a special announcement released early on Saturday morning from the Government Office, the postponement aims to provide the Government with more time to study and complete debates on the draft law.

The Law on Special Administrative and Economic Units of Van on, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc had been built carefully and elaborately to institutionalise Party resolutions and materialise the 2013 Constitution to create a legal basis for the construction of three special economic zones, said the announcement.

The draft law was submitted to the month-long fourth National Assembly last October and November for comments.

After receiving enthusiastic and considered opinions of NA deputies, scientists, economists, experts, voters and people throughout the country during the current fifth NA meetings, the Government agreed with the NA Standing Committee to re-consider and postpone the adoption of the draft law until the next meeting. The move is hoped to meet the requirements and aspirations of NA deputies, voters and people to successfully build three special zones, firmly maintaining national security and sovereignty.

Regarding the duration of land leases, the Government will consider and submit to the National Assembly for adoption regulations as prescribed in the Land Law. There will be no regulations on a special land lease of up to 99 years in special economic zones.

Earlier on Thursday, on the sidelines of the NAs fifth session, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed to media that all opinions on the land lease period detailed in the draft law would be considered, and reasonable adjustments will be made to meet peoples aspirations.

Recently, the regulation regarding land lease of 99 years in the draft Law on Special Administrative and Economic Zones of Van on, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc (in Quang Ninh, Nha Trang and Khanh Hoa provinces, respectively) has been a hot topic among the public.  VNS
Digital IDs should be brought in to end online anonymity that permits mob rule and lawlessness online, the security minister has said.

Ben Wallace said authentication used by banks could also by employed by internet firms to crack down on bullying and grooming, as he warned that people had to make a choice between the wild west or a civilised society online.

He also took aim at the phoniness of Silicon Valley billionaires, and called for companies such as WhatsApp to contribute to society over the negative costs of their technology, such as end-to-end encryption.

It comes after Theresa May took another step against tech giants, saying they would be ordered to clamp down on vile attacks against women on their platforms.

The prime minister will target firms such as Facebook and Twitter as she makes the pitch at the G7 summit this weekend, where she will urge social media firms to treat violent misogyny with the same urgency as they do terror threats.

Mr Wallace told The Times: A lot of the bullying on social media and the grooming is because those people know you cannot identify them.

It is mob rule on the internet. You shouldnt be able to hide behind anonymity.

The former soldier described being part of an uncover investigation into child sex exploitation where they found a childrens chatroom with a 45-year-old man pretending to be a 12-year-old.

He said: It was like blood in the water with a shark  he was trying to chat up a girl to get her to come and meet him.

If were going to make the internet safer, were going to have to do something more about digital identification.

Suspected incidents on online child sex abuse referred to the Metropolitan Police have soared by 700 per cent since 2014, according to evidence given to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year.

Meanwhile, one in five UK women has suffered online abuse or harassment, of which 27 per cent was threats of sexual or physical assault, according to an Amnesty International survey in March.

Mr Wallace called on social media giants to take responsibility for their own technology, as he said the UK was spending hundreds of millions of pounds on coping with the challenges of end-to-end encryption, which makes it harder for the security services to foil terror plots.

He said: There should be an element of the polluter pays. You contribute to the cost your technology is engendering.

Describing Silicon Valley billionaires, he said: The phoniness irritates me - its, Im a hippy with a beanbag and, oh yes, there is my superyacht.

They accuse the state of surveillance and yet they sell my details to make money. We are the lunch, they are the ruthless ones.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 13 October 2021 Police officers detain a man as Insulate Britain activists block a roundabout at a junction on the M25 motorway during a protest in Thurrock Reuters UK news in pictures 12 October 2021 The aerial climate installation by Swiss artivist Dan Acher 'We Are Watching' is unveiled at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty 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. 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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

The prime minister has campaigned to rein in tech giants by urging investors to pull funding from irresponsible firms, if they refuse to act on hate-filled content on their platforms.

Speaking ahead of her arrival at the G7 summit, Ms May said: What is illegal offline is illegal online, and I am calling on world leaders to take serious action to deal with this, just like we are doing in the UK with our commitment to legislate on online harms such as cyberstalking and harassment.

Online violence against women and girls should not be separated from offline violence, and the technology companies who are making welcome progress in banning and removing extremist content must use the same methods to prioritise tackling this unacceptable and deeply worrying rising trend.
Theresa May has refused to roll back her controversial hostile environment crackdown following the Windrush scandal, despite her own home secretarys call for change.

Speaking to The Independent on her trip to the G7 summit, the prime minister rejected  three times  calls for a rethink on policies to curb illegal immigration, which have trapped British citizens.

Instead, she insisted she had the publics backing for measures which have turned employers, landlords, the NHS and banks into de facto border guards, required to make immigration checks.

Recommended Home Office forced to publish desperate pleas from Windrush citizens

Sajid Javid, the new home secretary, announced a rethink after members of the Windrush generation swept up by the policy were denied jobs and healthcare, and even detained or deported.

He rejected Ms Mays phrase hostile environment as a non-British term and said: Im going to look at how its been implemented. I want to review aspects of the policy.

But the prime minister told The Independent that the crackdown would continue, arguing all that was required was it for to be carried out more carefully so people were not mistakenly caught up.

If you talk to members of the public, what they want to know is that we are dealing with people who come to the country illegally, she said.

And thats why its important that we are still able to continue to take measures to identify them and do just that.

Pressed on whether that would be any policy changes, Ms May replied: We need to ensure that we keep measures in place that enable us to deal with those people who come to the UK illegally.

But we do need to ensure that, as we are doing that  as we are applying those measures  we dont see people inadvertently caught up in that who are British, and who have the legal right to be in the United Kingdom.

She added that the Home Office was focused on helping the Windrush generation obtain the documents they needed to secure British citizenship which was open to them.

Mr Javid had vowed to introduce a fairer, more compassionate immigration system, as anger continues to rage over the plight of people who arrived in Britain many decades ago.

There are also fears that the 3.2 million EU citizens in the UK will be affected when they are required to prove their right to be in the country after Brexit.

Because I am new to the job, I hope to use it as an advantage to bring a fresh set of eyes to what happened, what went wrong in these cases  because, obviously, something massively went wrong, Mr Javid said last weekend.

More than 60 people have been deported, he revealed last month, and the Home Office is still trying to establish how many were wrongly detained.

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

Doctors say people are being denied urgent treatment, after hospitals were put under a legal duty to seek money upfront from patients unable to prove they are eligible for free care.

And the government is facing a legal challenge over the right to rent scheme obliging landlords to check the immigration status of all would-be tenants  which campaigners say provokes widespread discrimination.

Half of landlords told the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) that they were now less likely to consider renting to non-EU nationals  while 42 per cent were less likely to rent to those without a UK passport.

Ms May did not respond to The Independent asking if she believed this scheme was working satisfactorily.

Mr Javid has already put a stop to one aspect of the hostile environment: suspending bank checks to close the accounts of illegal migrants, in order to force them to leave the country.

And the Home Office was forced to tighten rules allowing the NHS to share patients details in order for officials to carry out immigration raids, after a Commons revolt.

Satbir Singh, chief executive of the JCWI, said: The policies require more than just a change in their name. The hostility is very real, and its consequences are very real for many, many people in Britain.

What the Windrush scandal shows us that the government cannot indefinitely assume that it has the public support for an increasingly cruel and twisted series of policies, that are divorced form evidence and are almost divorced from the rule of law.

He added: Windrush shows us that as soon as people see the human face of immigration, as soon as people see who the people at the end of these policies are, that support dries up very quickly.

The prime minister is clutching at straws.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, told The Independent: The Windrush scandal was not an accident, but a direct consequence of Theresa Mays hostile environment" policy.

"As the architect of this policy the Prime Minister knew exactly what was happening. But nothing was to stand in the way of her ill-conceived, but never achieved, migration targets.

"The new Home Secretary has already u-turned on elements of the policy. But it now looks like Theresa May has overruled him to maintain her inhumane approach that has led to detention and deportation of our own citizens. It's time this Tory Government put an end to the hostile environment for good."
Theresa May has brushed off Donald Trumps outspoken attack on the EU over trade, insisting the West was still working collectively as a bruising G7 summit closed.

However, the prime minister refused to echo the Canadian prime ministers vow not to be pushed around by the US president  also insisting a trade deal after Brexit was still possible.

And she defended his decision to leave the summit early, arguing it was to prepare for his vital talks with North Korea rather than prompted by his fury with his supposed closest allies.

Yes, he left this summit early  because he is going to Singapore to sit down with Kim Jong-un to discuss the denuclearisation of North Korea, she claimed.

That is in the interests not just of North Korea, South Korea and countries in the region there. It is actually in the interests of all of us across the world.

Seven hours earlier, Mr Trump had condemned the other G7 countries, telling a press conference: We are like the piggy bank that everyone is robbing.

A French official revealed that, at a session discussing US steel and aluminium tariffs on Friday, he did not appear to be listening as the other leaders made their case.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. 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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. 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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. 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Mr Trump gave a long, frank rant, the official said. He was reported to have demanded the removal of VAT from US exports to the EU, viewing them as a further, unjustified tariff.

Agreement on the communique was held up by Washington objecting to the inclusion of the phrase the rules-based international order. The text issued read a rules-based international order.

Recommended G7 members sign joint declaration on trade

A single, stark photo issued by the German government captured the split  showing a grumpy, seated Mr Trump, arms folded, surrounded by apparently-exasperated other leaders standing over him.

But, speaking to reporters, Ms May pointed to the eventual agreement on a communique, other than over protecting the oceans from plastics  where both US and Japan dissented.

We have agreed some steps forward that we will be taking collectively, she insisted.

The prime minister ducked a question about whether Mr Trump was simply not listening and said he was still looking forward to his visit to Britain next month.

 Theresa May disagrees with Trump on Russia rejoining G7

Earlier, Mr Trump insisted his relationship with other G7 leaders was a 10, despite the deep rifts over Russia and tariffs  but, strikingly, without mentioning the British prime minister.

I would say that the level of relationships is a 10  we have a great relationship. Angela [Merkel] and Emmanuel [Macron] and Justin [Trudeau], he said.

Asked if she was concerned that Mr Trump failed to mention her, Ms May insisted: We have all been working around the table here at the G7 to achieve the agreements that we have achieved.

As he left the summit, Justin Trudeau, Canadas leader, said his citizens, who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Americans for a century of foreign wars, felt insulted by the tariffs, adding: We will not be pushed around.

And Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning US economist tweeted: One thing about the past few days: I believe the short-term risks of a war in Korea have gone down. Trump will be too busy invading Canada.

But, in her strongest criticism, Ms May said only: There have been some difficult conversations and strong debate, but, by working together, we have agreed on outcomes that shape a better future.

She added: Where we disagree with our allies on something it is right that we say so and air the issue openly and frankly. We have done just that at this summit.
Donald Trump expressed his condolences for a US Commando who was killed in Somalia, as Islamist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

Four other servicemen were wounded in the incident when they came under fire in the southern town of Kismayo.

The US special operations forces were fighting alongside about 800 troops from the Somali National Security Forces and Kenyan Defence Forces when they were attacked late by mortars and small arms fire.

About 500 US troops are deployed in Somalia.

"We attacked a military base ... killed one US soldier, two Kenyan soldiers and nine Somali soldiers from Jubbaland state. We also injured four US soldiers," Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaabs military operations spokesman, said.

The US military said in a statement one local soldier was also wounded in the attack.

The troops had been on a mission to clear al-Shabaab from contested areas as well as villages the militants controlled, "and establish a permanent combat outpost" to expand the reach of the Somali state," it added.

Sending his condolences on Twitter Mr Trump said: My thoughts and prayers are with the families of our serviceman who was killed and his fellow servicemen who were wounded in Somalia. They are truly all HEROES.

Kenyan military spokesman David Obonyo said its forces were not involved in any operations in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab is fighting to overthrow Somalia's central government and establish its own rule based on its interpretation of Islamic law.

After it wAS pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011, the group has lost control of most of Somalia's cities and towns, but it retains a strong presence in regions outside the capital.

Agencies contributed to this report
A US soldier has been killed in southern Somalia and four others wounded while on a mission to fight terror group al-Shabaab.

While working with 800 local Somali forces and Kenyan soldiers, the US service members came under attack from insurgent forces in the area of Jubaland by "mortar and small-arms fire at approximately 2:45pm Mogadishu time, according to a statement from US Africa Command. One partner force member was also injured but the statement did not indicate if the soldier was Somalian or Kenyan.

All the injured were medically evacuated to seek treatment.

The terror group al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda is said to command approximately four to six thousand fighters in Somalia, which makes it one of its largest factions.

The purpose of the mission was to establish a permanent combat outpost" to help expand the Somalian states reach in the area.

Al-Shabab is attempting to overthrow the central government and establish its own state structure based on its interpretation of Islamic law.

While the group is still a threat, Somali forces coupled with the African Union forces have mostly removed fighters from larger cities in Somalia, as it did in Mogadishu in 2011.

However, the group still carries out suicide attacks in the capital city.

 Car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia leaves several dead and wounded

There are around 500 US troops stationed there on a rotating basis since 2013 to advise the local forces on how to combat terrorism.

The soldiers identity has not yet been released publicly. He is the second member of the US military to have been killed in Somalia in as many years.

In May 2017, a US Navy special forces soldier was killed while on another training mission with the Somali National Army.

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 1993, 18 American soldiers died in a battle in Mogadishu. The film Black Hawk Down is based on the tragic incident.

The soldiers death comes as the US debates its presence on the continent, particularly after four troops were killed in Niger less than a year ago. The Pentagons report stated their deaths were due to several failures on the part of the military, including training.

The US also put strain on its relationship with Chad - the central African nation has been a crucial partner in American efforts to combat terrorism on the continent. President Donald Trump had included Chad, for a short time, on a travel ban that also continues to include Somalia.
French prosecutors say they have found no evidence of foul play or violence in the death of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.

The famed cook, writer, and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown, is thought to have taken his own life in a hotel room in the village of Kaysersberg, around 45 miles south of Strasbourg.

Christian de Rocquigny the prosecutor of Colmar in France's eastern Alsace region, said there did not appear to be any signs of planning in the television personalitys suicide.

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There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment, he said, adding a medical expert had found no evidence of violence on Bourdain's body.

Mr Rocquigny said toxicology tests were being carried on the 61-year-old Americans body, including urine tests, to see if he had taken any medications or other drugs.

Olivier Nasti, the chef and owner of Le Chambard, the luxury hotel in Kaysersberg where Bourdain was found dead, paid tribute to his colleague.

It is with great respect for the leader, the author, the TV entertainer, the visionary Anthony Bourdain that I express all my condolences to his family and to the anonymous people around the world who he made dream so much, Mr Nasti said in a statement.

It is the whole family of French gastronomy that joins me, to renew our deep friendship to our bereaved American brothers."

Tributes have poured in to Bourdain from celebrities and fans worldwide following his death on Friday.

His profile began to soar in 1999, when The New Yorker magazine published his article Dont Eat Before Reading This, which he developed into the 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.

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

He went on to host television shows, first on the Food Network and the Travel Channel, before joining CNN in 2013.

Bourdain had been dating Italian actress Asia Argento, one of many women to make allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, claims the Hollywood producer denies.

His death was the second suspected suicide by a high-profile American personality within a week, after designer Kate Spade was found dead in her New York apartment on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by AP
Chinese government hackers have compromised the computers of a Navy contractor, stealing massive amounts of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare - including secret plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for use on US submarines by 2020, according to American officials.

The breaches occurred in January and February, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

The hackers targeted a contractor who works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a military organisation headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island, that conducts research and development for submarines and underwater weaponry.

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The officials did not identify the contractor.

Taken were 614 gigabytes of material relating to a closely held project known as Sea Dragon, as well as signals and sensor data, submarine radio room information relating to cryptographic systems, and the Navy submarine development unit's electronic warfare library.

The Washington Post agreed to withhold certain details about the compromised missile project at the request of the Navy, which argued that their release could harm national security.

The data stolen was of a highly sensitive nature despite being housed on the contractor's unclassified network. The officials said the material, when aggregated, would be considered classified, a fact that raises concerns about the Navy's ability to oversee contractors tasked with developing cutting-edge weapons.

The breach is part of China's long-running effort to blunt the US advantage in military technology and become the pre-eminent power in east Asia. The news comes as the Trump administration is seeking to secure Beijing's support in persuading North Korea to give up nuclear weapons, even as tensions persist between the United States and China over trade and defence matters.

The Navy is leading the investigation into the breach with the assistance of the FBI, officials said.

Navy spokesman Commander Bill Speaks said: "There are measures in place that require companies to notify the government when a 'cyber incident' has occurred that has actual or potential adverse effects on their networks that contain controlled unclassified information."

Altogether, details on hundreds of mechanical and software systems were compromised - a significant breach in a critical area of warfare that China has identified as a priority, both for building its own capabilities and challenging those of the United States.

"The United States consistently has been able to use highly compartmented security systems to protect its most innovative and dynamic defence advancements, and any time one of those is penetrated you give up an enormous advantage in surprise," said James Stavridis, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a retired admiral who served as supreme allied commander at Nato.

"So if it is true that this was a penetration of one of those very compartmented systems, that is a significant reversal for the United States," he said. Mr Stavridis had no independent knowledge of the breach.

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 Sea Dragon project is an initiative of a special Pentagon office stood up in 2012 to adapt existing US military technologies to new applications. The Defence Department, citing classification levels, has released little information about Sea Dragon other than to say that it will introduce a "disruptive offensive capability" by "integrating an existing weapon system with an existing Navy platform". The Pentagon has requested or used more than $300m (220m) for the project since late 2015 and has said it plans to start underwater testing by September.

Military experts fear that China has developed capabilities that could complicate the Navy's ability to defend US allies in Asia in the event of a conflict with China.

The Chinese are investing in a range of platforms, including quieter submarines armed with increasingly sophisticated weapons and new sensors, Admiral Philip Davidson said during his April nomination hearing to lead US Indo-Pacific Command. And what they cannot develop on their own, they steal - often through cyberspace, he said.

"One of the main concerns that we have," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "is cyber and penetration of the dot-com networks, exploiting technology from our defence contractors, in some instances."

In February, Director of National Intelligence, Daniel Coats, testified that most of the detected Chinese cyber-operations against US industry focus on defence contractors or tech firms supporting government networks.

In recent years, the United States has been scrambling to develop new weapons or systems that can counter a Chinese naval buildup that has targeted perceived weaknesses in the US fleet. Key to the American advantage in any faceoff with China on the high seas in Asia will be its submarine fleet.

Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said: "US naval forces are going to have a really hard time operating in that area, except for submarines, because the Chinese don't have a lot of anti-submarine warfare capability.

"The idea is that we are going to rely heavily on submarines in the early effort of any conflict with the Chinese."

China has made closing the gap in undersea warfare one of its three top military priorities, and although the United States still leads the field, China is making a concerted effort to diminish US superiority.

"So anything that degrades our comparative advantage in undersea warfare is of extreme significance if we ever had to execute our war plans for dealing with China," Mr Stavridis said.

The US military let its anti-ship weaponry languish after the Cold War ended because with the Soviet Union's collapse, the Navy no longer faced a peer competitor on the seas. But the rapid modernisation and buildup of the Chinese navy in recent years, as well as Russia's resurgent forces at sea, have prompted the Pentagon to renew heavy investment in technologies to sink enemy warships.

The introduction of a supersonic anti-ship missile on US Navy submarines would make it more difficult for Chinese warships to manoeuvre. It would also augment a suite of other anti-ship weapons that the US military has been developing in recent years.

For years, Chinese government hackers have siphoned information on the US military, underscoring the challenge the Pentagon faces in safeguarding details of its technological advances. Over the years, the Chinese have snatched designs for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter; the advanced Patriot PAC-3 missile system; the US Army system for shooting down ballistic missiles known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense; and the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship, a small surface vessel designed for near-shore operations, according to previous reports prepared for the Pentagon.

In some cases, suspected Chinese breaches appear to have resulted in copycat technologies, such as the drones China has produced that mimic US unmanned aircraft.

Cdr Speaks, the Navy spokesman, said: "We treat the broader issue of cyber intrusion against our contractors very seriously. If such an intrusion were to occur, the appropriate parties would be looking at the specific incident, taking measures to protect current information, and mitigating the impacts that might result from any information that might have been compromised."

The Pentagon's Damage Assessment Management Office has conducted an assessment of the damage, according to the US officials. The Office of the Secretary of Defence declined to comment.

Theft of an electronic warfare library, Mr Stavridis said, could give the Chinese "a reasonable idea of what level of knowledge we have about their specific [radar] platforms, electronically and potentially acoustically, and that deeply reduces our level of comfort if we were in a close undersea combat situation with China".

Signals and sensor data is also valuable in that it presents China with the opportunity to "know when we would know at what distance we would be able to detect their submarines" - again a key factor in undersea battles.

Investigators say the hack was carried out by the Chinese Ministry of State Security, a civilian spy agency responsible for counterintelligence, foreign intelligence and domestic political security. The hackers operated out of an MSS division in the province of Guangdong, which houses a major foreign hacking department.

Although the Chinese People's Liberation Army is far better-known than the MSS when it comes to hacking, the latter's personnel are more skilled and much better at hiding their tracks, said Peter Mattis, a former analyst in the CIA counterintelligence centre. The MSS, he said, hack for all forms of intelligence: foreign, military and commercial.

In September 2015, in a bid to avert economic sanctions, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to President Barack Obama that China would refrain from conducting commercial cyberespionage against the United States. Following the pact, China appeared to have curtailed much, although not all, of its hacking activity against US firms, including by the People's Liberation Army.

Both China and the United States consider spying on military technology to fall outside the pact. "The distinction we've always made is there's a difference between conducting espionage in order to protect national security and conduct military operations, and the theft of intellectual property for the benefit of companies inside your country," said Michael Daniel, the White House cybersecurity coordinator under Obama.

The Washington Post
A high school student had her closing speech at her graduation ceremony cut short as she began to speak about sexual misconduct.

Attendees chanted let her speak after Lulabel Seitz from California had the microphone cut when she referred to students speaking out against sexual assault.

I thought this is a public school with freedom of speech, Ms Seitz told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

This is for my class that stood up and said let her speak'. Even if the administration doesnt give me a mic, I still want to speak.

Ms Seitz has since uploaded the full speech online. She was set to say: And even learning on a campus in which some people defend perpetrators of sexual assault and silence their victims, we didnt let that drag us down.

The class of 2018 has demonstrated time and time again that we may be a new generation but we are not too young to speak up, to dream, and to create change.

The principal of the school, David Stirrat, said that students had to have their speeches pre-approved and were warned that if they deviated from it they would be cut off.

In Lulabels case, her approved speech didnt include any reference to an assault, Mr Stirrat told The Washington Post.

We certainly would have considered such an addition, provided no individuals were named or defamed.

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

It comes after students from Holy Cross High School  a Catholic school in Covington, Kentucky  were not allowed to give their speeches at their high school graduation for wanting to mention the Parkland shooting.

The school principal explained that in an emergency meeting the local diocese had deemed the students speeches inappropriate.

Christian Bales and student council president Katherine Frantz felt their speech had merit so they delivered it outside after the ceremony through a megaphone.
A father-of-two who died in Chicago was shot in the back by police, according to a medical examiner.

Maurice Granton, 24, is said to have fled on foot while police carried out a drugs investigation in the city on 6 June.

Officers gave chase and told him to stop, at which point he produced a weapon and an armed encounter ensued, Chicago Police Department said in a statement.

Recommended Police charge teenager for seven thefts in an hour as he rode on moped

An officer discharged his weapon fatally striking the offender, police added.

The man was transported to an area hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

Cook County Medical Examiner said Mr Granton was fatally shot in the back, ABC News reports.

Police released an image of a weapon they said was recovered from the scene of the incident.

Family, friends and supporters gather in the Bronzeville neighborhood for a vigil to honor 24 year old Maurice Granton Jr. on June 7, 2018 (Getty Images/Scott Olson)

They also released CCTV footage of what they say was Mr Granton sitting down before the shooting and reaching for a weapon in his pocket.

It is unclear what the person in the footage is doing, however.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), which is currently investigating the incident, said the police officer involved fired their weapon three times.

While on the scene COPA investigators reviewed police officer body worn camera video, interviewed several individuals and began canvassing the area for additional evidence and witnesses, they said in a statement.

The weapon Chicago Police Department says was recovered from the scene of the incident (Chicago Police Department)

Preliminary evidence shows there were three shots discharged from the officers firearm and a weapon was recovered on the scene.

We will continue to gather additional forensic, medical and video evidence from all available sources.

COPA said it would release video evidence on its website within 60 days.

The officers involved in the shooting have not been named, but they have been placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that things were moving forward after he held talks with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Montreal, Canada.

Much of the discussion has been focused on Mr Trumps threats to place tariffs on allies in the G7 like Canada.

"I think we had a very open and direct discussion this afternoon, we've always had this kind of discussion. And I think on trade, there is a critical path, there is a way to progress altogether," Mr Macron said.

Recommended May clashes with Trump over his call for Russia to come back to G7

He added that he saw the willingness on all the sides to find agreement and have a win-win approach for our people, our workers and our middle classes. Mr Trump has been touting low unemployment rates in the US as a sign of success for his 'America First' doctrine and approach to re-negotiating many of the unfair multilateral agreements of which the US is part.

Mr Trump said his relationship with the French leader is very special, despite what looked like a rocky start at the beginning last year as the pair shared a white-knuckle handshake and tense glances.

There seemed to be a genuine bonhomie between the men who seem to be opposites in personality when Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte were hosted by Mr Trump and first lady Melania in Washington.

 Emmanuel Macron lashes out at Donald Trump in speech ahead of G7

However, in the intervening six weeks Mr Trump - much to the chagrin of Mr Macron and every other G7 country - announced that the US would violate the Iran nuclear deal.

The historic six-party agreement offered concessions on sanctions to Tehran in exchange for Iran stopping development of its nuclear weapons programme. Instead, the US has renewed sanctions.

Mr Trump also slapped large tariffs on European aluminium and steel as an effort to boost those domestic sectors. He had proposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent import duty on aluminium, and tweeted ahead of the formal announcement that trade wars are good and easy to win.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

In the wake of the initial announcement, Brussels trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said certain goods like cranberries, Florida orange juice, Levis jeans, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, peanut butter, Kentucky bourbon and whiskey are on a provisional list of goods that could see high tariffs as a retaliation.

European Council President Donald Tusk has said Mr Trumps stance on tariffs is dangerous and Canada called the tariffs illegal as the countries and Mexico are still renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) at the behest of Mr Trump.

The US president also caused waves when he unexpectedly called for the G7 to allow Russia back in, stating: whether you like it or not - and it may not be politically correct - but we have a world to run.

Mr Trump will remain in La Malbaie, Quebec for the rest of the summit and travels on to Singapore for the 12 June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Premier of Quebec Philippe Couillard on June 8 (Canada time), as part of his attendance at the Group of Seven (G7) Outreach Summit and visit to Canada from June 8  10 at the invitation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

At the meeting, Phuc thanked for the warm welcome he received in Quebec and expressed his impression of the local diverse and strong growth.



Viet Nam values cooperation with Canadian localities, including Quebec, placing it as a priority in the two countries comprehensive partnership, stated the Vietnamese PM.



Couillard welcomed the Vietnamese high-ranking delegations attendance at the Group of Seven (G7) Outreach Summit and visit to Canada.



He said the establishment of the Viet Nam  Canada comprehensive partnership in November 2017 is an important milestone in bilateral relations, serving as a drive to intensify friendship and cooperation between their localities.



Lauding collaboration between Viet Nam and Quebec in recent year, especially in trade and education  training, Phuc suggested Quebec continue granting scholarships for Vietnamese students, supporting Viet Nams participation in projects on climate change response, economics, and education within the framework of the International Francophone Organisation.



PM Phuc asked Quebecs authorities to facilitate the involvement of Vietnamese expatriates here in the local development and bilateral ties between Viet Nam and Canada.



The Premier of Quebec vowed to continue promoting cooperation expansion and academic exchange via the establishment of partnerships and student exchange programmes.



He pledged to create best conditions possible for Vietnamese expatriates to make contributions to bilateral relations.



Philippe Couillard requested Viet Nam consider Quebecs proposal to set up a representative office in the country.



PM Phuc took the occasion to invite the Quebec Premier to visit Viet Nam, which was accepted.



After their meeting, the leaders witnessed the signing of a joint statement on tertiary education between Viet Nams Ministry of Education and Training and Quebecs Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

Investment opportunities to Canadian firms

PM Phuc also introduced to Canadian businesses the dynamic Vietnamese economy with improved investment and business environment and abundant opportunities for foreign investors while addressing the Viet Nam-Canada business forum in Quebec on the same day.



Vietnam has recorded high economic growth, with import-export revenue reaching US$425 billion, foreign investment hitting US$37 billion in 2017, he noted.



The Vietnamese leader said that foreign investors in Viet Nam have satisfied with the investment efficiency in the country, especially the opening of the economy with the engagement in various free trade agreements.



In March this year, Viet Nam and Canada signed and are undertaking procedures for the ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Under the deal, Viet Nam commits to removing nearly 100 percent of taxes, which means many Canadian goods will enjoy tax reduction and exemption in Viet Nam.



The PM added that Viet Nam is restructuring State-owned enterprises, including those in important areas such as aviation, power, oil and gas, telecommunications, and transport infrastructure. This is a good opportunity for foreign investors, including those from Canada and Quebec city to buy shares and become strategic shareholders.



He cited a multinational solar power plant with a capacity of 168 MW and an investment of $150 million that has been launched recently in Ninh Thuan province as an example of potential for cooperation between Viet Nam and Canada.



He affirmed that Viet Nam considers Canada as an important partner in the American continent, holding that the two economies can suplement each other without competition. Particularly, Viet Nam has a strong agriculture sector and many industrial products, he said.



He said that the current trade revenue between the two countries at $6 billion and Canadas investment of $3.5 billion have yet to show the capacity of Canadian investors in Viet Nam. He stressed that the two sides should work harder together to improve the figures in the coming time.



At the forum, PM Phuc also directly answered questions of Canadian investors.



He underscored that Viet Nam always highly values foreign investment, and has protected the interest of foreign investors.



Viet Nam is calling for more quality investment, especially in high added value products in global chains and environmentally -friendly ones, focusing on areas of infrastructure, renewable energy and high-tech agriculture.



The PM said that Viet Nam has a golden population with 60 percent of labor force being young labourers. Each year, the country exports a large number of labourers trained in foreign languages. As a member of the Francophone, along with English, Viet Nam has strengthened French language teaching with an aim to create high quality human resources serving socio-economic development in the future, he stated.



At the event, Quebec Mayor Regis Labeaume highlighted strenths of the city in electronics, energy, environment, materials, financial services, science and startup.



Meanwhile, Vice Governor of Canadas central bank Vincent Joli-Coeur spoke highly of reform of Viet Nam over the past 30 years, while giving optimistic comments on the economic outlook and investment opportunities in Viet Nam.



He said that among countries that the bank has presented in, Viet Nam ranks first in terms of the opening for foreign investors, adding that Viet Nam has met criteria in both infrastructure and business ethics.VNS
John McCain assailed Donald Trump for inviting Russia to rejoin the G-7, saying he was rewarding a country that had been assaulting democratic institutions all over the world.

The President has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem that should be reserved for our closest allies, the Arizona Republican said in a statement. Those nations that share our values and have sacrificed alongside us for decades are being treated with contempt. This is the antithesis of so-called principled realism and a sure path to diminishing Americas leadership in the world.

A cascade of elected officials sharply criticised Mr Trump for saying Russia should be in the meeting as world leaders from the Group of 7 nations gathered for a summit in Canada. The country has been excluded since its 2014 seizure of Crimea.

They should let Russia come back in, because we should have Russia at the negotiating table, Mr Trump said.

Mr McCain has been a vocal critic of Mr Trumps foreign policy, rebuking the president for empowering authoritarian leaders like Russia president Vladimir Putin and for retreating from Americas role as an ethical standard-bearer.

They have traded barbs in speeches and on Twitter, bolstering Mr McCains standing as one of the few Republican elected officials who regularly challenges the president. He has also condemned Mr Trump's support for torture and handed the president a key defeat in casting the decisive vote blocking a healthcare repeal bill.

McCain's last stand Show all 2 1 /2 McCain's last stand McCain's last stand 65498.bin Getty McCain's last stand 65500.bin EPA

After more than three decades of public service, Mr McCain revealed earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. A White House aide recently lost her job after a leak of her comment that Mr McCain could be disregarded because he was dying anyway.

Mr Trump has long expressed admiration for Mr Putin, even as American intelligence agencies concluded the Russian leader directed a sweeping election disruption campaign that came to favour Mr Trumps presidential bid.

 John McCain launches coded attack on Trump's 'crackpot conspiracy theories'

Last year Mr Trump said he believed Mr Putins assurances that Russia did not meddle in the election and that his counterpart was very insulted by it. The White House has since said Mr Trump believes his intelligence agencies assessment, and the administration earlier this year imposed sanctions on government-linked Russians in part to penalise the country attempting to subvert Western democracies.

A federal investigation of the Russian election incursion and potential links to the Trump campaign has been a perpetual target of the presidents wrath. He regularly decries the probe as a partisan witch hunt even as it has produced indictments of multiple former campaign aides.


The on-again/off-again negotiations that have preceded the historic meeting between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have offered a pretty clear indication of how the summit may play out: expect the unexpected.

Having called off the unprecedented talks near the end of last month, blaming the open hostility of comments from Pyongyang, the US president now says North Korea is working with his administration very well to ensure the Singapore meeting is a success.

But for Mr Trump, who prides himself as his ability to do deals, it will all be about the personal touch. Ahead of a meeting with Japans prime minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, the president said that the meeting would be about attitude rather than preparation.

I think I'm very well prepared, Mr Trump told reporters. I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cleared up afterwards that Mr Trump had been receiving briefings on the North Korea for months. It is believed those verbal and written briefings have included everything from Mr Kims family history, to details of previous failed diplomacy efforts over North Koreas nuclear and missile programmes and the status of those programmes.

However, it is Mr Trumps instincts that will likely play a major role, with the president having the upmost confidence in his ability to read people.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada on Saturday, ahead of his flight to Singapore, Mr Trump made clear that he does have an objective. It is one that White House officials have constantly referred back to: the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

But his comments made clear that he will be lead by his gut.

I have a clear objective, but I have to say that it's going to be something that will always be spur of the moment. This has not been done before at this level. This is a leader who really is an unknown personality, Mr Trump said.

People don't know much about him. I think that he's going to surprise on the upside, very much on the upside.

The president said said he will know within the first minute of meeting Mr Kim whether the North Korean leader is serious about the nuclear negotiations.

I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen. And if I think it won't happen, I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time, Mr Trump said.

He could take that nation with those great people and truly make it great, so it's a one-time, it's a one-time shot, and I think it's going to work out very well, he added. That's why I feel positive, because it makes so much sense.

While that positivity will certainly help, both sides have shown that goodwill can sour quickly. Before the recent engagement between the nations, Mr Trump spent most of 2017 trading military threats with Pyongyang about an increased number of nuclear and missile tests.

Mr Trump said he would bring fire and fury down on North Korea if efforts towards nuclear weapons did not stop, while Mr Kim threatened the US territory of Guam.

As for North Korea, state media has remained relatively quiet on the subject of the Singapore summit since it was declared back on, as opposed to Mr Trumps frequent comments. But with Mr Kim in his mid-thirties, it is unclear how he will deal with Mr Trump  a man twice his age  in the first meeting between a sitting US president and the leader of North Korea.

Pyongyang has repeatedly made clear that it will not unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons programme, seeing it as a crucial piece of North Koreas defences, and questions remain about what any kind of agreement between Mr Trump and Mr Kim would look like, given the difficulty in reconciling the two positions.

Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Show all 25 1 /25 Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement Korea Summit Press Pool via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Kim Jong-un heads towards Moon Jae-in to shake his hand between the military demarcation line, at the Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone in the border village of Panmunjom in Paju EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hold hands as they cross the military demarcation line EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Koreans react while watching a screen reporting the Inter Korean Summit Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chat as they arrive at the Peace House Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un was escorted by bodyguards from the North to the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two Koreas to meet with his South Korean counterpart at the truce village AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crosses the military demarcation line to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in shake hands Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after Kim crossing the military demarcation line Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Joint Security Area EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un speak with two South Korean children who presented Kim Jong-un with a bouquet of flowers EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Moon Jae-in Kim Jong-un pose for photographers at the Joint Security Area (JSA) EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signs the guest book as South Korean President Moon Jae-in looks on Getty Images Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-uns entry in the guestbook. The writing reads A new history starts now. An age of peace, from the starting point of history Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-In and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talk during their summit meeting at the Peace House EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un smiles AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un talks with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in prepare to plant a pine tree near the military demarcation line AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un applaud after planting a tree at the truce village Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un and South Koreas President Moon Jae-in take a walk after they planted a tree AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un talks with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in at a bench on a bridge next to the military demarcation line at the truce village of Panmunjom AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in sign on a joint statement Korea Broadcasting System via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in embrace each other after signing on a joint statement Korea Summit Press Pool via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after their joint announcement AP

Having said that sanctions against North Korea will only be lifted with denuclearisation, Mr Trump has promised to provide protections for Mr Kim and his government in return for him giving up the nuclear programme.

He also indicated that South Korea, China and Japan would be prepared to invest in the North to boost its besieged economy, with some form of sanctions relief likely to be one of the things Mr Kim would seek.

Most of the answers to questions surrounding the summit will only be answered once the content of the meeting becomes clear, for now the international community is relying on Mr Trumps positivity.

So far, so good. We're going to have to see what happens, the president said at the G7. I very much look forward to it.
The benefits of destroying the Rohingya population exceed the costs for Mynamar, a former US ambassador to the United Nations has said.

Samantha Power, who served in the role from 2013 to 2017, said there was a lack of diplomacy surrounding the crisis.

There have been accusations of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar after continued attacks on Rohingya Muslims forced hundreds of thousands of them to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Speaking in Armenia at the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, Ms Power, a former adviser to Barack Obama, said the Rohingya had been systematically murdered, raped and deported from their country.

And no contact group has been formed, there has been no high level ministerial summit that I am aware of, she said. There has been humanitarian systems, the United Nations Secretary General has used his voice, but if you actually want to change the calculus of a government that has decided to expel and destroy a group, which it looks like the Myanmar government and military have decided to do, you have to change the incentives for them.

She added: Right now they think the benefits of destroying the Rohingya population exceed the costs. The only way that gets changed is through dealing with their sources of revenue, and through them feeling such concerted and sustained diplomatic pressure, not just from the UN secretary general, or the high commission for human rights, but from a coalition of diverse countries  the neighbours, bringing in China.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border to Bangladesh amid increasing violence. Representatives said they were disappointed that a UN agreement signed earlier this week did not address one of their key demands  citizenship of Myanmar.

Most refugees say they are desperate to go home, but fear going back unless they are given protection and citizenship.

Earlier this week Burmese and UN agencies signed an agreement that could  eventually  lead to the return of some of the 700,000 Rohingya who fled persecution in their homeland and are now crowded into makeshift camps in Bangladesh.

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

Asked what needs to happen in order for the situation to change, Ms Power said: Diplomacy and then changing the calculus of government, which right now  like many governments around the world  feels a great sense of impunity.

Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in Myanmar, despite many of their families having lived in the country for generations.

They have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and forcing many to cross by land into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Agencies contributed to this report
Donald Trump says his historic summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un is a one time shot for the leader of the secretive communist state.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada on Saturday, the US President said his meeting with Mr Kim in Singapore scheduled for Tuesday was a mission of peace.

Although he conceded he was unsure if the talks would be successful, he said he would know within a minute if North Korea was serious about giving up its nuclear arsenal.

I really believe Kim Jong-un is going to do something positive for his people, for himself, his family. Mr Trump added.

This is unknown territory in the truest sense. But I feel really confident. It's never been done, It's never been tested. So we are going in with a really positive spirit.

He has an opportunity the likes of which I think almost, if you look into history, very few people have ever had.

He can take that nation with those great people and truly make it great, so it is a one-time shot and I think it is going to work out very well.

The landmark summit between the American and North Korean leaders comes following a dramatic thawing in relations between the two nations in recent months.

Mr Trumps administration initially oversaw a heightening of rhetoric, with the president warning in August last year North Korea's nuclear threats would be met with fire and fury the like of which the world has never seen.

But, following diplomatic efforts between North and South Korea during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February, tensions have de-escalated on the peninsula.

Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice  which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters

In March, Mr Trump announced he would be meet with Mr Kim in May, only to cancel the summit last month amid dispute over the North's nuclear weapons programme.

On 1 June, the president announced the summit would take place on 12 June after he met senior North Korean figures at the White House.

Last month, North Korea appeared to destroy three tunnels, as well as observation buildings and other facilities at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
Pope Francis told senior oil company executives that the world must convert to renewable alternatives to prevent humanity being destroyed by climate change.

Speaking to the high-profile group at the end of a two day conference at the Vatican, the pontiff warned: Civilisation requires energy but energy use must not destroy civilisation.

He said climate change was a challenge of epochal proportions, adding that the world needed to find an energy solution that combated pollution, eliminated poverty and promoted social justice.

If we are to eliminate poverty and hunger, the more than one billion people without electricity today need to gain access to it, he said. But that energy should also be clean, by a reduction in the systematic use of fossil fuels.

Our desire to ensure energy for all must not lead to the undesired effect of a spiral of extreme climate changes due to a catastrophic rise in global temperatures, harsher environments and increased levels of poverty.

The conference, held behind closed doors at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, brought together oil executives, investors and Vatican experts who, like the Pope, believe human activity is contributing to climate change.

Among the 50 participants were Darren Woods, chief executive of ExxonMobil, Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Italys ENI, and Bob Dudley, group chief executive of BP, as well as investors such as Larry Fink of BlackRock.

The oil and gas industry has come under growing pressure from investors and activists to play a bigger role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet goals set out in a 2015 climate agreement signed in Paris.

Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Live and let live.' GETTY IMAGES Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Proceed calmly" in life' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Be giving of yourself to others' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Even though many parents work long hours, they must set aside time to play with their children' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Sunday is for family' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Respect and take care of nature' OSSERVATORE ROMANO/AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Stop being negative' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: Respect others' beliefs' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive' FP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness AFP/Getty Images

Companies are betting on increased demand for gas, the least polluting fossil fuel, and to a lesser extent on renewable power such as wind and solar to meet global targets of net zero emissions.

Pope Francis, who wrote a document called Laudato si (Praised be) on protecting the environment from global warming in 2015, said it was worrying searches for new fossil fuel reserves continued.

He said the transition to accessible and clean energy was a duty that we owe towards millions of our brothers and sisters around the world, poorer countries and generations yet to come.

Additional reporting by Reuters
A surprise three-day ceasefire has been announced by the Afghan Taliban over the Eid holiday.

The militants said foreign forces would be excluded from the ceasefire, which will take place in the middle of June and that operations against them would continue.

In what is the first offer of its kind from the Taliban, who nonetheless emphasised they would defend themselves against any attack.

"Members of the Taliban should not participate in public gatherings during the Eid festivities because the enemy could target us," they said in a statement.

There was no immediate response from the Afghan government.

It was not clear exactly when the ceasefire would begin, as Eid starts when the moon is first sighted, but Afghan calendars mark 15 June as the end of Ramadan.

Eid is the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar when families visit each other's homes, enjoy feasting and in Afghanistan tend graves of fallen loved ones. The Taliban have launched attacks during Eid in the past.

"In three days, maybe the unity of Taliban insurgents will be put to test," a European diplomat said. "If different factions dont accept the ceasefire, then attacks will continue."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban on Thursday, until 20 June, but excluding other militant groups, such as Isis.

Mr Ghani's decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul.

The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban, who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their ouster in 2001, and Mr Ghani endorsed the recommendation, saying it would last until 20 June.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Mr Ghani has urged ceasefires with the Taliban before, but this was the first unconditional offer since he was elected in 2014.

In August US President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory.

The Taliban's surprise announcement comes as Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to sit down to a summit in Singapore on Tuesday, something few people would have predicted just months ago when threats between the two sides were at their most bellicose.

Agencies contributed to this report
Air India has long been the transatlantic travellers friend. The Indian national airline has fifth freedom rights between London and New York, which allows it to compete against British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and the US airlines even on a route nowhere near its homeland.

I like the aircraft Air India uses from Heathrow to Newark these days: very smart Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, a big improvement on the old 747s. The service is excellent, including what I reckon is the best economy-class food across the Atlantic. And the fares can be tempting, too.

The airline was always first choice for short trips to the US which did not involving a Saturday night stay. British and American carriers still insist on ludicrous price-hikes for such trips: leaving on Virgin Atlantic next Monday returning on Sunday costs 777 return, but if you have the temerity to want to come back on Saturday then the fare surges by 600.

Yet I dont fly on Air India much these days, because it has lost its edge across the Atlantic. Norwegians three-times daily service from Gatwick to New York JFK (also using 787s) is more flexible than Air Indias three-times-weekly flight between Heathrow and Newark.

Norwegian couldnt care less whether or not you stay over a Saturday night; the price is simply the sum of two one-way fares. And if you happen to be aiming elsewhere in the eastern half of the US, Aer Lingus and its Icelandic rivals offer many more options.

The trend revealed in this distant corner of the Air India network recurs across the airlines operations: younger, leaner competitors offering excellent service and stealing market share. The Indian national carrier is overdue for comprehensive restructuring.

So in March the government in Delhi put the airline (or at least 76 per cent of it) up for sale, hoping to raise some cash as well as finding someone to revitalise Air India. But despite extending the deadline, no prospective buyers appeared.

Why not? State-owned airlines can be outstanding. Exhibits A and B are Singapore Airlines, which is majority owned by the city-states government, and Emirates, wholly owned by the government of Dubai. Yet investors were not taken by the prospect of buying the Indian national carrier.

From a distance, Air India might look a good buy. It has a strong and recognisable brand anchored in a vast and fast-growing country, some excellent staff and a modern fleet. More compellingly, it has a valuable portfolio of slots at many of the worlds most desirable international airports. An asset-stripping investor could possibly raise a few billion dollars by selling off slots.

But the Indian government attached some unattractive strings to a purchase. The airline has $8bn (6bn) of debt, and the buyer would be required to assume $5bn of it. So even if the airline were given away, a new majority owner would need to value it at over $5bn from the outset.

Furthermore, prospective buyers were told they would need to keep all 27,000 staff employed on the same terms for at least a year, meaning another 12 months of piling up debts. And that 24 per cent share held by the Indian government, with obligations such as maintaining aircraft to fly dignitaries around, is another deterrent.

The authorities in Delhi have always over-protected Air India. The country was way too slow opening up to competition, thereby encouraging inefficiency and allowing the airline to become bloated. Airlines perform and prosper when they are forced to compete on the world stage.

So I do not share the Indian governments surprise that there are no suitors. Prospective investors will be thinking: do we really want to take on so much debt and staff employed on legacy contracts? Anyone who wanted to turn it around will know they have a fight on their hands.

Other airlines with cash looking for a home might have been tempted, but after watching Etihad make disastrous investments in a number of airlines including Air Berlin and Alitalia that appetite has been dulled.

It is sad when an airline with such a rich heritage, stretching back to 1932, is left on the shelf. But Air India has to be restructured to compete effectively against home-grown, privately run rivals as well as the Gulf giants.

The Indian government needs to put it through something like the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedure, known in the business as the carwash and then sell the whole thing. It remains to be seen whether that can happen politically, or whether Air India will be simply left slowly to wither as other airlines spread their wings.
I am about to turn 96 and am partially sighted, but I am utterly determined to be on the march for a Peoples Vote on 23 June.

More than anything else, it is because I served in the British Army during the Second World War that I am resolved to do what I can to protect and defend the peaceful and democratic Europe that so many of my generation, including my friends, paid such a high price to secure.

I fought in Burma in the Arakan and at Imphal, before crossing the Irrawaddy on 14 February 1945. All of these were victories, in fact some of the finest in the long and proud history of the British armed forces. But they were unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.

In fact, on that river crossing I was seriously injured and had to be evacuated by air. I served for another 27 years, including in the Malayan emergency and I completed three tours in northern Germany  where we were always ready for the threat of war from the Soviet Union  all before finishing as a brigadier at the Royal School of Military Engineering. I know soldiering is necessary. But it is equally essential to do all we can to build international institutions that reduce the need to risk the lives of young men and women in the future.

The European Union is just such a body. I have never pretended it is perfect. How could it be? But it has helped maintain peace for more than 70 years and perhaps it is up to those like me, who remember how much blood was once spilled across Europe, to remind people that the EU is a whole lot better than what existed before its creation. My generation was not the first to face continental or even global war, but it has so far, thankfully, proved to be the last.

There is no doubt that the EU, Nato and the other institutions of the Atlantic alliance, founded on democracy and the rule of law, have played their part and we risk them at our peril. When I look at the politicians in Westminster who are now so recklessly seeking to sever some of the ties for their own narrow purposes, I feel a sense of shame and despair.

If my military experience gives me one overwhelming reason to be passionate about the need to stay in Europe, my love of nature and our fragile environment provides me with another. After I left the army I went on to help run the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge. Migratory birds are as ignorant of human imposed frontiers as is the pollution we pump into the sea and air. No political leader can control  or take back control  of the wind or the waves any more than King Canute could order back the tide. I fear that leaving the EU will see future governments walk away from our European wide commitments to protect our environment, habitats and wildlife.

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

On 23 June, I will be joining tens of thousands of others calling for a Peoples Vote on the final Brexit deal. I am not looking for a rerun of the June 2016 referendum, but for something very different: a decision about whether the deal negotiated by the government to leave the EU is right for the country. My experience tells me that it will not be.

I may now be an old man but, like the soldier I once was, I am ready to march again for a better future. Please join me.
Members of the African Elephant Coalition (AEC), representing 29 African countries and the majority of African elephant range States, met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 1-3 June 2018 to discuss strategy and future actions to halt the decimation of Africas elephants.

The AEC reaffirmed its position that the only solution to end the crisis, caused by poaching, illegal trafficking and legal loopholes, is to completely ban all trade in ivory at both national and international levels. Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the majority of African elephant populations are listed in Appendix I of the Convention. They therefore benefit from the highest level of international protection.

However, the elephant populations of four countries are split-listed in CITES Appendix II, giving them less protection, and their ivory could potentially be traded. This sends a mixed message to poachers, ivory traffickers, and consumer markets.

Recommended Elephant poachers shot dead by rangers at wildlife reserve in Kenya

Despite the current ban on international commercial ivory trade, many countries still have active domestic markets. The AEC believes that all domestic ivory markets contribute to poaching and illegal trade and must be closed. Legal markets create the opportunity for laundering illegal ivory, fuelling criminal networks and black markets.

The Coalition is calling on all countries to close existing domestic markets and ban the trade in ivory, and looking to the international community to act as a matter of urgency. Following the EUs public consultation, Coalition members are calling on the European Union and other major markets to follow the lead of the USA and China who have both closed their own domestic ivory markets, along with Hong Kong SAR which is phasing out its significant market.

The Coalition welcomed the news that legislation to end ivory dealing in the UK has been introduced to Parliament. At the Addis Ababa Summit, the AEC also discussed the welfare of live wild elephants. The conditions under which these animals can be caught and traded is another focus of the AEC. The Coalition reaffirmed its position that the only appropriate and acceptable destinations for live wild elephants are in situ conservation programmes within their wild natural range.

The AEC also discussed the mounting crisis facing many other vulnerable species in Africa in the face of uncontrolled trade, compounded by climate change, and other issues impacting Africas wildlife.

Delegates expressed deep concern and warned of unsustainable exploitation of terrestrial, avian and marine species, which threaten the integrity of ecosystems across the continent, including those sustaining elephants.

The outcomes of the Summit will strengthen cooperation between Members, raise the AECs international profile, guide its renewed efforts to list all elephants in Appendix I and promote the closure of all domestic ivory markets.

The decisions taken in Addis will now be translated into positions for the CITES Standing Committee (SC70) in Sochi, Russia in October 2018, and proposals to the next Conference of the Parties to CITES (COP18) to be held in Sri Lanka from in MayJune 2019.

The AEC member countries present at the event were Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo and Uganda.
The sight of the Gotham City villains T-shirt at the DC Comics Boutique almost ruined Comicon for me.

Part of the reason I go to the event (aside from being a confirmed geek) is to get away from writing about the depressing cast of characters at the top of British politics, and from thinking about the dreadful economic hole theyre digging for us all.

But to my dismay, there they all were on the garment. The faces of the Joker, the Penguin, Two Face and the rest: they morphed into those of the contenders for the leadership of the Tory party, just as the pigs and the men merge into one at the end of George Orwells Animal Farm. It was a scary moment, I can tell you. I had to seek refuge at the Universal stand, where a trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was showing on a big screen. Imagining a giant T-Rex gobbling them up made me feel a bit better.

The trouble is, the idea kept nagging at me. I realised that the only way to purge it was to share it. So if you dont want to see the Jokers features merging into those of Boris Johnson the next time you read a Batman book, or watch the caped crusader on film, I suggest you look away now.

Like Mr J, Johnson (see even the letter fits) is a clown who really isnt funny. The Joker periodically disappears from the DC Universe, only to re-emerge to spread chaos and destruction in big set-piece events, often spanning multiple titles, all the while metaphorically screaming, Look at me, look at me, look at me. And thats what Johnson does, doesnt he? He flies overseas for a bit, and if were lucky we get a period of relative calm when its almost possible to forget about him. Then he returns and all hell breaks loose. His recent, staggeringly disloyal, leaked Brexit speech being a case in point. Friends supposedly said he was disappointed about it getting out. Yeah, right. If that man ever walks through the door of Number 10 Downing Street, the joke will be on all of us.

Next up, his sometime rival for favouritism as far as the betting goes, and a man of which the same could be said: Jacob Rees-Mogg. Hes the Penguin. They are both fond of the elaborate dress favoured by gentlemen, something their actions show that they are not. And they are both disciples at the temple of mammon.

Before mlearned friends haul me over the coals, no, Im not suggesting Rees-Mogg shares Oswald Cobblepots criminality.

But the latters lack of principle? Put it this way: Rees-Mogg makes a mint from a fund management company he founded with some of his Eton chums. He may have called for a tougher line on Vladimir Putin, but the Mail on Sunday recently revealed that Rees-Moggs company invests in companies run by the Russian presidents mates, but has a reported almost nothing in UK companies that the Tory MP claims will thrive in the wake of his beloved Brexit.

He had an explanation: hes no longer involved in the running of the thing, which is an emerging markets specialist that invests money on behalf of its clients. For me, thats Penguin-style sophistry and its not good enough for someone in public life, who ought to practise what they preach. The chairman of the Tory European Research Group has a quarter of the shares and so could clearly influence its business if he wanted to. We can but hope he doesnt get the chance to influence British policy from Number 10.

What about the current betting favourite, Michael Gove, the man who knifed Boris Johnson in the back when the latter embarked on an attempt to replace David Cameron?

Hes devious enough to be the Riddler. I also thought about Mr Freeze, because freeze is what hell do to the UK economy if he gets his way.

But Two Face wins because of the duality of Goves nature. Hes often described as a reforming minister, one who notably (and correctly) stated that we jail too many people while at the Department of Justice. Hes talked about a green Brexit now he looks after the environment (poor us). He even recently had the gaul to claim Britain is more open to immigration than our European neighbours.

Thats where the duality of his nature shows itself. The Vote Leave campaign, of which he was part, deliberately, and falsely, sought to scare people with talk of Turkish EU entry leading to a wave of migration. Stoking fears was a key tactic. Gove likes to come across as the fresh-faced, reasonable Harvey Dent (Two Faces alter ego), but the other side  the scarred, snarling, hard right-wing monster  is never very far away.

David Davis? Hes an outsider now, but he is the Riddler, the riddle being how such an amateur, with a tendency to stomp his little feet and threaten to quit at the drop of a hat, ever got a job as important as negotiating Brexit.

I struggled with Home Secretary Sajid Javid before settling on Clayface, largely because, like the shapeshifting super-villain, hes a bit of a chameleon. We still dont really know who he is. He sometimes seems reasonable, particularly by comparison to his rivals. His support for allowing councils to borrow to build houses shows hes a man who has some good ideas. On the other hand, he was behind some of the most repressive anti-union legislation weve seen under David Cameron. If the reasonable side wins out, and Javid becomes leader, well have to reassess because a reasonable leader of the Tory party would seem like some sort of super hero these days.

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

As for the others? Right now, theyre mostly like those anonymous henchmen and women no super-villain can be without, snapping and clawing at each other in the hope of getting onto the next T-shirt alongside Catwoman, Killer Croc, Bane, and the rest of the motley crew.

We shouldnt, of course, forget Theresa May, who is the current Tory leader, and a great analogue for Poison Ivy, poisonous being the perfect word to describe the hostile environment immigration policy she put together while at the Home Office. The one that killed the career of Amber Rudd and has caused such needless pain to the members of the Windrush generation, British citizens who were invited over here from the Caribbean by the British government.

If truth be told, her government is poisoning the entire country.

Where the hell is Batman when we need him?
The number of agricultural households has decreased gradually in HCM City, according to a recent report on results of the Rural, Agricultural and Fishery Census conducted by the General Statistics Office. Photo sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY  The number of agricultural households has decreased gradually in HCM City, according to a recent report on results of the Rural, Agricultural and Fishery Census conducted by the General Statistics Office.

It is due to increasing urbanisation, natural causes like climate change, and low incomes from farming, and many people working in the agricultural sector have switched to other vocations.

Agriculture used to be an important sector that provided jobs for thousands of people in the city since 1986.

But from around 2000 its importance began to decline, and the number fell from 140,045 workers then to 43,355 by 2016.

By July 2016 the rate of agricultural households (farming, forestry, fishing) in the city fell to 6.8 per cent.

One of the reasons for the decline is the lack of government support for agriculture.

Phan Quoc Hung of District 12 has grown orchids for 20 years. Recently, he and his father created an app to help grow fresh vegetables in plastic trays in apartment buildings.

But he has not received any financial support from local authorities. He said: I have invested about VN1 billion (US$44,000) in my farm. But I need VN3 billion to develop my business.

To develop their aquaculture potential, Can Gio and Nha Be districts plan to have 6,000ha of shrimp farms. However, each hectare requires up to VN700 million to develop, meaning many farmers are unable to afford them, and the plan remains unfulfilled.

Nguyen Van Hung of Can Gio District said: We hope the Government will support shrimp farmers since they are struggling with polluted water and changing weather.

The city rolled out several policies last year to support agriculture, especially people investing in clean agriculture and those using high technology.

A training programme has been instituted to train 3,000 agricultural workers in 2018- 2020.

Nguyen Hai An, director of the High-Tech Enterprise Training Centre, said: Our goal is to become the top service centre for high-tech agricultural production. Our centre will provide legal consultancy and training for potential agricultural companies.

Le Thanh Liem, vice chairman of the city Peoples Committee, has instructed agricultural officials to draft a plan for developing agriculture from now through 2020. VNS
In which major capital city will the flag of a terrorist group be paraded openly and with impunity this weekend? Tehran, maybe? Damascus, perhaps? Quite possibly.

But these chilling scenes will also be played out in central London today  as they have every summer for several years.

As shoppers wind their way through Oxford Street, they are likely to be greeted with the flag of the Hezbollah group, complete with its less-than-subtle image of a rifle, being waved by and worn on the clothing of participants in the annual Quds Day parade (the event initiated by Irans Islamic republic in support of Palestinians and with a view to destroying Israel, as called for this week by the Iranian Ayatollah).

All this will happen in full view of police, who last week clarified that the law may not allow them to do anything other than watch as this sickening parade passes by.

The blame for this lies squarely with the fact that Britain refuses to proscribe the groups so-called political wing, as it already has its military wing. Its this legal loophole which enables the groups only flag  the one with the gun  to fly unchallenged.

The glaring flaw in this logic is that there is no such distinction in reality  even Hezbollahs own leaders say so. In the words of deputy chief Naim Qassem: We dont have a military wing and a political one; we dont have Hezbollah on one hand and the resistance party on the other  Every element of Hezbollah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, are in the service of the resistance and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority.

They seem practically to be inviting full proscription, yet our government continues, inexplicably, to turn a blind eye. You could almost hear the belly laughs from Lebanon and Iran as disclaimers pointing to specific support for the groups political wing were pinned to flags at last years march.

In the wake of that hate fest  when one speaker claimed Zionists were responsible for the Grenfell disaster  it felt like a corner had finally been turned. Sadiq Khan, Londons Labour mayor, demanded that the loophole be closed; thousands signed petitions demanding a full ban; and a Comres poll for the Jewish News indicated that four times as many Britons would support the proscription of the political wing as would oppose it.

At the Jewish News, we started a weekly countdown to the next time the flags were expected to appear on our streets, believing that a government led by a prime minister who insisted "enough is enough" when it came to tolerating extremism would ensure such scenes were never repeated.

Yet on the eve of the event, nothing has changed. Worse, in fact, because the flying of these flags has become as much of an annual fixture on our streets as marching bands at the New Years Day parade. It now constitutes business as usual, justified laughably by claims from those in the march about freedom of expression. What a terrible indictment on our country, itself scarred by terror and with such a proud tradition of standing up to evil.

Indeed, while the horrific carnage wreaked by Isis may be better known to UK readers, Hezbollahs trail of terror worldwide is no less horrific. If all Jews were to gather in Israel, Nasrallah once declared, It will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.

And its no idle threat. Hezbollah has been linked to countless atrocities, including the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre which killed 85 people, the murder of Israeli tourists on a bus in Bulgaria six years ago and the killing of nearly 300 American and French peacekeepers more than three decades ago.

Even today, the group stands accused by MPs of aiding and abetting the Assad regimes butchery. Do we have to wait until Hezbollah unleashes carnage in the capital before their parade is treated with the same revulsion as Isis banners?

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

This is not just about flags. Taking action would send out a message of zero tolerance, while depriving Hezbollah of the ability to raise the funds on which it is so reliant. The ball is firmly in the court of the new home secretary, who has the power to do the right thing by following America and the Arab League in fully banning the group.

Of course it would be unfair to put the blame for years of failure to change the law at the door of Sajid Javid, who has barely had time to get his feet under the table. Indeed, theres no shortage of people who'd suggest the blame lies at least as much with a foreign office concerned about relations with a Lebanese government featuring Hezbollah members, as with any incumbent of the home office.

Whoever is responsible and whatever the reasons for inaction so far, Britains proud values must trump all else. Our government led Europe in proscribing the military wing of the group across the continent. For ministers to continue to sit on their hands over this ludicrous loophole would not only remain a stain on the country, but is simply incompatible with May's words after the London Bridge attack  and Javids pledge, made this week, that "our greatest strength lies not only in what we do but who we are and the values and freedoms we hold dear...I want to say to all those who stand up to all forms of extremism that this government stand with you."

Justin Cohen is the news editor of Jewish News
The ruling party in Mexico of President Enrique Pena Nieto faces almost certain humiliation in national elections on 1 July  and theres not much doubt as to why. In the six years since the last presidential vote, the countrys twin scourges of violence and corruption have exerted an even tighter grip. Visiting last week, I heard one refrain over and over: We are at bottom now.

The scars of dysfunction cover the landscape. Four governors of Pena Nietos Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, currently face corruption charges. Transparency International's corruption perceptions index puts Mexico at 135th out of 180 countries. In 2017, there were almost 27,000 murders in the country. And it has become one of the most dangerous places in the world to practise journalism: six journalists have been killed so far this year; eleven last.

Yet amidst all the evidence of a nation struggling to govern itself, one event stands out: the disappearance in September 2014 of 43 students from a teacher-training college in Iguala, in the state of Guerrero, and a subsequent investigation by the Mexican authorities that not only screamed cover-up but also involved the torture of suspects  a charge that was reiterated in a United Nations report into the case, released in March this year.

With too much misery to count, you could imagine Mexicans shrugging their tired shoulders. What is 43 against the 60,000 killed during the six-year war against the drug cartels waged by the former president, Felipe Calderon? Fortunately that hasnt happened, if only because of the horror of it: the government alleges that the students were rounded up by local police and delivered to a drugs gang, who killed them and incinerated their bodies in a giant pit.

Every anniversary of their vanishing, angry protestors march noisily down the main avenue of Mexico City, even if the numbers have thinned a bit now. Revulsion has been international too. The government was eventually forced to invite in a panel of investigators and lawyers from the Organisation of American States, OAS, to try to get to the bottom of what happened.

It hasnt been forgotten because the Ayotzinapa 43, so named after the college they were attending, have now become a potent symbol of everything that ails Mexico  the corruption, violence, the impunity and the total breakdown of trust between the citizenry and those who govern them, all fused together in this one open and still suppurating wound.

Friends and relatives of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa, in Mexico City 2016 (AFP)

We want to know what happened because the 43 are only part of the 60,000, Frederico Martinez, a noted writer, historian and former government official, told me. We have to stop this and we have to know the truth.

Nothing about the governments version of what happened  what it dared to call the historic truth  convinced. No motive for the massacre was offered. Several other irregularities were alleged: investigators and lawyers working for the families of the victims had been spied on by the government. The researchers attached to the OAS panel found themselves stonewalled by the Mexican authorities, unable to interview key witnesses, including military officers who were alleged to have been in the area at the time. Its mission thwarted, it was finally forced to leave Mexico, its work never completed.

The final indictment of the governments handling of the case came last week when a district court took all involved by surprise, including the families of the victims, when it chastised the government for its investigation, calling it neither prompt, effective, independent nor impartial, and demanding that it start over. And this time the probe must not be led by the Justice Department, it said, but by a "truth commission" led by human rights lawyers and representatives of the victims families, with room for international forensics and human rights experts.

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 court, far away in Tamaulipas state, has effectively told the government exactly what most ordinary Mexicans believe: you are not to be trusted.

Martinez noted: The court is telling the government, we need to change and we need to enforce the law and the constitution. It is saying that we can no longer trust our own institutions of government. None of the three political parties have expressed that idea in that way before. So its a big moment and a huge change.

The courts three judges gave the administration 10 days to respond and start work on creating the truth commission. On Thursday, family members held a press conference here to hold its feet to the fire. The 43 parents know perfectly well that it is the same government that has not given us an answer for four years, but it is an opportunity for the president to have a little bit of dignity and support the new commission, said Mario Gonzalez, one of the representatives.

That is exactly right. Pena Nieto knows his humiliations have barely begun. There is almost zero chance his chosen successor, Jose Antonio Meade, will be picked by the voters. Once out of office he may face the risk of criminal charges and prison for the assorted ethical lapses his administration is accused of.

He should therefore take the courts demands not as a rebuke, but as a gift. In the very short amount of time he has left, he should finally do the right thing: get the commission started and give it all the tools it needs to find out what really happened in Iguala.
Gardai have issued a warning after a farmer lost a significant sum of money in an online tractor purchase scam.

The County Longford man was recently defrauded of 5,000 when attempting to purchase a tractor online from a trading site in the UK.

After agreeing a price online with the owner he lodged a 5,000 deposit in a foreign bank account with the balance due on delivery.

The tractor never arrived and seller cannot be located.

Farmers are strongly advised not to wire or lodge monies to unknown sellers accounts in advance of seeing the goods being purchased.

Figures from the CSO show 4,263 tractors were licensed for the first time in Ireland last year, with 2,453 of these imported while the remaining 1,810 were new tractors.

According to the latest statistics, the number of new tractors being licensed in Ireland has gradually declined in recent years, dropping from 1934 in 2016 to 1,810 in 2017.

Buying secondhand tips

1. It is important to check out the machine fully before buying. If you are not familiar with cars then you should get an independent mechanic to look it over for you. When you are test-driving, turn off the radio and air-conditioning and make sure there are no strange noises or smells of oil, petrol or diesel.

2. Always ask for the relevant documents when you buy a tractor  a written warranty stating what it covers and its duration; the machines service book; a handbook /manual; a signed receipt for payment and/or the Vehicle Registration Tax certificate if the car has been imported. Receive these before making any payment.

3. If dealing with a trader, ask if they are part of a trade association, for example the Society of Irish Motor Industry. This requires them to follow certain business standards.

4. Check the machine you are buying is not under a hire purchase agreement. This information is available (for a small fee) from Hire Purchase Information Limited. If the car is under a hire purchase agreement then the seller does not actually own it and does not have the right to sell it to you.

5. Ask for two sets of keys as it may prove expensive later on to purchase a second key.

6. Finally, always meet a private seller at their home address in daylight and check that the documentation matches this address.

* Don't hand over any payment unless you are completely happy to buy it.

* Don't feel pressured into buying it.

* Always pay by bank draft or cheque, never with cash.
They have been referred to as the locked-in generation. These are the people who bought houses during the boom, often purchasing a starter home in the hope of moving to more suitable accommodation to meet the needs of growing families.

But they found themselves trapped by a severe drop in income during the downturn, while the blight of negative equity has also restricted their options.

Most of these want-to-be movers have finally emerged from negative equity, with the value of their properties now higher than the loans they took out on them.

But anyone with a tracker mortgage was reluctant to move house - as they often faced having to give it up and switching to a mortgage type that was three times more expensive.

Again yesterday the Central Bank confirmed that we have the most expensive variable rates in the eurozone in this country.

It is a number of years since this journalist told readers they would be crackers to give up their trackers. That mantra has sunk in, but the entire situation has also acted as a brake on the mover market, prompting many potential property traders to stay put.

The attachment to trackers is the reason the theft of the low-rate mortgages from homeowners has been such a big issue.

It is expected that 40,000 homeowners will have a tracker rate returned to them, at a cost of more than 1bn to the banks, when the Central Bank-ordered probe into the scandal is finished.

People realise it is worth holding on to a tracker, especially as only this week borrowers were warned to prepare for an era of higher borrowing costs, as the European Central Bank gave the clearest signal yet that it will wind down its 30bn-a-month quantitative easing programme.

Mover-purchasers need a deposit of 20pc of the property's value, but with negative equity having largely washed out of the system this is becoming less of an issue. The deposit can be put together from any profit they make from selling their original home, or from cash that has been saved.

Bank of Ireland's decision to allow movers to hold on to their tracker rate should make it far more attractive for many of the tracker-trapped generation to trade up or down.

Movers will now be able to take their tracker rate on to a new property for the lifetime of the mortgage.

Up until now, people with a tracker who were moving house could only keep the Bank of Ireland tracker rate for five years.

There will be a 1pc premium added to the tracker rate, but it will still mean people will be paying far less than the variable rate on the tracker bit they transfer to the new property.

Bank of Ireland is reacting to the fact that many of its thousands of tracker customers are reluctant to lose their good-value rate after five years if they move.

AIB Group, KBC and Permanent TSB already allow mover-purchasers to keep the tracker element of their borrowing for the term of that mortgage, something that has put competitive pressure on Bank of Ireland.

Ulster Bank is now out of step, as it only offers a 10-year tracker porting product.
Employees at the reception desk of Ant Financial Services Group, Alibaba's financial affiliate, at its headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China. Photo: Reuters

China's Ant Financial, the payments giant controlled by Jack Ma, has raised about $14bn (e11.9bn) in its latest funding round as it accelerates the expansion of Alipay globally and develops new technology.

The financing included a US dollar tranche backed by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte as well as Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Silver Lake, and Temasek, the Hangzhou-based company said in a statement Friday. A yuan- denominated component of the funding was supported mainly by existing shareholders.

The funding makes Ant the world's largest fintech firm and equips it with enormous resources for expansion. The affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is already China's biggest online payments service and controls the world's largest money market fund as it moves deeper into areas from consumer lending to credit scoring. Ant Financial posted a 65pc jump in pre-tax profit, rising to 9.18 billion yuan in fiscal year 2018 which ended in March.

"China is entering the next phase of its development which will require a more efficient financial services ecosystem," said John Ho, founder of Hong Kong-based investment firm Janchor Partners which participated in this round. "With its technology, Ant is in a position to enable ordinary consumers to find and access financial services they weren't able to before."

Ant Financial didn't disclose a valuation from the funding round. The company was raising funds at a $150bn valuation, Bloomberg News reported in May.

Other investors in the latest round included General Atlantic, Carlyle Group, Janchor Partners, Discovery Capital Management, Baillie Gifford, Primavera Capital and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Ant said in the statement.

"Now, with the help of our partners, we are going to accelerate our strategy," Ant's CEO Eric Jing said in the statement.

The capital infusion can aid Ant's battle with Tencent Holdings for consumers while helping the company weather more stringent regulatory clampdowns.

Temasek's backing could also be key as Ant seeks to promote the use of Alipay beyond China.

In February, Alibaba announced plans to buy a 33pc stake that would give the e-commerce operator its first ownership interest in its payments affiliate since it was controversially spun out in 2011. Formally known as Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services, Ant Financial's Alipay has been instrumental in driving Alibaba's core business and is increasingly employed in physical stores in China and abroad. (Bloomberg)
Block rockin' beats: festival-goers enjoy the main stage at last year's Electric Picnic which will this year feature Lana Del Rey and The Chemical Brothers

So the days are getting longer, the temperature is rising and it feels like it has been a record breaking amount of time since it rained in Ireland. But alas, none of you have been able to enjoy these seasonal changes because youve just embarked on that bleak rite of passage that every Irish adolescent must face: The Leaving Cert.

The exams are tedious, painful, and they seem hideously unfair. They are, however, only temporary, and come the 22nd June you will be rewarded for all your hard work with a summer of freedom.

That begs the question, what are you to do with all this spare time?

It may seem like an alien concept to many of you by this stage, but never fear because here at Independent.ie weve compiled a list of the most exciting (and sometimes free) events happening on the island this summer.

Music & Arts Festivals

1. Sea Sessions (June 22 -26)

Kick off your sweet summer of freedom by heading to this Surf Music Festival being held this year in Bundoran, Donegal.

With main headliners such as Dizzee Rascal, Walking on Cars and Rudimental set to rock the picturesque town, along with a range of surfing and skating events to enjoy, it's set to be the perfect way to let off some steam following the end of your exams.

2. Galway International Arts Festival (July 16 - 29)

With a host of comedy acts, plays, free visual art exhibitions and musical guests, such as Caribou and Kodaline, this festival has something to offer everyone. It would be well worth visiting Galway during this time to soak up the laid-back atmosphere of this truly charming west-coast city.

3. Castlepalooza/All Together Now (August 3-5)

Unfortunately both of these wonderful events occur at the same time, so youll have to choose just one.

If you like the idea of dancing to up-beat music whilst enjoying the backdrop of the medieval Charleville Castle, hidden away in Tullamores mesmerizing oak woods, then look no further than Castlepalooza. This summer it will host acts such as All Tvvins, (Chk Chk Chk) and Detroit Swindle.

Video of the Day

Or, if you fancy going further afield to enjoy the folksy musical stylings of Fleet Foxes and the Villagers, then grab tickets and head to All Together Now, which is being held amid the beautiful rural landscape of Waterford.

Food & Drink

4. The Big Grill at Herbert Park (August 16  19)

Enjoy sitting in the sun (maybe/hopefully) and eating all day? Then head over to Ballsbridge to sample a variety of different cuisines offered up by vendors from all over Ireland and the UK.

This food festival will also host hot wing and chili eating contests throughout the weekend, which we can all agree are thoroughly entertaining to watch.

5. St Georges Twilight Market, Belfast (July 31  August 1)

Why not grab your friends and take a road trip to Belfast to see St Georges Market, one of the citys oldest attractions. Every weekend it hosts a large number of delicious food stalls - along with those dedicated to arts and crafts.

This summer it opens at night for these dates only, and the vibrant atmosphere, that the late night buzz of the market generates, is one that has had many people coming back for more.

Free Activities All Summer Long

These activities are here all year around, and theyre free!

6. Phoenix Park

Stuck for something to do on a nice day? Go and find a patch of grass in Phoenix Park to chill out on for the day. If you feel like exploring the vast perimeters of the park, you can rent a bike from its bike rental services, and make sure to keep an eye out for the parks resident deer! If you're lucky Micheal D might even invite you in for a cup of tea.

7. Hugh Lane Modern Art Gallery/IMMA

It is a harsh reality we all must face, there will probably (as always) be many a rainy day in Ireland this summer. When faced with this challenge, why not keep yourself dry by soaking up some of the captivating modern art exhibitions that Dublin has to offer.

The Hugh Lane Gallery, which is located beside Parnell Square, offers free admission all year around, though the more conscientious among you might consider dropping a fiver in the donations box. Whilst the IMMA, located on Military Road, is free to all except for its special exhibitions, which cost just 8 euro to view.

Well, now that youve read all about what Ireland has to offer for you this summer, its time to get back to the books. Best of luck, and enjoy that wonderful feeling of freedom that will very soon be thrust upon you.
The new policies were announced yesterday following the presentation of a report by the churchs doctrine committee. Photo: PA Wire

Same-sex couples are "not eligible" to be full members of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland or have their children baptised, the churchs General Assembly has concluded.

The new policies were announced yesterday following the presentation of a report by the church's doctrine committee which stated; "in the light of our understanding of scripture and the Churchs understanding of a credible profession of faith it is clear that same sex couples are not eligible for communicant membership nor are they qualified to receive baptism for their children.

"We believe that their outward conduct and lifestyle is at variance with a life of obedience to Christ."

The Churchs position on marriage and human relationships was further outlined in the report which continued; "homosexual activity is not consistent with Christian discipleship since it does not accord with the will of God expressed in his moral law".

Despite the policy, representative of the church Mark Smith has stated that the church is "not denying anyone communion, or attending worship or access to pastoral care, but rather defining what it means to be of a credible profession of faith".

Mr Smith told Independent.ie while the policy can be "confusing" to some, the church "has a history of being counter cultural in a changing world and will continue to obey and spread the word of God, but also spread love and welcome everyone."

He added; "The Church has had a consistent and clear position on homosexuality for years and it is our understanding that it is not the will of God, but we do not want to deny anyone from worshiping God or partaking in Church services."

In a statement released by the Church, it was outlined that "members were not discussing whether to prevent anyone from attending worship, coming into church, receiving communion, or having access to pastoral care, as our Church is open to all."

"What was before the General Assembly was the acceptance of a paper that posed a theological question of what represents a credible profession of faith in our Church and the outworking of that in a persons lifesomething that applies to all who want to be a member of our Church, regardless of background, orientation or anything else."

Earlier this week, members of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland decided to take a step back from their relationship with the Church of Scotland due to its more liberal policies towards same sex relationships.

The general assembly have decided that the head of the Church of Scotland will no longer be invited to the general assemblys annual meeting.

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is Northern Irelands largest denomination.

Other policies agreed upon at their General Assembly this week included opposing legislation that would allow assisted suicide and/or euthanasia.

It also aims to continue to call on the Irish government to not permit abortion in the state--excluding exceptional casesand protect foetuses with potential disabilities from being aborted.
HCM CITY  Kien Giang Province, the countrys largest rice producer, plans to shift 86,625ha of unproductive rice fields to aquaculture and cultivation of other high-value crops from now to 2020.

Of the rice fields, 3,420ha will be used to grow perennial trees, 10,492ha for short-term crops, and 72,713ha for rotating shrimp and rice or fish and rice on the same field, according to the provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Mai An Nhin, deputy director of the department, said the conversion of rice fields was being done to suit the ecology of each area. This will increase income for farmers and establish concentrated agricultural and aquaculture areas that meet market demand, he said.

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province has instructed agencies to set up detailed plans to convert the rice fields and has also encouraged the establishment of agricultural co-operatives to produce a large quantity of agricultural products and improve profits for farmers.

In the 2017-18 winter- spring rice crop, about 150 rice co-operatives signed contracts with 10 companies to grow more than 32,000ha of rice, and were guaranteed outlets.

The province has improved the transfer of advanced techniques to farmers so they can produce high-quality agricultural and aquatic products for export.

Shrimp-rice farming

In the past, Kien Giang specialised in planting only rice, and in recent years, under the encouragement of local authorities, more farmers have rotated shrimp and rice in fields which lack fresh water in the dry season.

The province now has nearly 90,000ha devoted to the shrimp - rice rotation model, the largest area of its kind in the delta.

Duong Tuyet Nga, who has rotated farming shrimp and rice in her field in Hon at Districts Tho Son Commune, said the model had helped her family escape poverty.

Rotating shrimp and rice has a higher profit than planting only rice, so many households have switched to this model, she said.

Under the model, farmers plant rice in the rainy season and breed shrimp in the dry season on the same field.

The model offers farmers an average profit of VN21 million (US$925) per ha for a rice crop and an average profit of VN29 million ($1,300) per ha for a shrimp crop.

ao Xuan Nha, head of the Hon at Districts Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau, said the model had reduced pollution and disease among shrimp.

The provinces shrimp-rice farming model includes one crop of black tiger shrimp and one rice crop a year, and two crops of white-legged shrimp and one rice crop a year.

The model produces clean rice and shrimp as farmers use less chemicals and the shrimp eat natural food in the fields. The model is suitable for areas affected by saltwater intrusion in the dry season.

The model produces about 300 - 500 kilo of shrimp and four to seven tonnes of rice per ha a year.

However, irrigation systems at shrimp- rice farming areas have not been perfected, so saltwater intrusion has entered deep inland.

In addition, farmers profits from a shrimp crop are much higher than that of a rice crop, so many farmers breed two shrimp crops in their fields and do not grow a rice crop.

The province plans to focus on investing in infrastructure and farming techniques for the shrimp- rice farming model and establish a brand name for these areas, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The province aims to have 90,000ha devoted to shrimp-rice rotation by 2030. - VNS
Disgraced former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm's legal team tried to stop the jury hearing recordings of some of the most revealing conversations during the financial crisis.

After a lengthy legal challenge to the admissibility of the tapes failed before the trial opened, defence lawyers then asked Judge Karen O'Connor to rule some of the more contentious excerpts inadmissible.

During these legal arguments in the jury's absence, the defence said the Anglo Tapes had become a "cultural phenomenon" which the court had to approach carefully. Ultimately, the judge decided the jurors were entitled to hear these phone calls.

On Wednesday, Drumm (51) was found guilty by a jury of taking part in a 7.2bn conspiracy to defraud the markets, as well as false accounting which invovled a circular flow of funds onto Anglo's balance sheet from Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) during the financial crisis of 2008.

In its initial objections to all the tapes, the defence argued the warrants to get the recordings had been invalid, the recordings were illegal and their provenance had not been properly established. Judge O'Connor rejected this.

Then, during the course of the trial, separate objections were raised to individual clips.

This included a call between Drumm and Anglo's head of capital markets, John Bowe, in which Drumm described the Financial Regulator as "f**king Freddie f**king Fly" and the Central Bank as "that f**king shower of clowns down on Dame Street". The defence argued it was just a "snapshot" and it was unfair to pluck it out.

Bernard Condon SC, defending, said Drumm had not known he was being taped.

Mr Condon said the so-called Anglo Tapes, or "what is now hashtag Anglo Tapes" were a "cultural phenomenon" and there were hundreds of thousands of hits on Google. The tapes were now "of colossal cultural significance" so the approach to their admissibility should be careful, he said.

In the reference to Drumm saying "you can't take it off the Regulator because it would appear on the balance sheet", Mr Condon argued that "he's actually talking about the Central Bank balance sheet" and not Anglo's. "It has nothing to do with what the jury is dealing with, which is Anglo's balance sheet," Mr Condon said. The "commentary" was something that was said in "a stressful moment."

"There is no doubt some of it doesn't make him sound good," Mr Condon said, but one had to be cautious about it.

But Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, said: "It is relevant in this case that the Regulator was someone of no particular concern to Mr Drumm except as a bit of a nuisance.

"This is Mr Drumm saying you can't take it off f**king Freddie f**king Fly. Freddie the Fly is a cartoon fly. A superhero, a minuscule person who went buzzing around and annoying people," Mr O'Higgins said. "So it's the suggestion of the impotent regulator or Central Bank."

The defence also failed to have a call between Matt Moran and John Bowe ruled inadmissible. In the call on September 22, 2008, they discussed approaching Credit Suisse to do a deal similar to the ILP transaction.

Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, said Mr Drumm was acting to support other Irish banks at the behest of the Central Bank and the supposed motivation behind the ILP deal was the "green jersey agenda". In the call, an identical proposal is being made in relation to a non-Irish bank, Ms Gearty said.

Just because the Irish banks were being asked to assist each other did not mean that Irish banks stopped trying to get funds elsewhere, Brendan Grehan SC, defending, said. It was two individuals discussing something they might do and it never came to anything, he said.

Judge O'Connor was satisfied the call was admissible.
Former Anglo Irish Bank executive David Drumm outside Dublin's Central Criminal Court, after he was found guilty of two fraud charges. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA

THE now-infamous Anglo tapes were central to the prosecutions case against David Drumm.

The phone calls heard by the jury were largely recordings of conversations made between bankers at the height of the financial crisis of 2008.

They were made with the knowledge of the bank officials involved, for their own protection in the event of issues such as queries on deals. However, on at least one occasion, according to his defence, Drumm was unaware he was being recorded on a colleagues phone.

The tapes also included exchanges between Anglo officials and staff at the Central Bank and Financial Regulator.

The prosecution considered the tapes to be the best evidence in the trial for a number of reasons. Because of the length of time it took for the case to go to trial, witnesses could not always remember details of what took place. The tapes provided a contemporaneous record of the events as they were actually happening.

Bankers were heard discussing how the transactions would be arranged and carried out and this was important in setting out the factual circumstances of the case and helping the jury to understand the mechanics of Anglo's circular ILP deal.

Judge Karen OConnor said they were real evidence and provided an explanation of the transactions to the jury.

Now, the Irish Independent reports that disgraced former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm's legal team tried to stop the jury hearing recordings of some of the most revealing conversations during the financial crisis.

After a lengthy legal challenge to the admissibility of the tapes failed before the trial opened, defence lawyers then asked Judge Karen O'Connor to rule some of the more contentious excerpts inadmissible.

During these legal arguments in the jury's absence, the defence said the Anglo Tapes had become a "cultural phenomenon" which the court had to approach carefully. Ultimately, the judge decided the jurors were entitled to hear these phone calls.

On Wednesday, Drumm (51) was found guilty by a jury of taking part in a 7.2bn conspiracy to defraud the markets, as well as false accounting which invovled a circular flow of funds onto Anglo's balance sheet from Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) during the financial crisis of 2008.

In its initial objections to all the tapes, the defence argued the warrants to get the recordings had been invalid, the recordings were illegal and their provenance had not been properly established. Judge O'Connor rejected this.

Then, during the course of the trial, separate objections were raised to individual clips.

This included a call between Drumm and Anglo's head of capital markets, John Bowe, in which Drumm described the Financial Regulator as "f**king Freddie f**king Fly" and the Central Bank as "that f**king shower of clowns down on Dame Street". The defence argued it was just a "snapshot" and it was unfair to pluck it out.

Bernard Condon SC, defending, said Drumm had not known he was being taped.

Mr Condon said the so-called Anglo Tapes, or "what is now hashtag Anglo Tapes" were a "cultural phenomenon" and there were hundreds of thousands of hits on Google. The tapes were now "of colossal cultural significance" so the approach to their admissibility should be careful, he said.

In the reference to Drumm saying "you can't take it off the Regulator because it would appear on the balance sheet", Mr Condon argued that "he's actually talking about the Central Bank balance sheet" and not Anglo's. "It has nothing to do with what the jury is dealing with, which is Anglo's balance sheet," Mr Condon said. The "commentary" was something that was said in "a stressful moment."

"There is no doubt some of it doesn't make him sound good," Mr Condon said, but one had to be cautious about it.

But Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, said: "It is relevant in this case that the Regulator was someone of no particular concern to Mr Drumm except as a bit of a nuisance.

"This is Mr Drumm saying you can't take it off f**king Freddie f**king Fly. Freddie the Fly is a cartoon fly. A superhero, a minuscule person who went buzzing around and annoying people," Mr O'Higgins said. "So it's the suggestion of the impotent regulator or Central Bank."

The defence also failed to have a call between Matt Moran and John Bowe ruled inadmissible. In the call on September 22, 2008, they discussed approaching Credit Suisse to do a deal similar to the ILP transaction.

Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, said Mr Drumm was acting to support other Irish banks at the behest of the Central Bank and the supposed motivation behind the ILP deal was the "green jersey agenda". In the call, an identical proposal is being made in relation to a non-Irish bank, Ms Gearty said.

Just because the Irish banks were being asked to assist each other did not mean that Irish banks stopped trying to get funds elsewhere, Brendan Grehan SC, defending, said. It was two individuals discussing something they might do and it never came to anything, he said.

Judge O'Connor was satisfied the call was admissible.
About one-third of the Leaving Certificate higher level Maths Paper 1 dealt with series and sequences but, according to teacher Brid Griffin, the topic was "over dominant".

"Financial maths didn't appear and another big topic, integration, was only a small section in one question," said Ms Griffin, a TUI subject representative and teacher at Carlow Institute of Further Education.

She said some questions were "very doable and some were a little tricky" and, while she met mixed reaction, overall the student view was that it was OK.

Robert Chaney, an ASTI subject representative and teacher at CBS Thurles, described it as a fair paper but students "would have needed to be well practiced" for Question 4 on De Moivre's Theorem.

Eamonn Toland, of themathstutor.ie, thought it "very accessible overall but with a sting in the tail in Q9, which involved the advanced topic of fractal geometry known as the 'Sierpinski Triangle'".

Mr Chaney described that question as "unimaginative", and felt many students would have mis-answered the question to find the fraction remaining after infinite steps.

Aidan Roantree, of Dublin's Institute of Education, said it would "separate those who will get a H1 from the rest".

Mr Chaney described the ordinary level paper as "predictable", while Mr Toland said the section on contexts and applications was "very wordy".

Earlier, Leaving Cert candidates sat geography and Johanne Duffy, a teacher at Yeats College, Galway, said higher level students were delighted with their paper. She said it was "wide-ranging and balanced, with lots of choice".

In regional geography, she noted that, for the first time, students were asked to explain the impact of climate on the development of agriculture in two contrasting European regions. "Well-prepared students would have had no difficulty with this," she said.

Another teacher, Michael Doran of the Institute of Education, Dublin, described it as "a nicely balanced paper, with a good choice of questions", which covered many of the key, traditional topics, but with new variations on old themes.

Teacher Luke Saunders, of Jesus and Mary Secondary School, Enniscrone, Co Sligo, and studyclix.ie, said the ordinary level paper would have presented no major shocks.
Chris Kinsella, of Moylaragh View, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts after his Circuit Civil Court action for damages was dismissed. Pic: Collins Courts

A Co Dublin bus driver, who took the hump in a Do-It-Yourself store when he felt he was being shadowed by a security man, has lost a 75,000 defamation action against Woodies DIY and its security company.

The genesis of this problem lies in the impression in his mind that he was in some way under suspicion in the store itself, Judge Terence OSullivan said when throwing out Chris Kinsellas claim for damages in the Circuit Civil Court.

Kinsella, of Moylaragh View, Balbriggan, sued Woodies and Risk Security, now trading as SAR Security, alleging that a security man had followed him out of Woodies store in Coolock, Dublin, and told him he believed he had shoplifted, taking him back into the store.

Judge OSullivan told barrister Conor Kearney, counsel for the two defendants, he accepted that when Mr Kinsella had left the store after browsing it was he who had raised the matter of shoplifting and not the security man. He had thought a security man had been following him in the store.

Cross examined by Mr Kearney, who appeared with Gary Irwin Solicitors for the defence, Kinsella said he had not bought anything in the store as what he had been looking for was not available.

I have no doubt but that this claim has been exaggerated in a significant way, Judge OSullivan said. The plaintiff at all times has given an account that he was accosted by two servants or agents of the defendant.

He said Mr Kinsella had alleged he had been put in fear by the security man shouting, grabbing him by the arms and forcing him to go back into the premises.

The court had heard at the start of the case that Kinsella was withdrawing a claim that he had been falsely imprisoned. Judge OSullivan said that having viewed cctv coverage of what had happened he was satisfied this had been a complete fabrication.

The fact that this claim was stated to be unsustainable and withdrawn infects the entire proceedings, Judge OSullivan said. The plaintiff has engaged in gross exaggeration with a view to obtaining compensation.

Judge OSullivan, dismissing Kinsellas claim for defamation and ordering him to pay the legal costs of both Woodies and its security company, said the case was one where Mr Kinsella took the hump and created and invented a story to give himself a cause of action.
After the accident, Jakub began living with his grandparents in Poland while Patrycja worked through the rehabilitation process.

A woman who has been paralysed from the waist down said she just wants to live with my son again after her injury prevented her from living with her five-year-old for nearly a year.

Friends and family of Patrycja Swol have started a Go Fund Me in an effort to make this dream reunion a reality.

Expand Close The loving mother is currently residing in St. Lukes Hospital in Dublin, but hopes to be reunited with her son, Jakub as soon as possible. / Facebook

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Whatsapp The loving mother is currently residing in St. Lukes Hospital in Dublin, but hopes to be reunited with her son, Jakub as soon as possible.

The Polish national residing in Ireland was in a serious motorbike accident last August in which she crashed into a wall, damaging her spinal cord and taking away her ability to walk.

When I opened my eyes, I couldnt feel my legs, I couldnt feel anything, Patrycja told Independent.ie. All I could think about was how I was going to take care of my son if I cant walk.

Following the accident, Patrycja was first taken to Tallaght Hospital, then transferred to Mater Dei for surgery.

I was hoping so badly that they would fix me and things could go back to normal, but when I woke up from surgery, it was all the same  I couldnt move my legs, and I really thought it was over.

Expand Close A photo Jakub drew of himself and Patrycja. / Facebook

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Whatsapp A photo Jakub drew of himself and Patrycja.

Due to her condition, Patrycja was unable to care for her son while she is in hospital. The loving mother is currently residing in St. Lukes Hospital in Dublin, but hopes to be reunited with her son, Jakub as soon as possible.

After the accident, Jakub began living with his grandparents in Poland while Patrycja worked through the rehabilitation process.

The beginning was so hard, I had to relearn how to do everything. I couldnt even sit on my own. But being away from Jakub was the hardest. I got to see him on a few visits this year, and we Skype, but its just not the same, she explained.

Now that her rehabilitation process has concluded, Patrycja hopes to move back to Poland to care for her son, but her home requires major modifications to accommodate her wheelchair.

I really wanted to stay in Ireland, but Ive been put on a waiting list and it could take years until I was able to actually get a place, she explained. I dont want to have to wait another year to live with my son again.

Patrycja said she is touched and inspired by the amount of people who have donated to the campaign already and she cant wait to live with my boy again.

After the accident, I didnt know what to do with myself and I was so scared for my son. Now, Ive learned how to live again. How to sit, how to move, how to take a shower, it was difficult, but nothing compared to being away from my son.

You can donate to the GoFundMe page here.
A litany of mistakes in military operations are laid bare in an independent review into the murders of two Irish peacekeeping troops in south Lebanon more than 37 years ago.

The review focused on the death of Pte Hugh Doherty and the disappearance of Pte Caomhan Seoighe (Kevin Joyce) while on duty outside the village of Dyar Ntar on April 27, 1981.

Pte Doherty was shot three times, while Pte Seoighe was abducted and believed to have been murdered.

The two soldiers were alone in an unprotected post in an area known to be used by members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

The review was carried out by retired judge Mr Roderick Murphy and submitted to Defence Minister Paul Kehoe. Mr Kehoe said the report identified a number of failings and shortcomings in the Defence Forces operation in south Lebanon at the time.

"This should never have happened," Mr Kehoe said, adding he wanted to assure the families, friends and colleagues of the two soldiers that important lessons had been learnt.

Mr Murphy reported that the tragic events of April 27, 1981, had taken place in an observation post which had been set up 13 days earlier.

He said there were no natural built defences or shelter. It was an exposed post and was manned during daylight hours only.

Blunders outlined by Mr Murphy included persistent and inadequate assessment of risk, given the exposed nature of the post. There was inadequate manning, failure to provide a landline and the absence of reports of incidents, in addition to a casual approach to the posting and supervision of the post and no system of checks or visits by the platoon commander.
The school which the teenager killed in Donegal on Friday attended is to open its doors tonight for anyone affected by the student's death.

Jamie Doherty, 14, was the sole occupant of the vehicle in the collision which took place in Redcastle, Co.Donegal at approximately 7pm last night.

The incident is understood to have happened between the towns of Moville and Redcastle, close to an area known as Clar.

Fire services, garda and ambulance vehicles rushed to the single vehicle collision at Tully Alley, but the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jamie had just completed his second year at Moville Community College and in a statement this afternoon, posted on a parent's association Facebook page, the school said: "It is with deep regret and sadness that we learned of the death of Jamie Doherty, a 2nd Year student in Moville Community College.

"As a school community we would like to reach out to all who are affected by Jamie's death. The school will be open tonight from 7 - 9 pm. All students and their families are welcome to attend.

"We seek to support Jamie's friends and their families who are bereaved at this time. Please feel free to circulate this message widely."

According to local councillor Martin Farren, the youngster was "incredibly well-liked by everyone in the area and from a very well-respected family".

"He was just starting summer holidays after just finishing his second year at Moville Community School and is the oldest of three siblings in his family. I can only imagine what his parents are going through and offer my sympathies, thoughts and prayers," he added.

Local communities in the Clar area are "numb" following the death of the 14-year-old who was killed when he lost control of the car he was driving.

A full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash has been launched by Gardai.
"Sleazy" and "degrading" strip club advertisements have no place on the streets of the capital, according to a Dublin senator.

Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone is calling for the usage of such advertisements to cease immediately, stating that the ads - which often feature semi-naked women in provocative poses - are giving a bad impression of the city to tourists.

Senator Noone said: "Every major capital city has an area where tourists congregate. In Dublin, Temple Bar is an area with a plethora of pubs and restaurants that attract people from all over the world who are visiting our shores.

"It is a place where people form their opinions about our country and is the epicentre of our hospitality industry."

The senator referred to the men walking the streets of Temple Bar wearing sandwich boards advertising strip clubs stating: "These sandwich boards depict women in various stages of undress. They are not family friendly and are demeaning to women."

She also questioned the effect the signs have on younger generations: "What kind of messages about Ireland are they sending to young girls?

"These signs are degrading.

"If people want to find lap dancing clubs Im sure they can search for them online, we dont need sordid signs in family areas. This needs to stop immediately. We need to set a good example to our young people."
US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump smile as they arrive for an Easter service in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: Reuters

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

President Donald Trump, joined by the Easter Bunny and first lady Melania Trump speaks from the Truman Balcony of the White House (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

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

US President Donald Trump stands alongside First Lady Melania Trump (R) during an event in honor of Military Mothers and Spouses in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, May 9, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump, leaves the White House in Washington, early Thursday, May 10, 2018, to greet three freed Americans detained in North Korea for over a year, who are arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Melania Trump was last seen in public on Wednesday at a White House event (Danny Lawson/PA)

First Lady Melania Trump and U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) attend the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. first lady Melania Trump arrives in the Rose Garden to speak at the White House May 7, 2018 in Washington, DC

She's alive! After a 24-day 'disappearance', Melania Trump has been found safe and well at a White House event to honour Gold Star families.

The 'missing' FLOTUS underwent surgery for a benign kidney issue on May 14, after which she spent a few days in bed recuperating.

Occam's razor would suggest that her lengthy absence from public life was related to her medical procedure. But that would be much too simple an explanation for the Trump administration, where fact is often stranger than fiction.

Speculation was rife and it didn't take long for the #MissingMelania hashtag to gain momentum on social media. Was Melania recovering from another 'procedure'? Had she moved back to New York? Was she in the Witness Protection Programme after being outed as a Russian spy?

Conspiracy theory is a fringe obsession on social media. Melania's disappearance turned it into a mainstream sport within a matter of days.

Bette Midler took to Twitter to suggest that Melania had "just drunk-cut her own bangs" and didn't want to be seen by her fans. Thousands more got involved with theories that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. (Special mention to the 'truthers' who insist that Melania has a body double.)

Expand Close Melania Trump was last seen in public on Wednesday at a White House event (Danny Lawson/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Melania Trump was last seen in public on Wednesday at a White House event (Danny Lawson/PA)

This isn't the first time the notoriously- private Melania has cancelled public engagements. What's interesting, however, is that Melania has a higher approval rating than her husband. The reluctant First Lady's favourability rating jumped by 10 points to 57pc in a recent CNN poll - a significant rise for a woman who is often described as an 'enigma'.

It seems we've developed a soft spot for Melania, but it has little to do with her policy goals or oratory style.

We have no interest in the 'Be Best', social crusading, media-managed Melania. Her fashion game is strong, but her influence is no match for the sleeves-rolled-up style of her predecessor, Michelle Obama.

No, we have fallen for our perception of Melania as the helpless victim; the damsel in distress that has to be saved from the White House tower.

Expand Close President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump, leaves the White House in Washington, early Thursday, May 10, 2018, to greet three freed Americans detained in North Korea for over a year, who are arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump, leaves the White House in Washington, early Thursday, May 10, 2018, to greet three freed Americans detained in North Korea for over a year, who are arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Melania takes a backseat and we assume she lacks agency. Melania flinches when her husband touches her and we wonder what's going on behind closed doors.

Melania follows Barack Obama on Twitter and we decide that she is finally hitting her ego-maniacal husband where it hurts. Melania goes missing for three weeks and we imagine the very worst.

We're rooting for Melania to rise up, out of her husband's shadow, but are we ready to free her of the symbolic victim role? We have a history of building women up just so we can knock them down, after all.

Melania, for her own part, is smart enough to know that approval ratings aren't always rooted in respect. We approve of strong, charismatic leaders, but we also approve of oppressed underdogs, rebels and victims...

Sympathy can be stifling but power can be intoxicating. And while they say it's better to be envied than pitied, in Melania's case, it might be better to be pitied than disliked.

Slumming it for class warfare

Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp recently incurred the wrath of sanctimommies everywhere when she revealed that she and her husband turn left when they board an airplane, while their two children (Bay, 12, and Oscar, 10) turn right.

"When we fly as a family, the boys do fly separately from Ben and me if we're not in economy together," she explained. "Obviously this wasn't the case when they were little, but now they are big enough to sit separately, they do... Club Class should be a huge treat you've worked hard for."

This seems perfectly reasonable. Pre-teens aren't tall enough to struggle with leg room, nor are their palates sophisticated enough to appreciate the complex flavours of foie gras and wagyu sirloin.

Besides, a flight is one of the few times that parents can enjoy peace and quiet, so why not make the most of the experience if you've worked hard enough to afford the trappings of first class air travel?

This was the very point TV chef Gordon Ramsay made when he revealed that he and his wife travel first class, while their four children travel economy. "I do not want them sat there with a 10 course f***ing menu with champagne," he said in a tirade that had the santimommies reaching for their smelling salts.

There was a time when Allsopp and Ramsay's parenting choices were standard practice. Nowadays, in the era of child-centred parenting, there's a strong cohort of mums and dads who couldn't imagine depriving their child of the latest technology, the most diverse extracurricular activities and the best seats on the airplane. Perish the thought that they might think about themselves for once...
HCM CITY  The head of the Central Citizen Board of the Government Inspectorate on Friday met with resident representatives in the Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM Citys District 2 to settle a contentious land dispute in the locality.

Nguyen Hong iep, accompanied by Huynh Cach Mang, vice-chairman of the city Peoples Committee, said the board would report the outcome of the meeting to the Prime Minister before July 15 as requested by the PM.

The Government and central agencies have paid close attention to the Thu Thiem land dispute, but many problems could arise during the process of resolving the dispute, which needs the direction of the Prime Minister, iep said.

It will take a lot of time to collect evidence, and more discussions with residents will have to be scheduled in the near future, he added.

We hope you can sympathise with us. We are here now. Do not worry, iep said to representatives of the seven households who were allowed to attend the meeting.

Le Thi The, of Binh An Ward, said that the longstanding problem should be resolved as soon as possible.

She also asked the Government to set up an inspection team for the Thu Thiem new urban area dispute.

Meanwhile, resident Le Van Lung, of Binh An Ward, said that, before reporting to the PM, the inspection team must contact residents to receive evidence about the new urban area.

We are willing to cooperate with the new leadership of the city Peoples Committee because this mistake lies in the previous city leadership, Lung said.

He also asked Huynh Cach Mang, vice chairman of the city Peoples Committee, about a series of maps related to the planning of the Thu Thiem urban area that were previously released by Vo Viet Thanh, former chairman of the city Peoples Committee.

So far, we have heard nothing from the city government on the legal value of the maps, he said. Residents want to hear what the city has to say about this issue.

Mang said the PM has urged the city to resolve the issue and that he has been assigned by city leaders to coordinate with the Central Citizen Board of the Government Inspectorate to resolve the issue for the residents.

Secretary of HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan also promised to meet Thu Thiem residents after the fifth session of the XIV National Assembly, which will end on June 15.

Nhan also promised that there would be a satisfactory solution for the Thu Thiem land dispute.

Last month, a delegation from the HCM City National Assembly, including Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, chairwoman of the HCM City Peoples Council; Phan Nguyen Nhu Khue, deputy head of the delegation; and Trinh Ngoc Thuy, deputy chief judge of the Peoples Court of HCM City, held an eight-hour meeting with the residents.

More than 50 opinions from the residents were reported to the National Assembly delegation.

Recently, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also ordered HCM City authorities and relevant agencies to quickly settle the land disputes involving the Thu Thiem new urban area.

The Thu Thiem new urban area project was approved by the then-Prime Minister on June 4, 1996 in Decision No 367.

For many years, residents in the project area have been submitting complaints about land reclamation and site clearance for construction of the Thu Thiem new urban area to the city and central governments.

Covering a total area of 657ha, the Thu Thiem new urban area is located on Thu Thiem peninsula in HCM Citys District 2, which faces downtown District 1 across the Sai Gon River.

Approved by the Government in 1996, the proposed financial district and mixed-use urban area of HCM City is set to become the largest inner-city development in Southeast Asia.

To develop such a project, it has taken more than 10 years to complete site clearance of most of Thu Thiem peninsula, with nearly 15,000 households already resettled.

More than 99 per cent of land in the proposed area has been cleared.  VNS
'Just like Soho' is how a Polish journalist described Bridge Street and the artists working there were so taken which his description that they have used it as the title of their new exhibition which opens in The Basement Gallery, An Tain Arts Centre, on Friday night.

The studios are located in an atmospheric old building in the heart of the town's St Nicholas Quarter. The artists were among those who campaigned to have the area included in regeneration plans for the streets north of the town centre.

This exhibition sees the artists declare their eclectic relationships with their space, place and each other with a dynamic and diverse exhibition of work in ceramics, textiles, painting, jewellery and mixed media.

Bridge Street Studios was founded 23 years ago by four ceramic artists who set up studio in the top floor of a former 18th century grain store. Due to demand it has since expanded and occupies three floors housing open plan art studios, a gallery and a workshop space. The artists are collectively responsible for the management of the building and gallery space and meet monthly to organise studio business and work very well as a group in this capacity.

A Polish journalist who visited the area described Bridge Street as being 'just like Soho', linking the artistic community working in the studios to underdeveloped areas of big cities where artist thrive often hidden from the rest of society.

For the exhibition, named after that comment, each of the eight artists in the studio has created a new body of work based on their relationship with Bridge St studios and the area. The work includes ceramics, paintings, textile art and jewellery.

The exhibiting artists include Orla Barry, Rachel Tinniswood, Mary Cowan, Sarah McKenna, Fiona Quigley, Orlaith Cullinane, Brona Carty, and Caoilfionn Murphy O'Hanlon. Each artist has created a body of work in their chosen medium which communicates their relationship with their studio space, the working environment and the locality - both as an individual and as a part of a group. The exhibition will show an exciting dynamic and communication between the pieces which will mirror the connections between the artists and to their place of work.

Fiona Quigley has found her inspiration from buildings and the urban nature surrounding's Bridge street studios. She has translated these images into textile pieces using acrylic, stitch and a variation of papers and text. Fiona's pieces result in nostalgic, bright and embellished pieces.

Sarah McKenna is examining maps and hidden treasure in her pieces for the upcoming show. She is fascinated by the alchemy of people and place and how certain combinations will create hidden gold.

Having moved into Bridge Street Studios after working from home, Brona Carty has looked at how there is a flow of production when surrounded by the other creative artists. A Hive of Creativity, Brona is exploring the similarities of artists to bees, creative and hardworking.

Mary Cowan has always loved industrial objects and discovered an old winch above her studio space. She has used this as her inspiration for 'Just like Soho'. Mary hand-builds her sculptural pieces using coils, slabs and pieces turned out from molds or a combination of all these.

Rachel Tinniswood's new work takes inspiration from the words, cracks, crows and holes. This is in direct reference to the space in which she inhabits and works within the studio walls. The work for the exhibition reflects a number of thoughts, the process of grief, families,communities and the passing of time.

The work of Caoilfionn Murphy O'Hanlon is a representation of her emotional transition on joining the team of artists in Bridge Street Studios; the pieces document a journey from darkness into light, stagnation to fruition, revealing how a hub of fellow creatives coaxed her from her self-exiled cocoon.

Orlaith Cullinane is making a series of portraits of the Bridge Street artists at work. The alchemy of transforming crude materials into objects of beauty and meaning is manifest in the depiction of their physical process. The paintings and drawings illuminate the numerous layers of the artists' relationships with their practice and their workspace.

Orla Barry's work contains images which are snippets of different memories and experiences from the studio and the area. These glimpses combined show her symbols from over the years and how they layer together.

The exhibition opens officially on Thursday June 7th with a wine reception, and will run until July 21st.

Rachel Tinniswood will be showing how to make 3D felt pods on June 9th while Gailfionn Murphy O'Hanlon will be giving a workshop in making mini felt landscapes on July 16th, while Orlaith Culinane gives a talk on June 23 and Mary Cowan gives a printmaking workshop on June 30th. All these events are in the Basement. The Bridge Street Studios will be open for talks and presentations by the artists June 21st and July 5th.
Louth could have two representatives at the International Rose of Tralee Festival this year, with the selection of a Cooley woman as the Toronto Rose last weekend.

Carly was born in Toronto and moved back to Ireland at the age of two.

She is the only Canadian born of her siblings.

She has been very active in GAA both in Ireland with, Cooley Kickhams in north Louth and Durham Robert Emmetts GAA in Toronto.

Carly works in Investor Relations and has a Bachelor of Arts International Honours Degree from National University of Maynooth Ireland and University of Vienna Austria.

On top of all this, Carly is into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, something which might make an interesting on stage demonstration for host Daithi O Se!

Carly will join Ann Marie Duffy from Dundalk who was crowned the Louth Rose 2018.
Ireland's smallest, but arguably prettiest, sailing vessels will make a welcome visit to Drogheda as part of the 2018 Irish Maritime Festival.

Anyone who has ever spent a sunny afternoon in Dun Laoghaire will recognise the colourful little boats bobbing and racing about. Over 130 years ago, Dublin lawyer Thomas Middleton had the idea of building a fleet of identical boats to race together in Dublin Bay. Called "Water Wags" these light weight little sailing boats are native to Ireland and are always a beautiful sight.

Now these very special vessels are coming to Drogheda for a very momentous occasion.

The Boyne Canal has been closed to vessels for many years.

The Canal had been used primarily as a transport route for bringing cargo and produce to Drogheda Port from Navan. But the development of the railways in the early 1900's saw the demise of river transport and by 1932 the Boyne Canal gates were decaying and sealed up.

Over the past 15 years, the Boyne Navigation Branch, part of Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, have been working to re-open the channel of the Boyne that leads up to Oldbridge. This has been a labour of love requiring both investment and many, many hours of hard graft by a dedicated team of skilled volunteers.

Through the efforts of the volunteers, the Boyne Canal is gradually re-opening to small vessels, both sail and motor. To celebrate this, the Water Wags are coming to Drogheda as part of the Irish Maritime Festival. They will set out from the Boyne Fisherman's Rescue on Saturday morning, sailing through Drogheda and will then approach the Boyne Canal in a procession. The sailors will disembark for a visit to Oldbridge before sailing back down the river after the Boyne Swim. On Sunday the Water Wags will sail in a Regatta on the River Boyne to delight the festival going audience.

The invitation to the Water Wags to visit Drogheda is an initiative of Drogheda Port Company and Louth County Council. It is facilitated by the teams at the Boyne Navigation Branch (IWAI), Boyne Fisherman's Rescue and the Office of Public Works.

Speaking on behalf of Louth County Council, Colette Moss explains "The Irish Maritime Festival offers local people the opportunity to connect with our maritime heritage. But it also offers a great opportunity to promote Drogheda to a maritime/tourist audience. The opening of Fiddle Case Pier last year has created an opportunity for leisure sailors to visit Drogheda for daytrips and overnights."

Drogheda's Harbourmaster Capt. Martin Donnelly continues "The new slipway at the ramparts and the opening up of the Boyne Canal makes the river accessible to smaller vessels. Ultimately the Boyne Branch of the IWAI want to make both Oldbridge and Newgrange accessible by boat from the Irish Sea. The River Boyne is one of Drogheda's greatest attributes and we're proud to use the Irish Maritime Festival to showcase these features to the sailing community and invite them to discover our town and the Boyne Valley region."

The Irish Maritime Festival takes place on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th June and is hosted by Louth County Council in conjunction with Drogheda Port Company.

The Festival is proudly sponsored by Virgin Media and supported by Flogas, Glanbia and Failte Ireland.

The Festival commences with a Parade of Sail up the Boyne on Friday 15th June and the Stowaway Sessions on the deck of the Earl of Pembroke that night.

For more information visit www.MaritimeFestival.ie
Louth County Councillor John McGahon this week called for a change in the way in which people register to vote in Ireland.

The Dundalk based Fine Gael Councillor said that following t the referendum there was a need for a 'drastic overhaul of the Register of Electors, particularly in relation to registering to vote, moving your vote and automatically registering 18 year olds.'

'The recent referendum has shown me once again that the process of registering to vote or changing address is outdated and needs to be reformed. For example, if you want to register to vote, you need to download an RFA2 Form, go to a Garda station, have it stamped and then leave it into a council's office. Having to jump through so many hoops to register to vote in this day and age is outdated and cumbersome.'

We need to move the process of registering or moving your vote to an online system. In the UK for example, you can register to vote or change your address online within five minutes, all that is required is a national insurance number. By moving it online, we are making it easier and simpler for people to keep their information up to date. Equally, it helps make the register more accurate. There are huge inaccuracies in our electoral register up and down the country and it's leading to a bloated and incorrect electoral register.'

Cllr. McGahon added: 'Also, during the recent referendum, I had so many people ask me were they still entitled to vote if they were abroad or in hospital. In the UK you can apply for a proxy for a single election on a specific date for circumstances such as being away on polling day, having a medical issue or not being able to vote in person because of work. I think we should also consider this.'

'Equally, I would also strongly encourage the Government to consider ensuring that all eighteen year olds are automatically registered to vote. In 2017 alone, over 61,000 young people celebrated their 18th birthday. The National Youth Council of Ireland has proposed for many years that all young people should be automatically registered and this will dramatically reduce non-registration.'

He pointed out: 'The recent referendum has quite literally seen a revolution in terms of youth participation and if we are serious about continuing this trend we need to make the voting process easier and simpler.'
Over 1,000 additional gardai would be needed to man the border regions in the event of a hard Brexit, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) heard last week.

The GRA's annual conference was told of a 'lack of information about plans for policing the border' following the UK's planned departure from the EU next March.

The GRA, which represents 11,200 rank and file gardai, said extra resources would be needed regardless of whether there was a hard or soft Brexit.

James Morrisroe, a garda currently based along the border, told the GRA's annual conference in Wexford that the estimate of 1,000 extra gardai was probably 'a conservative figure.'

The conference was told that there were approximately 208 border crossings along the 500km frontier.

Members also heard that regardless of what type of Brexit happens, more garda resources would be required for the border to deal with terrorism, immigration and ordinary crime, he said.

Garda Morrisroe said that existing resources in counties bordering Northern Ireland were already stretched and at breaking point. 'A hard border outcome as a result of Brexit would, one imagines, place an intolerable strain on already depleted resources. It would simply be unsustainable at current levels,' he said.

Speaking at a press conference, Donall O Cualain, the acting garda commissioner, said gardai under John Twomey, the deputy commissioner, were looking at 'all possible outcomes after Brexit but said that ultimately the outcome would be determined by politicians. 'We are preparing for whatever one might land' he said.

Concerns about policing any type of hard border were raised recently by Louth's Chief Supt. Christy Mangan, who predicted a 'doomsday scenario' if gardai were faced with having to man the border crossings after Brexit.

The 'Border Communities Against Brexit' (BCAB) group took their campaign all the way to London last week.

The award winning group were taking part in a conference entitled '(Re) Introducing the Irish border' at the University of London.

But the group said they wanted to use the opportunity to 'show the people of London what a hard border really looks like.'

'Boris's border in Boris's land is somewhere between fantasy and nightmare,' said a spokesman, referring to comments made by the British Foreign Secretary comparing the borders in London boroughs to that separating Ireland north and south.

BCAB are campaigning that Northern Ireland remains within the Customs Union and the Single Market to protect tens of thousand of jobs at risk, and to prevent our communities being divided by a hard border.

'The Good Friday Agreement clearly set out how Ireland is different in its citizenship, it 142 area's of cross border co-operation and the right of the majority of its citizens to decide on its political future, never mind that we have a 300 mile border with a EU member.

The (Re) Introducing The Irish Border conference was organised by Peter Leary, Junior Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London and author of Unapproved Routes: histories of the Irish border.
After selling out his June date in the Mill Theatre in Dundrum, comedian Adam Burke is putting on a second show, on July 14, in aid of Suicide or Survive.

'The Big Happy Head On Ya!' is the apt title of the show, in which Adam imparts, in suitably amusing fashion, some of the methods he uses to maintain said happy head in his own life. Burke has a busy summer ahead, hosting the comedy at Groove Festival in Bray, hosting two nights at the 'All Together Now' festival, and continuing to bring 'Hardy Har Comedy Club' to audiences at the Harbour Bar each month.

'I know Suicide or Survive through youth work,' said Adam, who works with a youth group in Ballywaltrim. 'It's a cause close to my heart with the line of work I'm in.'

He also did some work with the group 'What's the Story', warming up for their first live podcast for SOS.

Aoife Dooley of 'Your Wan Nikita' fame will open for Adam on July 14. She was a finalist in the Best New Act competition, and has battled her own issues with self-confidence as well as an adult diagnosis of autism.

'It's great that at this stage in life she's able to explain feelings she had in the past. She was picked based on her talent, before I knew any of this. But she's the right fit for it, it's almost like a bit of destiny,' said Adam.

This is Adam's first solo show outside the Harbour Bar. He has previously written and performed three separate hours of comedy.

He decided to change the annual schedule a bit with a gig outside of his home town.

Luminaries such as Fred Cooke and Danny O'Brien had done the Mill, hence the choice. The show is in the studio space at the theatre, and a June 30 date sold out quickly.

Adam has been doing comedy for eleven years and, in a previous incarnation, was a wrestler under the moniker 'Adam Abz'. He's also a youth worker, father to a gang of girls, husband to long-suffering Sandra, and frequent Bray Open Forum agitator.

He recently reached the finals of two prestigious competitions - Show Me the Funny and Ireland's Got Comedy Talent.

He and others who have been on the circuit for a decade or more were being introduced as 'fresh new faces'.

'I was looking around the green room. All of us had been doing it a long time!' he said.

That's the nature of the business and Adam has persevered good-humouredly, in pursuing an art he loves dearly.

On foot of those competitions, a slot at The Laughter Lounge followed, as well as the hosting job at All Together Now in Waterford over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.

That includes the job of bringing one of his comedy heroes, Tommy Tiernan, on to the stage.

'To share the stage with that kind of company will be amazing,' he said.

At this year's Bray Comedy Festival, it was the cast of Steve Frost's Comedy Improv who were the comedy royalty for Adam. and they were gentlemen all, never mind being supremely funny.

Adam is a natural host and enjoys that roll.

'If I could do nothing else but work as a host for my entire career, I would,' he said.

Putting people at ease is something which comes naturally to the Bray man, whose sharp wit never veers into snide territory, yet keeps the punters laughing.

The comedy world is a small community and those on the rise or at the top tend to look out for and remember those coming along behind them. As a promoter, Adam subscribes to that ethos when booking acts for Hardy Har or the comedy festival.

He's booked the household-name Rubberbandits, as well as acts doing their first few minutes of standup and everyone in between.

Dara O Briain remains the holy grail for Bray Comedy Festival, but at four years it's a festival still in its early childhood (if not its infancy) compared to giants like the Kilkenny Cat Laughs.

Adam bumped into Dara in the Harbour Bar and the superstar gave his fellow Bray man plenty of encouragement.

'I'm the one who keeps tweeting you!' was how Adam introduced himself. 'I know', said Dara, like a comic Han Solo.

There isn't a venue big enough to accommodate O Briain at the moment, but Adam has some ambitious plans for the years to come as the festival develops.

For tickets to Adam's solo show in Dundrum, go to milltheatre.ie.
Emily Lannin and Kayleigh Dodd look through the site specific kaleidoscope work by the BTEC students of Fine Art

Graduates of BIFE's art and design programmes displayed their work recently at an exhibition at the college.

Students of fine art, fashion and textiles, furniture and other disciplines at the Bray college got to exhibit the pieces they created throughout the year.

Visitors enjoyed seeing some of the art work by the portfolio preparation course, as well as drawing, painting, print and ceramic from the art-craft-design and fine art courses.

Graphic designers displayed 2D and 3D designs, with garments designed and created by fashion students.

The garden designers created a garden area.

Others to display their work included game development students, as well as architects.

Students from all departments worked hard to get the displays ready for the exhibition.

Visitors were impressed with the high standards show across the board.

Students attend Bray Institute of Further Education from all over Wicklow, South Dublin and North Wexford.
Irish Water has announced that businesses in County Wicklow are to receive new meters featuring improved technology to allow for faster and more frequent meter readings.

According to the service provider, this will result in fewer estimated bills being issued to customers and will also provide data to Irish Water which will assist in identifying potential leaks at a business premises. The Regional Meter Replacement Programme was launched late last year and is currently ongoing in Donegal, Limerick, Sligo, Roscommon, Galway, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Offaly, Longford and Kilkenny.

Business customers who will be receiving a replacement meter in Wicklow have already been notified by letter and the first 44 per cent will be installed in the coming weeks.

'Irish Water would like to stress that there is no charge to customers for the installation of the new meters which should ultimately provide them with a more accurate bill for their water usage and a means of detecting water leaks on their properties,' a spokesperson said.

Water supply to businesses will be temporarily shut-off for approximately 15 minutes while the water meter is being replaced, however Irish Water will endeavour to keep the length of this water outage to a minimum.

Businesses will receive a reminder notification at least two days before the work is scheduled to begin and the project team will speak to the customer directly before interrupting supply.
Sixth class pupils from St Brigids NS in Greystones with their award. Photo by Tomas Tyner, UCC.

Sixth class pupils at St Brigid's National School in Greystones have won first prize in the 'Decade of Centenaries' all-island schools history competition.

The students of Mr Dodd's and Ms Murray's sixth classes won the top award for primary schools in the Women's History section of the competition, which was sponsored by the Department of Education, Mercier Press and UCC's School of History and supported by 'History Ireland' magazine.

St Brigid's entry was based on research originally done for a dramatic re-enactment of scenes from the lives of Muriel and Grace Gifford, Kitty Kiernan, and Sinead De Valera, women who all had a connection to Greystones and the revolutionary period of 1916 to 1922.

In September 2017, they performed at the La Touche Legacy's annual Festival of History at the invitation of the La Touche Legacy committee. The students were fascinated to discover that, as children, the Gifford sisters enjoyed holidays with their family in Greystones.

They were interested to hear that Kitty Kiernan and Michael Collins were considering buying 'Brooklands' on Trafalgar Road, as this house is directly opposite the entrance to St Brigid's NS.

However, students discovered that it was Sinead de Valera who had the closest links with St Brigid's, as a number of her children attended the school and she herself helped the Holy Faith Sisters improve their Irish.

Principal Maire Costello was delighted to announce that they had won this award and she congratulated both classes and their teachers. A group of the children represented the school at the prize giving in the Aula Maxima of University College Cork on Monday, May 21.

The students received a history trophy and mini-library from the Mercier press website to the value of 200. All winning entries will be digitised online and one of the winners will be considered for publication in an issue of 'History Ireland'.

'It takes a village to raise a child' and the children from sixth class St Brigid's would like to acknowledge the encouragement of George Jones, local historian Rosemary Raughter and the members of the La Touche Seminar committee, whose original invitation to participate in the La Touche Seminar inspired the children's interest in this particular aspect of local history.'

The pupils of St Brigid's take a lively interest in local history and have a busy local history blog, thegreystones.edublogs.org.
HCM CITY  A patient diagnosed with swine flu (A/H1N1) has died while another is in critical condition in Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City, health officials said on Friday.

The HCM City Preventive Health Centre said that a 29-year-old female patient from Thu uc District died from swine flu on May 30 after five days of self-treatment at home.

A male patient, born in 1969, who had Type 2 diabetes, was transferred from Thu uc Hospital on June 5 after eight days of self-treatment at home to Cho Ray Hospital, Dr Le Quoc Hung of the hospitals Faculty of Tropical Diseases said.

The patient, who was diagnosed with respiratory failure and pneumonia, was quarantined for further treatment after testing positive for swine flu.

According to his family, the man had been driving a bus in late May that included tourists who were ill with flu. After the man returned home, he began to experience a high fever and muscle pain, and his health condition worsened.

The Health Preventive Medicine Centre said that patients who are obese (which was the case of the woman who died) or who have diabetes are more susceptible to contracting swine flu.

Thu uc Hospital, after eight days of inspection, said that it had not detected any trace of swine flu after the admission of the male patient.

The Health Preventive Medicine Centre urged everyone, especially children, the elderly, pregnant women, obese people, and those with chronic conditions to be vaccinated; take extra care of their personal hygiene; avoid coming into contact with people with flu symptoms; and seek medical help if they have swine flu symptoms.

Swine flu is a mild seasonal flu with typical symptoms being high fever, coughing, headaches, muscle pain, sore throat, and runny nose.

It is spread through the respiratory system when a patient sneezes, coughs or comes into contact with objects contaminated by the virus.

Most infected people can recover in a week without special treatment.

On June 1, 16 people tested positive for swine flu after showing symptoms such as high fever and muscle pain at Tu Du Maternity Hospital.

One day later, the number of infected people rose to 28, including eight health staff from the hospital.

HCM Citys Tu Du Maternity Hospital said the swine flu outbreak was under control.  VNS
Charleville Heritage Society will participate in National Heritage Week 2018 which is on from August 18-26 at the Provincial Heritage Centre at the Convent of Mercy, Main Street.

The theme for this year's Heritage Week is connecting Irish and European Heritage, and Charleville has many connections with the European mainland going back to the Crimean War when nuns from the local Convent of Mercy went to nurse soldiers wounded in the war.

The war was a major European conflict of the 19th Century in which an alliance led by Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia challenged the Russian Empire in the war which lasted from 1853 to 1856 and was fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula.

The Charleville nuns travelled to the Crimea at the request of the Mercy Sisters from the Mother House in Baggot Street in Dublin seeking sisters to aid with nursing the soldiers, who were wounded in the war. One of the two sisters from the Charleville convent who offered to travel was Sister M. Joseph Croke, a sister of Archbishop Thomas William Croke of Cashel.

She wrote a diary of the journey of the group of nuns to the war zone, and their time there. She related their experiences nursing the wounded, their frosty relationship with Florence Nightingale, the much-vaunted Lady of the Lamp, and the conditions they endured during their time in the Crimea from 1854 until the war ended in 1856.

Sister Joseph Croke returned to Charleville and was afterwards the Mother Superior of the Convent of Mercy, Charleville and remained there until her death.

Her diary will be on view as part of the European Heritage Week as well as other artefacts connected to the war.

Other Charleville connections to Europe, who will be featured in the week-long exhibition are Charleville born Professor Daniel Binchy, who was the first Irish minister to the Germany from 1929 to 1932 during the Cosgrave government.

Charleville poet and translator John Anster, who was born in the town in 1793, will also be remembered.

He converted from Catholicism to the Church of Ireland and was educated at Trinity College. He was admitted to the Bar in 1824 and became Regius Professor of Civil Law at TCD and was Registrar of the Admiralty Court. He contributed prose essays to the North British Review and poems to Amulet in Blackwood's Magazine.

He translated Goethe's 'Faust' from the German to English, and his translation is still in use to this day.

God Save Us Da Health

A two-act story entitled 'Lord Spare Us Da Health' is about the life of a Kerry man who worked in construction in England before coming home to farm a small holding near Hospital in Co. Limerick, and it will be staged and related by his son at the Schoolyard Theatre, Charleville on June 29 next.

Actor and musician Michael O'Sullivan will tell the story of his father, also Mick, who was born in 1915, one of nine living children to Jack and Johanna O'Sullivan, who lived near Dingle in rural west Kerry.

The story takes the audience through his life from Dingle to the building sites of England and finally to the small Co. Limerick farm. He tells the stories of the characters he met along the way, who along with everybody else were striving to survive, sharing the ups and downs of life, and what little they had with their neighbours. They played cards, told stories and tried to get from dawn to dusk without killing each other.

'There were the do-gooders who saved us all, the begrudgers who wanted it all and the lovers who had it all,' as the play relates.

'Lord Spare Us Da Health' is presented in two acts through the eyes of Mick's son, Michael, who runs a theatre education company called Humourfit, which visits second level schools throughout Ireland. He presents and performs self-penned plays on bullying and mental health issues at teachers' conferences.

Michael is also the writer in residence for Clifden Community Arts Festival in Co. Galway. A competent musician, he was a member of the Gimick Showband during the heyday of the showband era.

Booking for the Schoolyard show is at 087-1804870.

Ballyhea Says Know this Sunday

This Sunday, June 10, marching at 10.30am sharp, the 'Ballyhea Says Know' group continues its campaign to highlight the injustice of the bank debt burden.

This month the group is asking marchers to wear red to show solidarity with the many women affected by the cervical cancer scandal and the Standing4Women demos which took place recently around the country.

'Even as we cut corners on our screening programme we continue to destroy billions of euro to repay the debts of a failed bank, Anglo Irish. What value do we put on the lives of women?' said a group spokesperson.

'Despite the fact that it is now almost completely ignored, it hasn't gone away. Last year, our Central Bank destroyed 4 billion. This year, so far, another 1billion; since 2014, a total of 10.5 billion has been destroyed.

'The Anglo Promissory Note debt legacy [is a] a legacy we now leave our children; unless we take a stand. This is all being done in front of our eyes but with no publicity. And it has real ramifications.

'Join the dots, join us in Ballyhea, 10.30am Sunday and, if you can, wear red.'

New windows for Ballyhea church

Saint Mary's Parish Church in Ballyhea is to get new windows.

A notice in the parish newsletter states that work has commenced on the making of new windows for the church.

'It is expected that it will take about a month to make the first window. The new windows will be timber sash windows and will be modelled on those in St. John the Baptist Church in Kinsale. The latter church was built in 1832 by the same architect that built Ballyhea, Brother Michael Augustine Riordan,' said the newsletter.

The church was built in 1831 by the Parish Priest the Rev. John Power, on a site donated by Mr. Harrison of Castleharrison, Ballyhea. The addition of the new windows follows the installation of a new bell by the present parish priest, Right Rev. Monsignor James O'Brien.
Last Saturday evening saw big celebrations in Knocknagree, as the GAA club celebrated 21 years of its lottery.

For over two decades it has been the financial lifeblood of the club and assisted greatly with the development of club facilities, including two full-size pitches, a training pitch and a state of the art floodlight system.

Club chairman Jeremiah Moynihan paid tribute to the many volunteers who assisted with the lotto over the years.

"It's great to see so many new people coming on board during the last 12 months off the back of our All-Ireland success. Fresh faces have given a new impetus which we believe is vital for securing our club lotto into the future," Jeremiah said.

He also thanked all who have bought weekly and yearly tickets over the years. Dinny Twomey, one of the original founders of the lottery, gave a special mention to those outside of Knocknagree who support the lotto.

The night also saw the launch of the club's new online lotto, which can be accessed at http://bit.ly/KnocknagreeGAA.

Club PRO Patrick Hickey explained the move: "With recent success raising the profile of the club and a massive jackpot of 15,000, we had a lot of enquiries on social media about playing our lotto online, so we said we'd have to move with the times!".
Conor Noonan, Mallow, using a PRR Radio courtesy of Sgman Patrick Murdock of the Defence Forces at last years Munster Maths & Science Family Fair at Mallow GAA Complex

For generations of schoolchildren the mere mention of the words maths and science were enough to send shivers of dread down the spine.

Certainly one word that most people would not have associated with the subject was fun. However, in recent years Ireland's largest event showcasing the potential of the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), has drawn thousands of students to Mallow to discover the fun and practical aspects of studying the subjects and how they can shape future careers.

Now in its eighth year, The Munster Maths and Science Family Fair will tale place in the Mallow GAA Complex at Carrigoon on Sunday, October 14.

Organised by the education pillar of the Mallow Development Partnership (MDP), the event is part funded through Cork County Council's Economic Development Fund and the Irish American Partnership.

An MDP spokesperson said the aim of the Fair was to demonstrate how STEM subjects could be enjoyable and, just as importantly, showcase the subjects through educational demonstrations by third level colleges and schools and exhibits from industry and research institutes.

"It will demonstrate how the STEM subjects impact on everyday life and how studying them can open up exciting career paths for students," said the spokesperson.

"It will also provide a valuable opportunity to discuss with the professionals their careers working as an engineer, scientist, researcher and what subjects are needed to study for these careers."

This year's fair will also see the return of the fair's primary schools initiative programme, which is rolled out by Mary Immaculate College to senior cycle students attending national schools across the Mallow and wider north Cork area.

"Under the initiative, the children are taught STEM skills though dedicated projects and use the fair as a platform to showcase their newly acquired skills," said the spokesperson.

"This has proven so successful that each year school projects showcased at the Fair are entered into the BT Young Scientists exhibition at the RDS in Dublin."

For more information about the fair and updates, look up the dedicated Facebook page or visit www.mallow.ie.
There has been a warm and positive response to the news that Elaine O'Regan has been appointed principal of Mallow's Patrician Academy and will take up her new role when Catherine Fitzpatrick formally retires in August.

A gifted and well respected figure within the school community, the Wicklow native began her career Alexandra College in Dublin and has been teaching maths, business, accounting and LCVP at the Academy for the past 18-years. Her appointment was greeted with widespread enthusiasm by the school community, with the only disappointment expressed being that the students would be "losing a brilliant teacher".

Officially welcoming the appointment, the Patrician Board of Management offered their congratulations and wished her every success in her new role. Elaine, a mother of four, said she was looking forward to the next chapter in her career.

"I am honoured to have been given the privilege of serving the school community as principal. I am really looking forward to working with my colleagues on the staff, the students and their parents and indeed the wider Patrician Academy family," she said.

Her appointment will bring to a close Catherine Fitzpatrick's 11-year tenure as Patrician principal and her more than four-decade association with the Academy.

Catherine told The Corkman that she had enjoyed every minute of her time at the school.

"I have had the great privilege of watching the school develop and grow during my time here and am proud to have overseen this for the past 11-years. I have worked alongside some fantastic colleagues during my time her and have loved watching the students bloom as they progressed through the years," said Catherine.

"We have always had a great tradition of academic and sporting excellence at the Patrician Academy and I have no doubt but that will continue into the future as the school rises to the challenge of modern living. I wish Elaine, her staff and all of the pupils the very best for the future. Of course it is with a certain sadness that I am retiring, but I am also looking forward to a new chapter in my life," she added.
Exams. The very word alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone who has ever been sat down in an examination hall watching the seconds tick by until they are told to 'turn over your papers'.

For thousands of Junior and Leaving Cert students across Cork the long wait came to an end on Wednesday morning as the first day of their state exams finally rolled around and they sat down to tackle English paper 1.

While there was no doubt that there was some tension felt, soon to be retiring principal of the Patrician Academy in Mallow, Catherine Fitzpatrick, said there was little sign of anxiety among her students.

"Leaving Certificate, in particular, can be quite a stressful time and we always say that the first day of exams is the worst day. While there was a quiet atmosphere around the school on Wednesday morning I would not say that it was overly subdued," said Catherine.

"It was more of calmness, with the vast majority of the pupils seeming to be happy with their preparations over the past weeks and months. Certainly, talking to some of the students after they had come out of the first exam, they seemed to be quite happy with how it went."

She said that great credit must go to the students for the manner in which they approached the exams.

"They have all worked extremely hard and hopefully that has paid off. Great credit must also go to the staff for their work in preparing the students and, of course, to the parents for the great support they have given along the way," she added.

Millstreet's Joanne O'Riordan (No Limbs No Limits) took centre stage in the English ordinary level paper 1.

A text based on edited extracts from a speech delivered by Joanne at the United Nations in New York when she was 16 was included in the comprehension section of the paper, with students tasked with answering questions on it.

Meanwhile, The Corkman caught up with some of the young scholars exiting their first exam, and they seemed happy with the paper and relieved to be over the first hurdle.

At the Patrician Academy, Mallow:

James Roche - It was easier than I thought it would be.

Sean Woulfe - Grand, very doable.

Casey Smyth - Wicket, innit!.

James Grant - I was delighted with the Essay choices.

Calum Smith - Im hopeful that I might not fail!.

Darragh Williams - I probably wont have to repeat!.

Lorcan ODonovan - I was very happy with the paper overall.

Callum OBrien - Its great to get the first one over, we were well prepared so it went well I think.

At Colaiste Treasa in Kanturk:

Amanda Dunne - It was easy, Im very happy with it.

Chloe Curtin - Easier than we expected, everyone thought the same.
Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda and Mary Steenburgen are far better than Bill Holdermans picture deserves

Let's talk about sexagenarians. Writer-director Bill Holderman's frothy romantic comedy stars Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen in underwritten roles as life-long friends, who have forgotten what it means to grow old disgracefully.

One leaf through the pages of E.L James's erotic thriller Fifty Shades Of Grey, the chosen text for a monthly book club, and these likeable heroines are enjoying first-date sex on the back seat of a car, slipping Viagra pills into a spouse's beer and inadvertently grabbing the crotch of an adjacent passenger on a commercial flight.

'If women our age were meant to have sex, God wouldn't do what he does to our bodies.' argues Bergen's feisty Federal court judge.

Book Club arrives in cinemas more than seven years after James's swoonsome literary beau, Christian Grey, whipped wide-eyed readers into a frenzy.

It's hard to believe that one of the characters in the film wouldn't have secretly read the bestseller in that period but Holderman's film, which is co-written by Erin Simms, doesn't tarry on matters of likelihood or logic.

Not when contrivances and coincidences can be piled one atop another to provide the four likeable leading ladies with predictable subplots that ensure they all reach the end credits with willing suitors and a sheen of contentment.

Best friends Diane (Keaton), Vivian (Fonda), Sharon (Bergen) and Carol (Steenburgen) merrily reunite each month over glasses of chilled white wine to discuss a book chosen by one member of the coterie.

Hotel manager Vivian elects to introduce her shocked pals to Christian Grey's notorious Red Room.

'I haven't had sex since my divorce and it's been the happiest 18 years of my life,' quips Sharon, who has recently learnt that her ex-husband Tom (Ed Begley Jr) has taken a pneumatic young blonde (Mircea Monroe) as his fiancee.

As agreed, the women devour the pages of the chosen tome and James's lurid descriptions of spanking and bondage spark lustful thoughts.

Doting wife Carol seeks new ways to reinvigorate her marriage to husband Bruce (Craig T Nelson) while Sharon is persuaded to sign up to an internet dating site and matches with accountant George (Richard Dreyfuss).

Vivian has a chance encounter with old flame Arthur (Don Johnson) and recently widowed Diane is swept off her feet by airline captain Mitchell (Andy Garcia) during a visit to her grown-up daughters Jill (Alicia Silverstone) and Adrianne (Katie Aselton).

Unlike the luminous leading ladies, Book Club feels tired and outdated.

The cast enlivens a plodding script and injects vim into scenes of sisterly solidarity that might otherwise become clogged with emotional syrup.

Fonda savours every slink of her man eater and Bergen can make even the dullest one-liner sing.

They are far better than Holderman's picture deserves.
With the economy said to be overheating and trouble brewing in the Eurozone, it's a nervous time for Ireland but we shouldn't be panicking just yet.

As the seemingly endless political turmoil continues in Italy this week, the Paris based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned that's Ireland's economy is showing signs of overheating and Brexit remains the biggest risk.

While we should certainly take the OECD's warning - which is largely based on the state of the Irish property market - on board it is important that we, and the markets, don't overreact.

Given past experience and the disastrous collapse of the Irish economy 10 years ago it is no surprise that the OECD is keeping a keen eye on Ireland at the same time that Italy threatens the Euro.

However, the OECD's experts appear to have missed out on one very important fact about Ireland's spiralling house prices.

The OECD has raised the scary prospect of another property bubble developing in Ireland and has suggested that new credit controls be used to tamp down credit growth.

What is important to note is that this time around the growth in house prices has not been caused by speculators with access to practically unlimited credit.

On this occasion it is the law of supply and demand that is at the heart of the issue.

Put very simply, after Ireland's lost decade there just aren't enough houses to meet the demand.

Contrary to what the OECD suggests, freeing up more credit might actually help matters.

We certainly don't want to see a return to the financial madness of the boom era but if housing prices are to be steadied then we need more houses. Lots of them.

To do that developers - many of whom are solvent but still can't access enough credit - need cash to get the construction sector moving again.

Similarly, concerns about Italy's political deadlock and the risk it poses to the Eurozone would also appear to be a little over the top.

The crisis in Italy has seen the value of the Euro fall sharply as investors run for cover but in the long term - based on Italian public opinion - there appears to be little threat of the Eurozone's third largest economy leaving the single currency.

Such jitters in international markets are nothing new and some adjustments are inevitable when political crises unfold.

We should not overreact and lose focus on the major unfolding issues that are a threat to Ireland, namely US tariffs on steel and aluminium and the potential impacts of Brexit.

The looming trade war between Europe and the USA, along with Brexit, pose what the US would call a 'clear and present danger' to the Irish economy and it is one these that our attention should remain primarily focussed on.

The situation in Italy and the OECD's warnings about our housing market should be noted but they shouldn't be allowed distract attention from where the real risks lie.
Appeals have been made for Drogheda not to become a 'rip off town' for the duration of this year's Fleadh in August, with business owners being asked to sign up to a charter of best practice.

At a well attended business meeting in the Westcourt Hotel last week, Fleadh figures said the town should be a welcoming experience for the visitors from all around the world.

Lolo Robinson said the Fleadh is workshop based for a week and the serious competitions then run for three days, from the 17th, 18th and 19th of August.

'From Thursday evening on it gets very busy,' she stated.

But the mood of the meeting was very much inclusion with the local community asked to come out and enjoy the biggest annual spectacle in the country.

Up to 1.5m is needed to run the event and the credit unions in the region have already rowed in as main sponsors. A number of others have also been secured.

Louth County Council and Chief Executive Joan Martin were praised for the way they have backed the idea of staging the Fleadh in the county from the very first meetings some years ago.

Gavin Duffy said that felt the town would attract 150,000 on the Saturday of the Fleadh, due to the town's proximity to Dublin and Northern Ireland, with day-trippers in abundance.

He said he wanted the town to be 'clever' about how it did business and didn't want people 'ringing Joe Duffy' and complaining about the price of burgers!

A number of suggestions were made about what the town should do, including opening the likes of the former Xtravision at the Haymarket and Supervalu in Stockwell Street for large scale sessions.

Supt Andrew Watters said that the gardai won't be taking over the event with a large security presence as they were keen to allow people to enjoy themselves.

A number of key elements concerning the Fleadh were again explained with stages at St Dominic's Park, Fleadh TV down at the port and at the Crescent.

It's the newly developed theatre at the former Star and Crescent and will take up to 600 people.

There will be a park and ride service in operation from an area at Rosehall on the Monasterboice side, the former Coca-Cola site on the Donore Road and at the Marsh Road , which has been deemed a park and stroll.

It was also revealed that Drogheda's reach for the week will stretch to 92 countries with an audience of 16.5 million people.

Ultimately, the organisers see it as a platform to promote Drogheda and hope people will return in the years ahead.
A few years ago, Co Tu villagers in Nam Giang District could not imagine that their communitys daily activities could bring them a significant income source. By sharing their rice preparation, rattan knitting, cooking, singing and dancing with tourists, they make money while preserving traditions. Hong Minh reports.

On a two-hour bus trip from a Nang City to the central province of Quang Nams Nam Giang District, I tried to learn a few common words of the ethnic Co Tu language: Kro ka? (How are you?), Iem (tasty), and Liem (beautiful).

Passing through green fields and forests along National Highway 14B to reach Parong Village in Ta Bhing Commune, we were told that the Co Tu people appreciate it when visitors to the village can speak the local language.

The village is getting more visitors these days: It was the first stop of our trip to experience community-based tourism here, where a new project aims to improve local quality of life while giving travellers the chance to experience daily activities such as pounding rice, chopping firewood, and knitting rattan household utensils.

As the bus stopped at the village gate, a group of villagers in traditional costumes rushed to say hello and clapped their hands cheerfully to welcome us. The salutation Kro ka was exchanged as if we were relatives being welcomed back home.

The Co Tu in Nam Giang continue to struggle to make a comfortable living and provide for their families. Nguyen Van Phi, deputy head of the districts culture section, said around 68 per cent of the population was still poor in 2016.

The community-based tourism project aims to change that.

The project dates back to 2012. That year, the Japanese non-governmental organisation Foundation for International Development/Relief (FIDR) tried to help restore Co Tu traditional brocade weaving under a project funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA). They found out that only eight women in Ta Bhing Commune knew how to make brocades.

With assistance from FIDR, Zo Ra Village has set up a traditional brocade weaving co-operative, with 40 members.

Portable: Knitting water-bottle keepers can help Parong village chief Zuong Noonh earn an income of VN2 million a month.

To help the products of Co Tu weavers reach customers, in 2015 a community-based tourism co-operative was set up in Ta Bhing Commune with the participation of volunteer villagers.

A community-based tourism project has been implemented in all seven villages of the commune, with technical training from FIDR and sponsorship from JICA,

Briu Thuong, director of the co-operative, said that the organisation distributes tasks and income across the villages, ensuring benefits for all.

The community-based tourism in Ta Bhing commune is very unique, Thuong said.

According to Thuong, community-based tourism of the Co Tu followed the basis of takaramono sagashi, or hunting for treasures, one of the methods used in participatory community development in Japan. Accordingly, the co-operative will research, explore and commercialise tourism products of the local area, such as restoring traditional dishes, weaving techniques and folk dance.

Joining in tourism has gradually brought significant benefits for the Co Tu, Thuong said. Young people want to learn more about the national culture, old people want to teach traditional culture to the younger generation. Co Tu elderly people are treasures as they know a lot about traditional customs and habits that need to be researched and promoted.

Villagers warmly welcome guests from the village entrance.

Seven villages, seven traditions

What does all of this mean for visitors, for locals and for interactions between the two groups? I wanted to find out, so I joined a trip to visit the villages.

At our first stop in Parong Village, women showed us how to pound rice and chop firewood, which seemed to be simple but turned out to be very difficult, and an unusual tourism experience.

Village chief Zuong Noonh, though in his 70s, can weave water-bottle keepers very fast. He said each product can be sold to tourists seeking an easier way to carry their water bottles. He sells them for VN50,000 each, or some VN2 million in total a month, which has helped him to increase the family income beyond what they can make from field work.

At noon, we visited Pa La Village which is in charge of culinary culture. Local dishes were prepared and served at the villages communal Guol house, the long house on stilts in the middle of the Co Tu village that serves as a meeting place and site of cultural activities for the rest of the village.

Inside the typical Guol house of the Co Tu people, characterised by wooden columns and walls decorated with carved figures such as birds, mammals, fishes and leaves, we enjoyed the well-cooked and tasty dishes of the forest.

These included com lam (sticky rice grilled inside a bamboo tube), grilled pork with forest herbs, chicken cooked with eggplant, zo ra (local salty dishes made from meat, frogs, birds, fish, mixed with bamboo shoots and spices and then put on bamboo tube to grill) and banh sung trau (buffalo horn-shaped steamed rice cake). The head of the culinary group and other guides sat with us and introduced us to each dish.
Parish priest Fr Michael Murtagh made an impassioned plea at the funeral of Cameron Joseph Reilly for anyone with information on how the teenager died to come forward.

During the heartbraking mass of farewell to the young Dunleer man, Fr Murtagh said that if anyone knows anything, 'to please, please come forward with what you know'.

"I would ask you to talk to each other, and if there is the remotest piece of information that may help, please tell the gardai, to anyone that you trust, or even to the confidential line."

He added that even though the worse has happened, a situation like this sometimes brings out the best of human nature
The Mayor and the Members of the Borough District of Drogheda will host a ceremony to confer The Freedom of The Borough of Drogheda on Seamus Mallon in Highlanes Gallery, St Laurence Street, Drogheda on Friday next.

Mayor Pio Smith has promoted the proposal, stating, ' I believe that he is a patriot in the true sense of the word and has worked to unite Protestant, Catholic and dissenter like a true Republican.

'Mallon was a straight talker and his goal in politics and life was to progress society in a manner that benefited all. Having a go at other political parties or communities for the sake of it was not his style, instead he tackled issues like inequality, Irish unity, lack of housing, unemployment and he did this for both Catholic and Protestant.'

'All people who live on the island of Ireland owe Seamus Mallon a deep gratitude for the significant role he played for engendering hope in a time of despair and in helping to create new and better inter communal relationships on this island.'

Mr Mallon, who will be 82 on August 17, was the first deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001. He was also the Deputy Leader of the SDLP from 1979 to 2001.

From Markethill, he played GAA for Armagh.
He was but a boy, a handsome young man, dressed in his best attire, ready for the world.

If those responsible for the death of Cameron Reilly - or those that have the information that will lead to their conviction - attended Connor's Funeral Home last weekend, they'd surely have had a heart of stone not to be moved by such a sight.

His parents, Tracy and Patrick, softly stroked his hand from time to time, trying to find comfort in this cruel, crazy madness.

His coffin was adorned with photographs, of happy times spent with family and friends, times that are gone, but will be forever remembered by so many.

For 12 hours, over the course of two days, people came and came and came, and one wondered when the flow would stop.

But this little town, this little village, is united when it comes to its own. The callous murder of a young man, left to die in a field, when maybe one phone call, one 999, might have saved him, will always live with this community - Cameron Reilly's name has been etched in the hearts and souls for so many reasons.

When his killers are convicted of this crime, it won't ease the pain of his family, last Saturday week began the first day of their life sentence - there is no getting away from that.

This week, Superintendent Andrew Watters appealed for young people, especially, to make the call that will bring Cameron's evil killer or killers to justice.

Last weekend, Cameron's passport, which he had with him on the night in question, was found during the exhaustive searches in the immediate area. They are still seeking his Bank of Ireland card, which may also have been stolen during the attack that claimed his life. It has not been used.

He says finding Cameron's mobile phone is still a priority and a reservoir at the site of the killing was drained last week.

With the army, civil defence coastguard and other services involved, the intense gardai presence in Dunleer will continue, he vows.

'No stone has been left unturned in this and we are still speaking to people and we may go back and speak to them again.

'Anybody who has not come forward as yet, come forward. We can talk to people in complete confidence and if they even talk to parents or teachers or someone they trust, they can come and talk to us.

'We believe there may have been drink and drugs being used on the night of this murder but that's not our primary concern at this time. This is serious, this was a murder and people must realise that,' he stated.

He again appealed for anybody who was in Dunleer in the early hours of Saturday 26th May and witnessed anything to get in touch.

All aspects of the case are being followed up, including forensics and CCTV - 1,000 hours collected so far from 42 locations in Dunleer.

'We have gone door to door and spoken to people and we know there's a certain fear amongst people in a close-knit community as the person responsible may still be in that community.

'We have searched the fields and we'll continue to do that until we feel we can get nothing more from there.

'We have been eliminating people from our investigation and switching to other lines of interest. There are meetings every day, this is a full scale murder investigation,' the supt added.

He says that while he sees no 'immediate arrests on Monday or Tuesday' of this week, he is more than satisfied with the manner of the investigation.

'We have a liason officer with the family and have answered questions that the family have. It is a terrible time for them.'

But his final words are for those that have the information that could lead to catching Cameron's killer. 'Yes, people are afraid, but stand up and come forward,' he added. Contact Drogheda Garda Station on 041-9874200, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111.
Among the schools being awarded the Gaelbhratach flag was Meanscoil Gharman. Students Jade Buttle, Abbie Ni Chinneide and Roisin de Ruit proudly accepted the flag on behalf of their school

Students from Enniscorthy's Meanscoil Gharman were among nearly 700 pupils from all over the country who gathered at Leopardstown Racecourse recently to attend the Gaelbhratach presentation. The Gaelbhratach scheme, funded by Foras na Gaeilge and organised by Gael Linn with support from Conradh na Gaeilge and Glor na nGael, recognises the promotion of the Irish language in both secondary and primary schools around the country.

Students Jade Buttle, Abbie Ni Chinneide and Roisin de Ruit enjoyed the fantastic atmosphere at the event and were delighted to accept the flag on behalf of the Meanscoil. The students got the chance to enjoy a high energy performance from trad group Seo Linn, with actors Micheal O Ciaraidh and Grainne Bleasdale acting as MC's at the ceremony.

They explained that it takes a lot of hard work for a school to be awarded the Gaelbhratach. The Meanscoil had to hit many targets along the way and all their work had to be verified at each step by various means, including postings on the Gaelbhratach blog and keeping a journal which is forwarded to Gael Linn at the end of the year.

Those behind the scheme were extremely impressed by the level of work put in by the Meanscoil and were delighted to hand over the flag to the happy trio representing their school. The flag will now be brought back to Brownswood where it will be proudly displayed for all to see.
Questions have once again been raised in relation to manpower in rural garda stations after a member of An Garda Siochana was the victim of a brutal assault while responding to a call in Blackwater recently. The garda, who is the sole garda based in the village, was viciously attacked by another male and had to be rushed to hospital where he received stitches to his face. He also had extensive bruising to his face and body.

The incident took place on May 23 and while fellow gardai from Gorey and Enniscorthy rushed to their colleagues' assistance, it is reported to have taken twenty minutes for them to reach the scene. A spokesman for Enniscorthy Gardai said that while the garda was making a recovery, he is not expected to return to work for well over a month.

'We have been campaigning for extra manpower at rural stations for some time now,' the spokesman said. 'Ideally, a garda would not be responding to calls like this on his own.'

The spokesman remained vague on the nature of the incident his colleague was responding to, but he did say that the man accused of the attack is due to be questioned and a file will be prepared for the DPP.

Local councillor Oliver Walsh said that he had raised the issue of manpower in Blackwater at a recent in-committee meeting between members of the Enniscorthy Municipal District Council and Superintendent Gerry McGrath.

'It is an issue that I have been raising,' he said. 'At one stage, there were two Sergeants and seven gardai between the likes of Blackwater, Oulart and Oylegate. Now we're down to just one garda in each station and it's not good enough really.'

'In Blackwater, we have a big influx of people in the summertime. It's a big area and as well as that, it's fairly far from the main towns as well. That was an issue that the fire service also raised at a meeting with the council lately.'

In the wake of this serious attack, Cllr Walsh is firm in his call for more investment in manpower at Blackwater Station before any further incidents occur. Meanwhile, everyone in the village is hopeful of a speedy recovery for the garda involved.
Talented members of Donabate Dramatic Society are celebrating after their latest production was another wonderful success.

The wonderful cast, a blend of experienced actors and new talents, produced a wonderful show during its three-night run.

The staging of The Trappe family by Seamus O'Rourke was well received by the audience at Donabate Community College.

The plays tells the story of the Trappe family. Sylvester Trappe fell off his garage roof five years ago and died.

Every year since then his wife drags her three sons and one daughter up to the same rooftop to commemorate his death and some of his life.

This play is about a family in the northwest of Ireland on a rooftop in 2007 looking out over the town and themselves. So much has changed, so much has not

Among the cast were Noelle Corcoran, Julian Nolan, Michael O'Dea, Michael Keogh and Lorraine Halpin.

The play was it was directed by Lisa Buckley.
Ireland's smallest, but arguably prettiest, sailing vessels will make a welcome visit to Drogheda as part of the 2018 Irish Maritime Festival.

Anyone who has ever spent a sunny afternoon in Dun Laoghaire will recognise the colourful little boats bobbing and racing about.

Over 130 years ago, Dublin lawyer Thomas Middleton had the idea of building a fleet of identical boats to race together in Dublin Bay. Called 'Water Wags' these light weight little sailing boats are native to Ireland and are always a beautiful sight.

Now these very special vessels are coming to Drogheda for a very momentous occasion.

The Boyne Canal has been closed to vessels for many years. The Canal had been used primarily as a transport route for bringing cargo and produce to Drogheda Port from Navan. But the development of the railways in the early 1900's saw the demise of river transport and by 1932 the Boyne Canal gates were decaying and sealed up.

Over the past 15 years, the Boyne Navigation Branch, part of Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, have been working to re-open the channel of the Boyne that leads up to Oldbridge. This has been a labour of love requiring both investment and many, many hours of hard graft by a dedicated team of skilled volunteers.

Through the efforts of the volunteers, the Boyne Canal is gradually re-opening to small vessels, both sail and motor. To celebrate this, the Water Wags are coming to Drogheda as part of the Irish Maritime Festival. They will set out from the Boyne Fisherman's Rescue on Saturday morning, sailing through Drogheda and will then approach the Boyne Canal in a procession. The sailors will disembark for a visit to Oldbridge before sailing back down the river after the Boyne Swim. On Sunday the Water Wags will sail in a Regatta on the River Boyne to delight the festival going audience.

The invitation to the Water Wags to visit Drogheda is an initiative of Drogheda Port Company and Louth County Council. It is facilitated by the teams at the Boyne Navigation Branch (IWAI), Boyne Fisherman's Rescue and the Office of Public Works.

The Irish Maritime Festival takes place on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th June and is hosted by Louth County Council in conjunction with Drogheda Port Company. The Festival is proudly sponsored by Virgin Media and supported by Flogas.

For more information visit www.MaritimeFestival.ie.
The fledgling Usher's Lake Angling Club based in Swords has taken part in its first away competition, with members travelling to Wexford to take part.

The Usher's Lake Angling Club based in Swords took part in its first competition recently at Oaklands Fishery in, New Ross Wexford. The charity event organised by the Killinarden Angling Initiative.

The event was held in aid of Pieta House and was the Swords club's debut outing.

The club fielded two teams on the day and the competition saw around 50 anglers from all over the country take part in what was a great day's fishing.

The event raised over 3,500 raised for a great cause.

Cllr Duncan Smith (Lab), who is chairperson of the Usher's Lake Angling Club said: 'Our little club has come on leaps and bounds since we formed last year.

'We are continuing to work to develop Usher's Lake in Swords as a quality Coarse fishery and we are working with Fingal County Council and Inland Fisheries Ireland on this project.'

Cllr Smith added: 'We are committed to protecting the beautiful environment around Usher's Lake too and we are making great progress. 'In addition to this work, we are going on regular trips to other lakes and fisheries learning from what they offer and building relationships.

'We are always looking for new volunteers and members. We are a very welcoming club and we believe we are working on a very exciting community project which will benefit Swords and the wider Fingal Area.'

Usher's Lake, is located in the Ward River Valley estate is destined to play a major role in the local authority's plans for the development of Ward River Valley park.

Cllr Smith is a founder member of the club and he previously explained why he embarked on the venture: 'As the lake has already been used for decades by locals to fish in, I wanted to develop a club to formalise the fishing there.'

Following a meeting, which was well attended by locals interested in developing a Coarse Fishing Club, the Usher's Lake Angling Club was formed.

Coarse fishing, which involves the catching and releasing of the fish, has become increasingly popular in the last number of years and Cllr Smith has been looking at the Tolka Anglers Association along with other angling associations in Navan and Blanchardstown for guidance on how to run such an angling club.

According to Cllr Smith: 'It's a place for people from Swords to come and have a good fishery, the like of which is not available elsewhere in Dublin. It's a win-win for everyone,'
A chef who smashed a glass over a MMA fighter's head in a random attack while they were in the smoking area of a north Dublin nightclub claimed he acted in a 'moment of madness' because his emotions were high following a row with his girlfriend.

Garry Foley (24) left MMA fighter Ian Garry with cuts to the side of his head and ear which required hospital treatment. After he gave Mr Garry 1,250 in compensation and shook hands to apologise to Mr Garry in court, Judge Dermot Dempsey applied Section 1.1 of the Probation Act.

Swords District Court heard the defendant, of The Beech, Clonshaugh Road in Dublin 17 was extremely intoxicated when he went into the smoking area.

Mr Garry was talking to a friend when the defendant, who was not known to him, approached him and smashed a glass over his head. He was brought to Beaumont Hospital by ambulance where he received treatment for cuts to the left side of his head and ear. Foley was detained by security staff before being arrested by gardai.

'The defendant was extremely intoxicated and a danger to himself and others,' said Sergeant Bob Kavanagh. Sgt Kavanagh handed photographs of the injuries sustained by the victim to the judge but said there was no medical report available.

The defendant pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Garry causing him harm on September 17, 2017 at Tamangos Nightclub in Portmarnock. The defendant's solicitor said the 24-year-old, who works as a chef at Brass Monkey in Howth, was 'extremely drunk and a danger to himself' on the night.

'Emotions were high as he had a row with his girlfriend and in a moment of madness smashed the glass,' the solicitor said, adding the defendant has been extremely remorseful at all times. 'And he is lucky Mr Garry did not deal with him on the night - given Mr Garry's background,' the solicitor said.

'It was completely out of character and he has written an apology letter to Mr Garry,' the solicitor added.

After applying the Probation Act, Judge Dempsey warned the defendant: 'You better stay off drink. You could have caused serious injury. Mr Garry is being more than reasonable so if you can't handle drink stay off it.'
Katie St Lawrence has had to confront something that we all know but try not to think about - that all our lives are uncertain, unpredictable and that all that really matters is today.

Katie is living in the moment, two years after being diagnosed with MS at the age of just 22 and is dealing with her condition by opening herself up to the world in the hope that young people living with MS see that they are not alone.

While her diagnosis came at the age of 22, the Rush woman's first indication her life was changing happened a year earlier and it happened suddenly.

Katie explained: 'What happened to me was I woke up and I couldn't feel my leg. And I thought, that's strange - that's never happened before and it's no the kind of thing you expect to happen to a 21-year-old.

'It was a bank holiday weekend so there were no doctors around. I went to the chemist and they thought it was just my sciatic nerve so they gave me some tablets and cream and said it would be fine. But a couple of days later, I woke up and I couldn't feel my other leg so I knew then it wasn't my sciatic nerve. Over the next couple of days it spread back to the other leg so now my two legs were numb, my left arm was numb, my chest and my stomach was numb. The only thing that I could feel was my head, neck and right arm. I was petrified - I didn't know what was going on.'

What followed was a barrage of tests over the next year or so before finally, doctors confirmed the news that Katie hoped she would never hear, that she had MS (Multiple Sclerosis).

Katie remembered: 'That year without knowing what was wrong with me was petrifying. You are getting all these letters from the hospital and meanwhile, you are trying to keep a normal life going. I was back in remission and I still didn't know what had happened to me. People were asking me what went wrong and I couldn't tell them what it was.

'It was scary for my family. My grandfather had Motor Neurone Disease and my mother was petrified that it was something like that but the doctor was quickly able to tell her that it wasn't that.

'I have been relapse free now for two years which has been a fantastic. I've been on medication to slow its progress. Once I was diagnosed, I was immediately put on this medication and I had to learn to inject myself and stuff like that, which was absolutely petrifying. I was petrified of needles.

'It's grand now - it's very handy but the side effects can be brutal. You can get flu-like symptoms, depression, joint pain and a list a mile long. I suffer mainly with my joints. My hips are in shreds and my knees are in bits and I'm in constant pain with those.

Listen, I have great days and you can live a completely normal life with MS - you really can. But my life now is not the same as I was when I was 21.'

While Katie has not had a serious relapse like the one she experienced at 21, before she could even name the disease, she has symptoms to deal with on an ongoing basis.

She said: 'I can get incredibly fatigued. There are days when I'm like this and I'm grand and running around the place but there's other days when I'm going around like a zombie and I can't do the simplest task.

'I get migraines, especially in the heat - hot days are horrible for people with MS. I also get brain fog. I could be talking to you one minute and then I'd go blank. I get leg numbness and leg weakness and I have this tingling, pins and needles sensation in my legs which is part of the after effects of that first relapse.'

Despite all the challenges of the condition, Katie continued with her BSc degree and finished it last year and she firmly believes you can lead a full life with MS, albeit within a new set of parameters and while that is an important message to get out there, Katie firmly believes that the most important thing a newly-diagnosed young person with MS can hear is that they are not alone.

She explained: 'I was petrified, I was lonely and felt nobody could support me because they didn't understand. My friends were trying to be supportive but they didn't understand it and as much as I loved them for trying, they couldn't understand. I felt so lonely and I was scared and that's why I wanted to speak out. If some young person reads this interview or hears one of us talking on the radio, they can see that there is someone out there with MS that's their age.

'I want to be out there saying don't be ashamed, don't be alone, embrace it and get involved with the MS community.

'I got involved with MS Ireland and it was nice to have that support there. I knew that if I had an issue, I could just call the helpline or go to the centre and get advice. Recently I became part of the MS Ireland blogging team which has been fantastic.'

Katie added: 'I've got to meet other people with MS and that's been very important to me. I had never met anyone with MS and suddenly I was in a roomful of people going through the same thing as I was.'

She would advise anyone who has been diagnosed to seek support within the MS community in Ireland and globally. Katie said: 'I'd tell them they are not on their own - that's the most important message. There are other people out there - talk to your nurses and your doctors and they can put you in touch with people who can support you. Get in touch with MS Ireland straight away - they are such great people and they will help you through it and make you feel you are not so alone.'

There is a certain level of ignorance among the general population about the condition and that is another problem Katie wants to tackle. She said that she met people who sought to minimise her suffering because she was not exhibiting certain aspects of MS they associated with the condition.

Katie explained: 'There are no two MS cases alike and that's important to say. People will always compare you with other people. What really got me after I was diagnosed was that someone kept saying to my family that I didn't have the 'bad type' of MS, whatever that is.

'That really got to me. This person was not a doctor, she just thought she knew everything but of course, she didn't know what I was going through. I bit my tongue but I wanted to ask her, did she think I was injecting myself for the craic?'

Katie is realistic about her condition but determined to embrace her life, whatever it brings, and take it day by day.

She said: 'I would like to think I'm the same person but it has changed me in the sense I'm more compassionate to other people with medical conditions. I never understood what chronic pain was like but I really understand it now. I'll always have MS in my life. It sucks and it's never going away and the chances are it is going to get worse and I have to come to terms with that.

'I'm not ready to think about the future. I used to look forward a lot but now life is something I take day by day. But nobody can predict the future and neither can I and that's what I'm learning to accept. '

Now a passionate advocate for people with MS, the young woman who would have been scared stiff of public speaking just a couple of years ago has her own blog and is sitting down for newspaper and radio interviews on a regular basis. Her condition has given her drive she didn't know she had.

Katie said: 'When I was first diagnosed, I was ashamed of it but in the last few months I've realised there was nothing to be ashamed of. I did nothing to cause this so I'm leaning to embrace it and trying to raise awareness of MS because if we don't do that, how can we ever find a cure. Let people know you have it and let people know it's not the worst thing in the world. I want people to know about it and let's get money into the research and let's find a cure. I don't want another drug to slow down the symptoms, I want one to cure it - that's my dream now.'

Find out more at ms-society.ie and at Katie's own blog at KsVsMs.wordpress.com
A Swords woman has been honoured for enhancing the lives during her illustrious career.

Mary McDermott, the Director of Public Health Nursing in North Dublin, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2018 Community Nurse Awards.

Mary has had a distinguished nursing career spanning decades, both within the community setting and abroad.

From her early stages as an RGN, a midwife, and a young nurse who travelled abroad to work in Africa, Mary has been dedicated to learning and honing her craft, helping patients through life changing moments from giving birth to recovery from illness.

The Institute of Community Health Nursing (ICHN) hosted its 2018 Community Nurse Awards in association with Home Instead Senior Care, at its annual nursing conference today, rewarding public health nurses for their dedication to community care across the country.

ICHN President Ms Anne Lynott praised the winners for their inspiration and attitude towards nursing and care.

'Once again, the committee received an abundance of quality nominations of nurses implementing best practice, and often going beyond the line of duty. Their efforts have been acknowledged by their colleagues and peers who nominated them, and now, it is acknowledged publicly by the Institute. We are grateful to all our nurses, and especially those who lead by example, and we hope that others will continue to aspire to walk in the footsteps of such exemplary practice.'
A 2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund is set to benefit four major Fingal towns as well as dozens of others across the country.

Swords, Babriggan, Skerries and Malahide have all met the criteria for the funding which was launched last week as part of the ongoing roll-out of the Government's Project Ireland 2040 plan.

The money will be allocated competitively to the best projects, which leverage investment from other sources thereby ensuring that the impact of this investment goes much, much further, according to the Government.

The funds will be open to applications from state agencies, local government, business, educational institutions, chambers of commerce, and others, but the ideal applications will be collaborative efforts.

The call for applications will open in the coming weeks and local Fine Gael representatives are encouraging Fingal groups to apply.

Deputy Alan Farrell TD said: 'This funding is great news for Balbriggan, Malahide, Skerries and Swords, who are all eligible for funding under this programme, which would also subsequently benefit the wider North County. The 2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund will encourage greater stakeholder contributions than we've had in the past.

'This is part of a longer term plan which delivers the resources to make our new planning framework come alive.

'Our hope is that this new funding model will move beyond politics and hopefully see more community driven initiatives.'

Senator James Reilly said: 'This is an exciting opportunity for Fingal and I urge Fingal Co Council to conduct an urgent review of these Fingal towns to assess the possibility of applying for project funding in the first call for projects in June.

'My first thoughts are there must be opportunities to regenerate the town centre of Balbriggan and bring more life and business in that area with carefully designed sustainable quality development. I would also assume there are projects in Swords that might also qualify in that regard.'
The Minister for Education has been challenged by a local TD to 'fast-track' the delivery of school places in Fingal for people with special needs, particularly in the Skerries area and finally deliver a new home for St Michael's House.

Deputy Clare Daly (Ind) raised the issue with Minister Richard Bruton in the Dail.

Deputy Daly said: 'There is an overall shortage of spaces for special needs education, particularly spaces for autistic children in the Skerries area in north Dublin.

'Second, residents are particularly keen to know where the new premises for St. Michael's House will be. This has been long promised but has been kicked to touch between the council and the Department. It is just not good enough.'

In response, the Minister first addressed the situation at St Michael's House.

He said: 'There is a project to deliver a new building at St. Michael's House. It will provide a new 14-classroom school, expandable to 16 classrooms, which will potentially increase its capacity from 30 students to 96. A potential site has now been identified after initial efforts were unsuccessful. A site acquisition process is now under way.

'We intend to establish this coming September, 17 new special classes in County Dublin. I do not have the details on where they will be but I understand some will be in the area the Deputy is concerned about. The NCSE is working with communities on expansion.'

Deputy Daly said: 'The Minister's colleague Senator James Reilly has raised this issue in the Seanad. I will not repeat the points made on the overall shortage of places. Residents in the area in question, who have organised into a group, as the Minister correctly stated, have identified at least 12 children from Skerries alone in need of places at national school level.'

She added: 'My main concern today, however, is that the report the Minister has given me on St. Michael's House has been given on numerous occasions previously. I am not blaming the Minister for that but the reality is that the site acquisition process has long been completed in the sense that Fingal County Council has said it proceeded as far as it can go.

'It has the site, it has completed all the negotiations and it states this issue is blocked - it is blocked - at the level of the technical assessors in the Department. We have been getting this report for over a year. The children in question are in school in an old farmhouse. They have been in it for over 15 years.'

However, the Minister appeared surprised there was any snags in developing the school and said: 'It states in my documentation that the Department is committed to providing a permanent accommodation solution for the school and that a project to deliver the new school on a greenfield site has been included in the six-year programme.

'It is stated a site acquisition process is currently under way. This sounds like there are no technical problems with the site. A potential permanent site option has been identified as being progressed. It does not sound like there are technical flaws. There may be commercial issues to be worked out in the acquisition process but it does not sound like there are problems with the site.'

Deputy Daly said: 'I would be really grateful if he could come back to me on this. Some of his party colleagues, and probably all the Deputies in the area, have been in touch on this. Collectively, we really want this project delivered as soon as possible. The site has been pinpointed for a very long time. It is shameful if the project is being kicked between the council and the Department and getting nowhere.'
A youth has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in an 11-hour-long 'rampage' at a detention centre during which a roof was set on fire and missiles were thrown at staff, gardai and fire officers.

Jack Walsh (19) of Woodlawn Park, Ballysimon Road, Limerick was one of five youths charged in relation to the incident which caused 3 million worth of damage to a unit at Oberstown Children's Detention Campus.

The unit was declared unsafe because of the damage and subsequently demolished.

A further 500,000 worth of damage was caused to other units when inmates ransacked it, smashing televisions and windows.

Walsh was the only one of the five youths not charged with arson.

However, he pleaded guilty to violent disorder and two charges of criminal damage at Oberstown on August 29, 2016.

Passing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Martin Nolan accepted that Walsh 'probably wasn't as bad' as some of the others involved.

But Judge Nolan said that Walsh had been there and had taken part in very serious crimes.

He suspended the final two and a half years of the sentence and ordered Walsh to be of good behaviour for the suspended portion of his sentence.

Walsh, who had been serving a 12-month sentence for theft at the time, has 45 previous convictions.

The court heard previously that the teenagers escaped from their bedrooms after threatening staff and demanding keys. Initially, three youths were let out of their rooms; then two further teenagers escaped when the windows of their rooms were smashed in and they were encouraged to get involved.

One staff member was injured when a door was pushed in on him, leaving him needing stitches to his face.

Staff, fire officers and gardai, including officers in riot gear and garda negotiators, all had to retreat from the situation because of the dangerous missiles being rained down on them by the youths.

There were serious concerns, not only for the professionals involved in trying to calm the situation but also the inmates themselves.

There were genuine fears that if a teenager fell off the room he would be killed. Three other youths have previously been sentenced to five years in prison for their roles in the incident.

Garnet Orange SC, defending Walsh, had argued that the youth was the last to leave his cell when trouble erupted, and among the first to leave the roof. 'This breaking of ranks allowed others to break ranks as well,' said Mr Orange.

He also pointed to Walsh's early guilty plea and his cooperation with gardai as mitigating factors.

The sentence was backdated to May 2, when Walsh went into custody.
Children of Patricias Preschool on their Teddy Bears Picnic for Barnardos with (back, from left): Christine Maher, who is on work experience; proprietor, Patrica Byrne; and staff members Helen Gregan and Ina Keighley

Children at Patricia's Pre-School Tara Hill took their favourite teddies to school for the day on Wednesday morning as they set off on their annual Teddy Bears' Picnic for Barnardos.

The little tots managed to gather more than 450 for the charity from their family and friends.

Patricia Byrne, who has run the preschool at Tara Hill for 20 years, was absolutely delighted with how well the children did for the good cause.

The weather was glorious and the kids enjoyed some fun in the sun.

'We could not have asked for a nicer day on Wednesday,' said Patricia. 'They enjoyed every minute of it including all the food we provided.'

The front lawn of the preschool was filled with teddies of all shapes and sizes, and when the children went out for their picnic, they enjoyed a snack at picnic tables that were laid out on the lawn.

The kids were treated to cocktail sausages, fruit bowls, drinks, crisps, sweets and even the teddy bears enjoyed some munchies too.

Patricia said she would like to thank everyone for their kind donations and to staff members Ina Keighley, Helen Gregan and Christina Maher.
A group of friends and family of the late poet and writer Philip Casey, who passed away earlier this year, have come together to honour his memory with 'A Day for Philip'.

The committee have a number of events planned for the occasion, which will take place in Hollyfort, on Saturday, June 24, including the unveiling of a memorial plaque on the bridge at Grove Mill, at 2.30 p.m. The plaque is located close to the house where Philip spent his formative years.

The unveiling will be followed by a celebration of his life and work in the local Church of Ireland, where there will be short talks and readings from his work by family and friends. Afterwards, there will be refreshments in the Community Centre.

This important event is being very generously sponsored by Gorey Municipal District, Hollyfort Development Group, family and friends.

Even though Philip was born in London in 1950, the family moved from Screen in Wexford to Hollyfort in 1961. He attended Monaseed National School from 1961 and then Gorey CBS Secondary School, where he completed his Leaving Certificate in 1971.

It was around this time that Philip became very involved with the then 'Funge Art Festival', and following this published his book 'The Planet and Stars became Friends' in 1974.

Philip described his childhood in Wexford as the place 'that sank a deep well in my imagination'.

After secondary school, Philip moved to Dublin and then to Barcelona in 1975, where he taught English and travelled a lot. By this time Philip's work started to be published widely in literary magazines.

On his return from Barcelona, Philip became a full time writer and commenced work on a series of novels, known as the Bann River Trilogy that would win him national and international acclaim, including winning the inaugural Kerry Ingredients Listowel Writers' Novel of the Year in 1995 for The Fabulists. The next novel in the trilogy was The Water Star in 1999. The publication of The Fisher Child in 2001 completed the trilogy. The novels were very well-received and brought Philip to the attention of a wider and an international audience.

In The Bann River trilogy, the scenes move back and forth between many distant and exotic locations but the novels always feature the landscape and places of North Wexford, with which Philip was so familiar.

He maintained a symbiotic relationship with North Wexford despite having no family connection with it in later years. He never lost contact with north Wexford or his friends.

Philip was also a critically acclaimed and excellent poet. His first collection, Those Distant Summers, was published in 1980.

From this, works appeared in 'Tried and Sentenced, Selected poems' under the imprint of Emaker editions which was his own independent publishing label. His friend, Eamonn Wall, in a recent appreciation piece in the poetry magazine, Cyphers said that 'Philip used his technical skills to make us look at what is familiar in slightly different and transformative ways'.
One of the men arrested on suspicion of being behind an attempted hit on a member the Hutch family in Gorey two months ago was arrested on Saturday in relation to an assassination attempt in Dublin.

The man, who was released without charge, was allegedly involved in two other assassination attempts including the Gorey incident.

On Saturday, the man and an accomplice were arrested by armed gardai in the Dublin 3 area over fears that they were on their way to carry out a hit linked to the ongoing feud.

A revolver was found on the 30-year-old man as he cycled along East Wall Road, while the 27-year-old was arrested in a car on nearby Clonmore Road.

A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the younger criminal, who has now been arrested three times in relation to botched gangland hits.

Both men were previously arrested and jailed almost a decade ago over a foiled shooting, while the 27-year-old was also arrested previously over a failed attempt on a Hutch family member in Gorey.

Gardai are still attempting to determine who the target of Saturdays planned hit was. A spokesperson said officers swooped on the pair over fears of an imminent threat to life.

The exact target has not yet been established, but a number of Hutch family members and associates live in the immediate area and could have been potentially victims, a source said. Both men who were arrested are believed to have close ties to the notorious Kinahan cartel.

In March, gardai foiled an attempt on the life of Jonathan Hutch, a nephew of The Monk, in Millands, Gorey, when officers swooped moments before it was due to be carried out. Gardai believe they foiled an attempted assassination on the man who is a member of the Hutch family after a long-running Dublin feud between the Hutch and Kinahan families.

Detectives from Enniscorthy, assisted by Armed Support Units from the South Eastern Region and Special Crime Operations, arrested two Dublin men after intercepting them and firearms, ammunition and three cars were seized during the intelligence-led operation.

A 27 year-old man from Dublins North Inner City was arrested at the scene, while a second man, aged 25, was pursued across the fields before being found hiding in another car nearby.
Staff from Gorey Community School held a celebration as they bid a farewell to four teachers who are retiring at the end of the school year.

More than 100 staff past and present joined the retirees and their families for a lovely dinner in the Ashdown Park Hotel in Gorey.

The teachers honoured were Treasa Weymass from Kilkenny, who has taught Irish and French in Gorey for more than 35 years, first in Gorey CBS and the Gorey Community School; Mary Nolan arrived in Gorey in 1978 to join the staff of the Vocational Education Centre to teach Irish and English. Following the amalgamation in 1993, she continued the two subjects and also became a viable member of the Special Needs Department; Jurgen Greiner joined GCS when it opened its doors in 1993 and taught German and PE. He acted as an Assistant Year Head for five year; Seamus O'Connor has taught in the school for nearly 20 years. He was an English and guidance counsellor and supported the introduction of the LCA Programme to the school.

A number of gifts and presentations were made to the four teachers who have greatly served the school.
A deep sadness hangs over Tarbert and north Kerry following the sad passing of Professor John Coolahan, who died peacefully on Sunday surrounded by his family in Dublin.

A pivotal figure in Irish education, John Coolahan was Professor Emeritus of Education at NUI Maynooth and was this week described by Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, as a giant of Irish education.

John was deeply immersed in all aspects of education both as a teacher and educational innovator, as he was known for his policy-driven enthusiasm in developing initiatives for the Department of Education.

But while John left his mark on the educational profile of Ireland, his native Tarbert and north Kerry was never far from his thoughts. His loss is keenly felt there this week.

Secretary of Tarbert Development Association Joan Murphy, said Johnny  as he was affectionately known  was a great friend of Tarbert and he loved Kerry.

My husband is a first cousin of Johnnys and we were always very friendly with him and his family. He came to Tarbert every summer and for any other occasion that was held here. He never missed a New Years Eve in Tarbert during my lifetime and would be on parade and singing a song in The Square. Even though he was a very busy man, he was always a part of Tarbert, Joan said.

Moyvane Poet Gabriel Fitzmaurice, whose wife Brenda is a niece of Johns, said he was a tremendous people-person and anywhere John went people immediately took to him.

He was a gregarious, outgoing and loving person and were all devastated. He loved socialising and singing songs. Johnny was always the same and his generosity and affability of spirit never wavered. There were no high notions with Johnny, he was just one of us.

The sense of loss among his family and friends is palpable. Brenda has received calls from so many people involved in education and theyve all been personally affected by this, Gabriel said.

Prof Coolahan leaves behind a rich legacy. He is a former chair of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector which was set up five years ago to make recommendations on the divestment of Catholic primary schools; he published three books and over 100 articles in several Irish and international journals; he lectured extensively abroad and was a member of the OECD review teams in education in ten countries which took place across four continents. He also served as a consultant to the World Bank and Council of Europe.

Johns remains will repose at St Marys Funeral Home in Tarbert from 6  8pm on Wednesday, with removal afterwards to St Marys Church. He will be buried following Mass on Thursday, June 7, in the adjoining cemetery. He is survived by his wife Mary, daughters Marie-Louise, Iseult and Deirdre, son William, his grandchildren, relatives and friends.
When the 293 pupils of Scoil Mhuire Horeswood asked for his help, ex-pupil - international and Leinster rugby star - Tadhg Furlong, responded immediately.

The school urgently requires two Special Needs rooms, to enhance the learning experience and lives of its pupils. However, despite the indisputable need, the Department of Education and Skills was unwilling to provide the required amount to complete the project, leaving the school facing a 15,000 shortfall.

That's where Tadhg stepped in. The Irish international - currently ranked ninth best player in the world - generously donated two autographed balls and a jersey, after his return from the 2018 Six Nations Grand Slam victory; all to be raffled - the proceeds going towards the building of the rooms.

When asked why they hadn't chosen the more lucrative option of an auction, parent committee members and raffle organisers, Miriam O'Neill and Nicola Foley responded in unison. James said: 'That wouldn't be fair, or represent the spirit in which Tadhg made his generous donation. With an auction, only the biggest purse wins; but everyone can afford a raffle ticket, which means anyone can win, including the children to whom Tadhg is such an important role model and hero.'

Tickets will be available in most Campile stores, Cooper's, New Ross, from Scoil Mhuire pupils, and from the school itself. phone 051 388 255 for tickets, or to make a donation.
Sisters Teresa, Catherine and Myra Foley unveil a tribute to their brother, the late Kieran Foley

Paddy Delaney, who unveiled the plaque, with Phil Croarkin and Kitty Warren, leaders

Memorial plaques naming scouts and scout leaders who contributed to the scouting history of the town were unveiled in New Ross recently.

Family members and friends of deceased leaders and scouts joined together with the New Ross Sea Scout troop for the memorial service at the scout hall in New Ross.

Memories were shared by Paddy Delaney, Brian MacMahon, Alex Kelly and Kitty Warren at the emotional ceremony.

The memorial plaques were unveiled by Paddy Delaney who was involved with the scouts over many years.

A collage of memorabilia donated by the family of the late Kieran Foley, who was the first sea scout outside of Dublin to earn a Chief Scouts award, was displayed.
Members of New Ross Rugby Club (aka the Shockers), raised a whopping 20,000 for a new defibrillator for Irishtown and for local charities from their 170km cycle to Kinsale.

New Ross RFC Shockers cycle team completed their charity cycle from New Ross to Kinsale RFC on April 28 with a team of 29 cyclists and 12 support crew taking to the road at 7 a.m. and arriving in Kinsale at 4.50 p.m. following the 170 km trek. This was organised as a fundraiser for the club as well as to raise funds for the provision of a public access defibrillator for the Irishtown and for Aoibheann's Pink Tie, the National children's cancer charity.

The official presentation of funds raised took place in the clubhouse recently and was attended by a number of the Shockers, as well as club officials. Club President Michael Bailey spoke about the club's history of community involvement and support, having previously raised funds for New Ross Community Hospital and the Irish Cancer Society before announcing that, as a result of the extraordinary success of the venture, the organising committee had decided to also make extra donations to five other local charities whose work has been particularly appreciated by members of the cycle team.

He then presented cheques for 250 to representatives of St Louis Day Care Centre, Ramsgrange, Wexford Parkinson's Association, New Ross Tidy Towns, St Bridget's Family Support Service Wexford and Pieta House.

Mr Bailey then presented a defibrillator to Cllr Michael Sheehan who accepted it on behalf of the people of New Ross before moving to the main presentation of the evening. A cheque for 5,000 was presented to Jimmy Norman, CEO of Aoibheann's Pink Tie, with Mr Norman expressing his enormous gratitude for the efforts of New Ross RFC in raising money for organisations other than itself.

Mr Bailey thanked everyone who had been involved in organising the event before particularly recognising New Ross Credit Union, who had made an incredible donation of 2,000, as well as making special mention of Seamus Doyle Painting, New Ross Garda Station, Trudie's Catering Kitchen, Murphy's Cash and carry, A&M Logistics, Mannions Country Pub, John & Liz Brennan, Tadhg Geary, Irish Country Meats, Ballon Meats, Lyng Motors, Currahee Food Consultancy, Harte Design & Outdoor Lighting, Gala Kilmeaden Service Station, Michael Britten Auto Repairs, Quantum Motors, Gary Conway Building Services, Max Power Washing Services, Somers Construction, Pauline's Bar, Paddy Powers Irishtown, Sinnott's Centra, Four Star Pizza, Molloy's SuperValu, George Kelly's Bike Shop, Johnstones Paints, Flahavans, Dawn Meats Group, Moloney Aucioneers, Collins Construction, LJJ Contractors, Steve Burgess, Charlie Soden, Merlyn Industries, Anthony Sutton, Good Counsel College, Doran Concrete, Chris Cleere, Leanne Carroll, Hugh Byrne Carpentry, O' Neills Grocery, Kehoe's Supply & DIY, French's Pharmacy, M&J Restaurant, Green Tiger Express, Noel O Dwyer MHBC, Foley Transport and the hundreds of other businesses and individuals who had supported the event.

With the formalities concluded, everyone retired to the bar for an evening of music and discussion about the next adventure which might be taken on by club members.

One of the event organisers Maurice Quirke said the group were overwhelmed by the support they got, having only expected to raise around 2,000.
Mount Carmel nun Sr Brigid Mary O'Keeffe celebrated 75 years at the New Ross monastery on Thursday. On October 22, 1942, Brigid Mary from Waterford came to Mount Carmel Monastery to test her vocation to the Carmelite way of life.

Last Thursday, she celebrated the 75th anniversary of her taking the habit of a Carmelite Nun as Sr Margaret Therese.

A Mount Carmel monastery spokesperson said: 'To this day she is a full and active member of the community praying and interceding for all of us.

'Please join us in giving thanks to God for her fidelity and for the blessings derived from her constant prayers and simple way of life.

'Pray also that other women may be inspired to follow in her footsteps.'
The rich and colourful culture of an entire continent was reflected at The Presentation Centre in Enniscorthy as the Municipal District Council, in association with Wexford Local Development hosted the county's first Africa Day. People came from right across the county to celebrate and all four corners of the huge continent were represented with families making a great effort and arriving in their colourful traditional dress.

The event saw traditional song, dance, poetry and photographs from right across the continent, as well as some fascinating speakers and a sample of delicious African food from chef Essam Elmbaridi of The Taste Factory in Abbey Square.

Chairman of the District Council Keith Doyle welcomed everybody and said 'the local authority is delighted to have the opportunity to celebrate the rich cultural tapestry that the many diverse communities from Africa bring to Co Wexford'.

'We have an opportunity today to taste and sample all that is great from Africa with our neighbours and friends with a wonderful display of photographs, poetry, dance and food,' he continued.

Chairman of WLD Michael Wall and District Manager Liz Hore spoke of their own experiences of Africa, Michael pointing out a shared colonial past between Ireland and Africa, while Liz spoke of her time working in Gambia and Zambia with Irish Aid. Children then arrived onto the stage carrying flags of various African countries in an adorable display of unity, before Hezekiah Shoyeju spoke of his move to Co Wexford.

'Wexford has been good to us,' he said. 'It is our home. Our kids are in school here. Me and my wife are working here. We have everything we could want right here. We mix very well with the local community and they have welcomed us very well.'

John O'Connor of Enniscorthy Enterprise and Technology Centre then spoke about his time in Uganda and how he met his wife Maggie there. He spoke of some of the challenges facing the Ugandan people and what the people of Ireland can do to help.

The Presentation Centre stage was also taken over with wonderful displays of Kenyan and Nigerian song and dance and there was a great atmosphere as people mixed and discussed their backgrounds and the differences and similarities of their cultures.
A meeting on the crisis in farming in County Wexford and nationally on Thursday night heard that local farmers are facing huge financial pressures after the fodder crisis in an industry which has a stark future.

Organised by local Fianna Fail members, the meeting had four main speakers, County Livestock chairman JJ Kavanagh, IFA grain committee chairman Mark Browne, IFA county chairman James Kehoe and Paddy Kent of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmer's Association.

Mr Kavanagh said: 'I think - after the fodder crisis - there will be bills out there that won't be paid for some time. Teagasc will have to have a re-look at the situation.'

Mr Kavanagh said in line with the New Zealand farming model live stock should go out in February and not May, as happened this year due to the terrible weather.

'My grandfather had a saying "old hay is old gold" and he was right. Whether our winters are going to change I don't know, but they are due to get wetter.'

He described Agriculture Minister Michael Creed as being particularly weak when the fodder crisis struck and said CAP has been cut twice from what it was set 20 years ago.

'All the bureaucrats and ministers, I'm sure their wages aren't what they were 20 years ago. If you take out the dairy figures out of farming most people are solely dependent on the Single Farm Payment to make their ends meet and that is no position to be in.'

Mr Kavanagh said cattle are netting much the same prices as they did 20 or 30 years ago 'if you do the currency exchanges'.

'Our buying power has left us. Now Commissioner Hogan is going to set farmer against farmer. He is taking about giving 2 per cent for young farmers. He is just taking money from one and giving it to another and once we are fighting he will get his policies through. We need an increase in the budget.'

He said a 10 per cent cut across all Single Farm Payments is on the horizon to fund supports for suckler farmers. 'I'm a suckler farmer and I don't want it.'

He said prices for livestock have risen. 'They seem to be able to pay when cattle are scarce. Lamb was at 7.10, it has fallen to 5,80 and yet the housewife pays the same. Someone is making big money. The biggest winners are the Glanbias, the machinery dealers, the co-ops and the merchants. They have taken every single of our Single Farm Payment and you have three kings of the cattle industry who are buying out the whole place.'

He expressed disappointment that farmers aren't protesting more about the conditions they are enduring. 'We really need a rebellion to tell the bureaucrats exactly what is happening in rural Ireland. The elephant in the room is farm succession.'

Mr Kavanagh said in his area there is only one farmer in a five mile radius going to take over. In ten to 15 years we will have serious difficulty getting people to take over.'

He said there is not enough of a living in it for a father and son to farm unless there is a substantial farm.

Mark Browne, who hails from County Wexford, said: 'I am doing my best to represent grain growers here in a difficult time. It has been a very difficult five years. This year we are about six weeks behind and that could have a yield potential for us as the year goes on.

'We need a strong tillage industry in Wexford where we have high quality grain. We feel some of they grain being imported is of a very low quality. Irish grain is more traceable and is grown locally.'

He said if there was no CAP budget there would be no grain grown at all. 'This year is the first year that grain has started to rise a little bit which is good news.'

He said Russia is operating on a different playing field to Irish farmers as their farmers don't have to contend with as strict environmental conditions.

'Ireland produces 2m tonnes every year. Russia has produced an extra 10m tonnes every year for the last four years.'

He said: 'Some EU policies make the environment worse, like sewing different crops in different places; using more diesel. To do more we have to be paid a little bit more.

'We are very concerned that they are talking about at least a 4 per cent cut in the budget as we are getting the very same money as what we got 20 years ago. Fertiliser prices haven't risen a lot in four years but fertiliser has gone up four times.'

James Kehoe said he took on the chairman role as farm incomes are so low.

He said Brexit, trade deals and CAP changes will mean huge challenges for farmers. 'For three quarters of farmers, almost the total payment is made up of Farm Income Support. Costs are going up. I at home am running faster to stand still. It's unsustainable. I'm a sheep and suckler farmer and this year has been one of the toughest years in my farm ever. In the sector I am involved in there is no great volatility, it's fairly low all the time.

'We are in the EU and we are very happy in the EU, but because of that we are in a cheap food policy. Although people say we are in a great position with the climate and environment that we are in we should have the ability to compete in the world market, but unfortunately we are so heavily restricted by different factors it has an impact on the cost of production so there is a real crisis. Until you get paid for the produce that you produce it will be impossible to get young people involved in farming.'

Mr Kehoe said he does not want food prices to go up in the supermarkets, adding 'but we are in a position where our beef, dairy, pig, sheep, and grain are all controlled by a few individuals.'

He said farmers need to stick together and have a voice.

'There is so much doom and gloom after the tough spring. Farmers need to come out and speak.'

He said the fodder crisis will be felt for a few years to come.

'There was an opportunity to bring out some low cost loans and that didn't happen. I have people ringing me up and they are over their overdraft and they have no money to feed their cattle.'

Paddy Kent said there has been an underlying crisis built up over a number of years as Teagasc has asked farmers to produce more for less.

'Our main exports are high grade foods, but they are not being marketed as such. We have Bord Bia selling for Larry Goodman. He should be paying them, not us.'

Mr Kent said farmers are three times more likely to suffer from a heart disease, adding that they are being paid a pittance for their grain and top quality produce.

'A crop of barley is worth about 200,000 for whiskey, 140,000 for beer. The farmer doesn't get 50 out of it. Some organic farmers can get 1,000 a tonne. Alternative models of dry stock farming need to be looked at.'

The huge costs for young farmers to start into farming are also prohibitive, he said.

Senator Pat Daly, who is party spokesperson on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said Brexit is the great unknown, adding that the mushroom industry has already been seriously affected. He said the new Wexford cheddar plant in Wexford could be seriously impacted as the UK is a major cheddar consumer.

'The minister sleepwalked into the fodder crisis. He let the shortage go to crisis. When we got to crisis stage his actions left a lot to be desired also.'

He said grain is being imported from Russia at great expense. 'The very fact that you would put grain on a train in the middle of Russia and bring it to the coast and put it on a ship, the diesel involved - that carbon footprint is doing more damage than good.

'If the malters were prepared to pay the farmers a proper price, farmers get 5c on a pint of Guinness. If 1c was put onto the cost of a pint 5c could work its way back to the farmer.

'It's worth 35 a tonne to the man growing the grain. He could almost be doubling his price. That is the best example of how money is being creamed off and made by anyone who touches, handles, processes, transports any farmer's product once it leaves the farm; they are all doing well out of it other than the farmer.'

Irish farmers are wrongly accused over the way the treat the environment, he added.

'Irish farmers are the custodians of the Irish countryside and the most efficient when it comes to co2 emissions, dairy farmers have the lowest in the world and our beef production is around fifth.'

He said 560m has been lost in trade with the UK due to the sterling fluctuation.

Deputy James Browne said he has already raised the need for compensation for fruit farmers in the county in the Dail.

He said Wexford farmers produce fantastic produce, adding that consumers should be prepared to pay a premium for high quality goods, as shoppers abroad do.

Deputy Browne said there was no preparations put in place ahead of the fodder crisis.

Raising the issue of mental health, isolation and loneliness among farmers, Deputy Browne urged farmers to contact him with any farming issues they have so he can raise them in the Dail. He said solar farms are hugely important, but the lack of guidelines is a major issue.
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A large crowd dropped in to see Irish Water's plans for a new sewerage scheme for the Arthurstown, Ballyhack and Duncannon areas, recently.

Irish Water, working in partnership with Wexford County Council, is working to end the discharge of untreated wastewater to the Barrow Nore Suir Estuary and plans to open the treatment plant in 2021. The national water utility is proposing to build a new wastewater treatment plant and associated network infrastructure to stop the discharge of the equivalent of 1,500 wheelie bins of untreated wastewater from the public sewer network in Arthurstown, Ballyhack and Duncannon. The discharges are in close proximity to harbours, amenity waters and a beach in Duncannon.

A drop-in information event took place in Duncannon Community Centre. The event was very well attended and gave local people an opportunity to learn more about the project and discuss the plans with the project team ahead of the finalisation of the planning application.

Mark Murray, Irish Water's Infrastructure Regional Lead, said: 'The provision of wastewater treatment for Arthurstown, Ballyhack and Duncannon will mean improved water quality for bathing, enhancement of the area's amenity value and will act as a platform for social and economic development.

'The project will also help ensure that the water quality standards set out in relevant legislation will be achieved.'

Mr Murray said both he and his team were delighted to have the opportunity to discuss the project with members of the local community at the information evening, adding that great interest was taken in the project and when it will start.

'The overall response to the project was positive and we received valuable feedback which will help us as we move forward with the design so that it can deliver effectively on these key objectives, while minimising any disruption to the public.'

It is being proposed to build a new wastewater treatment plant on lands within the Dunbrody Estate, accessed from Arthurstown village. Below ground pumping stations are also being proposed for close to the harbours in Ballyhack, Arthurstown and Duncannon, with connecting pipelines from these pumping stations to the treatment plant.

Irish Water aims to submit its planning application to Wexford County Council this year and, subject to the statutory approvals, works on this necessary project could commence in 2019, Mr Murray said.

A dedicated email address wexforduww@water.ie has been set up for householders, businesses and other stakeholders and information is also available from Irish Water's 24/7 customer care line at 1850 278 278.
Members of the Cumas trad band at the launch of their CD

The talented musicians of the Cumas band launched their first CD in the Horse & Hound in Ballinaboola recently in front of a crowd of hundreds.

The trad music band's cd features ten Irish classic songs performed in the band's trademark lively, energetic style.

Amazingly, the cd was recorded in one day and in one take, by Paddy Murphy and Joe Murphy.

Taught by Ann Barnes and Liam Murray, the band comprises Chelsea Flynn, Michael Byrne, Jason Brown, Aidan Sinnott, Diarmuid Byrne, Colm McEvoy, Philip Tyrrell, Martin (Murty) Dunne and Alan Ryan.

The Cumas group were formed three years ago and have been playing weekly at venues across the district, including at nursing homes and at New Ross Community Hospital, ever since.

Their instruments of choice are the button accordian accompanied by the steady, precise drumbeats of the band's drummer.

Liam said the clients of Cumas, based at Butlersland in New Ross, really took to their instruments.

'They are aged from 21 to 50. They have their own instruments and they can't wait to play them every day.'

The band members practise daily and meet to rehearse once a week. They also play at New Ross Library once a month on Wednesday mornings and performed at the Celtic Weave concert recently. Three of the band members are competing at senior level in the Leinster Fleadh in Carlow in mid-July.

Ann and Liam play along with the band for competitions and major events.

Ann said: 'Cumas means ability and the band play at all different levels.'

The cd was recorded by Paddy Murphy and Joe Bradley in the band room at Cumas.

It was launched by Mary Whelan of Comhaltas Ireland who praised the band members for their excellent musicianship and dedication.

The band were one of a number of groups and individual musicians who performed on a night which celebrated Irish music, along with the New Ross & District Pipe Band, Danescastle CCE musicians and Paddy Murphy.

All proceeds raised from the sale of the cd, which costs 10 and is available to buy in shops in New Ross, at the Dunbrody Visitor Centre and in Cumas, will go towards the purchase of a badly needed wheelchair bus for Cumas.

Liam said: 'We would like to thank everyone who played at the launch night. It was a great occasion and their support is very much appreciated. We want to thank Brendan and the staff at the Horse & Hound, Margaret O'Sullivan and Aine Kennedy. The cds are selling like hotcakes. There are still some left.'
A 74-year-old man who sat on a couch as his son brutally assaulted a 16 year old boy in a bathroom has been given a five year suspended jail term for not intervening.

Sligo Circuit Court heard last Tuesday how Michael Andrews had turned away Gardai and the step dad of the victim who had called to the house at 57 Glendallon concerned for the welfare of the boy on April 23rd 2017.

The victim said the defendant, a father of six, continued watching television during his ordeal as if nothing had happened and told his son to get on with it. He never made any effort to stop it. I could have died in that house and hed have covered it up, said the boy in a victim impact report read to the court. He still suffered from nightmares and flashbacks. Andrews pleaded guilty to impeding the arrest of his son Harry, then 18, knowing he had committed an arrestable offence.

Harry Andrews received an eight year jail term in February for false imprisonment, suspending the final two years on condition he keep the peace for five years post release. The 16-year-old boy feared he was going to die after being attacked in a tortuous ordeal that went on for an hour an a half.

The boy was handcuffed, hit with a hatchet on the head, had his throat cut with a Stanley knife, was stabbed, had a plastic bag put over his head in a bid to suffocate him and had tissues shoved in his mouth. The boy, who was eventually released after alert Gardai saw his despairing hand resting on the frosted glass of a bathroom window where much of the ordeal was taking place pushed their way into the house.

They had initially been told that there was no one else in the house by the perpetrators elderly father, Michael. The boy told Gardai that he had to keep fighting off his attacker, Harry Andrews. Several times Andrews went to slit the boys throat telling him at one stage Im going to go for the jugular. Judge Johnson described the incident as horrific and a savage and vicious attack.

Harry Andrews claimed he was owed drug money by the boy but the latter stated the defendant was obsessed with his girlfriend and this was the reason which lay behind the savage attack. When Gardai entered the house and rescued the boy they described blood being everywhere. The boy had gone with Harry Andrews to his house around 7.50pm after the latter had asked him for help with the moving of a washing machine.

When they got to the house, the 16-year old was told to sit on the couch. Andrews then produced a kitchen knife and stabbed the victim in his back on the left side. He had seen the knife coming towards him and kept trying to block it. Andrews began making accusations and then produced a Stanley knife. Andrews got on top of him and kept trying to slit his throat with the blade.

The boy was also struck a number of times with a hatchet on the head. He said Michael Andrews was sitting in the armchair and did nothing to stop his son. Andrews brought the victim outside and on to a green area. Andrews saw a group of men he didnt get on with so turned back. The victim said he was constantly being threatened and constantly feared being killed.

They returned to the house and he was brought to the bathroom where the handcuffs were taken off and he was further violently assaulted and an attempt was made to suffocate him. The victim said that throughout the incident Michael Andrews kept shouting into the bathroom to his son to finish up. Ms Dara Foynes BL (prosecuting) said Andrews had access to a mobile phone which he didnt use.

When the boys step father called to the house Andrews answered and said there was no one in the house. He also stated this on the phone to the father of the boys girlfriend when he rang looking for him. The boy recalled that at one point the defendant told his son to take it outside and not to kill him inside. He had seen everything that went on, said the boy.

Garda Eamon McDonnell told the court previously he had arrived at the house following a call at around 9pm that a man was being held against his will there. Michael Andrews answered the door and said there was no one else there only him and his dog. He then closed the door.

There were no sounds from inside and everything appeared normal. As witness left with Garda Kieran Staed and Garda Ciara McMullin, the latter saw the palm of a hand being placed flat against the bathroom window to the right of the front door. She went to the window and shouted out that Gardai were present and could they open the window or get out.

There was no response and the hand slipped down the glass.The Gardai returned again to the door and once more Michael Andrews said there was no one inside. They then pushed past him into the house. They saw Harry Andrews changing clothes in the bathroom. During interviews with Gardai, Michael Andrews said the victim and his son were as bad as each other. He said he wasnt able bodied enough to stop two people fighting.

I didnt know what to do to be honest, he told Gardai. He also stated he was afraid of his sons temper. He said he kept shouting to his son to leave and to take it outside in the street. His son had told him to answer the door and to state he wasnt in. The defendant didnt have any previous convictions and was assessed as being of low risk of re-offending.

Mr Colm Smyth SC with Mr Joe Barnes BL, instructed by Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor (defending) said the defendant was on medication for a chronic heart condition.

Garda ODonnell agreed that the defendant had put up with bad behaviour from his son over the previous two and a half years and had been subjected to aggressive behaviour. The defendant told the court he lived alone and had worked hard all his life. He apologised to the victim who was not in court but whose mother was.

Asked what he meant by saying to his son to get on with it, the defendant replied: Get is over with and get out of my house I meant. He was also asked why he had tried to deny Gardai entry to the house a second time. It was just how it was. I had to look after myself as well, he said. Judge Keenan Johnson said it was one of the worst assaults he had ever heard in court and it was by the Grace of God the Gardai arrived when they did.

The defendant was a passive participant and had ample opportunity to intervene. It would appear this type of offending was out of character for the defendant. It was a one-off aberation but a serious one.

Telling his son to get on with it was not exactly the actions of a passive or someone who was acting under duress, he said. The victim had suffered very serious injuries and suffered from a degree of post traumatic stress, added the Judge.

He imposed a five year term but said he was suspending it for seven years in light of the age and frail health of the defendant. He was also ordered to keep the peace for seven years and over the next five years pays 5,000 to the victim at a rate of 1,000 a year, the first sum due before December 1st next.
When Bunninadden native Elaine Scanlon started refurbishing her East London home, she and her family wondered if there might be a time capsule of some description hidden away in the house.

This idea was presented to Elaine and her partner, Owen, by their six-year-old son Louis.

And when refurbishment work started, they discovered that their son Louis was right, in some ways.

Because when the floorboards, that have been in place in the house since 1910 were lifted up, they came across old copies of The Sligo Champion, used to pad out the skirting boards.

But what's more, is that the house was also once occupied by an O'Rourke family from Sligo.

The couple moved into Woodville Road in Leytonstone, East London in 2009. They had heard stories about a Sligo family that once lived there.

As time progressed they learned that the family in question was the O'Rourke family, and Elaine had actually gone to school with a niece of the family.

In the years that followed they also learned that one of the O'Rourke boys made a nostalgic visit to the home, but decided against knocking on the door.

It's understood that the O'Rourke family still have relatives living in Sligo, residing close to the Gurteen area.

One particular copy of The Sligo Champion that was found during the house's refurbishment dates back to 1975 and was addressed to the O'Rourke family, which indicates that the Champion was perhaps being posted to the family from Ireland.

Elaine Scanlon told The Sligo Champion: "It's just a crazy coincidence.

"When we bought the house in 2009 my mother told someone about it and they then said they knew someone who had lived there before. I think they lived there two tenants before us."

Although Elaine may not be living in the region any more, her family still live here.

And indeed, her family are still avid readers of The Sligo Champion, and always have been.

"My parents still buy it all the time. It was always in our house growing up," she said.
A married couple who were both stabbed a number of times by a man known to them following a get together after a funeral were lucky to be alive, Sligo Circuit Court was told.

The accused Patrick (Padraig) McMorrow of 47 Caltragh Crescent, Sligo pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Patrice McMorrow and Michael Harte and also producing a knife while committing an assault on October 23 2016 at the Crozon Inn.

An argument had arisen in the pub and the two victims were leaving and in the foyer when McMorrow followed them and stabbed them with a knife he produced from his pocket.

Ms McMorrow was stabbed in the chest and hand while Mr Harte was stabbed in the chest and back.

Mr Harte had to be treated in the ambulance at the scene for major haemorrhaging from multiple stab wounds before being rushed to hospital.

The court heard that the accused was the partner of Ms McMorrow's mother for in excess of 20 years and was very well known to both the victims.

There was no evidence of any animosity between them prior to this attack which occurred on October 23rd 2016 at the Crozon Inn.

Ms Dara Foynes BL (prosecuting) told the court that the funeral had taken place that day of Michael McGarry a friend of the victims and they all went back to the Crozon Inn for a meal and refreshments and the accused and his partner were there too.

Ms Foynes said an argument arose over the son of the accused, Gregory, 21, who was raised for a large part of his childhood by Maisie McManus who was also in the Crozon Inn and is a sister of the accused partner's.

Statements from both victims, not present, were then read to the court. Michael Harte said he had a couple of drinks but was not drinking heavily as he had to be up early the following Sunday morning. He heard the accused saying he was going to knock the teeth out of Maisie's head.

He was acting aggressively and pushing people and talking about Maisie. Michael said he had to push McMorrow away, Maisie was sitting at the table behind him when he pushed him and he fell onto tables and chairs.

Mr Harte said there never had been any trouble before with them before. He had known the accused for 30 years and there was no background to the feud and the attack was totally unprovoked and he thought he was going to die.

After he was stabbed, there was a ringing in his ear as he had also been hit in his ear. Then two men who helped him were putting pressure on the wounds when he was lying on the steps of the Crozon Inn before the ambulance arrived.

Mr Harte then remembered being on the operating theatre receiving stitches to his stab wounds.

Patrice McMorrow in her statement said that an argument broke out about Gregory, the accused's son, earlier that night in the Crozon Inn.

She was mortified and went to Michael outside to say she was going home. She heard McMorrow say he was going to put the teeth in the back of Maisie's throat.

Michael then hit him and she said to come on and get a taxi. When they were leaving in the porch she saw McMorrow come out and his eyes were bulging.

She said he had a hunting knife with a silver blade with blood on it and then she knew Michael had been stabbed.

She tried to pull the knife out of his hand and she said the accused looked her in the eyes and stabbed her under her left armpit. He still had the knife and she tried to headbutt him on the ground and tried to stand on his hand.

She had a numb feeling in her left arm and felt weak. She asked the ambulance crew to look after Michael as he was seriously hurt and told people not to tell Michael she had been stabbed.

When brought to casualty she could hear Michael roaring in pain. She said she thought when McMorrow attacked them that he was trying to kill Michael.

"He is father to my brother Gregory and I didn't think he was capable of doing this. I have 2 kids and my life has been turned upside down. I was trying to stop him from killing Michael," Ms McMorrow said in her statement.

Sergeant John Walsh told the court he arrived on the scene and saw blood all over the entrance to the Crozon Inn.

He could see Michael Harte was seriously injured and had a pale, grey look on his face.

He knew he had been stabbed to his upper body. Garda Brannigan administered first aid to him while he was assisting Patrice McMorrow and also preserving the scene.

He became aware that the assailant was Patrick McMorrow of Caltragh Crescent. They went to his home and then his brother's house nearby where he was. There was blood on his face, hands and trousers. He was arrested at 1:52am.

Ms Foynes told the judge words were said about Gregory which riled the accused. She said that Patrice, 29, was not involved in the argument but said she could see the accused clinching his fist as if he was going to hit Maisie, a woman in her sixties and she tried to pull him back.

Her husband Michael saw what was going on and pushed McMorrow who fell back on top of tables and chairs which were upturned. Michael and Patrice then decided to leave the premises and were seen on CCTV exiting the pub.

The CCTV footage was played in court. Sergeant John Walsh said the CCTV footage shows Patrice and Michael first in the public house and then picks them leaving the pub.

He said it also picks up the accused following them out of the pub and reaching inside his jacket pocket and pulling out an item and it was as the injured parties were in the foyer that the accused launched the attack.

He told Ms Foynes that the footage did not pick up whether it was a knife the accused reached for but that the subsequent attacks would indicate it was.

Ms Foynes said that there were a number of witnesses and a lot of people who gave statements. Mark McMorrow who is related to Patrice confirmed there was an argument and he didn't get involved. He was outside smoking when he heard screaming.

He saw Patrick McMorrow with a knife in his right hand. He said because he is tall he stood out.

Patrice McMorrow's medical report said she had a stab wound to the left side of her chest and also laceration to her hand and she needed a chest drain in hospital.

Because of the location of the stab to her chest there could have been a substantial risk to life due to the proximity to serious organs. As a whole her injuries didn't create a loss of functions and were not long-term.

Michael Harte's medical report said he had been stabbed three times in the back and chest and there was a laceration to his left ear. He also had a laceration to his liver.

His condition was unstable and he was placed on life support and because of bleeding was given blood transfusions and admitted to intensive care where his condition improved slightly and he was given another blood transfusion and a chest drain. There was a substantial risk to his life.

In her Victim Impact Statement read to the court by Ms Foynes, Patrice McMorrow said 23rd October 2016 was a sad evening because they were at her uncle in law's funeral.

"It was a sad evening and then the evening became even more dramatic when myself and my husband were stabbed in an unprovoked attack, I was stabbed in my left breast when the knife was plunged into my lung and I was left with a scar and also a scar as a result of the chest drain and a defensive wound to my hand.

"I have two kids and I'm in fear when I have to leave home that I will be hurt again. Normal people just don't attack people like that. Patrick McMorrow almost killed me and I have permanent scars on my body and mind.

"My confidence is shattered and my trust in people is gone." She said she had to go to counselling following the attack. "Patrick McMorrow was a partner of my mother who I had known 22 years. He breached that trust when he stabbed me.

"He attempted to destroy my life and I have not received a reason. I try my best to move on and will for the sake of my kids. I will never forgive Patrick McMorrow for what he did to me and my family," she added.

In his Victim Impact Statement Michael Harte said he was at a funeral when a good friend Patrick McMorrow attacked him.

He was stabbed 5 times with a hunting knife with wounds to his ear, leg and body and his left lung collapsed. He said he was severely indebted to the medical staff at Sligo University Hospital for saving his life.

He said he was scarred for the rest of his life and needed counselling.

His life was turned upside down and he is unable to describe how much. He said he also lost his father and brother in an accident in April 2017. "My life has been destroyed by the actions of Patrick McMorrow ," he added.

The court heard the accused had five previous convictions for minor matters. Mr Colm Smyth SC (defending) instructed by Mr Keith O'Grady BL and Mr Tom MacSharry solicitor said it was a dreadful assault that was fuelled by drink.

The accused had consumed 12 pints on the day.

It was a domestic incident brought about by a suggestion about the rearing of Gregory his son which was a sore point with McMorrow.

He said the accused had alcohol problems all his life and Sergeant Walsh agreed he was unknown to gardai before the attack.

Kathleen McMorrow, mother of Patrice and partner of the accused told the court she had forgiven her partner. Asked why by Mr Smyth she said he looked after her for 20 years when she was seriously ill and was very good to her. She said the loss of his father had a big toll on him as they were very close and he began drinking more heavily.

She put him out of the house last year and he went for help with his drinking.

She said the accused kept saying why did he do it and that he was very, very sorry for what he did. Mr Smyth said she was compromised in relation to her daughter and she said she was very sorry it happened and wished it didn't and asked the judge to take this into consideration.

Ms Foynes asked if she had seen the attack and she replied she had not but came out and picked Patrice up off the ground.

The accused was told by Mr Smyth that only by the grace of God the victims survived the attack and that he wasn't facing more serious charges in the Central Criminal Court.

The accused said: "I know Patrice most of her life. I absolutely regret it and I think everyday that if I could turn back the clock I would. I can't sleep thinking about it.

"I got on great with her and had no problems with Michael Harte since he started going out with Patrice. I never had any problems with Michael. It was a stupid argument with people losing their tempers and I wish I never went to the put that night.

"I apologise to Patrice, she probably won't talk to me again. I want to apologise to Michael for what I've done," he added.

Mr Smyth asked why he was carrying a knife at the time and he said that his son was being threatened by people in town.

They had taken it out on his car and house, slashing tyres and putting the front window in. His partner had made a number of calls to gardai.

The accused said he was drinking heavily at the time and because his son was being threatened that was why he had a knife in his pocket.

He said Gregory had been in the Crozon Inn earlier and when the argument started he went outside and Patrice talked to Gregory on the phone to calm the situation down.

He said he had been drinking four days at the time and was sick at the constant threats to his son how he couldn't walk down the town without threats.

Judge Johnson said: "In the cool light of day you assaulted two members of your own family and not the people making threats."

The accused said he will regret it for the rest of his life and wishes he could turn back the clock.

Mr Smyth said he was lucky the victims survived as it was close to a double homicide and said it was inexplicable in many ways as to why it happened.

He said maybe it was a guilt complex in relation to his son as he was unable to take care of him in the early stages of his upbringing and he was brought up by a relative outside the family home.

He said because of the overprotectiveness he brought a knife with him and he was clearly not thinking straight and drinking to excess since the death of his father.

He said this was not an excuse but he asked the court to take into account his alcohol background.

"He is remorseful and in his Probation Report it indicates he is thinking about it constantly."

Mr Smyth said the accused was co-operative with gardai and he realises there will be very serious consequences as a result of this and knows there will be a custodial sentence.

Judge Johnson said the accused has pleaded guilty to three serious charges assault causing harm to Michael Harte and Patrice McMorrow and producing a knife used during the assaults.

He said he was going to take time and adjourned until June 25th where the accused was remanded in custody to that date.
A Sligo Garda based in Dublin tapped into the force's Pulse system in order to pass on intelligence information to a drugs gang in her native town about a rival gang, Sligo Circuit Court was told.

Garda Jimell Henry, whom the court heard had been using drugs since her teenage years, routinely accessed the Pulse system and investigating Gardai estimated that 73% of her enquiries were related to Sligo operations surrounding two rival drug gangs rather than anything to do with her own station in Ballymun.

One of the charges relate to her time at Santry Garda Station. Superintendent Jim Delaney told Henrys sentencing hearing before Judge Keenan Johnson that over a two to three week period 980 enquiries were made by Henry on the Pulse system - 73% were related to the Sligo area.

Henry (36) of Cairns Hill, Sligo pleaded guilty to disclosing information obtained during the course of her duties as a Garda knowing this would have a harmful effect on dates in December 2014 and January 2015. The offences were committed in December of 2014 and in January 2015 in Dublin. She also admitted four counts of disclosing personal data obtained without authority breaching the Data Protection Act.

In addition, Henry pleaded guilty to four charges of dishonestly obtaining prescription drugs, including anxicalm and Stilnoct, by using invalid photocopied or forged prescriptions. She was also charged with the possession of cocaine at Cairns Hill in Sligo in January 2015. Henry also admitted offences of obtaining prescription drugs, including anxicalm and stilnoct tablets, by using forged and photocopied prescriptions at different pharmacies around Sligo. The offences were allegedly committed in February and April 2016.

Outlining the case, Supt Delaney told the court that in 2015 and 2016 he was a Detective Inspector based in Sligo and there was a concern that sensitive information was finding its way to members of organised criminal gangs in the Sligo area which could potentially be used to target individuals. He told Mr Michael Bowman SC with Ms Dara Foynes BL (prosecuting with State Solicitor Ms Elisa McHugh), that the information was of a sensitive nature and was pertinent to two rival gangs. There had been tit for tat attacks between the two gangs.

An investigation was undertaken involving several local and national specialised units within the force and Supt Delaney agreed that as a result of this their focus was narrowed to Garda Henry who was based in Ballymun at the time. The Pulse system was being routinely accessed by Garda Henry and information on Sligo was being disclosed. At one point on January 1st, Garda Henry rang Sligo based Detective Garda Peter Cawley to complain that information relating to the gangs was ending up on social media.

A surveillance operation was undertaken and acting on information about a potential drugs transaction, Henrys Opel Astra car was observed driving into an underground car park in Ballisodare, A black Volkswagen Passat driven by a man nicknamed Pharmacy was also driven in and awaiting Gardai believed that a transaction was about to take place and both were arrested at 18.25. In Garda Henrys car were two mobile phones which she said were hers. Located in the boot were eleven print outs from Pulse.

Garda Henry was interviewed on four occasions and she told Gardai that her second phone was a gouger one or scrot phone. She stated she had bought it three to four weeks previously but Supt Delaney said investigations revealed it was bought on October 2nd 2014 and such a phone is commonly known as a burner phone.

Supt Delaney said Garda Henry stated she was meeting Pharmacy as he was going to fix a hair straightener which was in her car. They were meeting in the underground car park because Pharmacy believed he was being followed all of the time. The name Pharmacy was saved on Garda Henrys second phone. A senior figure in the criminal world in Sligo was also saved under the name Child added the Supt.

During questioning it was put to Garda Henry that she had been passing on information to known criminals led by Child and associates including Pharmacy in the Sligo area. Supt Delaney said call data from Garda Henrys phone including text traffic was analysed along with CCTV in Dublin as part of the wide ranging investigation and her Pulse activity which corresponded with her work rota.

The Supt explained that Pulse was also a mechanism for communicating intelligence and that breaches could seriously compromise any investigation or possible court proceedings. He said it would be like putting the intelligence up on a telegraph pole outside in the street.

He said requests were made to Garda Henry by the gang looking for particular information relating to a rival gang. There were also queries over future prosecutions in the Sligo area. One of the texts sent by Garda Henry was: Yeah, two summonses on the way for you from your man. This was the response to a query about traffic offences.

Another text stated: Staying with him at minute which related to a member of the rival gang. Another text was in relation to an address and car registration. A cluster of texts were sent by Garda Henry, the first three to Child on January 13th 2015. She stated: Search done in St Patricks Estate in Ballina. Will ring you later this morning. and later: Nothing else on it.

Texts were also sent to Child and Pharmacy on January 14th2015. One of these said: Your friend got the train from Sligo to Dublin this morning.. This text referred to a man in the rival gang who had made a Victim Impact Statement which was subsequently read out to the court.

The man stated that he found it difficult to trust anyone after this, particularly the Gardai. He said Garda Henry had abused her authority. He said the passing of information by Henry was illegal and endangered his life and that of his family.

Supt. Delaney said Garda Henry was 11 years in the force at the time of her arrest and she did not have any previous convictions. She was the oldest of two children and her father was a retired Detective Garda. Witness said in response to Mr Keith OGrady BL instructed by Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor (defending) that the defendant had lost her mother at a young age. Her father was in court along with her sister.

Supt Delaney agreed there was evidence of persistent drug use by the defendant but that she was a willing participant in the disclosure matters to the gang. He agreed that no actual harm had been done but said it could not be overstated the serious harm which could have been caused as well as there being a breach of trust in the community.

Detective Garda Dave Hannigan outlined to the court the circumstances surrounding the use of forged doctors drug prescriptions for certain medication. There were 13 counts in all relating to seven chemists, She was arrested on May 12th 2016 in relation to these offences and four interviews followed. Henry indicated she had been on and off prescription drugs and referred to the death of her mother, a car crash and an incident at a concert.

Det Garda Hannigan said that over 15 days in April 2016, Henry obtained four months of prescribed medication and was refused a further months supply. She also in February 2016 tried to get seven months supply over ten days but only got six months. She only had one genuine prescription for these drugs. Asked when she needed so much medication she told Gardai that the reasons were her own.

Four of these 13 offences were committed while she was on bail for the other matters of disclosing information, added Det Garda Hannigan
The scene at Ash Lane last Tuesday as an attempt was made to bring machinery on to the Glenview halting site.

Sligo Traveller Support Group are calling on the public to join a silent protest at County Hall on Monday June 11th at 9.30 am prior to the monthly council meeting.

It follows an attempt last Tuesday morning to move heavy machinery on to the Glenview halting site on Ash Lane apparently to dig trial holes in advance of the planned refurbishment scheme where it has been proposed the McGinley family move there from Connaughton Road and share the site with the Ward family who have lived there since it opened.

Sligo Traveller Support Group has again reiterated its opposition to the proposed plans for the site on the basis on a lack of consultation with the Local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee (LTACC) and the family already living at Glenview.

"At approximately 9.30am Council staff and contractors arrived with the machinery and intended moving onto the site to carry out work related to the proposed Glenview redevelopment plans.

"STSG representatives arrived shortly after to support the family.

"The council and contractors were adamant that they were going to enter the site but were informed by the family that they did want the machinery on the site because of the numbers of children whose safety would be under threat. After over three hours the Council eventually withdrew the machinery.

"STSG are calling on elected Councillors to reject the Glenview plans when they come before the June meeting," said a spokesman for the group, Jamie Murphy.

Bernadette Maughan of Sligo Traveller Support Group said: "We are asking Councillors to vote against this development due to the lack of consultation with the LTACC, and families.

"We have submitted over 200 local objections and letters from Pavee Point and the Irish Traveller Movement.

"We hope the Councillors on the day will take our advice and that of, the families involved, listen to the public objections and vote against these plans."

The council said it would not be making a comment on last week's events at Ash Lane.
The Asian-Irish cultural festival will take place in the Harbour Bar in Bray on Sunday, June 10, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The festival celebrates the diversity, multiculturalism and integration between Irish, Asian and all communities in Bray and further afield.

The fourth year of the event features rapper Oisin Mac performing as Gaeilge, traditional Japanese dancing from Odorikko, sean nos dancing, Erna Supardi O'Connell leading the Indonesian contingent, with bellydancing the newest artform to be added to the bill!

Demonstrations of Aikido and Katori-Shinto-Ryu will introduce the uninitiated to Martial Arts, and Maureen Roberts will be giving a St. Brigid's Cross making workshop.

The fashion minded will enjoy the showcasing of traditional dress from China, the Phillipines and Japan. There will also be a special demonstration on how to wear a Yukata (a Japanese casual kimono-like garment worn during the summer).

Glor na nGael are involved in promoting the Irish language in this 'Bliain na Gaeilge' and audiences can look forward to dynamic language exchange workshops, which include Chinese and Irish! Old favourites Seoidin will be on hand to offer their (trad Irish) musical prowess!

Every year the organisers strive to forge new links and this year they will welcome Korea, India and Vietnam to the festival: where Kpop, traditional dance and cuisine will be the order of the day.

Food stalls will offer Asian and Irish fare. Organisers Susan Jackson and Rie Maruyama said that integration and multiculturalism are at the heart of the festival and the event has been going from strength to strength each year.

Fleadh Cheoil medal winner Rie who hails from Japan, but considers Ireland her spiritual home, has been giving free tin whistle lessons in the Harbour Bar for the last two years and since then, students from as far away as Brazil have flocked to classes to soak up a little bit of Irish culture, while spreading their own.

Susan, who was born and bred in Ireland, is a film and television producer specialising in community media. She works behind the scenes to foster links with festival participants old and new, as well as spreading the word about the event.

Susan and Rie say they are still adding to the bill. To find out more, email asianirishculture@gmail.com.
Wicklow male voice choir recently travelled to twin town Montigny in France to attend the Montigny Spring Festival.

This follows in a long tradition of Wicklow male voice choir representing Wicklow in Germany, Wales, Poland and previously in France.

This tour was no exception and the choir performed to enthusiastic audiences on no less than four separate arenas.

The choir was delighted to participate in an informal welcome evening with the Montigny twinning committee and the local French Chorale 1V vents mixed choir.

Both choirs performed in a fun and light atmosphere on arrival and enjoyed the excellent French hospitality.

Wicklow were honoured guests at the opening of the Montigny Prairiale spring fair where the official ceremonies were concluded and once again performed for the assembled gathering.

The main event of the tour was the Saturday evening concert in aid of the local guide dogs for the blind which was attended by 500 people and together with the local choir finished off a very busy day.

On Sunday the choir sung at Mass in the beautiful Church of St Martin performing the likes of 'The Lord Bless You And Keep You' and 'Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring'. From there were taken on a short tour of Paris which included the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe , Notre Dame and many more interesting sights.
Student of the Year Ailbhe Dowling with her year head, Kathryn Fox

Dominican College Wicklow students were rewarded for everything from academic effort to school attendance at the annual prizegiving ceremony held in Fatima Hall.

Individual and class awards were presented in front of an appreciative audience consisting of parents, family members and past pupils.

Student of the Year was presented to Ailbhe Dowling, while Suzie Leonard and Emma Kristiansen received prizes for their academic excellence. The Aoife King Prize for Music went to Emma Maguire.

Student of the year for Sapphire Class was Kirsty Dunne, followed by Morgan Elliott and Siofra O'Leary. Naoise O'Neill was student of the year for Emerald Class, followed by Catherine Moyseyeva second and Julia Simko.

The Opal Class student of the year was Grace McManus and there were also awards for Ellen Madden second and Megan Byrne third. Other good performers in the student of the class awards included Keelin O'Dwyer and Aoibhe Drennan of Ruby Class, Sorcha Ffrench and Deirdre McGrane of Pearl Class and Rhian Drennan and Liadh Cronin of Diamond Class.

The Athletes of the Year were Saoirse O'Reilly (senior) and Ellen Savage (junior).
Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, Marian Roberts, General Manager of Conductix Wampfler of Baltinglass and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD

Marian Roberts, General Manager of Baltinglass-based company Conductix Wampfler, has met with Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys as part of an engagement initiative with some of IDA Ireland's small multi-national companies.

The meeting with Conductix Wampfler and three other companies took place as part of the Enterprise Excellence Ireland 2018 event in Croke Park on Wednesday last which highlighted Ireland's business leadership and operational effectiveness.

Ms Roberts outlined the company's history in Ireland during the meeting.

Wampflex Ltd was established 44 years ago in Baltinglass. The Irish operation changed its name to Conductix-Wampfler in 2007 after it was acquired by Delachaux. It also forms part of the Conductix division, which is dedicated to the transmission of energy and data for all types of industrial equipment. The company employ 26 permanent and 17 temporary staff.

The Irish site is a production unit supplying specialised products to sister sites within the group. Products manufactured in Baltinglass include rubber buffers, data and power transmission components and plastic injected moulded parts.

The Irish operation has now established itself as a centre of competency for plastics injection moulding and is the sole manufacturer of plastic components and rubber buffers in the Conductix Division for the US and European markets.

Speaking after the meeting, Minister Humphreys said: 'I was delighted to meet with Marian and the executives of the three other companies who are small multi-national IDA client companies, and to hear their success stories.

'The Government is committed to a greater spread of regional employment and these companies show what can be achieved. These companies have been in Ireland for a long time and it's important to acknowledge their contribution to their local economies,' she said.
The Catalina Flying Boat will take to the skies above Bray this year

The Red Arrows will once again cut a dash in the skies above Wicklow during the Bray Air Display this July.

The display will be on Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29, with the Red Arrows appearing on the Sunday.

The famous Red Arrows team first jetted into Ireland in their distinctive red livery for the 2016 event and wowed the crowds with pin point precision moves and graceful manoeuvres. Anyone unlucky enough to have missed their performance two years ago will have a second chance to marvel at these master craftsmen this July.

Joining them in the skies this year will be the Royal Jordanian Falcons, which are some of the most skilled aerobatic pilots in the world. The national aerobatic team was formed in 1976 with the mission of promoting peace and friendship globally through the art and science of aviation.

Wildcat Aerobatics will be bringing their close formation aerobatics and precision synchronised flying in the iconic Pitts Special biplane in their choreographed air show act combining a mix of balletic, close formation aerobatics and high speed opposition passes.

The Blades Aerobatic Team are amongst the most expereinced on the circuit and include pilot Kirsty Murphy, formerly the first and only female Red Arrow's pilot. Consisting of 30 exhilarating manoeuvres showcasing a variety of mind-blowing aerobatic stunts, The Blades Extra-300 aircraft are flown just 12 feet apart.

A Celtic jet team from Brittany in France, Tranchant Jet Team, will fly four Fouga aircraft while individual performances will include Dublin's Eddie Goggins (aka 'The Flying Dentist'), the UK's Richard Goodwin and Gerry Humphries with his 'Flying Cow' Vans RV7 solo display.

Bray Air Display isn't just about high energy, exhilarating displays and spectators will enjoy a trip down memory lane with some of the world's most iconic aircraft of the past.

The 'Shamrock 1942' display involves the DC-3 aircraft, one of the most recognisable and iconic planes of the 1930s and '40s and one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made. A total of 19 DC-3s were in use by Aer Lingus until 1964.

The Catalina Flying Boat PBY-5A celebrates its 75th birthday this year and will add its display of Dumbbells, flypasts and Orbits to festivities.

The Irish Historic Flight Foundation, which commemorates aviation achievements as well as encouraging an interest in Irish aviation, will bring old world glamour to Bray with Chipmunk and Stearman aircraft flying across the shoreline.

Se Pardy, Director of Bray Air Display, said: 'It is full steam ahead as we organise the 13th annual Bray Air Display and it's going to be a thrilling spectacle with a line-up of more than 40 aircraft. The calibre of the aerobatic displays at Bray is really second to none and, I believe, inspirational for those considering a career in aviation. Everyone is welcome to enjoy what will be a wonderful free event for young and old alike.'

The weekend will include live music, markets, fun-fair, helicopter rides over Bray Head, hospitality packages and much more.
Visitors to the Wicklow Parish Fete held at East Glendalough on Saturday were greeted by glorious sunshine for the duration of the event.

The family orientated get-together featured plenty of activities for the kids, including bouncy castles, face painting and numerous game stalls.

Wicklow Fire Services carried out a demonstration on how a chip pan fire can get completely out of control. The large blaze was a result of water being poured on it. The advice was to always use a fire blanket and leave the chip pan for half an hour.

Another popular attraction for young and old alike was a falconry display courtesy of Wicklow East Coast Falconry.

There were plenty of stalls to browse through offering goodies such as plants, clothes, bric-a-brac. gym equipment, country produce and cakes. A huge collection of toys also ended up finding new homes by the end of the day.

There was plenty of live music and some demonstrations on wood turning and other old Irish traditions.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during Trooping The Colour on the Mall on June 9, 2018 in London, England

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during Trooping The Colour on the Mall on June 9, 2018 in London, England

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during Trooping The Colour on the Mall on June 9, 2018 in London, England

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at The Royal Horseguards during Trooping The Colour ceremony on June 9, 2018 in London, England

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at The Royal Horseguards during Trooping The Colour ceremony on June 9, 2018 in London, England

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex travel in a carriage to Horseguards parade ahead of the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour', in London on June 9, 2018

Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (L) and Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, travel in a carriage to Horseguards parade ahead of the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour', in London on June 9, 2018

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, take part in the Trooping the Colour parade in central London, Britain, June 9, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, take part in the Trooping the Colour parade in central London, Britain, June 9, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, take part in the Trooping the Colour parade in central London, Britain, June 9, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, take part in the Trooping the Colour parade in central London, Britain, June 9, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

The Duchess of Cornwall (left) and the Duchess of Cambridge leave Buckingham Palace, central London on their way to Horse Guards Parade, ahead of the Trooping the Colour ceremony, as the Queen celebrates her official birthday

The Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge arrive on Horse Guards Parade, central London, during the Trooping the Colour ceremony, as the Queen celebrates her official birthday

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, left, and Kate Middleton, right, during the Trooping The Colour

Newlyweds Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have made their first public appearance since returning from their honeymoon on Thursday.

The couple enjoyed two weeks of marital bliss in a top secret location, believed to be Kenya, and it was back to business straight away as they will be playing a key role in today's Trooping The Colour celebrations. Meghan and Harry were given their own carriage as they made their way from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade ahead of the ceremony, in honour of Britain's Queen Elizabeth's birthday.

Kate Middleton, who welcomed son Prince Louis in April, made an appearance alongside Camilla, wearing a baby blue Alexandre McQueen coat dress. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, meanwhile, has adopted a distinctly more royal style in a blush pink Philip Treacy hat and off the shoulder dress by Carolina Herrera.

British royal watchers have lined the streets in their thousands to cheer on their monarch and later today will be an RAF fly-past, watched by members of the royal family from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. It's usually at this time of year that Prince George and Princess Charlotte make an appearance, but with Kate and husband Prince William's concerted efforts to protect them from over-exposure, it hasn't yet been confirmed whether or not they will be making an appearance after already taking centre stage at last month's wedding.

Expand Close Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during Trooping The Colour on the Mall on June 9, 2018 in London, England / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during Trooping The Colour on the Mall on June 9, 2018 in London, England

This will also mark the closest thing we'll get to a balcony kiss from Meghan and Harry.
It's set to be the most acrimonious world summit in years, with President Donald Trump facing off against six other leaders in need of a standard-bearer.

If Justin Trudeau is looking for a chance at redemption, this is it.

With the world on the brink of a trade war, the stakes are high for when the Group of Seven meets in Canada with the symbol of postwar collaboration under threat by an aggressive strain of American unilateralism that's ripped up international agreements and undermined multilateral institutions.

Enter Trudeau, the photogenic prime minister whose brand of "progressive" trade has fallen flat amid foreign flops that wounded his image.

In private conversations, some G7 officials express reservations about the 46-year-old. They may have little choice than to embrace him.

As host, he's in the spotlight to somehow salvage a summit pitting irate Europeans against Trump with Japan's Shinzo Abe falling in the middle.

France and Germany are warning they won't bow to Trump just to show unity, while many wonder if the US president will leave early.

In the past, Trudeau tried being a Trump whisperer. But his year of diligent appeasement ultimately failed.

Tariffs hit Canada, along with everyone else. Trudeau has finally quit playing nice with Trump.

"I expect a very acrimonious summit," says Jacob Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics inWashington.

"Nothing of substance to be agreed. In fact, I think the best you can hope for is for them to agree to continue talking."

Trudeau "needs to clearly adopt a different style because he has found out, just like Macron did and just like Abe did, that all this personal chemistry, cosying-up bromance stuff didn't get them anywhere," Kirkegaard says.

The star power has faded for Trudeau, the son of a former prime minister. At home, his polling lead has evaporated on the heels of a disastrous trip to India, and he trails the main opposition party in polls ahead of an election next autumn.

Abroad, a French official was at pains to play down the much-talked about bromance between Emmanuel Macron and Trudeau on display at the G7 in Italy a year ago.

If the two men were being endlessly compared to one another last year, comparisons now are not welcome, the official said on condition of anonymity. Macron is focusing on developing his own brand and a direct channel to Trump.

Macron began his trip to Canada by visiting Trudeau in Ottawa, and emerged with a warning for Trump.

"None of us are eternal," Macron said. He later tweeted: "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be."

Trump responded on Twitter after the meeting of the two other leaders, which included a lengthy private dinner: "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the US massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers," he wrote. "Look forward to seeing them tomorrow."

In a follow-up tweet, Trump accused Trudeau of "being so indignant" given that Canada protects its dairy sector with high tariffs.

Yesterday, Trump tweeted that if he was unsuccessful at "straightening out" unfair trade deals, "we come out even better!"

When asked for a response to Trump's remarks, a senior Canadian official at a press briefing in Quebec said the countries can manage their differences through discussions.

Trump's treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin was painfully singled out a week ago at a gathering of G7 finance chiefs in the ski-resort town of Whistler. Who knows how Trump, who dislikes criticism, will respond to coming under fire.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has made it clear Trump isn't planning to woo the bloc's leaders.

"International multilateral organisations are not going to determine American policy, I think the president's made that very clear," Kudlow said.

Either way, there is the risk that it ends without the typical negotiated leaders' consensus communique.

Previous summits have issued a chair's summary instead, which would fall to Trudeau. If the Canadian can find any measure of consensus, that will be considered a success given the low expectations.

Trump was planning to depart the summit this morning, leaving a deputy assistant in charge for the day's remaining sessions.

"The G7 is fundamentally a gathering of the world's most advanced economies to talk about economic challenges that we have in common," Trudeau said last week in Toronto.

The key to diplomacy is finding common ground, he said. That incidentally, is also the title of his 2014 autobiography.
Canadas PM Justin Trudeau at the centre of the G7 family photo (AP)

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has said all countries attending the G7 summit have signed a joint communique, despite sharp trade tensions with the US.

Mr Trudeau said the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan have reached agreement on consensus language.

US president Donald Trump recently slapped tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union, angering his counterparts before he arrived at the summit in Quebec.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a media availability at #G7Charlevoix. https://t.co/8IFyOgXTuJ  CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) June 9, 2018

Some had predicted it would be difficult for all the leaders to reach any kind of consensus because of the sharp disagreements.

But Mr Trudeau said the leaders had rolled up our sleeves and settled on language they could agree to on a broad range of issues.
European Council President Donald Tusk, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pose for a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump sits side by side with France's President Emmanuel Macron during a bilateral meeting at the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

British Prime Minister Theresa May is greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, during the G7 Summit, Friday, June 8, 2018, in Charlevoix, Canada. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump pose during a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

The United States and European Union will establish a dialogue on trade within the next two weeks, a French official said on Friday, signaling a modest step forward for bitterly divided allies at a Group of Seven summit in Canada.

U.S. trading partners have been furious over President Donald Trump's decision last week to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico as part of his "America First" agenda. Some countries have retaliated with their own levies on U.S. imports.

"The principle of a dialogue was agreed this afternoon," the French official told reporters. "Everyone agreed, including President Trump."

While G7 leaders confronted Trump with a slew of data on imports and exports in a bid to sway his thinking, Trump countered his own numbers and held his position that the United States was at a disadvantage on international trade, an official who followed the talks said.

Expand Close British Prime Minister Theresa May is greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, during the G7 Summit, Friday, June 8, 2018, in Charlevoix, Canada. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) / Facebook

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Whatsapp British Prime Minister Theresa May is greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, during the G7 Summit, Friday, June 8, 2018, in Charlevoix, Canada. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

But Trump struck a more affable tone after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying the French leader was helping work out trade issues.

"Something's going to happen. I think it will be very positive," Trump said, without giving details.

Macron said it was possible to advance the trade issues that have split the U.S. and its allies.

"I think, on trade, there is ... a way to progress all together," he told reporters after his meeting with Trump. "I saw the willingness on all the sides to find agreements and have a win-win approach for our people, our workers, and our middle classes."

Expand Close U.S. President Donald Trump sits side by side with France's President Emmanuel Macron during a bilateral meeting at the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis / Facebook

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Whatsapp U.S. President Donald Trump sits side by side with France's President Emmanuel Macron during a bilateral meeting at the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday floated an idea to set up a way to resolve trade disputes between the United States and its allies. An official described Merkel's suggestion as a "shared assessment and dialogue" mechanism, but gave no further details. It was unclear if the technical talks were part of her initiative.

The proposal was supported by other leaders present, the official said. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker offered to visit Washington for an assessment of EU-US trade to help resolve the dispute, an official said.

Expectations for a major breakthrough on trade at the summit, however, remain low, with U.S. allies focused on avoiding rupturing the G7, which in its 42-year history has tended to seek consensus on major issues.

"It's highly unlikely there will be a final communique," a G7 official said on condition of anonymity.

Expand Close European Council President Donald Tusk, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pose for a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY / Facebook

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Whatsapp European Council President Donald Tusk, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pose for a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Merkel said it was not clear whether the group would issue a final directive, adding that failure to do so would be an honest reflection of the lack of agreement among Canada, the United States, Japan, Britain, Italy, France and Germany. The EU is also attending the summit.

Trump had set a combative tone before leaving Washington on Friday, saying he was "going to deal with the unfair trade practices" of other G7 members.

But he was more affable after meeting Macron and Trudeau, swapping jokes with the latter before the media though neither budged on their trade positions. "We've had really a very good relationship, very special," the U.S. president said of Macron, a day after the two leaders had exchanged terse messages on Twitter. "We have little tests every once in a while when it comes to trade."

Merkel and Trump also had a brief conversation at the summit but no bilateral meeting.

Trumps "America First" message to allies has hardened since he brought hardline national security adviser John Bolton on to his team.

Trump plans to leave the summit four hours earlier than originally planned to fly to Singapore to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the White House said.

G7 chiefs have largely praised Trump for his efforts to stabilize the Korean peninsula, but they are unhappy he pulled out of an international agreement to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Canada and the EU have denounced the U.S. tariffs and Ottawa has proposed levies on a range of U.S. goods next month while the EU has pledged its own retaliatory measures.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday warned both Trump and the EU of the dangers of entering a tit-for-tat trade war over tariffs, urging both sides to instead focus on China's excess steel production.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said her country "will not change its mind when it comes to the illegal" application of tariffs.

The spat has financial markets worried about tit-for-tit escalation. Investors are also concerned about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has threatened to terminate. Canada and Mexico, the other members of the 1994 pact, have been frustrated by the slow pace of talks to renegotiate NAFTA. A Canadian official said Trump and Trudeau discussed accelerating NAFTA talks.

Relations with Russia also became an issue at the summit after Trump on Friday said the country should be allowed to again attend meetings with the G7, an idea that did not gain much traction at the meeting and was not formally raised.

Russia was suspended from group in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Trump said Russia should be readmitted, but even Moscow seemed to reject that suggestion.

Merkel said EU countries at the summit agreed that the conditions to readmit Russia had not been met.

Trump's presidency has been clouded by a federal investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by his campaign. Both Moscow and Trump have denied the allegations.
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a news briefing at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada June 9, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

US president Donald Trump has defended his actions to address trade imbalances and repeated his call for Russia to rejoin the G7.

Leaving the gathering in Canada early, Mr Trump defended his tough talk on trade, telling reporters: "We are like the piggy bank that everyone is robbing."

Trump, who angered his G7 partners last week with tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico as part of his "America First" agenda, vowed to hold firm until U.S. goods had "fair" access to markets.

"The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades," Trump said at a press conference on the second day of a two-day summit in Canada.

He said he had suggested to the other G7 leaders that all trade barriers, including tariffs and subsidies, be eliminated.

"You go tariff-free, you go barrier-free, you go subsidy free," he said. "I did suggest it and people I guess were going to go back to the drawing board."

Trump denied that the summit had been contentious, a remark that contradicted what one G7 official described as a bitter harangue on Friday between the U.S. president and his counterparts over tariffs.

In an "extraordinary" exchange, Trump repeated a list of grievances about U.S. trade, mainly with the EU and Canada, a French presidency official told reporters.

"And so began a long litany of recriminations, somewhat bitter reports that the United States was treated unfairly, that the trading system was totally unfavorable to the United States, the American economy, American workers, the middle class," the official said.

"In short, a long, frank rant which is undoubtedly very unusual in this kind of formats," the official added.

He added that he would like to see the group expanded back to the G8, with Russia re-admitted - something opposed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

"I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in," Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump also described an upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore as a "mission of peace."

"This is unknown territory in the truest sense. But I feel really confident," Trump told reporters. "It's never been done, It's never been tested. So we are going in with a really positive spirit."

More to follow...
US President Donald Trump is greeted by Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at the G7 Summit in Quebec, Canada. Photo: GettyGetty Images

Donald Trump yesterday threw the Canadian G7 summit into chaos by calling for Vladimir Putin to be re-admitted to the group and making a series of critical comments about other world leaders.

As he headed to the summit of G7 nations - the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, Italy, Germany and France - the US president said: "Russia should be in the meeting. Why are we having a meeting without them? Russia should be a part of it.

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"You know, whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run.

"It doesn't matter what you call it. It used to be the G8. They threw Russia out. They should let Russia back in. We should have Russia at the negotiating table. We have a world to run," he said.

But European leaders insisted that Russia should not be allowed back in, highlighting "malign" actions such as the Salisbury spy poisoning.

After arriving late, the president was expected to leave early to fly to his meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader.

Expand Close Donald Tusk arrives for the summit with his wife Malgorzata. Photo: Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Donald Tusk arrives for the summit with his wife Malgorzata. Photo: Getty Images

The summit in Quebec, Canada, saw Mr Trump clash with European leaders over Russia, US tariffs on steel and the Iran nuclear deal before it had even formally begun.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister and host of the summit, condemned the Russia comments.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, accused the US president of "playing into the hands" of those who want to undermine democracy.

Mr Tusk said: "What worries me most, however, is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor - the US.

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"We will not stop trying to convince President Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all. It will only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order, where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms will cease to exist.

"This is in the interests of neither the US or Europe. Even in difficult times like these there is still more that unites than divides us.

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"It is far too early for our enemies and adversaries to celebrate."

The comments were also condemned by British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been pressing world leaders to take a tougher line on Russia in the wake of the Salisbury spy poisoning.

She said: "I have always said we should engage with Russia, but my phrase is 'engage, but beware'. We have seen malign activity from Russia in a whole variety of ways, of course including on the streets of Salisbury. So we need to say, I think, before any such conversations can take place, Russia needs to change its approach."

However, Giuseppe Conte, the new Italian prime minister who is pro-Russia, has supported Mr Trump's calls.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is currently investigating whether associates of Mr Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to sway the 2016 US presidential election.

Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea, and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

The G7 leaders yesterday agree to share information between themselves and work with internet service providers and social media companies to thwart foreign meddling in elections in their countries.

The agreement also commits the G7 nations to ensuring high transparency of funding for political parties and all political advertising, especially during election campaigns.

The agreement was a robust response to counteract the hostile actions of nations such as Russia, which interfered in the elections of the United States and some European Union countries through internet sites and social media. Moscow has denied the allegations. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
The Normandy landings on and after June 6, 1944, resulted in 10,000 casualties for the Allies. Photo: Reuters

The beaches of Normandy - and the multiple rows of graves in the nearby war cemeteries - are a moving sight at any time of the year, but particularly this week with the marking of the anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Seventy-four years ago, more than 150,000 soldiers from the US, Canada, Britain and other Allied countries waded into the waters off the coast of Normandy as part of the biggest sea and air invasion ever attempted.

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This audacious penetration of then Nazi-occupied France - which cost the Allies more than 10,000 forces wounded or killed - was a key moment in turning the course of World War II and its legacy has coloured relations between the US and Europe ever since.

Walking the rain-sodden beaches this week and reading the testimonies of those who were there during the landings - including the photographer Robert Capa, who captured the drama of D-Day in several iconic images - I couldn't help wonder about the state of the transatlantic relationship in this age of Trump.

Just days before the anniversary, Trump's newly installed ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, had given an interview to the right-wing Breitbart website beloved of Trump supporters, including white nationalists, praising the rise of the far-right across Europe. Breitbart has a history of fawning coverage of far-right movements and political parties in the EU, including the Front National in France.

In the interview, Grenell referred positively to recent elections that have propelled far-right parties to greater power in countries like Germany, Italy, Hungary and Austria.

He told Breitbart that he "absolutely [wants] to empower" European conservatives who are "experiencing an awakening from the silent majority".

Such electoral showings, he argued, indicate "a groundswell of conservative policies are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left. There's no question about that, it's an exciting time for me."

Grenell also praised Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz who heads a right-wing coalition government with the Freedom Party, a far-right group founded by former Nazis. Kurz himself campaigned on an xenophobic, anti-immigration platform.

"I think Sebastian Kurz is a rock star. I'm a big fan," he said.

The remarks by Grenell - a Trump political appointee, not a career diplomat - caused outrage in Germany and warnings against interfering in domestic politics.

The new ambassador is behaving "not like a diplomat, but like a far-right colonial officer", former European Parliament president Martin Schulz said. Grenell later claimed on Twitter that he had been misinterpreted.

"The idea that I'd endorse candidates/parties is ridiculous," he wrote.

"I stand by my comments that we are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority - those who reject the elites & their bubble. Led by Trump."

Not only did Grenell's comments rile Berlin, the offence was compounded when US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert - hired from Fox News by the Trump administration - cited the D-Day invasion anniversary in an attempt to brush off the controversy.

"We have a very strong relationship with the government of Germany," Nauert said on June 5.

"Looking back in the history books, today is the 71st anniversary of the speech that announced the Marshall Plan. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

"We obviously have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we have a strong relationship with the government of Germany."

The imbroglio comes at a time of increasing strain in the Washington-Berlin relationship - and US-Europe relations - due to Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate change agreement, plus his decision to level steel and aluminium tariffs on the EU.

It was not the first time Grenell has sparked controversy since taking up the post of ambassador last month.

Only hours after he arrived in Berlin, he took to Twitter to crassly warn German firms to "wind down their operations" in Iran following Trump's decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal and slap Tehran again with sanctions.

Trump's blustering, blunt and damaging approach towards Europe - despite US-Europe relations being a key pillar of the post-war international order - and his cosying up to autocrats beyond the continent couldn't be further from the legacy of D-Day, with its emphasis on bonds built through shared sacrifice for the common good.

The fact his emissary to Germany is praising the rise of populist xenophobes across Europe also taints that memory. These are difficult days for the transatlantic relationship.
The Afghan Taliban has announced a three-day ceasefire over the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

A statement released on Saturday by the Taliban said that they would defend themselves in case of any attack.

They say foreign forces are excluded from the ceasefire and Taliban operations would continue against them.

This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not wining them hearts and minds but further alienating the #Afghan people from their cause.  Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) June 7, 2018

The statement added that the leadership of the Taliban may also consider releasing prisoners of war, if they promise not to return to the battlefield.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced a week-long ceasefire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday.

A statement sent from the presidents office on Thursday said the governments ceasefire will begin on 27 Ramadan, or June 12 on the Western calendar, and last through the Eid al-Fitr holiday, until around June 19, adding the ceasefire does not include al Qaeda or the Islamic State group.

The palace statement referred to a gathering of Afghanistans top clerics last week in which they issued a decree against suicide attacks and called for peace talks.

With the ceasefire announcement we epitomize the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict.  Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) June 7, 2018

A suicide bomber struck just outside the gathering as it was dispersing, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The Taliban had denounced the gathering, insisting that its jihad, or holy war, against foreign invaders was justified. It instead urged the clerics to side with it against the occupation.

The US and Nato formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but the US still has thousands of forces based there in a support and counter-terrorism role.

The Trump administration has sent additional troops to try to change the course of Americas longest war.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan announces ceasefire from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr following the historic ruling [Fatwa] of the Afghan Ulema.  Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) June 7, 2018

Just hours before the Talibans Saturday announcement, at least 17 soldiers were killed when their checkpoint came under attack by Taliban insurgents in western Herat province, said Gelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Mr Farhad said one soldier was wounded. He added that eight insurgents were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded during the gun battle in Zewal district.

In northern Kunduz province at least 13 local policemen were killed early on Saturday when their checkpoint came under an attack by Taliban fighters, said Nematullah Temori, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Mr Temori said that seven others were wounded in Qala-e Zal district. Around 10 insurgents were also killed and nine others wounded during the battle, he said.
US president Donald Trump has stepped to the microphone alone to take reporters questions  just the second time he has done so since taking office more than a year ago.

Speaking in Canada following the G7 meeting, he talked about his desire for countries to remove all barriers to the free flow of goods.

He also looked ahead to the next big meeting on his schedule  a summit in Singapore next week with North Koreas leader.

Along the way, Mr Trump heavily criticised the US press.

When asked why he does this, the American leader said: Because the US press is very dishonest. Much of it, not all of it.

Oh, I have some folks in your profession that are with the US, in the US, citizens, proud citizens; theyre reporters. These are some of the most outstanding people I know. But there are many people in the press that are unbelievably dishonest.

They dont cover stories the way theyre supposed to be. They dont even report them in many cases if theyre positive. So theres tremendous  you know, I came up with the term fake news.

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Its a lot of fake news, but at the same time I have great respect for many of the people in the press, he said.

During an earlier point in the news conference, Mr Trump referred to a CNN producers fake friends at CNN.

Unlike with a more formal news conference, typically announced days in advance, the White House gave journalists travelling with Mr Trump little warning that he was coming to their workspace to make a statement and answer questions before leaving the G7 summit in Quebec to fly to Singapore.

He answered questions from just the small group, or pool, of reporters who travel with him, not the much larger universe of reporters who cover the White House on a daily basis and would attend a less hastily arranged question-and-answer session.

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Mr Trump seems more fond of sparring with reporters when he can share the stage with a foreign counterpart, as he did this past week at the White House after meeting with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who had come to Washington to consult with Mr Trump before the G7 and the upcoming summit with Mr Kim.

The president has also been more open to answering questions during brief appearances at the White House, such as at bill-signing ceremonies or meetings with legislators, or on the South Lawn when he leaves or returns from an out-of-town trip.

Mr Trump last appeared solo before reporters in February 2017, less than a month into his presidency.

It was a rollicking, quickly arranged, 77-minute free-for-all in the stately East Room of the White House during which he railed against the news media, defended his fired national security adviser and insisted that no-one who advised his campaign had had any contacts with Russia.
Anthony Bourdains apparent suicide comes as a complete shock to the world and people who worked with him. Bourdain, the TV celebrity and food writer who hosted CNN's "Parts Unknown," was found dead in his hotel room Friday.

CNN confirmed the death, saying that Bourdain was found unresponsive Friday morning by a friend and chef Eric Ripert near the French city of Strasbourg. It called his death a suicide.

Also read: Shocking! Celebrity Chef & TV Host Anthony Bourdain Dies After Committing Suicide At 61





Facebook/Anthony Bourdain

In the wake of Anthony Bourdains death, his girlfriend Asia Argento has shared an emotional tribute to him.

The Italian actress and director, Argento shared a heartbreaking message on Twitter saying,

"Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector."

I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with this family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine, she continued.

Bourdain and Argento started seeing each other in 2016 while shooting the 'Parts Unknown' CNN series in Rome.

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Just a few weeks ago, Argento who is women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and harassment, delivered a searing speech during this year's Cannes film festival about disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein's role at the event upon presenting the best actress award.

Le puissant discours d@AsiaArgento pendant la ceremonie de cloture de Cannes.  Jai ete violee ici en 1997 par Harvey Weinstein .  pic.twitter.com/Qn1uguRzP4  Hugo Clement (@hugoclement) May 19, 2018

To this, her late boyfriend, Bourdain shared a message on Facebook saying, "How to lob a grenade into a huge industry event and make them thank you for it. Video here:"
It is the highest traffic in a single day at any airport in India till date and Mumbai's single runway airport handled like no big deal.

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

When Air France flight AF 218 landed in Mumbai on Tuesday at 11.54 pm, it created history for Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) by becoming this old aviation hubs 1003rd flight that day.

According to TOI, IndiGos flight from Kolkata (6E-961), which touched down there at 11.58 pm, was the last flight of that super busy day.

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

Due to heavy rainfall the aircraft were diverted to nearby airports and were later accommodated as the rain stopped, which lead to increase in the flight movements, the spokesperson told Deccan Herald.

The previous record for the airport was 988 flight movements on May 19, which was an improvement over 980 flights witnessed on February 10. The average daily flight movement is 950.
Being a millennial is a tough job. From working for too many hours to maintaining an active social life, most of us tend to forget that we've also gotta take care of our health.

Well, it's also because we assume that being healthy is tough and will take too much of our time. However, that's not true. There are some tips and tricks that you should know and once you start practising them, you would have started your journey to a healthy lifestyle. Here's how:

1. We know that a drinking session with the buddies on a Friday night is tempting but make sure you have at least 8 glasses of water throughout the day before hitting those drinks to help keep your body hydrated and avoid hangovers.

tenor

2. We're always on our beloved phones. At times, we're doing the basic scrolling on Instagram and at times, we're constantly checking for emails from office. But, it also makes us the indoor generation. Take a day off your phone, go out for a walk, give your brain that much-needed rest and connect with the real world. Doing this once a week, preferably on weekends, will be super beneficial for your mental health and will make sure you don't get burnt out too soon.

Tenor

3. Our feet are always cramped up in fancy shoes plus sitting at your desk for long hours makes way for poor circulation, which would eventually cause knee, back and hip issues. Hence, grab your toes and pull for good circulation. Do this sitting in bed after you've woken up and once you've made a habit out of it, you're good to go.

Tenor

4. This one might be slightly tough but having your earphones on and listening to music at the highest volume can cause hearing loss over time. Dr James Foy, a doctor from California, has been quoted saying, "Follow the 60/60 rule: Keep volume coming through your headphones to no more than 60 percent of the max, for no more than 60 minutes a day."

Tenor

5. Keep your phone on silent when you go to sleep. It is very important for your mental and physical health to be able to sleep and reset your body clock. Hence, put your phone on silent when you're sleeping to avoid having a disturbed sleep.

tenor

6. Here's another one that may seem slightly tough, but once you make a habit out of it, it is actually quite beneficial. Instead of getting lunch from outside, make some at home and take that to the office. Well, you don't have to make extravagant meals. Fix yourself some salad or make a veggie wrap but try to make a habit out of this. It won't just be super healthy but will also help you save up a lot of money.

Tenor
Mumbai has been put on red alert this weekend bracing for its annual tryst with the monsoon. Rains had lashed the city yesterday, leaving many areas waterlogged, delaying trains, forcing flights to divert and putting life out of track.

According to the India Meteorological Department or IMD, monsoon has reached the Konkan coast.

Indications are that Mumbai could relive the catastrophic 2005 flooding this weekend.

On June 06, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that Indias financial capital will receive extremely heavy rainfall between June 09 and June 11, and asked residents to avoid the outdoors on those three days.

AFP

Even private weather forecaster Skymet, too, warned that the city could witness the worst rains since July 2005 when rainfall of over 900mm was recorded in a single day. The catastrophe-like situation caused deadly flooding and landslides that claimed hundreds of lives.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC, which looks after Mumbai's civic requirements, has taken a number of precautionary measures with the met department predicting extremely heavy rainfall between Saturday and Monday.

Residents of Mumbai have been asked to stay indoors as much as they can. In a statement, the Regional Meteorological Centre of Mumbai said, "As rainfall activity is likely to enhance from 8th June with further increase on 9th June, people are advised to abstain from outdoor activities as much as possible during the period and watch for the weather."

In case of flooding, schools will be kept open at all times for shelter.

BCCL

Navy personnel will be on stand-by in parts of the city that are usually most flooded when there is heavy rain.

The BMC has also cancelled all the leaves of its senior officials to prepare in case of an emergency.
The pre-monsoon showers have already been welcomed in certain parts of the country, and the monsoon seems to have hit Mumbai too. The heavy rain in Mumbai has disrupted the daily life and delayed several trains and a Jet Airways flight from London has also been diverted to Ahmedabad, reports said on Thursday.

The rains cause waterlogging at many parts of the city pic.twitter.com/zfE3pWcfLt  TOI Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) June 7, 2018

Ajay Kumar, scientist from IMD Mumbai said that these are still pre-monsoon showers which the city has been receiving since morning. "We are expecting monsoons to reach most parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai within the next 72 hours. Presently we have declared the onset of monsoons up to Goa," he said.

bccl

The monsoon reached Goa and Konkan coast today. On the weekend, rain is expected in Gujarat, southern Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. The rainfall recorded in one hour span from 11am-12 noon by the BMC automatic weather stations at Kurla was 15 mm, Chembur 13mm Goregaon 26mm, and Malad 18 mm.

The BMC or the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in a statement that a number of precautionary measures had been taken and the leaves of senior officials, including deputy municipal commissioners and assistant commissioners, have been cancelled.

twitter / TOI

Heavy rain and waterlogging at Worli sea face pic.twitter.com/mbIUKMLDuL  TOI Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) June 7, 2018

Officials equipped with walkie-talkies and flood rescue supplies have spread out across Mumbai. Navy personnel are being posted at areas like Colaba, Worli, Ghatkopar, Trombay, Malad for flood rescue, according to news agency PTI.

twitter / toi

Private weather forecasting agency Skymet Weather has warned that the financial capital of the country could see much more rains between June 6 to 12 and it could be the worse spell since 26 July 2005, when Mumbai recorded 900mm in a day
A casual act of letting your spouse or a close relative/friend withdraw money from an ATM using your debit card could prove costly. This is what a Bengaluru woman on maternity leave recently learnt, albeit the hard way.

Banking rules categorically state that an ATM card is non-transferable and no other person apart from the account holder should use it.

BCCL/Representational Image

On November 14, 2013, Marathahalli resident Vandana gave her debit card with PIN to her husband, Rajesh Kumar, to withdraw Rs 25,000 from a local SBI ATM. Rajesh went to the ATM and swiped the card; the machine delivered a slip showing the money was debited, but the amount was never released. SBI cited the non-transferable rule and said the account holder was not the ATM user and turned down the money claims.

Vandana approached the Bangalore IVth Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on October 21, 2014, alleging that SBI had failed to refund the Rs 25,000 shed lost in the ATM transaction. She said she had just given birth and could not move out of home, hence had to ask her husband to draw the money on her behalf.

Youtube/Representational Image

When the ATM did not release the money, Rajesh called the SBI call centre only to be informed that it was an ATM fault and the money would be reverted to the account within 24 hours. With no sign of the money after a day, he approached the banks Helicopter Division branch at HAL with a formal complaint. But much to the shock of the couple, SBI allegedly closed the case in a few days, stating the transaction was correct and the customer got the money.

After running from pillar to post, the couple obtained CCTV footage that showed Kumar using the machine, but no cash is dispensed. They further lodged a complaint with the bank, following which an investigation committee ruled that Vandana, the cardholder, is not seen in the footage.

Meanwhile, Vandana, through an RTI, obtained a cash verification report of the ATM for November 16, 2013, which showed excess cash of Rs 25,000 in the machine. The report submitted in the court was later countered by the SBI counsel who produced a report showing no excess cash.

BCCL/Representational Image

Before approaching the consumer forum, the couple made a final plea to the bank ombudsman who simply ruled, PIN shared, case closed.

The case went on for over three-and-a-half years. Vandana said SBI should refund her money which was lost due to an ATM flaw, but the bank stood its ground, citing the rule that sharing ATM PIN with someone else was a violation. Further, the bank produced documents, including log records, showing the stated ATM transaction was successful and technically correct.

In its verdict on May 29, 2018, the court ruled that Vandana should have given a self-cheque or an authorisation letter to her husband for withdrawal of Rs 25,000, instead sharing the PIN and making him withdraw the money.

The court dismissed the case.
Government doctors getting transferred is not anything new or a big deal, but not for the people of Tentulikhunti town in Odisha's Nabarangpur district.

When Dr Kishore Chandra Das, who served at the local Community Health Center (CHC) for eight years left the town for higher studies the people there could not hold back their emotions.

For them, the 32-year-old was synonymous with "service" and they have seen how over the years he single-handedly transformed a till then neglected CHC.

A graduate of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Medical Sciences in Bengaluru, Dr Das had begun his work in Tentulikhunti at a time when over 80% of specialist positions in the medical field were lying vacant

He is credited of upgrading the health centre by setting up an air-conditioned (AC) delivery room, an operation theatre and an oxygen concentrator, among other facilities, but ironical it may seem to many, he never fitted an AC in his own room.

For the people of Tentulikhunti who had seen many doctors come and go at CHC over the years, this was something new and close to their hearts.

He also used to put extra hours at work to take care of patients coming from far of places, thus winning the goodwill of one and all.

So, on Sunday, when Dr Das packed his bags to leave Tentulikhunti to pursue higher studies in orthopaedics, hundreds of people turned up to wave him goodbye.

The scenes got so emotional as many locals and Dr Das himself broke into tears. The people wishing goodbye had only one request to their beloved doctor - please come back after higher studies.
Two young men from Guwahati were lynched by angry mob at a remote area in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam after being mistaken as child lifters.

The incident occurred Friday night after a rumour spread on social media about a group of sopadhara (child kidnapper in Assamese) being active in nearby areas.

Niloptal Das (29), a sound engineer, and Abhijeet Nath (30), a businessman, were at spotted at Panjari Kachari village at around 8 pm on Friday. They were returning to Guwahati after visiting the Kathilangso waterfalls in the Dokmoka district area.

Das was a sound engineer based in Mumbai and his friend, Nath, was a businessman. They had gone to the picnic spot Kangthilangso in Karbi Anglong last night to capture the sounds of nature, police said.

The victims were in a SUV when they were intercepted by agitated mob who suspected them to be child abductors.

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The victims were pulled out of the SUV, tied and beaten to death by the mob while they constantly stated that the were in the area only to witness the scenic beauty, reported IANS.

The video of the lynching is doing rounds on social media. The victims were seen pleading for their life and trying to convince the locals that they were not the kidnappers. Do not kill me, I am an Assamese, one of the victims was heard as saying in the video.

The police have launched a massive search operation to nab the culprits. No arrests have been made so far.

Speaking to ANI, the police said, In last few days, posts on child lifters have been shared on social media. Weve asked SPs of various districts to take actions so that such videos dont go viral. Issue is being looked into by our special force. Whatever input thats come to us is being verified by field level intelligence. Ill be able to comment only when things are verified.
Alok Mishra who scored 93.5 percent marks in his UP Board High School results and was ranked seventh in the state was delighted to receive a cash award of Rs 1 lakhs from CM Yogi Adityanath.

But little did the student of High School in Young Stream Inter College in Barabanki, knew what was in store for him.

According to News 18, Mishra ended up paying penalty after the cheque numbered 974926 bounced. Aloks parents had submitted the cheque in Dena Bank in Hazratganj area of Lucknow on 5 June 2018.

However, when the money did not get credited in Aloks account, he contacted the bank and came to know that the cheque has bounced.

I was really happy to receive the cheque from CM sir. Two days after submitting the cheque in the bank, we came to know that it had bounced after which I was a little disappointed, Alok told News18.

According to the report, the cheque bounced because of a mismatch of the signatures.

The reason for cheque bouncing has been told as a mismatch of signature. However, no other student has come up with a similar complaint as of now. The new cheque has been issued to the student, DIOS, Raj Kumar Yadav told News 18.
Outside media is quietly and on a small scale reaching and influencing the people of North Korea. Also, many access outside media at least once a day. Those were just two of the surprising revelations that came out of a special panel discussion held at the Voice of America.

With the U.S./North Korea summit fast approaching, Voice of Americas Korean service hosted Engaging North Korea through Media: Opportunities and Challenges, a panel discussion with experts who follow the ever-changing dynamics of North Korea and the impact of policy decisions relating to its people and government.

The discussion was moderated by VOA Koreans Eunjung Cho and featured Korean service chief Dong Hyuk Lee, Marie Dumond and Ambassador Robert R. King, PhD, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jean H. Lee of the Wilson Centers Korean division and Kang Insun of Chosun Ilbo as panelists for the event.

VOA Korean service chief Dong Hyuk Lee focused on the current state of foreign media in North Korea. Lees long-standing interest in inter-Korean politics and the U.S. role in Korean affairs, made him an ideal panelist for the roundtable discussion. Lee talked about the growing influence of foreign media in North Korea, especially VOAs seven hours daily of news and information which reaches North Korean elites. VOAs documentary programming and talk shows leave him optimistic about the future of the isolated country.

Ambassador Robert R. King, Ph.D. is a senior adviser for CSIS in their Korean division and previously served as special envoy for North Korea human rights issues at the U.S. Department of State. When asked for his thoughts regarding U.S. government efforts in North Korea, he said he believed BBG programming is the backbone of those efforts and has seen significant changes taking place in North Korea. Unfortunately, King finds North Koreas attitude has not changed significantly as the country desires to keep a monopoly on outside information. Nonetheless, King notes North Koreans are interested in outside media and culture, as access to information is more important than its ever been.

Kang Insun is Washington bureau chief and former member of the editorial board at The Chosun Ilbo and has extensive experience covering North Korean issues, international affairs, and Korean politics. When asked about South Koreas efforts in engaging North Korea, she spoke of the diverse programming available to North Koreans, including the popular music genre K-Pop, weather and sports. Kang stated, this is in fact how many North Koreans learn about popular culture in South Korea. Many of the institutions attempting to engage the North Korean public are run by the government, private sector and human rights groups.

Jean H. Lee is a program director with the Wilson Centers Korean division and a Pulitzer-nominated veteran foreign correspondent and expert on North Korea. Lee believes the current regime is one that is seen as more willing to embrace the outside world, but still demands a tight control of media and information. North Koreas 3G network allows for more communication between its citizens and foreign content, including educational programs, but the vetted intranet still leaves much to be desired by those hoping for a freer North Korea. She hopes that the current North Korean administration will engage more with the U.N. in the future.

Ms. Marie DuMond is associate director and associate fellow with the office of the Korea Chair at CSIS, where she manages projects that focus on major policy issues of common importance to the people of the Republic of Korea and the United States. DuMond was involved in the polling of small groups of North Koreans and found the majority accessed foreign media at least once per day. Of course, the price of accessing certain western programming could bring a hefty prison sentence and/or death. DuMond hopes to see more surveys of North Koreans in the future to give further insight into North Korean thought.
What Is TSA PreCheck?

TSA PreCheck is a U.S. government program that allows travelers deemed low-risk by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency, to pass through an expedited security screening process at certain U.S. airports. In March 2021 alone, 98% of TSA PreCheck passengers took less than five minutes to pass through security.

Qualifying travelers often have their own special lines at the security checkpoint. They dont have to remove their belts, shoes, or lightweight jackets. They may also leave a laptop in its case and a 3-1-1 compliant bag (which can contain items with small quantities of liquids and gels, such as a travel-size bottle of mouthwash) in their carry-on luggage, instead of removing it, as regular passengers have to do.

Key Takeaways TSA PreCheck is a U.S. government program that allows air travelers deemed low-risk to enjoy an expedited security screening process at airports.

TSA PreCheck passengers wait in special, shorter lines; have to remove less clothing; are subject to less-rigorous scans, and other conveniences.

You can start the TSA PreCheck application online, but an in-person appointment for fingerprinting and background check is also required.

TSA PreCheck status costs $85 and is good for five years.

How TSA PreCheck Works

The TSA PreCheck program is intended to speed up the passage of verified travelers through security checkpoints, which often become crowded as passengers gather to board their flights. Typically, passengers must remove articles of clothing and personal items that could be used to contain hazardous materials.

Shoes, for example, were previously used in attempts to smuggle and detonate explosives on an airplane. Electronic equipment, such as laptops, are also usually subject to scrutiny at checkpoints because of attempts to hide materials inside by removing components. TSA PreCheck verifies which passengers are present the lowest risk to flight security, so these passengers can pass through security checkpoints without the need to remove shoes, belts, or jackets from their person or laptops and liquids from their bags.

Applying for TSA PreCheck

Some 200 airports and 79 airlines offer TSA PreCheck service. You can begin the application process online via the TSA's website. However, you will have to enroll in person, via a visit to one of the more than 380 application centers,where you will be fingerprinted and asked for valid proof of identity and U.S. citizenship documents. Travelers who are foreign citizens must meet certain residency requirements in order to qualify for the program.

The in-person appointment takes about 10 minutes.

$85 The price of becoming a traveler with TSA PreCheck status. Though the fee is non-refundable, your membership lasts for five years, and is renewable.

Once approved for TSA PreCheck status, you will receive a Known Traveler Number (KTN). Use that number any time you book a flight, and you will automatically have your TSA Pre status applied to your boarding passit looks like this: TSA Pre.

And you can then start using those faster lanes at participating airports reserved for TSA pre-passengers.

Other Traveler Programs

TSA PreCheck only applies to air travel. The Department of Homeland Security operates other federal programs such as Global Entry, NEXUS, and SENTRI for verifying the identities of trusted travelers, and speeding their path through security.

The NEXUS program covers pre-screened travelers who are traveling between Canada and the U.S. by plane, car, or boat. It costs $50.

The SENTRI program governs travel on land into the U.S. from Mexico by air or land. It costs $122.50.

Global Entry lets trusted travelers who are traveling internationally by plane, ship, or auto quickly move through customs and border protection. It costs $100.

For U.S. citizens, membership in these programs membership includes TSA PreCheck status as well.
What Is a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF)?

A registered retirement income fund (RRIF) is a retirement fund similar to an annuity contract, which pays out income to one or more beneficiaries. Often, owners of registered retirement savings plans (RRSP) roll over the balance from those plans into an RRIF in order to fund a retirement income stream.

Earnings in RRIFs are not taxed, but RRIF payouts are considered a part of the beneficiary's normal income and are taxed as such by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in the year of the payout. The organization or company that holds the RRIF is called the "carrier" of the plan. Carriers can be insurance companies, banks, or any kind of licensed financial intermediary. The Canadian government is not the carrier for RRIFs, but it registers them for tax purposes.

Key Takeaways A registered retirement income fund (RRIF) is a Canadian retirement vehicle similar to an annuity.

RRIFs are contracts between the insured individual and a "carrier" that is registered by the Canadian government.

The purpose of RRIFs is to provide retirees with a constant flow of income from their Canadian savings vehicles, such as RRSPs.

Life income funds (LIFs) are a type of RRIF that can be used to hold locked-in pension funds.

Understanding Registered Retirement Income Funds

Registered retirement income fund plans are designed to provide retirees with a constant flow of income from the savings in their RRSPs. RRSPs must be rolled over by the time the contributor reaches age 69, but by converting an RRSP into an RRIF, people can keep their investments under a form of tax shelter, while still having the chance to allocate assets according to their specifications.

The Canadian government describes RRIFs as an arrangement between the insured individual and a carrieran insurance company, trust company, or a bankthat it registers. You transfer assets to the carrier from an RRSP, another RRIF, or any other Canadian retirement vehicle, and the carrier makes payments to you. You can have more than one RRIF, and you can have self-directed RRIFs. The rules that apply to self-directed RRIFs are generally the same as those for RRSPs.

Life Income Fund (LIF)

A life income fund (LIF) is a type of RRIF offered in Canada that can be used to hold locked-in pension funds as well as other assets for an eventual payout as retirement income. Life income funds are offered by Canadian financial institutions. They provide individuals with an investment vehicle for managing the payouts from locked-in retirement accounts (LIRA) and other assets. In many cases, pension assets may be held but are not accessible if an employee leaves a firm. These assets, usually called locked-in assets, can be managed in other investment vehicles but may require conversion to a life income fund when the owner is ready to begin taking withdrawals.

How RRIFs Operate

According to the government revenue agency, "You set up a registered retirement income fund (RRIF) account through a financial institution such as a bank, credit union, trust or insurance company. Your financial institution will advise you on the types of RRIFs and the investments they can contain. You can have more than one RRIF and you can have self-directed RRIFs."

"Starting in the year after the year you establish a RRIF, you have to be paid a yearly minimum amount. The payout period under your RRIF is for your entire life. Your carrier calculates the minimum amount based on your age at the beginning of each year. However, you can elect to have the payment based on your spouse or common-law partners age. You must select this option when filling out the original RRIF application form. Once you make this election, you cannot change it."

"Amounts received from a RRIF upon the death of an annuitant can be transferred directly or indirectly to your RRSP, to your RRIF, to your PRPP, to your SPP or to buy yourself an eligible annuity if you were a qualified beneficiary of the deceased annuitant."

"The existing anti-avoidance rules applicable to registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and registered retirement income funds (RRIFs) have been enhanced to prevent any aggressive tax planning. The rules largely adopt the existing tax-free savings account rules for non-qualified investments, prohibited investments, and advantages, with some modifications."
What Is a Warehouse Bond?

A warehouse bond provides financial protection for individuals or businesses storing goods in a storage facility. The bond gives protection for any losses if the event the storage facility fails to live up to the contract terms. If the operator of the warehouse fails to meet its contractual obligations, a third-party surety company, acting as an intermediary, will compensate the client for loss.

Key Takeaways: A warehouse bond provides financial protection for individuals or businesses that store goods in a storage facility.

If the warehouse owner fails to live up to the contract terms, a third-party surety company will compensate the client for loss.

A warehouse bond claim may arise from fire, theft, water damage, roof collapse, insufficient facility maintenance, damage during handling, or climate control failure.

Understanding Warehouse Bonds

The warehouse bond is a contract between three entities: the warehouse operator is the principal that needs to get bonded, the state authority that provides the licensing is the obligee. Finally, the surety is the bond underwriter. Warehouse bond claims may arise from fire, theft, water damage, roof collapse, insufficient facility maintenance, damage during handling, climate control failure, lost inventory, and other causes. Warehouse bonds typically remain in effect for one-year periods and must be renewed annually.

Warehouse bonds are required for warehouse owners in many states. They guarantee compliance with state laws and regulations for the storage and handling of goods. Every state sets its bond amount requirements. Items reviewed when setting the bond amount include the number of warehouses operated and the value of the goods stored in the warehouses. Bond requirements may also be on a case-by-case basis. In some states, the bond cost also depends on the warehouse owner's credit score and business financials.

Each state will stipulate requirements for storage facilities independently. For example, Massachusetts requires all public warehouse owners to be licensed and bonded with a $10,000 surety bond for every warehouse. The state of New York requires a $5,000 bond amount, while New York City requires $10,000.  Bond requirements may also vary depending on the type of warehouses, such as grain, eviction, or public warehouses.

Special Considerations and Acts of God

There are many limitations on recovery associated with warehouse bond agreements. For example, Acts of God are often listed as an absolute exclusion in agreements. Although a warehouse owner cannot reasonably be expected to control forces of nature such as hurricanes and earthquakes, there are certain circumstances where liability is a consideration.

For example, a warehouse operator may be liable for damages if there is a warning of an impending loss that they should have taken steps to avoid. Suppose a warehouse location is along a river prone to flooding, and the facility previously sustained damage to cargo stored on the ground floor. In such a scenario, if a warehouse owner knew of an approaching flood warning and took no action, they could be found negligent for failing to move the cargo to a higher floor or alternate location.
By Padraig Hoare

The Central Bank must become more intrusive to ensure IT systems in Irish lenders are up to par, and it is no longer adequate to rely on assurances from the banks themselves.

That is according to Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath, as the watchdog said its monitoring of banking IT systems was robust enough.

It comes as the boss of UK lender TSB was hauled over the coals over his handling of an IT systems failure that saw thousands of customers locked out of their accounts and bills and direct debits going unpaid.

TSB said chief executive Paul Pester had the full support of the board as he was criticise by politicians over the crisis, who said they no longer had confidence in his ability to lead the bank.

The owner of TSB, Spanish banking group Sabadell, admitted the failure has cost it at least 70m (79.6m) as it sought to restore confidence.

There have been a number of high-profile IT issues in Irish banking over the years, with Central Bank governor, Philip Lane saying a lack of investment in online systems was due to banks prioritising other areas following the financial crash of 2008.

The Central Bank said it took IT issues with banks very seriously.

Customers of financial services firms 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, it said.

All errors must be resolved speedily and no later than six months after the date first discovered, the watchdog said, including correcting any systems failures; ensuring effective controls are implemented to prevent any recurrence of the identified error; refunds with appropriate interest to all consumers affected where possible; and notifying all affected consumers, both current and former, in a timely manner.

It pointed to its November 2014 settlement with Ulster Bank, which saw the lender fined 3.5m over governance and IT failings that resulted in 600,000 customers being deprived of essential and basic banking services over 28 days in June and July 2012.

Mr McGrath said when he asked as to what was being doing to ensure IT systems in banks were up to standard, the Central Bank said it had sought assurances from the lenders.

We have to recognise how intrinsic IT systems are, and the risk of things going wrong is something that has to be given a greater level of priority. There have been examples of under-investment in IT and it is a concern across the financial sector.

A sustained problem in one lender is very serious as there is so much interconnectivity today, that the problem reaches beyond just the bank. A more intrusive approach to assess IT is needed. It is no longer adequate to simply get assurances from banks, because we have seen far too many incidents, he said.

A system failure by Ulster Bank in April that saw funds taken from customer accounts was initially thought to have been an IT glitch, but the bank has said it was fully down to human error.
By Padraig Hoare

Some 1,000 jobs have been cemented in Belfast as Canadian aviation parts producer Bombardier reached a partnership agreement with Airbus on its C-Series line.

Airbus is set to close a deal to take a controlling stake in Bombardiers C-Series jetliner programme on July 1, the companies said, in a move expected to kickstart the European planemakers ability to put its marketing and cost-cutting muscle into the Canadian plane programme.

Bombardier agreed in October to sell Airbus a 50.01% stake in its flagship commercial jet for a symbolic Canadian dollar, as the plane programme battled sluggish sales and low production, which made it harder to keep a lid on costs.

It is the latest in a series of boosts for one of Belfasts largest workforces, after Bombardier said last month that it will produce 30 CS300 passenger jets with an option for a further 30 for Latvian carrier airBaltic, as well as an order from American Airlines to buy 15 new CRJ900 regional jets with an option for a further 15.

Bombardier employs around 4,000 in total in Belfast. Around a quarter of the staff work on the C-Series aircraft programme.

It is believed the workers have been assured that Belfast is integral to its future C-Series production.

With the latest agreement, Airbus will be able to offer airlines deals by packaging the C-Series with its own jets and is expected to use its purchasing prowess to drastically cut the price of parts, along with improving efficiencies internally.

Bombardier will now own about 31%, while Investissement Quebec, the investment arm of the province of Quebec, will hold a 19% stake.

Bombardier raised its guidance for 2018 consolidated earnings before interest and tax by $100m (85m) to a range of between $900m and $1bn, to reflect the separation of the C-Series jetliner programme.

Bombardier also said it cut its revenue guidance by $500m to $16.5bn. The company added that its C-Series results will no longer be consolidated in its results from July 1.

The Quebec government, through its financing arm, took a 49% stake in the C-Series programme in 2015 for $1bn. Quebecs share, most recently worth 38%, slipped to 19% following the deal with Airbus.

The deal was announced at a time when Bombardier was locked in a trade dispute with US planemaker Boeing, which led to concerns in Belfast over the future of the 4,000-strong workforce.

The dispute ended in March when Boeing said it will not appeal a US trade commission ruling that allows Bombardier to sell its C-Series in the US without hefty tariffs.

Additional reporting Reuters
By Geoff Percival

Worldview Capital Management is looking to buy a significant stake in Cypruss Hellenic Bank. The activist investment firm wrestled control of Irish-founded exploration company Petroceltic two years ago.

Hellenic is Cypruss third largest lender and is looking to buy a large part of the countrys second-largest lender Cyprus Co-operative Bank. The planned deal is being viewed as key to Cypruss financial health, with failure risking plunging the country back into the economic crisis it suffered in 2013.

Hellenic recently said it was talking to possible investors over capital needs to fund its move for Cyprus Co-op.

Worldview already owns a less than 5% stake in Hellenic, but wants to buy out the 26% held by New York hedge fund operator Third Point. It has been reported, however, that Third Point wants to sell its shares to PIMCO, JC Flowers and Atlas Merchant Capital.

We have been a long-term investor in Cyprus, and we are interested to purchase their stake after hearing in the market its for sale. Ultimately, of course, the stake may go to the highest bidder, we realise this. But we would like to have a chance to participate, said Worldview boss Angelo Moskov.

Worldview is chiefly known here for taking Petroceltic private and seizing ownership of its assets, including a sizeable stake in the highly-anticipated Ain Tsila gas field in Algeria following a long-running bruising boardroom battle which finally ended in 2016. n Additional reporting Bloomberg
British Government plans for Brexit will not be published ahead of a crucial EU meeting in June.

It has emerged the Cabinet in the UK will hold an away day in England to discuss the draft proposals.
Austria has never been a liberal society, so it is not surprising that it is to close seven mosques and expel up to 40 imams, in a move against Islamist ideology and foreign funding of religious groups.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz declared that political Islams parallel societies and radicalising tendencies have no place in our country. In 2015, he oversaw a tough law on Islam, which banned foreign funding of religious groups and created a duty for Muslim societies to have a positive, fundamental view towards (Austrias) state and society.
Private Hugh Doherty, 20, from Donegal was shot dead at an observation post near the village of Dyar Ntar in south Lebanon while serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

His colleague at the post, Private Caomhan Seoighe, 20, from the Aran Islands in Co Galway, was abducted. His body has never been found but he is also believed to have been murdered.

The attackers have never been identified.

Retired High Court Judge Roderick Murphy was appointed in January 2015 to conduct the independent review. It found a number of key failings in the Defence Forces operation. These included a persistent inadequate assessment of risk, the absence of an NCO at the post, inadequate manning and a failure to provide a landline, and the absence of reports of incidents.

There seems to have been what is best described as a casual approach to the posting and supervision of the post, reads the report.

The original investigation into the incident by Colonel Vincent Savino between 1982 and 1984 was described as inadequate.

Judge Murphy said it is a mystery and a matter of great concern that the Savino Report could not be located in the Military Archives.

The absence of such an important and significant report from the archives raises serious issues under the provisions of the National Archives Act and issues of security of military documents, reads the report.

Judge Murphy is also extremely critical of the lack of effort made to correct a rumour which the Doherty family had heard about how Private Doherty had died.

The family of Pte Hugh Doherty accepted the circumstances of their sons and brothers death and for many years was satisfied with the explanations given by the Defence Forces.

However, the Doherty family later heard a rumour that Pte Kevin Joyce had shot their brother, which was not assuaged until they met with the secretary general of the Department of Defence on 1 July 2014. This rumour would not have had credence if they had been told the results of the findings of the investigation undertaken by Col Savino from 1982 to 1984, it states.

Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe apologised to the families and said the manner in which the men were deployed to a post in an isolated location should never have happened.

I accept the findings and recommendations contained in the report and I want to assure the families, friends, and colleagues of these two young soldiers, that important lessons have been learned for the future.

Errors that occurred at the time of the incident and, also, in the way the subsequent investigations were conducted and communicated, or indeed, not communicated, must never be repeated. In that regard, I am assured that many of the issues raised in the report have been addressed in the intervening years, he said.

Defence Forces Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Mark Mellett said: I can assure both families that the hard lessons the Defence Forces have learned from this tragic event continue to shape how we train and prepare our personnel for overseas service today and into the future.
The number who decided to drop down to ordinary level will only be known when results issue in August. However, previous patterns suggest at least 16,000 of the 20,000 previously indicating they would do higher level are likely to have sat the exam yesterday.

It was the first of two maths papers, and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject representative Robert Chaney said it was fair.

While it was heavy on sequences and calculus, he observed that it was light on challenging algebra, complex numbers and financial maths.

Mr Chaney said it was well received by students at his school, CBS Thurles in Co Tipperary, but they needed to be well practiced for a proof by induction of De Moivres theorem.

A question on the sieve of Sundaram algorithm was an interesting application of arithmetic sequences that would have tested problem-solving skills.

Julija Zliobaite, Sam Andersen, Rachel Coady and Anna Moynihan, after their Junior Cert Maths paper 1.

Another was about difference equations, which Mr Chaney said although not on the course, could have been completed if they followed the instructions.

Unfortunately, the format and terminology would have thrown many students, he said.

For the ordinary-level exam, probably taken by over two thirds of Leaving Certificate students, Mr Chaney said the first paper had no surprises in terms of the complex numbers, algebra, functions and sequences.

There was an interesting question on the levels of a medicinal drug in the bloodstream, of which the last section stumped any students that didnt realise [they needed] to use calculus, he said.

Trish Holland and Grace Fannon, are all smiles after completing their Leaving Cert Maths paper 1.

Mr Chaney said that a question about earthquakes under the sea was a quick one that would have given any student who was able to manipulate the given formulae a nice finish.

While that brought an end to the first Leaving Certificate papers, it is another round of maths on Monday morning for students.

Susan Mulholland said there were a lot of visuals and welcoming tests of literacy and numeracy in the mornings higher level geography paper.

The ASTI member who teaches at St Laurences College, Loughlinstown in Co Dublin, said the exam was very fair and used clear concise language.

She was pleased to see data presented in a range of different ways, including a table of consumer prices for several countries and a pie chart showing the origins of EU asylum applicants.

There were many topical issues such as Storm Ophelia, and a renewable energy question in which students were asked to identify the potential impact on local people if their area was chosen for a windfarm or other renewable energy development.

Ms Mulholland had a little concern about the effect on students of the time that might have been taken up with the first four short-answer questions, which she said were heavily skills based. Overall, the paper was deemed positive for the range of visual and interpretative skills that students were required to use.

For ordinary level students, Ms Mulholland thought questions were well broken up into three, four or even five sections. While they were wordy in places, they were fair and allowed students move clearly from one part to the next.

She said the short-answer questions were very nice and, although an economic elective section was a bit wordy, the exam allowed students show a lot of their skills.
The tribunal is looking at allegations by former Garda press officer Supt David Taylor that he was directed to smear Sgt McCabe. Former commissioners Martin Callinan and Noirin OSullivan deny there was any smear campaign.

Irish Mail on Sunday journalist Debbie McCann told the tribunal she was not negatively briefed by any garda about Sgt McCabe. She said she investigated rumours and learned there had been an investigation following which the DPP directed no prosecution.

The tribunal has heard the DPP said there was no evidence of a crime after a garda investigation following allegations from Miss D in 2006.

Michael McDowell SC, on behalf of Sgt McCabe, asked Ms McCann whether, in saying there was no orchestrated campaign or smear against Sgt McCabe, she was carefully distinguishing a smear campaign from a situation where a garda told her a fact about Sgt McCabe.

Ms McCann said nobody had given her the information she received, she went out and sought it.

I dont feel like the sources that I got this information from are smearing Sgt McCabe. In my job I ask questions all the time, and I dont consider the person responding to my questions maligning someone.

Mr McDowell asked if she had come with formulaic answers to mislead the tribunal.

I absolutely have not, Ive been answering the questions to the best of my ability in this matter, she said.

She said she was a little bit more sceptical of Sgt McCabe than her colleague Alison OReilly.

Ms McCann said when she went to the D home in an attempt to get an interview, she spoke briefly with Mrs D, mother of Miss D. She said Mrs D was upset, and clearly believed something had happened.

Ms McCann said she could not answer questions about conversations she had with Supt Taylor, as she had an obligation to protect confidential sources.

Mr McDowell said he would make a submission that the tribunal could infer from Ms McCanns failure to answer questions that Supt Taylor gave her information about Sgt McCabe.

I absolutely dont want that inference to be taken, Ms McCann said.

Ms McCann said she was being asked to disclose conversations that were off the record, and she did not feel she could do that.

Michael OHiggins SC, for Supt Taylor, said given the number of contacts shown in Supt Taylors phone records, it was inconceivable they had not discussed Sgt McCabe when his client was Garda press officer.

Ms McCann said there was ongoing communication, but she could not answer questions relating to conversations with an off the record source.

Ms McCann said that although Supt Taylor had waived his privilege, she did not feel that released her from her obligations, and if she revealed what a source told her, no other source could ever trust her.

Ms McCann said she never spoke to Mr Callinan or Ms OSullivan.

Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton told Ms McCann he needed to know the circumstances in which she was claiming journalistic privilege. He told her it might be said this privilege was a smokescreen.

Ms McCann said she was in a difficult position, and if she revealed the contents of conversations with sources, she would not be trusted for the rest of her career.

Questioned by her solicitor Michael Kealey, she said she felt horrified when she learned from the tribunal that she was the journalist described by Brendan Howlin in a Dail speech in February 2017. Mr Howlin had said he had been told a journalist had knowledge of a negative briefing from Ms OSullivan against Sgt McCabe.

I felt I was in the most impossible position because of privilege and everything else, Ms McCann told Mr Kealey. She said she obtained factual information that I was provided with. I wasnt being spun, and it wasnt information that didnt happen.

The tribunal resumes on Monday.
As Health Minister Simon Harris continues to engage with opposition parties and other stakeholders ahead of bringing draft legislation before the Dail, the group has put forward seven points the group believes should be included in new laws.

Among them is a stipulation that parents cannot discriminate against unborn babies on the basis of sex or disability.

Asked about the resounding referendum result, Caroline Simons of Love Both suggested that the use of the death of Savita Halappanavar and others by the yes side was what won the vote.

Obviously the message that we had didnt get through, there were some ideas that were just impentariable it seems impossible to get past the idea that women died because of the Eighth Amendment, I dont believe that is true.

When we hear constantly of Savita Halappanavar, her face being brought out again at the end of the campaign, its a difficult one because there was no finding by any of the three independent inquiries that the Eighth Amendment caused her death, she said, but did admit it was suggested that it was a contributory factor.

Love Both also wants to ensure that healthcare professional strive to preserve the lives of babies born alive following abortion.

Meanwhile, the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) has said concerns voiced by the National Association of General Practitioners over the availability of crisis pregnancy counselling are unfounded.

Maura Leahy, IFPA director of counselling, said: A national crisis pregnancy counselling service is in place and has been for many years.

Its funded by the HSEs Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme (SHCPP) and free for the women and girls who use the service.

There is no waiting list to see a counsellor; anyone who needs the service will get an appointment within a matter of days.

The IFPA said it operates ten pregnancy counselling centres across the country, providing half the SHCPP-funded crisis pregnancy counselling in Ireland.

It said women can make an appointment directly by calling the IFPA helpline (1850 49 50 51) or can get a referral from their GPs.

This is a specialist service, staffed by qualified and accredited counsellors who are experienced in crisis pregnancy and related issues, said Ms Leahy.
It was a long struggle but it was worth it knowing that future generations wont experience the same struggle I did, she said.

The Free Legal Aid Centre (Flac) has published a report of Ms Foys fight for justice and the struggle for transgender rights in Ireland.

At the launch of the report in Dublin yesterday, Flac chief executive, Eilis Barry, described Ms Foy as an incredibly strong, brave and resilient person who had brought a sea-change in law and how society viewed gender.

Flac chairman, Peter Ward, said it is because of Ms Foy that transgender people can now have their correct gender recognised in Irish law.

Thanks to Lydia Foy and the legal team in Flac, we have made significant progress towards ending the social exclusion of transgender people in our society, said Mr Ward.

The report includes an interview with Ms Foy, who first sought a change to her birth certificate in 1993.

When I first began my case, homosexuality was still illegal in Ireland  that may remind people of the atmosphere that prevailed at the time, she wrote.

In 1997, Flac began to provide assistance with her case and Ms Foy  they listened to her and asked the right questions.

The process was much too long  I am now 70 and this struggle has taken up nearly a third of my life, she wrote.

But getting her birth certificate was a great vindication.

People sometimes ask me about labels but my name is Lydia, and this case was about having an acknowledgement of me as an equal citizen of the State. I finally have that now.
Bestselling author Martina Cole, broadcaster Philip King, and Cork Penny Dinners co-ordinator Caitriona Twomey were joined by former director of the Crawford Art Gallery Peter Murray, and former CEO of Cork City VEC Richard Langford, in being recognised at the honorary conferrings in the Aula Maxima.

Ms Cole, the English multimillion-selling crime author and daughter of a Corkman, said receiving a Degree of Doctor of Literature was a spiritual homecoming to the county she visited frequently as a child.

She revealed that she has long partaken in that most quintessential of Cork summer traditions  going to Kinsale and getting chips from Dinos  her cousin Denis Cregans institution.

My parents died when I was 21, within eight months of one another, so it would have been wonderful, I would have loved to have had them here today. Its very poignant, she said.

I feel like Im home when I get here. Its my other home, it really, really is.

Famous for her London crime thrillers, Ms Cole also revealed that her next book could well be based in Ireland  but gave a tongue-in-cheek reply when asked if some Leeside gangster action is in the pipeline.

I am toying actually with something, but its in Dublin. I dont know if I could that to my Cork; Corks my spiritual home. If Im going to have anything like that Ill have it in Dublin, she laughed.

A volunteer who gives her time to help inmates in the UK, Ms Cole said she plans to bring her creative writing class to an Irish prison.

My books are the most requested books in the prison system, and the most stolen from shops. I dont know if thats a compliment or not. So I go in and tell them dont just read, do something.

Honorary UCC graduates, front: Philip King, Martina Cole, Dr Maurice Manning, Professor Patrick OShea, Caitriona Twomey, Richard Langford, Peter Murray. Back row, introducers Professor John OHalloran, Professor Claire Connolly, Professor Aine Hyland, Professor Alastair Christie, Dr Attracta Halpin, and Professor Tom Dunne.

Philip King, conferred with a Degree of Doctor of Music, also mused on the importance of education, saying his time as a student in UCC energised him for the life that followed.

It is a remarkable place and was a remarkable place for me. Everything that I needed to know and to learn, I found here. I didnt know it at the time, but it has sustained me and informed me and sent me on the expedition of life since then.

He described it as an analogue time in contrast with the modern digital age, but believes the space and time afforded to students in his day are needed now.

I think there was a discourse, an engagement, a conversation, an intellectual rigour, an element of fun, and the most important thing of all, there was time. There was time for that discourse, there was time for argument.

I sense that, going through an extraordinarily harrowing and difficult points system now, by the time a student arrives in university, they are probably acculturated to a points system that has psychologically gotten them to a place that they will undertake no activity in university unless it has got a reward or has got a credit.

Within that we will miss something, we will miss what universities need to be about. Failing, failing better as Samuel Beckett said. I look back on my days here with huge affection.

It was a remarkable time and my head was filled up with possibility.
Title: Can't contact Openreach



Time With Provider:

Package Name:

27 April 2018. Rang Origin complaining about poor data rate. They claimed the problem was within my network.Unplugged and replaced all phone plugs in house. Examined inside of sockets. Note I don't use wi-fi.Went on holiday8 May 2018. Tried modem at master socket. Drops out after a couple of minutes. Data rate less than 900kbps. Plenty of crackling at audio frequencies with phone connected at test port.8 May 2018. Rang Origin. They changed profile, but dropping out still very frequent and audible crackling. They said they would ring back within 24-48 hours11 May 2018 No change, so I rang Origin. They said they couldn't contact Openreach's equipment. Would call back later.12 May 2018 Call from Origin on mobile. Origin not able to contact Openreach before 14 May. So no action before then.18 May 2018 Rang Origin again. This time they said they would phone me back before 10:00 tomorrow with an incident number as supplied by Openreach20 May 2018 Crackling getting worse. Data rate still less than 900kbps. As no response from Origin and no sign of Openreach personnel, I decided to change ISP.30 May 2018 No dial tone. Connection to internet still up at less than 900kbps downstream.5 June 2018 Switchover day to new ISP (Vodafone).6 June 2018 08:40 Still no dial tone. No internet with new modem. Rang Vodafone on mobile. Vodafone representative said they had contacted Openreach who would investigate the problem, Should get an answer within 48-72 hours. I would not be charged until service starts6 June 2018 11:05 Two Openreach vans arrived. The technicians installed a new cable between aerial wire (to telephone pole) and a new master socket (type 5C mark 4). The cable between telephone pole and house was not changed. Datarate now 31Mbps down and 9Mbps up. No audible crackling.6 June 2018 17:00 A third Openreach technician called. I said problem fixed earlier.
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Anthony Bourdain was the only major American celebrity who succeeded in depicting publicly the Palestinians as rational, caring human beings rather than as irrationally angry inciters to violence. He was the anti-Bernard Lewis. Lewis smeared the worlds 1.8 billion Muslims with the charge of Islamic Rage (as though large swathes of humankind are angry for no reason).

Bourdain said, The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinians, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity.

The Israel propaganda machine has even attempted to smear Razan al-Najjar, the 21-year-old nurse in Gaza who was shot dead by an Israeli-American sniper as she tended, unarmed and clearly wearing medics clothing, to injured Palestinians being shot with live ammunition by Israeli troops on the Gaza side of the border. Shooting Razan was a war crime. Razan was engaged in an act of unselfish bravery. We should all be so complex. That attempt to dehumanize one Palestinian is typical of the American and Israeli media in general. I cant tell you how many panels on Palestine Ive seen on CNN that included no Palestinian; often it was three middle aged males, and sometimes they lacked even religious diversity among them.

In the face of this dehumanization, Bourdain stood as an all too rare exception. Half the people in Gaza are children, and Bourdain loved them:

Here is Anthony Bourdain with a group of children in Gaza. Thank you for shining your light on the dark places. pic.twitter.com/225CETUQZd  Erin Cunningham (@erinmcunningham) June 8, 2018

When the Israeli army, notorious for its use of indiscriminate fire, hit Palestinian children on a beach in Gaza, Bourdain wrote:

Maybe its the fact that I walked on that beachand have a small child that makes this photo so devastating. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/s067RShbVh  Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) July 16, 2014

And this is how he responded to being honored by a Muslim-American organization for his segment on cooking in Gaza, in which he was forthright about how the world has mistreated the Palestinians (70% of the families in Gaza are refugees, created by a campaign of deliberate ethnic cleansing on the part of Jewish immigrants into British Mandate Palestine, in which the Palestinians were chased from their homes in what was turned into southern Israel and then imprisoned in the Gaza Strip to this day):

Anthony Bourdain: MPAC Media Awards

And this is the segment on Gaza for which Bourdain eas honored:

CNN: Israel: Anthony Bourdain has traditional Palestinian meal (Parts Unknown, Jerusalem)

Bourdain got away with his humane sentiments toward Palestinians and his calling of bullshit on Israeli propaganda, presumably, because he had a cooking show rather than doing hard news. Or perhaps he stood where he stood because of the sheer force of his personality and his refusal to compromise with principle.

He will be sorely missed.
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Quebec City (AFP)  For decades, multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization and Group of Seven were widely accepted by Western governments as the best way to shore up world order.

Now, with Donald Trump in the White House and his America First foreign policy echoed in rise of nationalist and populist movements in Europe, the cracks in the concrete are growing ever wider.

Whether circumventing the WTO by imposing tariffs on its signatories, withholding funds from the UN or going it alone at an ongoing G7 summit in Canada, Trump has shown his disdain for organizations where American leadership was once a given.

What worries me most is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor, the US, European Council President Donald Tusk said in Quebec on Friday as the rest of the G7 awaited the arrival of Trump.

The US presidents skepticism and in some cases hostility towards international institutions was evident throughout his electoral campaign, even at one state declaring the NATO military alliance obsolete.

 Very unfair 

While his views of NATO have softened  at least in public  since he took power in January last year, he has accused the WTO of having been a disaster for us and very unfair in its policing of global trade.

Similar arguments were used to justify the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, a painstakingly negotiated agreement that had been signed by every country bar Syria and Nicaragua by the time Trump announced his decision a year ago.

Trumps ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has warned that the world bodys criticism of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital will lead to a reduction in its funding.

Around the same time that the United Nations was created in 1945  an organization headquartered in New York and which relies on Washington for the lions share of its funding  other multinational organizations also began taking root.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which began work in 1948, was the precursor to the modern-day WTO, which now has more than 160 members.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank both emerged from an agreement signed in 1944 at Bretton Woods in the northeastern US state of New Hampshire and soon became the main planks of the international finance system.

By tradition, the World Bank is led by an American while a European is at the helm of the IMF.

Multilateral institutions also began taking root on the other side of the Atlantic, including the Brussels-based NATO alliance which includes the United States and nearly all of Europe. Its birth came at a conference in Washington in 1949.

Its creation was followed soon after by the European Coal and Steel Community which initially included only six member nations but later morphed into the European Union, which is now a bulging club of 28 countries.

 Brexit looms 

That number should be reduced to 27 within the next 12 months when Britain leaves and the resentments towards the EU which prompted the British public to vote for Brexit are widespread.

Italys new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who made his international entrance at the G7 summit, was propelled into office after the Eurosceptic Five Star movement joined a right-wing coalition in Rome that has evoked comparisons with Trumps rise.

French President Emmanuel Macron is among those who insist that multinational institutions are the best way to address grievances in the era of globalization as long as the bodies adapt and reform.

Ella Kokotsis of Toronto Universitys Munk School of Global Affairs said that Ronald Reagan also clashed with his peers at the start of his tenure in the White House four decades ago but he soon made common ground with his fellow Western leaders at the height of the Cold War.

But the differences appear more profound this time round.

They (the other G7 leaders in the 1980s) were able to integrate Ronald Reagan into the fold quite quickly and he bought into the views of the rest of his G7 counterparts, she told AFP.

Here we are seeing a different mood  its very unpredictable with Trump.

Feature Photo: POOL/AFP / Ludovic MARIN. Leaders of the G7 participate in a working session of the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018; US President Donald Trump has shown skepticism and downright hostility toward multilateral institutions.
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Physicians do not have a lot of power these days. But if you know when, where and how to look, we can, on occasion, score some victories.

Case in point: hospital bylaws that every physician is required to acknowledge and sign before being granted privileges. It is always a good idea to carefully read before signing anything, and I did the just that before signing my hospitals bylaws. I asked a couple of attorney friends if the regulations were like a contract that both parties had to agree upon and although there was some disagreement the consensus was yes, that signing hospital bylaws, in fact, protected both parties from misbehavior by the other. I did not know it at the time, but this simple fact saved me several times from hijinx that my hospital administration tried to pull. It is a good example of what physicians can do to protect themselves if we were to only look and not just swallow what we are told.

It was the late 1990s when my hospital first tried to inflict upon its staff an EMR system. Being a fan of technology, I was ready to embrace the concept, but it became clear very quickly how unwieldy and cumbersome this would be. Still, I initially gave it a fair shot and attended the first two of what would have been six required sessions in training as to how to use the system. Halfway through the second session, I realized how unworkable the EMR would be, so I decided to bow out, politely saying that I would stick to the old pen and paper system for orders and notes. At that time, I was naive to think that the hospital would be willing to accept feedback from its staff and work with them but this was before I knew about meaningless use criteria and how the hospital would not get paid if not enough physicians were using the EMR.

So the pressure started. I first received notice that attending the instruction sessions were required for staff privileges. I turned to the bylaws that both I and the hospital signed and sure enough no where did it say that attending instruction meetings on EMR training was a requirement for privileges. I was then informed that the hospital was to to require all physicians to use EMR by a certain date or lose staff privileges. Once again, I reviewed the bylaws and no where did it say that using EMR was a requirement for staff privileges. I simply wrote back to administration and reminded them of these facts. At first, they tried threats but realized that they did not have a leg to stand on. My sources told me that there were some heated discussions between the CEO and the hospital attorneys. The hospitals next trick was to try and change the bylaws. My attorney friends said the hospital was well within its rights to change its bylaws, but a physician who was already on staff was under no obligation to follow the new ones. In fact, this is why the hospital must inform its staff that the bylaws have been changed. If the staff member does nothing, then its an indication of acceptance. However, if the staff member does not want to follow the new bylaws they can request grandfather status, so that is exactly what I did. My sources told me that when the CEO asked the hospital attorneys if I could request grandfather status and they said yes, the CEO threw a fit. My sources then told me that there would be an attempt to force physicians to use the EMR by eliminating all the paper order and progress notes sheets. I simply grabbed a stack of both, hid them and used them when needed. I even managed to get the nurses on my side who absolutely hated the new EMR but could not do anything about it because they were hospital employees. There was even a vain attempt to instruct the nurses to not accept my paper orders but when I informed administration that they were, countermanding a licensed physicians orders they quickly backed down.

This battle was finally settled when more and more physicians took my stance and refused to use the EMR. I had stashed away enough paper progress notes and orders so that my allies could follow my lead. By the time of my retirement, I was still using paper and the hospital had gone through its fifth iteration of its EMR.

The moral of this story is that physicians do not have to be doormats. We do have the power to control our destinies if we know how, when and where to look and be willing to use the power we have. Certainly better than being at continual risk for burnout.

Thomas D. Guastavino is an orthopedic surgeon.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The Yesteryears series continued this week with an edition from June 14, 1958.

Twenty eight students at St Kierans College were ordained this week to the priesthood. Only one of the priests were ordained for Ossory, the other for Kerry while the bulk of the newly ordained clerics would serve in parishes in the US.

And the remains of a patriotic priest, Fr Albert Bibby who died in 1925 in California, were to be returned to his birthplace from California.

Further coal deposits were discovered in Firoda near Castlecomer and the option was being considered for further exploration.

The Kilkenny hurling team, as defending All-Ireland champions, were touring the US and were this week dining out at the Gaelic Park Casino in New York and in the previous week County GAA Secretary Paddy Grace was honoured by a civic reception in Chicago.

Well known angler John Kelly landed two salmon fished out of the Nore this week - one was 24lb.

And a young John Joseph Kelly found a coin this week, dated 1789, in Gowran.
Network operator Three says it is now delivering 99% 4G population coverage to the Kilkenny area, following an extensive network upgrade across the county.

Following the integration of the legacy O2 and Three networks, customers now have access to significantly more sites, and are enjoying average 4G speeds of 20 MB per second, as well as improved coverage for calls and texts. Threes Kilkenny customers are putting the new state-of-the-art network to good use with over 700 GB of data going through the network ever hour - the equivalent of 36 million WhatsApp messages sent every 60 minutes.

Kilkenny is one of the latest counties to be upgraded as part of Threes 300 million national network investment, which involves network integration and extensive upgrading of equipment. Three customers in 4G areas like Kilkenny can experience faster mobile data speeds to watch videos, post to social media and stream music without having to worry about their data usage with Threes All You Can Eat Data.

At Three, we want to make our customers lives mean more through connecting, and we are committed to delivering a state-of-the-art network nationwide," said David Hennessy, Chief Technical Officer with Three.

"Im delighted to see these improvements in Kilkenny where we are now delivering 99% population coverage for 4G in addition to improved access to 2G and 3G.

Three is rolling out its network upgrade programme across the country. For more information, click here.
By Jun Ji-hye



The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has recently launched a new ethics subcommittee to study artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to cope with a series of challenging ethical questions being posed by AI-powered systems worldwide.





KAIST President Shin Sung-chul
Tehran [Iran], June 6 (ANI): Iran's atomic energy agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi on Tuesday said Iran will inform the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog in Vienna of its plan to increase the country's uranium enrichment capacity.

This will be done within the limits of the nuclear agreement.

Kamalvandi, in a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said, "Iran will announce that the process of increasing the capacity to produce ... UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) ... will start on Tuesday," Al Jazeera quoted.

On Monday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asked the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to prepare for the enrichment of uranium up to a level of 190,000 SWU (separative work units).

The measures that Tehran is taking will not violate the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Khamenei said.

Khamenei also said Iran will not tolerate being under sanctions, while limited in the nuclear field.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced the Washington withdrawal from the JCPOA or the Iran nuclear deal which limited the country's uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.

The Iran nuclear deal was signed between six countries in 2015 - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country's nuclear programme.(ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Tehran [Iran], June 6 (ANI): The head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said, that the Islamic republic is preparing the infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges on Tuesday.

Iran's atomic chief said, observing the country's commitments to 2015 nuclear deal, the work has commenced at Iran's Natanz enrichment facility.

"Yesterday, we took the first step and submitted a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the start of certain activities, but we started to take the necessary practical measures today," Salehi was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

On Monday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asked the AEOI to prepare for the enrichment of uranium up to a level of 190,000 SWU (separative work units).

The measures that Tehran is taking will not violate the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Khamenei said.

AEOI's goal is to supply nuclear electricity and fuel for nuclear power plants, he added.

Iran is in talks with European countries on saving the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal or JCPOA, after the U.S. pullout in May.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced the Washington withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal which limited the country's uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.

The Iran nuclear deal was signed between six countries in 2015 - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country's nuclear programme.

Iran had earlier said it would move out of the deal and resume its nuclear activities if the other parties to the nuclear deal fail to safeguard Iran's interests. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jun 9 (PTI) H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S), the Congress' coalition partner in Karnataka, today voiced its strong opposition to former president Pranab Mukherjee's visit to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur recently.

The JD(S) slammed Mukherjee for describing RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as "great son of Mother India".

"He should not have gone there. People will not remember his speech, but the photo clippings. This will legitimise the RSS," JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali told reporters here.

The former president's decision to address the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) Shiksha Varg and attend a parade by Sangh workers on June 7 has raised quite a few eyebrows in the political circle.

The visit had also not gone down well with the Congress leaders initially, though they heaped praise on Mukherjee's speech at the event.

Responding to a query on the proposed 'one nation one election', Ali said the JD(S) and several other opposition parties were opposed to the idea.

"It is not possible as each state has its own issues," he said.

The JD(S) leader also demanded that elections be conducted through ballot papers as he said that several parties have raised fingers at the credibility of electronic voting machines (EVMs).

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], June 9 (ANI): Ambassador of Maldives to India, Ahmed Mohamed, on has appreciated India's support for Maldives' United Nations Security Council (UNSC) candidature.

Though, the Maldives failed to get elected to the UNSC as a non-permanent member on Friday, it thanked India for supporting its candidature.

"The #Maldives highly appreciates the support by #India for our #UNSC candidature. We received reassurances in writing on 7 June 2018 as well.

????? ?? ??? ??????? @MDVForeign @MDVinIND," Mohamed tweeted.

Maldives and Indonesia had contested for a seat in the UNSC, which was won by the latter after securing 144 votes against 46.

However, India has officially not confirmed on whether it voted for or against the Maldives.

The UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. It is majorly responsible for maintaining international peace and security. It also accepts new members to the United Nations. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
La Malbaie (Canada), Jun 9 (AFP) The European members of the G7 are agreed that Russia cannot be readmitted into the club until there is an improvement in the crisis in Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today.

"We are in agreement that a return of Russia to the G7 cannot happen unless substantial progress is made in terms of the problems with Ukraine," Merkel told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing G7 summit in Canada.

Merkel spoke following a meeting with the leaders of Italy, Britain and France which came in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump's call to readmit Russia.

The decision to kick Russia out of what had been the G8 was in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which was widely denounced as a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty. (AFP) CK

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bamako, Jun 9 (AFP) Three Malian soldiers and 13 "terrorists" were killed in fighting at an army camp in central Mali today, the defence ministry said.

The troops "repelled a terrorist attack in the early morning," in the central town of Boni," the ministry said.

The army forces "killed 13 terrorists and recovered arms and munitions," and three soldiers were killed while the attack was repelled, the statement added.

Earlier, military sources told AFP that two troops had been killed, along with 13 terrorists in two attacks in the region.

Residents in Boni told AFP that helicopters were later circling the area but that calm had returned by afternoon.

Islamic extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

In June 2015, Mali's government signed a peace agreement with coalitions of armed groups. But the jihadists remain active, and large tracts of the country remain lawless.

Since 2015 jihadist attacks have been concentrated on central and southern Mali and have spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. (AFP) CPS

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Just a couple of months back, Saif Ali Khan has been acquitted in the two-decade-long Jodhpur blackbuck poaching, with the court placing most of the blame on the main accused, Salman Khan. But it looks the hunting for sport is something Saif Ali Khan loves to indulge in, despite the trouble the activity has brought him. If he has managed to escape from the blackbuck poaching case, then there is trouble for the actor on the horizon that too coming from a different country.

As per a report in Indian Express, Interpol has approached the Bandra police to take Saif Ali Khan for questioning for indulging in wild boar hunting without the required permission. The website quotes a media report, "It is not yet clear if the recorded statement has been forwarded to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Indias nodal agency for the Interpol. According to the police, Interpol has involved Saif because they have booked an agent organising Big Game (hunting) in Bulgaria who, they suspect, illegally arranged hunt for the actor."

An official told the website, "The actor is a witness in a hunting case probed by the Bulgarian police. After the communication from the Interpol was received, the crime branch, Bandra unit, was asked to record the actors statement. A team of the Mumbai Crime Branch sleuths from the unit visited the actors suburban residence and recorded his statement.

The website mention that if a foreign national visiting Bulgaria wants to indulge in wild boar hunting aka the Big Game, there are some set of regulations to be followed. First, they have to take a theory and practical hunting exam, and then get a permit for a fire-arm, which is to be used for sole hunting purposes. It is reported that since Saif Ali Khan had not followed these rules, he will be questioned about this.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 09, 2018 03:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The Nepal Army chief was invited as the chief guest at the 134 passing out parade of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun on Saturday | (Photo Credits: Sumit Sharma/LatestLY)

Dehradun, June 9: General Rajendra Chhetri, Nepalese Chief of Army Staff (COAS), said the Nepali soil would never be used for activities which are detrimental to the interests of India. Gen Chhetri's remarks came while addressing the press on the sidelines of Indian Military Academy (IMA) passing-out parade in Dehradun on Saturday.

On being asked by LatestLY about his recent meeting with Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, he replied, "It was a regular bilateral meet aimed at reviewing regional peace."

"For Nepal, the interests of our neighbour is top priority. We will not allow our soil to be used against India," Gen Chhetri assured.

Here is the statement issued by the Nepal Army chief:

Nepalese Army Chief #GeneralRajendraChhetri during Passing Out Parade of #IMA assures not to allow Nepal's Soil to be used against India.@adgpi #IMAPOP. Listen what he said: pic.twitter.com/LCn4D4fjCi  sumit sharma (@sumitsharma_87) June 9, 2018

The Nepal Army chief was invited as the chief guest at the 134 passing out parade (PoP) of the IMA. "The IMA, similar to the Indian Army, is a glorious institute. I congratulate all the cadets who have passed out today," he said.

A total of 457 gentlemen passed out, including 74 foreign cadets. Among the 383 cadets from India, 49 have passed out from Haryana, followed by 29 from Punjab. Among the foreign cadets, the maximum, 45, are from Afghanistan.

The coveted Sword of Honour was awarded to ACA Sachin Kumar Chahar. "I'm highly obliged by this honour. The kind of training I've received here has transformed me as a person," he said, while speaking to LatestLY.

The best foreign cadet title was presented to SUO Bukhori Saidullaev, who is from Kyrgyzstan. The Gold Medal for the Gentlemen Cadet was bagged by BUO Aaditya Neekhara.

(With inputs from Sumit Sharma)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 09, 2018 01:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
In the week before the referendum to Repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, to give it its full title, campaigners for a Yes vote were working their way through a housing estate one evening in Kill when they came across a woman who had settled in her mind on a No vote.

She was very nice, they said, and polite.

She said she would be voting No, but she wished us all the best, one of the canvassers said.

Fair play to ye, she said.

I laughed it off at the time as yet another example of one of the delightful quirks of living in a country where nobody is ever sure about anything.

(We mustnt be, we keep asking each other.)

But reflecting on it afterwards, I realised it might well sum up the whole experience of the referendum.

The results show that an overwhelming majority of people voted Yes, but Id put a weeks wages on it that whether they voted Yes or No, the vast majority did not arrive at their decision without some second thoughts.

Certainly many were predisposed to going one way or another, but few did so without a doubt, I believe.

Only those for whom certainty is a comfort to the mind, the zero sum game absolutists, had no doubts about their vote, Id suggest.

As somebody said to me last week, nobody wants an abortion, nobody likes either the idea or the reality of abortion and nobody wants ever to be in a position where they have to consider having one  but a lot of us like the idea that if somebody found themselves in the tragic circumstance of needing one, most particularly in a life or death medical emergency, that they could get one, because it would, in the circumstances, be the least worst option.

The image of the doctors who cared for Savita Halappanavar consulting the Constitution was one that stuck in my mind.

Surely a medical journal would have been more appropriate at that moment?

I think most people, despite their views on abortion generally, fundamentally understood that in medical emergencies especially, the equal protection afforded to a mother and her unborn baby could prove unnecessarily dangerous to both.

SEE ALSO: Plans for 135 Maynooth apartments incorporating a creche and restaurant

From a simple healthcare point of view, it scared people  and there were plenty of personal stories told of gravely ill women getting onto Ryanair flights to Liverpool.

I heard one woman who moved from undecided to Yes on the day of the referendum, saying that although she hated abortion, she liked the Eighth Amendment even less.

Yes was the compromise she came to in her own mind, she said.

We need to remember that the Eighth Amendment in 1983 did not ban abortion.

The Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 did it, and its important to see that the Amendment was nothing more than a pre-emptive strike in a brewing culture war.

But culture wars are stupid. Nobody on either side of one ever wins and the more keenly they are fought, the more entrenched either side becomes.

Ireland is far too small, ambiguous and ambivalent about law and morality for a blanket ban on something as complex as this was. We are, as Fintan OToole pointed out correctly afterwards, too double-minded for these single-minded crusades.

Post referendum, we all, yes and no voters, need to recognise the honest struggle within each other to find a solution that is fair and compassionate to all, and to continue to steadfastly plough that furrow.
Aseven-year-old from Athy has become the youngest new member of Mensa, the high IQ Society.

Heyden Higgins, who attends Scoil Naomh Lorcain, asked his mum Eileen at just two-years-old to please, teach me to read.

He has just made his communion, has four siblings and lives in Coneyboro.

His IQ is in the top seven per cent, said his proud mum Eileen.

He often does his sisters sixth class maths homework and his teacher referred to him as a mathematician in one of his school reports.

We had our suspicions that he was a little different. When he was four he went from junior infants to first class and he was six in second class. Hes made his communion and hes only just seven.

His teacher Michael Kane gives him fourth class maths to do in class.

His teacher gives him maths books from fourth class and he flies through them, she added.

He has also been accepted on the DCU programme for gifted children to challenge them because mainstream school cannot. They study magical maths.

Mensa is an elite society for people with a high IQ, and Heydens membership means that he is invited to all their round table discussions and organised events.

He also receives their magazine in the post.

READ ALSO: A great day for Athy as new library is officially opened

It is very interesting living with Heyden. While his cognitive ability levels are through the roof we do have to remember that he is only seven, explained Eileen, who herself is a published author of novels and short stories under the pen name EM Higgins.

He often says things to me like he needs to broaden his horizons.

This is the type of language that he uses. He is so gentle and positive and there is not an aggressive bone in his body but you cant get away with anything.

He is really black and white and always wants to do the right thing, One time we were in the car and when we went to pull up Heyden had a biscuit he didnt want to finish so I said to him throw it outside for the birds.

He said no thats littering. So I explained its not if the birds are going to eat it. Then he said to me that how did I know that this biscuit would not make the particular bird that eats it sick? So it went in the bin.

Heyden will be starting third class in September, aged seven.

His siblings range in age from 28 to 12 and he is the youngest.

He was pretty chuffed with himself when he heard and he was going around the house saying that he was a member of a secret society.

He thinks it is very cool. And if anyone picks up his Mensa magazine to look through, he tells them that is for him only as he is the only member in the house.

As he loves maths, Heyden is looking towards a future career working in maths and in cosmology.

He is very interested in the cosmos, the universe and the works of Stephen Hawking.

Mathematics is used to understand the universe, so he says that is what he would like to do in the future. He might even go to Cambridge to study. The world is his oyster, said his proud mum.

Mensa offers its members lively and topical monthly magazines, regional newsletters, some 120 plus Special Interest Groups (SIGs), many websites and private discussion groups around the globe, which give access to a worldwide social network of intelligent friends and events for members to attend.

Mensa members interests range from diverse fields such as anthropology to Zoroastrianism.

There is an international membership of over 110,000 members in some 100 countries around the world.
A LEGAL action taken against Limerick Racecouse and County Limerick Coursing Club has been settled for an undisclosed sum.

James Normoyle, a greyhound trainer from Doonbeg, West Clare, sued for damages following an incident which occurred in the car park of Limerick Racecourse during the Irish Cup meeting on February 27, 2011.

The 75-year-old sustained a displaced fracture to a bone in his right ankle after he stepped on a large stone while returning to his parked car.

Basic first aid was administered at Limerick Racecourse and the plaintiff subsequently attended at University Hospital Limerick where he was told he would have to wait six hours to be seen.

He subsequently attended Ennis General Hospital where his ankle was x-rayed.

According to court documents, he was in shock and severe discomfort following the incident and had to wear a full cast on his leg for around six weeks after the incident.

After the cast was removed Mr Normoyle attended physiotherapy and was still experiencing pain and stiffness a year later particularly when driving.

It was his case the defendants had been negligent and had breached the provisions of the Occupiers Liability Act 1995 by creating a trap or hazard by way of loose random large stones within the public car park.

He claimed they had failed to adequately carry out a proper risk assessment relating to the dangers posed by such stones randomly positioned along the car park.

Court papers also state the defendants had failed to remove the randomly positioned large stones which posed a significant trip hazard to persons using the car park.

The case was listed for hearing before Judge Gerald Keys at Limerick Circuit Court last week but when called, lawyers indicated the matter had been settled and could be struck out.

The first two defendants  Greenmount Leisure Limited and Greenmount Racing Limited  were ordered to pay the costs of the plaintiff. The case against County Limerick Coursing Club and a number of named officers, including Noreen McManus and the Earl Of Dunraven, was struck out with no order relating to costs.

Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
THE PARENT company of Aughinish Alumina, UC Rusal, has engaged a major financial advisory group in a bid to free the firm from US sanctions.

Independent directors at Rusal have hired Rothschild to advise on the sale of majority owner Oleg Deripaskas stake, according to Reuters, signalling he may be willing to relinquish control to save the company.

It is the Russian oligarchs control over the company which is causing the sanctions to continue to hang over the company, after the US announced a deal which would require a reduction in Deripaskas stake to below 50 percent.

The April 6 sanctions, a diplomatic rebuke of Russias malign activities around the globe, saw the US Treasury Department targeting Russian businesspeople who were seen to have benefited from the Vladimir Putin regime.

Deripaska, who holds UC Rusal through En+, is known to have close ties to the Russian president and those around him.

The deadline for companies with holdings in Deripaskas firms to divest their interest in them has been postponed until August 5, to allow time for a deal on the billionaires stake to be reached. The previous deadline would have run out this Wednesday, June 6.

En+ chairman, Greg Barker, said: The onus is now on me and my fellow independent director to deliver the substantial changes and verifiable measures that will be required to successfully lift sanctions on the whole EN+ group.

He added that the current steps being made show real progress.

The US Treasury deal would require Deripaska to reduce his ownership in En+ to below 50 percent from its current 66 percent.

Bloomberg is reporting that the oligarch may be able to keep his ownership in the mid-40 percent range to avoid the sanctions, despite the fact that Washington usually demands a much larger drop in shares.

The Russian businessman has stepped down as director of both En+ and UC Rusal in a bid to create some distance from his companies.

If the sanctions are dropped, it will be a major relief for the 450 direct employees of Aughinish Alumina, as well as another 500 working through indirect employment.

But if the sanctions remain in place past October, Rusals production could be cut by as much as 70 percent, the company has warned.

October 23 is the deadline for customers and suppliers with US links to cut ties with the Russian giant, or face secondary sanctions.

Such a production cut would be the worst case scenario, Rusal said, but if such a scenario were to materialise, it could mean plant closures and staff cuts, according to Russian newspaper, Kommersant.

Last week, US president Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium from Europe, Mexico and Canada, another move which is bound to have implications for Rusal.

The new tariffs include a 25 percent tax on steel and a 10 percent tax on aluminium. Trumps move has faced significant backlash since the announcement last Thursday, amid the threat of a trade war.
A HUGE manufacturing business event is set to be held at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) next week.

For the second year in a row, the college is to play host to Irelands largest supply chain conference and trade exhibition on Wednesday, June 13.

Codenamed Manufacturing Solutions 2018, the event is estimated to be worth in excess of 170,000 to the local hospitality sector in the city.

Organised by the The Gauge and Tool Makers Association (GTMA), the event is also worth hundreds of thousands of euros to the engineering and manufacturing industry, as it opens up more trade opportunities between Ireland and Britain.

Indeed, some 90 delegates plan to travel from Britain to the conference this year.

More than 100 exhibition spaces were sold out just months after last years inaugural show, and Manufacturing Solutions 2018 is garnering huge support from industry and government bodies from both sides of the Irish Sea, organisers say.

This includes the British Embassy in Ireland and the British Department for International Trade.

Britains ambassador to Ireland Robin Barnett said: This important event highlights the innovation, skills and talent to be found in manufacturing technology and engineering companies across Ireland and Britain. It reaffirms the important trading relationship between our two countries and opportunities to collaborate and build strong partnerships to deliver new, innovative solutions to a global marketplace.

GTMA chief executive Julia Moore says she is looking forward to another holding of the event.

She said: Last year the GTMA held its first ever conference outside Britain. We were confident that having the trade show and conference at LIT would prove successful, but Manufacturing Solutions 2017 far surpassed our expectations.

A number of companies and organisations are providing support to the event, including Cook Medical, the Limerick Chamber, the Shannon Chamber and the Mid-West Regional Skills network.

Programme leader in precision engineering at LIT, Ciaran OLoughlin said: Manufacturing Solutions is an opportunity to highlight engineering excellence but also a way to foster closer relations and profitable opportunities in the wake of Brexit.

LIT plays a leading role in ensuring manufacturing in this region continues to have the ability to adapt and to change and remain at the cutting edge when it comes to technology. It is fitting therefore that our successful partnership allows us to bring technology suppliers together.

Manufacturing Solutions 2018 will take place in LIT, Moylish Campus on Wednesday June 13, 2018 from 8.30am to 5pm.
LIMERICK City TD Willie ODea has urged the Government to hold off from raising the pension age to 68 until it has sorted out its calculation for pension entitlements.

The Fianna Fail deputy said that there is an unease felt among those who may have to opt for the 40-year baseline, instead of a proposed 30-year baseline which has been proposed.

He stated last week that if this is to be implemented, people who started working 1988 will have to continue employment for 10 more years.

I am concerned that this will disproportionately affect self-employed persons due to retire soon. Self-employed workers have only been able to contribute towards their pension since 1988.

It needs to be remembered that many in self-employment are working in physically demanding roles and forcing them to continue to working for a further 10 years would be very difficult.

Additionally, there are many returned emigrants who spent time abroad, outside of the EU, working now in this State who will not be able to meet this 40 year requirement. Its unfair on them to say the least, Deputy ODea said in a statement.

He described the situation as a pensions time bomb and that it is a challenge facing Ireland.

Fianna Fail believes that action must be taken now to address it. One such way would be for the Government to ban employment contracts that stipulate retirement ages.

If someone is willing to continue working past the antiquated 65 year threshold, they should be allowed to. Two things will happen: there will be additional contributions paid to the Social Security Fund and there will be reduced pension payments as the number in receipt of a State Pension will drop.

Deputy ODea, who has been selected to run in the general election for Fianna Fail, said he is calling on Minister Regina ODoherty to take a step back and think before she makes fundamental changes of this nature.
NO town in County Limerick has been identified for specific funding under the governments 2bn Urban Regeneration and Development programme for towns with a population of under 10,000.

This emerged last week when details of the programme were released and towns such as Shannon and Thurles were specifically named as eligible for funding under this particular programme. Limerick city was also included in the list of cities earmarked for funding.

However, it may be possible that towns like Newcastle West, Abbeyfeale, Kilmallock and Castleconnell as well as other smaller towns and villages could benefit from the 1bn Rural Development Fund, provided the right projects are selected.

Minister of State, Patrick ODonovan, welcomed the release of the details of both these funds and of the Climate Action and Innovation and Disruptive Technologies funds, with a total funding of 4bn. This money, he said, had been announced as part of Project Ireland 2040 earlier this year and would be allocated to projects that can show a positive impact in communities across the country.

I am particularly happy that the Rural Development Fund, which is important for Limerick, will be administered by Minister Michael Ring and will be aimed at ensuring that rural communities are able to access increased levels of funding over a ten year period, he said.

One of the objectives of the Rural Regeneration fund, Minister ODonovan said, was to strengthen rural economies and rural communities by rejuvenating smaller towns and villages.

The fund will target towns with a population of less than 10,000 people, as well as villages and outlying rural areas.

Detailed criteria are now being developed for the first call for proposals which will be announced in the coming weeks, he added.

The type of initiatives the fund will support will include addressing infrastructural deficits in towns and villages, encouraging entrepreneurship, and enhancing heritage and community assets in rural areas.

Collaboration and collaborative approaches will be encouraged.

It was, the minister said, about pooling assets and working with communities to transform our rural towns and villages and their outlying areas.

For a project to succeed, it must demonstrate a capacity to add value to other public investments. And there will be a co-funding requirement up to 25%. The first phase will also allow for technical supports for preparatory groundwork for future investments.

It remains to be seen whether some of this 1bn fund will be available to partnership bodies such as West Limerick Resources which has appealed for an additional 1m to fund a number of shovel ready projects in different communities.
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IT was a romance which began at a local well in West Limerick but it has lasted a lifetime. And last weekend, childhood sweethearts Tomas and Han Geoghegan celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

And to this day, Tomas remembers his curly-headed bride with great joy and love.

I said to her, we will get married so, and she said yes, he recalled of his proposal and his delight that it was, at last, all settled.

The wedding, he continued, took place in Ballyhahill, Hans parish and just over the border from his own townland of Turraree in Glin. Afterwards, they had their wedding breakfast in Shanagolden and stayed on there for four or five days of honeymoon before starting their new life together on his family farm.

We never had a row, Tomas explained. And they always said the rosary together every night before bed, he added.

But he still remembers how it all began. Hans people, who were Reidys in the nearby townland of Knockdown, had land close to a well located on Geoghegans farm.

She used to come down there and I would go down to meet her, Tomas recalled.

Her mother always liked me. That was a big plus.

Later, when Tomas was resisting going to Dores secondary school in Glin, his mother turned to Hans mother in a bid to get Han to persuade him to stay on. The plan worked. Han used to call in for Tomas, he put the bag of books on his back and off down the road they would go together.

There would be carts all lined up for the creamery and they used to be all making game of us, Tomas recalled. But I took no notice.

For a while, Han moved away to begin a nursing career but family illness brought her home, and back to her young admirer. In 1947, when the two were just 18 and 19 years old, Tomas finally settled the question between them and their future life together was set in train.

It is a long time, Tomas remarked of their 70 year marriage. And a lot has changed in the meantime.

We had no electricity then and no washing machines. Everything had to be done by hand, even the milking. There were no cars going the road at all that time, he recalled, adding that for a while, he ran his own hackney business while Han presided over the small shop they ran next door to the creamery as well as rearing their three children.

There were no foreign holidays either, just trips three or four times a year to Hans sister in Dublin.

Now, thanks to family support, Tomas and Han still live in their home, still together after 70 years.

Their children, grand-children and great grandchildren, along with neighbours and friends all gathered there last Sunday to celebrate their landmark anniversary although, as son Pat joked: It was impossible to get a 70th anniversary card.
A FIVE-year-old girl from Limerick who fractured two bones in her foot after a sink unit and pedestal toppled over and fell on her has been awarded 25,000 in damages.

Through her mother, the girl initiated a legal action against Mayo Tile Warehouse Limited relating to an incident which happened at a premises it operates in the city.

During an ex-parte (one side only) application, Judge Gerald Keys was told the girl was in the Tile Warehouse showroom on the Dock Road on April 28, 2016 when the sink unit fell  injuring her left foot.

Sarah Walsh BL said while her client sustained fractures to two metatarsal bones, things could have been significantly worse for her.

The plaintiff, who was aged three at time, received medical treatment and had to wear a cast for four weeks after the incident.

She had a visible limp for some time after the cast was removed but that issue has since resolved itself.

Limerick Circuit Court, was told that in the immediate aftermath of the accident, the girl also experienced tiredness after walking.

However, within a year doctors were satisfied there were no long-term issues and that she had made a good recovery.

The fractures, the court heard, did not affect the growth of the plaintiffs foot and there were no complicating factors. Referring to the contents of a number of medical reports, Ms Wlash said no permanent damage was caused and that the young girl has made a full recovery.

Judge Keys was told that following the rejection of an initial assessment from the Injuries Board, the plaintiff was examined by another doctor January.

That assessment confirmed that everything was entirely normal and that no abnormalities were identified.

She is walking freely, she is fully recovered, she is doing very well, stated Ms Walsh who added there were also no concerns of a psychological nature relating to her client.

Recommending the revised offer of 25,000 to the court, Ms Wlash said her client and her mother were also happy with the offer.

She sustained two simple fractures, its a good offer within the range, she said.

Judge Keys agreed and having formally approved the offer, directed the payment of the damages plus the defendants cost.

Once paid into court, the monies will be invested by the Courts Service of Ireland for the benefit of the toddler when she turns 18.
At least a dozen wildfires that ripped through Northern California last October, including the deadly Atlas and Nuns fires in the North Bay, were caused by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines, state officials said Friday.

The findings by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection are the first to lay out an official source of ignition for any of the Wine Country blazes, which killed 41 people and destroyed nearly 9,000 homes in a wind-driven inferno. The most destructive of the burns, the Tubbs Fire that hit Santa Rosa, remains under investigation.

The completed investigations show that downed electric lines or trees and branches coming into contact with power equipment sparked eight fires in Sonoma and Napa counties, which resulted in eight fatalities, as well as Mendocino Countys Redwood Fire, which left nine dead. Three smaller blazes, in Lake, Humboldt and Butte counties, were also ignited by PG&E equipment, according to Cal Fire.

The finding of responsibility is great news, said Clifford Rainey, a glass sculptor who lost his lifes work in Napa Countys Atlas Fire and is among many victims suing PG&E for damages. Its definitely worth a glass of wine tonight.

In eight of the 12 fires, Cal Fire officials said PG&E violated state law, though investigators did not specify which laws were broken.

Fridays announcement has major ramifications for the utility, which has warned of an unprecedented financial hit as victims take to the courts.

In pointing to electrical mishaps, the investigations findings echoed those in recent probes into four fires in the Sierra foothills that started around the same time as the Wine Country conflagrations. Extraordinarily strong winds fanned dozens of ignitions across Northern California on Oct. 8 and 9, sparking the most devastating series of wildfires in state history.

Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties were the hardest-hit areas. While a source of ignition has not yet been cited for the Tubbs Fire, which killed 24 people and destroyed 5,636 homes, businesses and other structures, power equipment also has been suspected in that blaze.

PG&E released a statement Friday saying the company was saddened by the losses from the wildfires, but distanced itself from responsibility.

Based on the information we have so far, we continue to believe our overall programs met our states high standards, the company said.

Cal Fire officials are forwarding the completed investigations of the eight fires in which PG&E is alleged to have violated state law to district attorneys in the counties that burned. These fires are the Atlas, Norrbom, Partrick, Pythian, Adobe and Pocket fires in Sonoma and Napa counties as well as the Sulphur Fire in Lake County and Blue Fire in Humboldt County.

District attorneys have the authority to pursue criminal charges or civil suits. The Sonoma County district attorneys office confirmed Friday that it had been in touch with Cal Fire about the investigations, as had district attorneys in Napa and Lake counties and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Bill Brockley, Sonoma County assistant district attorney, said his office was reviewing Cal Fires findings before deciding how to move forward.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates state power companies, also can issue fines.

Octobers unprecedented blazes burned more than 245,000 acres across Northern California. Some 170 separate ignitions were counted, according to Cal Fire.

In the Wine Country, gusts of up to 70 mph drove several fires across wooded mountaintops and rural vineyards and into small towns and well-traveled tourist routes. The brunt of the destruction was in the Santa Rosa area, where the Tubbs Fire reduced whole neighborhoods to ash.

Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said the extent of damage in the Tubbs Fire made it more difficult to investigate. He did not offer a timeline for when the probe would wrap up.

Its quite complex compared to the other ones, he said.

The other big October fires include the Atlas Fire, which burned 51,624 acres in the hills east of the city of Napa, killing six and destroying 783 structures. Cal Fire investigators said the blaze started in two locations where a tree and a tree limb fell onto the same power line in separate spots.

The Nuns Fire, which merged with a handful of smaller fires and tore along the ridge between Napa and Sonoma counties, burning 56,556 acres and razing 1,355 structures, ignited after a tree limb hit a power line, Cal Fire said. Investigators did not cite any breach of state law in that case.

The Redwood Fire, which burned 36,523 acres and destroyed 543 structures in Mendocino County, started after parts of a tree fell onto power lines at two distinct points, Cal Fire said. No violation of state law was found in this case, either.

Even when the fires were still hot, Cal Fire investigators began scouting for the causes along PG&E transmission lines. Dozens of lawsuits have since been filed against the utility. Statewide damage estimates from the firestorm stand at more than $10 billion.

California law allows utilities to be held liable for fire costs, even in instances where the electric company is not found to have violated state law.

Downed and damaged power lines are among the top causes of wildfires in California. Among the 20 largest fires in state history, electrical problems rank alongside runaway campfires as the most common human sources of ignition. More than 80 percent of the wildfires in the West are caused by humans.

The four small Sierra fires that last month were blamed on PG&E equipment include the La Porte and Honey fires in Butte County and the McCourtney and Lobo fires in Nevada County. There were no fatalities in those blazes, though dozens of homes burned.

Investigators said the utility had not properly cleared vegetation in all but the La Porte Fire.

Chronicle staff writer Nanette Asimov contributed to this report.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
Let's start with the lesson for culture warriors on the left: Religious objections to state policies have to be handled without prejudice.

Seven of the Supreme Court's nine justices agreed that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission acted prejudicially in handling the complaint of a gay couple who were refused a wedding cake by the proprietor of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in a Denver suburb.

Most egregiously, one commissioner declared that freedom of religion and religion have been used "to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery (or) the Holocaust."

But Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the court, found that the commission failed to consider the case with the religious neutrality the Constitution requires.

There is no doubt that in America religious liberty is being advanced in a cultural and political agenda. Nevertheless, sincerely held religious beliefs cannot be denigrated and dismissed by government officials. Social liberals should bear in mind that the constitutional right of free exercise extends to beliefs they may find unconscionable.

Now for the lesson for culture warriors on the right: Religious free exercise does not trump anti-discrimination laws.

Yes, wrote Kennedy  who is also the author of the court's decision approving same-sex marriage  "the religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage are protected views and in some instances protected forms of expression."

But, Kennedy stated, "such objections do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law."

While the ruling didn't definitively answer core issues of free exercise of religion, the justices appear to have strengthened their neutrality standard for free exercise cases.

In 1990, the court held in Employment Division v. Smith that "neutral laws of general applicability" could not be challenged on free exercise grounds. Three years later, in Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah, it determined that a law neutral on its face can violate the free exercise clause if it is shown to target a particular religious practice. On Monday, the court made clear that a law has to be both neutral and "neutrally applied."

That clarification suggests that, if Colorado's ban on discrimination against gays and lesbians had been handled nonprejudicially, the decision could easily have gone the other way.

Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission erects a stop sign in front of social conservatives who would like to extend free exercise to exempt believers not only from anti-discrimination laws but also other (possibly) protected forms of expression, like creating wedding cakes.

Mark Silk is a professor of religion in public life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
On this date in ...

1918: The protest of Albany's citizens yielded fruit when it came to stopping the plan to pour concrete between the road circling the Capitol and the nearby pathway, endangering the trees that populated the area. Gov. Charles S. Whitman and Speaker of the Assembly Thadeus C. Sweet, acting in their positions as trustees of public buildings, ordered the superintendent of the Department of Public Buildings to suspend the project pending an investigation. The board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce commenced an emergency meeting to take action on the matter.

1968: Speaking at commencement at Emma Willard School in Troy, Vermont Gov. Philip H. Hoff said the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy constituted "still another warning of the denial of the ideals and traditions of this nation." He said the inadequate education of blacks and lack of services for them had left no dignity in their lives. He said today there was an overemphasis on material values, material rights and material things. Hoff's daughter, Susan, was one of the 98 students in the graduating class.

1993: New York's tradition of shielding criminal suspects with broad right-to-counsel protections was bolstered in a key ruling by the state's highest court. The decision, which threw out crucial evidence against a reputed Manhattan drug dealer accused of executing a stranger over a parking dispute, was written by the new chief judge, Judith S. Kaye, and was a defining moment for the Kaye-led Court of Appeals. In the case decided 5-1, the court found that police violated the rights of Kenneth West when they enlisted the help of a snitch, tape-recorded incriminating statements and then arrested the suspect on a murder charge.

Want to read more about the Capital Region's past? Have any memories or thoughts about how our history relates to today's events? See http://blog.timesunion.com/history/
President Donald Trump on Friday amped up the mystery surrounding his wife Melania's recent hospitalization for a kidney condition, revealing that she had a "big operation" that lasted close to four hours but is "doing great."

Trump said he was attending meetings in Canada and Singapore alone because the first lady is under doctors' orders not to fly for a month.

"First lady's great. Right there," Trump said, pointing up to the White House from the driveway as he departed for Quebec.

Trump's comments only deepened the mystery surrounding his wife's hospitalization in mid-May and her weeks-long absence from the public eye.

The first lady's office announced May 14 that she underwent an embolization procedure to treat a kidney condition described as benign. She spent five nights at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington and returned to the White House on May 19 to continue her recuperation.

Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman, has declined to provide additional details, citing the first lady's right to medical privacy. Doctors not involved in Mrs. Trump's care but familiar with the procedure said embolization most likely was used to remove a type of noncancerous kidney tumor called an angiomylipoma.

The seemingly unending speculation about her whereabouts appeared to irritate Trump and his wife. Both vented about it on Twitter.

"I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I'm doing," the first lady tweeted last week. "Rest assured, I'm here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!"

The first lady ended some of the speculation this week when she made her first appearances in nearly a month.

She was last seen in public on May 10, helping Trump welcome home three Americans released from detention in North Korea.

 Associated Press

Fox's Krauthammer has 'weeks to live'

Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer says he has "only a few weeks to live" because of an aggressive form of cancer.

Krauthammer disclosed his doctors' prognosis in a letter released Friday to colleagues, friends and viewers.

Krauthammer wrote that he underwent surgery in August to remove a cancerous tumor in his abdomen. While thought to be successful, he said there were complications that he was overcoming. However, he wrote recent tests revealed the cancer has returned and is "spreading rapidly."

Krauthammer says he will "leave this life with no regrets."

The 68-year-old was paralyzed below the neck in a diving accident yet graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1975 and practiced psychiatry.

He later developed a career as a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and commentator.

 Associated Press

Smithsonian exhibit features Oprah

The stage set where Oprah Winfrey interviewed thousands of her television guests is now part of an exhibition at the Smithsonian.

The exhibit, "Watching Oprah: The Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture," opened Friday at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Winfrey toured the yearlong exhibit on Wednesday, and told "CBS This Morning" that she was honored by the exhibit and the response to it.

Her story is told through objects from her past on her journey to becoming a media powerhouse. Fans can also write what Winfrey's daytime talk show meant to them and how she influenced them.

The 64-year-old Winfrey previously donated $21 million dollars to the museum. However, Director Lonnie Bunch says that did not influence the decision to create the exhibit.

 Associated Press

Queen's eye surgery deemed successful

Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II had successful eye surgery to treat a cataract last month.

The palace made the announcement Friday after the queen was seen wearing sunglasses at a number of recent public engagements. It was not announced at the time of the procedure.

The 92-year-old monarch was treated as an outpatient at King Edward VII's hospital in central London.

Cataract surgery has become quite common and often helps people suffering from blurry vision. The surgery involves replacing a cloudy lens inside the eye with an artificial one.

 Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department took a significant step this week toward advancing its long-promised crackdown on leaks, charging a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer with lying to the FBI about his contacts with reporters, and seizing the phone and email records of a journalist to help make its case.

As the man charged in the brewing controversy made his first court appearance, free-press advocates warned that federal prosecutors' heavy-handed tactics might send a further chill through the government, where officials already are reluctant to share information.

To support the charges against James Wolfe, prosecutors obtained years of phone records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins, who had been in a romantic relationship with Wolfe and previously covered the congressional committee where he worked as security director.

"Seizing a journalist's records sends a terrible message to the public and should never be considered except as the last resort in a truly essential investigation," said Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "We call on the Justice Department to explain how its actions adhered to its own guidelines for protecting newsgathering from exactly these kinds of damaging intrusions."

A person close to the Intelligence Committee said investigators had obtained so much material from Wolfe's devices, they would not have needed to seize Watkins' records to bring charges.

Wolfe, 57, appeared for the first time in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Friday afternoon, wearing a white shirt and dark slacks. He said little, except to answer yes or no questions from the judge, who informed him of his rights and released him from custody under certain conditions.

Wolfe is scheduled to appear in court in Washington on Tuesday afternoon. He appeared first in Maryland because he was arrested in that state.

The charges against Wolfe signal the downfall of a longtime Senate staffer who was trusted to handle some of the government's most sensitive information. But they are perhaps more significant for what they say about the government's increasingly aggressive campaign - spanning Democratic and Republican administrations - to stop leaks.

Prosecutors in the Obama era brought nine leak cases, more than during all previous administrations combined. They called a reporter a criminal "co-conspirator" and secretly went after journalists' phone records in a bid to identify reporters' sources. Prosecutors also sought to compel a reporter to testify and identify a source, though they ultimately backed down from that effort.

Facing heavy criticism, then-Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. issued updates in 2015 to the department's policy on obtaining information from members of the media. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a more aggressive posture.

In August, he revealed that the department had more than tripled the number of leak investigations compared with the number ongoing at the end of the last administration. President Donald Trump has complained vigorously about leaks, particularly those that paint him in an unflattering light.

"This was a mistake when it happened under the Obama administration, as the officials involved ultimately admitted," Brian Fallon, Holder's former spokesman, wrote on Twitter of Watkins's records being seized. "It is a sad day to see those mistakes repeated now."

Sarah Isgur Flores, the current Justice Department spokeswoman, insisted that the department followed the appropriate steps on obtaining information on members of the media, but she declined to offer details.

The guidelines say that a reporter "shall be given reasonable and timely notice of the Attorney General's determination before the use of the subpoena," unless the attorney general determines that notice could pose a clear threat to the investigation or to national security. They also say that prosecutors should seek reporters' records only "after all reasonable alternative attempts have been made to obtain the information from alternative sources."

The Times reported that it was "not clear whether investigators exhausted all of their avenues of information before confiscating Ms. Watkins' information," and that she was "not notified before they gained access to her information from the telecommunications companies."

The Times reported that FBI agents initially approached Watkins about her relationship with Wolfe and said they were investigating unauthorized leaks. Federal prosecutors sent her and her lawyer a letter on Feb. 13 indicating that years worth of her phone and email records had been collected - though no actual content was seized.

Wolfe is not charged with disclosing classified information, though prosecutors said investigators first talked to him as they were exploring "multiple unauthorized disclosures of classified information to one or more members of the news media." In those talks, prosecutors said, Wolfe lied about his contacts with several reporters, including Watkins, and about having provided "nonpublic information related to the matters occurring before the" Senate Intelligence Committee.

FBI agents informed Wolfe of the investigation in late October and interviewed him in December, according to the indictment. In that conversation, according to the indictment, agents showed Wolfe a news story containing classified information and asked him if he had any contact with its three authors. Wolfe claimed he had not, according to the indictment, and also claimed not to have a personal relationship with a reporter.

Both statements would prove problematic. According to the indictment, Wolfe and one of the reporters who wrote the news story had communicated at least five times using his Senate Intelligence Committee email account between December 2015 and June 2017. That reporter was not named in the indictment.

Wolfe also had contacts with other reporters, including a years-long romantic relationship with Watkins, according to the indictment.

Watkins did not return a message seeking comment, and her lawyer, Mark MacDougall, declined to comment. Watkins told the Times that Wolfe was "not a source of classified information" for her during their relationship.

Before joining the Times, Watkins worked at Politico and BuzzFeed covering national security issues, and much of her coverage involved the Senate Intelligence Committee. In their conversations with Wolfe, prosecutors seemed to be keenly interested in an April 3, 2017, story she wrote at BuzzFeed, identifying former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as having met with and passed documents to a Russian intelligence operative in New York in 2013.

Prosecutors said that from mid-2014 to December 2017, Wolfe and Watkins exchanged "tens of thousands" of communications. They said on the day the Senate Intelligence Committee got information about Page, the two exchanged 82 texts and had a 28-minute phone call.

Many of the details in that story already had been public in court documents, though Watkins identified Page, whose name was shielded in the records.

BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith said: "I'm not going to comment at all on a reporter's sources in the middle of an unjustifiable leak hunt. I am baffled that the FBI and Justice Department are going to these dangerous lengths over a story that points to public court documents that describe Russian spies approaching a Trump adviser, who himself is quoted confirming his role in the episode. I'd like to know why that should be secret."

According to the indictment, Wolfe ultimately admitted to his relationship with Watkins after being shown pictures of them together, but he insisted he had not given her classified information or "news leads, intelligence, or information about nonpublic" Senate Intelligence Committee matters.

Prosecutors said in the indictment that as recently as December, before he was interviewed, Wolfe messaged Watkins to say: "I always tried to give you as much information that I could and to do the right thing with it so you could get that scoop before anyone else. . . . I always enjoyed the way that you would pursue a story, like nobody else was doing in my hallway. I felt like I was part of your excitement and was always very supportive of your career and the tenacity that you exhibited to chase down a good story."

A former Republican congressional official worried that the president would seize on the relationship between Watkins and Wolfe to feed his own narrative that the press and veteran Washington officials are conspiring against him.

"If Trump wants to destroy the 'deep state' that's been leaking on him, Jim just did that effort a huge favor," the former official said.

People who know and have worked with Wolfe said they were shocked by the allegations against him. One former U.S. official described him as the Intelligence Committee's version of "Mr. Carson," referring to the butler on the British drama "Downton Abbey" who keeps the manor house running with quiet precision.

"He's efficient. He's professional," the former official said.

Wolfe had announced his retirement to friends and colleagues in December but remained with the committee until last month. He started working for the committee in 1987.

Wolfe also served four years in the Army as an intelligence analyst, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Wolfe was previously involved with an episode regarding the mishandling of sensitive information, but as an investigator.

In 1994, he made an assessment of White House procedures for handling classified information on behalf of then-Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz. Wolfe's review cited the need to "prevent a breach of security" among White House staffers, which proved to be a prescient observation after a scandal erupted over the White House personnel security director, who improperly got access to hundreds of confidential FBI files on prominent Republicans. The incident was dubbed "Filegate."

In 1996, while explaining to a Senate committee his qualifications to lead the security review, Wolfe described his responsibilities at the committee as "the day-to-day operations regarding the secure handling, tracking, and storage, of some of the most highly classified information that is provided to the Congress."

On Friday, Wolfe left the federal courthouse in Maryland shortly before 4 p.m. He marched out silently with his lawyers as a scrum of reporters and cameras circled them and shouted questions. Wolfe and his lawyers did not comment.
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin made a new personal appeal to President Donald Trump for holding a summit meeting between the two leaders and improving ties between Russia and the United States.

Putin told a state TV interviewer that it was time for Trump to keep his campaign promise of promoting a friendlier relationship between the two countries. The interview was recorded Thursday - before Trump's call for Russia to be readmitted to the Group of Seven countries - and published on Saturday.

"A lot of things deserve to be criticized" in Trump's actions, Putin said. "But there's one circumstance that I've mentioned previously: Trump keeps the promises that he made in his campaign."

He went on: "One of those promises was to improve Russian-American relations. I hope that this also takes place. At any rate, we are ready for this. I believe that the ball is in America's court."

The interview highlighted Putin's effort to continue to show personal deference to Trump even as the overall relationship between Moscow and Washington plumbs new depths. Putin has been referring to the U.S. president as "Donald" in public appearances and praising his acumen.

Russian officials, meanwhile, have made it clear that they're eager to see a meeting between the two presidents that they say Trump initially proposed in a phone call with Putin in March. According to Russian officials and reports on state television, the main obstacle to such a meeting is the U.S. Congress and Washington foreign-policy establishment that are set against allowing ties with Russia to improve.

"The experience I have with the president of the United States tells me that even though his actions are often criticized, especially recently, including on the international arena and in the economic sphere, he is still a reflective person and he is able to listen and react to another person's arguments," Putin said. "All this tells me that dialogue can be constructive."

Putin didn't comment directly on a Wall Street Journal report that Austria had offered to host such a summit in Vienna. He said the possibility of a meeting between himself and Trump was discussed "from the very beginning, meaning after Mr. Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. We responded from the very beginning that such personal meetings were not just a possibility but were useful. . . . The only question is: Will the domestic political situation in the United States allow this to be done?"
Nationwide, more than 5.8 million teenagers and young adults 16 to 24 years old are not working or going to school.

Thats 14.7 percent, about 1 in 7 teens and young adults in that age group, who are disengaged.

In San Antonio, 15.9 percent of the citys 16- to 24-year-old population falls into that disengaged category, according to the findings of Measure of America, a project of the Social Science Research Center. Thats higher than the national average of 11.7 percent, and represents about 35,000 teens and young adults in our community.

The Alamo City was ranked 20th among the countrys 25 largest metro areas and higher than other Texas urban areas. Boston, with a disengaged youth rate of 9 percent, had the lowest number. Phoenixs 18.8 percent of disengaged youth was the worst ranking.

Houston and Dallas each had rates of 14 percent. El Pasos rate was 13 percent, and Austins was 7 percent. San Antonio ranking was attributed to high dropout and teen-pregnancy rates, and the economic disadvantages facing its teens and young adults.

A closer look at the San Antonio figure shows that many of young people identified in the study are concentrated in six ZIP codes on the citys West and South sides.

In recent years, disengaged young people with no clear path to becoming independent and self-supporting have become the focus of communities across the country.

They have prompted a movement among business and community leaders to help them obtain high school diplomas or equivalency certificates, acquire marketable skills and enter the job market before they become a costly burden on society.

Its good public policy that should enjoy robust application here. Fortunately, San Antonio is taking an important first step.

Left to their own devices, these disconnected young people  drifting along without adequate education or employment  are unlikely to seek the services and resources they need to reconnect.

The city of San Antonio is working on establishing a Re-Engagement Center, the first of its kind in the state, and steering young people to it  those who have dropped out of school and are unemployed when they receive curfew citations or pass through Municipal Court on traffic or minor criminal matters.

The goal is to also extend the services to students with truancy issues and to offer multiple locations to reach out to surrounding communities.

A location for the inaugural center is under negotiation, but city officials want to place it where disengaged youth reside.

The city plans to open the new facility in July and will staff it with four employees funded through a state grant used to tackle truancy.

Without intervention, this population of disengaged youth could adversely impact the labor force, create a greater need for social service programs, and end up in the criminal justice system.

Long gone are the days when someone who did not complete a high school education could land a good-paying, blue-collar job. There is little demand for unskilled labor in todays job market.

Median earnings in 2010 for someone with a bachelors degree was $45,000. That compared to $30,000 for someone with only a high school diploma and $21,000 for those who did not graduate high school.

City officials have a goal of reconnecting at least 10 percent of this disengaged population and placing them on the path to independence and self-sufficiency.

This is an effort the community should back.

San Antonio must not remain ranked as having the highest number of disengaged young people in Texas. Left unchecked, this spells hardship ahead for the region.
Sean Keane, described as the distinctive voice of Ireland, brings his unique style to Backstage Theatre this Saturday, June 9.

Sean, who comes from a very musical family in Caherlistrane, Co Galway, has been performing around the world for nearly 40 years.

Born in 1961, he won his first of 13 Fleadh Ceoil medals for solo singing at seven years of age.

He joined his first Band called Shegui in London and released an album with them. he then toured America with his sister Dolores in a band called Reel Union. He then was a founding member of Arcady.

He released his first solo album in the early 90's and is still recording new material.

Sean will be joined by Fergus Feely on Mandocello and Pat Coyne on guitar.

Sean released his 10th Solo album in November 2016 titled 'New Day Dawning'. Songs like 'One More Hour' 'Natures Little symphony' have become favourites from the album.

Sean continues to sing songs like 'Isle of hope Isle of Tears', 'From Galway to Gracelands', and 'Fields of Gold' on his set each night.

His compilation 3 CD set entitled 'Never Alone' still proves popular among his followers.

Come along to hear his distinctive Irish tones pull at the heart strings and hear him play up to five instruments on stage.

See Sean Keane at Backstage Theatre this Saturday night June 9 at 8pm.

Tickets, costing 25, are available on 043 33 47888, or from from Farrell Coy or online on www.backstage.ie
The Queen named a number of Royal Borough residents in her 2018 birthday honours list last night (Friday).

The headteacher of Oldfield Primary School, Richard Jarrett, was made an MBE, Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for his services to education.

He said: "The first emotion that comes is shock, then it is humility. I feel fantastically humbled.

"I never thought in a million years that this would be possible.

"I have always wanted to be a teacher since I was 17 or 18, I am so pleased that the teaching profession has been recognised."

Barbara Rosenberg, who also lives in Maidenhead, was MBE. She received it for her services to the community in Maidenhead.

The third Royal Borough resident to receive an MBE was Sybil Crowther. The Windsorian was recognised for her outstanding political and public service.

The co-founder and trustee of the South Bucks Down's Syndrome Group, Margaret Davies, was awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) for her services to people with Down's syndrome.

The charity she helped to set up brings joy to people suffering from the condition, organising horse riding, drama sessions and other fun activities for them to enjoy.

Hilary Evans was also awarded the BEM for her services to the community in Burnham.
Police Commissioner John Barbieri and Mayor Domenic Sarno (The Republican file photo)

SPRINGFIELD -- Mayor Domenic J. Sarno on Friday announced a "landmark" contract agreement with the city's police force that includes body cameras, a residency requirement and a social media policy.

Here are the key points of the deal:

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Screenshot of the calendar year 2017 Springfield Police Department payroll, as of Dec. 29, 2017

Pay increases

William Mahoney, the city's director of labor relations, said the four-year contract, actually two separate back-to-back contracts, calls for a 13 percent pay increase overall.

The first contract, which covers July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017, calls for a 2 percent increase. The second contract, which covers three years, runs from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2020. It calls for a 3 percent increase the second year, a 4 percent increase the third year and 3 increase the fourth year.

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AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File

Body cams

Sarno said he believes the Springfield Police Department will be the largest department in Massachusetts to have a "full-fledged" body cam program.

Mahoney said the department's transition to body cams will be "somewhat of an involved process," starting with the city's issuance of a request for proposals from vendors. The city will then work with the union to find the make and model of body cam that works best for the city and the department. Once that selection is made, training will begin.

Sarno said the file storage of the video and audio captured by the body cams is costly and that his administration has made a commitment to get that done.

Officials did not give a firm date for the rollout of body cameras. Sarno said the implementation would be "ASAP."

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Photo by Patrick Johnson / The Republican

Residency requirement

All police officers hired after July 1, 2018, are required to live in the city for 10 years, at which point they are required to live within 15 miles of the city, Mahoney said.

The requirement is similar to the requirement for city firefighters. However, they will be required to live within 10 miles of the city after the 10-year period.

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Screenshot of Springfield Police Department Facebook page

Social media policy

The inclusion of a social media policy comes after a city police officer was fired in December over an August Facebook post that appeared to mock people run down by a car during an anti-racism protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.

At the time of the controversial post, the police department had no social media policy. Details on the policy have yet to be released.

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Springfield Fire Commissioner Bernard Calvi with a box of Narcan. (Photo by Don Treeger / The Republican)

Narcan

Police officers, like firefighters, will begin carrying the anti-overdose drug Narcan. Sarno stressed, however, that the city's emergency responders can't do it alone.

"My men and women in blue, my firefighters, are the front line, but they cannot be the last line in this opioid crisis," the mayor said. "They will save that life, with AMR, but we will need other entities that are involved in this opioid crisis to follow through with the services that these people need."
Massachusetts State Police on Friday evening identified the victim of a wrong-way crash on I-495 in Westford as 35-year-old Raming Medina Cabreja, of Worcester.

Cabreja died early Friday morning when his car was struck head-on by a vehicle going the wrong way on the divided highway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the second vehicle, a 45-year-old woman from Westford, was taken by ambulance to Lowell General Hospital and later airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with serious injuries. She has not been identified.

Police said they started getting reports of a wrong-way driver near Exit 31 at about 2:10 a.m. Moments later, troopers were notified of a serious crash near Exit 32.

The first responding trooper reported finding a 2018 Nissan Rogue SUV had collided head-on with Cabreja's 2017 Honda Civic, police said. The Rogue was apparently traveling north in the highway's southbound lanes when the cars crashed.

The State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Crime Scene Services are investigating.
Springfield police officers put out a natural gas fire using an extinguisher before firefighters arrived at a Plainfield Street apartment complex Friday afternoon.

Dennis Leger, aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Bernard Calvi, said firefighters responded to the 4:26 p.m. alarm at the Edgewater apartment complex at 274 Plainfield St. to find police officers on the scene had the fire in a utility room extinguished.

Firefighters checked the structure for possible extension and assisted the displaced residents.

Leger said the fire was started by arcing electrical wires from a water heater that ignited gas from a leaking natural gas line.

Six apartments were evacuated and those residents were displaced by the fire. They will all be relocated by Edgewater management, Leger said.
A 24-year-old Arizona man is facing federal charges for allegedly threatening to shoot black Harvard University students and bomb the school to "end their pro-black agenda."

On May 13, 2017, Nicholas Zuckerman allegedly made the racist and threatening comments on Harvard's Instagram page, according to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office.

"If the blacks only ceremony happens, then I encourage violence and death at it. I'm thinking two automatics with extendo clips. Just so no [expletive] gets away," Zuckerman allegedly wrote, using a racial slur.

Zuckerman was referring to the school's 2017 "Black Commencement" -- an event organized by students to celebrate black graduates.

In May of 2017 the Daily Wire, a right-wing blog, falsely reported that Harvard would now "segregate graduation ceremonies based on race." While the Black Commencement ceremony was approved by the university, it was a student-run event, was open to attendance by all students and did not replace the main commencement ceremony at which graduates of all races received their diplomas.

In addition to threatening Black Commencement, Zuckerman allegedly made multiple threats to bomb the university, commenting #bombharvard on multiple posts, the office U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said.

"A concerned citizen who saw the posts reported them to the Harvard University Police who ultimately referred the case to federal authorities," Lelling's office said in a statement.

Lelling announced Zuckerman's arrest on Saturday. He will be charged with two counts of transmitting in interstate and foreign commerce a threat to injure the person of another, the statement said.

That charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
A fatal shooting claimed the life of one man in Brockton Friday night.

CBS Boston reports that police responded to a shooting scene on Arthur Street around 6:15 p.m. and found one male victim.

Bystanders and police attempted to provide emergency first aid, but the man was pronounced dead after being taken from the scene by an ambulance, the Brockton Enterprise reported.

The identification of the victim has not been released.

The Enterprise reports that witnesses reported hearing three shots. It is the seventh homicide in city this year.
WARE -- The town's Planning Board at its meeting Wednesday unanimously approved a private company's application to build an estimated $15 million, 118-unit senior living project.

The complex will include more than 50 assisted living units on a nearly five-acre parcel of town-owned land at 73 South St. The property includes a 30,000-square-foot, four-story brick structure, long vacant, that previously housed a school and was last used as a courthouse by the state.

Optimus Senior Living, the property developer that submitted the site plan approval, plans to raze the structure and build new.

The company bid $100,000 last year to purchase the municipally owned property, but that transaction has not yet closed.

According to Town Manager Stuart Beckley, the property is expected to change hands this summer. Construction also is expected to begin in the summer and be completed by fall 2019, he said.

Christian Boysen, a principal at Optimus, of Easthampton, has praised local business leaders and town officials for supporting the Ware project.

The proposal also envisions independent living and memory care units.

The site is adjacent to Baystate Mary Lane Outpatient Center.

Baystate Health Eastern Region President Michael F. Moran said his organization fully supports the Optimus project.
SPRINGFIELD -- Although MGM Springfield is still months away from opening, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said he believes people are going to be "blown away" by the nearly $1 billion resort.

Baker, who toured the downtown casino and hotel project Saturday, told reporters he was impressed by the project's attention to detail and commitment to highlighting local history.

"This thing is going to be spectacular. ... There's so many items and elements to this thing that are specifically geared toward reminding people this is in Springfield and it's a big part of Springfield's history," he said following an afternoon event at the Springfield Museums. "I think people are going to be blown away by it."

The governor noted that the site looks much different than he envisioned when touring the location as a candidate.

"My vision of what (a streetscape casino) is and what it actually will become is way off," he said.

Touting MGM Springfield's amenities, including its planned restaurants, a bowling alley, a movie theater and "a beautiful hotel," Baker said he believes the property "will draw people from all over the place."

The governor added that the casino will be a "terrific thing" for a part of the city hit hard by the 2011 tornado.

"I can't wait for it to open and I can't wait to see what happens next," he said.

Baker, meanwhile, dismissed concerns that efforts to build a competing casino in nearby Connecticut will have much impact on MGM Springfield, arguing that the Western Massachusetts facility will offer more than just gambling.

"These folks have been top drawer in everything they've done and everything they've said they would do right from the beginning, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them put this whole plan into action," he added.

MGM Resorts International announced in April that it will open the Springfield resort on Aug. 24.

It will feature a five-story boutique hotel, 125,000 square foot gaming floor, outdoor plaza, an array of street-level retail shops and several restaurants.
For the first time this year, a Massachusetts tax break will go to some families to help pay for private or religious school tuition.

Whether that practice will continue is up to lawmakers, who could decide the issue during closed-door budget deliberations.

The practice is the result of a federal tax law change that allows for the use of 529 plans, tax-advantaged college savings plans, for K-12 private school tuition.

"It's a voucher program for wealthy people who can afford to contribute and can afford to send their kids to private school," said Sen. Pat Jehlen, D-Somerville, vice chairwoman of the Education Committee and the sponsor of a budget amendment to prohibit the use of 529 plans for K-12 tuition.

A 529 is a college savings plan that has federal and state tax benefits. Each state administers a version of the plan. The goal is to incentivize families to save for their child's college education by providing benefits -- such as tax deductions for contributions, tax-free investment earnings or tax-free withdrawals -- to families that invest.

The plans had been restricted to use for college education. But the federal tax overhaul passed by Congress in December and signed by President Donald Trump allowed 529 plans to be used, with federal tax benefits, for tuition payments for K-12 private and parochial schools. The amendment was introduced by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and passed with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tiebreaking vote in the Senate.

Because Massachusetts' tax system is tied to the federal system, the change automatically allowed families to get state tax breaks as well for using 529 plans for K-12 education. In Massachusetts, families can deduct up to $1,000 per parent in 529 contributions from their state income taxes, and any investment earnings in the account accumulate tax-free.

State officials cannot change the federal tax breaks. But they can choose whether to give state tax breaks. Jehlen's amendment would eliminate the state tax break when someone uses a 529 plan for K-12 tuition.

There was no similar amendment in the House version of the budget, so it will be up to a committee of House-Senate negotiators whether to include it in the final version. It would then go to Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, who has not taken a position on the issue.

"The administration will carefully review any legislation that reaches the Governor's desk," said Baker spokeswoman Sarah Finlaw.

Jehlen said her amendment would preserve the original intent of the 529 program, which is to help families save for college.

She said 529 plans are mostly used by wealthier families, since they can afford to set aside money. She said the money that the tax break will cost the state - an estimated $6.7 million annually, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy - would be better spent improving the state's public schools.

"It's against the Constitution of Massachusetts to have public aid to private education," Jehlen said. "We have a public school system ... that was intended to be a common school, a school where everyone was together, people are not segregated by income."

Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, who spoke in favor of the amendment on the Senate floor, said he thinks it is important that 529 plans be protected for college savings.

"College costs are one of the biggest causes of concern and stress for middle class families," Lesser said. "It's very important that we protect that program."

Lesser said Congress, in passing the tax change, helped states with lower-cost and lower-quality public schools by allowing more students to attend private school, at the expense of raising tax revenue that could help public schools.

The states most affected by the tax break are those with the largest state tax deductions for 529 plans - including Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Colorado, New Mexico, South Carolina and West Virginia, according to the New York Times. The nine states that have no income tax, like Cruz's home state of Texas, will not see any impact to their state tax revenue.

Lesser said the policy is not in line with Massachusetts values.

"What you're doing is giving tax breaks to families sending kids to private K-12 schools at the expense of families who are sending kids to the public schools," Lesser said. "I don't think that's fair, I don't think that's in line with our values in Massachusetts."

But Jim Stergios, executive director of the Boston-based Pioneer Institute, which generally supports school choice, said Jehlen's amendment would "introduce confusion into the tax code," particularly with regard to what happens to families who invested in a 529 plan this year with the intent of using it for K-12 tuition.

Stergios said there is a weakness in the federal tax change, in that it does not help poor students but only those whose families have enough money to use a college savings account. But he said he supports families having more educational choices, and for a middle class family deciding whether to send a child to Catholic school, the savings plan could make a difference.

"This could be the difference between having comfort in doing this or not," Stergios said.

Overall, Stergios said, "It can be helpful to the middle class, in that regard it's a good thing. I wish it went further in helping folks at the bottom end."

Stergios said the amount of money being diverted from the state tax base is small, and the policy actually leads to more money being spent on education, since someone who sends their child to private school still pays taxes to support the public schools.

The debate in Massachusetts mirrors debates that are happening around the country. Oregon just recently rolled back its state tax break for 529 plans that are used for K-12 education. A similar policy is being considered in Michigan.

Some states have the automatic linkage between the federal and state tax code and others do not. With the federal tax change, some states have passed legislation to allow them to offer a new state tax break, while others have prohibited the use of state tax breaks for private education.

According to ExcelinEd, a Florida-based think tank founded by Jeb Bush that favors school choice policies, 22 states give state tax breaks for 529 plans used for K-12 education. Another 19 states are not currently offering the tax break. In some states, it would require a policy change, while other states have not yet determined if a policy change is required.

"This is a brand new tax break that was created automatically by an obscure linkage to federal law, and whether lawmakers want to offer it or not is worth discussing," said Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based tax think tank that tends to favor liberal policies. "It's not something that should happen automatically and take place without any reflection."

Davis wrote in a blog post that wealthy families in Massachusetts could "superfund" 529 plans, putting large amounts of money into the plan when a child is born to pay for private school and college tuition. Families could save an average of $254 annually in taxes while a child is in K-12 schools, costing the state an estimated $6.7 million a year.

Tori Bell, an education policy analyst at ExcelinEd, said less than 3 percent of families in the U.S. use 529 plans, and they generally do not help low-income families. But, she said, some states do offer matching funds that help poorer families. And the new federal policy could convince more families to take advantage of savings accounts.

"With this expansion, more families are talking about plans, asking questions, seeing how they can use these for their children's education," Bell said.
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This is going to be an especially great month for dinosaurs, highlighted by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which premiered in six countries on Wednesday and has its U.S. premiere on June 22. Dinosaur consciousness means it is also the right time for Dinosaur Encounter, dubbed the first-ever prehistoric digital decoration. Its available now.

A digital decoration, if you are uncertain, are those animated projections you see plastered on some homes, mainly at Christmas, or Halloween, or at kiddie birthday parties.

AtmosFX is a company deep into making them. Dinosaur Encounter is the first digital decoration that AtmosFX has ever made that is not specifically tied to a holiday or other theme like a birthday. Its a projection of big scary looking dinosaurs  four of em  that can be made to look like theyre bopping through your front yard or dining room.

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Specifically, the prehistoric pretenders are a Triceratops, a mama Brontosaurus with her baby, a pack of Velociraptors, and the nasty Tyrannosaurus Rex. With the help of an AtmosFX decorating kit and home theater projector, these things could be at your house for dinner or certainly in time for the day the family goes out to see the new movie, and needs a scary end to the evening back at home.

Peter Reichert, an ex-MTV producer who was an executive when Beavis and Butt-head came into being, started AtmosFX in 2006 with his partner and fellow MTV alum, Pete Williams. Although Jurassic World has no relationship with AtmosFX, the timing of Dinosaur Encounter, Reichert acknowledges in a press release, is the perfect time to introduce big, high-res dinosaurs that bring the thunder to parties across the country and across the world.

If things go the way AtmosFX hopes, homes and businesses across America will be doing just that.

Its tough to gauge because our benchmark for measuring has always been Halloween, Reichert tells Marketing Daily. It would seem the closest AtmosFX has come to the dinosaur motif has been a digital decoration that projected zombies, which is popular in the spooky season and, from the looks of it, possibly not very popular with people who get scared by zombies. But the company clearly thinks theres a market for this. Add 64 million years of awesome to your next party, an online AtmosFX ad reads.

Reichert said he and Williams had no idea what the market for digital decorations was or could be when they started a decade ago, but now they claim 300,000 website customers, and sales of the digital downloads reach into the six figures every year. He noticed amping up in the business seemed to have started about three years ago.

The creations are available through their company at a higher technical quality, or a lot less through licensing deals AtmosFX has with producers who peddle to big box stores. (Dinosaur Encounter can be downloaded for $34.99.) AtmosFX is also pursuing its own licensing deals so its working to make official movie tie-ins a part of the business.

Marketing Dinosaur Encounters will happen mainly through its website, where it offers party tips, too (like making a dinosaur centerpiece out of a watermelon), but also with help from online influencers, who often post their scenes online. Dinosaurs are popular everywhere, Reicher says. There are no boundaries, no countries. It definitely has a lot of potential.

Whats great about Dinosaur Encounter is that its made to be projected onto walls or in a window as a realistic illusion. The dinosaurs look at you, as if you're in their space, creating a unique experience thats technically very easy for people to set up.
People with a bee sting allergy often worry about spending time outdoors in the summer months. People who have never been stung may fear that they could be allergic. For most people, a bee sting only produces temporary pain and irritation at the site of the sting. For others, bee stings cause an allergic reaction that can range from mild to severe. In extreme cases, a bee sting can cause life-threatening anaphylaxis. In this article, we discuss the causes, symptoms, and treatment of bee sting allergies and how to avoid getting stung during the summer months. Share on Pinterest Martin Kyburz/EyeEm/Getty Images

How common are bee sting allergies? Approximately 5-7.5% of people will experience a severe allergic reaction to insect stings in their lifetimes. In beekeepers, this risk rises to 32%. Many people who react to insect stings will experience a mild to moderate irritant reaction in the form of localized redness and swelling. For a small minority of people, the allergic reaction can be much more severe, requiring emergency medical treatment. Fatal reactions are rare. The venom of honeybees, paper wasps, and yellow jackets tends to cause the most severe allergic reactions. Bees, wasps, and fire ants most commonly cause systemic allergic reactions, which spread all over the body, including to the skin and respiratory system.

Causes of the allergic reaction When a bee stings, its sharp, barbed stinger remains lodged in the skin. This stinger can release venom for up to a minute after the bee has stung. Bee venom contains proteins that affect the skin cells and immune system, resulting in pain and swelling at the site of the sting, even if a person is not allergic to the venom. In those who are allergic to bee stings, the venom triggers a more severe immune system reaction. These people may not have an allergic reaction the first time they are stung but may have an allergic reaction to a second bee sting. If a person is allergic, the bee sting will cause the immune system to produce a type of antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE). Usually, IgE protects the body from dangerous substances, such as viruses and parasites. However, in response to a sting, the body produces IgE that then causes inappropriate immune responses, such as hives, swelling, and respiratory problems the next time a person is stung.

How do I know if I am allergic to bee stings? Reactions to bee venom can range from mild to severe. In less severe cases, the reaction occurs around the site of the sting. In more severe cases, the allergic reaction affects other parts of the body. How one individual reacts to a bee sting can also differ from one occasion to the next. Some people may find they have a localized reaction each time they are stung. It is helpful to know the symptoms associated with different degrees of reactions so that a person can receive the appropriate treatment.

Symptoms Share on Pinterest Redness and swelling characterize a mild reaction. The symptoms of a bee sting vary depending on how allergic the person is. A person can have a mild, moderate, or severe reaction shortly after being stung by a bee . Mild reaction The majority of bee sting symptoms are very mild and do not require medical attention. They are limited to the site of the sting itself, and include: a sharp, burning pain

an area of raised, red skin

slight swelling Moderate reaction In a person with a moderate bee sting reaction, the body has a stronger response to bee venom, called a large local reaction (LLR). In such cases, the symptoms can take over a week to heal completely. Symptoms include severe redness around the sting, as well as swelling around the sting, which may gradually increase in size to a diameter of 10 centimeters (cm)or more over a period of 2448 hours If a person experiences a LLR, there is a 5-10% risk that they will develop a systemic allergic reaction to a sting in the future. Severe allergic reaction In certain individuals, a bee sting can cause anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening allergic reaction requiring emergency medical treatment. The following symptoms of anaphylaxis develop rapidly: itchy, red hives on the skin

pale or flushed skin

a swollen throat or tongue

difficulty breathing

abdominal pain

nausea and vomiting

dizziness

a weak, rapid pulse

loss of consciousness

Treatment for bee sting reactions The treatment for bee sting reaction will depend upon the severity of the allergic reaction. Treating a mild to moderate reaction After a bee sting, remove the stinger as soon as possible, taking care to avoid squeezing the venom sac. A person may want to use a pair of tweezers to do this. Removing the stinger will limit the amount of venom released into the bloodstream. Use a cold compress, apply steroid ointments, and take antihistamines to help reduce itchiness and inflammation. Symptoms should subside over the course of a couple of days. Treating a severe reaction Severe, systemic reactions require an urgent shot of epinephrine, which will help to reduce the severity of the allergic reaction. Doctors may also administer oxygen and intravenous fluids. If someone has an epinephrine injection device (EpiPen), they should use it immediately. Epinephrine temporarily reverses the symptoms of a severe allergic reaction. A person with a severe allergy should carry an EpiPen with them at all times. Anyone experiencing one or more symptoms of anaphylaxis should get to an emergency room as soon as possible, even if they have self-administered epinephrine. Although rare, venom anaphylaxis can cause cardiac arrest within 5-10 minutes of being stung. While waiting for the emergency services to arrive, the person should lay on their back with feet elevated. Doing so will help to counteract weakness and dizziness by assisting blood flow to the heart. Long-term treatment Desensitization immunotherapy is a treatment designed to reduce a persons sensitivity to particular allergens. Someone who has had a severe allergic reaction to bee stings, or has other risk factors, can receive a form of this treatment known as venom immunotherapy (VIT). VIT involves a course of injections of increasingly high doses of bee venom. Gradually increasing the dose over about 3 years helps the immune system build up a tolerance to the venom. A 2015 review of VIT suggested VIT is an effective treatment for bee sting allergy. Those whose allergic reactions are severe should ask their doctor or allergist for further information about the treatment.

Preventing bee sting allergies Those who are allergic to bee stings can take the following precautions to reduce their risk of being stung when outdoors: avoiding walking in sandals or bare feet

ensuring arms and legs are covered

avoiding wearing clothing that is brightly colored or has a floral print

avoiding wearing strong perfumes

checking outdoor areas for bees and other flying insects before eating outside

when eating outdoors, keeping food covered and paying attention to foods and drinks that bees could land on

keeping windows closed when driving If you come into contact with bees: Do not swat at bees as they may sting in defense.

If a bee flies near you, try to move slowly and calmly away.

If a bee lands on you, try to remain calm as it will usually fly away within seconds.

If you find a bee or wasp nest in your house or garden, call a local pest control expert. Never attempt to remove a nest yourself.
If a solution cannot be found together, Home Solutions Properties LLC provides a quick fair offer for their houses

Viera, Florida  June 9, 2018  Home Solutions Properties LLC until recently only used direct mail to contact those distressed homeowners in need in Florida, especially in the Brevard County area. Realizing they could have a bigger presence by being online, have opened a new website and moved into social media.

Many distressed homeowners toss mailers and delete the majority of their emails. The founder, Robert Ratcliff, stated: Companies today must make the move to an online presence in order to grow. The short time after opening their website, theyve seen over 2,000 unique visitors already and they have yet to start the online campaign.

Whats unusual about the site, www.bobbuysfloridahouses.com? The first priority is the explore all the options to the homeowner, before using their service. Plus, they get a 3 Day Free vacation for scheduling an appointment with them.

About the company

Home Solutions Properties LLC provides a service through their website, www.bobbuysfloridahomes.com, to provide quick fair offers for distressed sellers houses, only after first exhausting all possible options explored together with the owner.



Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/embed/hcj-zO8tnn4

Media Contact

Company Name: Home Solutions Properties LLC

Contact Person: Robert Ratcliff

Email: Send Email

Phone: 321-917-6680

Country: United States

Website: www.bobbuysfloridahouses.com
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"Not all tumors are cancerous. There are two main types -- noncancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant). These are graded depending on how fast they grow and what are the chances of it growing back," said Mukesh Pandey, Senior Consultant, Neuro and Spine Surgery, Fortis Hospital, New Delhi.Doctors advise regular screening as early detection and treatment will help in the prevention of complications."Timely diagnosis and treatment are very important in deciding the outcome. The most common symptom is a headache which is typically early in the morning, and it may be associated with repeated vomiting," said Rohit Bansil, Senior Neurosurgeon, BLK Superspeciality Hospital, New Delhi."Some patients may even have seizure or weakness of one side of the body or drowsiness, depending on the location of a tumor. If you notice such symptoms, you should immediately see a neurosurgeon," he added.The exact cause of brain tumor is still unknown, but there are some risk factors which may lead to brain tumor. These are old age, past history of the disease, family history, and radiation including CT scans, X-rays and radiotherapy, doctors said.Shirish Hastak, Neurologist at Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai said that apart from age and family history, there are other key factors that can put one at risk of brain tumor."Frequent use of cell phones may cause brain tumor. Preliminary investigations bring to light how the radio frequency energy from cell phones is capable of causing brain tumors; however, the results on this are inconsistent. Exposure to certain chemicals which are carcinogenic in nature can also increase the risk of brain cancer. People who are exposed to ionizing radiation are highly prone to brain tumors," said Hastak.In India, every year 40,000-50,000 persons are diagnosed with brain tumor, which is a life-threatening medical condition caused by abnormal growth of brain cells.Source: IANS
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"This research is significant because abnormalities in the formation and function of the atypical centriole may be the root of infertility of unknown cause in couples who have no treatment options available to them," said Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, professor in the UT Department of Biological Sciences. "It also may have a role in early pregnancy loss and embryo development defects."The centriole is the only essential cellular structure contributed solely by the father. It is the origin of all of the centrioles in the trillions of cells that make up the adult human body. Centrioles are essential for building the cell's antennae, known as cilia, and cytoskeleton, as well as completing accurate cell division.A zygote, or fertilized egg cell, needs two centrioles to start life. It was previously thought that sperm provides a single centriole to the egg and then duplicates itself."Since the mother's egg does not provide centrioles, and the father's sperm possesses only one recognizable centriole, we wanted to know where the second centriole in zygotes comes from," Avidor-Reiss said. "We found the previously elusive centriole using cutting-edge techniques and microscopes. It was overlooked in the past because it's completely different from the known centriole in terms of structure and protein composition."The atypical centriole contains a small core set of proteins needed for the known sperm centriole to form a fully functional centriole after fertilization in the zygote using the egg's proteins.This discovery may provide new avenues for diagnostics and therapeutic strategies for male infertility and insights into early embryo developmental defects, according to the research titled "A Novel Atypical Sperm Centriole is Functional During Human Fertilization" that was published today in Nature Communications.In addition to human sperm, Avidor-Reiss and his research team studied the sperm of flies, beetles and cattle."The whole idea for this study started with the fly," said Lilli Fishman, UT Ph.D. candidate who is being honored with the 2018 Lalor Foundation Merit Award from the Society for the Study of Reproduction for her work on the project. "Basic fly research indicated the misconception in sperm structure. It has been incredible to be part of the ensuing process that included incredible scientists from four states and two countries."The cutting-edge techniques and microscopes used in this research include super-resolution microscopy; electron microscopy with high-pressure freezing; and correlative light and electron microscopy."The super-resolution microscopy was critical for this discovery," Avidor-Reiss said. "The technology allows you to see proteins at the highest resolution."The University of Toronto, National Cancer Institute, University of Michigan, and University of Pittsburgh also contributed to the research.Avidor-Reiss and his team are taking this research to the clinical level."We are working with the Urology Department at The University of Toledo Medical Center to study the clinical implications of the atypical centriole to figure out if it's associated with infertility and what kind of infertility," Avidor-Reiss said.Source: Eurekalert
BAD AXE  A drug bust was executed at a residence at 402 Whitelam St. late Friday morning.

According to the Bad Axe Police Department, the search warrant took place around 11:45 a.m., and officers seized methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and packaging material. As a result, a 44-year-old Bad Axe man was taken into custody and held on a $100,000 cash bond.

Bad Axe police began the investigation about a month ago, after receiving a tip from an anonymous citizen about drug activity at the residence.

Due to the ongoing investigation, no further information is being released at this time.

Bad Axe police were assisted at the scene by the Huron County Sheriff's Office, St. Clair County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Postal Inspectors.

The Bad Axe Police Department continues to urge citizens to report all suspicious activities to their local police departments or the Huron County Sheriff's Office.
UPPER THUMB  Tamika Vantifflin views the world as her runway.

I always loved fashion and beauty, said Vantifflin, a 2012 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker High School graduate and beauty queen.

She recently was crowned Miss Illinois United States, and will compete for Miss United States July 2-7 in Orlando, Florida.

Vantifflin, a Chicago resident, encourages other kids who grow up in small towns to pursue their dreams  no matter what they are.

Just go chase after your dreams make them a reality," the former Bad Axe resident told the Tribune this week. "Dont give up. Dont let the past define who you are. The past is in the past for a reason.

I know that the skys the limit, she added. Im going to reach for the stars. Im going to reach the heavens.

Her pageant platform is adopted and foster kids, especially those who are victims of abuse or neglect.

When you adopt a child, youre giving them a forever home, Vantifflin said. Adopted parents need to understand that youre giving this kid a world and you need to treat them with love and respect  You should love them.

Vantifflin herself was adopted as a young child after spending her first few years in Texas.

(Adopted kids) understand that they already were unwanted, she noted.

She returned to Texas after graduating high school, where she found her birth mother.

She was in her first beauty pageant a few years ago when she competed for Miss Michigan USA.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Looking back, I laugh at myself. I was such a mess on stage.

Ive learned a lot and the first time I was on stage, I was shy and nervous. Confidence wasnt even in my vocabulary . (Now) I love being on stage.

Many pageant organizations shape women to be confident and beautiful in their own skin, Vantifflin explained.

She said its not just about strutting your stuff. For example, pageant life has helped her to increase her interviewing and public speaking skills.

I am confident of myself, she said.

Not to mention, the pageants often award college scholarships.

While she currently works as a legal secretary, Vantifflin, 24, plans to attend DePaul University in Chicago this fall to study communications and media.

She also commented on the Miss America organizations recent decision to scrap its swimsuit competition.

Im personally disappointed for many reasons  The Miss America pageant was founded on the swimsuit competition. I dont believe you should take a tradition away, she said. You can still have the beauty, the brains and the confidence."

When I participate in the swimsuit phase, I feel strong, empowered and like a true athlete, Vantifflin added.

She feels like she presents her authentic self on stage  part of which includes the benefits of working hard in the gym, eating clean and having a healthy lifestyle.

We do not need to change the culture of it," Vantifflin said. "We just need to change our way we view it.

Vantifflin doesnt view swimsuit competitions as derogatory or demeaning.

She added that the Me Too movement has dictated the change.

If we all changed to conform to society  Were not being our true selves. We shouldnt have to conform, Vantifflin said. If youre a copy of a copy of a copy, you begin to fade and you dont stand out.

Vantifflin says she is grateful to God and the important people in her life for all she has accomplished.

Her goals include competing again for the Miss USA pageant, and hopefully winning to compete for Miss Universe.
Chico, Calif. - The Chico Woman who organized the recent Lunch with Law Enforcement is now planning a community lunch to thank Firefighters and EMS workers.

Teri DuBose is teaming up with the newly remodeled La Salles in Downtown Chico for the event, which takes place on Wednesday June 13th at 1 p.m.

Firefighters and EMS workers from the City of Chico and Butte County are welcome to dine for FREE. Community members are also encouraged to attend, and can buy their own lunch for $12.

La Salles is opening early just for the occasion, and will be serving their Jambalya pasta, salad and a soda. Shubert's will be on hand with delicious ice cream for dessert.

DuBose says it's just a way to bring people together and show appreciation for the job our Firefighters and Emergency Responders do. She's been baking and selling homemade cookies and gathering other donations to pay for the event, and says if there is any leftover money it will be donated to the Boys and Girls Club.

You can find out more on the Lunch at La Salles page on Facebook.
Contributed photo

MIDDLETOWN  Connecticut State Police were joined by Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and past and current personnel Thursday during a luncheon Thursday to honor an officers achievement.

Lt. Col. Starvros Mellekas, who was promoted in March from the rank of major, is now commanding officer in charge of field operations at the Middletown headquarters, according to a press release. The event was held at the St. Sebastian Church hall on Washington Street.
MIDDLETOWN  Two Wesleyan University faculty were honored for their artistic excellence by the 2018 Artist Fellowship Program recently.

Nicole Stanton, associate professor of dance, African-American studies, and environmental studies; and Noah Baerman, director of the Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble, each received a $3,000 grant in the programs performing arts category.

The Artist Fellowship Program recognizes individual Connecticut artists in a variety of disciplines and allows these artists the opportunity to pursue new works of art and to achieve specific creative and career goals. The program is highly competitive. For the 2018 round, more than 235 applications were received and reviewed by 48 professional panelists representing a wide array of artistic disciplines.

Baerman and Stanton are among 39 artists in the state given such funds.

Stanton will use her artist fellowship to work on a movement-based performance tentatively called The Welcome Table.

Im interested in using the lens of food  its preparation, its cultivation, and the ways in which people, families, and communities consume and dispose of it  as a way of telling black womens stories, she explained. I want to explore the ways questions of food justice, social justice, and environmental justice all interweave in womens lives.

Stanton already presented a version of the piece at the We Create Festival: Celebrating Women in the Arts in Boston in April, and shes working toward a campus showing for the fall semester.

Baerman will use his award to seed the development and recording of a recent body of work in response to the loss of Claire Randall 12, who died as a result of gun violence in December 2016. Randall was Baermans student and became a collaborator both in music and in the work of Resonant Motion, a nonprofit Baerman directs that addresses the intersection of music and positive change.

After Claire was murdered, I began composing to process both my own grief and that of others bereaved by the loss, many of them also former students of mine at Wesleyan, Baerman said. The music was diverse enough stylistically that I couldnt initially see how it might eventually come together, nor was that a short-term priority. Now I intend to take space to develop this music and eventually compile it into an album that embraces this eclecticism and the emotional rawness of the subject matter.

The album will, in turn, serve as a benefit for Claires Continuum, an initiative that RMI is developing to commission new collaborations on music and interdisciplinary work that addresses social causes.

Editors note: This article is reprinted from the Wesleyan University News @ Wesleyan site and written by Olivia Drake, campus newsletter editor and photographer.
5 events to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in Connecticut

Here are Hispanic Heritage Month events, celebrated from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, around the state.
REDDING, Calif. - A Redding woman police believe stole two vehicles at the end of May has been arrested a second time after she allegedly stole another vehicle along with other items a day after being released from jail.

According to Redding police, on Memorial Day, Sazha Pena, 28, of Redding was pulled over during a traffic stop for a mechanical violation of the car, but officers learned that the car she was driving was stolen from a local business.

Pena admitted to taking the car and leaving another vehicle in its place, officers learned that she stole the first vehicle and later returned it, but ultimately stole another one after.

She was booked into the Shasta County Jail for nearly a week and a half until she was released from jail on Thursday.

On Friday, officers were sent to a home at Calgary Place regarding a house burglary, and the homeowner gave authorities a detailed description of the female suspect as well as her getaway car, a stolen vehicle.

Within an hour, law enforcement found the stolen vehicle, a pickup out of Red Bluff, at Highway 273 and Breslauer, where they performed a traffic stop.

They arrested Pena again at the intersection, where coincidentally the vehicle was recovered in the same area where the pickup was stolen.

Pena was booked into the Shasta County Jail for burglary, possession of stolen property, vehicle theft, felon in possession of ammunition and driving on a suspended license.
Pentagon Official Says He Resigned Because US Cybersecurity Is No Match for China

Nicolas Chaillan cited the Pentagon's reluctance to make cybersecurity and AI a priority as a reason he quit.
U.S. Marines, attached to special operations forces in Syria, often found themselves in direct-fire gunfights with Islamic State fighters earlier this year, according to the commander of the Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response for Central Command.

The unit, designed with capability to launch combat forces within six hours anywhere in the CENTCOM theater, sent two rifle companies to support Special Operations Command units operating in Northern Syria between January and April, Marine Col. Christopher Gideons, commander of the task force, said Friday at the Potomac Institute.

"When Marines deploy, they want to get involved," he said. "When there is a gunfight out there ... they want to find that opportunity to feel like they are making a meaningful contribution. We did exactly that."

Gideons initially deployed a platoon-size element that linked up with Army Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) teams.

"They were integrated with [special operations forces], absolutely integrated. We were providing Marine infantry, we were providing indirect fires, and we were providing anti-tank fires," he said.

The SOF elements would push forward, advising Syrian Democratic Forces, "the ones that were primarily engaged in the direct firefights with ISIS," Gideons said.

"You would have Marines integrated with those ODAs ... providing fires down at that lower tactical level," he said.

During its 243-day deployment, the unit had to conduct several "rapid planning processes" to deploy forces on short notice, he added.

Over time, more support was needed in Syria, so Gideons deployed more Marines to grow the platoon-size element to "two infantry [companies minus]" that were located in two separate locations in Northern Syria.

"We anticipated that that requirement would grow with a need for Marine Corps capabilities, and it did," he said.

Soon the fighting intensified.

"On a number of different occasions, there would be various engagements, some direct, some indirect," Gideons said. "As the SDF would close in sometimes, they would outstretch particularly what our mortar fires could provide.

"We would displace out of our small [forward operating bases] we were operating out of, move closer in behind the SDF and then provide fires -- a lot of times mortar fire ... and of course as you were getting into an engagement, there is the potential for stuff to come back at you," he said.

Marines operated in both mounted and dismounted roles. F/A-18s coming out of Bahrain provided close-air support when needed, Gideons said.

Despite the action Marines saw, there were no casualties.

"I am very happy and proud to say that we brought everybody home," Gideons said.

He described the deployment as "dynamic."

"What was unique on our watch is over our 243 days in theater ... from our perspective, we were more distributed than any other SPMAGTF up until that point," he said. "We had Marines operating in 10 different countries and 24 separate locations. I had Marines from Egypt to Afghanistan.

"I didn't own missions in Iraq or Syria, but I had capabilities that could augment and support that mission's successful accomplishment."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Age: Neoproterozoic to Ordovician (443.8 - 1000 Ma)

Stratigraphic Name: Nashoba Formation

Description: Sillimanite schist and gneiss, partly sulfidic, amphibolite, biotite gneiss, calc-silicate gneiss and marble. Nashoba Formation occurs in Nashoba zone of eastern MA. Consists of interlayered sillimanite-bearing, partly sulfidic schist and gneiss, calc-silicate gneiss, and subordinate quartzite and marble. Protoliths were probably volcanogenic sediments interlayered with limy marine sediments. Bell and Alvord (1976) divided Nashoba into 10 members on basis of lithology. Amphibolite is most abundant near presumed base, namely in Boxford Member. Skehan and Abu-Moustafa (1976) divided Nashoba into 30 members based on section in Wachusett-Marlborough tunnel. Although Bell and Alvord's and Skehan and Moustafa's sections contain similar lithologies, Bell and Alvord's is much thicker, and Boxford Member is not readily identified in Skehan and Abu-Moustafa's. Subdivision of Nashoba is conjectural south of Marlborough and Shrewsbury. On MA State bedrock map (Zen and others, 1983) only Boxford Member is separated out from the rest of the Nashoba because this unit was the only member clearly recognized in several area. A definite sequence of members probably does not exist anywhere in the Nashoba because of lenticularity of assemblages and repeated rock types, both of which could be accounted for by either sedimentary or tectonic processes. Although Castle (1965) considered Fish Brook to be either a premetamorphic intrusive rock or a core gneiss of intrusive or sedimentary ancestry, Bell and Alvord (1976) considered it to be volcanic or volcaniclastic in origin. Zircons in Fish Brook are certainly volcanic in origin and yield a date of 730 +/-26 Ma (Olszewski, 1980). If the rock were a core gneiss, that date would apply only to the Fish Brook and not to surrounding rocks; but, Bell and Alvord (1976) believe Fish Brook to be part of the Marlboro Formation-Nashoba Formation sequence and therefore the date does apply to the sequence. In addition, a 1500 Ma date for Shawsheen Gneiss [reference not given] helps bracket age of Marlboro-Nashoba sequence. An upper limit for the sequence was established from the 430 +/-5 Ma age of intruding Sharpers Pond Diorite and 450 +/-23 Ma age of the intruding Andover Granite (Zartman and Naylor, 1984). Although age on MA State bedrock map is shown as Proterozoic Z or Ordovician (due to uncertainty regarding actual rocks sampled by Olszewski and a strong belief that rocks of Nashoba zone correlated with Ordovician rocks to the west), author now feels that rocks of Nashoba zone (except for Tadmuck Brook Schist) are all Proterozoic, but that they are unlike the Proterozoic rocks of neighboring Milford-Dedham zone. [no formal age change made in this report] (Goldsmith, 1991).

Comments: Part of Nashoba Zone (Silurian and Older Rocks). Secondary unit description per MA017. Age debated. MA017 = Although age on MA State bedrock map is shown as Proterozoic Z or Ordovician (due to uncertainty regarding actual rocks sampled by Olszewski and a strong belief that rocks of Nashoba zone correlated with Ordovician rocks to the west), author now feels that rocks of Nashoba zone (except for Tadmuck Brook Schist) are all Proterozoic, but that they are unlike the Proterozoic rocks of neighboring Milford-Dedham zone (Goldsmith, 1991). MA018 = Fish Brook Gneiss of the Nashoba terrane has been dated by G.R. Dunning at 520+14-11 Ma. This not only establishes a Cambrian age for this unit, but constrains the age of the overlying Marlboro and Nashoba Formations to the interval between 520 Ma and 430 Ma, the age of the cross-cutting Sharpners Pond Diorite. No Precambrian rocks, therefore, are known from the Nashoba terrane (Hepburn and others, 1993). MA019 = Fish Brook Gneiss has yielded a Cambrian to Ordovician U/Pb abraded zircon crystallization age of 499+/-6/-3 Ma. This date constrains the age of the metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Nashoba terrane to the interval between Late Cambrian and Early Silurian (Hepburn and others, 1994).

Lithology: Major:{schist,gneiss}, Minor:{amphibolite,marble,calc silicate rock}

Reference: Horton, J.D., C.A. San Juan, and D.B. Stoeser. The State Geologic Map Compilation (SGMC) geodatabase of the conterminous United States. doi: 10.3133/ds1052. U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1052. [133]
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Zoom in and out of media using your mousewheel or with a two-finger 'resize' action on a touch device.

Use the mouse or your finger to drag the image or the view area of the image around the screen.

< and > at the left and right hand side of the screen move forwards and backwards for the other images associated with the media you selected. Usually this is used for previous/next photo in a gallery, in an article or in search results. Keyboard shortcuts: use shift + the left and right arrow keys.

< and > in the bottom center are used for switching between the photos of the same specimen. Keyboard shortcuts: use the left and right arrow keys.

> in the bottom center, raises the information box giving details and further options for the media, < at the top of this box then hides it. Keyboard shortcuts: use the up and down arrow keys.

? opens this help window. Keyboard shortcuts: use the H key or the ? key.

Other keyboard shortcuts:

1 Fit image to screen 2 Fill screen with image 5 Display at full resolution < Make background darker > Make background lighter space Hide/dim titles and buttons

Scalebar

If the field of view (FOV) is specified for the photo, the scalebar appears in the left bottom corner of the viewer. The scalebar is draggable and resizeable. Drag the right edge to resize it. Double click will reset the scalebar to it's default size and position. If the scalebar is in default position, double click will make it circular.

Controls - Video

Video files have a standard set of video controls: - Reset to start, - Skip back, - Play, - Pause, - Skip forwards. Keyboard shortcuts: You can stop/start video play with the P key.

Controls - Animation (Spin Rotation)

Animation (usually 360 degree spin rotations) have their own controls: - enable spin mode. Note that while images are loading this option will not be available but will be automatically activated when the animation has loaded. Once active you can spin the image/change the animation by moving your mouse or finger on the image left/right or by pressing the [ or ] keys.

The button switches to move mode so that you can use your mouse/fingers to move the image around the screen as with other media types.

The button, or the P key will start playing the animation directly, you can interrupt this by using the mouse or finger on the image to regain manual movement control.

Controls - 3D Stereoscopic images

If a stereoscopic 3D image is opened in the viewer, the 3D button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "3D settings" menu. The 3D images can be viewed in several ways:

- without any special equipment using cross-eyed or parallel-eyed method

- with stereoscope

- with anaglyph glasses.

- on a suitable 3D TV or monitor (passive 3D system)

For details about 3D refer to: Mindat manuals: Mindat Media Viewer: 3D

To enable/disable 3D stereo display of a compatible stereo pair image press the 3 key. If the left/right images are reversed on your display (this often happens in full-screen mode) press the 4 key to reverse them.

Controls - photo comparison mode

If a photo with activated comparison mode is opened in the viewer, the button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "Comparison mode settings" menu.

Several layouts are supported: slider and side by-side comparison with up to 6 photos shown synchronously on the screen. On each of the compared photos a view selector is placed, e.g.: Longwave UV . It shows the name of currently selected view and allows to select a view for each placeholder.

Summary of all keyboard shortcuts
LA MALBAIE, Quebec - A quick prompt from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau produced an all smiles photo of the G7 leaders.

Earlier, he welcomed President Trump to the summit with a warm handshake.

But just hours before at the white house, the president was not so friendly.

"We are not going to live with the deals the way they are. European Union treats us very unfairly. Canada, very unfairly, Trump said.

American allies are fuming over new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and over the president saying those tariffs will strengthen national security.

Trudeau has called the claim "insulting" and "laughable."

On Friday he and President Trump had a one-on-one meeting and made a joke about their differences.

Justin has agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers between Canada and the United States. So Im very happy with it, Trump said.

Trudeau:

So I'd say NAFTA's in good shape, Trudeau said.

French President Emmanuel Macron also sat down with President Trump and he said the results were positive.

I saw a willingness to come to agreement and have a win-win approach, Macron said.

Macron has made clear if talks don't lead to compromise, the other six leaders would be willing to sign a common communique by the end of the summit without* the U.S.

But President Trump's focus may be divided, on Friday morning, he suggested Russia should be allowed back into the group.

Vladimir Putin was kicked out in 2014 for annexing Crimea.

"They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table," Trump said.

And the president said he is still prepping for his summit with Kim Jong-un even during his trip to Canada.
By John Stone



The updated ChildHealthSafety documentary account tracing events back to a hidden deal between the UK government and the manufacturers in 1988 involving a product already banned in Canada, and the astonishing array of conflicts among Andrew Wakefields persecutors, all the way to the present General Medical Council hearing in London can be found here (HERE). First posted last January, amid rumours that important new documents were to be made available through Freedom of Information, the information about the improper relations between government and industry was already damning. Whatever the findings on fact when the hearing resumes on Thursday there can be no excuse the continuing naive reporting of these events.



The person who commissioned Deer was Paul Nuki, Sunday Times sometime Head of Newsroom investigations and Focus editor. Paul Nuki is son of Professor George Nuki. Professor George Nuki in 1987 sat on the Committee on Safety of Medicines when the CSM was considering Glaxo company Smith Kline & French Laboratories Pluserix MMR vaccine for safety approval. The CSM approved Pluserix MMR but it caused very high levels of adverse reactions and was withdrawn by the manufacturers on very little notice in late 1992 leaving the Department of Health in an embarrassing position...



Professor Denis McDevitt was due in July 2007 to chair the unprecedented British General Medical Council hearing of the case of Doctors Wakefield, Murch and Professor Walker-Smith. McDevitt and the GMC failed to declare McDevitts personal involvement in approving the dangerous Pluserix MMR vaccine in 1988. He only stood down after Jamie Doward of the Observer, Martyn Halle, freelance journalist for the Sunday Express, Andy Wilks of the Mail on Sunday, Jenny Hope of the Daily Mail and Heather Mills of Private Eye challenged the GMC over the matter. ["MMR Conflict of Interest Zone" Private Eye - June 2007]



Read more at ChildHealthSafety.

John Stone is UK Contributing Editor of Age of Autism.




Check room rent capping | The room rent limit should be as high as the claim reimbursement would be as per the hospital room rent limit. For example: if your room rent limit is Rs 5,000 a day and you rent a room worth Rs 6,000 per day for two days. Here, the increase in room charges is 20 percent. Suppose your total hospitalisation bill is approximately Rs 1, 00,000, the deductible of 20 percent will be applicable and you will have to pay Rs 20,000 out of your own pocket.

Remember the December 2015 Chennai floods?

Insurance companies may have faced a hit of almost Rs 5000 crore from the incident, but apart from a sudden spike in customer queries then, we dont seem to have learnt any lessons even three years later.

Home insurance is one of the most under-penetrated segments for general insurance companies. While companies have tried to offer more number of features at a cheaper price, the uptake has been low.

Now that the monsoon has hit several parts of India, losing ones belongings in the rains is a real threat. Many devices, especially electronics are damaged as soon as moisture enters the internal systems. These include household items like television, refrigerator, washing machine as well as coolers. Similarly, expensive upholstery also have a chance to be damaged during torrential rains.

Over and above this, a comprehensive cover for fire and allied perils as well as for any theft of cash, jewellery on the way home is also being covered. All this at a premium of Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 on an annual basis for the complete coverage.

This also includes rain-related water seepage which if not dealt with on time, can lead to a damage to the entire structure of the home.

Sometimes, when there are risks of damage when the flat is being given on rent. A tenant cannot be expected to pay for the damages for monsoon-related effects on physical structure of the house or its belongings. For this, a home insurance product can come handy.

Especially in metro cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata where there are several parts of the cities in low-lying areas and many standalone buildings with people residing on ground floors, rain water entering the house is a common phenomenon.

While premiums turn out to be cheaper if the entire building/society buys home insurance, not all housing societies realise the importance of home insurance.

General insurance companies, on the other hand, had sent a budget wish-list to the Ministry of Finance to introduce special tax sops for home insurance. They wanted the Union Budget to offer tax exemptions for purchase of home insurance either under Section 80C or Section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

While the south-west monsoons are the back-bone of the Indian agriculture and thereby for the economy as a whole, the rains also bring with them certain challenges. Incurring financial expenses for something that an insurance product is purely avoidable.
Bad bank is probably good news for the banking sector. An idea floating around more than year now, the government has decided to attempt resolution of over Rs 11.5 lakh crore stressed assets mauling the entire banking system.

The government on Friday revisited the idea to set up a large public-sector asset reconstruction company (ARC) or asset management company (AMC), sort of a big bad bank, as part of its efforts to fast-track the resolution of bad loans. It also aims to ease credit flows, especially to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) especially to the banks which are restricted due to prompt corrective action (PCA) imposed on them.

What is a bad bank?

A bad bank is an entity or structure that buys non-performing assets (NPAs) or distressed loans from banks and financial institutions (FIs), mostly at a discounted market price. It then works to recover and turnaround the assets through professional management, sale or restructuring.

This helps banks or FIs clear-off their balance sheets by transferring the bad loans and focus on its core business lending activities.

Addressing the media after a long brainstorming session with heads of PSBs in Mumbai on Friday, Piyush Goyal, who temporarily holds additional charge of the finance ministry, said a committee under Punjab National Banks non-executive chairman Sunil Mehta, has been formed.

The committee members will include SBI Chairman and one of its Managing Directors and Bank of Baroda CEO who will appraise the desirability of an ARC and frame the possible modalities of its structure and framework in next two weeks.

Idea of bad bank

Early last year, Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) deputy governor Viral Acharya had suggested two structures  a private AMC with equity participation from banks and global funds and a National AMC with fiscal support from the government.

In the Economic Survey Report 2017, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian echoed his views making a case for a centralised Public-sector Asset Rehabilitation Agency (PARA) that would purchase stressed loans (especially the largest and most difficult ones) from banks and then work them out.

There was also a plan to task the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) with the take-over a finding professional management of the stressed assets identified to be viable but languishing because promoters are unable to infuse fresh equity. When asked about the NIIF proposal, Goyal said it was an autonomous body performing a creditable role, but was non-committal on its roping in for the ARC/AMC agenda.

Most of the stressed assets have been identified that could fit into the ARC or AMC structure, the minister said. On how the capital for the ARC/AMC would be mobilised, he said that it was too early to go to that level.

Success or Failure?

The concept of a bad bank has been experimented in several countries especially after the financial crisis of 2008-09. It has witnessed some success in places like Malaysia, Sweden, Spain and few other countries.

In theory, the concept works well. However, it must be properly implemented and can probably be the starting-point for broader reforms to turnaround the banking sector, which is the backbone of any economy.

Experts have argued that the existing ARCs whose functions are largely confined to recovering stressed loans through liquidation of asset cant address the problem.

Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan also said that it would simply mean the transfer of NPAs from one entity to other. However, the larger focus must be on the Twin Balance Sheet (TBS) problem of corporates and banks.

For a bad bank to find success, lenders will require to assign a realistic value to banks soured loans and also cooperation from the promoters of those assets.

This would mean banks may have to take hefty hair-cuts or discounts while selling the loans, even at the cost of their profitability. Further, equity may be required from owners and private investors.

Two weeks later, the banking sector might see more clarity on the structure and modalities of the bad bank, if at all the idea gets implemented.

Meanwhile, banks continue to hope improved recovery from the ongoing time-bound resolutions under the insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC).

If implemented, this may come to aid the 19 public sector banks of the total 21, which have made losses worth nearly Rs 60,000 crore in the January to March period this year.

Strict provisioning norms to set aside capital for bad loans, losses in bond portfolio and a string of scams are straining the balance sheets and finances of most state-owned banks, especially the ones under PCA.

Bad loans or gross non-performing assets (NPAs) with these government-owned banks touched a staggering Rs 10.25 lakh crore as of March 2018.
Representative image

Hareesh V

Aluminium was the front-runner in the recent rally in base metal commodities. However, wild swings in prices were seen in the metal since the start of the year due to various geopolitical factors affecting its key fundamentals.

In the domestic futures market, prices were packed inside Rs 128.30-178.85 kg levels since January. It jumped to a record peak of Rs 178.85 during mid-April due to strong international market coupled with weak domestic currency.

Prices in its key international market LME too mirrored the trend. Prices shot up from a low of USD 1977 a tonne in the first week of April to USD 2718 a tonne, its highest level since June 2011 by mid of April.

US decision to impose a tariff on various products being imported from China, the biggest trade partner of the US and a unilateral decision to enforce sanction on Iran on the nuclear deal has shaken the entire commodities market recently.

A strong dollar, which makes commodity prices feeble, affected the metal too. However, the major trigger which the commodity reacted to was the US sanctions on Russian aluminium major Rusal, which is the worlds second-largest aluminium producer, concerns over global trade war and a volatile dollar.

The US Treasury Departments sanctions on Russian aluminium major Rusal restricted Americans from doing business with the Russian company.

Rusal holds 6 percent of the worlds aluminium output and operates mines and smelters across the world. Two-third of Rusals production are outside Russia making the company an integral part in the global supply chain.

Sanctions imposed by the US ignited worries over global supply and lifted prices to multi-year highs. The trade spat between the US and China and US decision to impose a tariff on imports on commodities like steel and aluminium worsened the sentiments.

China is the dominant player in global aluminium market with it being the single largest producer, contributing more than fifty percent of the world production, and the largest consumer.

Even as supply concerns prevail in EU and U.S markets, Chinese warehouse inventories are at record highs, though LME stocks are at 2009 lows. LME inventories were at record highs during January 2014 due to a global supply glut but later showed a draw down.

However, prices are stabilizing now with spot premiums in Asia have declined sharply due to a large inflow of Chinese metal and bets that Russias aluminium major Rusal will avoid sanctions.

Aluminium is the second most consumed metal in the globe after steel. It is used for various industrial, housing and consumer uses which include electrical power transmission, construction, making cans, packaging, air conditioners, furniture and vehicles

Looking ahead, the prevailing global geopolitical tensions likely to be surpassed by record Chinese inventory levels. Recently, Chinas aluminium exports rose to their highest levels in three years last month, said a report.

The global supply-demand, economic conditions of top consuming countries will too have a direct bearing of global prices. Smelter capacity and any ramp up or shut down of plants will also affect the sentiments.

Beijings war on environment pollution may lead to more extensive curbs on heavy industries like aluminium smelters and delay in new smelter projects are likely to impact stocks and output from the country in the near future.

Unless any change in its key fundamentals, the prevailing positive outlook possibly to continue. In the most active futures market, a range-bound trade inside Rs 172-143 a kg will be seen initially but, breaking any of the sides would suggest a fresh direction to the metal.

: The author is Head Commodity Research at Geojit Financial Services. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Karthik Rangappa

From the time you access the market  lets just say, to buy a stock till the time the stocks come and hit your DEMAT account, a bunch of corporate entities are actively involved in making this work for you.

These entities play their role quietly behind the scene, always complying with the rules laid out by SEBI and ensure an effortless and smooth experience for your transactions in the stock market. These entities are generally referred to as the Financial Intermediaries.

Together, these financial intermediaries, interdependent of one another, create an ecosystem in which the financial markets exist. This article will help you get an overview of who these financial intermediaries are and the services they offer.

A) The Stock Broker

The stockbroker is probably one of the most important financial intermediaries that you need to know. A stockbroker is a corporate entity, registered as a trading member with the stock exchange and holds a stockbroking license.

They operate under the guidelines prescribed by SEBI. A stockbroker is your gateway to stock exchanges. To begin with, you need to open something called as a Trading Account with a broker who meets your requirement.

Your requirement could be as simple as the proximity between the brokers office and your house. At the same time, it can be as complicated as identifying a broker who can provide you a single platform using which you can transact across multiple exchanges across the world.

At a later point, we will discuss what these requirements could be and how to choose the right broker. A trading account lets you carry financial transactions in the market. A trading account is an account with the broker which lets the investor to buy/sell securities.

So assuming you have a trading account  whenever you want to transact in the markets you need to interact with your broker. There are few standard ways through which you can interact with your broker.

You can go to the brokers office and meet the dealer in the brokers office and tell him what you wish to do. A dealer is an executive at the stock brokers office who carries out these transactions on your behalf.

You can make a telephone call to your broker, identify yourself with your client code (account code) and place an order for your transaction. The dealer at the other end will execute the order for you and confirm the status of the same while you are still on the call.

Do it yourself  this is perhaps the most popular way of transacting in the markets. The broker gives you access to the market through software called Trading Terminal. After you login into the trading terminal, you can view live price quotes from the market, and can also place orders yourself.

The basic services provided by the brokers include:

Give you access to markets and letting you transact

Give you margins for trading  We will discuss this point at a later stage

Provide support  Dealing support if you have to call and trade. Software support if you have issues with the trading terminal.

Issue contract notes for the transactions  A contract note is a written confirmation detailing the transactions you have carried out during the day

Facilitate the fund transfer between your trading and bank account

Provide you with a back office login  using which you can see the summary of your account

The broker charges a fee for the services that he provides called the brokerage charge or just brokerage. The brokerage rates vary, and it is up to you to find a broker who strikes a balance between the fee he collects versus the services he provides.

B) Depository and Depository Participants

When you buy a property, the only way to identify and claim that you actually own the property is by producing the property papers. Hence, it becomes extremely important to store the property papers in a safe and secure place.

Likewise, when you buy a share (a share represents a part ownership in a company) the only way to claim your ownership is by producing your share certificate. A share certificate is nothing but a piece of document entitling you as the owner of the shares in a company.

Before 1996 the share certificate was in paper format, however, post 1996, the share certificates were converted to digital form. The process of converting paper format share certificate into digital format share certificate is called Dematerialisation often abbreviated as DEMAT.

The share certificate in DEMAT format has to be stored digitally. The storage place for the digital share certificate is the DEMAT Account. A Depository is a financial intermediary which offers the service of Demat account.

A DEMAT account in your name will have all the shares in electronic format you have bought. Think of DEMAT account as a digital vault for your shares.

As you may have guessed, the trading account from your broker and the DEMAT account from the Depository are interlinked.

So for example if your idea is to buy Infosys shares then all you need to do is open your trading account, look for the prices of Infosys and buy it. Once the transaction is complete, the role of your trading account is done. After you buy, the shares of Infosys will automatically come and sit in your DEMAT account.

Likewise, when you wish to sell Infosys shares, all you have to do is open your trading account and sell the stock. This takes care of the transaction parthowever in the backend, the shares which are sitting in your DEMAT account will get debited, and the shares move out of your DEMAT account.

At present, there are only two depositaries offering you DEMAT account services. They are The National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Limited. There is virtually no difference between the two and both of them operate under strict SEBI regulations.

Just like the way you cannot walk into National Stock Exchanges office to open a trading account, you cannot walk into a Depository to open a DEMAT account. To open a DEMAT account you need to liaison with a Depository Participant (DP).

A DP helps you set up your DEMAT account with a Depository. A DP acts as an agent to the Depository. Needless to say, even the DP is governed by the regulations laid out by the SEBI.

C) Banks

Banks play a very straightforward role in the market ecosystem. They help in facilitating the fund transfer from your bank account to your trading account. You cannot transfer money from a bank account that is not in your name.

You can link multiple bank accounts to your trading through which you can transfer funds and trade. For example, in a broking firm, you can add 1 primary bank account and up to three secondary bank accounts.

You can use all the bank accounts to add funds but withdrawals are only processed to the secondary bank account. Also, dividend payments, money from buybacks will be sent to the primary bank account. The primary bank account is connected not just to your trading account but also with the Depository and the Registrar and transfer agents (RTA).

Also, at this stage, you must have realized that the three financial intermediaries operate via three different accounts  trading account, DEMAT account and Bank account. All the three accounts operate electronically and are interlinked giving you a very seamless experience.

D) NSCCL and ICCL

NSCCL  National Security Clearing Corporation Ltd and Indian Clearing Corporation are wholly owned subsidiaries of National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange respectively.

The job of the clearing corporation is to ensure guaranteed settlement of your trades/transactions. For example, if you were to buy 1 share of Biocon at Rs 446 per share there must be someone who has sold that 1 share to you at Rs 446.

For this transaction, you will be debited Rs 446 from your trading account and someone must be credited that Rs 446 toward the sale of Biocon.

In a typical transaction like this the clearing corporations role is to ensure the following:

a) Identify the buyer and seller and match the debit and credit process

b) Ensure no defaults  The clearing corporation also ensures there are no defaults by either party. For instance, the seller after selling the shares should not be in a position to back out thereby defaulting in his transaction.

For all practical purposes, its ok not to know much about NSCCL or ICCL simply because, you as a trader or investor would not be interacting with these agencies directly. You just need to be aware that there are certain professional institutions which are heavily regulated and they work towards a smooth settlement and efficient clearing activity.

: The author is VP, Educational Services, Zerodha. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah tested positive for coronavirus and is admitted to Medanta hospital. (Image: PTI)

Mocking Rahul Gandhi as a "babua" (child), BJP president Amit Shah today said the Congress chief keeps attacking the government for not doing one thing or another but should instead give account of the works of his three generations who ruled India for decades.

Addressing workers of Jaipur Rural Lok Sabha constituency represented by Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Shah also took a jibe at the rival party over its "happiness" on the BJP's defeat in bypolls and said he considered himself lucky that he has got such an opposition which was satisfied with victory in a few by-elections even though it was losing power in many states.

"We lost eight bypolls, but snatched power from them (opposition) in 14 states," he said here.

Giving an account of the Modi government's works, including building of toilets, distribution of LPG cylinders and other welfare measures, he said, "Rahul Gandhi (says) this has not happened, that has not happened."

"'Arre babua', tell me brother what you have done in 70 years? Your three generations were in power for 70 years and if they had done all these works then it would not be our luck to provide people toilets and poor mothers gas cylinders," he said.

The opposition is disconnected from the ground, Shah said and, in an apparent attack on Gandhi, added that nobody knows when he goes on a vacation and comes back.

Temperature in Gujarat and Rajasthan soars to 50 degrees Celsius and it is difficult to tolerate it, he said wryly.

Shah asked BJP workers to work overtime to ensure the party's win in the Rajasthan assembly poll, which is due later this year along with elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, so that its winning streak after emerging as the single largest party in Karnataka continues.

Shah said the difference between other parties and the BJP was that their soul was their leader while workers were its soul.

The BJP has also worked to propagate its ideology and enhance the country's prestige, and not merely to get power, he said.

"We are lucky that the world's most popular leader in Narendra Modi is leading the country and under him it is marching to become 'vishwa guru'," he said.

The Modi government has done a lot of work to bring about a fundamental change in the lives of the people and positively impacted over 50 crore citizens, he said.

It was due to its works that the BJP won elections in so many states and is now ruling 20 of them.

The central government had built 7.5 crore toilets, distributed 4 crore gas cylinders, taken electricity to one crore homes after electrifying all villages, provided one crore houses and opened bank accounts of more than 30 crore people, the BJP president added.
Private hospitals, which are spooked by low package rates offered by the government under National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) warned that their participation will be sparse in the ambitious scheme.

"It is found that the rates of Ayushman Bharat Scheme are abysmally low across all procedures and that it would be difficult for any private healthcare provider to offer their services or participate in the ambitious scheme," a letter, recently written to the CEO of Ayushman Bharat from the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI), stated.

AHPI is said to represent about 3,000 private healthcare institutions.

It alleged lack of scientific basis for arriving at the rates.

"For some procedures such as myocardial infarction (heart attack), the rate is simply not acceptable, whereas for clubfoot (single cast), it is exorbitantly high. It appears that overall, no scientific basis has been applied to arrive at the rates," AHPI said.

Moneycontrol saw a copy of the letter.

The government, which has issued a 205-page draft Model Tender document, recently priced packages at 15-20 percent lower than packages offered to hospitals under Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).

The premium is fixed around Rs 1,086 to provide an insurance cover of around Rs 5 lakh to 10 crore families. The document is expected to help states select insurance companies for the scheme.

For instance, for implanting a bare metal cardiac stent, CGHS (non-NABH accredited) is reimbursing Rs 80,540. But NHPS is offering Rs 65,000. It costs private hospitals Rs 85,818 to for the procedure, according to a cost study done by the Karnataka government in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

For total knee replacement, NHPS is offering Rs 80,000 while CGHS was offering Rs 1,49,100. The Karnataka study found that it costs hospitals Rs 2,05,615.

The government defended the package rates, saying NHPS offers economies of scale unlike CGHS that caters to just 2-2.5 million government employees and pensioners.

"Through NHPS, we are targeting 50 crore beneficiaries. There has to be a strategic buying by the government if the volumes are going up on such scale," said Dinesh Arora, deputy chief executive of Ayushman Bharat.

To be sure, the government had allowed states a leeway to increase prices by up to 10 percent on the package rates offered.

It also proposes to give 10 percent more for National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) hospitals, besides giving 10 percent additional amount for hospitals in remote areas.

The scheme is expected to be launched on August 15 or October 2, even as insurance companies are awaiting clarity on the premium and whether the bidding process would be statewise or district-wise.

In some relief to pharma companies, the government said it doesn't have any plans to make compulsory use of generics in the NHPS scheme
Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonators

While access to the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be tightly restricted, hundreds of Singaporeans got the next best thing today when two lookalikes showed up at a downtown mall.

Hong Kong-based impersonator Howard X, who has attracted worldwide attention in recent months for his impression of Kim, appeared on stage with Trump lookalike Dennis Alan.

During a promotional event dubbed the "real" Trump-Kim summit, the men waved at shoppers as they walked through the crowded Bugis Junction mall.

The duo shook hands and embraced on stage, hamming it up for onlookers who whipped out mobile phones.

But selfies came at a cost: those wanting a souvenir shot had to download the app the pair were pushing, and pay 15 Singaporean dollars (USD 11) for pictures with both lookalikes.

"Thank you for all the donations you have been making to North Korea, well, me. I really really appreciate it, because we are really cash-strapped," Howard X said as dozens lined up for their turn with him.

Chen Ziyang, 28, who was queueing for a picture, said the impersonators had "almost 99 percent resemblance to the real Kim and Trump".

The men have tie-ups with several local businesses and will also make an appearance at a seafood restaurant.

Like the real-life leaders, fake Kim and Trump are no strangers to controversies of their own.

Yesterday, Howard X said he was questioned for two hours by an immigration officer when he arrived at the city-state's Changi Airport ahead of the real summit on Tuesday.

When he previously appeared at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea with the same Donald Trump lookalike, he was escorted out by security after waving and dancing in front of North Korea's cheerleaders.
US President Donald Trump will travel directly to Singapore from Canada to attend the meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, the White House has said.

Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet at the Capella Hotel on Singapore's Sentosa Island on June 12.

Trump is scheduled to leave the White House tomorrow to attend the G-7 summit in Canada. He would leave for Singapore from there on Saturday morning.

"President Trump will depart the G7 Summit at Charlevoix at 10:30 am Saturday, following the session on Women's Empowerment," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

"G7 Sherpa and Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs Everett Eissenstat will represent the United States for the remaining G7 sessions," it added.
Pervez Musharraf

Pakistan's former dictator Pervez Musharraf may contest in the upcoming elections scheduled to be held on July 25 after the Supreme Court gave him a conditional permission, his party has said.

The chief justice of the apex court hearing a petition against a lifetime ban on him by a high court in 2013 said that 74-year-old Musharraf can file nomination.

Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslims League (APML) said that he would contest election from the northern district of Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

It is the same seat which was won by a candidate who was supported by the APML in 2013 elections after Musharraf was disqualified by the Peshawar High Court.

There were reports that he will also contest from his home city of Karachi.

APML general secretary Muhammad Amjad said Musharraf will come back before the election but did not give a final date. He said that the party will field candidates for several seats.

The Supreme Court in its ruling asked Musharraf to appear in person on June 13 and promised that he will not be arrested despite involvement in several criminal cases.

The apex court has been criticised by leading politicians, including ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, for allowing Musharraf to contest despite his disqualification.

Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled until 2008 when forced to resign. He has been living in Dubai since March 2016 after he was allowed to leave the country for medical treatment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting, in Wuhan, China on Friday. (PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he had detailed discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on bilateral and global issues which will add further vigour to the India-China friendship after their informal summit in Wuhan.

During their meeting, which came nearly six weeks since the Wuhan summit, the two leaders discussed a blueprint for deepening bilateral relationship and reviewed the implementation of decisions they had taken in the central Chinese city.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and covered key aspects of the bilateral engagement, reflecting the resolve by the two countries to reset relations and bring back trust in their ties which was hit by the Doklam standoff and several other thorny issues.

"Met this year's SCO host, President Xi Jinping this evening. We had detailed discussions on bilateral and global issues. Our talks will add further vigour to the India-China friendship," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar described the meeting as "warm" and "forward looking" while Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui said the two leaders focused on the implementation of the "Wuhan consensus" and drawing a blueprint for the future Sino-India relations.

An MoU on sharing hydrological information of the Brahmaputra river by China to India and another pact on amendment of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include non-Basmati rice were signed after the Modi-Xi talks.

"Further strengthening the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship generated at the Wuhan informal summit, PM Narendra Modi had a warm and forward looking meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit," Kumar tweeted.

The meeting between the leaders of two Asian powers came after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Doklam standoff.

After their talks in Wuhan, Modi and Xi had decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications to build trust and understanding as part of efforts to avoid a Doklam-like situation in the future.

The two leaders had also discussed ways to give impetus to their economic ties as well as people-to-people relations.

Luo said it was the 14th meeting between our two leaders over past four years.

Modi arrived here in the afternoon on a two-day visit to attend the annual SCO summit.

The ties between the two neighbouring nuclear powers had nosedived following last year's Doklam standoff as well as due to a number of other issues issues including China blocking India's move to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN and its opposition to India's bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group membership.

China's Belt and Road Initiative was also strongly opposed by India as part of it goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Troops of India and China were locked in the 73-day standoff in Doklam since June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army in the disputed area. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off had ended on August 28.

However, there have been concerted efforts by both sides to reset ties leaving behind the Doklam episode.

Last week, Modi had said that Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests. Modi also said that an "Asia of rivalry" will hold the region back while an Asia of cooperation will shape the current century.

The prime minister's comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore were appreciated by China.

China's appreciation of what Modi said was conveyed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in South Africa this week.

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping last year.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP.

India was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.
Swedish Foreign Minister Addresses Assyrian Community on Genocide Recognition

Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom being interviewed by Assyria-TV. ( AINA) Stockholm (AINA) -- Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom has confirmed the current government of Sweden will not make recognition of the Assyrian genocide part of foreign policy. She made the announcement on Tuesday during a special visit to the Assyrian community in the town of Sodertalje where Assyrians make up more than one third of the population.

In a bid to appease Swedish-Assyrian voters Wallstrom pledged the government will work to include knowledge about the Assyrian genocide in text schoolbooks, finance a large exhibition in different parts of the country and to arrange an international conference next year with experts on international law to discuss genocide recognition from a legal perspective.

The Assyrian National Federation of Sweden said the announced measures fall short of expectations and declined to participate in the meeting with the foreign minister, urging the government instead to deliver on its promise to make genocide recognition part of Sweden's official foreign policy.

The face saving measures come ahead of a tough election in September, with polls indicating a near collapse in support for the social democratic party, part of a general trend across Europe. Swedish-Assyrians comprise 1.5 percent of the population and are considered one of the best integrated and successful communities in Sweden.
Churches against LGBTQ are like the ...
Sullivan Creek At Phoenix Lake Road (Near Estates) View Photos

Sonora, CA  Although it was determined that no raw sewage contaminated Sullivan Creek after a nearby spill last month, it was not until today that warning signs along the waterway were taken down.

The spill happened on May 27 at 21581 Phoenix Lake Road near Creekside Drive, as reported here. The problem arose when the private side of a sewage line was blocked prior to interfacing with the TUD main line, according to Tuolumne County Environmental Health officials. At the time, contamination warning signs were put up as a precaution by the department until a determination that there was no sewage overflow could be made.

Health officials returned to the creek today and found the steps taken to correct the pipe problem worked. They gave the all clear for the warning signs to come down allowing the public to once again swim, drink, fish or carry out any recreational activities near or in the water. However, health official do advise anyone utilizing the creek to wash their hands or any floating devices or toys after swimming.
Armenia and Israel: The Road to Better Relations

The Eastern Mediterranean region is not known for having the easiest of political situations. Two nations not typically focused on in tandem, but share similar struggles are the states of Armenia and Israel. From both experiencing genocides, to being minorities surrounded by what can be considered hostile neighbors, Armenia and Israel have similar backgrounds. Despite that, due to geopolitics, including Israel's relationships with Azerbaijan and Turkey, relations between the two nations are not where they would be expected to be. Israel's recent motion to recognize the Armenian Genocide (and the concurrent Assyrian and Greek Genocides) committed by Ottoman Turks and Kurds is commendable and certainly a great step in the right direction. Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, said that the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will be brought to a plenary voting when the Knesset secures a majority for recognition. "The Israeli Knesset must recognize the Armenian Genocide because it is the right and moral thing to do- and not because of political or momentary diplomatic interests...The moment we are convinced the Knesset will have a majority for recognition, we will bring it to a plenary voting," he added. Meretz chairwoman, Tamar Zandberg, who introduced the motion to the Knesset, said that recognizing the Armenian Genocide "shouldn't hurt ties with any country. This is a basic moral issue.... We, the Jewish people, know the value of recognizing national tragedies." Israel's lack of official recognition of the Armenian genocide and its ongoing support of Azerbaijan, which actively seeks the annihilation of Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), and Armenians, has added to the lack of otherwise presumed cooperation between the two countries. Israel supplying weapons to Azerbaijan--a country that actively teaches that Armenians are devils and deserving of death--while the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has no foreseeable conclusion, is a major point of contention for Armenians. The 1988 "Karabakh File" by the Zoryan Institute states that "Karabakh, the historic Artsakh province, is central to Armenian cultural and historical identify and statehood... [and it is also] one of the few remaining districts of historic Armenia still inhabited by a majority Armenian population." The Nagorno Karabakh or Artsakh Republic is historically and demographically Armenian territory. In the face of continued Azeri persecution, Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence in 1991. Its constitution "recognizes the fundamental human rights and freedoms as inalienable and supreme value, for freedom, justice and peace." Armenian officials have long been seeking a peaceful resolution for the Artsakh-Azerbaijan conflict while the Azeri military continuously targets Artsakh in an attempt to destroy it. Between April 1 and 5, 2016, for example, Azerbaijan launched a full-blown attack on multiple positions of Artsakh and targeted Armenian civilians indiscriminately. Casualties included the 12-year-old Armenian boy, Vaghinag Grigoryan, and elderly couple, Valera Khalapyan and his wife, Razmela, who were found shot in their homes with their ears cut off. Another resident, Marousya Khalapyan, born in 1924, was also murdered by the Azeri military. Azeri soldiers also beheaded the 20-year-old Yazidi soldier of the Armenian army, Kyaram Sloyan. Pictures of Azeri soldiers holding Sloyan

James Hasso is an Assyrian-Armenian American activist whose great grandparents had survived the 1913-1923 Armenian-Assyrian-Greek Genocide and the ongoing pogroms against Assyrians in the Middle East after WWI.
A little more than a week after closing operations at The Boardwalk space in Alamo Heights, trendy Italian eatery, Tre Trattoria, is up and running at the San Antonio Museum of Art, according to a social media post.

Co-owner, Crystal Dady, posted to Instagram early Saturday that the restaurant is now open.
WASHINGTON  Wearing a white hard-hat featuring The Gunnerys crest, Tony-nominated producer Thomas S. Perakos broke ground Saturday on the schools new arts and community center, which soon will bear his name.

The adrenaline and the joy are indescribable, Perakos said after the ceremony. This building is going to unify and bring (the arts) to a state-of-the-art program, and its going to attract professors and a curriculum that will make it sing.

Perakos, who graduated from the school in 1969, became the namesake for the 32,000-square-foot center after making a multimillion-dollar gift for it to be built.

Head of School Peter Becker told the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony that since Perakos donation several months ago, the school has raised $16.5 million of its $22 million goal for the center.

We needed someone to step up and believe in this project, Becker said. If it wasnt for Tom ... we wouldnt be here. It unleashed this passion and enthusiasm and the belief that we could get this thing done.

Becker thanked other alumni, attending alumni weekend, who have made donations.

An alumni parade followed the ceremony, which came just one day before the Tony Awards, where musicals that Perakos was involved with are nominated for a combined 32 awards. He is personally nominated for Best Musical for The Bands Visit and for Best Revival of a Musical for Rodgers & Hammersteins Carousel

The Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center will also feature areas named for other donors, including a 415-seat performing arts theater named after the Tisch family and an art wing named after alumni Richard C. Colton Jr.

Construction will include relocating a parking lot and creating a landscaped green space between the building and the schools dining hall.

Gunnery teachers and chairs of the performing arts, Jennifer Wojcik, and visual arts, Andrew Richards, told the crowd that the new space will take their programs to the next level.

The Gunnerys arts program is held in different places all over campus. Wojcik said the new center will allow her to focus solely on the students during performances, rather than worrying about technical difficulties that often occur in the current spaces.

(This is) going to be the next generation of art for our school and our families, she said.

The plan for the arts center was first developed as part of the Gunnerys long-term capital plan for adding to the school. The plan includes moving all facilities to the western side of Route 47 and creating new venues for certain programs.

This is the first of what will hopefully be the start of more projects to transform our campus, Becker said.

aquinn@newstimes.com
The world has become increasingly globalized over the last several decades; with the continuous development and advancement of modern technology, our international connectedness has become stronger than ever. To keep up with the expanding global marketplace, businesses have begun to sprinkle their offices across the world. Some corporations have a few international offices, while others need only manage teams on opposite coasts of the US.

No matter which category your company falls into, conducting business across time zones can be especially tricky. By implementing the following practices, companies can maintain a solid handle on their international communication to keep things flowing.

Set up ground rules.

According to Murphys Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. While things may be business as usual right now, its still important to prepare for the worst. If an office overseas has a daytime problem in the middle of your night, whom should the team contact? Outline your businesss chain of command and make it accessible to everyone in every office. If someone cant get a product order out on-time, but their contact person across the pond is asleep during the emergency, the employee should know who else will be awake and ready to help.

Related: Is Your Business Prepared to Handle an Unexpected Emergency?

Setting up a home base time zone -- one that everyone knows to synch to -- can be a useful strategy for some businesses. For example, if an update is happening on the company intranet, you can easily specify in your email notice that it will occur at 4 p.m. HQT. Staff can then quickly determine what that means for their office, and keep things moving without hiccups.

Know when to video chat -- and when not to.

Its easy for people to stop paying attention during conference calls early in the morning or late at night. Video chatting allows for more personal communication, and makes focusing on meeting content more natural for the involved parties. Plus, its helpful for employees to be able to put a name to a face, especially when their partners work halfway across the country or even around the globe.

Related: 7 Tips for Managing Offshore Teams

While video chatting is a fantastic tool, it is also important to consider when video chatting is not a good idea. If you make a mistake on your project, but need help from an office with a seven-hour time difference from your own, try to avoid visual conferences. Someone who has just been woken by a 5 a.m. work call probably doesnt want you to have a visual of his or her bedhead. This may also be true for regularly scheduled meetings and calls; those who handle these events from home may appreciate not having to finish their morning routine before the call. Set some rules about video chatting with which your team members feel comfortable.

Schedule, schedule, schedule.

According to Harvard Business Review, consistent meetings are much more important for global teams than for co-located groups. Consistent meetings where people can connect in both formal and informal ways is critical for fostering team cohesion.

While you can tell your desk-neighbor about your baby-on-the-way or your sisters engagement, cross-country coworkers may be missing out on these critical moments. Informal connections ensure that international coworkers view each other as humans, not as robotic emails on a screen. These meetings also allow for formal check-ins regarding projects, problems and other office developments. Just because a companys offices are separated geographically doesnt mean they should be separated mentally.

Related: Our Ability to Work Remotely Keeps Growing, So Why Hasn't Productivity?

With some strategic planning, groups can schedule online meetings that work for offices in a variety of time zones. Such meetings dont need to occur every day (matching up all of those schedules can be tough), but every week or two will keep everyone on the same page.

Meet in person.

One of the best ways to shrink the gap between two offices is to cross it. If you can, have some of your employees meet in person once in awhile, especially if their positions regularly rely on each other from afar. If workers from one office visited you last month, talk to your supervisor about visiting their office. This wont work for every office or team, but meeting in real life can be useful when dealing with larger, more crucial projects, and decreases the risk of miscommunication via email, phone, or message.

Be supportive.

Just like a co-located team, a cross-country or international team needs to provide support for one another. During your routine check-in meetings, make sure everyone is managing their workload without too much stress. If there seems to be an imbalance of projects, how can you adjust it to make things simpler? This may be a good time to send some employees abroad and provide some extra helping hands.

Find the right tools.

Video chatting is just one way for your team to remain connected. Invest in a project management software program (Basecamp, Jirra), chat tools such as Slack, and whatever else you can find to manage communication and projects. After all, if communication breaks down, your team cant get things done.

Related:

Clock Watching: How to Keep Your Teams Synchronized Across Different Time Zones

Is Remote Work Taking a Psychological Toll on Your External Workers? Researchers Say Yes.

Your Team Wants You to Abide by These 3 Unspoken Rules of Remote Team Management



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NEW HAVEN  Calling Dwayne Sayles a cold-blooded murderer whose shooting of store clerk Sanjay Patel left behind a grieving widow who was then eight months pregnant, a judge Friday sentenced Sayles to serve 80 years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Brian T. Fischer described Patel as a hard-working, law-abiding citizen who was liked by his friends and family. Fischer noted Patel was working behind the counter at the Pay Rite Food/Citgo gas station on Forbes Avenue on the night of April 6, 2015, when Sayles and Jamal Sumler walked in. Both of them were wearing masks and carrying guns.

On that night, Fischer recalled of Patel, He was so happy to be an expectant father. His wife was eight months pregnant when he was senselessly murdered.

This was not a spontaneous act of violence, Fischer said. It was a premeditated robbery and shooting.

The judge told Sayles, You and your co-defendant gunned down an innocent man. You left behind a devastated wife and a young baby who will never know his father. You, Dwayne Sayles, are a cold-blooded murderer.

Senior Assistant States Attorney Seth Garbarsky noted the stores surveillance videotape showed a man identified as Sumler walking into the store first and demanding money from Patel. When the clerk apparently was too slow to empty the cash register and a scuffle ensued, Sumler shot him. Moments later, Garbarsky added, Sayles walked in and shot the victim in the stomach without any provocation whatsoever.

Garbarsky asserted Sayles was significantly more culpable than Mr. Sumler and the sentence should reflect that.

Both of the defendants were convicted on multiple counts in separate jury trials. In March, Superior Court Judge Elpedio N. Vitale, who presided over Sumlers trial, sentenced him to serve 90 years for murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and two weapons charges.

Sayles, 25, of New Haven, was convicted in February of felony murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, criminal possession of a pistol or revolver and carrying a pistol without a permit. Fischer presided over that trial.

Garbarsky recounted Sayles criminal history and said he has no regard for life.

Patels widow, who was accompanied in court by an interpreter, stood alongside state Victim Services Advocate Beata Bagi while Bagi read the same statement the widow wrote for Sumlers sentencing.

She recalled marrying Patel in 2009. We were happy, and when in 2014 we found out I was pregnant, it was such happy news to my husband and I. It was our dreams coming true.

She noted, My husband liked children so much that he would give candy to children who came to his store for free, if they didnt have money to pay. But when the time came to have his own child, he was gone.

Mr. Sayles caused so much pain and loss by his actions, she added. I suffer, and his mother and (the rest of) his family are suffering too.

She asked Fischer to make sure he never comes out of jail, so another family doesnt have to suffer like I am suffering. I cry every day for my husband. He gave me so much love. He was very caring and he took care of me in so many ways, big and small. Now all of my dreams are dead.

Every day, she said, My child looks at the picture of his father, pointing and saying, That is my daddy. That is all he has. Just a picture.

She said it is very hard raising a child alone. I dont sleep. Awake at night, I worry about how am I going to provide for my child.

At the end of her statement, the widow said: What am I going to tell my son when he gets older, when he asks me, Where is my father? How to explain to a child that someone killed his father for a couple of dollars?

She wiped away tears as Bagi read the statement.

But defense attorney Frank OReilly appealed to Fischer not to impose a sentence that would keep Sayles in prison for the rest of his life.

After acknowledging Sayles had been convicted of a serious crime, OReilly said, People grow and change and learn, even while theyre in prison. Im asking you to consider that there is evolution to human life.

OReilly suggested a sentence of about 45 years. Hes 25. In 45 years he would be 70. Im asking you to consider a sentence that would give him some opportunity to live a portion of his life outside of prison.

OReilly also said Sayles grew up in very difficult circumstances. He was raised in the Church Street South housing project, a notoriously rough neighborhood. His father was incarcerated all of his (the defendants) life. He had no male role model. His mother is a hard worker but to say he had a fairly good upbringing is not fair.

OReilly quoted what an imprisoned character played by Morgan Freeman said in the movie The Shawshank Redemption: I wish I could talk to me, to the young man that was sentenced years ago.

OReilly told Fischer that Sayles mother did not wish to make a statement in court. But OReilly said, She wishes you to know that she loves her son very much and she will continue to support him.

When Fischer gave Sayles a chance to speak, he made a brief comment about the pre-sentence investigation. After court adjourned, OReilly paraphrased it: He said he didnt think it reflected enough of the positive things about him.

When Sayles finished his short comment, Fischer asked: Thats it? OReilly explained that it would be inappropriate for Sayles to comment on the criminal case while his appeal of the convictions is pending.

Before he imposed the sentence, Fischer listed Sayles previous convictions: carrying a pistol without a permit, failure to appear in court, two counts of interfering with a police officer, third-degree larceny and sale of narcotics.

Fischers sentence was: 60 years for felony murder; 15 years for conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery; five years for criminal possession of a pistol or revolver; and five years for carrying a pistol without a permit. Fischer made the last count concurrent with the previous counts, for a total effective sentence of 80 years.

After court adjourned, Garbarsky and co-prosecutor Lisa DAngelo told the widow that the final co-defendant in the case, Leighton Vanderberg, is scheduled to be sentenced in July. Vanderberg testified during the trials for Sumler and Sayles that he drove them to a street near the convenience store, parked the car and waited for them to return. Then he drove them away.

Vanderberg pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting first-degree robbery, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison. He is already serving a 40-year sentence for felony murder in the shooting of a store clerk in Bridgeport. That murder happened five days after Patel was slain in New Haven.

randall.beach@hearstmediact.com
CARROLLTON  A pre-trial hearing has been set for Friday for a Missouri man accused of leading police on a four-county chase that included dumping his car in the Illinois River, swimming across the river and stealing a truck in an attempt to flee.

Jesse Dorris, 48, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was sentenced May 25 in Calhoun County court to 11 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and aggravated battery of a police officer. He was sentenced May 29 in Pike County court to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, which will run concurrently with his Calhoun sentence.

His Greene County pre-trial, which will be at 10 a.m. Friday, involves charges of aggravated fleeing of police over 21 mph over the speed limit, driving on a revoked license and several smaller charges.

This follows an Aug. 1 incident in which police said a man driving a Ford Tempo fled a Jerseyville traffic stop. Jerseyville police ended their pursuit because of the speed involved; Greene County authorities picked up the chase, following the vehicle to Kampsville Ferry on Route 108.

White Hall, Roodhouse and Greenfield police then joined the pursuit, which continued in excess of 80 mph, according to the Greene County Sheriffs Department.

Approaching the ferry landing, the man drove his vehicle into the Illinois River, exited the vehicle and began swimming. Ferry employees attempted to get the man to board the ferry but, when he refused, tossed him a flotation device for his safety.

The man then made it to shore and continued into the Kampsville campground on foot. Greene County deputies were stranded on the Greene County side of the river until a citizen offered to transport them via boat.

Authorities then continued pursuing the man, who police said stole a truck from a camper in a continued attempt to flee. A deputy shot at the truck in a failed attempt to disable it, and it continued into Pike County, according to reports.

Pike County deputies found the truck  with a flat tire  and forced it into a ditch.

Dorris was taken into custody near Detroit, roughly 7 miles east of Pittsfield, and was taken to Illini Hospital in Pittsfield.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
As we celebrate another graduating class, we thought wed give them some good advice to help them turn their dreams of business success into reality. We recently caught up with Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI (Business Network International), the worlds largest business network. Ivan was good enough to agree to an interview where we could zero in on this universal challenge. He gave us some real jewels.

M&B: You're the creator of the world's largest business network. Can you tell us why you thought there would be a market for such a concept?

Ivan: I didnt. I mean Id like to tell you that I had this vision of an international organization, but the truth is I needed referrals for my consulting practice. I hoped my friends would be willing to refer me, and I was willing to refer them. So, we got together as a group and started passing referrals to each other. So BNI exists because its a classic example of necessity being the mother of invention.

But here's the piece I didn't understand at the time. I didn't know how to get referrals. I thought that since everybody I brought into my first networking group was older and more successful than me that they knew how to network. But, when we met, they were asking OK, what do we do? And thats when I realized, no one knew how to network effectively.

Related: How My Children Taught Me a Lesson in Networking

M&B: Thats surprising, with all the emphasis today on networking. So how did this discovery lead to the development of BNI?

Ivan: Everybody needs to know how to network. Everybody needs to build their business through referrals. But nobodys being taught how to do that, and this was really the genesis of BNI. I had one chapter, and somebody wanted me to open a second chapter. At first, I said no, this isnt what Im doing. Im a business consultant, but they talked me into it and I did it. Then it was two more, and then three more, and when we were up to 20 chapters in the first year, I realized, Hey, something is going on here! I need to pay attention to this!

M&B: So, what makes these BNI chapters unique? What lead to the rapid growth of these networking chapters?

Ivan: Several things really. For starters theres only one member per professional specialty in each chapter. So that reduces competition and limits the size of the groups. Our average size worldwide is 26 members, but we have chapters as large as 100. Another thing is our core value that Givers Gain. Basically, Im here to give you business and help you. And, by building that relationship with you, youll give me business. But it starts with me helping you first. Several years ago, we had a new member whod been doing business for several years and it was all about what was in it for him. When he saw BNI, he said, Wow this is a completely different strategy. Its like taking off my bib and putting on my apron! Its about helping other people, and by helping them, theyll help me!

Related: Email Is Great But Face-to-Face Meetings Are 34 Times More Successful

M&B: So, youre talking face-to-face, with in-person networking. What would you say to those who think they can do this with technology through social networking?

Ivan: A few years back, I was in Stockholm. One of the big newspapers sent a young reporter out to interview me. He was twenty-something. He spent the first three or four minutes beating me up for running what he called the Buggy Whip business of the networking industry. In other words, it was as obsolete as whips for horses and buggies when the automobile came out. He didnt think there was going to be a need for that type of networking because technology is taking over. And so I said to him, Why are you here? It took an hour to get here and its going to take an hour and a half to get back with traffic He said, Well, because my boss said I had to come and do this interview. Then he paused and said, Oh I get it, because a face-to-face interview is always better Bingo! I'm a big believer in online networking, but I also believe that there's an incredible power to face-to-face networking.

Related: The Importance of Face-to-Face Networking in a Digital World

M&B: So, if you are advising todays young entrepreneurs about why soft skills are so important what would you tell them?

Ivan: I did a survey of 12,000 business people from all over the world. One of the questions I asked was, Have you achieved success through your networking efforts? Nintyone percent said yes, networking had played a significant role in their success. So, I would say its really important to learn how to build a powerful personal network. I think soft skills like social capital, emotional intelligence, and business networking are really important skills for people to learn in or out of college.

Ivan believes todays grads have great opportunities to learn from mentors, either in person or virtually. He practices what he preaches buy sharing his wisdom with 50 plus videos on YouTube and you can join his 60,000 followers on Facebook. Congratulations Grads! Its time to take off the bib and put on the apron!

Related:

6 formas de mejorar tus conversaciones

Networking Rule #1: 'Take Off the Bib and Put on the Apron!'

5 Keys to Making True Connections



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Beardstown raid remains under investigation

BEARDSTOWN  Illinois State Police said the circumstances behind a June 1 raid in the 1400 block of East Fifth Street remain under investigation.

Few details are available, but one person was taken into custody.

Beardstown Ambulance and medical helicopters were on the scene as well as an armored vehicle with armed officers in tactical gear, according to the Cass County Star-Gazette.

State police confirmed the person in custody was wanted on a state warrant, but would declined further comment.



Morgan County

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Blake K. Rhodes, 34, of 10 Bonneville Drive, Springfield, was arrested about 7:05 p.m. Thursday on a charge of obstructing a peace officer.

 David E. Swarringin, 27, of 925 N. East St. was arrested about 8:25 p.m. Thursday on a criminal damage to property charge.

 Taurus J. Johnson, 43, of 226 Green St. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 12:04 a.m. Friday on title and registration offenses.

 DeShonta L. Smallwood, 28, of 500 W. State St. was arrested about 4 a.m. Friday on a domestic battery charge.

 Brittany L. Shingleton, 32, of 413 N. Prairie St. was arrested about 5:40 a.m. Friday on a possession of drug paraphernalia charge.

 Taylor E. Siegel, 21, of of 554 W. Washington St., Rushville, was arrested about 5:40 a.m. Friday on a possession of drug paraphernalia charge.

 Sarah J. Mullen, 19, of 1416 E. Sixth St., Beardstown, was arrested about 5:40 a.m. Friday on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of methamphetamine and possession of cannabis.

 Christopher S. Robinson, 22, 846 N. Main St. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 10:05 a.m. Friday on charges of mob action, criminal damage to property and driving while license is revoked or suspended.

ACCIDENTS

 Danyell R. Dale, 20, of Jacksonville was cited for failure to yield and operating an uninsured motor vehicle after police say he pulled out of a parking lot at Westgate Avenue and West Morton Avenue about 12:47 p.m. Friday and hit a vehicle being driven by Jesus Gonzales, 48, of Beardstown.

OTHER REPORTS

 The rear tire of a vehicle parked in the 500 block of West Morton Avenue was punctured, according to a report filed at 2:39 p.m. Friday.



Greene County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 John D. Adams II, 35, of Kane was lodged in the Greene County Jail at 3:02 p.m. Tuesday on a domestic battery charge.

 William P. Brooks, 53, of White Hall was lodged in the Greene County Jail at 7:37 p.m. Monday on a possession of stolen property charge.

Roodhouse Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Austin M. Henson, 20, of Roodhouse was lodged in the Greene County Jail at 3:25 a.m. June 2 on a charge of driving while license is suspended.

White Hall Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Cody C. Crum, 28, of Roodhouse was lodged in the Greene County Jail at 5:30 a.m. Friday on a charge of driving while license is suspended.

 Dale A. Smith, 30, of Jerseyville was lodged in the Greene County Jail at 4:36 p.m. Wednesday on charges of possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver and possession of cannabis with the intent to deliver.

 Jeffrey T. Taylor, 50, of Jacksonville was lodged in the Greene County Jail at 9:50 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of driving while license is suspended.



Scott County

Winchester Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Alexander S. Lambie, 24, of Winchester was lodged in the Greene County Jail at 5 p.m. June 1 on charges of domestic battery, two counts of hate crime, aggravated assault and criminal damage to property.

Compiled by Greg Olson, David C.L. Bauer, Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree and Nick Draper
NEW HAVEN  Bill Deitrick lives in Atlanta but couldnt wait to come back to where he grew up for the revival of Morris Cove Day Saturday.

That was my favorite day of the year, Morris Cove Day, he said, remembering the daylong celebration that was put on during the 1950s through the mid-1960s.

Many longtime residents of Morris Cove neighborhood can recall the heyday of the area when a group called the 59 Groaners put on a day of celebration to remember for the community. One can even see photos of the day and the neighborhood hanging in Dursos Garage on Townsend Avenue.

The Groaners established the day with a parade, swimming contests, one-legged and potato-sack races with kids dressed in costumes, said Cove resident Rich Espotisto, who enjoyed the celebration for the last three years it was held. Boys with little red wagons and girls with carriages decorated them with pinwheels and other trinkets and the sidewalks were lined with people selling lollipops and cotton candy, he said.

It was all for the children, Esposito said, and thats what the revival of the day brings back  children.

Morris Cove Day organizer Danielle Giordano has lived in the area since she was a child, hearing stories of Morris Cove Day in the 1950s and mid-1960s from her father, Robert Ferraiolo who also grew up there.

I really thought it was awesome they had this appreciation for the community, Giordano said. Obviously, we cant bring it back full-on, so let me start it off small. Lets bring everybody to the house, a day for the kids and if its successful, maybe we can get it to what it used to be.

Giordano wanted to reestablish Morris Cove Day for this generation of children to experience, such as her 4-year-old niece and her baby on the way. Giordano has been planning and organizing the return of the festival for nearly a year. Since she was the sole organizer, she needed to start it small, she said.

Its going to bring everyone more together and help future generations see that this isnt just a neighborhood that once was, she said. This is a neighborhood that is continuously involved in everything. This is a great neighborhood to grow up in and I want every child to appreciate it as much as I did.

The revival was held at the Pardee-Morris House where local vendors drew families and the community for a lively day on the property with a pie-baking contest and a Morris Cove photo exhibit by Esposito.

The Pardee-Morris House exhibit, Everybody Was There: Growing Up in the Cove 1969  72 features a series of Espositos photos capturing the lives of his friends and neighbors in Morris Cove during that time. Direcor of Photo Archives at the New Haven Museum Jason Bischoff-Wurstle said the photos are honest and capture a moment in time.

Esposito had taken 196 pictures of his friends in the Cove over those few years and had kept all the negatives but they hadnt seen the light of day in 47 years, he said. He was only reminded that he took the pictures one evening on the deck of Amarantes Sea Cliff, when and old friend asked him where all those pictures he used to take were.

Bischoff-Wurstle curated a couple dozen of the photos for the exhibit. Esposito took pictures of nearly everyone of his friends in the Cove and could still name them all in the photographs.

When you look at it, it taps into that American high school, that feeling of summer, everyone working bad jobs, just hanging out, Bischoff-Wurstle said. Its sort of universal, at least 20th Century American universal. One photo shows a concert in the vein of Woodstock in a large open area, which was the inspiration for the collections title.

Nobody could remember the name of the concert, but everybody was there, he said. The details might become fuzzy in memory, but its all universal. Its just that feeling.

Esposito said that feeling was the way everyone in Morris Cove knew each other and the neighborhood was like a little self-sustained village  with different group of young people hanging around. Esposito and Deitrick said the revival and the photos bring back memories of the old Morris Cove of their childhoods.

It will never be what it was, but its nice that theyre starting it again, Deitrick said.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
Germany has flourished under Chancellor Angela Merkel over the last 12 years, with record-low unemployment and robust economic growth. But that success hasn't translated into better pay for women in the country, where one of the worst gender pay gaps in Europe looks unlikely to get better soon.

Despite having a woman running the government, a new law aimed at highlighting the issue lacks the teeth to boost women's standing in the corporate sector. The so-called Wage Transparency Act, which took full force in January, puts the onus on individual employees to step forward and request information on wage discrepancies, while companies are given plenty of wiggle room.

"The law will practically have no impact on furthering pay equality," said Hans-Georg Kluge, a lawyer who specializes in anti-discrimination cases. "Individual women who are willing to take their case to court will draw no benefit from this."

That's a far cry from other efforts, where the responsibility rests with employers. In the U.K., companies are required to publish their gender pay gaps annually, and initial reports earlier this year sparked public furor as well as the resignation of a senior BBC editor in protest. The French government plans laws that would require pay-gap tracking.

Despite Merkel's status as one of the world's most powerful women and German politics peppered with strong female leaders, the role of women in the corporate world is limited. While the #MeToo movement has drawn widespread attention to sexual harassment and assault, the pay gap is in many ways anchored in German culture, with the term "Frauenberufe" (women's jobs) used to refer to lower paid careers such as social work, hairstyling and nursing.

Even in fields dominated by women, such as medical assistants, men can get paid 40 percent more. The lower pay, along with more part-time work for women, mean they earn about 50 percent less over their working lives than male peers, according to a 2017 study by the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin.

Such discrepancies, along with shortfalls in childcare and social pressures, contribute to fewer women in the workforce - 78 percent of working-age German men were employed in 2016, compared with 70 percent of women, according to the country's statistics office. That's a missed opportunity for an economy battling a growth-sapping labor shortage. The Labor Ministry said in a report last year that it sees "significant potential"' in raising the volume of hours worked by women, but that for that to happen general conditions would have to improve.

Globally, closing the pay gap and promoting equal participation in the workforce could enrich the world economy by some $160 trillion, according to a recent World Bank study. That's about twice the value of global GDP.

"Working for women should be something totally normal, and that could also help companies to cope with capacity constraints," said Gertrud Traud, chief economist of Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen in Frankfurt. "We have a labor-friendly market right now. This is also true for women, and they should use it to their advantage."

The wage law isn't Germany's first effort to highlight gender discrimination. A 2016 initiative required large companies to appoint at least 30 percent women to their supervisory boards. While that has had some impact at the top of the corporate ladder, broader inequality remains.

When the law was passed in July 2017, the German government said it was an "important step towards more wage equality," because companies need to report on plans to balance working conditions for women and men. In reality though, the final version serves more to tick boxes than to generate underlying change, according to Torsten von Roetteken, a retired judge at Frankfurt's administrative court and the author of numerous books on German gender-equality law.

"The hurdles are extremely high and require the individual to have a high tolerance and capacity for conflict," Roetteken said. "Even then, there is still the danger of open or hidden bullying."

Unsurprisingly, the response has been lukewarm. Just one in eight respondents plan to ask their employers to explain pay differences, according to a survey conducted by consultancy EY. A third of those balking at requests cited concerns about negative repercussions as the reason.

Deutsche Bank, with some 30,000 employees eligible, received 134 inquiries during the first quarter, even though Germany's biggest lender has ready-made forms on its employee intranet site. With the first few months of the law being in force, Bayer had fewer than 10 employees step forward, and BMW received 17 notifications across a German workforce of over 90,000.

"Whether the law is effective is not measured by the total number of requests for information," Germany's Family Ministry said in a statement. "It is about those people asking questions who have reason to believe that they are disadvantaged or need better evidence for salary negotiations."

The institutional challenges were evident in a rare pay-gap dispute last year before the new law took effect. A reporter with German broadcaster ZDF lost a discrimination suit against her employer after a Berlin court ruled that employment conditions of a better-paid male colleague weren't comparable. Without legal backing, German women at best can hope for the goodwill of employers or support from works councils, which represent staff interests inside German companies

"Transparency is becoming a differentiating factor,'' said Gernot Sendowski, Deutsche Bank's director for diversity and inclusion. "People who join companies inquire a lot more about the reality behind the slogans."

- - -

Bloomberg's Hayley Warren contributed.
For the Mormons, Hancock County appeared to be a beacon of hope and safety during tumultuous times.

Members of the Mormon faith began arriving in Hancock County about 1839 looking for security after having encountered hostility elsewhere, according to Thomas Gregg, a Hancock County settler who wrote about the Mormon faith in his 1880 book History of Hancock County, Illinois.

But in Quincy they were welcomed, which contributed to the faithful choosing Hancock County as a place to settle. They established their own town, Nauvoo, north of Quincy. Greggs book describes early Nauvoo, before the building of the Mormon Temple, as a picturesque site on the east side of the Mississippi River, about 10 miles north of Keokuk, Iowa.

The origin, rapid development and prosperity of this religious sect are the most remarkable and instructive historical events of the present century, Gregg wrote about the Mormons in Nauvoo.

Illinois was a new home where members settled after being driven out of New York, Ohio and Missouri. Unfortunately, the Mormon followers would eventually be driven out of Illinois, too.

The founding of a faith

The founder of the religion, Vermont native Joseph Smith, was living in New York in 1820 when, at age 14, he read a passage in the New Testament and went to the woods to pray. It is there where Smith said God and Jesus Christ appeared to him, according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website. This vision is known now to Mormons as the First Vision.

I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, Smith wrote, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

That experience inspired him to found Mormonism. Church members believe Smith was led in 1823 to a hill in Palmyra, New York, where he received, from an angel known as Moroni, an ancient record, engraved on gold plates, that gave the history of the people who lived on the American continent during the time of Christ, according to the Mormon website. He used those to write the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Smith  along with Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer  then began spreading the word of the book and created a new religion. Cowdery, Harris and Whitmer were known as the Three Witnesses and were the only other people to see the plates.

Smith and a few followers made their way to Ohio, where the religion increased in numbers but persecution continued, so they traveled to Missouri. Church members began to flee from Liberty, Mo., after Smith and other Mormon leaders were arrested in November 1838 on charges of murder, treason, burglary, arson, larceny and theft, according to Utopian Communities of Illinois by Randall Soland.

By January 1839, Mormon apostle Brigham Young fled with several hundred followers to Quincy. Thousands more followed.

Eventually, a total of 8,000 Mormons came to Quincy, where the citizens offered their sympathy and assistance by opening up their homes  giving the Mormons food, clothing and shelter, Soland wrote.

Planting roots

Smith joined his family in Quincy, but soon began searching for a new home. Mormon leaders purchased several hundred acres of land in Commerce, now known as Nauvoo, and began building before the church members joined. By June 1840, there were nearly 3,000 people in Nauvoo.

Between 1837 and 1846, Mormon missionaries in Great Britain baptized almost 18,000 British citizens from England, Scotland and Wales, of whom 4,733 immigrated to Nauvoo, Soland wrote.

Within eight years of settling in Nauvoo, the number of residents had grown to nearly 12,000. About $1 million was raised for construction on a temple, which started in 1841 and completed in 1846. New laws were incorporated to help the church prosper, such as tithing, which started in 1838.

Under the law of tithing, 10 percent of the members possessions and property at the time of baptism, as well as 10 percent of their annual income, was to be given to the church, Soland wrote.

The Bill of Incorporation empowered the mayor and aldermen of Nauvoo City Council to pass any law they chose, including the court of Nauvoo authority to grant writs of habeas corpus (a court order that allows a prisoner to be released from detention if a judge determines there to be a lack of sufficient cause or evidence). This law applied to Smith, regardless of jurisdiction.

Troubles re-emerge

Not everyone was happy with the new faith, though. In 1844, a group of dissidents formed an opposition group to the Mormons, and started a newspaper.

The first and only edition of the Nauvoo Expositor was printed on June 7, 1844, Soland wrote. It contained scandalous and derogatory allegations about the adulteress lives of Smith and other Mormon leaders. Smith and the city council declared the newspaper libelous and a public nuisance and ordered the town marshal to destroy the press.

The group against the Mormons filed charges in Carthage against Smith, saying he incited a riot. But due to the citys ability to issue writs of habeas corpus, Smith was arrested, quickly tried and acquitted by the Nauvoo court.

Anti-Mormons in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri were outraged, according to Solands book. Smith contacted Gov. Thomas Ford for help.

Ford instead declared the destruction of the Expositor illegal and demanded that the Smith brothers (Joseph and Hyrum) come to Carthage for retrial, he wrote.

Smith was arraigned in Carthage, where bail was set high but was quickly paid. Smith was arrested once more for treason, on the grounds that Smith had wrongly declared martial law in Nauvoo during the destruction of the presses of the Expositor.

And it was while being held in the Carthage Jail with his brother, Hyrum, that Smith was killed on June 27, 1844.

According to Soland, Just after 5 oclock that evening, a group of men approached the jail. The men on guard fired their guns in the air. One group of attackers stormed up the stairs and fired their guns into the room where Joseph and Hyrum were staying.

Smith and his brother were killed within minutes.

After the death of Joseph Smith, the church was run by the Twelve Apostles and Brigham Young until 1847. Young became the second prophet and president in 1847.

A couple of years after Smiths death, word spread about possible attacks heading toward Nauvoo that would lead to the arrest of the Twelve Apostles and destruction of the temple. An exodus began Feb. 4, 1846, with small groups of travelers leave Nauvoo by walking across the frozen Mississippi River.

The headed West in hopes of finding a better life in the Rocky Mountains or on the Pacific Coast. It was not an easy journey, but they eventually settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the faith is based today.

Lasting impact

Although their time in Illinois was brief, Nauvoo and the Mormons who resided there are the key to Hancock Countys tourism. Thousands of visitors from across the country come to Nauvoo to see the rich history.

Tours of the Carthage Jail, now owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are available today. The original door with a bullet hole remains. Visitors can see where the jailer and his family would have slept; where the Smith brothers were held; and where they were killed. Joseph and Hyrum Smith are buried in Nauvoo next to the original Joseph Smith homestead.

Another attraction is the temple. The original temple, which Smith never saw completed, was burned down by an arsonist in 1848. A tornado two years later completed the destruction. A new temple was rebuilt in 1999 and dedicated in 2002.
Convicted state Sen. Carlos Uresti and federal prosecutors are asking for court permission to allow him to sell the San Antonio office building where he practiced law before surrendering his law license two months ago.

Uresti, who was convicted of 11 felony charges in February, has been offered just shy of $1 million for the building at 924 McCullough Ave. but hes barred from disposing of any assets without court approval.

The San Antonio Democrat and the U.S. Attorneys office want Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra to partially lift a restraining order so the building can be sold, according to a newly filed court document.

RELATED: Star witness in state Sen. Carlos Uresti's trial acquitted in her own criminal case

The Thursday court filing by Uresti, 54, and the government says that after satisfying the mortgage, taxes and other costs with proceeds from the building sale, about $538,000 will be left to pay restitution to his victims.

A jury found Uresti guilty of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, among other charges, in connection with his involvement in FourWinds Logistics, an oilfield company that defrauded investors.

Uresti served as the companys outside legal counsel, a 1 percent owner and recruited potential investors to enter into joint ventures with FourWinds. Uresti, though, left out pertinent details to get them to invest, including that he stood to get a slice of their profits.

Uresti is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26. Hes facing a prison sentence that could range from eight to 12 years, some lawyers have said. He also will owe more than $3 million in restitution to his victims, according to federal prosecutors.

The San Antonio lawmaker, who has resisted calls to step down from office, has vowed to appeal his conviction. He is free on an unsecured bond pending sentencing.

Less than two months after his conviction, Uresti surrendered his license to practice law in lieu of facing disciplinary action from the State Bar of Texas. He had been a practicing attorney for more than 25 years.

Urestis wife of about six years, Lleanna, filed for divorce a week after the jurys verdict.

Not long after, the government requested a restraining order to prevent Uresti and others close to him from disposing of assets that could be used to pay his victims.

Divorce is a common asset protection device in cases where restitution is anticipated, and defendants will routinely agree to a final decree in which the nondebtor spouse receives all of the assets while the defendant receives all of the debt, the government said in its request for the restraining order. Ezra subsequently granted the motion.

Little has happened in the divorce case since the petition was filed. State District Judge Stefani Walsh granted Urestis request last month to seal the court records.

The Thursday court filing by Uresti and the government indicates that he initially received a $1 million offer from Hema Viswanathan for the building, furniture and equipment on May 25. The offer was later reduced to about $978,000. Viswanathan couldnt be reached for comment Saturday.

The building is assessed at about $540,000 by the Bexar Appraisal District. Uresti bought the building in 2007. Federal agents raided the building last year as part of their investigation that later led to Urestis indictment.

Uresti is scheduled to stand trial in October in a separate case where hes accused of splitting $850,000 in bribe payments with a county judge in Reeves County over a medical services contract at a jail in West Texas. Uresti has denied the charges.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pdanner@express-news.net | @AlamoPD
Despite a possibility of showers and thunderstorms in parts Bexar County Saturday afternoon, Stage 2 water restrictions are expected to be announced for the San Antonio area next week, officials say.

According to Anne Hayden, communications manager at the San Antonio Water System, officials will meet with the city manager's office Monday before enacting the restrictions.

Due to a lack of rain, coupled with a dry heat, levels at the Edwards Aquifer Authority index well have dropped to 647 feet above sea level over the past week, prompting SAWS to move to Stage 2.

Stage 1 restrictions were enacted back in May. Stage 2 restrictions are triggered once the 10-day level readings at Edwards Aquifer Authority fall below 650 feet.

The last recorded rainfall in San Antonio was May 20, when less than an inch of rain fell, said Cory Van Pelt, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

It has been twenty days since, and San Antonio is not expected to see anything more than what we may receive this afternoon, according to Van Pelt.

"This rain is related to the sea breeze (from the Texas Gulf). It would affect the southeastern part of the county," Pelt said of the 30 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms forecast for today.

Next week's forecast includes partly cloudy overcast skies with temperature highs to be consistently in the mid-90s with lows in the mid-70s, according to the NWS.

"There's no chance for rain (next week). It's not looking good for quite a while," Van Pelt said.

Restrictions for Stage 2 include:
One of the rules of our politics is that its permissible to accuse the Trump administration of anything, and the claim that it lost 1,475 migrant children fits the bill.

It has lit up social media and made the debate over a new Trump policy of zero tolerance at the border even more hysterical than it would be otherwise.

The 1,475 factoid makes it sound as though the Trump administration had these children in its custody and then one day couldnt find them. Instead, Health and Human Services had placed them, along with thousands of others who showed up at the border as unaccompanied children, with sponsors in the United States, usually parents or close relatives.

HHS recently added 30-day follow-up phone calls to the longstanding program. At the end of last year, HHS called 7,635 sponsors and couldnt reach 1,475 of them. Since many of the sponsors are illegal immigrants themselves who dont want to be in contact with authorities, this isnt surprising, but it has been spun into a tale of shocking Trump administration callousness.

The misleading story has been used as a hammer against Trumps border policy. Prior to 2011, almost all illegal aliens at the border were single adult males, overwhelmingly from Mexico. Now, 40 percent of illegal aliens at the border are families and children, and almost half from Central America. This presents challenges we havent faced before, made all the worse by gaping loopholes in the law.

The past policy was to allow adults traveling with children into the country. Hoping to stem the flow  which briefly diminished after his election, before increasing again  Trump now wants to prosecute all adults. This necessitates, at least briefly, the separation of adults and children.

The U.S. Marshalls take custody of the adults, while the children are held by HHS. The prosecution of the adults for illegal entry usually happens quickly. Then, if the adult wants to return home, she or he is reunited with her or his child and sent back together.

Where it gets more complicated is if a migrant claims asylum. The Trump administration wants to hold migrants pending adjudication of their cases; if they are released, there is a good chance they will abscond. But even if the cases are handled quickly  i.e., in a couple of months  the government has to release the children sooner thanks to a 20-year-old consent decree and associated legal rulings.

Its just one of the distortions that makes a rational policy at the border impossible. When unaccompanied children from Mexico cross the border, we can quickly return them home; an anti-trafficking law makes it nearly impossible to do that with unaccompanied children from Central America.

Many migrants are fleeing gang violence, which shouldnt by itself entitle a migrant to get asylum here. Yet, asylum officers almost always approve the first step in claiming asylum anyway.

Finally, theres the practical constraint of very limited detention space  Immigration and Customs Enforcement has only 3,000 family spaces.

Trump is right to want to get a handle on the border. According to the Justice Department, over the past two and half years, more than a quarter million migrants who came here as unaccompanied children or part of a family group have been released into the country.

As long as migrants know they can get in, they will keep coming  and bringing their children on a harrowing journey. Minors have become chits. Azcentral.com reports that it is common to have parents entrust their children to a smuggler as a favor or for profit.

But separating parents and children at the border is a significant downside of the Trump policy. Congress can help by fixing the consent decree that makes it impossible to detain kids, even if they are with their parents, and by spending more on detention space. Theres no reason we cant handle these cases quickly and humanely, except for our insanely self-sabotaging immigration system.

comments.lowry@nationalreview.com
When teachers wave a fond farewell to our students at the end of the school year, we know a few will leave a lasting impression because they have worked so hard to get to a point where academic excellence is even possible. Our institutions have a hard time both measuring that kind of success and valuing it as it deserves.

Schools need to do more to create meaningful access to quality higher education for all Texans. This requires all of us to take a hard look at the ways that inequality is built into colleges and universities.

For example, a student of mine once arrived late to an exam wearing a uniform from one of her three jobs. She was so tired from her work schedule that she fell asleep twice during the 50-minute test. Each time I woke her, she apologized for dozing off and got right back to work. To me, that student succeeded simply by completing her exam, but that kind of success is not documented on a transcript.

I dont remember the students name or what grade she earned in the course. But years later, I remember her hard work and determination.

What might have prevented this situation? Money. Students are increasingly paying the states share of public university costs. Thirty years ago, state appropriations covered 47 percent of the University of Texas at Austins expenses, and tuition revenues covered 5 percent. Today, tuition (21 percent) and state revenues (23 percent) are approximately equal sources of university income.

Its no wonder many students who are juggling multiple jobs are more like workers taking classes on the side than students.

These financial pressures result in student bodies at some Texas public universities that are much wealthier than the state as a whole. A 2017 study found that the median family income at UT-Austin is more than $120,000, when the state median income was around $56,000.

The so-called 7 percent rule guarantees that outstanding students from across the state have the chance to enroll at UT Austin, but it does not help them pay tuition once they arrive. At Texas A&M, the median income is a whopping $130,000.

It doesnt have to be that way. The University of Houstons median family income of $58,000 is in line with the state average. At the University of Texas at El Paso, the median income is just $37,000. And graduates of these schools go on to thrive. One-third of UH graduates move up at least two income quintiles. Nearly 40 percent of UTEP graduates make that jump. For these students, and for our state, college is a great deal.

Limited resources mean difficult choices, not only about paying for college but also about who gains admission. Colleges can enroll only so many students, and people disagree about what it means to be a qualified applicant. Many would say test scores and high grades. They would not see my exhausted students ability to juggle her demanding schedule as a qualification.

One of the most important and difficult things we can do to level the educational playing field is abandon the idea that there is a single definition of qualified for college. Grades and test scores are easy to measure, but they depend as much on teachers and parents as on the students themselves. Measuring other relevant skills, like my students persistence, is difficult and hotly debated. What should we look for? How do we measure it?

College admissions processes are a good start. Admissions offices across the country cite the importance of finding applicants where they live. In Texas, it is expensive and time-consuming to travel to the distant parts of the state where college may be a daunting and unfamiliar concept to most students. But for many, the road to college begins with someone who says, You can go to college. I did it and you can, too.

Perhaps most important, we need to support those processes and value the student bodies that they create. When the new school year begins in the fall, students will bring a wide range of talents, skills and needs to their studies. And that enriches us all.

Deborah Beck is an associate professor of classics at the University of Texas at Austin.
When a Bexar County public defender represents an indigent person at magistration  the point where charges are formally filed  that defendant is more likely to avoid jail time and be released on bond.

After that, defendants with public defender representation here are more likely to receive mental health treatment and meet the conditions of their bonds. By entering diversion and treatment programs, they are more likely to engage with society.

The relatively few indigent defendants in Bexar County who end up with public defender representation also benefit from the offices structure. Caseloads are capped in the spirit of ensuring proper representation. Outcomes and caseloads are monitored. The accused will receive a zealous defense.

All to the good, but here is a big way in which unequal justice is at work in Bexar County: Private attorneys provide the bulk of indigent defense in Bexar County, all part of a deeply flawed court-appointed attorney system. These appointed attorneys have little of the accountability or oversight of public defenders. In fact, this is a system that incentivizes private attorneys who handle misdemeanors to provide as little representation as possible. Its also a system that marginalizes the Bexar County Public Defenders Office.

Yes, such an office exists in Bexar County, but it is a shadow of what it should be. Although the office was created in 2005, it is a fraction of the size of Harris Countys, which began operations in 2011 and is widely viewed as the leading model in the state, along with El Paso County.

The Bexar County Public Defenders Office primarily represents defendants with mental health issues, and it doesnt even represent all such people. Its office space is inadequate. Its staffing is small. Many members of the judiciary, who can assign private court-appointed lawyers, are indifferent or antagonistic to the existence of the public defenders office. In some courtrooms, public defenders are not allowed to practice.

There has never been the political will to invest in growing the Bexar County Public Defenders Office, Jim Bethke, former longtime head of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission and now chief of the Lubbock Private Defender Office, wrote in an email. Some elected officials in the judiciary have been outwardly opposed and in some instances outright hostile to the expansion of the Bexar County Public Defenders Office.

In the name of fair defense, that must change.

The Bexar County Public Defenders Office must grow, but it should never be viewed as a replacement for private attorney representation for indigent defense. The case volume is too big. The need is too great. Both systems  public defender and court appointees  are needed for a variety of reasons. But a more robust office would serve as a much-needed complement, and competitor, to private attorney representation. One that could set the bar for indigent defense but also serve as a hub for continuing legal education, providing assistance to private lawyers and mentoring new attorneys.

And there simply is no reason to not allow public defenders into a courtroom. None.

This editorial, along with next Sundays editorial about the need for significantly more oversight and better pay for private attorney representation for indigent defense, is the product of more than 15 interviews with legal experts, judges, local and state officials, reform-minded activists and attorneys. We also reviewed hundreds of pages of studies, combed through this newspapers archives and filed numerous records requests to better understand indigent defense in Bexar County.

What we learned: While the county has made significant strides in creating specialty courts and other innovative reforms, indigent defense here is underfunded and wildly inconsistent in quality. An indigent defendant with mental health issues may end up with public defender representation  or not. An indigent defendant may end up with a private attorney who will churn through more than 500 cases in a given year, or an exceptional attorney who takes these cases as public service. Its a crapshoot. The potential legal consequences of such arbitrariness are immense. An indigent defendant with a lackluster private attorney is far more likely to take a plea agreement, regardless of innocence, many experts have said. Its an inherent consequence of a system that muzzles the public defenders office and lacks accountability over private attorneys.

I do not think that necessarily a public defender system solves the problem unless its done right, said Stephanie Stevens, who oversees St. Marys Universitys criminal justice clinic. And so far, we have not seen a decision by Commissioners Court to properly fund a true defenders office.

The Bexar County Public Defenders Office was created in 2005 under local defense attorney Angela Moore through a grant with what is now known as the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. It has always been something of an afterthought.

Under Moore, the office initially focused on appellate work. It had five attorneys, but they included students from St. Marys University and lawyers on loan from local civil firms. It also had a support staff of one person.

In an interview this spring, Moore said she struggled to secure additional funding for her office, and she ultimately quit in 2011 because of its structure.

The huge problem that I had is they would create supervisors over me who were not attorneys, and they would create conflicts of interest for us solely in the interest of moving cases, she said.

This included having a retired judge supervise the office who also wanted to preside over mental health cases that public defenders handled, according to Express-News archives.

After Moore quit, the office languished until 2014 when Richard Dulany Jr., who had served as a public defender in El Paso and New Mexico, became interim chief.

At the time, officials acknowledged the county had been violating the law by not having a chief public defender.

By spring 2015, the county finally had one, hiring Michael Young as chief public defender. Young had experience as a prosecutor in the Rio Grande Valley and as a federal public defender. He oversaw a team of four attorneys, two of whom did appeals. There are now 14 attorneys in the office, including Young. The work has broadened to include a pilot program for misdemeanor trials, but the offices focus primarily remains mental health.

Its a particularly capricious system. Consider a review of the public defenders offices magistration programs first year, which found clients are more likely to complete the requirements of personal bond than other arrestees and more likely to actively engage in their mental health services following release. But it lamented the limited scope of cases in which the office could provide representation.

Of 7,806 potential clients with indications of mental illness, our office has provided representation in 262 cases, it said.

And, of course, there are plenty of indigent defendants who are not mentally ill.

In an interview, Young said mental health cases are extraordinarily time-consuming. Private attorneys, who are generally paid a $140 flat fee to handle misdemeanors for indigent defense, have no incentive to take such challenging cases. Time is money, and the money for these cases is not very good.

So, we have been able to expand in that area, Young said. But the same principles that make us good on mental health cases make us good at non-mental health cases.

Except there is stiff resistance to allowing this to happen.

The most common argument against expanding the office beyond mental health cases is cost. But its also political.

We dont want the creation of a total public defender program because it is our impression it would be much more expensive overall than just to keep the system the way we have it running, which is court appointments, said John A. Longoria, the administrative judge for Bexars County courts-at-law, which handle misdemeanors.

An expanded office would allow the creation of a self-serving operation, he added. It would help a director that wants to create his own kingdom, lets say, or his own operation.

But Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said he is very impressed with the work Young has done with the public defenders office and would like to expand it to emulate Harris County. But that means convincing judges of the value of a fuller public defenders office.

That is the decision they can make, he said. And you only need to read between the lines. Who funds the judges (political campaigns)? It isnt the public defender.

Arguably, the most obvious source of tension is in the family violence courts, where public defenders formally cannot practice.

The countys indigent defense plan exempts the family violence courts from public defender representation on mental health cases. Beyond this, the public defenders misdemeanor trial division is restricted to one court.

Judges Crystal Chandler and Eugenia Genie Wright, who oversee the family violence courts, said they are fine with transferring defendants with mental health issues to the mental health court, but those cases dont go to trial and many defendants dont want such intensive programming.

As for the public defenders misdemeanor trial division, Chandler and Wright said county funding has limited that pilot program to Judge Scott Roberts court. Roberts oversees the mental health court, which has been a primary place of practice for the public defenders office.

This should change. Public defenders are licensed attorneys who should be allowed to practice in all courts. Beyond this, Roberts told us he has been very happy with how the public defenders have operated in his court.

Speaking in general terms, not in response to his colleagues on the bench, Roberts said the public defenders who represent mental health defendants have done an outstanding job navigating complicated and challenging cases.

I am very pleased with their performance, he said.

As for the misdemeanor trial program, which involves non-mental health cases, he said the public defenders have worked hard and represented their clients seriously.

So, why not expand it? He thought the biggest obstacle to expansion was cost, but from our perspective, the politics are undeniable.

It is true that it would cost more to expand the public defenders office, just as it would cost more to boost the pay of private court-appointed attorneys. But the reality is the system only maintains the appearance of parity  and Bexar County spends the least per case on indigent defense among Texas major urban counties.

In fiscal year 2017, the district attorneys office had a general fund budget of about $33 million. The county spent about $1.1 million on its public defenders office and a little more than $13 million on appointed attorneys.

On its face, this isnt a fair comparison. The district attorneys office does much more than prosecute indigent cases, so we asked District Attorney Nico LaHood how much of his budget is roughly dedicated to prosecuting indigent cases. He declined our interview request, but his office provided a statement saying such data were not tracked and the financial status of a defendant is not a factor in prosecutions.

We turned to former District Attorney Susan Reed, who said she thought spending was comparable once costs such as benefits, overhead, victim advocacy and civil cases were taken out of the equation. But several others were skeptical those costs equal $19 million.

Whatever the case, a closer examination shows more nuanced differences. For example, according to county data provided several months ago, the highest paid staff attorney (excluding Young) in the public defenders office makes $92,340. But more than 50 attorneys (excluding the district attorney) in the district attorneys office earn more than that. And there are three public defenders who make less than every prosecutor.

Also, the public defenders office does not have an investigator or a social worker.

But perhaps most telling is what Bexar County spends per indigent defense case. In fiscal 2017, it was $316. Travis County was next lowest at $450, and El Paso County led the way at $697 per case. Year after year, Bexar consistently spends the least on indigent defense per case as compared with other urban counties.

Much of this is driven by Bexars flat fee of $140 for a misdemeanor. Misdemeanors make up the bulk of indigent defense work, according to state data. Of the nearly 40,000 indigent cases in Bexar County in 2017, nearly 23,000 were misdemeanors involving adults. The county spent more than $13 million on private attorneys to provide indigent defense in that time, but such misdemeanors only accounted for about $2.5 million.

The dynamic is clear: The flat fee of $140 is such a low rate, it creates a disincentive for court-appointed attorneys to put time into cases. On the felony side, fees are often hourly and can be itemized.

Consider the cases of Simone Oliver and Shamika Prince, two indigent defendants who were recently bailed out of Bexar County Adult Detention Center as part of a bail reform event. Both said they had spent about two weeks in jail without seeing their court-appointed attorneys.

Young, the chief public defender, said attorneys in his office are required to speak with their clients within one business day.

But Olivers attorney, Carlo Key, a former judge who is running to return to the bench, told us the $140 reimbursement rate just is not enough to do the work. On this point, the countys indigent defense plan is depressingly vague about when an attorney-client interview needs to occur. It says this should happen as soon as practicable.

You get these appointments, and you do your best, Key said. Im not the public defender.

But he is acting as one whenever he is assigned an indigent case. Private or public, the representation should be equivalent, and its clearly not.

To make it equivalent, Bexar County must expand its public defenders office beyond such a narrow scope and also ensure its attorneys can practice in all courts. But that alone is not enough. Reforms are desperately needed for the private court-appointed attorneys to better create a consistent and fair system.

Next Sunday: What has to happen on that pressing issue.

This editorial is part of the Unequal Justice series, which explores the inequities in Bexar County's criminal justice system and how they can be fixed.
Wear earplugs when you sleep at night  even if you don't need them to block out noise.

That goes double for you people in Florida.

For the second time in about a month, a cockroach has crawled deep into the ear of a sleeping Sunshine State resident and made itself comfortable.

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Blake Collins went straight to the hospital after he felt and heard  the insect intruding in his ear canal.

"I could hear his legs inside me. It felt like someone was shoving a Q-tip all the way inside my head and there was nothing I could do to stop it," he told the paper.

A doctor used a syringe to squirt Lidocaine into Collins' ear, which allowed him to intimately experience the death throes of a distressed cockroach.

"When he poured the Lidocaine in, I could feel him go super, super fast, kicking and try to dig its way out, and a faint little squeal and then two minutes later, it just stopped and he died," Collins said. "I heard it die in my head."

But before it died, the German cockroach, laid an egg sac. Fortunately, the doctor was able to fish out the egg case, which can contain up to 50 baby creepy-crawlies.

Earlier last month, a Florida woman suffered a similarly gruesome ear invasion and went to a hospital ER, the Washington Post reported. Doctors killed the cockroach, which they mistook for a juvenile, and removed what they thought was its whole body.

It wasn't. The corpse of a full-grown palmetto remained lodged in her ear for nine days.

Why do cockroaches love to crawl into the ears of sleeping humans?

The Verge recently posed that question to Coby Schal, an entomologist at North Carolina State University.

Cockroaches are, of course, most active at night when people are asleep. They like warm, humid, protected places where it's safe to rest or grab a snack.

Yes, when roaches want to get away from it all, they seek sanctuary in a cozy man cave. And nothing is more literally a man cave than the human ear canal.

Schal explained that cockroaches find chemicals known as volatile fatty acids, which are released by fermented foods like beer, bread and cheese, irresistible. To a roach, earwax smells like a nicely aged asiago.

Invariably, the human reacts by frantically trying to extract the intruder, which often causes the roach to burrow deeper until it gets stuck. If it survives, it can last for about a week without food or water.

MORE: Popular Sacramento brewery pub closes after roaches, weevils found in kitchen

If, however, it ends up squished by the prodding and scratching, its spilled body contents can release hordes of bacteria. The bacteria can cause infections that could potentially lead to hearing loss.

Should you be unfortunate enough to have a cockroach scurry into your ear, get to a hospital as soon as possible.

MORE: The 25 cities with the worst cockroach infestations

If you are nowhere near a hospital, try flushing your ear passage with mineral oil or olive oil.

The worst thing you can do is to use a Q-tip as a battering ram.

Roaches crawling into ears is a relatively rare occurrence, and most people have little to fear from the revolting critters. Still, a 1993 study of ear foreign-body removal found that one hospital in Los Angeles County had 43 cases of cockroach ear over the course of one year.

Why take chances? Those earplugs are cheap.
VICE President General Constantino Chiwenga yesterday urged the security forces to be vigilant and patriotic as some elements were bent on reversing the gains of independence as the country prepares for harmonised elections set for July 30.

He said they should all work on ensuring that elections were held in a free, fair and credible environment.

VP Chiwenga made the remarks at the graduation ceremony of Junior Staff Course Number 69 held at the Zimbabwe Staff College at Josiah Magama Tongogara Barracks in Harare.

A total of 40 officers from the Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services as well as four others from Botswana, eSwatini, Tanzania and Zambia graduated.

VP Chiwenga said the defence of this nation and the region must always be entrusted to principled and patriotic officers, endowed with professional integrity gained through such interactive training.

I therefore urge you to remain vigilant and patriotic as some elements bent on reversing the gains of our independence are always looking for the slightest opportunity to exploit.

This is particularly so as the country prepares for the 2018 harmonised elections to be held on 30th July 2018. We should all work towards ensuring that the elections are held in a free, fair and credible environment, he said.

VP Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, said the ministry was aware of the challenges being faced by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces especially in the area of conditions of services.

He said lack of adequate accommodation and remuneration were areas of great concern.

VP Chiwenga said Government was looking into the concerns and once a viable solution has been found, it would be communicated to them.

He said Government attaches great value to training and education.

VP Chiwenga said investment in professional training and career development activities had over the years seen the ZDF attaining high levels of discipline, loyalty and dedication that has become the envy of many.

This prestigious status enjoyed by our Defence Forces is the culmination of a long tradition that recognises the importance of training as the foundation of success for our Defence Forces as it endeavours to adequately fulfil its constitutional role of maintaining peace and stability locally, regionally and internationally, he said.

VP Chiwenga said the ZDF successfully participated in the Mozambican Campaign, Peace Support Operations in Somalia and Angola, Operation Sovereign Legitimacy in the Democratic Republic of Congo and had current deployments of Military Observers and staff officers in South Sudan, Darfur and Liberia, which all testify to the internationally acceptable professionalism.

He said history had taught them that any military outfit can have modern equipment and greater numerical numbers but without adequately trained and motivated workforce, that military outfit was bound to fail in the accomplishment of its objectives.

VP Chiwenga said contrary to common belief, the Defence Forces were not only there for wars but their constitutional mandate was to provide a conducive environment for socio economic development and national prosperity.

The professional conduct and dedication to duty by our Defence Forces, which has seen the country enjoy a relatively peaceful environment since the end of the colonial era, is clear testimony of the value our Defence Forces attach to this great nation. The professionalism being cultivated through such training as that which has culminated in todays graduation has helped the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to establish an amicable and good working relationship with the general populace wherever they are deployed, he said.

VP Chiwenga said the ZDF shares the Sadcs view on the importance of strong military cooperation as was evidenced by its participation in Sadc Joint Military Training Exercises.

He said the ZDF will continue to participate in military exchange programmes with other Defence Forces in the region.

The ceremony was attended by all service chiefs and senior and junior officers from all security structures.

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- A suspect in Lagos, identified as James Nwagalezi, has been arraigned in court for committing cyber theft

- As charged, Nwagalezi hacked into a bank's app, and stole N207 million, having conspired with Okoli Nmesoma, another suspect already facing trial

- His case, presided by Magistrate B. I. Bakare, has been adjourned to Wednesday, June 4

A 28-year-old suspect, identified as James Nwagalezi, was on Thursday, June 7, arraigned before a Lagos magistrate court for reportedly conspiring with Okoli Nmesoma, who was facing trial, in hacking into the app of a bank and stealing N207 million.

Photo of the cyber theft suspect James Nwagazeli (Photo Credit: Gist town Media)

The police has filed a four-count charge against Nwagalezi revolving around felony, unlawfully hacking into bank account and theft, Vanguard reports.

READ ALSO: National Assembly lacks power to declare no-confidence vote on IGP - Malami

Inspector Jimoh Joseph, the police prosecutor, told the court that the defendant and others still at large carried out the crime on Friday, April 27 at Igboelerin, Okokomaiko, Ojo, Lagos.

Joseph said: "The management of the bank at its headquarters in Lagos reported the fraud to the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Ikoyi Division, SP Tijani Mustapha, who directed a crack team led by Inspector Tope Ijatuyi to fish out the suspects.

Nwagalezi was arrested after several months of manhunt. His arrest brings the number of suspects arrested and charged to court to six. The Police are still hunting for more suspects involved in the alleged fraud.

The prosecutor said that the offences are punishable under Sections 411, 387, 287 and 325 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos state, 2015. Reacting to the charges against him, Nwagalezi pleaded not guilty.

Magistrate B. I. Bakare granted him N1 million bail, with two sureties in like sum, stressing that one of them must be a leader in a neighbouring community.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

Bakare adjourned the case till Wednesday, July 4, and ruled that the defendant be remanded at the Ikoyi prison, pending the perfection of his bail terms.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that a group of Nigerian hackers described as Gold Galleon had been reported as being responsible for invading the cyberspace of shipping firms and stealing thousands of dollars from them.

This was revealed by Secureworks, a network security firm whose focus was the maritime industry.

Lagos Police Commissioner parades suspected criminals (Nigeria News) | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Dino Melaye said the ruling party, APC, is suffering from abnormality'

- The senator also said the rift between the National Assembly and the executive is not abnormal

The senator representing Kogi west senatorial district, Dino Melaye, has described the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), as sick one suffering from abnormalities and in need of quick intervention.

Melaye, who is a member of APC, made the statement on Channels TV during a programme on Friday, June 8.

The embattled senator, who is currently facing some criminal charges, however, said he doesn't have a problem with the party.

READ ALSO: FG denies witch-hunting past leaders

He said: "My party may have a problem with Nigerians because of the way it is presently being run.

I will not run away from the fact that the APC is sick. And its not only sick but is equally suffering from what I call a dreadful continental abnormality.

There is a need for amelioration. There is no doubt the APC is sick.

Melaye, while reacting to the tussle between the National Assembly and the executive arm of the government, however said the fight is necessary to strengthen democracy.

He said: If you expect a romance between the executive and the legislature, then you are no longer in democracy. We can partner to make Nigeria progress but there is not supposed to be any romance.

"When you see two friends going into the same room and they come out laughing, then they are deceiving themselves.

What is happening is not abnormal, what is happening in the constitutional duty of the legislature to check the roles of the executive."

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a chief magistrates court in Wuse, Abuja, has granted Senator Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi) leave to travel to the United States for an appointment with his physician.

The embattled senator was on May 2 arraigned before a court on charges bordering on his alleged escape from a police vehicle in Abuja on April 24, 2018.

Dino Melaye and 2019 Criminal Conspiracy | - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ng
- Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh turned 33 on Saturday, June 9

- She hosts some of her friends to a breakfast buffet at the prestigious Hilton Hotel in Abuja

- The celebrities also went with her to do some charity work at IDP camps in Abuja

Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh turned 33 on Saturday, June 9 and to kick start the day she hosted a handful of celebrities to a mouth-watering breakfast buffet at Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

The mother of one was surrounded by her close friends like cross dresser Bobrisky, bleaching expert Pela Tonye Okiemute, actresses Toyin Abraham and Halima Abubakar, staff members of TontoDikeh foundation and a host of others.

From the photos posted on Instagram by the celebrant, it was obvious a couple of her guests were lodged in the hotel and were still in the bedroom wears during the buffet.

Bobrisky still had on his hairnet and he was with less makeup, same with Halima and Toyin.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria

After the breakfast, the celebrities went with the celebrant to Gwoza and Bama IDP camp in Abuja where gifts were donated to the needy.

Earlier in the day, Tonto released a new set of stunning photos where everything went pink all for her 33rd birthday.

READ ALSO: Ebonyi born pastor embraces Islam after encounter with Allah (video)

Legit.ng had reported earlier that Tonto Dikeh's ex-husband with the photos making rounds on the internet seems to have also moved on with his life.

The acclaimed philanthropist took to his Instagram handle to share some photos of him and his new found love. His assumed new lover also has something in common with the actress, they share the same birthday, June 9.

Women need to work ten times harder to get noticed in the Nigerian music industry on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit
Marking the start of Celebrate Strawberry Season, IFA President Joe Healy has called on consumers and retailers to support the Irish strawberry sector - a vital indigenous industry worth 47m at farm gate, with 57 growers producing over 8,000 tonnes annually.

Joe Healy said, Soft fruit producers have endured an extremely difficult period over recent months. The cumulative impact of crop losses and structural damage resulting from storms Ophelia and Emma have cost the sector over 2 million. The impact of these weather events has been compounded by the ongoing labour issues, and the simultaneous increase in virtually all input costs across all businesses.

Mr Healy reminded consumers that Irish strawberry growers adhere to voluntary quality assurance schemes, which ensure the highest standards on traceability, food hygiene, workers rights and sustainability. However, he said, this compliance creates an increasing financial burden on primary producers, which is not currently being recognised by retailers.

Sales of fruit continue to increase in volume year on year but, it is critical that strawberries are treated as a premium product and not devalued in the eyes of the consumer, Joe Healy said.

Although Irish strawberries are synonymous with the Irish summer, growers have made sizable investments on their farms to extend the production season beyond the summer months. Fresh fruit is now available to the Irish consumer from April right through to November, in an industry that accounts for 1,000 rural jobs

Buying Irish strawberries means that, as well as supporting a locally grown product and local industry, consumers also benefit from the nutritional and health benefits of strawberries. They are naturally high in vitamins C and K as well as a good source of fibre, folic acid and phytonutrients known as anthocyanins.
In the margins of the NATO Defence Ministers meeting on Thursday (7 June 2018), the Defence Ministers of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the creation of a Composite Special Operations Component Command (C-SOCC). Once operational, this tri-national Special Forces Command will participate in the NATO Response Force and could support NATO operations, as well as other multinational missions.

The three Ministers launched the preparatory work for forming the C-SOCC by signing a Letter of Intent in February 2017. The C-SOCC is scheduled to reach initial operational capability in 2019, and will be fully operational in 2021.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller praised this initiative as extremely timely, explaining that NATO recognised the need for this expertise when establishing our Special Operations Headquarters in Mons, Belgium. She added that this tri-national initiative serves as an important reminder that Special Operations Forces today increasingly operate in a multinational context.

NATOs Special Operations Headquarters in Mons is providing advice and support for the development of C-SOCC, ensuring that it is developed in line with NATO doctrine and standards.
On Sunday, 10 June and Monday, 11 June 2018, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will travel to the Republic of Italy.

On Sunday, the Secretary General will have a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Enzo Moavero.

On Monday 11 June, Mr. Stoltenberg ill meet with the new-elected Prime Minister, Mr. Giuseppe Conte as well as the Minister of Defence, H.E. Dr. Elisabetta Trenta.

Media Advisory

09:50 Joint press statements by the Secretary General and the Prime Minister  Palazzo Chigi

Still and video images will be available on the NATO website after the event.

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress, @NATODepspox and @jensstoltenberg.)
(Natural News) The Patriot group of ex-military, police officers and first responders is calling for volunteers with certain skill sets to join a search and rescue mission near Tucson, Arizona, to hunt for suspected child sex trafficking camps.

The call comes on the heels of a report by Veterans On Patrol (VOP) that members claim to have discovered evidence indicating children are being assaulted sexually and abused, perhaps by members of Mexican drug cartels and human traffickers.

A week ago, VOP released disturbing images and video footage of a suspected camp near Tucson including what appears to be a so-called rape tree containing straps and restraints as well as a suspicious water or septic tank that could be used as a shelter or to hold victims.

In addition, VOP members discovered childrens toys and clothing as well as pornographic magazines and materials, Oath Keepers said in an announcement on the organizations website regarding Operation Child Shield.

It could have been a homeless camp, where the people were just weird or mentally ill. But there are a group of trees that look like rape trees, said Craig Sawman Sawyer, a former U.S. Navy SEAL sniper and founder of Vets 4 Child Rescue, in an interview with The Hagmann Report on Monday.

Rape trees are essentially what the drug traffickers, coyotes, tend to want to use to rape people. They tie them to it and take their undergarments and hang them up on the trees as some sort of trophy. We found in this camp a group of trees with all manner of fires hoses nailed to them and loops and different straps and different types of rope.

Sawyer said he was one of the persons who personally inspected the site. Others who joined him said people came away traumatized by what they witnessed at the site, including finding kid toys, boxes of condoms, and combs containing blonde hair.

Some said there may even be graves.

Oath Keepers said that in response to the initial report the group sent some of our most experienced Arizona LEO (law enforcement officer) leaders to the site to inspect it and interview witnesses.

The group said that based on those interviews and the assessment of Sawyer and other former military members and EMS professionals, it was compelled to act.

[W]e feel honor bound to deploy our most experienced LEO, military, and search and rescue personnel to search for additional possible sites of human trafficking and suspected child sex trafficking in the Tucson area, the organization said in its call for volunteers and donations for the mission. (Related: #MAGA  Trump admin planning MASSIVE round-up of illegal aliens in sanctuary state California as local leaders pledge resistance)

Sawyer said he also noticed several bottles of brown hair dye. Those who are familiar with cartel-related human-and-sex traffickers note that the trade goes both ways across the border  south to north and north to south  for delivery to pedophiles in North, Central and South America.

American children who are blonde are much more easily smuggled north-to-south if their hair is darker.

Oath Keepers said members spoke with a currently-serving paramedic and former U.S. Army MP who served along the Mexican border in 2008-09. The paramedic said that what he saw in the VOP video is entirely consistent with the rape trees he saw during that Defense Department operation. He also recounted several instances where migrants reported being raped by their smugglers. That included children being raped in front of their parents.

In addition, some migrants reported that their children had been taken from them by the smugglers and never seen or heard from again.

Anyone who wishes to volunteer for the mission is instructed to email Oath Keepers at [email protected].

Expect to be heavily and closely vetted, the organization said of anyone seeking to volunteer.

See more here.

Read more at InvasionUSA.news.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

OathKeepers.org

TheNationalSentinel.com
A Bay Area man who was out on bail after being accused of shooting at security cameras in San Jose last year, was arrested again for trying to buy and build a gun in Utah.

Nicholas OConnor, 21, was accused of shooting at security cameras on the campuses of Willow Glen High School and Booksin Elementary last year. After being arrested and while on bail, he attended classes at Utah State University where officers say some of OConnors fellow students were asked to help him make a gun.

"They were approached and asked to have gun parts sent to their addresses after Mister OConnor bought them anonymously," Mike Kuehn from the Utah State Police Department said. "They came forward and said, 'we befriended this individual and he approached us with a strange request,' he wanted them to buy gun parts, and pay them for that."

Since making a gun was a violation of his parole, OConnor was brought back to the South Bay, and sent to county jail with no bail.

"It was important, especially given what's going on on campuses nationwide, it's important to be vigilant when it comes to gun crimes and gun violence," said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Brian King.

OConnor has a court date on the original charges from last year in a couple of weeks.
A San Jose neighborhood is angry following the death of a puppy involved in a hit and run Thursday.

Brownie, a Chihuahua mix, was hit by a driver in a silver Ford Mustang Fastback as he ran on to the street near Downtown.

The neighborhood association has complained to the city about speeding traffic in the area, and they say it was a contribution to Brownies death.

"Actually walking up to him to grab him., thats when it hit me," said Monica Vega, Brownies owner. "It was like 'oh my god, its my dog, hes dead.'"

Brownie was in the Vega family for seven years.

"Its obvious from the videos that they knew they'd run over something with both the front and rear tires," said neighbor Jeff Levine. "So its nothing they can say 'oh I didnt realize I'd hit anything.' Its cowardly. Its disgusting."

More than one million dogs are reportedly killed nationally every year, but many people, including Brownies family, arent aware of the law of pet hit and run.

In California, a pet dog is a living piece of "property," so a driver is legally responsible to try to find the owner, or leave a note.

A misdemeanor conviction could mean a $1 thousand fine and up to six months in jail.

Brownies family plans to pursue the driver.

"Were going to try to do it, but for now were focused on trying to call places to cremate him and basically put him down, make sure hes happy," said owner Jose Garcia.
San Franciscos gritty Tenderloin can often be a street theater of sorts  a scrum of humanity in frenetic pursuits of survival.

But above the din of the neighborhoods streets, the exterior walls of the historic Cadillac Hotel have become their own theatrical stage as a troupe of acrobatic performers twirl, pirouette and soar far above the streets.

The artistic dance troupe Flyaway Productions is staging aerial performances this week and next in a unique homage to the attributes of the Loin  often overshadowed by its seedy underbelly.

In a series of dance vignettes set some three flights up, dancers pay tribute to the neighborhoods scrappy spirit.

So were really using a deep physicality and a deep push against gravity in our effort to honor political activism, said Jo Kreiter, Flyaway Productions founder and artistic director.

After days of rehearsals that drew upward gazes from the neighborhoods residents, the troupe launched its run on Thursday night in a performance titled Tender.

A trio of women working on a trapeze-like bar symbolized the Tenderloins early days in 1917 when working-class people flocked to the neighborhood and women began to venture out unaccompanied.

A second act takes place with two women performing aerial maneuvers on a boat-like structure in tribute to the Vietnamese immigrants who flocked to the neighborhood in the seventies and had a heavy influence on the neighborhoods culture.

Were dancing on a boat that we constructed, Kreiter said, looking at the experience of the boat people coming from Vietnam.

In another piece, a transgender performer gyrates on a fire escape while a drag queen applies her makeup in front of a mirror. The vignette pays homage to the Compton Cafeteria riots, a clash between transgender women and police in 1966 that helped advance the rights of transgender people.

I hope that this piece will make people feel as though their story is being told, said dancer Honey Mahogny who plays the drag queen. That theyll see themselves in some of these stories.

The dance troupe is teaming-up with the Tenderloin Museum which occupies a corner of the Cadillac Hotel, which was purchased by Leroy and Kathy Looper in 1977 and turned into the citys first non-profit SRO. Leroy Looper died several years ago and the performance also honors Kathy Looper who still runs the hotel. The museum, which is marking its three-year anniversary, chronicles the neighborhoods long and colorful history through a series of exhibits.

So by an extension of that, Tender is our exhibits come to life on the side of the building, said museum director Katie Conry.

The unexpected aerial dances, complete with colorful lighting and soundtracks have drawn diverse crowds, surprised to stumble on the unusual performance. During a dress-rehearsal Wednesday night, neighbor Coquese Coleman stared upward, transfixed by a trapeze artist swinging outside the building as another dancer gyrated on a mattress in reference to the citys housing crisis.

Its amazing to do that, marveled Coleman. Just to do that and to have the heart to hang around and dance and float  takes a lot of heart.

The performances have drawn a melting pot of people as tech workers cluster alongside the homeless people and Tenderloin SRO residents to watch the spectacle. Kreiter said the free performances are aimed at bringing art to a wide audience.

Because a lot of people in the Tenderloin are low income, barely holding on, they cant afford to go out to see the opera, the ballet, Kreiter said, so were trying to bring that caliber of art here.

Following a Friday matinee, the building will host a performance Friday night at 8:30pm, and on Saturday at 8:30pm and 9:30 pm.

There will be a second run of performances on June 14th - 16th as well.
San Jose Police Officer Jesse Villaescusa knows there is always a chance the next call will send him rushing to save someones life. One of those calls came recently, but not when he was in uniform, and not the way he expected.

He is now preparing to donate his bone marrow in hopes of saving the life of a former United States Marine.

"I had been selected as a possible match for a patient," said Villaescusa.

After the call, the police officer suddenly found himself on a different mission, one that doesnt require a badge and a gun, but rather bone marrow, and a heart. Villaescusa just happens to have all four.

"I could have been anything," he said. "I could have been homeless and if they would have called, I would have still been happy to do it."

The officer doesnt know who the patient is, only that shes a minor, and hell have to travel out of state for the procedure in the next couple weeks.

"Its just another example of these officers stepping up and doing what they need to do for our community," said San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia. "Whether public safety or an issue like this."

A cop whos used to chasing bad guys is now temporarily trading his uniform for a hospital gown, and a badge of courage.

"I wouldnt look at it as a super power," said Villaescusa. "I was just born with the right blood, born lucky. But Im happy to do it and glad Im given the opportunity to help somebody out in that way."

Officer Villaescusa hopes to draw attention to bone marrow donation, and he hopes more people sign up for the registry.



To donate, click here.
"We didnt know what to expect but he turns out to be a real good guy. Exactly how he is on TV."



That's how Gene Yoneda, the owner of the oldest restaurant in San Jose's Japantown, described Anthony Bourdain.

Bourdain visited Minato two years ago and ordered Japanese curry, sashimi and tempura, Yoneda recalled. "He could eat anywhere in the world and chooses 20 or 30 restaurants a year so its quite an honor," he said.

Bourdain was found dead in France, where he was filming a new episode for his hit CNN show "Parts Unknown", in an apparent suicide. Wherever he went, he touched people with his kindness and empathy, including here in the Bay Area.

"His social conscience, the way he writes stories and gets into the culture, besides the food, politics even," said Yoneda on why millions of people watched Bourdain travel the world.

People even came to the restaurant Friday after they heard about Bourdain's death, according to Yoneda.

"He was 61, which is pretty young but you never know whats going on inside someones head."

Anthony Bourdains Favorite Places in San Francisco
Police are investigating a deadly shooting that happened Friday evening in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Officers responded to 10 Arthur St. after receiving multiple 911 calls for a report of a shooting around 6:14 p.m.

The victim, who has since been identified as 21-year-old Anthony Baker, of Brockton, was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where he was pronounced dead.



Police do not believe this was a random shooting, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.

This is an active and ongoing investigation by State and local police.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Massachusetts State Police detectives at 508-923-4014 or Brockton police at 508-897-5234.
This will be a big weekend for music lovers in Vermont's largest city.

The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is marking its 35th year with concerts all around the city, with one of the original stars of the smash Broadway hit "Hamilton" joining the celebration.

"It is my first performance in Vermont  my first time visiting Vermont," said musical artist Leslie Odom Jr.

Odom, a Tony winner for his leading role as Aaron Burr in "Hamilton," is one of the headliners of the second weekend of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, giving a sold-out concert at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts Friday night.

"We're going to try to get in a zip line or a hike or something while we're here, I think," Odom said of his visit to Vermont with his wife.

The Jazz Fest is celebrating 35 years in 2018.

It's 10 days long, and along with ticketed shows, showcases at least 100 hours of free music  much of it on the city's famous Church Street Marketplace.

"The free programming is something that's very important to the festival, because it's supposed to be accessible to the whole community," said Chelsea Lafayette, the managing director of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival.

Percussionist and band leader Sasha Berliner is performing late Friday at the FlynnSpace with her quartet.

"It's really impressive that this isn't happening in some major city," Berliner observed of the level of passion for live music in Burlington. "The turnout is incredible, and there's such a sense of community."

The event is drawing applause from the downtown business community, too.

Leunig's Bistro says the Jazz Fest is a major attraction which helps boost outdoor seating at a critical time for the marketplace.

"If we didn't have a nice summer, there's a good chance many of us might not survive the winter," Bob Conlon of Leunig's said of Church Street merchants that benefit from the Jazz Fest.

Festival organizers said they're already planning next year's event, and are even looking forward to the 40th annual Jazz Fest several years down the line.

As for Odom, the star of stage and screen said he's thrilled to be a part of such a long-running community tradition.

"We hope you guys dig it," he said of his performance Friday night.
A man driving under the influence is suspected of causing a head-on collision early Friday that left a Lyft passenger dead and two others injured in the Logan Square neighborhood just north of Humboldt Park, police said.

The two-vehicle crash happened about 3:55 a.m. in the 1600 block of North Humboldt Boulevard when a 25-year-old man driving a Toyota Avalon crossed over the center line and struck a Toyota Camry, according to Chicago Police.

A 23-year-old woman who was a Lyft passenger in the Camry was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. A 32-year-old woman who was driving the vehicle for Lyft was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition. Another passenger, a 31-year-old man, was also taken to Stroger, where he was listed in good condition.

The womans death has not been confirmed by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office.

The driver of the Avalon was taken to Mount Sinai in custody on suspicion that he was under the influence at the time of the crash, police said. Charges were pending.

A spokeswoman with Lyft offered condolences for this involved.

We are deeply saddened by this incident. Our sympathies and hearts go out to the loved ones of the driver and passengers during this difficult time, the emailed statement read. We have reached out to the driver and have been in touch with the passengers family to offer our full support. We stand ready to assist law enforcement in any investigation.

The police departments Major Accidents Unit was investigating the crash.
Federal charges have been filed against two men who allegedly shot and critically wounded an ATF agent during a drug operation Thursday.

Bernard Graham, of Calumet City, and Blake King, of Chicago, were both charged with three crimes, including assaulting a federal officer, use of a deadly weapon and infliction of bodily injury, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

King is currently in police custody, but Graham remains at large, according to officials.

The charges were filed via criminal complaint, and officials will soon seek a formal indictment from a federal grand jury. Those indictments could come with additional charges.

A third suspect, identified by officials as Raymond Truitt II, was shot and killed during a gun battle with agents. A fourth suspect, LeAndre Smith, is in custody, but is still awaiting arraignment on charges.

According to officials, Smith was attempting to sell illegal firearms to an ATF informant as part of an undercover sting operation in Chicago. The transaction was discussed for several days, and as part of the deal Smith travelled to the intersection of 5th and Kentucky in Gary on Thursday to meet with the informant.

Smith then introduced the undercover informant to Truitt, who was allegedly Smiths firearms dealer. Graham allegedly possessed the firearms that the informant was going to buy, and the informant returned to a vehicle, where two agents were stationed, to get money for the transaction.

King handed the informant a bag, saying that the weapons were inside, but the bag actually contained kitchen pots and pans. King then allegedly pulled the informants shirt over his head, and then Truitt and Graham opened fire, striking an ATF agent twice.

Truitt was later killed when the agents returned fire, according to officials.

The alleged conduct of these defendants is atrocious, an ATF spokesman said. If convicted, we will seek severe consequences for their conduct.

The agent was later transported to a local hospital in critical condition, but his condition has since stabilized and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

The operation began in south Chicago and continued onto Lansing and Gary, according to authorities.

Meanwhile, a police chase that took place in Gary around the same time as the shootings appears to be unrelated to the crime, according to officials. That chase left eight people injured, including two people who were airlifted to area hospitals.
Famed chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain died by suicide Friday at age 61, CNN reported.

Bourdain had a well-documented love for Chicago, featuring the city in an episode of each of his three programs: "No Reservations," "The Layover," and most recently, "Parts Unknown."

Before the Chicago episode of "Parts Unknown" aired in 2016, Bourdain wrote a love letter to the city that highlighted exactly what he loved about the town the native New Yorker once called "the only other real metropolis in America."

Below is Bourdain's essay, entitled "The Chorus," in its entirety:

I spend a lot of my life  maybe even most of my life these days  in hotels. And it can be a grim and dispiriting feeling, waking up, at first unsure of where you are, what language theyre speaking outside. The room looks much the same as other rooms. TV. Coffee maker on the desk. Complimentary fruit basket rotting on the table. The familiar suitcase.

All too often, particularly in America, Ill walk to the window and draw back the curtains, looking to remind myself where I might be-and it doesnt help at all. The featureless, anonymous skyline that greets me is much the same as the previous citys and the city before that.

This is not a problem in Chicago.

You wake up in Chicago, pull back the curtain and you KNOW where you are. You could be nowhere else. You are in a big, brash, muscular, broad shouldered motherf***in city. A metropolis, completely non-neurotic, ever-moving, big hearted but cold blooded machine with millions of moving parts  a beast that will, if disrespected or not taken seriously, roll over you without remorse.

It is, also, as I like to point out frequently, one of Americas last great NO BULLS**T zones. Pomposity, pretentiousness, putting on airs of any kind, douchery and lack of a sense of humor will not get you far in Chicago. It is a trait shared with Glasgow  another city I love with a similar working class ethos and history.

But those looking for a Chicago Show on this weeks PARTS UNKNOWN will likely be disappointed. There are no Italian beef scenes, no hot dogs, no Chicago blues, and there sure as s**t aint no deep dish pizza. Weve done all those things  on those other shows. And we might well do them again someday.

I like Chicago. So, any excuse to come back, for me, is a good one. Its not a fair show, its not comprehensive, its not the best of the city, or what you need to know or any of those things. If youre gonna cry that I missed an iconic feature of Chicago life  or that there are better Italian restaurants than Topo Gigio, then you missed the point and can move right on over to Travel Channel where somebody is pretending to like deep dish pizza right now.

This is a show that grew out of my interest and affection for the Ale House in Chicagos Old Town, and its proprietor, Bruce Cameron Elliot.

Ever since reading on the Twitter feed of the late great Roger Ebert that he read Bruces blog  Geriatric Genius every day, I have followed it faithfully. In fact, I went back years, tracking previous entries. It is in total, a breathtaking work, encompassing the daily lives (and deaths) and misadventures of the Ale House clientele  many of whom, I think it is fair to say, are heavy drinkers. Though cranky, occasionally pugilistic, opinionated, politically incorrect, sexually crude, and an awful speller, Bruce has, without judgement, chronicled the trajectories of a spellbinding array of characters. Whole lives pass, his characters rise and fall  and literally fall apart  as with one character, Ruben 9 Toes, who then went on to become Ruben 8 Toes then 4 Toes before dying last year. Bruces closest associate, Street Jimmy is a crackhead whos lived on the streets of Chicago ( no small feat) for over a decade  and his Greek chorus of bar regulars offer a perspective on Chicago that I thought deserved highlighting.

We visit with hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco and his extraordinary family, with chef Stephanie Izard, legendary producer Steve Albini and others  but the beating heart of this show is the Ale House and its resident artist (Bruces paintings of his customers, living and dead  as well as his portraits of politicians of both parties often depicted being penetrated inappropriately are world famous).

I urge you to visit his blog. And to go back and start a few years back.

There is something about the Ale House  its willingness to accept all who stagger in its doors (though there is, famously a NO SHOT list), its morbid sense of humor, its never ending flow of opinions, well formed and not, its willingness to scrap  that serves for me, as a happy metaphor for a city I love.

---

SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: Here is information on suicide prevention from the National Institute of Mental Health.

If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting Home to 741741.
Chefs across Connecticut are reacting on social media after learning of the death of celebrity chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain.

The 61-year old was found unresponsive Friday in a hotel in France, where he had traveled to film his CNN show, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," according to CNN. The cause of death was suicide, according to the network.

Bin222 Panini and Wine Bar in Hartford posted a message in memory of Bourdain.

The Meat Truck in East Haven called Bourdain a culinary giant.

Chef Bun Lai, of Miyas Sushi in East Haven, posted that Bourdains book, Kitchen Confidential, introduced one of the most thoughtful voices of the food world.

Just 18 yrs ago, Anthony Bourdains Kitchen Confidential became Upton Sinclairs The Jungle for r times & of the restaurant industry. The best seller introduced us to what would become one of the most thoughtful voices of the food world. Too soon gone, cheers to #anthonybourdain! pic.twitter.com/qhTubjA9yW  Bun (@MiyasSushi) June 8, 2018

SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: Find information here on suicide prevention from the National Institute of Mental Health. If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting Home to 741741.

The state Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services has posted suicide prevention resources online.
The parents of a 6-week-old baby girl who died last month after suffering severe injuries have been charged with manslaughter.

The baby, Emily Babilonia, died last month. She suffered from cranial bleeding, bruising to the brain, bruising on her jaw and rib fractures, according to police and court paperwork.

The babys parents, 23-year-old Edwin Babilonia and 20-year-old Ashley Perez, of Hartford, were arrested last month and they appeared in court Friday.

The investigation started when police responded to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center on Thursday, May 24 to investigate.

The court paperwork is redacted but says Perez told police that Edwin Babilonia dropped the baby.

Edwin Babilonia initially said Perez had abused the baby on several occasions, but police confronted him about inconsistencies in the statements and he confessed to accidentally dropping the baby and washing her face, according to police.

The baby is a twin and the other infant has been in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families after being evaluated.

Edwin Babilonia and Perez were initially charged with risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons. Police have also charged Edwin Babilonia and Perez with first-degree assault and protective orders have been issued.

Officials said neither parent had a prior record and that officials from DCF said they had no prior involvement with the family.

They parents appeared in court on Friday and both parents have now been charged with manslaughter.

Edwin Babilonia's attorney said his client claims the children were having trouble sleeping and the injuries were accidental.
Local Texas governments spend $2.2 billion on unmet mental health needs, according to the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.



However, many say that's not enough and that a lack of money is causing essential clinics to shut down.



For 40 years, the Galaxy Counseling Center offered mental health services to residents in Garland, but the center recently shut down.



NBC 5 couldn't reach anyone with the center for answers, but Bonnie Cook, Executive Director of the Mental Health of America Greater Dallas chapter suspects the closure was because of a lack of funding.

"Lots of places, lots of counseling centers are closing due to lack of funding," said Cook.



Part of the mission of the organization is to make mental health services just as accessible as basic medical services.



That's now a priority for many, as yet another high profile suicide shines a spotlight on a very private battle.



"If you have cancer, diabetes, heart disease, you're at the doctors office way before stage four," said Cook. "If we got a mental illness, we wait until we are in crisis mode and suicidal and to get help and we are already at stage four."



Cook says people should demand change from their lawmakers and local governing bodies to make suicide prevention and mental wellness a priority.



Next week, Cook and two others will travel to Washington D.C for the annual Mental Health of America conference, where they will meet with federal lawmakers for more funding and policy change.



They also plan to brainstorm with other mental health professionals on better ways to recruit help from like school systems and clergy.



"People are losing their lives because they don't ask for help. If the outreach we do saves one person, then I think that's worth it," said Cook.


A Dallas ISD School Board run off for which early voting has already begun has huge implications for the future of school funding.

The Texas Robin Hood school funding formula now counts Dallas as a property rich district that must share with the poor. The latest estimate is the urban district must send $64 million to the state next year.

Incumbent Bernadette Nutall is the swing vote against a 13 cent property tax rate increase that her challenger supports to help solve the funding issue.

After many years serving in various roles, Nutall won her school board seat in 2009.

Nutall said a large percentage of Dallas school children are living in poverty.

Dont you think those are families, working, living in poverty? And now you want to raise the property taxes so they can get taxed out of their house or lose their house, She said. We the board need to do a better job of managing the taxpayers dollars.

Nutall pushed hard to get a larger share of money from the recent $1.6 billion school bond referendum spent in her District 9. She said voters were promised the bond issue could be handled without a tax increase.

Two years later, we are asking for a tax increase, she said. We need to be people of our word.

Nutalls challenger, is Justin Henry, an attorney and former teacher who moved to the district in 2009.

Weve heard a lot of folks in the community saying we need more resources, Henry said. Theyve shown us that theyre ready for a change.

He received 47% of the vote in a four candidate May primary, short of the 50% needed to avoid a run- off. He supports the property tax increase referendum.

It allows us to put it before the voters and give them an opportunity and a choice if they want to put more of our money into the public schools. I think the city has shown that its committed to our public schools, Henry said.

Southern Methodist University Political Science expert Cal Jillson has been watching Dallas ISD and school tax increase referendums in Texas.

Most tax increases that go before voters actually succeed. But DISD has been blocked, Jillson said. DISD has tried for the last three years to raise taxes on homeowners to improve the schools.

Jillson said the Dallas business community is anxious to see improvements at Dallas ISD continue because continued growth in the city relies on quality of the schools. He said a very small percentage of registered voters typically cast ballots in school board run-offs.

So, a lot rides on this one run off election, Jillson said.

Early voting continues on June 11 and 12 for the June 16 election. Several other run-offs are also underway for city and school seats in North Texas.
A former seminary president dismissed over his response to two rape allegations made by students says he won't give the featured sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting next week in Dallas.

The convention's official news service, Baptist Press, says Paige Patterson announced the decision Friday.

Patterson was dismissed last month from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, because of his response to the two rape allegations. A seminary official says in one case, Patterson wanted to meet with a student who'd told him she'd been raped in order to "break her down."

Patterson also was accused of saying abused women should almost always stay with their husbands.

In a letter Friday, Patterson says none of the allegations are being accurately portrayed and some are false.
Saturday marks one year since a deadly mass shooting rocked a south Fort Worth neighborhood. Seven people were shot, two killed and bullets hit surrounding homes. Police believe it was drug-related. One year later, they've made one arrest but are still looking for multiple suspects.

NBC 5 spoke to one victim's family about their loss and their longing for justice.

"I like that one," said Melinda Hamilton, pointing to a picture of her daughter, Shemeka Rodriguez.

Hamilton keeps pictures of her daughter close. What else can you do when someone you love is snatched away?

"Each day you think about Meka not being here," Hamilton said.

The 32-year-old was killed in South Fort Worth one year ago Saturday, on East Davis Avenue near Evans.

"I really feel like she was left there and still is left there almost a year later," said her sister Renita Rodriguez.

Shemeka Rodriguez was one of seven people shot that night, one of two killed. Fort Worth police say it was part of a drug deal that turned violent. Her family says her boyfriend was the one involved.

"I just want justice for her at end of the day because it wasn't right. It wasn't for her," Rodriguez said.

Hamilton is a longtime community activist who advocates against gun violence as president of the East Fort Worth Neighborhood Coalition.

She's frustrated her daughter's case still hasn't been solved and thinks the circumstances surrounding it and the high crime area where it happened are part of the reason why.

"Like you see these other cases, they take care of them," Hamilton said.

Police have made one arrest but they believe at least two more people are involved and no one who was there that night is talking.

"You have to put yourself in that spot, what if that was you? Hamilton said. And your child, or your brother, whatever, would you want me to say something for you?"

Rodriguezs family doesn't want her written off as just someone running with the wrong crowd.

"No she's not, she's not because she would have given a kidney to a person she didn't even know," said Renita Rodriguez.

For now they'll keep their memories close, next to that ache for justice.

The head of Fort Worth PD's criminal investigation division, Captain Deven Pitt, told NBC 5 this case is still very active. He said a victim's potential involvement in a crime never affects how their case is treated, adding: "Every homicide investigation receives the utmost attention to detail that the victims and families deserve, regardless of where it occurred."
At some restaurants around North Texas, dont be surprised if youre not offered a straw. Dallas based Snappy Salads says its experienced a shortage with manufacturer Aardvark who makes the eco-friendly paper straws its used since 2014.

Founder Chris Dahlander first made the decision to move from plastic to paper after watching a video of a sea turtle found with a plastic straw embedded in its nose.

"We're just killing our oceans. And if we kill our oceans, we're going to kill us, said Dahlander.

But while Dahlander believes he was among the first to make the switch in DFW, hes no longer alone. Aardvark tells him its high demand thats slowed delivery times.

And when Dahlanders delivery didnt arrive in March, he considered returning to plastic for just a moment.

As I think about our mission, it just did not align with our mission, said Dahlander.

So instead, Snappy Salads told customers there wouldnt be straws available unless they brought their own. And though they received push back when they initially made the switch in 2014, this time all they got was support.

So the straw to me is that symbol. Its a symbol of a change. Its a symbol of making a difference in our own personal behaviors on a day to day basis. If we all do it, it will make a huge difference in the world, said Dahlander.

This week, the shipment finally arrived. Still, Dahlander would gladly go without again if it meant more companies like his were making a switch to better the planet.

Its a great problem to have that we are now as a country and, really world-wide looking at this thing thats been polluting our oceans for so long, said Dahlander.

Bon Appetit Management, who owns Fort Worths Cafe Modern, recently announced its restaurants would also do away with plastic straws.

Some environmental groups estimate that by the year 2050, there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has brought new obstruction charges against President Donald Trump's campaign chairman and a longtime associate who prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence.

The indictment was unsealed Friday against Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik just days after prosecutors accused the two men of attempting to tamper with witnesses as Manafort awaits trial on charges related to his foreign lobbying work.

The latest charges increase Manafort's legal jeopardy if he continues an aggressive battle with prosecutors, and could be an effort by Mueller to induce a guilty plea and secure the testimony of a critical campaign adviser to Trump. They also come as Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, have heaped public criticism on the Mueller investigation in an attempt to undermine it.

The charges do not relate to Manafort's work on the Trump campaign or involve allegations of Russian election interference, a fact that the president has routinely noted as he tried to distance himself from his former top campaign adviser.

On Friday, Trump also dismissed any talk of pardoning Manafort or his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who is under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.

"They haven't been convicted of anything. There's nothing to pardon. It is far too early to be thinking about it," Trump told reporters.

The new indictment charges Manafort and Kilimnik with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice related to contacts they had with two witnesses earlier this year. The witnesses, who had worked with Manafort as he represented a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, have told the FBI that they believed Manafort and Kilimnik were trying to get them to lie about the nature of their work.

The charges mark the second time since his October indictment that Manafort has faced additional criminal charges.

Through a spokesman, Manafort, 69, has maintained his innocence. The spokesman, Jason Maloni, said Friday that Manafort and his attorneys were reviewing the new charges.

Kilimnik, 48, has previously declined to comment on the allegations and denied being connected to Russian intelligence agencies. Kilimnik, who prosecutors say lives in Moscow, was not in U.S. custody Friday.

The new charges will factor heavily into whether U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson allows Manafort to remain on house arrest. Citing the allegations, prosecutors have asked Jackson to consider jailing Manafort. A hearing is set for next week.

Jackson previously gave Manafort a pass after federal agents discovered he had ghostwritten an opinion piece in Ukraine even though he was under a gag order in the case. Kilimnik was also involved in that episode.

In the latest charges, prosecutors say the contacts with the witnesses via phone and encrypted messaging applications first occurred in February, shortly after Manafort's co-defendant, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Kilimnik also reached out to witnesses in April.

Court papers show the witnesses told investigators they believed Manafort and Kilimnik were trying to get them to lie about their work with a group of former European politicians known as the Hapsburg group.

The Hapsburg group's work is one of several operations prosecutors say Manafort directed as part of a covert lobbying campaign on behalf of Ukraine, its then-president, Viktor Yanukovych, and the pro-Russian Party of Regions. The work is the basis for the criminal case in Washington where Manafort faces charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, money-laundering conspiracy and false statements.

According to the witnesses, Manafort and Kilimnik appeared to be pressuring them to say the Hapsburg group only worked in Europe, when they knew that they had been secretly paid to lobby in the U.S. Several of the politicians involved have denied any wrongdoing.

A close protege who worked alongside Manafort for years in Ukraine, Kilimnik is the 20th person charged so far in Mueller's investigation. Others include 13 Russians accused in a hidden social media effort to sway public opinion, former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Kilimnik has also drawn the scrutiny of congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Emails show that during the middle of the campaign, Manafort told Kilimnik he was willing to provide "private briefings" about Trump's presidential run to a billionaire close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The July 2016 offer referred to Oleg Deripaska, who has accused Manafort of defrauding him as part of a multimillion dollar deal several years ago.

Through a spokesman, Manafort has confirmed the authenticity of the emails but said no briefings occurred.

In addition to the case in Washington, Manafort also faces bank fraud and tax evasion charges in Virginia.
What to Know President Trump said he pressed the G-7 countries to eliminate all tariffs, trade barriers and subsidies in their trading practices

He reiterated that the U.S. has been taken advantage of in global trade

Trump cited progress on reaching an agreement on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico

President Donald Trump threw the G-7 summit into disarray Saturday, tweeting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is "dishonest & weak" and that the U.S. was pulling back its endorsement of the group's communique in part because of what he called Trudeau's "false statements" at a news conference.

In an extraordinary set of tweets aboard Air Force One, on its way to Singapore for next week's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, Trump lashed out just as Canada released the G-7's official communique. Its statement took a generally positive view of the leaders' positions on trade matters while acknowledging tensions with the U.S.

A few hours earlier, Trudeau had told reporters that all seven leaders had come together to sign the joint declaration.

Trump tweeted: "Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!"

He followed up by tweeting: "PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, "US Tariffs were kind of insulting" and he "will not be pushed around." Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!"

Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, piled on, saying on "Fox News Sunday," "There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door."

In a statement, a spokesman for Trudeau did not address Trump's insults. "We are focused on everything we accomplished here at the #G7 summit," spokesman Cameron Ahmad said. "The Prime Minister said nothing he hasn't said before  both in public, and in private conversations with the President."

As he exited the world summit, Trump had delivered a stark warning to America's trading partners not to counter his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. But the summit host, Trudeau, whose nation was among those singled out by Trump, pushed back and said he would not hesitate to retaliate against his neighbor to the south.

"If they retaliate, they're making a mistake," Trump declared before departing the annual Group of Seven summit, which includes Britain, Italy, France, Germany and Japan.

Trudeau later said he reiterated to Trump that tariffs will harm industries and workers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. He said unleashing retaliatory measures "is not something I relish doing" but that he wouldn't hesitate to do so because "I will always protect Canadian workers and Canadian interests."

Despite the sharp differences, Trudeau said all seven leaders had come together to sign a joint declaration despite having "some strong, firm conversations on trade, and specifically on American tariffs."

Trump's abbreviated stay at this Quebec resort saw him continuing the same type of tough talk on trade as when he departed the White House, when he accused Trudeau of being "indignant."

The summit came during an ongoing trade dispute with China and served as a precursor to the unprecedented meeting with Kim, in which Trump has sought to extend a hand to the Asian autocrat who has long bedeviled the international order.

"His message from Quebec to Singapore is that he is going to meld the industrial democracies to his will  and bring back Russia," said Steve Bannon, Trump's former campaign and White House adviser. Bannon said China is "now on notice that Trump will not back down from even allies' complaints in his goal of 'America First.'"

Speaking on Saturday during a rare solo news conference, Trump said he pressed for the G-7 countries to eliminate all tariffs, trade barriers and subsidies in their trading practices. He reiterated his longstanding view that the U.S. has been taken advantage of in global trade, adding, "We're like the piggy bank that everybody's robbing and that ends."

He said U.S. farmers had been harmed by tariffs and other barriers and warned that U.S. trading partners would need to provide him with more favorable terms. "It's going to stop or we'll stop trading with them," he said.

Trump cited progress on reaching an agreement on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, saying the final outcome would lead either to an improved trade deal or separate pacts with the two U.S. neighbors. Trump said he was discussing two types of sunset provisions in which any of the countries could leave the deal. A Canadian official said the leaders discussed accelerating the pace of the talks.

But Trudeau objected strenuously to a sunset clause of any length. "If you put an expiry date on any trade deal, that's not a trade deal. That's our unequivocal position," he said.

Prior to his arrival on Friday, the president injected additional controversy by suggesting that the G-7 offer a seat at the table to Russia, which was ousted from the group in 2014. Trump said Saturday that re-admitting Russia to the elite club would be "an asset," telling reporters, "We're looking for peace in the world." Trump said he had not spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a while.

Discussing Russia's absence, Trump made the vague comment that "something happened a while ago where Russia is no longer in. I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in." In fact, Russia was expelled from what was then the G-8 after it invaded and annexed Crimea and for its support for pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine.

Trump placed the blame on his predecessor, President Barack Obama. "He was the one who let Crimea get away  that was during his administration," he said, adding: "Obama can say all he wants, but he allowed Russia to take Crimea. I may have had a much different attitude."

It was not clear what Trump thought Obama should have done to prevent Putin from sending in Russian troops to seize the Black Sea peninsula from neighboring Ukraine.

Trudeau said he told Trump that readmitting Russia "is not something that we are even remotely looking at at this time."

Trump departed the annual G-7 gathering after arriving late to a breakfast on gender equity and skipping later sessions on climate change, clean energy and ocean protection.

Trump's recent moves, building on 18 months of nationalist policy-making, left him out of step with the globally minded organization and prompted speculation that the group could fracture into something more like the "G-6 plus one."

A key question was whether the seven countries could agree on a joint statement of priorities at the conclusion of the meeting. Macron said Thursday on Twitter, "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be." Trump said Friday he thinks the group will produce a joint statement.

In public, Trump bantered easily with his fellow leaders, but the meeting came at a tense moment in the relationships, with allies steaming over Trump's new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

Leading up to the meetings, Trump, Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron had suggested the potential for a tough tone, though they were cordial in face-to-face meetings.

Alluding to the tensions as he sat with Macron on Friday, Trump said: "We've had, really, a very good relationship, very special. A lot of people wrote a couple of things that weren't quite true. A little bit accurate, perhaps. We have a little test every once in a while when it comes to trade."

With Trudeau, Trump joked that "Justin has agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers between Canada and the United States."

Macron said he and Trump had "open and direct" discussions, adding that he thought there was a way to get a "win-win" outcome on trade. Details remained unclear.

___

Thomas reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Darlene Superville in Washington, and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders said Friday that they've reached an agreement on California's next budget following negotiations focused on balancing assistance for people in poverty with the need to prepare for future economic emergencies.

Brown and lawmakers released few details of their agreement. A news release from Brown's office said the agreement "makes record investments in schools and universities, creates the state's first online community college, fully fills the Rainy Day Fund, boosts child care and combats homelessness and poverty."

Economists estimate that California has the largest surplus in decades, but Brown and senior lawmakers disagree on its size. Estimates range from $8.8 billion to more than $11 billion.

Brown reached the deal with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, and Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.

Democratic lawmakers were looking to expand health care coverage for people living in the country illegally and increase welfare grants for families in poverty. It wasn't immediately clear if the budget includes those priorities, though statements from Rendon and Atkins indicated they were pleased with the deal.

"No single budget can capture all the opportunities California has, or meet all the challenges we face  but the smart and sensible choices in this budget absolutely move California closer to where we want and need to be," Rendon said.

A legislative committee was scheduled to consider the agreement later Friday. The full Assembly and Senate face a June 15 deadline to approve the deal.
A public memorial service will be held Saturday for former Gov. George Deukmejian, who died May 8 at his home in Long Beach at age 89.

Deukmejian's son, George Jr., is among those expected to speak at the 1 p.m. memorial at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach. His former chief of staff, Steve Merksamer, is also expected to speak, along with former Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster.

Deukmejian was the first person of Armenian descent to serve as a governor when he edged then-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in 1982. Deukmejian. a Republican, won a second term in 1986, defeating Bradley by a wider margin.

Known for his passion for law enforcement and public safety throughout his time in office, including authoring the "Use a gun, go to jail" law as a state senator, Deukmejian championed prison construction as governor and oversaw a tripling of the state's prison population.

Despite the increase in prison spending, he was credited with dramatically slashing the state's budget deficit.

His often no-nonsense demeanor earned him the nickname "Iron Duke."

A native of New York, Deukmejian's parents came to the United States to escape the Armenian genocide. He earned his law degree from St. John's University, and served as an attorney during a three-year stint in the U.S. Army.

Deukmejian moved to California in 1955 after leaving the Army, and he set up a law practice in Long Beach. He was elected to the first of two terms in the Assembly in 1962 and the state Senate in 1966. He was elected attorney general in 1978.

Deukmejian married his wife, Gloria, in 1957, and they had two daughters, Leslie and Andrea, in addition to his son. He is survived by all four.


A popular music teacher who taught hundreds of children all over Southern California was in jail Friday, accused of molesting two girls more than a decade ago.

Emil Remo, 44, of Moreno Valley, was arrested on suspicion of child molestation in the 14500 block of Pipeline Avenue Wednesday, the Chino Hill Police Department said.

"Shock, dismay, anger," Richard Firman, the owner of KYR Music, said. "I mean I think I have run through the whole gamut of emotions really."

Remo is said to be a talented musician who has 26,000 subscribers on YouTube.

"He's very active in his church. He goes on missions for a month at a time to spread the gospel and music," Firman said.

Firman also said Remo has taught hundreds of children music lessons at their homes or at KYR Music for more than a decade. Firman said Reemo doesn't work at KYR Music, but rather rents a space there for lessons.

"I've known him or almost 30 years -- him and his family," Firman said. "And disbelief is the first part of it."

Chino police investigators said recently two women who don't know each other came forward claiming they were students of Remo in the mid-2000's when they were between the ages of 6 and 8.

One told police that Remo molested her at her LA County home.

The other said she was sexually abused while getting lessons at KYR Music, police said.

"I don't know how it could have happened here," Firman said. "We have windows in all of our doors. Our staff goes by constantly looking indoors."

Firman said if Remo is guilty, he deserves to be in jail a long time.

Due to the allegations, KYR Music will soon be getting new security enhancements.

"We will be doing background checks, and having cameras installed in all the studios now," Firman said.

Remo's bail has been set at $1 million.
Bruising for a fight, President Donald Trump barreled into the Group of Seven summit Friday, confronting longtime U.S. allies over a burgeoning trade dispute and insisting Russia should be brought back into the fold.

Trump joined the leaders of major industrialized nations in an idyllic Canadian resort town after days of escalating conflict over new U.S. tariffs he slapped on imports of steel and aluminum. Facing pointed criticism from increasingly disillusioned allies, he punched back, uncowed by the growing global outcry.

"Look, all of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade," Trump told reporters as he left the White House, repeating his longstanding complaints about trade deficits and tariffs. He declared, "We have to straighten it out."

However, Trump did seek to lower the temperature after his arrival. He bantered easily with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, joking that the neighboring leader had "agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers." And he emphasized a "good relationship" with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying they sometimes have a "little test" on trade, but predicting a positive outcome.

Still, the fundamental differences remained clear. Trump again railed against trade deficits with other countries and repeated that he may pursue separate negotiations with Canada and Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Both sides suggested some progress in NAFTA talks, with White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying they were "close to a deal," though adding there was also discussion of a bilateral deal. A Canadian official said the leaders discussed accelerating the talks.

Macron said there had been "open and direct" discussions on trade, adding that he thought there was a way to get a "win-win" outcome, though details remained unclear.

Before arriving at the meeting of the group, which some suggest Trump is pushing from the Group of Seven into "G-6 plus one," he further stirred the pot by asking why Russia was excluded.

"They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table," he said.

Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. In the U.S., special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election in his favor.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the Russia issue "hasn't been raised around the G-7 table," though she said there have been "some direct conversations in bilateral meetings." She added "there are no grounds whatsoever for bringing Russia with its current behavior back into the G-7."

Despite the tension, the president was greeted cordially by Trudeau as he arrived at the annual gathering, held this year at a picturesque Quebec resort. Other members of the Group of Seven are France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. The European Union also attends.

Trump showed up late and will leave early on Saturday, heading to Singapore for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He spent Friday participating in the rituals of the G-7, including the formal greeting by host Trudeau, a group photo in front of the sparkling St. Lawrence River and a working lunch of Arctic char and buckwheat salad.

Over the course of his presidency, Trump has inflamed allies with his isolationist policies, including withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and the international Iran nuclear agreement. Under Trump, the United States has abandoned its traditional role in the G-7 as an advocate for freer global trade, instead pushing more protectionist policies.

"The rules-based international order is being challenged, not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor: the United States," said European Council President Donald Tusk.

Relations have hit such a low point that a key question now is whether the seven countries can agree on a joint statement of priorities at the conclusion of the meeting. Macron said Thursday on Twitter, "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be." Trump said he thinks the group will produce a joint statement.

In the days leading up to the summit, Trudeau and Macron have severely criticized Trump's new tariffs, which critics say threaten to drive up prices for American consumers and companies and heighten uncertainty for businesses and investors around the globe.

But Trump, who frames his trade moves as a fulfillment of his campaign promises, is vowing to hold firm, tweeting Thursday: "Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!"

The French president did have some private time with Trump before the summit officially started. Macron tweeted a short video of the two together, saying: "Sharing, reaching out, always, to promote the interests of the French people, and all those who believe in a world we can build together."

Prior to leaving Washington, Trump appeared unenthusiastic about the summit, complaining to aides about having to attend, particularly with his Singapore sit-down with Kim right around the corner. On Friday morning, he appeared in no hurry to leave for Canada, walking out of the White House more than half an hour late and answering questions from reporters for nearly 20 minutes.

To Trump's suggestion that Russia be welcomed back to the group, allies had mixed responses.

In Paris, Macron's office said it wouldn't make sense and pointed out that the latest country to impose economic sanctions on Russia was the U.S. Italy's new premier, Giuseppe Conte, tweeted that he agreed with Trump, saying: "Russia should go back into the G-8. In the interest of all."

Tusk was not convinced.

"Let's leave seven as it is," Tusk said. "It's a lucky number."

Russia seemed unconcerned. State news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, "We are putting the emphasis on other formats."
A death investigation is underway after a young woman died. She had to be rushed to the hospital less than 12 hours after having a popular plastic surgery procedure and died days later.

Family tells us Adianet Gonzales, 30, was rushed to Kendall Regional Hospital after getting a butt lift. They took pictures of her with tubes inside her body. They say she could barely move, open her eyes, or breathe on her own.

Adianets mother, Arelis Gonzales, is demanding answers after the procedure. Adianet was taken to a friends house from the clinic and Arelis says she remained asleep for 8 hours before they finally called 911.

In Spanish, Arelis said her daughters boyfriend tried to wake her up. He called the clinic which first allegedly said everybody reacts differently to anesthesia. In another call , she says the clinic allegedly told her to put water on her lips, touch her face, or whatever they can to wake up. But none of that worked.

Arelis says her daughter came to America to change her body and wanted to be prettier but now is heartbroken about her death.

The medical examiner is performing an autoposy to determine the exact cause of death. If the investigation into her death finds the surgery led to her death, she would be the 13th woman to die after a plastic surgery procedure since 2010, all different clinics with different doctors.

NBC 6 reached out to the center where the family said the surgery happened but havent heard back.
What to Know New Jersey state trooper Michael Patterson got a shock when he pulled over a man last Friday who turned out to be the cop who delivered him

The driver, Matthew Bailly, said he was a retired Piscataway police officer, and Patterson said he was from there, and lived on Poe Place

Bailly recalled delivering a baby on Poe Place 27 years ago and detailed the story; Patterson realized that baby was him

The New Jersey State Police have released footage of the exact second a trooper realized he was pulling over the former cop who brought him into the world 27 years ago.

Trooper Michael Patterson stopped Michael Bailly for a minor motor vehicle violation on June 1 in the Kingwood Township area, and the story unfolds from there.



The New Jersey State Police tweeted out the body cam footage of the stop on Friday afternoon.

In the video, Patterson can be seen taking Bailly's license and registration, and realizing that Bailly is a retired Piscataway cop, the same town that Patterson grew up in.

"On Poe Place. It was 192," says Patterson when Bailly asks him what his address was.

After the video flashes forward, Bailly can be heard saying "It was the first baby I ever delivered, that's why I remember the address."

After the men went over some of the finer details of the story, Patterson extended his hand and says "That was me."

"Were not sure what the odds are of this happening  maybe theyre close to the odds of a hole-in-one, winning the lottery, or being struck by lightning  but it happened," is how the NJSP described the encounter in their original post.
What to Know A 2-year-old boy allegedly kidnapped by his father on Long Island Tuesday was found dead with his dad in a car in Virginia the next day

New York State Police and Suffolk Police maintain that an Amber Alert wasn't warranted, saying there was no evidence the boy was in danger

A New York lawmaker is calling for a review of the Amber alert system following the boy's death

A New York lawmaker is calling for a review of the states Amber Alert system after a father took his 2-year-old son and torched his house before both were found dead in Virginia the next morning.

State Sen. Phil Boyle said he was shocked by the lack of an alert after the abduction of Jovani Ligurgo, who was never returned to his mother in Coram on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities responding to his father John Ligurgo IIIs house found the structure ablaze. State police had said there was no evidence the boy was in danger.

I was shocked, Boyle said. Child had been abducted. House was set ablaze and father had a gun. If that did not mean the child was in danger, I dont know what did.

Boyle said he wants to impanel a commission to review guidelines for issuing an Amber Alert, an urgent bulletin issued to departments and the general public when a child has been kidnapped and is in danger.

No alert or BOLO -- a be on the lookout bulletin for other police departments -- was issued either, and the pair were found dead in the fathers truck an hour northeast of Roanoke the following day.

Suffolk County police refused to comment Friday on Boyles statement or why it did not issue a BOLO to other departments. It referred the I-Team to a previous statement that says the department worked diligently and never stopped looking for Jovani Ligurgo.
Two men are accused of swiping more than $1 million in collectibles, art, electronics, jewelry and even taxidermied animals in a burglary spree that covered at least 50 homes from Philadelphia and to the northern and western suburbs.

Leroy Boose of Willingboro, New Jersey, and Anthony McDaniels, of Philadelphia, have been jailed in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, since they were first arrested for four burglaries back in February.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said detectives trailing McDaniels witnessed the duo trying to rob a Lower Merion Township home.

The duo is now linked to 50 total heists: 38 in Montgomery County and six each in Delaware County and Philadelphia.

A lengthy multi-jurisdictional investigation linked the men to the other heists using cellphone data that placed the suspects at the scene of each burglary. There were also similarities between the heists including being carried out between in the evenings and that multiple houses being robbed on the same night, according to investigators.



Homes without the lights on or without a car in the driveway were targeted, investigators said.



In most cases, bedrooms were ransacked, with jewelry taken and a homeowners own pillow case was used to carry the stolen goods, the DAs office said.

The task force then drew parallels to robberies from 2010, which led them to the suspects, investigators said.

On Friday, Boose and McDaniels were charged with 41 burglaries and two attempted burglaries related to this case. Booses bail was hiked to $3 million while McDaniels was increased to $2.75 million. McDaniels had no comment as he was led handcuffed into court Friday.

The DAs office posted photos of more than 1,000 stolen items recovered from storage units in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in hopes that victims can claim their valuables. The items stolen include jewelry, electronics, antiques, clocks, musical instruments, G.I. Joe dolls, art and taxidermy items.

If you believe you were victimized or you recognize the stolen items, contact Lower Merion Police Officer Dwight Kondravy at dkondravy@lowermerion.org or 610-645-6234.
Activists with the animal-rights group Liberation Philadelphia held a vigil Friday evening at the Perdue plant in Milford in the chicken's honor. Nearly a dozen protesters carried with the chicken's picture and saying "Rest in Power June."

A chicken that had been the sole survivor of a truck spill that killed thousands of birds has died.

News outlets report that the chicken died Thursday despite a fundraising campaign that raised more than $1,300 for its care.

Animal-rights activists found the chicken amid the wreckage from Wednesday's accident and named it June. A tractor-trailer hauling the chickens to a Perdue Farms processing plant overturned Wednesday morning on a highway near Middletown.

Activists with the animal-rights group Liberation Philadelphia held a vigil Friday evening at the Perdue plant in Milford in the chicken's honor. Nearly a dozen protesters carried with the chicken's picture and saying "Rest in Power June.''
What to Know The arrest of 2 black men waiting inside a Center City Philadelphia Starucks location prompted national outrage.

Philadelphia Police changed its policy for dealing with calls about trespassing at private businesses.

Officers are now instructed to first attempt to de-escalate and mediate disturbances between property owners and accused offenders.

The Philadelphia Police Department on Friday announced a new policy on how to confront people accused of trespassing on private property, two months after coming under fire for arresting two black men waiting for a colleague at a Center City Starbucks.

Officers are now instructed to first attempt to de-escalate and mediate disturbances between property owners and accused offenders. Before an officer arrests someone, that person must understand he or she is not allowed on the property. The officer also must witness the person refusing to leave.

"While business owners may exclude persons from their establishments, they cannot misuse the authority of police officers in the process," the policy says. "Such misuse may lead to a technically lawful arrest, but can create the appearance of improprieties on behalf of the officers and the Department."

Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were arrested April 12 within minutes of arriving at Starbucks. A viral video of their arrest sparked national outrage and has led to policy changes at the world's largest coffeehouse chain, including unconscious bias training and a new policy that allows anyone to sit in its cafes or use its restrooms  even if they don't buy anything.

The men reached a settlement with Starbucks and the city last month. They were not prosecuted, and their arrest records have been expunged.

Philadelphia police also came under fire in the wake of the arrest for how the incident was handled, with critics questioning why the men were arrested so quickly for something many see as common practice at the coffee shops.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross initially defended his officers' handling of the encounter but later publicly apologized to the men in a somber press conference.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner took personal responsibility for his messaging around the arrests of two young black men inside a Center City Starbucks. He is calling for policy changes and apologizing to the men taken out of the store in handcuffs.

"We've made a lot of progress and will continue to do so as we explore and implement new practices that reflect the importance of diversity, public safety and accountability," Ross said.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney praised the policy and promised continued action.

"I view this policy as another positive step as our City learns and grows from the Starbucks incident," Kenney said. "My Administration also plans to propose legislation to make defiant trespassing a civil offense that can result in a fine rather than arrest, so that the penalty is more commensurate with the infraction."

Red the full new policy below:
A woman who led an investigator to the decomposing remains of her 5-year-old stepson three months after reporting him missing was found dead early Friday in a Wichita home with three suicide notes and a rifle at her feet, police said.

Officer Charley Davidson said during a press briefing that officers responded around 1:40 a.m. after Jonathan Hernandez called to report finding his former girlfriend, Emily Glass, dead of a gunshot wound at his Wichita home.

Hernandez said in a statement that Glass killed herself. Davidson said the official cause of death will be determined by the coroner's office and that he didn't know whether Glass was living at the home or who owned the rifle. Davidson did not say to whom the three suicide notes were addressed.

Glass, 27, reported Hernandez' son, Lucas, missing on Feb. 17. She told police she last saw Lucas playing in his bedroom before she took a shower and fell asleep.

On May 24, Glass led David Marshburn, a private investigator hired by Lucas' father, to the boy's decaying remains. The boy's body had been hidden under a culvert bridge about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Wichita and was covered with debris.

Police arrested Glass on suspicion of lying to authorities, but she was freed. Prosecutors never charged her in Lucas' death, but said she was a person of interest.

It's unclear if an autopsy and toxicology examination will ever determine how Lucas died, because of the body's decayed condition. Davidson said the investigation into Lucas' death also is ongoing.

In an interview for the podcast "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" that aired Monday, Hernandez said he no longer believes or supports Glass and that he is "a bit confused by" her release from jail. Hernandez also told Grace that Glass told the private investigator she had panicked after she found Lucas dead in his bed one evening or morning. The podcast included part of a recording captured by Marshburn in which Glass said in a shaky voice: "I did Lucas so wrong. I did him wrong."

The Wichita Eagle reports that Hernandez and Lucas' mother, Jamie Taylor-Orr, said in a statement released Friday that Glass "chose to end her own life."

"This is not the ending we would have chosen for Emily. She was the only person on this earth who could tell us what the last moments of our child's life were like," the statement said. "We wanted answers and we still want justice. Our hope is that the truth will still come out, that there will be answers to the many questions we have."

Hernandez was not at home when Lucas disappeared. Glass cared for her daughter and Lucas while Hernandez worked out of state for weeks at a time. Taylor-Orr didn't live in the Wichita area when Lucas disappeared.

Glass was earlier acquitted of child endangerment in an unrelated case involving her then-1-year-old daughter. Prosecutors allege Glass smoked marijuana then drove the girl to a restaurant. This occurred one day before Lucas was reported missing.

Court documents filed in the endangerment case say Lucas was frequently seen with bruises and cuts, and once with black eyes. The document indicates the state of Kansas was told at least twice that Lucas was being abused and details the boy's dysfunctional and violent family life.

SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: Here is information on suicide prevention from the National Institute of Mental Health. If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting Home to 741741.
CAL Fire officials determined that electric power lines and failure of power poles caused part of the massive North Bay wildfires in California that eventually killed dozens of people and ravaged thousands of homes in October.

Officials completed a total of 12 investigations of more than 170 fires that burned at least 245,000 acres in Northern California. Nearly half of the fires were caused by a tree coming in contact with PG&E powerlines, CAL Fire said.

The fire agency said it believes eight of the fires could have possibly been prevented based on complying with utility law, including Adobe, Pocket and Atlas Fires.

"The loss of life, homes and businesses in these extraordinary wildfires is simply heartbreaking, and we remain focused on helping communities recover and rebuild. We look forward to the opportunity to carefully review the CAL FIRE reports to understand the agencys perspectives. Based on the information we have so far, we continue to believe our overall programs met our states high standards," PG&E responded in a statement.

Hundreds of homeowners and relatives of those killed have sued PG&E.

"PG&E has been trying to duck responsibility for the fires, blaming everything from climate change to local fire departments and the state's liability laws," Patrick McCallum, co-chair of a coalition of people affected by the wildfires, said in a statement.

He said Cal Fire's report "puts the blame where it belongs  squarely on PG&E, confirming it was responsible for many of the fires that devastated so many lives."

"As victims, we see the report as an important step toward rebuilding and recovery," McCallum said.

Sen. Bill Dodd, a Democrat who represents the Napa area, called the report's findings "disappointing and deeply concerning."

He has introduced legislation that would require electric utilities to update wildfire plans to determine when they need to cut power to lines during harsh weather and boost infrastructure.

"I'm calling on PG&E, utilities across the state and the Public Utilities Commission to step up and ensure they are meeting their legal obligations to maintain power lines in a safe manner," Dodd said in a statement. "It's inexcusable and it can't be allowed to happen again."



More than 8,000 structures across Northern California's wine country were wiped out by the fires, hundreds of thousands of acres were scorched and 44 people were killed as a result of the blazes.

Redwood Fire (Mendonico County):

Caused by tree of parts of trees falling onto PG&E powerlines, according to CAL Fire.

The Sulphur Fir

Sulphur Fire (Lake County):

Caused by the failure of a PG&E owned power pole, resulting in the power lines and equipment coming in contact with the ground, CAL Fire said.

Cherokee Fire (Butte County):

Caused by tree of parts of trees falling onto PG&E powerlines, according to CAL Fire.

37 Fire (Sonoma County):

CAL Fire investigators said they determined the cause of the fire was electrical and was associated with the PG&E distribution lines in the area.

Blue Fire (Humboldt County):

A PG&E power line conductor separated from a connector, causing the conductor to fall to the ground, starting the fire, CAL Fire said.



Norrbom Fire, Adobe Fire, Partrick Fire, Nuns Fire:

These series of fires that merged in Sonoma and Napa counties were caused by a tree falling onto a power line, CAL Fire said.

Pocket Fire (Sonoma County):

CAL Fire determined the fire was caused by the top of an oak tree breaking and coming into contact with PG&E power lines.

Atlas Fire (Napa County):

At one location, it was determined a large limb broke from a tree and came into contact with a PG&E power line. At the second location, investigators determined a tree fell into the same line, CAL Fire said.

CalFire investigators are still probing other fires in October and December, including the deadliest blaze in Napa and Sonoma Counties, which PG&E has argued was started by wires belonging to a private homeowner.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Refresh this page for more information on this breaking news story.
One U.S. special operations soldier was killed and four U.S. service members wounded in an "enemy attack" Friday in Somalia, the U.S. military said  casualties that are likely to put renewed scrutiny on America's counterterror operations in Africa.

It's the first public announcement of a U.S. military combat death on the continent since four U.S. service members were killed in a militant ambush in the west African nation of Niger in October.

President Donald Trump paid tribute on Twitter Friday night, offering "thoughts and prayers" to the families of the soldier who was killed and those who were wounded. "They are truly all HEROES," he tweeted.

U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that U.S. troops with Somali and Kenyan forces came under mortar and small-arms fire in Jubaland, Somalia, at around 2.45 p.m. local time.

One member of the "partner forces" was wounded. One of the wounded U.S. service members received sufficient medical care in the field, and the other three were medically evacuated for additional treatment.

The statement did not identify the attackers but said a larger force of about 800 Somali and Kenyan troops were conducting a multi-day operation against al-Shabab militants about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, when the attack occurred. The operation aimed to clear the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab from contested areas. The U.S. provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission, the statement said.

Al-Shabab claimed credit for the attack, the SITE Intelligence Group said in a statement Friday.

The U.S. has about 1,000 special operations personnel in Africa. The last killing of a U.S. service member in Somalia was in May 2017 during an operation about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Mogadishu.

The U.S. had pulled out of the Horn of Africa nation after 1993, when two helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.

But Trump in early 2017 approved expanded military operations against al-Shabab, leading to an increase in U.S. military personnel to more than 500 and the launch of dozens of drone strikes. Al-Shabab has been blamed for the October truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 500 people.

Al-Shabab, linked to al-Qaida, seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. It was pushed out of Mogadishu in recent years but continues to control rural areas in the south and central regions. Its fighters continue to attack the bases of a multinational African Union force that remains largely responsible for security as Somalia's fragile central government tries to recover from decades of chaos.

The U.S. military and others have expressed concern about the 21,000-strong AU force's plan to withdraw by 2020 and hand over security responsibilities to Somali forces, saying the local troops are not ready.

Late last year U.S. drone strikes also began targeting a small presence of fighters linked to the Islamic State group in Somalia's north.

Somali officials have said civilians have been killed in more than one joint U.S. military operation with Somali forces. Earlier Friday, the U.S. Africa Command issued a statement in response to allegations that civilians had been killed in a May 9 operation, saying a "thorough review" found the allegations to be "not credible."

The October attack in Niger raised questions in Washington about the U.S. military presence across Africa as the Trump administration focuses counterterror efforts on a range of groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

A Pentagon investigation into the Niger attack, parts of which were made public last month, found multiple failures but none that directly caused the ambush by Islamic State group-linked fighters.

The investigation has already triggered changes in the way military activities are carried out in Niger and elsewhere in Africa, including giving teams the option to use heavily armored vehicles and beefed-up firepower.
A Marine stationed at MCAS Miramar was given the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Heroism for his life-saving actions at a beach in Panama City, Florida.

Sgt. Nathan Hanbury, an electrician with VMFA(AW)-225, was at the beach with his wife while on leave in August of 2016 when he saw a teenager get swept to sea by a riptide.

I didnt really have time to think, so I just acted. I just ran in with the mindset that I have to help this guy out, Sgt. Hanbury said.

Next thing he knew, Hanbury was in the Gulf of Mexico struggling to keep himself and the teen above the rough waters.

I spent most of the time in the water, in between the 3 to 5 seconds we get before the next waves put us under, I was just trying to talk to him and keep him calm and stay with him because he was pretty shaken up by the ordeal, Hanbury said.

Thanks to the Marine, the two made it back to shore alive but Hanbury was in bad shape. Medics ended up taking him to the hospital.

He said his mom and dad were a little freaked out hearing their son had nearly drowned, but other than that he wouldnt change a thing.

Between the Marine Corps uniform and behind the rank, Im just another ordinary guy who was just trying to help someone out, Hanbury said.

Close to two years after his display of heroism, Hanbury was notified hed be receiving his award and was given his hardware. Its good that the Marine Corps finally got to him before it was too late  Hanbury will receive his discharge papers Sunday and head back to his home state of Alabama where he and his wife are planning to build a house and start a family.

Hanbury took time out of his last day on active duty to share his reaction with NBC 7.

I feel ecstatic, like Im kind of in a dream. Its still unrealistic that somebody like me could have the opportunity to be awarded something like this of this caliber, Hanbury said.
House Democrats on Friday formally requested that the Justice Department investigate Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt for potential criminal conduct.

In a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray and Justice criminal division chief John Cronan, six Democratic lawmakers with oversight of Pruitt's agency allege he repeatedly violated federal anti-corruption laws by seeking to leverage his government position for personal gain.

As evidence, the Democrats cite Pruitt's $50-a-night lease of a Capitol Hill condo tied to a lobbyist seeking to influence his agency, directing an EPA aide to contact a senior Chick-fil-A executive as part of an effort to land his family a franchise, and a $2,000 payment to his wife from organizers of a conference the administrator then attended at taxpayer expense.

Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle confirmed officials there were aware of the request to investigate Pruitt. He declined further comment.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox referred questions to Pruitt's outside legal counsel, though he did not respond to requests to provide the name of the administrator's defense lawyer.

Pruitt acknowledged last month that friends and supporters had established a legal defense fund, which Democrats and ethics watchdogs quickly derided as a potential "tip jar" for polluters seeking favorable treatment from his agency.

Friday's letter was signed by Democratic Reps. Gerald Connolly and Donald Beyer of Virginia, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Ted Lieu of California. Connolly is a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and serves as the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Government Operations.

President Donald Trump signaled Friday he is still standing by his embattled EPA chief, even as Pruitt's support among other Republicans has started to erode.

"Scott Pruitt is doing a great job within the walls of the EPA," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I mean, we're setting records. Outside he's being attacked very viciously by the press. And I'm not saying that he's blameless. But we'll see what happens."

There are now at least a dozen ongoing investigations related to Pruitt by EPA's Office of Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office and congressional oversight committees. But if the Justice Department acts on Friday's request from House Democrats, it would be the first criminal probe into Pruitt's ethical conduct.

For his part, Pruitt sought to laugh off the controversy this week over his using government resources to seek a "business opportunity" with the fast-food fried chicken chain whose owners are known for supporting conservative Christian causes, including outspoken opposition to same-sex marriage.

"I mean, look, my wife is an entrepreneur herself. I love, she loves, we love Chick-fil-A as a franchise of faith," Pruitt said in a TV interview on Wednesday.

Pruitt last year directed his EPA scheduler to reach out to a top executive at Chick-fil-A to inquire about a "business opportunity." That business opportunity turned out to be Pruitt's desire to acquire a fast-food franchise for his wife.

Federal ethics codes prohibit having staffers conduct personal errands and bar officials from using their position for private gain.

EPA travel vouchers also show Pruitt charged taxpayers last September for a $1,210 one-way flight and $669 in hotel costs to appear at a conference of a New York City-based nonprofit, Concordia.

At Pruitt's overture, the group hired his wife, Marlyn Pruitt, to help arrange logistics for the conference, Concordia chief executive Matthew Swift told The Washington Post. She was paid $2,000 plus travel expenses. Concordia did not return emails from the AP seeking comment, and the group's website lists a non-working phone number.

Democratic senators this week accused Pruitt of withholding records of the trip, where Pruitt also met with U.S. and international business leaders and former government officials. The senators asked EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr. to investigate the agency's compliance with open-records laws in the matter.

Virginia Canter, an ethics counsel for the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said there were a "number of criminal conflict of interest statutes and regulations" that could be brought into play by Pruitt speaking at events that he or his family had received payment for.

In their letter, the lawmakers make the case that Pruitt's behavior rises to the level of criminal activity.

"At the very least, we know that federal ethics laws bar public officials from using their position or staff for private gain," the Democrats wrote to Wray and Cronan. "Administrator Pruitt has certainly done just that. Further, his actions related to his wife's employment and the quid-pro-quo condo situation with industry lobbyists may have crossed a line into criminal conduct punishable by fines or even by time in prison."
Boston Pride Week's signature event is happening today.

The 48th annual Pride Parade kicks off Saturday at noon in Copley Square and runs through the South End before ending at a festival on City Hall Plaza.

Organizers are expecting half a million people to show up to the parade. They are planning to welcome more than 300 organizations to the parade, and there will be participants of all ages.

Anywhere from 75 to 125 mayors are expected to walk with Mayor Marty Walsh in the parade.

The event gets bigger and bigger every year, as organizers continue to add more events and things for people to do.

"It gets bigger and bigger every year," said Kevin Horn who was planning to watch the parade Saturday. "It's really exciting to see how many people show up...and just the epic noise of the crowd."

Martha Plaza, the pride chair who spends countless hours planning this event all year long, says it's worth every minute.

She says the most popular spot to watch the parade is on Charles Street. Plaza adds Beacon Street is another great place because not too many people stand there, and they would like to see a few more spectators gathered in that area.

"It's fun, it's loving, everyone's just excited to be here and be together," participant Jessica Smith said. "Our group is just like, how many colors can we get on our bodies?"

"For a lot of people, this is a really important political statement. Just being who they are somehow becomes political, and so this is an opportunity for them to kind of own the street, and like it's their day, and that's really great," participant Josh Ledwell said.

This year's theme is rainbow resistance, which carries huge meaning as it signifies the celebratory and activist origins of the event.

"We've been fighting for many many years to gain equality in our communities, and we've made a lot of victories," Plaza said. "And unfortunately now those victories are at high risk of being pulled away from us. So the theme, which is voted by the community, is essentially a call to arms. It is a call for us to stand together as a family, to stand together strong, to stand together and really fight back and realize for everyone to say the fight is long, it's not over."

Parade route

The parade route begins on Boylston Street, between Clarendon and Dalton Streets, and runs through the following streets, according to the city of Boston website:

Begin at Boylston and Clarendon streets

Proceed on Clarendon Street

Left on Tremont Street

Left on Berkeley Street

Right on Boylston Street

Left on Charles Street

Right on Beacon Street

Left on Tremont Street

Straight on Cambridge Street

Right onto City Hall Plaza

The festival

The Boston Pride Festival will be held rain or shine on City Hall Plaza from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring sunscreen, plenty of bottled water and an umbrella or rain coat. The festival will feature a number of performances, exhibits and food options. There will be over 130 vendors, a Beer and Wine Lounge (for the 21+ crowd), and the Family Fun Zone (all ages are welcome). The Pride Concert starts at noon on the City Hall stage and will be headlined by Martha Wash, whose distinctive voice topped the charts as a member of the Weather Girls with "It's Raining Men," and Big Freedia, a New Orleans rapper whose voice can be heard on Beyonce's smash hit "Formation." Plaza says the concert is absolutely phenomenal and they encourage everyone to come down and have some fun while seeing a diverse selection of local and national headliners. Click here to see the lineup entertaining the crowds all day.

Road closures and parking restrictions

Streets along the parade route will be closed to traffic through 4 p.m., the city of Boston website says. Parking restrictions will be in effect for a number of streets near the route:

Boylston Street, both sides, Massachusetts Avenue to Tremont Street

Exeter Street, both sides, Newbury Street to St. James Avenue

Dartmouth Street, both sides, Newbury Street to St. James Avenue

Gloucester Street, both sides, Newbury Street to Boylston Street

Fairfield Street, both sides, Boylston Street to Newbury Street

Clarendon Street, both sides, Newbury Street to Tremont Street

Tremont Street, both sides, Union Park Street to East Berkeley Street

Berkeley Street, both sides, Tremont Street to Newbury Street

Charles Street South, both sides, Park Plaza to Boylston Street

Charles Street, both sides, Boylston Street to Beacon Street

Beacon Street, both sides, Charles Street to Tremont Street

Tremont Street, both sides, Cambridge Street to Beacon Street

Court Street, both sides, Washington Street to Cambridge Street

Cambridge Street, Center Plaza side, Bowdoin Street to Court Street, east side, Sudbury Street to New Chardon Street

New Chardon Street, Cambridge Street to Congress Street

Cambridge Street, City Hall side, Court Street to Sudbury Street** This restriction will also be in effect Sunday, as well as Saturday.

How to get there

The Boston Transportation Department encourages people coming into the city to refrain from using their personal vehicles. Attendees are urged to use the MBTA. You can check the MBTA website for schedules and routes.

Weather

The weather Saturday looks mostly sunny with a high close to 80 degrees, so make sure you wear sun screen!

Other events

While the Pride Parade and Festival are the marquee events, there will be plenty of other activities going on throughout the day.

You can join the LGBTQ-friendly churches near the parade route for the 10 a.m. Pride Interfaith Services at Union United Methodist Church, and the 11 a.m. Pride Morning Service down the street at Old South Church.

Click here to see a full list of Saturday Pride events.
The New Hampshire SPCA is in desperate need of donations after spending more than $100,000 caring for dozens of dogs involved in one cruelty case.

On Friday, our NBC10Boston crew met Jill, Jack, Cali, Smokey, and the list goes on.

"I would say we are more inundated now than I ever recall," said NHSPCA Executive Director Lisa Dennison.

Thirty-six dogs were rescued from a New Hampshire woman who is now facing 29 charges of animal cruelty. The case started at the end of last year, when a fire at Jennifer Choate's Bristol home killed 29 dogs.

After the fire, police executed a search warrant at a barn Choate rented in Alexandria. It was the middle of winter, and police found almost two dozen German shepards locked in small, metal crates in temperatures below freezing.

"It was just heartbreaking," Dennison said. "Heartbreaking."

In cases like this, the NHSPCA is required by law to keep the animals as evidence until a judge decides their fate. So for the last six months, these dogs have grown up in a kennel.

"Some of the dogs have never been up and down a staircase," Dennison said. "They don't know the warmth of a home."

For the first time in more than two decades, the shelter has burned through its rescue fund, spending more than $100,000 caring for Choate's animals.

"This has been the most difficult case I can remember in a very long time," Dennison said.

And on Thursday, 10 more dogs from a different case were surrendered, leaving the NHSPCA in dire need of the public's help.

"We sit and we wait, and wait, and wait, and wait," Dennison said. "The cost of caring for these animals grows every single day."

She says there is no relief in the near future, because the dogs will have to be held in protective custody, at least until Choate goes back to court until July.
Street celebration of Newbury-born Victorian circus impresario

EXOTIC animals danced through the streets of Newbury on Saturday night as part of a tribute to one of Englands most successful showmen  Lord George Sanger.

Carnival of the Animals paraded from Northbrook Street to the Market Place, with live music and plenty of dancing drawing the crowds. This grand procession was led by a larger-than-life Sanger to commemorate the famous circus impresario, who was born in the town.

Also entertaining the crowds was an energetic ensemble of monkeys played by members of the Corn Exchange Youth Theatre.

Around 3,500 people gathered to watch the parade as amazing puppetry, dance and music filled the streets leading to the Market Place where they were treated to a spectacular aerial performance.

In a collaboration with Compagnie Caramantran, Carnival of the Animals was presented by the Corn Exchange and its 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space as part of the outdoor arts programme funded by Greenham Trust and Arts Council England. It was part of Circus250, a national celebration of 250 years of British Circus.

The parade marked the opening of 70 Years a Showman  an exhibition running until September 2 at West Berkshire Museum.

In partnership with the National Fairground and Circus Archive, the museum presents a glimpse into the life of Sanger and the world of Victorian performers, travelling fairs and British circus past and present.
The Kent Memorial Library and the Kent Land Trust will co-present two programs for bird enthusiasts aged 13 and up regarding birds in Kent on June 9-10.

Participation in the June 9 workshop is not required for participation in the June 10 program.

Laurie Doss, a science teacher at Marvelwood School win Kent will discuss Warblers in Kent: A Closer Look June 9 at 1:30 p.m. at town hall on Kent Green Boulevard.

She will teach participants how to identify warbler species common to Kent by sight and sound, give an introduction to various bird apps/recording software to make identifying birds by sight and/or song easier, and give a brief discussion on how to enhance habitat for birds.

The Kent Land Trust and Doss will lead Birds and Bagels June 10 from 7 to 8:30 a.m., where participants will apply their knowledge from the warbler workshop the day before to identify birds in the field near the entry to Skiff Mountain South Preserve.

Bagels and yogurt will be served by the kiosk to the preserve.

During breakfast, participants will identify by sight and/or sound.

Extra binoculars will be available for participants who do not bring their own. Mist nets located on Kent Land Trust and Marvelwood School property will also be set-up to band birds and collect physiological evidence of breeding.

Participants will help collect data for the Connecticut Bird Atlas Project and listen for warblers common to early successional areas such as the Common Yellowthroat, Chestnut-sided Warbler and Yellow Warbler.

At the end of the program there will be an opportunity to see the breeding colony of Purple Martins at Marvelwood School.

Those interested in hiking after the program may venture out on their own to hike one of the four trails traversing Skiff Mountain South Preserve.

It is best if participants wear long pants and socks to help protect against tick exposure.

The use of insect repellent is also highly encouraged and will be available at the workshop.

Doss is a teacher with 30 years of secondary teaching experience and is head of the Science Department at Marvelwood School.

The programs are free and open to the public.

The House of Books will be at the June 10 program to provide nature and bird guides and related books.

For information and RSVP, call 860-927-3761.
Minor Memorial Library, the Roxbury Land Trust and the Roxbury Conservation Commission will co-host a trail walk at the River Road Preserve Sunday at 2 p.m.

The walk, led by Bill Moorhead, will seek out wetlands and note the different soil types that lie adjacent to the Shepaug River.
Two years since liquor was banned in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar government now plans to ban khaini or chewing tobacco as well.

The state health department has written to the central government requesting to notify khaini as a food product and once it is notified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the state government will be free to impose a complete ban on it on health grounds.

Apart from the Bihar government, SEEDS (Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society) has also written to the health department to include khaini as a food product under FSSAI. As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2 of 2016-17, 25.9 percent of the states population use tobacco in different forms and 20.4 percent of them are addicted to chewing tobacco.

Even a few political leaders in Bihar are addicted to khaini, the most famous being RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is known for chewing khaini. Reports suggest that Lalu used to get home cooked food and khaini from Patna when he was in jail the last time, serving the fodder scam sentence.

Speaking to News18, Bihar Principal Secretary (Health) Sanjay Kumar confirmed that he has written a letter to the central government. Khaini is not included in the list of food products by FSSAI and once it is added, it will be easier for us to impose a complete ban on it.

"Every fifth person in Bihar consumes raw tobacco. We have rules that govern tobacco use in the form of cigarettes but consumption of khaini is an area that needs attention," he said.

Khaini farmers are bound to be adversely affected by the ban once its imposed.

Bihar is the sixth largest tobacco producing state in the country. Besides Samastipur, khaini is also grown in Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Darbangha and Sitamarhi.

The tobacco plant once cut, is dried and sold to traders from Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Depending on the quality, it is sold for anything between Rs 70 to 200 per kilogram.

In October 2013, the Nitish government announced a tax exemption on khaini after demands made by farmers who told the chief minister that their produce was being seized and fines and taxes being imposed on them.

In 2014, when Jitan Ram Manjhi was the chief minister, he hiked the tax on tobacco products by 30 percent, but khaini was left untouched keeping the vote bank in mind.

Tobacco is a major cash crop in Bihar and banning its sale will have a direct impact on the farmers.

Tobacco farmers have been voting for JD(U) and NDA allies while the ban may force them to shift towards RJD.

Bihar Agriculture Minister, Prem Kumar told News18, If the ban is imposed, the ministry will make alternate arrangements for the farmers. Their source of income wont be hit and they will not suffer.

The JD(U) government has had to resist immense pressure from mainstream media and studies in the past while implementing the liquor ban. Sale of ghutka and pan masala, too, is banned in Bihar since May 2016.
Lucknow: Not only did the cheque of Rs 1 lakh given to one of the UP Board class 10th toppers by CM Yogi Adityanath bounced, but the student was also charged penalty for the dishonoured cheque.

Alok Mishra, a student of High School in Young Stream Inter College in Barabanki district, had scored 93.5 percent marks in his UP Board High School results and was ranked seventh in the state. After which, Alok was called at a function in Lucknow on May 29, in which CM Yogi Adityanath presented him a cheque of Rs 1 lakh for his hard work and achievement.

The cheque given to the meritorious student was issued by the signature of District Inspector of Schools, Barabanki, Raj Kumar Yadav and belonged to State Bank of India departmental account. The cheque numbered 974926 was then submitted by Aloks parents in his account in Dena Bank in Hazratganj area of Lucknow on 5 June 2018.

However, when the money did not get credited in Aloks account, he contacted the bank and came to know that the cheque has bounced.

Speaking to News18, Alok said, I was really happy to receive the cheque from CM sir. Two days after submitting the cheque in the bank, we came to know that it had bounced after which I was a little disappointed.

The reason stated by the bank for bouncing of the cheque was stated as mismatch of the signatures. DIOS, Raj Kumar Yadav said, The reason for cheque bouncing has been told as mismatch of signature. However, no other student has come up with a similar complaint as of now. New cheque has been issued to the student.

District Magistrate Barabanki, Uday Bhanu Tripathi said, This is a very serious issue and action will be taken if any laxity is found. The matter is related to the CM and should have been taken seriously.
New Delhi: The weather in Delhi took a sudden turn on Saturday when a severe dust storm and strong winds hit the city, plunging the national capital into darkness.

The Met department had predicted earlier in the day that a dust storm accompanied by light rain and squall with wind speed reaching up to 70-80 kmph would occur over Delhi and NCR.

The sudden change temporarily halted operations at the Delhi airport, with 27 flights being diverted between 5pm and 6pm. Operations have now been restored.

Jet Airways took to Twitter to announce that some of its flights to and from Delhi had been affected. Vistara's Mumbai-Delhi flight was diverted to Amritsar due to the inclement weather, while its Guwahati-Delhi flight was diverted to Lucknow.

Services on the Red Line and Blue Line of the Delhi Metro were affected briefly due to some snags on a few stretches after a dust storm. "Due to sudden dust storm and rain around 5 pm, there were a few cases of track circuit signalling drop reported on Line 1 (Red Line) and Line 3 (Blue Line) and external object striking overhead electrification near Janakpuri East," a senior DMRC official said.

The dust storm pushed the temperature down by a few notches on what was a sultry day. The city recorded a high of 40.5 degrees Celsius and a low of 30 degrees Celsius, according to the MeT office.

The humidity levels were recorded at 71 per cent.

The weather office warned people to exercise caution and not expose themselves to the inclement weather.
Mumbai: A massive fire broke out at Patel Chambers in Mumbai's fort area on Saturday morning, bringing down a portion of the building. No fatality was reported, while two fire fighters were injured.

Nearly 16 fire tenders were pressed into service as level-3 fire (that requires immediate evacuation) escalated to level-4, which led to the collapse of a portion of the old building. A fire official said that the blaze started around 4 am and engulfed most part of the structure by 6:30 am.

"The fire brigade personnel were injured when the portion of the building, called Kothari building (also known as the Light Of Asia), collapsed during the fire-fighting operation," he added. The ground-plus-five-storey structure in the Fort area, a major business district, is old and its southern part crumbled while the personnel were putting out the blaze.

#WATCH: A Level-4 fire broke out inside Patel Chambers in Mumbai's Fort area.18 Fire tenders present at the spot. pic.twitter.com/5cv3WDeCUj ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

The exact cause of fire is not known yet. Fire department officials confirmed no one was trapped inside the building as the structure was unoccupied for the last four years.

"The fire started from the fourth or fifth floor, and our motive was to not let the fire spread to the nearby buildings. As Patel Chambers had some wood work, the blaze spread rapidly," Chief Fire Officer said.

A fire official said that it will take some more time to douse the fire as it was intense (News18)

2 fire fighters had minor injuries, rest everybody is safe. We deployed 16 fire engines, 11 tankers & 150 fire officers, situation is under control. Cause of fire is matter of investigation as building was completely vacant: Chief Fire Officer on fire at #Mumbai's Patel Chambers pic.twitter.com/s4vTY8M5jU ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018

This is the second incident of major fire in the area in last 10 days. A level-4 fire had engulfed the Income Tax office in South Mumbai's Scindia House last Friday. Even as eight people were initially stranded on the terrace, no casualties were reported in the incident.

Meanwhile, a fire also broke out in the neighbouring state of Gujarat after a slab from the third floor of a dyeing mill in Surat's Pandesara area fell and injured 35 labourers. The slab hit an oil pipe, which led to a leakage that caused the blaze.
New Delhi: Six weeks after meeting Xi Jinping in Wuhan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday invited the Chinese President to India for a similar informal summit in 2019. Modi held detailed discussions on a host of issues in Qingdao on Saturday and said they would further strengthen India-China ties.

Calling the meeting "substantive", foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said President Xi Jinping began by making a positive assessment of the Wuhan Sumnmit. "He described it as 'a new starting point' in our bilateral relations, while the Prime Minister described it as a 'milestone in our relations'."

Gokhale added, "One of the important outcomes of today's meeting was the Chinese side conveyed that they accepted the PM's invitation to President Xi Jinping to have a similar informal summit in India in 2019."

The two countries signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) on sharing hydrological information about the Brahmaputra River with India and amendment of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include non-Basmati rice.

During their meeting in Qingdao, the two leaders discussed a blueprint for deepening bilateral relationship and reviewed the implementation of decisions they had taken in the central Chinese city.

The meeting took place ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and covered key aspects of the bilateral engagement, reflecting the resolve by the two countries to reset relations and bring back trust in their ties which was hit by the Doklam standoff and several other thorny issues.

"Met this year's SCO host, President Xi Jinping this evening. We had detailed discussions on bilateral and global issues. Our talks will add further vigour to the India-China friendship," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

Recalling that he and Prime Minister Modi successfully had an informal meeting and reached important consensus in Wuhan, President Xi said the meeting had been well received by both countries and the international community, and a positive atmosphere is taking shape to pay close attention to and support the development of China-India relations.

China is willing to work with India to take the Wuhan meeting as a new starting point to continuously enhance political mutual trust and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, so as to push forward China-India relations in a better, faster and steadier manner, Xi was quoted as saying by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar described the meeting as "warm" and "forward looking" while Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui said the two leaders focused on the implementation of the "Wuhan consensus" and drawing a blueprint for the future Sino-India relations.

"Further strengthening the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship generated at the Wuhan informal summit, PM Narendra Modi had a warm and forward looking meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit," Kumar tweeted.

The meeting between the leaders of two Asian powers came after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Doklam standoff.

After their talks in Wuhan, Modi and Xi had decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications to build trust and understanding as part of efforts to avoid a Doklam-like situation in the future.

The two leaders had also discussed ways to give impetus to their economic ties as well as people-to-people relations.

Luo said it was the 14th meeting between our two leaders over past four years.

Modi arrived here on a two-day visit to attend the annual SCO summit.

The ties between the two neighbouring nuclear powers had nosedived following last year's Doklam standoff as well as due to a number of other issues issues including China blocking India's move to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN and its opposition to India's bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group membership.

China's Belt and Road Initiative was also strongly opposed by India as part of it goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Troops of India and China were locked in the 73-day standoff in Doklam since June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army in the disputed area. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off had ended on August 28.

However, there have been concerted efforts by both sides to reset ties leaving behind the Doklam episode.

Last week, Modi had said that Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests. Modi also said that an "Asia of rivalry" will hold the region back while an Asia of cooperation will shape the current century.

The prime minister's comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore were appreciated by China.

China's appreciation of what Modi said was conveyed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in South Africa this week.

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping last year.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP.
Tuticorin (TN): More than two weeks after 13 persons were killed in police firing during anti-Sterlite protests in Tuticorin, two deputy tehsildars who allegedly gave the order to the force to do it have been transferred.

Deputy Tehsildars Kannan and Sekar were transferred to Kayathaaru and Srivaikuntam respectively by District Collector Sandeep Nandoor, an official order said.

Thirteen people were killed in police firing on May 22 and 23 after protests for closure of the plant over pollution concerns turned violent in Tuticorin.

The Tamil Nadu government had last month appointed a one-person Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired judge of the Madras High Court to probe the violence in Tuticorin.

The State Human Rights Commission also has initiated an inquiry into the issue.

On May 28, the government ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Vedanta group's copper plant, following the violent protests.

The following day Chief Minister K Palaniswami maintained in the assembly that police action was "unavoidable" and asserted that action would be taken if anyone had wrongly handled the situation.

The issue continued to rock the assembly in the following days with the ruling AIADMK claiming that the main opposition party DMK had allotted land for expansion of the copper plant in Tuticorin district when it was in power during 2006-11.

The Chief minister had listed out efforts by his government for permanent closure of the unit, including the 2013 action taken by J Jayalalithaa as then chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

He had also accused DMK working president MK Stalin of allotting 230 acres for Sterlite expansion when he was holding the industries portfolio as deputy chief minister earlier.

The State Human Rights Commission also has initiated an inquiry into the issue.
Chandigarh: The pangs of separation from her husband made Jasbir Kaur get behind the wheel of a truck last year and since then, there has been no looking back for the 28-year-old.

Kaur and her husband Lakha Singh, 33, from Sangrurs Chatha Nakta, have been married for the past 11 years and are parents to an eight-year-old boy.

Kaurs journey began when she realised that the only way she could spend adequate time with her husband, who is also a truck driver, was to accompany him on his long trips.

The couples story came to light during the recent water crisis in Shimla.

The two were part of the 27-tanker fleet deployed by a trust named Sai Engineering Foundation that helped add Sutlej water at the Gumma source.

The trucks, which doubled up as tankers, carried 10 lakh MLD water per day.

For her contribution during the crisis, Kaur was honoured by Himachal Pradesh governor Acharya Dev Vrat on Saturday.

Vrat handed over a letter of appreciation to Kaur and said, Jasbir and her husband worked 12-18 hours per day to help us during this crisis. The couples role has been outstanding.

Recalling her conversation with her husband when she expressed her desire to learn driving, Kaur said, One-and-a-half-years ago, we had gone to Rajasthan for a holiday and I expressed my desire to learn driving. I used to feel lonely whenever he was away for a couple of months so I thought that by becoming a helping hand to him, I can spend more time with him. Initially he thought I wasnt serious, but eventually he taught me.

Singh said, She took six months to master it. From the past three months, she has been driving even overloaded trucks with ease. After she has started accompanying me, I manage to earn Rs 25,000 per month compared to the Rs 18,000 I got earlier.

The couples son studies in a hostel and they dont return home for days. Shuttling between cities across the country, they take turns to drive the truck.

Speaking to News18 over the phone about her experiences in a profession dominated by men, Kaur said, Nobody appreciates what I do  especially my in-laws. They feel it is bringing insult to their name. This often makes me upset but he [Singh] tries to lighten my mood, saying if he doesnt mind my driving, nothing else matters.

Singh, who has been a support system for his wife, doesnt understand what the fuss about women drivers is.

Why is it such a big deal in our nation for a woman to ride a truck? Havent you seen female truck drivers in foreign countries? In other countries, driving a truck is just a job, irrespective of who the driver is. In fact, generally our profession is looked down upon. Even though she is my wife, we get lewd stares and her company is often questioned.

From getting Kaurs licence made to unnecessary harassment at the hands of factory staff, the couple has faced it all.

A famous factory based in Barnala harassed us every time she accompanied me. Despite having a licence, she is not allowed to come inside the factory for unloading or loading the truck. She has to wait outside till I get free. I have often noticed that many male truck drivers enter the factory with a fake licence. However, just because she is a women, she isnt allowed in despite valid documents, said Singh.

Kaur, who can drive for 12 hours at a stretch, has a message for women everywhere.

A man should never feel that his wife is dependent on him. Every woman should become independent and earn for herself, she said.

Her husband added, She has studied till Class 6 whereas I went to school till Class 4. Just because she is a woman, it doesnt make her less in any way. She shouldnt feel any different from other truck drivers.

The dedicated couple hopes to buy their own truck someday. If we dont manage to, well move to Saudi as one gets better money there, they said.
Lucknow/Mathura: The Samajwadi Party and the BJP on Saturday hurled accusations at each other over the damage seen at the government bungalow vacated by SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

Pictures and video clips showed damage to a cycle track, on walls after air-conditioners seemed to have been removed and to the floor of what seemed to be a badminton court at the bungalow.

The Samajwadi Party played down the damage, asking why the state of the homes recently vacated by other former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers in compliance with a Supreme Court order was not being shown.

Yadav challenged the state government to come up with a list of fittings damaged or removed when he shifted.

During a visit to temple-town Vridavan, he said BJP had mastered the art of defaming people. The BJP mocked the SP chief, saying the damage done at the bungalow showed Yadav's frustration.

On Friday night, Yadav handed over the keys of the official bungalow on Vikramaditya Marg to the UP estates department, an official said. After this, the authorities let photographers to enter the premises.

Yadav had moved out a few days earlier, complying with the Supreme Court order on May 7 that former UP chief ministers cannot retain government accommodation in Lucknow.

Following the SC order, the UP estates department had issued notices to six former chief ministers - Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav.

Barring Congress veteran ND Tiwari, who is ailing in Delhi, all of them have now handed over their official bungalows.

The SP said the video clips indicated that the BJP was worried over Yadav's popularity.

"This is an attempt by the Yogi Adityanath government to misguide the people of the state and tarnish Akhilesh Yadav's image," SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Sajan said.

He asked why the official bungalows allotted to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh were not shown to the media after they vacated them.

"The reason is that after the electoral losses in Gorakhpur, Phulpur, Kairana and Noorpur, Akhilesh Yadav's popularity is increasing, and it has given cause for worry to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath."

Sajan also asked why no estates department official was present when the bungalow Yadav vacated was shown to the media. He said the estates department should provide an inventory of the work done by it at the bungalow.

UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, The damage done to the bungalow before it was vacated by Yadav shows his frustration. He said the SP and Yadav must tell the people why the tiles at the house were uprooted.

The party alleged that the SP leader got a grand bungalow built for himself at government expense after realizing that he would not take oath as chief minister for the second time.

Asked about the video clips showing the damage at Yadav's bungalow, estates department official Yogesh Kumar Shukla said the department will check its inventory to see what fittings were provided by it.

The department will serve a notice if it finds any shortcomings or "intentional damage," he told PTI. Of the six bungalows allotted to former chief ministers, only N D Tiwari's house is yet to be handed over.

His wife Ujjwala Tiwari has sought more time from the estates department, pleading that the Congress veteran was in Delhi in the "last stages" of his life.

"He is bedridden for the past eight months and I am also not keeping well. It is not practically possible for me to come down to Lucknow and vacate the premises," she had told PTI over the phone on June 2.
Patna: In a dramatic turn of events, Lalu Prasad Yadavs elder son and former state Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav on Saturday warned his brother Tejashwi against outsiders trying to create differences between them apart from accusing his younger brother of trying to sideline him in the party.

Tej Pratap said, We all do politics. But the kind of politics that is being played in RJD right now is extremely saddening. There are certain anti-social elements who have entered the party and are trying to ruin the party."

The sensational development comes as Lalu Prasad Yadav continues to remain in jail after being convicted in the fodder scam case.

Tej Pratap further alleged that Tejashwi has allowed anti-social elements in the party who are trying to create rift between the brothers.

He said, "People like Rajendra Paswan have toiled for us. After I asked Lalu Ji, Rabri Ji and Tejashwi to give him a party position, only then was it done. Why was it done so late?"

They are using Tejashwis name and my name to create differences between us but I will still say that I love him as he is my brother. However, he also accused his younger brother of not taking his calls whenever he tries to reach out to him.

Soon after the news started doing the rounds, Tej Pratap issued a clarification on Twitter saying, "Tejashwi is the apple of my eyes. Don't try to create differences between us by spreading these rumours."

As Tejashwi continues to grow as the heir apparent of Lalu Prasad in the RJD fold, it seems to have touched a wrong nerve with Tej Pratap who was a Cabinet minister in Bihar when RJD was still in the government along with Nitish Kumar.

The internal differences in the single largest party in the state are bound to make BJP and JD(U) use this as a political tool ahead of the 2019 elections.
New Delhi: Politicians rarely retire. And if he happens to be Pranab Mukherjee, then keeping the political bug out is even more difficult.

The former president's presence and speech at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event have many political spin-offs. First, Mukherjee wanted to send a clear message  that he has cut his umbilical cord with the Congress and is his own man now.

In fact, he always was one. Perhaps, that explains why Sonia Gandhi overlooked him for the top job and chose Manmohan Singh who was junior to Mukherjee in political expertise and experience. Though the Congressman is very careful not to speak about it openly, his injury is pretty evident.

But it is in moments like these that Mukherjee shows the Congress leaders who he is.

While the Congress gave its thumbs up to Mukherjee's speech, they havent been able to hide their unhappiness at his presence at the RSS headquarters, especially at a time when Rahul Gandhis politics has been strongly anti-RSS.

But what about the other political parties? While many within the opposition may not be happy with Mukherjee at the RSS event, they dont want to make a big deal out of it. After all, Mukherjee went to the podium as a former president.

But for many of the opposition parties like Trinamool Congress (TMC), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), who seek a non-Congress, non-BJP front against Modi, Mukherjee could emerge as that consensus candidate who no one may have a problem with.

While most of the opposition parties that News18 spoke to say there is still a long way to go and it is too early to speak of any consensus candidate, Mukherjee's chances cannot be ignored. However, there are some parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) who have clearly ruled out Mukherjee as Prime Minister. It was Mulayam Singh Yadav who had opposed Mukherjee's name for president, initially.

But, Mulayam Singh's non-approval aside, Mukherjee comes with some advantages. He has vast experience, enjoys a good rapport with most opposition parties and even with the BJP. More importantly, he is no longer seen as a Congress face anymore. His going to the RSS event has ensured that he is now to be seen as the man who once again took on the Congress.

Mukherjee has always been seen as a man who has a mind of his own. Which is why, there is and always will be a trust deficit between him and the Gandhis.

The Congress hasn't missed any part of his speech. Pranab calling the RSS founder KB Hedgewar great son of mother India and skipping a mention of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination have not missed their attention. For them, this is proof enough that Mukherjee may have crossed over to the other side.

But the RSS, too, seems to have made a political point. The Sangh is not seen to be anti-Congress, but rather anti-Gandhis. And the more Rahul Gandhi holds the RSS responsible for the assassination of the Mahatma, the RSS would want to use Congress leaders (sans the Gandhis) as an endorsement of their ideology. The perfect example of which was Pranab Mukherjee.

For them, Mukherjee is the best face of the Congress and it suits them to use this visit repeatedly to snub the Gandhis.

But it's not just a message which RSS wants to send to the Gandhis. To some within the RSS who are uncomfortable with the Congress-mukt slogan of the BJP, an invite to Mukherjee is a subtle message to the BJP as well. The message is clear  not everyone associated with the Congress is a pariah. And some within the RSS who may not be comfortable with the Amit Shah-Modi duo wouldn't mind nudging the Pranab card.

But the final decision rests with the man himself. He may not be keen to be dragged into this political slugfest, but he has once again showed his political use is not yet over.
New Delhi: As the ongoing crisis in Karnataka Congress refuses to die down, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met the group of disgruntled MLAs led by veteran Congressman MB Patil in the national capital, but the talks remained inconclusive. This comes even as opposition leader BS Yeddyurappa, who is short by a few numbers to gain majority in the House, said that several Congress and JD(S) MLAs are willing to join BJP.

After the meeting, Patil said the plan of action would be decided after discussions with the 15-20 MLAs who are unhappy with the cabinet expansion. He, however, asserted that he has no plans to quit the Congress.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president Dinesh Gundu Rao and state leader and new cabinet minister Krishna Byre Gowda were present in the meeting. We are trying to resolve the differences. The process is on at the moment. No decision has been taken yet, Gowda said, adding that the consultations with state leaders were going on.

Patil, who campaigned for a minority status for the Lingayats, is a prominent state Congress leader. Under his leadership, a section of dissatisfied legislators have held several meetings last week.

After meeting the Congress president, Patil said: I shared my views with Rahul Gandhi and explained the state's situation. I have not demanded anything.

I am not alone, many friends are together with me. I will share with them what happened in the meeting and then decide next plan of action, he said, adding, The BJP has not approached me nor I have got in touch with the saffron party. My fight is within Congress.

Yeddyurappa, on the other hand, said, It is our responsibility to induct those who are disgruntled with the JD(S) and Congress and their style of administration in every assembly segment, and are willing to join the BJP, thereby strengthening the party in every constituency."

However, displaying confidence amid the continuing disquiet in the JDS-Congress coalition, Karnataka deputy chief minister G Parameshwara said, At the beginning (of new government) there will be such confusion but by solving them we will complete five years.

He added, Things are getting right, we have tried to convince that six ministerial berths are still to be filled in, so there is still opportunity; we have also said that after two years there will be change of ministers.

After two years Rahul Gandhi may change some people after looking at their performance. Also the party high command has said once in six months performance evaluation has to be done. So, many of them will get opportunity. I have requested them to be patient.

The JDS-Congress cabinet was expanded on June 6 with the induction of 25 new ministers, after intense bargaining for ministerial berths.

The much-awaited exercise has caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the coalition while supporters of some of the ministerial aspirants staged protests.
Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has said RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha had no place in the NDA and hinted that the Union minister would be welcomed if he chose to switch sides and join the RJD-led grand alliance in Bihar.

"It has been evident that Kushwaha has no place in the NDA, of which his party is a constituent. He has been ploughing a lonely furrow on a number of issues," Yadav, the RJD heir apparent, told reporters.

Asked whether the RJD would accept Kushwaha's RLSP into the Grand Alliance, Yadav said, "It is for him to take a decision. If he wishes to come with us, we will think over the matter."

"He organised a state-wide human chain a few months ago on the issue of educational reforms which his alliance partners sneered at. It was our party which supported him on that occasion as we agreed with his cause," Yadav said.

Kushwaha was absent at a get-together of the NDA on Thursday night and his party demanded that the next Lok Sabha and assembly polls be fought under his leadership. The Union Minister of State for HRD, however, sought to downplay his absence, saying it was because of some "personal reasons" and asserted that the coalition was intact.

At present, Kushwaha is engaged in a campaign demanding representation of all sections of the society in higher judiciary, Yadav said.

This cause is also supported by the RJD but, it appears, none of his coalition partners does, said Yadav who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

The RLSP has been viewing with consternation the assertion by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) that it was the main party in the NDA in Bihar, a clear hint that it wanted the largest number of seats among the constituents of the BJP-led coalition in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Yadav's comments came a few hours after former Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha president Jitan Ram Manjhi urged Kushwaha to quit the NDA and join the grand alliance.

Manjhi, who was himself with the NDA until a few months ago, joined the RJD-Congress combine in March. Despite being the sole MLA of his party, Manjhi got his son elected to the state legislative council with help from the RJD.

The HAM leader, however, made it clear that Kushwaha "must give up his ambition to be projected as the leader of the coalition since grand alliance has already decided that if it wins power in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav would be the chief minister".
Lahore: Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Jammat-ud-Dawah is fielding more than 200 candidates in the July 25 general elections on national and provincial Assembly seats across the country even as Saeed himself has decided not to run for parliament.

Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack, launched its political front Milli Muslim League (MML), but it has not been yet registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

With general elections approaching, the group decided to contest on the platform of a "dormant" political entity Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) registered with the ECP.

The JuD activists and sympathisers have taken the nomination papers from the ECP and are fielding their candidates on the platform of the AAT.

"MML president Saifullah Khalid and AAT chief Ehsan Bari have agreed to field joint candidates on the platform of ATT in the upcoming elections. Under the seat adjustment agreement, the MML will field more than 200 educated candidates. They will contest the elections on the AAT's election symbol chair," Ahmad Nadeem, an MML spokesperson, told Press Trust of India on Friday.

He said there are many political figures who have joined the MML and it has awarded them AAT tickets.

Asked if Saeed plans to run as a parliamentary candidate in this election, the spokesman said: "No ... Hafiz sahib has no such plans at the moment. The MML is taking part for the first time in the general elections and hopefully, we will make to the parliament."

To a question, if any "significant leader" of the JuD would contest the election, he said: "Our priority is that those joining us from other political parties or educated youths in respective constituencies be given AAT tickets."

He said the AAT will launch its political campaign once its candidates file nomination papers.

"We are hopeful that the people will elect our candidates," he said.

It is believed that since the MML has hardly any chance to get registered with the ECP as the latter had announced the election schedule and issued election symbols, it had no other option but to contest the election on any 'dormant' entity like the AAT.

Earlier, MML president Saifullah Khalid had said: "We have decided to support the candidates of AAT in July 25 elections. We will play a role in the victory of those contesting on the symbol of a chair. To save Pakistan, patriotic people should be supported in the elections."

Khalid said the MML had been denied registration in the ECP for the last 11 months but will take part in the polls by supporting AAT candidates.

The interior ministry had opposed enlisting of the MML as a political party arguing it's an offshoot of Saeed's JuD banned under a UN resolution.

The JuD formed MML at the time when Saeed was detained in Lahore. Saeed and his four aides  Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain  were placed under house arrest in Lahore on January 30 under the anti-terrorism act.

The JuD was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The JuD chief also carries a $10 million American bounty on his head for his role in terror activities.
Los Angeles: President Donald Trump said on Friday that he's inclined to support a bipartisan effort in Congress to ease the US ban on marijuana, a proposal that would dramatically reshape the nation's legal landscape for pot users and businesses.

The federal ban that puts marijuana on the same level as LSD and heroin has created a conflict with more than two dozen states that have legalised pot in some form, creating a two-tiered enforcement system where cannabis can be both legal and not.

The legislation would ensure states have the right to determine the best approach to marijuana within their borders, but some US restrictions would remain, including recreational sales to people under 21.

The proposal introduced Thursday has support from members of Congress from both parties, including Republican US Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado.

"I support Senator Gardner. I know exactly what he's doing," Trump told reporters in Washington, when asked about the legislation. "We're looking at it. But I probably will end up supporting that, yes." The president's remarks place him in conflict with US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an outspoken opponent of marijuana who lifted an Obama administration policy and freed federal prosecutors to more aggressively pursue cases in states that have legalised marijuana.

Trump has sent mixed signals on the drug: While campaigning for president, he pledged to respect states that legalised marijuana, but he also has criticised legalisation and implied it should be stopped.

Gardner said the legislation would ensure Washington respects the will of voters in each state, whether laws provide for legalisation or prohibition.

He said in a statement released yesterday that the federal government "is closing its eyes and plugging its ears" to spreading legalisation, but Washington should not interfere with any state's legal marijuana market.

Trump's remarks Friday echo a promise that Gardner said he received privately from the president in April to support legislation protecting the marijuana industry in states that have legalised the drug.

Another co-sponsor of the measure, Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said in a statement that Washington "needs to get out of the business of outlawing marijuana." California, home to one in eight Americans, launched the nation's largest legal marijuana marketplace on January 1 but thousands of businesses that have been licensed are still facing the threat of federal prosecution.

A major problem stemming from the federal ban: Major banks have been reluctant to do business with marijuana companies, fearing it could lead to prosecution. In California, for example, paying taxes and other transactions are often carried out in cash, sometimes in vast amounts.
Washington: Chinese government hackers have stolen a massive trove of sensitive information from a US Navy contractor, including secret plans to develop a new type of submarine-launched anti-ship missile, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Investigators told the newspaper that breaches were executed in January and February by a division of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, operating out of the Chinese province of Guangdong.

The contractor, which was not named in the report, works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, based in Newport, Rhode Island. It conducts research and development for submarines and underwater weapons systems.

According to the Post, hackers swiped 614 gigabytes of data that included information relating to sensors, submarine cryptographic systems and a little-known project called Sea Dragon.

The Pentagon has not said much about Sea Dragon, launched in 2012, except that it is aimed at adapting existing military technologies to new uses.

At the Navy's request, the Post withheld information about the compromised new missile system, but said it was for a supersonic anti-ship missile that could be launched from submarines.

Navy spokesman Commander Bill Speaks declined to confirm the Post report, citing security reasons.

"Evolving cyber threats are serious matters and we are continuously bolstering our cybersecurity culture by focusing on awareness of the cyber threat, and the adequacy of our cyber defences and information technology capabilities," he told AFP.

Chinese hackers have for years targeted the US military to steal information and the Pentagon says they have previously swiped crucial data on the new F-35 stealth fighter, the advanced Patriot PAC-3 missile system and other highly sensitive projects.

News of the hack comes amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington on a range of issues including trade and military matters.

The Pentagon last month pulled its invitation for China to join maritime exercises in the Pacific because of Beijing's "continued militarisation" of the South China Sea.
United Nations: The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency meeting next Wednesday at 3.00 pm local time to vote on an Arab-backed resolution on Gaza, the body's president Miroslav Lajcak has announced.

The resolution, announced by Lajcak on Friday, will condemn Israel, and will be similar to one vetoed by the United States in the Security Council last week, which called for protecting Palestinians from Israeli aggression, according to diplomats.

It comes as four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border on Friday, as weeks of deadly clashes with protesters continued. Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly have no binding value, unlike those passed by the Security Council.

"We will work next week to get the maximum number of votes," a diplomat from a country that supported the measure told AFP. Arab countries turned to the General Assembly in December after the US vetoed a Security Council vote on a resolution to condemn its decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Fourteen members of the Security Council backed the December resolution, though the US as well as the council's four other permanent members retain a right to veto.

The measure then received 128 votes out of 193 in the General Assembly. A diplomatic source said the emergency meeting had been pushed by the Organization of Islamic States and the Arab League.

Several European countries have tried to dissuade Palestinians and Arab countries from demanding a vote in the General Assembly after last week's US veto.

"Everyone told them not to do it," said a diplomat on condition of anonymity, arguing the resolution could be counterproductive if it doesn't receive at least as many votes as the one obtained in December on Jerusalem.

Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, condemned the planned resolution. "It is unfortunate that instead of condemning the terrorists of Hamas, some countries are looking to satisfy their domestic political needs by bashing Israel at the United Nations," Danon said in a statement.

It is not entirely clear what form of protection the Palestinians of Gaza are seeking, from observers to a full blown peacekeeping force. Arab states have recently turned to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make proposals on this matter.

But according to a diplomat who asked for anonymity, he said he needed a mandate from the Security Council to look further into the issue. On Friday, four Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers near the border fence during new clash-ridden protests in the blockaded enclave.

At least 129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests broke out along the Gaza border on March 30. There have been no Israeli casualties.

Protests peaked on May 14 when at least 61 Palestinians were killed in protests to coincide with the controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem The Jewish state maintains a crippling blockade of Gaza it says is necessary to isolate Hamas.

Critics say it amount to collective punishment of the territory's two million residents.
Hong Kong: A US health alert issued for China over a mysterious illness has revived fears of a rumoured sonic weapon that first surfaced after a scare involving American diplomats and their families in Cuba two years ago.

Staff who fell ill after hearing strange sounds are being examined by doctors at a consulate in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, with several evacuated to the US and at least one diagnosed with brain trauma.

The new cases eerily echo the odd noises and subsequent illnesses suffered by 24 US diplomats evacuated from Cuba since 2016, deepening a baffling medical enigma.

But the incident also poses a diplomatic conundrum  how to respond to what some fear may be a deliberate attack against Americans by shadowy foes on Chinese soil.

According to a New York Times report, US officials have privately raised questions about whether China, or Russia, might have separately or in tandem targeted the diplomats.

Washington has so far taken care not to implicate Beijing, which has told US officials it is investigating the incident.

"Until they are certain of the cause, it seems premature to make accusations," said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I don't think the US is calling it an 'attack'."

It is in stark contrast to the US handling of the Cuba case, when the State Department lashed out at Havana for failing to protect its diplomats.

Washington expelled 15 Cuban diplomats, arguing the authoritarian state must have either carried out the assaults or known who was behind them. President Donald Trump said he held Cuba responsible, although Havana denied any involvement.

There are clear reasons for the US to avoid rocking the boat so readily this time.

As a rising superpower, Beijing possesses significantly greater clout than impoverished Havana, with the cases coming at a precarious moment in US-China relations.

Ongoing talks to avoid a full-blown trade war are balanced on a knife edge, and Beijing's cooperation is likely to be key if hopes for North Korea's denuclearisation ahead of next week's summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un are to be realised.

Many theories, no proof

Still lacking proof to support allegations against Cuba, US officials could also be facing up to claims there were no "sonic attacks" after all.

Although the American victims heard strange noises  described as static or the sound of metal sheets waving  studies have cast doubt on the "acoustic weapon" hypothesis.

A University of Pennsylvania team examined 21 affected staff from the Cuba embassy, and found they suffered symptoms typical of concussion such as headaches and memory loss.

"There is no known mechanism for audible sound to injure the brain," said study author Douglas Smith. "We are pretty certain that it was not the sound itself that caused the injury."

A Canadian investigation into similar illnesses among its own diplomats in Cuba in April said a sonic attack was "now considered unlikely", while FBI agents sent to Havana reportedly found no evidence to support the theory.

This has not stopped speculation about other possible weapons potentially using microwaves, infrasound or ultrasound, despite technical difficulties in projecting these types of energy over long distances and through structures.

A University of Michigan study in March posed an alternative theory, suggesting the illnesses could be caused by bugging or surveillance jamming devices.

The study showed ultrasonic signals from such devices could clash with each other to create the strange sounds heard by diplomats.

Importantly, this theory would suggest there was no malicious intent  and even that the US's own equipment could be the cause.

Others have claimed the illness may simply be psychological and dismissed the whole affair as mass hysteria.

China sceptical

In China, analysts have queried the absence of a suitable motive for an attack.

"If the Chinese government did it, then why?" said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University. "Is it happy to drive the diplomats out of China? I can't see the reason behind it."

"The Chinese government will not express its dissatisfaction with the US in this way," added Wu Xinbo, a US politics expert at Fudan University.

"I think the whole event is nonsense."
Islamabad: Pakistan's former dictator Pervez Musharraf may contest in the upcoming elections scheduled to be held on July 25 after the Supreme Court gave him a conditional permission, his party has said.

The chief justice of the apex court hearing a petition against a lifetime ban on him by a high court in 2013 said that 74-year-old Musharraf can file nomination.

Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslims League (APML) said that he would contest election from the northern district of Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

It is the same seat which was won by a candidate who was supported by the APML in 2013 elections after Musharraf was disqualified by the Peshawar High Court.

There were reports that he will also contest from his home city of Karachi.

APML general secretary Muhammad Amjad said Musharraf will come back before the election but did not give a final date. He said that the party will field candidates for several seats.

The Supreme Court in its ruling asked Musharraf to appear in person on June 13 and promised that he will not be arrested despite involvement in several criminal cases.

The apex court has been criticised by leading politicians, including ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, for allowing Musharraf to contest despite his disqualification.

Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled until 2008 when forced to resign. He has been living in Dubai since March 2016 after he was allowed to leave the country for medical treatment.
Johannesburg: An elite South Africa police unit raided offices of Bank of Baroda on Friday and seized documents as part of an investigation into state corruption under former president Jacob Zuma, a police spokesman said.

Bank of Baroda, which is winding down its operations in South Africa, was thrust into the spotlight two years ago when it started working with the Guptas, a family of Indian-born businessmen who are at the centre of an influence-peddling scandal surrounding Zuma.

Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing.

Police raided Bank of Baroda branches in Johannesburg and Durban and took documents showing bank transactions involving South African state firms, Hangwani Mulaudzi, a spokesman for the police's elite "Hawks" unit, said.

"We are of the view that Bank of Baroda was used as a conduit for the transfer of illicit funds. The raids are happening as part of 'state capture' investigations," Mulaudzi said, using a phrase coined to describe alleged influence-peddling under Zuma.

A Bank of Baroda employee in Durban who picked up the telephone confirmed the Hawks had visited the bank's premises on Friday.

"This search and seizure operation is not for investigation on Bank of Baroda. This requisition by the Hawks is in relation to the continuing ongoing investigation of the Gupta family," the bank said in a statement on Saturday.

The bank has been cooperating with investigating agencies and has shared relevant documents with them, it said.

An inquiry into allegations surrounding Zuma and the Guptas will begin formal public hearings in August and could take two years or more, officials have said.

Police earlier this year raided the compound of the Guptas in Johannesburg as part of an investigation into theft, fraud and money laundering at a state-backed dairy project in the Free State province that was meant to benefit the local community.

The whereabouts of the Gupta brothers is not publicly known. One of the brothers, Ajay Gupta, was declared a "fugitive from justice" after leaving South Africa for Dubai in February.

Gupta family representatives in South Africa could not be reached for comment.

Zuma was in court on Friday for a separate hearing relating to a $2.5 billion arms deal from the 1990s. He faces 16 charges of fraud, racketeering, corruption and money laundering in that case.
Madrid: Spain's new Socialist government has said it would lift financial controls on Catalonia as a "gesture of normalisation" towards the separatist-minded region, but insisted an independence referendum was still "out of the question."

Education minister and government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa on Thursday said that banks would be "instructed to allow the government of Catalonia to make payments" without the supervision of Spain's finance ministry.

The financial controls had been put in place by the previous conservative government of Mariano Rajoy in September 2017 to prevent the separatist regional government of Catalonia from financing a banned independence referendum on October 1.

But from now on, the Catalan government will simply have to provide a monthly spending report to the central government.

Speaking after the first cabinet meeting since Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez came to power, Celaa said the new premier would meet with Spain's 17 regional government heads, including Catalonia's new separatist president Quim Torra.

Catalan separatist formations had been among a string of smaller parties to back the no-confidence motion that ousted Rajoy.

Asked whether the government would be willing to discuss the possibility of Catalonia holding an independence referendum as demanded by Catalan separatists, Celaa said this was "out of the question".

Sanchez spoke by phone with Torra yesterday and the two men "agreed to meet each other very soon," a source in the Catalan government told AFP.

The tone of the conversation between the two leaders was "very cordial", the source added.

Rajoy's conservative government dismissed Catalonia's government after the regional parliament on October 27 declared independence following the banned referendum.

The referendum was boycotted by the opposition and declared illegal by Spanish courts.

Opinion polls show Catalans are split on the issue of independence, but a large majority want to vote in a legitimate referendum to settle the matter.

Catalonia's ousted president Carles Puigdemont, for his part, appeared to be open to a softer position during an interview with Catalan radio Rac1 yesterday.

"The referendum is the expression of the right which the people of Catalonia have to self-determination. If the Spanish government believes that this right can be exercised in another way, we have always said that we are willing to listen," he said.

Puigdemont is in Germany pending the outcome of a request by Spain for him to be extradited and stand trial over his role in Catalonia's separatist drive.

He picked Torra to be Catalonia's next leader after separatist parties kept their absolute majority in regional elections in December and remains influential among Catalan separatists.
La Malbaie (Canada): United States President Donald Trump on Saturday said he had a clear objective for his upcoming nuclear summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, though he acknowledged that potential progress will always be spur of the moment.

Trump described the meeting set for Tuesday in Singapore as a one-time shot for Kim and characterised it as a mission of peace, speaking shortly before he left a Group of Seven summit in Canada to fly to Asia.

The President told reporters that its so far, so good as he cast ahead to what he called unknown territory in the truest sense.

He said he thinks it's going to work out very well.

Trump, who prides himself on his deal-making prowess, said he will know within the first minute of meeting Kim whether the North Korean leader is serious about the nuclear negotiations.

I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen. And if I think it wont happen, I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time, Trump said.

The meeting will be the first between a sitting US President and a North Korean leader.

Trump cited the unprecedented nature of the meeting and said he was convinced that Kim is serious about doing good things for his country.

He could take that nation with those great people and truly make it great, so its a one-time, its a one-time shot, and I think it's going to work out very well, Trump said.

That's why I feel positive, because it makes so much sense, he added.

He also praised the North Koreans, saying they have been really working very well with us during preparations for the summit, which Trump had canceled last month following a recent period of what he called tremendous anger and open hostility from the North Korean government.

But then Trump did a quick pivot, signaling almost immediately after scrapping the meeting that he was open to going ahead with it after all.

Delegations from both countries then launched into a frenetic period of negotiations that are expected to culminate with Tuesday's meeting.

So far, so good. We're going to have to see what happens. I very much look forward to it, Trump said.

Trump hopes to persuade Kim to completely abandon the arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that the North Koreans have spent generations amassing.

I have a clear objective, but I have to say that it's going to be something that will always be spur of the moment. This has not been done before at this level. This is a leader who really is an unknown personality. People don't know much about him. I think that he's going to surprise on the upside, very much on the upside, the President said.

Questions remain about what a deal on the Norths nuclear weapons would look like.

Trump has said he believes Kim would agree to denuclearisation, but the two countries have offered differing visions of what that would entail.

Despite Kims apparent eagerness for a summit with Trump, there are doubts that he would fully relinquish his nuclear arsenal, which he may see as his guarantee of survival.

US defense and intelligence officials have assessed the North to be on the threshold of having the capability to strike anywhere in the continental US with a nuclear-tipped missile  a capacity that Trump and other US officials have said they would not tolerate.

Trump has promised to provide "protections" for Kim and his government in return for him giving up the nuclear programme. He also indicated that South Korea, China and Japan would be prepared to invest in the North to boost its besieged economy.
Sonam Kapoor poses on the red carpet as she arrives for the screening of the film The Sea of Trees" in competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. (Image: Reuters)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the economic ties between the two countries.

New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a visit Qingdao in China to attend the two-day Shanghai Coorperation Organisation or SCO summit beginning today. It will be the first SCO summit since its expansion, when India and Pakistan were included as full members at the Astana summit in Kazakhstan last year.

India is likely to ground for concerted regional and global action against terror networks and favour effectual connectivity links to enhance trade. During his visit to Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province, PM Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders conducted bilateral talks on the tangential of the summit.

Live updates about SCO Summit 2018

1) PM Modi arrived in Qingdao at 1:20 pm today. He held a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which the two leaders have explored ways to deepen ties in areas of trade and investment, besides reviewing the overall bilateral cooperation between India and China.

2) This is PM Modi's second visit to China this year. Today's meeting between PM Modi and President Xi comes six weeks after the two leaders held an informal summit in central China's Wuhan city during which they exchanged views on solidifying the relationship between the two countries.

3) Leaders of the eight SCO member states and four observer states, as well as heads of international organisations attended the summit and explored ways to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism, extremism and radicalisation, besides deliberating on issues of global relevance.

4) Full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or SCO include China, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. Countries with observer status in the SCO include Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, and Belarus.

5) At this year's summit, India focused on the importance of regional connectivity projects to boost trade among members of the SCO countries. India has been strongly pushing for connectivity projects like the Chabahar port project in Iran and the over-7,200 km long International North-South Transport Corridor to gain access to resource-rich Central Asian countries.

6) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the economic ties between the two countries. India has been asking China to open its IT and pharmaceutical sectors to address the trade deficit which climbed to over $51 billion last year.

7) Prime Minister Modi is expected to conduct nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with top leaders of SCO countries. However, there is no official confirmation on whether there will be any interaction between PM Modi and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, who is also attending the meeting in China.

8) India has been raising the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in various multilateral forums with an aim to build pressure on Islamabad to dismantle the terror infrastructure operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

9) Ahead of the SCO summit, PM Modi had said he was "excited" to lead the Indian delegation for the grouping's first-ever meeting with India as a full member. "In the last one year since India became a full member of the SCO, our interaction with the organisation and its member states has grown considerably. I believe that , the Qingdao Summit will further enrich the SCO agenda, while heralding a new beginning for India's engagement with the SCO," he said.

10) "With 8 members, SCO represents approximately 42 per cent of the world's population, 22 per cent of the land area and 20 per cent of the GDP. SCO focuses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation and enables India to engage with Central Asian countries," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted this morning.
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Dear Newsie Readers,

Newsie has now permanently ceased it's services as of Friday 20th December 2019.

Newsie has been an owner-funded operation since day one.

Coming up to three years old, while we still firmly believe Newsie has a place in the New Zealand media landscape, the cost in both time and money has become too burdensome for the owners to continue alongside other ventures.

With the current government looking to restructure public broadcasting, and seemingly supporting NZME buying a ring-fenced Stuff, the time seems right to call it a day.

Should it happen, the combination of NZME and Stuff will ensure New Zealands national media will die a death by a thousand opinion-based articles.

Newsie has always tried to stick to balanced news, to inform readers of the facts of a situation, amid being largely ignored by government. Hopefully, one day someone else will take up the challenge to fight the good fight.

The good news, however, is that there were no job losses as a result of Newsie closing. Thanks to careful structuring, everyone involved in Newsie will retain their current positions.

We hope you all have a happy Christmas and new year. Stay safe, and stay out of the news.

The team at Newsie
NEW MILFORD  Carolyn Haglund looked around the centers newly completed expansion where at least 100 guests filled the old meeting room and the new grand room.

A celebration of this size wouldnt have been possible in the past few years, when the room size capped programs at about 65 people. The center also had to hold larger programs at other spaces in town, including parties at the Maxx and lunches at Trinity Lutheran Church.

This shows why we needed it, said Haglund, director of the Senior Center, taking in the turnout. Were so happy. Its a great space.

The center serves more than 3,400 seniors annually, she said. According to the 2015 American Community Survey, 4,834 people 62 years or older were living in New Milford,  17.5 percent of the towns population.

Officials have discussed what to do with the building for several years and how to meet the growing demand and programs at the center. The town secured a grant in 2015 and started construction last July.

The project cost $948,000. Of that, $498,000 was covered using a state Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant and the remainder comes from the Waste Management Fund.

The original scope included doubling the size of the meeting room, added handicap-accessible bathrooms and improved accessibility. It expanded to include new exercise spaces on the second floor when Social Services left the Richmond Center, where the senior center is housed, and moved to the John Pettibone Community Center.

Our options are pretty limitless now, said Jasmin Marie Ducusin, the centers program coordinator and assistant director.

She said the added program options might help attract younger seniors too.

Haglund said she appreciates the towns longstanding commitment to its seniors. The Commission on Aging was added to the charter in 1973 with a center established the following year. In 1984, the center moved into the Richmond Center, which was built as a school in 1911 but was re-purposed as town office space in the 1980s.

Mayor Pete Bass said the project started under former Mayor Pat Murphy, carried through David Gronbachs administration and its great to finally see the project completed.

Public Works Director Mike Zarba agreed. The department did the bulk of the work for the project, though the construction itself was completed by Rosa Construction.

Its a relief and a joy to witness the users who we built it for enjoying it, he said. It makes it come to fruition for us.

Ducusin and Haglund both said theyre happy to be able to do everything in the center, which many of the seniors consider their second home, and wont have to operate between two venues at once.

Were back on our home turf! Ducusin said.

Barbara Couphos has been coming to the center for four years and cant wait to experience the centers parties in the new building or other new events. She said she loves the programs already offered and the sense of community fostered at the center.

Its wonderful and gorgeous, she said. Its a happy place. Every day here is a fun time.

Valerie Schmidlin, who belongs to the quilting group at the center, said the seniors, staff and volunteers deserve to have such a nice center.

The renovation is great, she said. Its beautiful. Were very, very fortunate to have this space.
WASHINGTON - A longtime business associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted Friday on charges he conspired to obstruct justice as investigators probed a past secret lobbying scheme on behalf of Ukraine.

Konstantin Kilimnik was charged in a superseding indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. The new charges revolve around allegations that he and Manafort tried to influence two potential witnesses in a case involving the failure to register as foreign lobbyists.

Those accusations are part of a recent effort by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller to revoke or revise Manafort's bail conditions while he awaits trial next month in northern Virginia. A hearing on the bail issue is scheduled for next week. The indictment also charges Manafort with obstruction and conspiring to obstruct justice.

According to prosecutors, Manafort, Kilimnik and others in 2012 put together a lobbying effort with former European politicians referred to informally as the "Hapsburg group" to advocate on behalf of Ukraine to U.S. and European officials.

After Manafort was charged earlier this year with failing to register as a foreign lobbyist, authorities charged that he and Kilimnik attempted to sway the testimony of two potential witnesses who had been involved in the work.

Kilimnik, who is believed to be in Moscow, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Manafort hired Kilimnik, who is a Russian national, as a translator in his Kiev office in 2005. Kilimnik later took on more responsibilities, serving as Manafort's liaison to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who paid Manafort to advise him on investments. Kilimnik also became the manager and in-country representative for Manafort's Ukrainian political consulting business.

The two remained close while Manafort was working for Trump's campaign. Kilimnik told The Washington Post they emailed and spoke frequently and that he traveled to the United States twice to meet with Manafort, first in May 2016 and then in August 2016.

In emails, Manafort and Kilimnik appeared to discuss how Manafort could use his role with the campaign to make money. In one note, Manafort asked Kilimnik to offer Deripaska "private briefings" about the campaign. Deripaska has said he was never offered the briefings and did not receive them.

Kilimnik has told The Post he attended a language university in Moscow before serving as a translator in the Russian army. In court documents, prosecutors have said they have assessed that Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence. He has repeatedly denied such ties.
Niskayuna

The Cold War-era radioactive waste being stored at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory would be dangerous if it escaped its containment, according to an environmental health expert at the University at Albany.

"This is extremely hot stuff," said David Carpenter, director of the university's Institute for Health and the Environment, after reviewing a U.S. Energy Department report filed in February with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

According to the report, waste debris from the decade-long demolition of the facility's former Separations Process Research Unit contained materials that have "highly radioactive exposure rates of up to 12 rem/hour."

A person receiving that much radiation in a hour would be the equivalent of getting 6,000 X-rays, or 40 years of normal background radiation in the Capital Region.

Radiation at that level is a health hazard, increasing the risks of cancer and premature death, said Carpenter. DOE has designed part of the storage facility at Knolls as "high radiation areas."

"Clearly there are two threats: First to the staff at DEC and DOE who are legally obligated to inspect it four times a year, and second to the general public should anything happen," said Carpenter, who worked at the Defense Nuclear Agency in the 1970s. "What could happen includes leaks, fires, tornadoes, explosions and, of course, terrorist activities that could release material."

DEC is reviewing a request by DOE to allow the waste to be stored for several more years because of a backlog at an underground government repository in the New Mexico desert for military nuclear waste.

"With appropriate security and controls, these materials are not a danger to the public and are subject to regular inspection, an emergency plan, and other routine management," according to DEC.

The waste could be there through 2021 based on DOE estimates, if the long-term state storage permit is approved, according to DEC.

"The wastes are containerized, shielded with lead, and stored inside Conex boxes (a type of shipping container) in a controlled area posted with signs indicating a high radiation area in accordance with state and federal regulations," the DEC statement continued.

Niskayuna Supervisor Yasmine Syed said she wants a stronger inspection schedule than the quarterly system proposed to the state by DOE.

"I will be conferring with DOE and DEC to increase inspections to occur at least bi-monthly by utilizing remote monitoring devices," said Syed. "I feel that increased inspections are necessary to ensure that the risk to our residents is as low as can possibly be guaranteed."

DOE officials did not provide comment for this story.

A rem is a standard measurement of radioactivity. Smaller levels are measured in millirems, which are one-thousandth of a rem.

Accordingly, 12 rems would be equivalent to 12,000 millirems. An X-ray is 2 millirems, while the average Capital Region resident is exposed to about 300 millirems a year from natural and medical sources.

Called transuranic (TRU) waste, this radioactive material was collected during demolition of Separations Process Research Unit buildings, where nuclear materials were developed for use in the military during the 1950s. There are now 22 shielded containers of SPRU waste in four metal storage containers on the Knolls property, near a rail spur.

Normally, the waste would be shipped to New Mexico, but that underground repository, located in the desert outside of Carlsbad, N.M., cannot accept it because of a backlog since the facility shut down following a 2014 accident when a containment vessel ruptured and spilled radiation.

Called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the repository is more than 2,000 feet underground to reduce the risk of such spills to the public. It reopened in 2017 after a three-year $500 billion cleanup and renovation.

DOE is now asking DEC for permission to keep the waste in Niskayuna for "several years," although the February DOE "Risk Analysis and Inspection Plan" also contains the phrase "long-term storage."

According to the DOE inspection plan, that schedule is "intended to limit potential radiological dose to any person who may be present ... while providing a mechanism to prevent and detect system malfunctions, equipment deterioration and operator errors, which, if allowed to continue without remedial action, may ultimately lead to a release of hazardous waste constituents to the environment or create a threat to human health."

The DOE plan said that an inspector who performed all quarterly inspections would receive about 15 millirems of radiation, or the equivalent of eight X-rays.

Said Carpenter, "Clearly inspection is important, but the exposure to the inspectors is not insignificant. Ionizing radiation is one of the best known cancer causing agents. It also causes mutations and birth defects, and cumulative exposure causes premature aging and death."

He added, "This is well known as radiation-induced lifespan shortening, where people  and animals  die of a variety of different diseases at younger ages than do unexposed persons."
Tuesday

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Tuesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

The Rotary Club of Hamden: meets each Tuesday. For meeting time and location please visit the calendar section of their website at www.hamdenctrotary.org.

The Ambassador Group for the Milford Chamber of Commerce: meets  visit the calendar section of its website at www.milfordct.com.

The Rotary Club of New Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at the Graduate Club, 155 Elm St. Call 203-624-3197.

The Rotary Club of North Haven: meets at 7:15 a.m. at the Breakfast Nook, 448 Washington Ave. Visit www.nhrotary.org.

The East Haven Lions Club: meets at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room of Twin Pines Diner, 34 Main St., East Haven. Membership is open. Call 203-467-4045.

Wednesday

The Rotary Club of Branford: meets from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m. at the Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford. Call 203-315-2444, ext. 450.

The Devon Rotary: meets at 7:30 a.m. at the Bridge House Restaurant, 49 Bridgeport Ave., Milford. Visit www.devonrotary.org.

The Greater New Haven chapter of Toastmasters International: meets at 6:30 p.m. at New Haven City Hall, 165 Church St. Call 203-287-0037.

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Wednesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

The Rotary Club of Guilford: meets at 12:15 p.m. at The Maritime Grille, 2548 Boston Post Road, Guilford. Call 203-453-0774.

The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association: meets at 11 a.m. at 192 Dixwell Ave. Call 203-562-2193.

The Rotary Club of Wallingford: meets at 12:10 p.m. at the Library Wine Bar and Bistro, 60 North Main Street. Call 203-235-3816.

North Branford Rotary: meets at 6 p.m. at Nataz, 2025 Foxon Road. Call 203-484-7707.

The Greater New Haven Breakfast Club: meets at 8 a.m. at Clarks Pizza & Restaurant, 68 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Email info@rosnerdoherty.com.

The Rotary Club of West Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Apps Ristorante, 283 Captain Thomas Blvd.

Thursday

The Middlesex County Toastmasters: meets from 7-8:30 p.m., Wesleyan University, Exley Science Center (Woodhead Lounge), 265 Church St., Middletown, http://middlesex.toastmastersclubs.org.

The Madison Rotary Club: meets at 8 a.m. at the Madison Senior Center, 29 Bradley Road. Call Robert Anderson, 203-907-9032.

The Milford Chamber of Commerces Health & Wellness Council: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the chamber, 5 Broad St. Call 203-878-0661.

The Clinton Rotary Club: meets 6:30 p.m. at Clinton Country Club, Old Westbrook Road. Call Dee Tully at 860-388-7013.

The East Haven Rotary Club: meets at 5:45 p.m. at Twin Pines Diner Restaurant, 34 Main St., East Haven.

The Milford Rotary Club meets: from 12:15-1:15 p.m. at Gusto Restaurant, 255 Boston Post Road. Visit www.milfordrotary.org.

Friday

The Orange Rotary Club: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Racebrook Country Club, 246 Derby Ave. Call 203-799-2327.

The Woodbridge Rotary Club: meets at 7:30 a.m. for a breakfast meeting at Country Corner Diner, 756 Amity Road, Bethany. For more information, call Mary Ellen LaRocca at 203-389-3429.

Discover the Greater New Haven Chamber: meets 8-9 a.m. at Greater New Haven Chamber, 900 Chapel St., New Haven. Call 203-782-4342 or visit gnhcc.com.

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Friday Morning Leads Group: meets at 11 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

Send notices of business events to Business Datebook, New Haven Register, 100 Gando Drive, New Haven 06513 or email to business@nhregister.com, at least a week before the event.
BRANFORD  The state Department of Transportation has begun a project to improve road conditions on the aptly dubbed Snake Hill Road.

The DOT said the project consists of realigning the long and winding road, which starts as Brushy Plains Road in Branford and continues as Totoket Road in North Branford after crossing the town line.

So basically the existing conditions out there, horizontally and vertically, are substandard conditions. The grades (slopes) are very steep. The sight line and the radius (half the length) of those curves are narrower than wed like to see based on our design standards, said DOT Project Engineer Matthew Bishop. This project realigns (the road) and takes it from four sharp, substandard curves to two more forgiving curves.

Bishop said instead of that really sharp kind of switchback, which is somewhat like a steep spiraling staircase, the road will be reconfigured to more of a bell-shaped curve that diverges from Brushy Plains Road at the first curve before linking back to the existing road at the final curve.

This project realigns (the road) and takes it from four sharp, substandard curves to two more forgiving curves, Bishop said, which will improve the safety of motorists in the area.

Andy Barth, who has lived on Brushy Plains Road for about a year, said he mostly experiences difficulty driving during the winter, especially after the plows have pushed the snow to the side of the road. He said even if the roads werent narrower than usual in the winter  and theyre pretty narrow to begin with  he wouldnt drive down Snake Hill Road due to the steepness of the current road conditions.

I wouldnt go down that hill. If you lose traction, youre done, Barth said.

He said he remembers one particularly bad accident in the time hes lived there where a man raced up the curving road and his car ended up flipping over. He said even motorcycles whip through the twists and turns of the steep hill, paying little attention to the posted speed limit due to the lack of patrol cars due to the limited space available.

Along with the narrow road, the street doesnt currently have sidewalks, just a mere 6 inches in some places between the solid white line and the curb. Theres hardly any room there now, Barth said.

For Kristin Jaconette, the road conditions dont really phase her, after having lived in the same house since she was 6.

I know there are people who are terrified of Snakehill. Terrified, but its just a hill. Thats all there is to it, she said.

Despite her ease in navigating the road, Jaconette said she thinks the improvements will still be beneficial to other drivers. Theyll get rid of the pitch on the hill. Hopefully, slow the role of traffic, as far as speed, she said.

Bishop said for the most part traffic wont be affected, with two-lane traffic proceeding as usual. However, during stage construction, an alternating one-way traffic pattern will be maintained with temporary signalization.

Lane closures will be implemented at various times, prevalently throughout the week, but no closures are anticipated during the winter shutdown period before construction resumes in April 2019. Traffic may be halted up to 10 minutes during blasting activities, according to the DOT.

The reconstruction was initially postponed in 2009 due to a delay in funding from the state and acquisition of properties for the right-of-way. In the meantime, the road was repaved. The DOT said the project is scheduled to be completed April 29, 2020.

jessica.lerner@hearstmediact.com; @jesslerner on Twitter
NORTH HAVEN  Local residents are invited to consider the history of the North Haven Police Department and enjoy attractions and refreshments Saturday, as the North Haven Historical Society marks Connecticut Open House Day.

The event is set to be held from 1 to 5 p.m. at the North Haven Cultural Center, located at 27 Broadway.

Officer Ted Stockmon, now into his 33rd year on the force, will discuss the first 30 years of the departments history to kick off the event.

Stockmon said Friday the department was formally founded March 8, 1943, with two full-time and eight part-time officers.

Before then, the town had been overseen by a few constables with limited resources, and thus had been considered an open community, where lawlessness, such as speakeasies and gambling, was prevalent.

The officers worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, with little backup, he said.

It was a daunting task (for the new department), Stockmon said. There was no plan B. If you couldnt hold your own, you got hurt.

As the population of the town spiked between the 1940s and the 1960s, the department grew at a slower pace  by the mid-1960s, there were 20-odd officers in the department.

Former Chief Leno Mac Berniere, who Stockmon credited with firmly establishing the police force, managed to institute community policing efforts in the 1950s and guide the department from its early stages.

Berniere was the second chief in the departments history, serving in that role from 1948 to 1973, according to past reporting.

He was up to the task, said Stockmon.

For Stockmon, the history of the department is personal  he, his parents, and his grandparents were born in North Haven. His mothers ancestors came here from Italy in 1901 to work in the brickyards, which he said was a common story in town.

As the department prepared to move to a new station, it started to downsize its records, Stockmon said.

He took the opportunity to rescue old photos and memorabilia  one secretary, for example, kept a scrapbook of notable police-related happenings in North Haven for 35 years. He obtained a camera from the late 1940s or early 1950s which was used by the first detective here, he said.

All the stories I heard (as) a kid ... it was fascinating to learn that it wasnt lore, said Stockmon.

Stockmon said he hopes to keep the memory of the early officers in the department, who served the town with limited equipment and met great challenges, alive and present.

Theres only one officer left from the 1940s, and hes 92, 93, said Stockmon. I dont want them forgotten.

Stockmon and resident Kathy Prentiss will be in attendance to discuss an exhibition of police department memorabilia and artifacts, according to the historical society.

Prentiss said Friday she puts all the displays together for the historical society, including one each month at the library. She started volunteering about two years ago.

I love history, said Prentiss. Its kind of fun to put it all together and hopefully people like it.

In additions, residents can enjoy a vintage jailhouse door from (headquarters), which will be available to visitors for mug shots, and a 1980s patrol car will also be parked outside for up-close inspection.

This is the 75th anniversary of the North Haven Police Department  a milestone also recognized as part of the towns Memorial Day parade.

Connecticut Open House Day is a day-long, statewide celebration of everything that makes Connecticut great, according to the state Office of Tourism.

In Hamden, Irelands Great Hunger Museum and the Jonathan Dickerman House will be offering free admission, according to the office.

More possibilities for weekend activities can be found elsewhere on the New Haven Register website.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  Action on controversial corner-naming was delayed again Thursday because the petition lacked support from an alder.

For the third time, Feray Gokcek went before the aldermanic City Services and Environmental Policy Committee with a petition to name the corner of Scarboro Street and Middletown Avenue Ataturk Corner, in honor of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern-day Turkey, who introduced secular reforms there in the early 20th century.

The petition brought by Gokcek, a native of Turkey, was on behalf of the Ataturk Union of USA. Gokcek has an 11-foot statue of Ataturk in his backyard at 560 Middletown Ave., just a few houses down from the streetcorner.

The ordinance to get a city corner named for a person requires 250 signatures from New Haven residents, 166 of which must be from the neighborhood where the naming is proposed. Additionally, a corner-naming needs a letter of support from an alder, which typically comes from the alder whose ward the corner is in.

While Gokcek collected a total of 420 signatures, and met the neighborhood signatory requirement, the petition didnt have written support from an alder in any of the 30 wards, so the committee was not able to take any action on it, withdrawing it from the committee agenda. Gokcek will have until Aug. 6 to solicit support from an alder and legally submit his petition to the Board of Alders.

The bottom line is they failed to meet the requirements of the ordinance and without that one puzzle piece we cant do anything at this table, Alder Anna Festa, D-10, said.

Further, the proposed corner-naming carries controversy because it involves an international figure, not a local one, connected with historical conflict.

A corner-naming is so simple and yet so complicated because I think we have to set a standard, Festa said. Most of the time its a New Haven resident who has made a difference or peoples lives, or the city which city corners get named for. I think thats an honor that should be reserved for that purpose, Festa said. It should be an honor reserved for that because its something we can relate to on a more personal level. She added that she is impressed and sympathetic to the community of people who have pushed for the naming.

People from around the state, as well as some from New Jersey and New York, testified in favor of the corner named for Ataturk, emphasizing what an important leader he was for peace and bringing secular values to Turkey.

Im very sympathetic for what theyre trying to do because theyre trying to get a voice in the public discourse about a history and a people that gets very little attention, Alder Adam Marchand, D-25, said, adding, though, there hasnt been enough community outreach to make people feel comfortable with taking a side. Once you start to rename a public asset, its a way for the city to weigh in and give its endorsement, albeit small. Perhaps we should, but I dont think we should until weve gotten a lot more information and had a lot more debate and understanding of whats at stake.

The item has been before of the committee twice previously. The first time Gokcek petitioned for the naming in August, he lacked enough signatures, having only three from his immediate neighbors, among other shortcomings, so the alders turned it down.

Gokcek testified again before the aldermanic Legislation Committee in February, this time with almost 300 signatures. While he submitted around 265 signatures, it fell short of the 166 signatures needed from the immediate Quinnipiac Meadows neighborhood.

The alder for the ward, Alder Gerald Antunes, D-12, had also submitted a letter in opposition last time the corner-naming was before the committee, noting that a family from Rhode Island donated a large piece of land in that neighborhood to the city with the stipulation that the streets be named after Rhode Island towns, the Register previously reported.

Ataturk founded the republic of Turkey after the demise of the Ottoman Empire and served as its president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He is mainly known for the secular reforms he introduced there, among them recognizing the rights of women and introducing a Western legal code.

Controversy arose during the last hearing when Woodbridge resident gave testimony about the killing of Armenians and Greeks in the early 20th century in what is now Turkey, saying that the decision to name the streetcorner in honor of Ataturk shouldnt be made without knowing the historical context.

Festa said she has received calls and emails asking her to oppose the corner-naming because of the religious and historical controversy it stirs and to uphold the promise to name streets in that area after Rhode Island towns.

Alders Marchand and Abigail Roth, D-7, suggested the Turkish community in favor of the corner-naming hold a day of remembrance, a festival or parade as a way to educate the community at large about Ataturk and his significance and raise awareness for their effort.

This is not about Ataturk and his beliefs, its about the ordinance and the law, Alder Salvatore DeCola, D-18, said.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
Revised Corps list ranks metro New Orleans levees as 'not screened': What that means in each parish
Chauvin's blessing this year drew a few dozen people to a small park on Bayou Petit Caillou. A Cajun folk band played, a woodworker sold toy pirogues, a family with a food cart sold crab cakes. The boats came and went in less than 30 minutes, and the crowd quietly trickled away.
The young girl was nervous about standing up in a crowded church to recite the "Our Father," and Rachel Lehmann was trying to calm her. You're committing yourself to God, she explained during that chat on the showroom floor of the American Factory Direct Furniture store near Covington, what could be better than that?

"If I went out there on that interstate and was killed, I know I'd go to Heaven," Lehmann told the child, referring to the busy stretch of Interstate 12 passing in front of the store. "That's the greatest thing."

Just hours later, Lehmann would die on that very stretch of roadway, one of four people killed in a fiery, multi-vehicle crash that Saturday afternoon (May 26).

Rachel Lehmann's husband, Gus, recalled hearing about that conversation between his wife and co-worker's child shortly after her death and said it brings him great comfort. He knows his wife of 44 years, the woman he fell in love with as a teen-ager, lived "a life well-lived."

"We all know she's in Heaven," Gus Lehmann said Thursday (June 7), explaining how that thought is helping the couple's three children, six grandchildren and many friends cope with her death.

Rachel Lehmann, 63, of Mandeville, died at a St. Tammany Parish hospital following the May 26 crash on I-12 near Louisiana 21. Three others were pronounced dead on the scene: Yolanda Simmons, 44; her son, Kealand Simmons, 24; and 80-yer-old Elmer J. Laporte of Texas, who State Police said was driving the 18-wheeler that crashed into slowed traffic and started the series of collisions.

In the days following the crash, I-12 safety became a focus in St. Tammany, with some residents and elected officials renewing efforts to start a much-anticipated expansion of the highway through the Covington area - including the very spot where the crash occurred.

Parish officials have pushed to speed up the scheduled 2023 start of that expansion, expected to cost $100 million or more. State highway officials and Gov. John Bel Edwards have said the project is a high priority, but that the money isn't yet available to push up the start.

In response to requests from area legislators and Parish President Pat Brister, the state highway department has said it will immediately study short-term measures to improve safety on that stretch of I-12. That could include a "queue detection system'' in which warning devices are installed to alert motorists to slowdowns ahead.

Making I-12 safer cannot happen fast enough for Rosalin Scott, a former Louisiana resident who was close friends with Yolanda Simmons and her family.

"I just can't sit back and let their deaths be for nothing," Scott said of Yolanda and Keland Simmons. "That highway is treacherous and they lost their lives needlessly."

Scott, who has since moved to Virginia for her husband's military job, said she became good friends with Yolanda Simmons when their sons were in the band together at Baton Rouge's Woodlawn High School.

The Simmons family, she said with her voice cracking with emotion, was nothing short of wonderful.

"She was always about community - making things better for Baton Rouge and Louisiana," Scott said of Yolanda Simmons.

Scott, who also lived in Slidell at one time, said she's very familiar with I-12. She wants officials to look into anything -- new signs, additional lanes, reducing the 70-mph speed limit - to make it safer.

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"I don't want their deaths to be in vain," she said.

Gus Lehmann said he wants everyone to know how special Rachel, pronounced Ra-shell, was.

Gus Lehmann said he and Rachel, both St. John the Baptist Parish natives, moved to Mandeville in 1985 and raised their three children here. In 1987, Gus Lehmann said, he and his wife became born-again Christians.

"She was on fire for God from Day 1 and never let up," he said. "People would call her in the middle of the night, needing prayer. She was always there for them. She helped women and people no matter their religion.

"She was powerful. I saw on Facebook someone made the comment she was the greatest woman ever alive."

He said he and his wife were involved in starting Lakeshore Christian Center in Covington and later became members of Church of the King, which became one of the centers of their family's life.

He described his wife as a force of nature in her church work and in the various businesses the couple had been involved with over the years, including Audubon Tavern and Audubon Tavern II in New Orleans, and Reserve Telephone Co. in Reserve. He said she loved her job at American Factory Direct.

"If people walked into that place with a bad attitude, they left with a changed life if they dealt with Rachel," he said.

Billie and Bob Comeaux, who own American Factory Direct Furniture, said Rachel Lehmann's absence at the store has left a void that won't ever been filled.

"She was so special," Billie Comeaux said.

The Comeauxs said Lehmann wasn't the first member of their work family to be involved in a crash on I-12. Just in the past year, Billie Comeaux said, "my son, myself and two of our truck drivers" have been in accidents on the same stretch of I-12.

On- and off-ramps in that section of the highway, as well as the Louisiana 21 overpass and the bridge over the Tchefuncte River are chronic chokepoints. Trooper Dustin Dwight, a State Police spokesman, said the number of exits, entrances and "downslopes" (overpasses) can make that stretch of roadway more prone to sudden slowdowns than in other places.

The latest DOTD figures available show nearly 80,000 vehicles each day on I-12 near the Tchefuncte River bridge. Figures provided by the state Department of Transportation and Development show there were 951 vehicular crashes on I-12 between U.S. 190 and Louisiana 1077 between 2012 and 2016, the most recent year available.

Bob Comeaux said he can watch the traffic back up from where two bridges and two on-ramps converge in a relatively short stretch near the Tchefuncte River. The vehicles back up past his store, which he says is probably a couple miles away, and vehicles are heading towards the traffic backup at 70 mph.

"They really do need to slow that speed limit down," he said.
More than a few people have connected Donald Trump's decision to tear apart families seeking asylum at our southern border to the history of American slave-owners separating parents and children for whatever reason they saw fit. It's not the most perfect analogy -- at least not in this state. Because slave-holding Louisiana, believe it or not, had a law against separating enslaved mothers and their young children.

"And be it further enacted," Section 9 of Louisiana's 1806 Code Noir (Black Code) reads, "That every person is expressly prohibited from selling separately from their mothers, the children who shall not have attained the full age of ten years." During 2015's Purchased Lives exhibit at The Historic New Orleans Collection, curator Erin Greenwald said a shipment of 11 children for sale without their parents arrived in New Orleans via the brig Ajax and that the diminutive heights listed on the ship's manifest suggest that some were described as older just to circumvent Louisiana law.

But, still. There was a prohibition on the books.

On Thursday (June 7) The New York Times published a story featuring Jose, a 5-year-old from Honduras who was taken away from his father at the border. The woman assigned to care for the boy in Michigan said Jose cried himself to sleep the first few nights and that the crying was eventually replaced with "just moaning and moaning."

If an 1806 Louisiana law prohibited an enslaved child under 10 from being sold away from his or her mother, and there are reports of children half as young and younger being separated from their parents in 2018, then that means Louisiana's slave law was more humane.

The Trump administration is full of people who the prophet Jeremiah describes as having "no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush." Indeed, the administration has been trumpeting its policy to rip apart families, as if it is seeking applause.

"I have put in place a 'zero tolerance' policy for illegal entry on our Southwest border," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in San Diego May 7. "If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It's that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you make false statements to an immigration officer or file a fraudulent asylum claim, that's a felony."

While Sessions describes the separation of parents as children as what's required by law, this abominable policy is of recent vintage. Peter Margulies, an immigration law and national security law professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, told PolitiFact that before Trump took office, families were detained together, sent out of the country together or paroled into the country together. But prosecuting everybody, deciding up front that everybody's claims for asylum are "fraudulent" sets in motion the process that tears families apart. In the first two weeks of Sessions' zero-tolerance policy, 638 parents traveling with 658 minor children were prosecuted.

The Trump administration isn't even attempting to be intellectually consistent regarding those families who are fleeing Central America for the United States. In a May 21 press release that was beneath the dignity of the White House -- well, most White Houses -- the administration repeatedly refers to the members of the violent MS-13 gang not as human beings, but as "animals." And yet, this administration punishes those seeking sanctuary from MS-13 and other gangs by busting up their families.

This administration, this party, should never again speak of family values.

"Could anything be more damaging to the welfare of traumatized migrant children," the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University asks in a recent action alert, "than to separate them from their parents?" The institute says that since October our government has torn from their parents more than "100 children under the age of four."

This administration calls MS-13 animals but is treating nonviolent families seeking asylum as if they're something less than human, as if they don't have any relationships this country is obligated to acknowledge or respect.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the government, arguing that taking children away from asylum seekers violates their rights to due process. In letting the ACLU's suit go forward, U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw of the Southern District of California, seemed to agree. The judge wrote Wednesday (June 6): "Such conduct, if true, as it is assumed to be on the present motion, is brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency."

Brutal and offensive describe this country's institution of slavery. With slavery, there was neither fair play nor decency. And, yet, in Louisiana, during slavery, it was considered offensive to pull apart young children from their mothers.

"This is like slavery!" some have said of Trump's new policy. But if Louisiana slavery is the measuring stick, Trump's policy is even worse.

Jarvis DeBerry is deputy opinions editor for NOLA.COM | The Times-Picayune. He can be reached at jdeberry@nola.com or at twitter.com/jarvisdeberry.
We obviously would have preferred to know, but the real issue here is the governments intrusion into a reporters private communications, Ms. Murphy said. This should be a grave concern to anyone who cares about an informed citizenry.

She added that Ms. Watkins would remain on her current beat, covering federal law enforcement.

We support her, Ms. Murphy said.

Ms. Watkins disclosed the relationship with Mr. Wolfe to The Times after she was hired, and before she started work at the paper on Dec. 18. On Thursday, Ms. Watkins told her editors that Mr. Wolfe was not a source of classified information for articles she had written during their relationship, which ended last year.

Ms. Watkins joined McClatchy Newspapers as an intern in 2013, and became a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize there two years later as part of a reporting team that revealed C.I.A. spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

She went on to cover national security matters, including the committees work, at The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and Politico. The records seized by the Justice Department span her time at those news outlets, as well as her undergraduate years at Temple University, when she was a reporting intern in Washington.

Law enforcement officials did not obtain the content of the messages, according to the letter sent to Ms. Watkins by the Justice Department, but the information now in their possession  whom Ms. Watkins was communicating with, and when  could reveal her contacts. Reporters often rely on the trust of insiders who can offer insight into the workings of government, but often need their identities protected to preserve their livelihoods and, in some sensitive cases, avoid prosecution.

Under Mr. Obama, the Justice Department prosecuted more leak cases than all previous administrations combined. Mr. Trumps attorney general, Jeff Sessions, said last year that the Justice Department was pursuing about three times as many leak investigations as were open at the end of the Obama era.
Two months later, Texas and the 19 other states filed suit in the Federal District Court in Fort Worth, asserting that the mandate could no longer be justified as a tax and should therefore be struck down  and arguing that as a result, the rest of the law must be invalidated, too.

The Justice Department brief did not go so far, but it said that Judge Reed OConnor should void both the mandate and the protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, while leaving in place the expansion of Medicaid in more than 30 states.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that it is a rare case for the Justice Department not to defend provisions of a law but added that he could not find any reasonable arguments to support their constitutionality.

If the administration prevails in the case, the full force of the decision would not hit until after the midterm elections on Nov. 6. But insurers said the legal debate alone could cause turmoil in insurance markets this summer.

At the very least it adds uncertainty at exactly the moment when plans are trying to set rates for next year, said Ceci Connolly, the chief executive of the Alliance of Community Health Plans. At the worst it could strip away guaranteed coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.

The main trade association for health insurers came out strongly against the administrations position.

Removing those provisions will result in renewed uncertainty in the individual market, create a patchwork of requirements in the states, cause rates to go even higher for older Americans and sicker patients, and make it challenging to introduce products and rates for 2019, said Matt Eyles, the president and chief executive of Americas Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurers.
When Anthony Bourdain visited the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015 for his CNN show Anthony Bourdain:Parts Unknown, he made a point of sitting down for a meal with one of the founders of the Black Panther Party, Bobby Seale. And he didnt just talk about the food. He provided viewers an astute history of the group, its important role in the black freedom movement and the African-American community, and its suppression by the government.

I first watched that episode while at an airport waiting to board a flight, at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement had only recently entered public consciousness. Mr. Bourdain coolly narrated that the Black Panthers demands were shockingly moderate: equality in education, housing, employment and basic civil rights, an accurate statement but one that contradicts the misguided public perception of that unfairly demonized organization. I looked around at the group of mostly white Americans sharing my television screen, awed by how casually radical Mr. Bourdains commentary was.

Friday morning, when I heard of his death in France at age 61, I immediately rewatched that episode. I thought of how the world has lost more than a talented chef, writer and media personality. We also lost a man who brilliantly and bravely wove political education into food culture in a way that provided the kind of historical context and compassion for the oppressed that Americans need now more than ever.

In an era in which woke has morphed, for some, into a derisive term for those who are too earnest about injustice, Mr. Bourdain delivered this kind of insight effortlessly and without repentance. It was a secret ingredient baked into his every episode, and served to viewers whether theyd ordered it or not.
Senate candidates like Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania and Mike Braun in Indiana, who have embraced the rhetoric and the policies that connect citizenship and civic virtue, have seen it propel them to victory in their recent primaries. This is a salutary change from the last generation of Republican politicians who seemed to think that they could persuade voters with spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. While appeals to narrow self-interest can work for a while, they eventually fall short because they ignore human nature. From Martha McSally in Arizona to Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee, candidates are sharing this all-embracing message.

Thats why Mr. Trumps rhetoric works. When he speaks off the cuff, he talks about we, us and our. He has said repeatedly that we love our farmers, our police, our flag and our national anthem  even our coal miners. It is an odd construction, or at least one were not used to hearing. It speaks to the essential fraternity of the nation, but when Mr. Trump says it  maybe when any Republican says it  too many people dont believe that they are included in the our. They hear something much narrower than what is meant. People reject the essentially wholesome message because of the messenger. That needs to change because they are, in fact, our farmers, our police and our coal miners, and we should love them. The bonds of civil union that ought to hold us together demand that we love our fellow citizens in their imperfection even as they love us in ours.

This years class of Republican candidates seems to get that in ways that they didnt in 2016. As a result, the Democrats advantage in the generic congressional vote dropped from 13 points in January, according to the Real Clear Politics poll average, to 3.5 points at the end of May. A Reuters poll, which recorded a 14-point Democratic edge in April, gave Republicans a 6-point advantage last month. Apparently resistance and impeachment arent as popular as Democratic megadonors like Tom Steyer and their vassals would have Democratic candidates believe, although RealClearPolitics and Reuters now show Democrats with roughly an eight-point advantage.

Ned Ryun, a veteran Republican activist, noted that the polls now closely mirror the polls in May 2014, when Democrats went on to lose 13 House seats. He also notes that while there are nearly 40 Republicans who are not seeking re-election, only six of them represent districts won by Hillary Clinton. Financially, Republicans are in much better shape, with the Republican National Committee holding $44 million in cash while the Democratic National Committee is $5 million in debt.

There are even more cracks in the Democrats front line. Longtime Democrats like Mark Penn, a former Clinton pollster and confidant, are sick of the scandal mongering. Mr. Penn wrote recently that Rather than a fair, limited and impartial investigation, the Mueller investigation became a partisan, open-ended inquisition that, by its precedent, is a threat to all those who ever want to participate in a national campaign or an administration again.

At some point, the combination of scandal fatigue  there is almost no crime of which Mr. Trump is not regularly accused  and the continuing revelations of improprieties by government officials (in the F.B.I., at the Department of Justice and elsewhere) will lead voters to believe that Mr. Trump got a raw deal.
She said it would be inappropriate to discuss further details at this time.

China and the United States have been locked in an escalating fight over cyber and military technology, with Beijing making rapid gains in recent years. American officials  from both the Trump administration and the Obama administration before it  concede that Washington has struggled to deter Chinese hacking, and have predicted the cyberattacks will increase until the United States finds a way to curb them.

The theft of the Navy system is hardly the largest, or the most sensitive, of the designs and systems stolen by Chinese hackers over the years. But it underscores a lesson the American government keeps learning: No matter how fast the government moves to shore up it cyberdefenses, and those of the defense industrial base, the cyberattackers move faster.

The plans for the F-35, the nations most expensive fighter jet in history, were taken more than a decade ago, and the Chinese model looks like an almost exact replica of its American inspiration.

A Peoples Liberation Army unit, known as Unit 61398, was filled with skilled hackers who purloined corporate trade secrets to benefit Chinese state-owned industry. But many of its targets were defense related as well. Members of the unit were indicted in the last two years of the Obama administration, but none are likely to come back to the United States to stand trial.

The most sophisticated hack of American data took place at the Office of Personnel Management. It lost the files of about 21.5 million Americans who had filed extensive questionnaires for their security clearances. The forms listed far more than Social Security numbers and birth dates. They detailed medical and financial histories; past relationships; and details about children, parents and friends, particularly non-United States citizens.
To keep the music alive is the most important thing there is in my life. Since 1935, the Village Vanguard has been a New York showcase for the giants of jazz. Lorraine Gordon kept its heart beating after her husband, Max Gordon, died in 1989. She was born Lorraine Stein in 1922 and she got her first taste of jazz on the radio. Benny Goodman was my idol at that time. And my big thing was sing-sing-sing. We had a little radio at home, and Id turn the volume to high. And so I put my ear into the speaker to get the full essence of Gene Krupa on the drums banging away. And mother yelling in the back, Would you turn that record down? I heard the early Blue Note Records on that station, which were very avant garde at the time for me. She became a great jazz fan, collecting records and making the pilgrimage to New Yorks jazz club scene on 52nd Street. 52nd Street was the heartbeat of New York jazz in those days. And there you could go up and down 52nd Street, She you could see clubs: the 3 Deuces, the Famous Door. So you can go into one club and you could hear Billie Holiday, then you could go next door and hear Art Tatum my favorite pianist. That was the golden days of jazz, in my opinion  in many ways, of jazz clubs. Lorraine made her way to the Village Vanguard, a small club on Seventh Avenue South. We went there because there were a lot of jam sessions that were held there on Sunday afternoon. I loved the murals. There were murals. There were murals on those walls that were so sophisticated. I thought, This is New York and the music is great. One night in New York, Lorraine was introduced to Alfred Lion, one of the founders of Blue Note Records. He invited me up to his office and he presented me with two volumes of all the records he had made until that time. So that kind of sealed our friendship, which became a relationship. When he went into the Army, we got married. Alfred got out of the Army and we opened our office again. And I worked there, of course, you know: packed records, mailed them out. . . As our life went smoothly along with all the recordings that we knew about, a new artist came into our life by the name of Thelonious Monk  quite outside the perimeters where we were working. You know Duke Ellington when you hear him; you know Louis Armstrong you hear him. And you know Thelonious Monk when you hear him because its totally different. You know I sat in his bedroom with Alfred and he was playing the things that we had never heard before. And then were listening like, Whoa, this is so beautiful. And I was hoping he would call in tune after me since I was so loyal what he said, what I said, whats a the Ruby, my dear. I said yes. And its beautiful. Whos Ruby. I dont know. I just like the name. I felt better. I wanted to let everyone know how great he was. I went to Chicago, Minneapolis, I dont know, all over, by myself, with the records showing them to the stores that had bought our other records and then I went to Harlem, where I was rejected, totally, by people who owned record stores. One man in particular said, Lady, please, hes got two left hands. I said, You wait. Youll find out. I was on Fire Island and I met a man called Max Gordon. Max had a club called the Vanguard. I said, Mr. Gordon Id like to talk to you about a musician I know. He said, Sit down, have a cup of coffee. What would you like? I said, Id like to talk to you about a musician I know. And I know Im all business. O.K., I tell him about Thelonious Monk. He was very interested. He said, I just happen to have an opening in September. And it opened at the Vanguard in September, and nobody was there. Very few people. So there he was in and out in one week. But Max and I were not in and out in one week, somehow. And he became my second husband. Everything Max did was the best of everything  it was just Maxs instinct. He had that wonderful feeling of, This is wonderful, thats not so great, well skip that, this is better. That lasts in the Vanguard to this day  Max laid down the groundwork of the club. I think the Vanguard brings people together. I think its a place where people love to gather and spread their knowledge together. We were, as they like to say, colorblind. Nobody cared who came in, as long as they liked the music and paid $2 at the door. This was not Harlem in the early days were the Cotton Club wouldnt let blacks in a club in their own area. You know, this is not that kind of place. This is a club where we want you to come in and hear the music. And if its black musicians playing, or white musicians playing, if its jazz  jazz is open to everyone. When we sat down with Lorraine Gordon in 2007, she had been running the Village Vanguard for almost 18 years. After Max died in 1989, Lorraine took the helm  and she never looked back. Max had his club; that was his baby. I was busy doing my own thing, the peace movement and working in other places, taking care of the children. And then one day suddenly, in 1989, he dies. Yeah, that was not nice of him, because, I didnt expect that. And, well, it happened, and we took a deep breath and we walked across the street to the Vanguard, put a sign in the window  little windows up there  Closed for tonight, Max Gordon died, or something like that. I dont remember. I opened the club the next night. I didnt know everything. I took reservations on the phone. There was a band obviously still playing  Max had booked in advance  fortunately, I guess. And I was there. 50 years from now, 100 years from now  Lorraine, how do you want to be remembered? Well, if Im remembered at all when I left because against my will by the way, its not my idea. What can I say. Ive done my part. Ill be humming somewhere out there. Good work, guys and dolls, I love you all. And hasta la vista. Vanguard? Tonight is the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, a big band.
Mr. Pruitt has begun to systematically change how the E.P.A. treats science. In April, he proposed a regulation that would limit the types of scientific research that E.P.A. officials could take into account when crafting new public health policies, a change that could weaken the agencys ability to protect public health.

The new rules would require that the data from all scientific studies used by the E.P.A. to formulate air and water regulations be publicly available. Mr. Pruitt has touted that as a step toward increasing scientific transparency. The era of secret science at E.P.A. is coming to an end, he said in a statement. The ability to test, authenticate and reproduce scientific findings is vital for the integrity of rule-making process.

However, the change could sharply limit the research available to the E.P.A., because health studies routinely rely on confidential data from individuals.

Last year, Mr. Pruitt significantly altered two major scientific panels that advise the E.P.A. on writing public health rules, restricting academic researchers from joining the boards while appointing several scientists who work for industries regulated by the E.P.A.

These and other changes will diminish the characterization of pollution as risky, said William K. Reilly, who headed the E.P.A. under the first President George Bush. This tolerance for more exposure to pollution is altogether different from anything we are used to.

In a statement defending the changes to the committees, Jahan Wilcox, an E.P.A. spokesman, said that the agency sought a wider range of voices and was thrilled with the response of over 700 applicants. The boards, he said, are not only highly qualified but also independent and geographically diverse.

This year, Mr. Pruitt sent a memo to the E.P.A.s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee ordering steps that could effectively diminish the role of scientific evidence in air pollution enforcement. The committee is required by law to prioritize the health effects of pollution, but Mr. Pruitts memo orders it to consider potential economic consequences of meeting tighter clean-air rules  for example, the possibility that tougher pollution standards could make air-conditioning more expensive, leading to more deaths from heat.
Ashleigh Jordan Lollie and David William Ward were married June 9 at the First Presbyterian Church of Tallahassee in Florida. Brant Copeland, a Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony.

The couple met at Florida State University, from which the groom graduated and both received a law degree

The bride, who is 27 and will take her husbands name, is a real estate lawyer with Fidelity National Financial in Jacksonville, Fla. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida.

She is the daughter of Shannon Y. Lollie and Gregory W. Lollie of Grand Ridge, Fla. The brides father is the president of a home moving and disaster relief company, which bears his name and is based in Grand Ridge; the brides mother serves as the office manager.
His mother, Laurie P. Folkert of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., is a legal secretary at Welby, Brady & Greenblatt, a law firm in White Plains. His father, who lives in New Rochelle, N.Y., is a nephrologist. He is the director of the Baumritter Kidney Center, a dialysis provider, and is a professor of medicine in the nephrology department at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, both in the Bronx. The groom is also the stepson of Valerie D. Barnett.

The couple met in 2015, at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, where both were residents. She had a patient with peripheral vascular disease, and needed a surgical consultation on whether the patient would have to undergo a leg amputation.

Dr. Folkert responded to the call. The patient, unfortunately, would need the surgery.

After the professional matters had been dispensed with, Dr. Folkert, who said he was normally gruff in the role of surgical consult, as he might answer as many as 30 calls in the course of a shift, stayed to chat for more than 20 minutes.

He was very tall and handsome and friendly, Dr. Bollman said. (The bride is just 5 feet 2 inches, while the groom is 6-5.)

Dr. Folkert was even more impressed. As soon as I met, her I was totally enamored, he said.

Over the course of the next several months, the two became friendly and found that they enjoyed each others sense of humor.
Tom Cruise plays a smuggler in American Made. And engaged couples get a dose of reality in I Want That Wedding.

Whats on TV

AMERICAN MADE (2017) 8 p.m. on HBO. Tom Cruise and the director Doug Liman, who teamed up for futuristic thrills in the 2014 alien invasion movie Edge of Tomorrow, cast their gaze skyward once more in this thriller, this time in the somewhat more politically fraught recent past. Mr. Cruise plays Barry Seal, the real-life commercial airline pilot who smuggled drugs for a cartel before becoming an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration in the 1980s. Mr. Liman, who also directed The Bourne Identity, brings strutting humor to the thrills. American Made encourages and earns your laughter, Manohla Dargis wrote in her review for The New York Times. Although it also provokes skepticism, particularly in its attempt to portray Barry as a picaresque hero, one of those rogues tumbling and swaggering from adventure to adventure in a world thats more corrupt than they are.
A federal judge in Manhattan on Saturday temporarily halted the deportation of a New York pizza delivery man at least until a court hearing on July 20.

The judge, Alison J. Nathan, of Federal District Court in New York, ruled for the plaintiff, Pablo Villavicencio Calderon, after his lawyers filed an emergency petition earlier in the day. In her order, the judge said federal officials must file court documents before the hearing to explain why a temporary preliminary injunction should not be issued in favor of Mr. Villavicencio, who is still being detained.

Judge Nathan was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011. From 2009 to 2010, she served as special assistant to Mr. Obama and was an associate White House counsel.

Mr. Villavicencio, 35, was delivering from a pizza restaurant in Queens to an Army base in Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, on June 1 when he was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by a military police officer. A background check revealed that Mr. Villavicencio, a native of Ecuador, had an open order of removal since 2010. He was immediately taken to the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, N.J.
For all their pomp, most multilateral summit meetings are boring and of little consequence. I once spoke to a State Department official who had a role in putting these meetings together; he described his job as policing the nuances, which gives you an idea about how much is normally at stake.

Occasionally, however, such meetings do have real consequences, good or bad. The 2009 G20 summit, at which nations agreed to provide economic stimulus and loans to troubled countries in the face of the financial crisis, played at least some role in helping the world avoid a full replay of the 1930s. The 2010 summit, by contrast, effectively endorsed a turn to austerity that significantly delayed recovery and, arguably, partially set the stage for the rise of political extremism.

Still, there has never been a disaster like the G7 meeting that just took place. It could herald the beginning of a trade war, maybe even the collapse of the Western alliance. At the very least it will damage Americas reputation as a reliable ally for decades to come; even if Trump eventually departs the scene in disgrace, the fact that someone like him could come to power in the first place will always be in the back of everyones mind.

What went down in Quebec? Im already seeing headlines to the effect that Trump took a belligerent America first position, demanding big concessions from our allies, which would have been bad. But the reality was much worse.
The standard strategy is to designate protected areas in remote regions where the cost and the inconvenience to humans is minimal. Australia, for instance, has largely put protected areas in its vast central desert region, rather than in coastal areas where they would protect more threatened species  but also inconvenience more people. Likewise, Brazil in March designated new marine protected areas the size of France and the United Kingdom combined, but omitted near-shore areas where theres a greater diversity of wildlife facing more immediate threats from human activity.

Writing about the Half-Earth Project, a bid by conservationists to keep half the planet as wild and protected from human intervention or activity as possible, E. O. Wilson cautioned that making decisions about which habitats to protect without a more complete knowledge of Earths existing species would lead to irreversible mistakes. But the authors of the Nature Ecology and Evolution study put it more tersely: Pretending to protect species based purely on the number of acres protected is like managing human health care based on the number of hospital beds, irrespective of the presence of trained medical staff or whether patients live or die.

Researchers who looked at the home ranges of more than 4,000 threatened birds, mammals and amphibians worldwide for a 2014 study found that protected areas miss 85 percent of them. Even if all 168 convention signatories meet their 2020 protected area targets, their acreage monomania means theyd still miss 84 percent of threatened species, says Oscar Venter, a conservation scientist at the University of Northern British Columbia and the lead author of that study. Is it any wonder, then, that species and subspecies continue to go extinct  the western black rhino in 2011, the Japanese river otter in 2012, the Formosan clouded leopard in 2013, the Bramble Cay melomys in 2016  even as we celebrate our success stories?

If we are going to take natural history seriously, and all the things our communities and our economies depend on from natural areas, Mr. Venter said, we have to start putting parks in the right places and managing them in the right way. That will at times entail setting aside our profits and our precious convenience, and it may seem like a stretch to imagine our self-indulgent species ever acting on this reality. But the alternative is to spend our lives in a world increasingly without wildlife.
The city also will have its first openly gay mayor, in Mr. Leno, or its first black female mayor, in Ms. Breed. That may not be a coincidence; ranked-choice voting has led to greater diversity around the country, partly because higher-turnout elections tend to be more diverse. In votes for 53 seats in San Francisco and other Bay Area cities that have adopted ranked-choice, minority candidates have won 62 percent of the time, up from 38 percent in previous elections, according to FairVote, a group that advocates for electoral reforms.

Its hard to argue against increased voter turnout or more civility and substance in political campaigns, but some people are still skeptical of ranked-choice voting, particularly candidates and parties who are used to an up-or-down, zero-sum system. The most common criticisms are that ranked-choice is too expensive to run and too hard for voters to understand. But ballots can be designed intuitively, as Maines are, and voters in places that use ranked-choice have had very few problems. In San Francisco last week, voters made eight times as many errors on ballots for the gubernatorial primary, which was run using the standard method, as they did on mayoral ballots, which used ranked-choice. As for the financial impact, ranked-choice voting may in fact end up costing taxpayers  and candidates  less by eliminating the need for expensive runoff elections, which also suffer from poor turnout.

In Maine, voters adopted ranked-choice in 2016 because independent candidates there often draw enough votes to prevent any candidate from winning a majority. However, the debate over the new system there has devolved into a partisan fight. Republicans strongly oppose it, claiming that it presents a serious risk of counting errors and that voters who dont rank all the candidates can be effectively disenfranchised if their top picks are eliminated. Mary Mayhew, a leading Republican candidate for governor, called ranked-choice an absolute disaster and scoffed at the idea of reaching out to voters who are inclined to vote for someone else. Can you imagine asking someone that? Ms. Mayhew told The Atlantic. No, Im campaigning to be their No. 1 choice.

An understandable reaction, perhaps, but it misses the point. When voters can express their political preferences more fully, the politicians they elect will be more likely to represent them more fully. And ranked-choice carries no built-in advantage for any party. For example, Maines current governor, Paul LePage, drew just over one-third of the vote in 2010 and most likely would have lost his primary that year if it had been held using ranked-choice. The same fate would probably have befallen Jon Tester, the Democratic senator from Montana who was re-elected in 2012 with the help of a third-party candidate who siphoned votes from his Republican challenger.

For now, ranked-choice is the system in Maine, but the battle over its use has put it back on the ballot, so voters on Tuesday will be using it as they are deciding whether to stop using it going forward.

Ranked-choice voting cant single-handedly fix Americas broken elections, but its a worthwhile experiment, and its already proved to make for a better process, particularly in candidate-heavy primaries. If its combined with other electoral reforms, like multimember districts that can more accurately reflect the political makeup of a region, it could do even more to help voters feel that their voices are being heard, even if theyre in the minority. And that could help drive up turnout, which is notoriously bad in midterm elections.
Finally, Scott Pruitts mission on this warming and environmentally degraded planet  his destiny, if you will  has come into focus. Its not merely to pollute. Its not simply to grift. Its not to distill, in one compressed male form, the cupidity and corruption associated with government at its rottenest.

Its to do all of that while fragrant and moist. And so, according to a report on Thursday in The Washington Post, he had the beleaguered members of his bloated security detail drive him from one Ritz-Carlton to another in pursuit of a favorite lotion available at that fancy hotel chain.

The heart wants what it wants. So, apparently, does the epidermis.

Ive been hesitant to devote an entire column to Pruitt, the morally squalid head of the Environmental Protection Agency, because whenever you think that the final stratum of muck about him has been dredged up, you learn that theres another fetid layer lower down. His ethical transgressions, unlike the fossil fuels that he champions, are a renewable resource.

A Times editorial with the headline Scott Pruitt Has Become Ridiculous appeared about two months ago, before the revelations that he had sent an aide on a hunt for a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, and had asked another aide to investigate what it would take to set his wife up with a Chick-fil-A franchise. One of those aides quit last week. I hope its to write a tell-all: The Devil Craves Poultry.
Democratic politicians and strategists identify a suburban revolt against President Trump and right-wing Republican extremism as the key to victory in the 2018 and 2020 elections. They point to Democratic successes in the off-year 2017 elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and the surprise triumph of Senator Doug Jones in Alabama, as evidence for the partys plan to target college-educated white women, upper-middle-class moderates and even disillusioned conservatives in the affluent suburbs.

In primary contests last week from California to New Jersey, Democrats pursued that electability strategy through the Red to Blue project of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which targeted suburban swing voters by clearing candidate fields for moderate and conservative Democrats like Gil Cisneros in Orange County and Jeff Van Drew in New Jersey.

The nomination of centrist candidates may bring Democratic gains in the affluent suburbs in the midterms. But the electoral success of that strategy has previously been modest  and more important, the party has paid insufficient attention to the substantial policy costs of turning moderate and affluent suburbs blue. Democrats cannot cater to white swing voters in affluent suburbs and also promote policies that fundamentally challenge income inequality, exclusionary zoning, housing segregation, school inequality, police brutality and mass incarceration.

The political culture of upscale suburbs revolves around resource hoarding of childrens educational advantages, pervasive opposition to economic integration and affordable housing, and the consistent defense of homeowner privileges and taxpayer rights. Indeed, unlike traditional blue-collar Democrats, white-collar professionals across the ideological spectrum  for example, in the high-tech enclaves of California and Northern Virginia, which combined contain eight of the 15 most highly educated congressional districts in the nation  generally endorse tough-on-crime policies, express little interest in protections for unions and sympathize with the economic agenda of Wall Street and Silicon Valley.
In Pennsylvania, a band of citizen activists has fought back. Among them are retired coal miners and steelworkers whose activism is rooted in the long history of labor unions in the state. Historically Democrats, most are also socially conservative hunters and fishers. Many were Trump voters who adhere to neither party and resist easy political classification. They view themselves not as environmentalists  a word that many see as carrying a dubious liberal agenda  but as conservationists, who believe in the wise use of resources for the benefit of humankind.

Since 2011, Ive attended community meetings with these activists. At one such gathering, I met Stacey Haney, a single mother and nurse, and an avid hunter whose father, like many of the men in attendance, was a Vietnam combat veteran and an out-of-work steelworker. Ms. Haney, like others, was skeptical of corporate interests but far more suspicious of the federal government and of outsiders coming to Appalachia to wag fingers at poor people for signing mineral leases that helped them hold on to their farms.

Ms. Haney was proud to sign a lease on her small plot of land. She hoped it would earn her enough money to build her dream barn, but the act also had patriotic implications. She believed that as a daughter of a veteran, she had a duty to help keep American soldiers at home, instead of in the Middle East fighting foreign entanglements linked to oil. The promise of American energy independence would keep Americans safe and support an industrial resurgence in the rust belt. For all of these reasons, Ms. Haney was a staunch supporter of fracking.

Then an oil-and-gas operation began atop a hill about a quarter of a mile from her home. The industrial site included a vast open waste pond that leaked and sent noxious gases into the air. After her farm animals and her children developed mysterious illnesses, Ms. Haney grew fearful about potential exposure and abandoned the farm, which had once belonged to her great-grandfather. Ms. Haney became an outspoken activist. She sued the corporation that she believed had sickened her children; then she took on the state.

In 2012, along with a team of lawyers who represented small towns, Ms. Haney challenged a revision to Pennsylvanias oil and gas law. This law would remove the rights of small towns to determine where drillers could operate. The towns battled it, arguing they had a duty to protect their citizens. To bolster their claim, they relied on an obscure amendment to the Bill of Rights in the Pennsylvania Constitution, the Environmental Rights Amendment, which guaranteed all citizens the right to clean air and pure water. The argument for the amendment was based directly on Pennsylvanias history with coal companies leaving citizens with poisoned air and toxic water. This, the amendment underscored, involved a basic violation of individual rights.

Although on its surface the Environmental Rights Amendment sounded like a liberal cause, its basis was essentially conservative: the belief that citizens and communities had the right to govern themselves and could not be steamrollered by large corporations or federal agencies. In a 4-2 decision, the conservative bench of the state Supreme Court found in favor of Ms. Haneys side. The small towns won.
So it came as a surprise to him when he had no more skirts to hide behind when Craig Melvin asked on the Today show whether his actions in the 90s would fly in the #MeToo era. Bill went to his usual go-to: his excellent record on appointing women. But that Faustian deal of doing good for all women while being bad with a few was no longer on the table.

How would you have approached the accusations differently, or would you have? Melvin asked.

Well, he replied, I dont think it would be an issue because people would be using the facts, instead of the imagined facts.

So here are the facts, which were as clear 20 years ago as they are now.

When Monica Lewinsky came into the Oval Office and flashed her thong, Bill Clinton should have said: Young lady, go back to your office. I am the president of the United States. Like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, Bill should have been doing the thinking for both of them.

The power differential between a 22-year-old intern and a 49-year-old boss makes any sexual interaction wrong. And if you throw in the fact that he was president  the countrys parent and someone serving in loco parentis for the youngest White House staffers  its an inexcusable abuse of power. Gloria Steinem was off-base when she tried to bolster Clinton in a Times op-ed as the scandal unspooled, writing that welcome sexual behavior is about as relevant to sexual harassment as borrowing a car is to stealing one.

It took Lewinsky herself 20 years to sort through the trauma and start moving beyond what she calls her PTSD. As she wrote in an eloquent March Vanity Fair piece, Im beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot.

It was Trump-level narcissism and selfishness on Bill Clintons part to force the high-ranking women in his inner circle  Hillary, Madeleine Albright and Donna Shalala  to go before the cameras and vouch for him when he knew the truth and could simply have admitted it, rather than lying, parsing and besmirching.

The feminists lost their way performing as human shields, letting Clinton Inc. demonize the willing and unwilling women in Bills life and treat them as collateral damage, human sacrifices to the sisters dream of a feminist president and first lady.
Q: Every night, I hear loud sounds coming from the apartment above mine in my large Midtown co-op. I hear banging and screaming, and it sounds as though it may be sexual. Not only does it keep me up, but it also worries me. What if its not consensual? I dont know how to deal with this, as it is embarrassing. Do I confront my neighbor? Or alert the doorman or management? How do I handle this situation?

A: A few years ago, a Murphy bed fell on my friend as she pulled it from the wall, pinning her to the floor. For hours, she lay in her apartment screaming for help, but no one came. Later, long after she managed to free herself and get to a hospital for treatment, she asked a neighbor if her cries had been heard. Her neighbor said yes, but she didnt want to bother her. The neighbor thought she was with somebody.

I tell this story because you do not know what is going on upstairs, but if it sounds like someone is in distress, you should not ignore it. Nearly half the women murdered in the United States in 2015 were killed by an intimate partner, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The sounds you hear might be signs of pleasure, but they may also be distress calls.

If you hear or believe its violence, we would encourage you to call 911, said Nathaniel Fields, the chief executive of the Center Against Domestic Violence and the Urban Resource Institute. Even if youre not sure.
In the ocean, sandwiched between sun-filled shallows and ever-darker depths, is a strange place where the noon sun shines only as bright as twilight.

Some 200 to 500 feet below the surface is the mesophotic zone, where ancient reefs once drowned, leaving behind empty bodies now inhabited by new corals and colorful mystery fish.

Much of this zone remains unexplored: It is often skipped by scientists on their way to the ocean bottom. Just as we begin to discover this slice of the sea, climate change, overfishing and other human activities may be threatening its very existence.

Those who study the zone have long needed a safer way to bring its fishy residents to the surface without killing them.
It was an early mock-up of a cabin that will reside inside a commercial space station, among the first of its kind, that Axiom is building: a mash-up of boutique hotel, adult space camp, and NASA-grade research facility designed to hover approximately 250 miles above the earth. Axiom hired Philippe Starck, the French designer who has lent panache to everything from high-end hotel rooms to mass-market baby monitors, to outfit the interior of its cabins. Mr. Starck lined the walls with a padded, quilted, cream-colored, suede-like fabric and hundreds of tiny LED lights that glow in varying hues depending on the time of day and where the space station is floating in relation to the earth.

My vision is to create a comfortable egg, friendly, where walls are so soft and in harmony with the movements of the human body in zero gravity, Mr. Starck wrote in an email, calling his intended effect a first approach to infinity. The traveler should physically and mentally feel his or her action of floating in the universe.

Brace for the rise of the cosmos-scenti.

At NASA, Mr. Suffredini spent a decade managing the International Space Station, the hulking, 20-year-old research facility in low Earth orbit. This gives him a certain edge over Mr. Branson and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who is overseeing Blue Origin. (The majority of Axioms 60 employees also hail from NASA.) At least Mr. Suffredini thinks so.

The guys who are doing Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are going to the edge of space  theyre not going into orbit, he said. What theyre doing is a cool experience. It gives you about 15 minutes of microgravity and you see the curvature of the earth, but you dont get the same experience that you get from viewing the earth from above, and spending time reflecting, contemplating.
BALTIMORE  As soon as I heard Davetta Parkers voice, I knew I had to meet her. Her grandson, Nook, was one of seven young people from one high school killed in the spasm of violence that swept the city in the two years after the 2015 death of Freddie Gray. I had cold-called her from New York. When she picked up, she was sitting at her desk in the central branch of Baltimores public library system, where she works.

I introduced myself. She said, I think God sent you to me.

She said she had so many questions about her grandsons death and she needed someone to help investigate, because the police never did. She said she had written letters to news channels and newspapers. But no one had written back. And there I was on the phone.

My colleague Lynsea Garrison and I spent four months investigating Nooks death for The New York Times podcast, The Daily. We were drawn to his story because we wanted to understand the violence in Baltimore. Nook, whose given name was Lavar Montray Douglas, was shot on Dec. 13, 2016, by a police officer in an unmarked car who worked for Coppin State University. But the more we looked, the more we discovered that the story of Nook and his family reflected the broader experience of many African-Americans in the 20th century.

Nooks family, descended from slaves, had risen quickly, from farming in poverty in North Carolina in the 1930s, to middle-class jobs, a house and a car in Baltimore in the 1940s and 1950s. And in fact, most of the family kept rising, moving out to homes in the county.
The body of a Florida woman who went missing on Friday was found just hours after some of her remains were discovered inside an alligator, officials said on Saturday.

The woman, identified as Shizuka Matsuki, 47, of Plantation, Fla., was last seen walking her dogs near a lake in the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park in Davie, about 25 miles north of Miami, on Friday morning, the Davie Police Department said.

A man saw her walking her dogs there, and then minutes later saw the dogs running loose, one of them injured, reported WPLG, a local ABC affiliate. He called the police.

The man went to the area where he thought that they had been walking, and he immediately spotted an alligator, said Detective Viviana Gallinal..
SINGAPORE  When President Trump declared that he did not really need to prepare for his legacy-defining meeting with North Koreas leader, he drew sighs or snickers from veterans of past negotiations. But he had a point: In his own unorthodox way, Mr. Trump has been preparing for this encounter his entire adult life.

For an American leader who came of age in the early 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union stepped to the brink of nuclear annihilation, the meeting with Kim Jong-un strikes a personal chord, offering Mr. Trump a historic chance to rid the world, and his own presidency, of the greatest threat from atomic weapons.

For a property developer-turned-president, the tete-a-tete, scheduled for Tuesday in Singapore, is a long-anticipated test of Mr. Trumps conviction that he can slice through decades of diplomatic orthodoxy and strike a grand bargain with North Korea, a feat that eluded his three immediate predecessors.

Mr. Trump, current and former aides said, has been preoccupied with North Korea since his predecessor, Barack Obama, warned him in a closed-door meeting two days after he was elected that the reclusive state would be his No. 1 foreign policy challenge. But he has been tantalized by the idea of solving the North Korea problem since long before that.
In a week when two celebrities, first the designer Kate Spade and then the chef and television host Anthony Bourdain, took their own lives, new federal data was released showing that suicide rates have been increasing for years in almost every state and across demographic lines.

The escalating crisis has affected nearly every group and place, but the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that some parts of the country have been hit especially hard. Heres a closer look at the study and the stories behind some of the data.

Veteran deaths help account for Montanas high rate.

Montana has the countrys highest suicide rate, and suicides by military veterans are a significant contributor. A state study found that veterans account for more than 20 percent of Montanas suicides and that veterans have a suicide rate more than twice that of nonveterans.

All the issues that we have in Montana are magnified in our veteran population, said Karl Rosston, the states suicide prevention coordinator. Mr. Rosston said rural isolation, easy access to guns and a lack of mental health services likely contributed to Montanas suicide rate, which has been among the countrys highest for decades.
To say that Ghanaians with albinism are stigmatized is an understatement: S ome believe their presence is a sign of bad luck , leading their parents to avoid acknowledging them or even to try to kill them. Others believe their body parts can bring fortune and prosperity, prompting people to kill them or traffickers to sell them for their body parts  though this happens less in Ghana than in other African countries like Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.

In a population of roughly 28 million people, Ghana has approximately 2,000 individuals with albinism, according to Kwame Andrews Daklo, a social worker focused on albino advocacy with Engage Now Africa, a nongovernmental organization that provides medical services, clean water and business training to communities in Ghana and other African countries.

People in Ghana with albinism have been largely isolated from one another and unable to get the resources to help them battle the unforgiving sun and a world that thinks them disposable. But in recent years, they have forged connections on platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, turning a societal stigma into social bonds and offline friendships.

Experiences for people living with albinism vary according to class, age and how pervasive the condition is on the body , but for those living in Accra and in rural villages outside of the capital city, the stigma often leads to severe neglect and ridicule.
SINGAPORE  Malaysias new leader is moving aggressively to investigate the apparent theft of billions of dollars from a state investment fund under the previous government, including seeking the arrest of a key figure in the scandal, the financier Jho Low.

The United States Department of Justice estimates that $4.5 billion went missing from the fund, 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, known as 1MDB, which was established and overseen by the former prime minister Najib Razak  including $731 million that it says was deposited into Mr. Najibs own bank accounts.

Mr. Najib, who denies any wrongdoing, suffered a surprise election defeat last month at the hands of Mahathir Mohamad, 92, who had previously served more than two decades as prime minister before retiring at 78.

Back in office, Mr. Mahathir has made investigating the scandal and recovering the money a top priority.
The reason for announcing it this time is that, after the Kabul administration announced theirs, the people were concerned that our Mujahedeen might continue operations and it might disturb their Eid celebrations, Mr. Mujahid said. We wanted them to be confident that we also wont do any operations. But our announcement is unrelated to the Kabul administrations.

Overnight violence served as a reminder of how the deadly the war remains. In the Zawol district of western Herat Province, the governors spokesman said 18 members of the Afghan Army and police were killed in an overnight ambush on Friday. In private, officials in southern Kandahar Province said as many as 23 soldiers were killed in Shahwalikot district. The army, although confirming casualties, would not provide numbers. In the north, 11 members of the Afghan police were killed in Sar e Pul Province and 25 members of a pro-government militia in Kunduz Province.

Jarett Blanc, a former American diplomat who was involved in earlier efforts to start a peace process with the Taliban, said the cease-fire provides an opportunity for both sides to demonstrate control over their armed forces.

One problem you always get in insurgencies and negations is Who can I talk to? Who is in charge? Mr. Blanc said. In Afghanistan, the Taliban genuinely doubt the government of Afghanistans ability to control the most important armed forces, which is ours.

Conversations with diplomats and senior officials in Kabul suggest that the unilateral cease-fire announced by the government had not been coordinated with the Taliban or the outcome of a broader, cohesive peace effort.

Over the past few years, as the United States has drawn down from the peak of about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, it has increasingly embraced a political settlement as the only end to the long Afghan war.

But just how that settlement could be negotiated has proved to be a difficult task, compounded by several factors, including the Talibans long, complicated relationship with the Pakistani military as a source of support; a weak interlocutor in the government in Kabul thats marred by infighting; and the breakdown of consensus among regional players like Iran and Russia, who have stakes in an endgame in Afghanistan.
KAYSERSBERG, France  The suicide of Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef and television host, left the residents of Kaysersberg, a small village in the Alsace region of France, known for its wine, local food and architecture, puzzled about why he chose this place to end his life.

Mr. Bourdains sudden death at Le Chambard, a five-star hotel in the village, also sent shock waves through the worlds restaurant industry.

It spurred an outpouring among fans and foodies, too, who paid tribute on social media to a man who used food as a passport to understand other cultures and who used his star power to back the #MeToo movement, in which his girlfriend, Asia Argento, an Italian actress, was a central figure.

The French officials investigating the suicide said on Saturday that he had been found hanging in his hotel bathroom at 9:10 a.m. on Friday.
The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on six people it accuses of involvement in the trafficking and smuggling of Libyan migrants, after a video appearing to show African migrants being sold as slaves sparked global outrage last year.

The sanctions against four Libyans  including the head of a regional Coast Guard unit  and two Eritreans are believed to represent the first time that traffickers have been put on an international sanctions list, the BBC says.

The Netherlands, backed by France, Germany, Britain and the United States, asked the 15-member councils Libya sanctions committee last month to impose a global asset freeze and travel ban on the six people, Fitiwi Abdelrazak, Ahmad Oumar al-Dabbashi, Ermias Ghermay, Mohammed Kachlaf, Abd al-Rahman al-Milad and Musab Abu Qarin.

In May, Russia asked for more information on the proposed action, putting a hold on the sanctions. But Russia then backed down, and the council imposed sanctions on Thursday.
4 years of Modi govt: 100% FDI in food processing set to give impetus to 'Make in India'

Feature

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The NDA government's decision to allow 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the food processing was a masterstroke which not only ushered in foreign investment but also gave impetus to 'Make in India' program. As per 2017's data, India's food processing industry received 43% higher foreign direct investment (FDI) in the fiscal 2016-17 on the back of favourable policy measures.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) is responsible for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to food processing in India. The ministry was set up in the year 1988, with a view to develop a strong and vibrant food processing industry, to create increased employment in rural sector and enable farmers to reap the benefits of modern technology and to create a surplus for exports and stimulating demand for processed food.

The ministry is currently headed by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a Cabinet Minister, and Minister of State Niranjan Jyoti.

In the Budget for fiscal 2018-2019 Rs. 500 crore was allocated for 'Operation Greens' to address price volatility of perishable commodities like Tomato, Onion and Potato. Allocation for Ministry of Food Processing was doubled in the Budget 2018-19 to Rs. 1400 Crores. It was decided that specialized Agro Processing Financial Institutions would be established to ensure timely, accessible and affordable credit to Food Processing sector.

Lets look at other initiative of the government to boost Food Processing industry:

Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana: The Schemes of the Ministry have been restructured and new schemes have been approved by Cabinet and launched as Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana. The SAMPADA Scheme will target creation of Infrastructure and increasing capacities of processing and preservation in entire supply chain of food processing sector right from farm gate to retail outlets. The New Scheme will help in integrating food processing units and food trade with the farmers creating huge opportunities for employment of increasing income of the farmers. PMKSY is an umbrella scheme incorporating ongoing schemes of the Ministry like Mega Food Parks, Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure, etc. and also new schemes like Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters, Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages, Creation / Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities.

World Food India, 2017: Ministry organized World Food India 2017 in Delhi and showcased investment potential of India in the food processing sector and attracted investment worth $18.8 billion in the entire supply chain for inclusive development. Food Street was the World food India's most attractive highlight. Food Street is an experiential platform that will bring together culinary practices, flavours, fragrances from the world's cuisines, and celebrate India's rich cultural heritage and diverse uniqueness of its produce to create contemporary renditions and fusion food.

Investor's Portal 'Nivesh Bandhu' Launched:

Information on potential and opportunities for investment in the food processing sector and incentives provided by the Central and State Governments were made available to the prospective investors at a single point. The queries of the investors were received and answered through the portal guiding them and making it easier for them to take decision.

The government allowed 100% FDI for trading including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured or produced in India. 100% FDI is already permitted in manufacturing of food products through automatic route. This will provide impetus to the foreign investment in food processing sector, benefit farmers immensely and will create vast employment opportunities.

Mega Food Parks: Setting up of state of art testing facilities in all the 42 Mega Food Parks was aimed at encouraging export of agri-commodities realizing their full potential. Creation of a Special Fund of Rs. 2000 crore in NABARD would also pay off in the long run. Availability of affordable credit to Mega Food Parks and food processing units has been set up therein Rs. 540.62 crore sanctioned to 15 Projects and Rs. 255.78 crore was disbursed.

Grievance Redressal System Strengthened: Under the infrastructure schemes of Mega Food Parks and cold chain, a committee of three Independent Monitors was constituted to address the grievances of applicants whose proposal for Mega Food Parks and Cold Chains could not be selected. The committee also provides personal hearing to the applicants before disposing of their grievances.

Food Map of India launched: The Food Map enables investor to take decision with regard to locating their projects as the food map showed mapping of the potential of food processing in surplus production areas.

Project Monitoring process streamlined: The close monitoring of the projects regularly led to completion of three Mega Food Parks in comparison to two projects in previous six years and completion of 14 cold chain projects as against 12 in last six years. This has also lead to significant improvement in utilization of plan fund allocation nearly 200% in all the schemes. Food and agro-based processing unit and cold chain infrastructure have been classified under agriculture activities for Priority Sector Lending. Availability of additional credit for food processing activities and infrastructure.

Service Tax on pre-conditioning, pre-coding, ripening, waxing, retail packaging and labelling of fruits and vegetables exempted in cold chain projects. This is a big relief in terms of tax exemption to the cold chain operators as this facility was only available to the farmers at farm gate but not to the cold chain operators. This enhanced the viability of cold chain projects, encouraging more investment in the sector.

To enhance the transparency and reduce human interface, an on-line software has been developed and put in use for filing of claims for the infrastructure development projects. This has also been expanded to other schemes. Investment tracking and facilitation Desk of Invest India has been set up in the Ministry. The desk will identify new potential investors and approach them in a focussed and structured manner for investment and follow-up the investment cases by providing hand holding services. The desk will also assist Ministry in organising roadshows both in India and abroad and organizing investment meets.

e-NAM to be expanded from 250 to 585 APMCs: e-NAM Market would have primary processing facilities. e-NAM will be provided assistance for creating primary processing to cleaning, grading, packaging. This will encourage and make easier direct procuring of raw-material by the processing units and retail traders resulting in increased income to farmers. Primary Processing will increase value addition of the farmers produce and fetch better price. This will also lead to quality consciousness.

Model Law on Contract Farming prepared to integrate farmers: The Contract Farming Law will integrate backward integration of the food processors with the farmers and attracting investment in post-harvest management activities leading to increased benefit to the farmers and reduction in wastages. A Dairy Processing and Development Fund of Rs. 8000 core set up in NABARD. The Fund is used to modernize old and obsolete milk processing units particularly in cooperative sector and will result in enhancing milk processing capacity thereby adding more value to the produce of the farmers and increasing their income

Additional fiscal concessions:

Reduction in Excise Duty on Refrigerated Containers from 12.5% to 6%.

Reduction in Basic Custom Duty on Refrigerated Containers from 10% to 5%.

5% Basic Customs Duty as presently available under project imports for cold storage, cold room also extended for Cold Chain including pre-cooling unit, pack house, sorting and grading lines and ripening chambers.

Excise Duty on Machinery reduced from 10% to 6%.

The following Mega Food Parks are operational:

Patanjali Food and Herbal Park, Haridwar (Uttarakhand);

The Indus Mega Food Park, Khargone (Madhya Pradesh);

Jharkhand Mega Food Park Ranchi (Jharkhand),

Jangipur Bengal Mega Food Park, Murshidabad(West Bengal)

Srini Food Park, Chittoor, (Andhra Pradesh);

North East Mega Food Park, Nalbari, (Assam);

International Mega Food Park, Fazilka, (Punjab);

Integrated Food Park,Tumkur, (Karnataka);

MITS Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd, Rayagada, (Odisha)

M/s Satara Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd (Maharashtra)

M/s Greentech Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd, Ajmer (Rajasthan)

Foundation Stone for the following Mega Food Parks have been laid:

Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Mega Food Park Project, Ludhiana

Mega Food Park developed by KINFRA at Palakkad in Kerala

Mega Food Park developed by KSIDC at Alappuzha in Kerala

Maize Based Mega Food Park in Kapurthala, Punjab

A Mega Food Park is likely to benefit about 25000-30000 farmers apart from creating employment for 5000-6000 persons, especially in rural areas. The Mega Food Park project at Udham Singh Nagar was naugurated on 5th April, 2018 and Agartala (Tripura) is at advanced stage for operationalisation.

NABARD has sanctioned term loan of Rs. 540.62 Crore to 11 Mega Food Park projects and 1 designated Food Park and 3 processing units under 'Food Processing Fund' of Rs. 2000 Crore and out of this an amount of Rs. 255.78 Crore has been disbursed. The Ministry has notified 181 designated food parks in different States for the purpose of availing affordable credit from special fund with NABARD.

Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure:

Ministry of Food Processing Industries is assisting 238 integrated cold chain projects (Including completed and ongoing projects) having capacity of 7.64 lakh metric tonnes of cold storages, 231.75 metric tonnes per hour of individual Quick Freezing(IQF), 104.99 lakh litres per day of Milk processing/storage and 1383 reefer vans.

A total of 119 integrated cold chain projects have been completed/operationalized as on 31.03.2018 and out of this, 82 integrated cold chain projects have been completed/operationalized during 2014-2018. With the operationalization of these 82 projects, Ministry has created an additional capacity of 2.65 lakh metric tonnes of cold storages, 82.45 metric tonnes per hour of individual Quick Freezing(IQF), 34.55 lakh litres per day of Milk processing/storage and 516 reefer vans during 2014-2018.

The guidelines of Scheme have been revised on the basis of feedback and experience of this Ministry to make them investor friendly. On an average, each cold chain project benefits to around 500 farmers in fruits and vegetables sector and around 5000 farmers in dairy sector and creates employment for 100 persons.

Under the Scheme of Setting up/ Modernization of Abattoirs, one project at Panji (Goa) has been operationalized.

10 Food Testing Labs have been completed:

FSSAI has approved a large number of new Additives harmonized with the International Codex Standards and notified an amendment to the regulations as a result of which non-standardized food products called proprietary foods (except novel food and nutra-ceuticals) that use ingredients and additives approved in the regulations will no longer require product approval. This has provided considerable relief to the industry.

The National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) at Kundli, Sonepat, Haryana and Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology (IICPT) at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu are being developed by the Government as the Centres of Excellence. The pass-outs of these institutes have got 100% placements.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 7:00 [IST]
Four years of Modi govt: An Amul like movement for tribals on the cards

4 years of Modi sarkar: How govt kept its focus on urban growth

4 years of Modi govt: 'Making simple, affordable healthcare a reality'

Feature

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

In the past four years, the Narendra Modi government has attempted to transform the healthcare landscape of India.

The most important healthcare reform in the manifesto stated that the party would assure health care assistance to all Indians, and reduce the out-of-pocket spending on healthcare with the help of state governments.

The Modi government is trying to bring more people under health insurance cover with the National Health Protection Mission. Billed as the world's largest health assurance scheme-dubbed Modicare-it aims to provide free health insurance of Rs 5 lakh per family to nearly 40% of the population, or more than 100 million poor and vulnerable families based on socio-economic caste census.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare led by J P Nadda also intended to focus on the key factors that are detrimental to our health, such as sanitation and drinking water, to help reduce the number of water-borne diseases in the country.

As the Modi-led government turns four on May 26, let's take a look at the initiatives

Mission Indradhanush

Mission Indradhanush for immunization of children is regarded as one of the key schemes of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. It has impacted more than 25.3 million children and 6.8 million pregnant women by providing life-saving vaccines in four phases since 2014.

MI was launched in December 2014, to drive vaccination against TB, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and measles, in 201 districts that had very low immunisation coverage.

By July 2017, 2.55 crore children under two years of age and 68.7 lakh pregnant women had been covered in 528 districts across the country.

Recently, the Centre launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) to reach 90% immunisation in 173 districts by December 2018.

Achievements:

Mission Indradhanush has completed four phases covering 528 districts wherein:

2.55 crore children vaccinated

66.57 lakh children fully immunised

68.78 lakh pregnant female immunised

73.49 lakh vitamin A doses administered

68.57 lakh ORS packets distributed

2.345 crore zinc tablets distributed

Ending Open Defecation: Starting in October 2014, the government launched their national campaign to end open defecation by 2019. In India, around 70% of the population who live in villages defecate in the open. Open defecation is more common in India than it is in the poorer countries of Bangladesh, Malawi, Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. This urged Prime Minister Modi to take up a vow to eliminate open defecation in his Independence Day Speech in 2014.

1. Swachh Bharat Cess: In November 2015, the government levied a cess of 0.5% on all services to boost their clean India initiative. The tax, known as the Swachh Bharat Cess, has been levied on all services liable for GST. By January 2016, the government had managed to collect Rs. 1,917 crores under this cess.

2. E-Health: In July 2015, the Prime Minister launched his Digital India campaign, and E-Health was one of the initiatives launched with the campaign. The broad aim of e-health is to provide effective, economical and timely healthcare services to all individuals, and especially to those people who have little access to healthcare services.

This service will be linked to Aadhaar numbers, which will make getting lab reports and OPD appointments easier. An eHospital App has also been launched with an Online Registration System (ORS). This initiative allows us to skip the hassles of registration and other formalities required at hospitals, as we can simply identify ourselves by our Aadhaar numbers.

3. Manufacture of Medical Equipment: Over the last few years the government has introduced a few new policies that are in sync with growth in the medical equipment industry. This has led to an increase in the domestic manufacturing of medical equipment, increasing its affordability and accessibility. The Union Cabinet has also given its approval to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Papua New Guinea on cooperation in the field of healthcare and medical sciences. This pact will encourage the health ministries of both countries through joint initiatives.

In February 2017, the government capped the prices of bare metal stents at Rs7,260 and drug-eluting and biodegradable stents at Rs29,600, which was almost 85% lower than the prevailing market prices. It also provided free medicines through Jan Aushadhi Kendras.

New Vaccines

Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV):

In concurrence with the World Polio End Game strategy, IPV was introduced in November 2015 in six states and expanded throughout the country by June 2016. Till December'17, nearly 3.87 crore doses of IPV have been administered to children across the country since its introduction.

Rotavirus Vaccine:

Launched in March 2016 in 4 states- Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha, to reduce the burden of diarrhea caused by Rotavirus.

It has been expanded to 9 states namely Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu & Madhya Pradesh.

Nearly 1.42 crore doses of Rotavirus vaccine have been administered to children by December'17

Measles Rubella (MR) vaccine:

MR vaccination campaign targeting children from 9 months up to 15 years of age, was launched on 5th February 2017 in 5 states -Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Lakshadweep & Puducherry.

MR campaign has been completed in 13 states/UTs namely, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Puducherry, Lakshwadeep, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kerela (ongoing in Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha).

Around 7.7 crore children have been vaccinated till 19th March 2018 in these states.

Japanese Encephalitis vaccination in India:

Japanese Encephalitis vaccination in children introduced in Routine Immunization in 230 JE endemic districts subsequent to the completion of JE campaign in these districts in 2015.

Around 15.6 crore children aged 1-15 years have been vaccinated with JE vaccine. Special JE re-campaign was carried out in all 38 JE endemic districts of Uttar Pradesh where 99.20 lakh children were administered JE vaccine.

Adult JE campaign has been completed in all identified 31 districts. Under this campaign, around 3.29 crore adults were vaccinated with JE vaccine

Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV):

To reduce child deaths due to pneumonia, a major cause of child mortality.

It has been launched on 13th May, 2017 in 3 states i.e. Himachal Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh (6 districts) and Bihar (17 districts).

Subsequent expansion of the vaccine to entire state of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, and parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh over a period of three years has been planned.

Till January'18, more than 14 lakh doses of PCV have been administered to children across above mentioned areas.

Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan-PMSMA

To provide assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care, free of cost, universally to all pregnant women on the 9th of every month.

PMSMA guarantees a minimum package of antenatal care services to women in their 2nd / 3rd trimesters of pregnancy at designated government health facilities.

Achievements:

More than 1.16 crore antenatal check-ups conducted.

Conducted at over 12900 health facilities across all State/UTs

Over 4900 volunteers registered on PMSMA portal across all State/UTs

More than 6 lakh high risk pregnancies have been identified

Six Months Maternity Leave

Maternity Benefit Act amended to enhance maternity leave period for working women from 12 weeks to 26 weeks

Elimination of Diseases

Elimination of Communicable diseases - Action plans to eliminate Leprosy by 2018, Measles by 2020 and Tuberculosis by 2025 being implemented.

'Affordable & Quality HealthCare for All' - Availability of Cheaper Medicines

1054 essential medicines, including lifesaving drugs, brought under Price Control regime after May 2014, giving the consumer total benefit Rs. 9113 crores (As on 29th September, 2017).

Ayushman Bharat

Modi government launched the world's largest government-funded health programme called National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), covering 10 crore families or approximately 50 crore population, with Rs 5 lakh insurance cover per family per year. The scheme is for secondary and tertiary healthcare, mainly for hospital care.

This flagship scheme is likely to benefit more than 37% of the population, meaning that nearly all the poor and vulnerable families will be covered. The government will require Rs 12000 crore for it's implementation, with cost shared on a 60:40 basis between central and state governments.

The Ayushman Bharat programme is apparently driven by two main aims: 1) to strengthen primary health care which has been lacking in the country and 2) to offer finacial protection from catastrophic expenditure, often encountered once a family member is sick and needs long-term health care.

National Health Policy

Health Ministry formulated the National Health Policy 2017, after a gap of 15 years, to address the current and emerging challenges necessitated by the changing socio-economic and epidemiological landscapes since the last National Health Policy was framed in 2002.

Focus is on preventive and promotive health care while the Primary healthcare is to be comprehensive and universal. Patient centric approach listening to the voice of patients, quality care, inter sectoral convergence, access, affordability and use of technology are among its salient features.

Mental Healthcare Act- 2017

The Act adopts a rights-based statutory framework for mental health in India and strengthens equality and equity in provision of mental healthcare services to protect the rights of people with mental health problem to ensure that they are able to receive optimum care and are able to live a life of dignity and respect.

HIV & AIDS (PREVENTION & CONTROL) ACT, 2017

It aims to end the epidemic by 2030 in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

A person living with AIDS cannot be treated unfairly at employment, educational establishments, renting a property, standing for public or private office or providing healthcare and insurance services

Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants For Treatment (AMRIT)

The AMRIT pharmacies provide drugs for cancer and cardiovascular diseases along with cardiac implants at a 60 to 90 per cent discount on prevailing market rates.

The drugs having MRP Value of Rs. 566.34 Crores have been dispensed at Rs. 254.36 Crores, resulting on saving of Rs. 311.99 Crores to the patients.

NATIONAL Organ Transplant Program

Apex level National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) has been set-up for establishing country-wide network of transplant and retrieval hospitals and tissue banks.

Five Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organizations (ROTTO) have been established in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal and Chandigarh UT.

National Registry to provide online system for procurement and distribution of organs and tissues has been established under NOTTO.

24x7 Toll free Helpline No. 1800114770 has been made operational.

Organ Donation Rate (number of deceased organ donors per million population) has increased by four times since 2012-13.

REVISED NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL PROGRAM

Treatment for drug sensitive TB is provided through a network of more than 400,000 DOT Centres

Diagnosis of Drug Resistant TB drug susceptibility testing at 74 culture & drug susceptibility testing (C-DST) laboratories, of which 55 laboratories are also equipped with rapid molecular test namely Line Probe Assay (LPA).

House to house screening of TB symptoms covering 5.5 crore population under Active Case Finding.

Rs. 500 per month for nutritional support to all TB patients for the duration of TB treatment through DBT

NATIONAL AIDS CONTROL PROGRAM:

Test and Treat' Policy launched for covering all patients with Anti Retro Viral (ARV) irrespective of CD count orclinical stage. More than 1 lakh additional HIV infected people brought under the ambit of ARV treatmentin 8 months since launch of "Test and Treat" policy

More than 11.75 lakh people infected with HIV are on ARV treatment; 54% higher than the March'14

More than 2 Crores pregnant women are being tested for HIV in a year with a goal to achieve elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV by 2020

DRUG REGULATION:

Medical Device Rules 2017 notified. These provide for risk-based classification, licensing and regulation of medical devices.

344 irrational fixed dose combinations (FDCs) prohibited.

New National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM, 2015) finalized. It now includes 376 medicines.

Coronary stents added in NLEM, 2015 and their ceiling prices fixed to provide relief to patients.

NATIONAL Tobacco Control Program

Packaging and Labelling Rules: Size of specified health warnings on tobacco products enhanced w.e.f. 1st April, 2016 to 85% of the principal display area of tobacco product packs.

Quitline number has been included in new specified health warnings which will come into effect on 1st September, 2018.

Inclusion of Bidi in Tax Net: Bidi has been covered in the tax net and kept along with all tobacco products in the slab of 28% under the Goods and Service Tax (GST).

Reduction in prevalence of tobacco use: As per findings of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2016-17), the prevalence of tobacco use has reduced by six percentage points from 34.6% to 28.6% during the period from 2009-10 to 2016-17. The number of tobacco users has reduced by about 81 lakh (8.1 million).

National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) has been expanded to all the States/UTs covering about 405 districts against 21 States covering 42 districts in 2013-14.

NATIONAL VECTOR BORNE DISEASE CONTROL PROGRAMME

Malaria:

Reduction of 28% in reported positive cases of Malaria 840838 in 2017 (provisional) as compared 1169261 in 2015.

Reported deaths due to malaria reduced by 73 % in 2017 to as compared in 2015.

National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination (2017-22) launched in 2017.

Dengue & Chikungunya:

Upscaled diagnostic facilities from 394 in 2013 to 618 in 2018

The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) for Dengue (deaths per 100 cases) was sustained at 0.2% in last 3 years

Japanese Encephalitis (JE)/ Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES):

JE vaccination campaign in children (1-15 yrs) completed in 229 out of 231 JE endemic districts.

Adult vaccination Completed in all 31 districts identified in Assam, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Kala-azar (KA):

Reduction of 37.7% in cases of Kala-azar: from 9241 in 2014 to 5758 in 2017

Reported deaths due to Kala-azar reduced to 100% 11 in 2014 to Nil deaths in 2017.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 9:00 [IST]
Donald Trump wants Russia back into G7

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

US President Donald Trump on Friday, June 8, said he wanted Russia to join the Group of Seven (G7) platform, adding one more episode to his saga of controversies.

Trump made the remark before leaving for Quebec, Canada, where the 44th summit of the G7 was set to be held on Friday and Saturday, June 9. The rich men's club could see a heated up summit because of Trump's aggressive sanctions on imports from the US's old allies, including Canada.

Before leaving for Canada from where he will head to Singapore to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12, Trump said Russia deserved to be at the negotiating table of G7. He also said that such a turnout might not be politically correct but the world needed to be run.

Russia was snubbed after it 2014 after it annexed Crimea in Ukraine and the G8 since then has been reduced to G7. Besides the US, the other six countries in the group include Canada, the UK, Italy, Japan, France and Germany. Russia joined the G7 in 1998 to make it into G8.

According to a piece in US-based Vox, Trump's statement before the G7 summit which is already seeing a lot of trouble is important for two reasons.

First, Trump's statement will encourage Russia on which the international community is trying to put up a lot of pressure and worsen Washington' relations with its allies more.

Secondly, Trump and his associated are being probed over their possible link with Moscow in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections. Trump has blasted the investigation as "witch hunt" and his backing Moscow to be part of G7 will strengthen his critics' allegations that he has some interest in having a good relation with Russia.
Encounter in Delhi: Notorious gangster Rajesh Bharti and 3 aides gunned down

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Four memers of the Rajesh Bharti gang were gunned down by Delhi Police's Special cell after an encounter in the national capital's Chhatarpur area. As per reports, six police personnel and one gang member were also injured. The gang leader Rajesh Bharti was also shot dead by the police.

A team from the Special Cell, which is the anti-terror unit of the city police, intercepted Bharti and his men at Fatehpur Beri. Bharti and his men were asked to surrender but they fired at the policemen, Delhi Police said

The Rajesh Bharti gang has been found to be involved in several murders in the last two years. In July 2017, a 21-year-old sharpshooter of the Rajesh Bharti gang was arrested.

The gang is know to leave behind a hand written note at the scene of the murder to spread fear among people.

Rajesh Bharti, a carjacker, who has been committing a series of crimes in Dwarka, Najafgarh and nearby areas, is said to be the leader of the gang. He belongs to a village near Rohtak and has over a dozen cases of snatching cars lodged against him. He was wanted in several cases and had fled away from the custody of Haryana Police.
Govt serious about Prime Minister Modis security says Rajnath Singh

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The government is serious about the security of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said, amid reports of an assassination plot by Maoists.

"We are always serious about the prime minister's security. The Maoists are fighting a losing battle. They are now active only in 10 districts in the country," he told a press conference here after a two-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir.

The police in Pune yesterday told a court that they had seized a "letter" from the Delhi residence of one of the five people arrested on Wednesday for having alleged "links" with the banned CPI (Maoist).

The purported letter allegedly mentioned of a plan to "assassinate" Modi in "another Rajiv Gandhi-type incident", the police told the court.

Singh said the Naxal violence will come to an end soon as their area of influence has come down from 135 districts in the country to 90 but they are very active in only 10 of these.

Asked about the possibility of extending the ongoing suspension of operations against the militants in Jammu and Kashmir beyond Eid, he said an appropriate decision will be taken after reviewing the ground situation and in consultation with all people concerned.

Maintaining that the Centre's stand since beginning was that New Delhi was willing to talk to everyone, Singh said, "Our neighbouring country Pakistan should prevent terror emanating from its soil."

The home minister also said the central government was ready to hold dialogue with all "right-minded" people if not "like-minded", a statement seen as an olive branch to the separatists.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 6:07 [IST]
UP government changes its earlier stand, allows Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi to visit Lakhimpur Kheri

Sonia ji unwell, Rahul Gandhi should take over as Congress chief: Siddaramaiah as party preps up for CWC meet

Is Rahul Gandhis knowledge about farmers bookish?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bhopal, June 9: The war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over farmers is not ending anytime soon. The ongoing agrarian crisis in the country which saw suicide of thousands of farmers in the last few years has been politicised by leaders cutting across party lines for their personal gains.

The ongoing 10-day-long farmers' protest in several parts of the country too has been politicised, thanks to the BJP which remains in a denial mode about the farm distress and the Congress trying its best to cash in on the plight of the farmers.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been regularly making statements in support of the agitating farmers and slamming the Narendra Modi government for its "anti-farmer policies", on Friday, was attacked by a senior farmer leader and BJP MP Virendra Singh.

BJP Kisan Morcha national president Singh "Mast" said that the Congress chief's knowledge about farmers was "bookish". Singh, a Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi, also said that those throwing vegetables and pouring milk on the streets as part of a 10-day farmers' stir were not "real farmers" but those executing the "conspiracy" of some "power hungry" people.

Talking to reporters in Indore, Madhya Pradesh Singh said, "Do you see a farmer in the faces of Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia? Their information about farmers is bookish."

He added, "These leaders did not spend their childhood in the lap of "maai" (mother) but in the lap of "daai" (babysitter). We know what love for the motherland is."

Gandhi, while participating in the "Kisan Samraddhi Sankalp Rally" in Mandsaur on June 6, had announced that farm loans would be waived within 10 days of the Congress coming to power in Madhya Pradesh.

"It is good that Rahul has learnt to imitate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Modi had promised that the state government would waive off the loans of farmers," Singh said.

He, however, added that Gandhi should not nurture any illusion that the Congress would be back in power in Madhya Pradesh "in this birth".

In reply to a question, the BJP Kisan Morcha chief said, "Those throwing fruits and vegetables and pouring milk on the streets are not real farmers. They are executing the conspiracy of some power hungry people."

Singh said that he was ready to talk with the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh chief Shiv Kumar Sharma "Kakkaji" as well as other leaders on the problems facing the agriculture sector.

Singh was in Indore to participate in the farmers support march organised by the BJP. Madhya Pradesh finance Minister Jayant Malaiya and BJP's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya also took part.

A BJP spokesperson said that this rally was organised in support of the agriculture friendly schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

The Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are scheduled in December this year. Observers say farmers' issues will be one of the main political subjects during the upcoming polls in the state.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 11:47 [IST]
ISI-Naxalite-Separatist: The common connection

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Pakistan's ISI keeps a very close watch on the anti national activities that take place in India. It is ready to support any cause as long as it is anti-India. It has supported groups such as the Indian Mujahideen, Students Islamic Movement of India and even the naxalites.

The Pune police which revealed a plot to assassinate Narendra Modi by the naxalites would also now closely study the possible link this incident could have with the ISI. The naxalites had said that they would need Rs 8 crore for this plot to procure arms and only groups such as the ISI can move such large amounts without being detected.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that they do not rule out the possibility of the ISI asking the Kashmir separatists to move the money to the naxalites. The separatists had been told in 2010 to woo the naxalites.

The ISI-naxal nexus:

On October 18 2012, the then Director General of Police in West Bengal, Naparajit Mukherjee had stated that there is a growing nexus between the naxals and the ISI sponsored terrorist groups. He further stated that the nexus needs to be considered with all seriousness and it could spearhead into a major problem.

Naxalites and their frontal groups have been cozying up to ISI sponsored groups since 2009. It was the financial and the weapons crunch being faced by the naxalites which led them to exploring a nexus with the ISI.

For the ISI the naxalites were the best bet to promote home grown terror. In the year 2009, the ISI realised that the naxals were facing a financial crunch. The naxals had become desperate. While they were hesitant at first, they bit the bait when large chunks of money and arms were offered to them.

The ISI which is well networked in Dubai used some Indians to get in touch with the naxals. When the Intelligence Bureau tipped off the police about this nexus, there was an arrest made in Karnataka. The person who was arrested went by the name Altaf and he revealed for the first time that he was trying to establish a link between the underworld in Dubai and the naxals. Moreover he was instructed to hand over Rs 25 lakh to a naxal sympathiser who in turn was supposed to strike a deal between the ISI and the naxals.

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba-SIMI link:

The next move by the ISI was to sent an operative by the name Umer Madani to talk with the naxals. Madani a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative active in Kashmir. Madani who was arrested told the police that he was asked by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to pass on money to the naxals.

His questioning led to the police finding a person called Yusuf Salim. The police learnt that Salim who also hailed from Kashmir had held talks with the naxals. With several Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives being arrested, the ISI then roped in the Students Islamic Movement of India to carry forward the talks with the naxals.

Cadres of the SIMI were told to relocate to naxal infested areas. The talks between the SIMI and the naxalites was successful. The police at first did not realise how the naxals continued to get arms and finances despite a massive crackdown.

Later on it was found that the routes that the SIMI had set up were being used by the naxals to source arms and ammunition. Intelligence Bureau officials say that the close ties between ISI sponsored groups and the naxal has been a danger since the past seven years now.

When the separatists were roped in:

In 2010, the IB picked up chatter between an ISI officer and the Kashmiri separatists. The ISI officer is heard saying, " make inroads into the naxal network. It will help in our anti-India strategy.

The ISI as part of its strategy wanted to penetrate into the Indian security network. It felt that it was easier to do so as the naxalites already had an established network in India.

One could re-visit the investigation files of 2008. There was some naxalite movement reported in R S Pura in 2008. It was found that the naxalites were trying to get in touch with students at the Jammu university. This was being done at the behest of Kashmiri separatist Masarat Alam, the investigation also found.

Another link surfaced when the separatists circulated a pamphlet in 2008 calling for a strike in the Valley. The pamphlet was prepared by an overground naxalite worker. Further investigations revealed that the the pamphlet circulated by naxal leader Kishenji and Masarat Alam bore the same font and were printed at the same press.

The ISI had also roped in members of the Dawood gang to woo naxalites. This operation was however foiled by the police in 2010 itself when six persons were arrested in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. These men were tasked with establishing local contacts so that they could get in touch with the naxalites and offer funding.
NIA conducts search at Jharkhand in connection with naxal funding case

Maoists likely used looted weapons in Chhattisgarh attack: Report

Top naxal who harboured maoists, concealed huge cache of arms nabbed by NIA

Jharkhand: Suspected Maoists torch 13 vehicles

India

pti-PTI

Jamshedpur, Jun 9: Suspected Maoists set on fire 13 vehicles belonging to a construction firm in Parliposh area of Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, police said on Saturday.

The vehicles, which included excavators, dumpers and trucks, were set ablaze last night, they said.

A team of the district armed police and the CRPF rushed to the spot soon after the administration was informed about the incident, the police added.

The vehicles belonged to a firm engaged in constructing a road between Goilkera-Manoharpur villages of the district. Maoists have operated in parts of eastern and central India for decades.

They claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor and landless and often stage ambush attacks on the security forces.

PTI
Karnataka: Some Congress leaders are unhappy, but we have to make sacrifices, says Kharge

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

With rebellion brewing in Karnataka Congress and MB Patil knocking Rahul Gandhi's door over the allocation of cabinet berths, Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said sacrifices have to made to "save the Constitution and democracy".

Patil, who met Rahul in New Delhi, did not get assurance from the Congress president over his demand to be made the deputy chief minister or a minister with a plum portfolio in Karnataka, reported Deccan Herald.

"Even those who complain that they are upset on not getting the Home Ministry, say that 'we will stay loyal to the party and have no plans of leaving it, but injustice has been done to us & it should be corrected'," M Kharge, a senior Congress leader, told news agency ANI.

"To save constitution and democracy, we have to sometimes make sacrifices. Some members are dissatisfied and the high command and their representatives will definitely talk to them about it. They are also aware of the reason behind the decision," he added.

Yesterday, Congress leaders D K Shivakumar and R V Deshpande reportedly met M B Patil, who is virtually leading the revolt after being denied a Cabinet berth. Roshan Baig, Ramalinga Reddy, Dinesh Gundurao, Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Satish Jarkiholi, who were left out of the Cabinet, are also said to be disgruntled.

[Kar'NATAKA': Rebellion splits Congress wide open]

M B Patil's followers have been the most vocal and have planned on calling for a Vijayapura bandh on Monday. The supporters of the MLA are also holding several meetings to decide on the next course of action.

Dinesh Gundu Rao who is a five time MLA too is upset. He was offered the post of KPCC president and he was willing to take up the post. However a suggestion from Parameshwar to make a Lingayat the KPCC chief has left Rao fuming.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 16:11 [IST]
So what, asks HD Kumaraswamy on class 8 pass Karnataka education minister

India

pti-PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday dismissed questions on the allocation of the Higher Education portfolio to a minister who has studied till Class 8. "What have I studied? I'm working as the chief minister," he said.

Kumaraswamy, who holds a BSc degree, was asked about JDS minister GT Devegowda reportedly being upset at being given the higher education portfolio, especially as his own formal education has been limited.

GT Devegowda, who defeated former chief minister Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru in the May 12 assembly polls, was said to be eyeing key portfolios, according to party sources.

Reacting to the issue, Kumaraswamy, 59, said, "Some people will have wish to work in certain departments, but in every department there is opportunity to work efficiently. We have to work efficiently. Is there a better department than Higher Education and Minor Irrigation to work?"

On reported comments by GT Devegowda about being given Higher Education, when he had just studied till the eighth standard, the chief minister said, "What have I studied? I'm working as the chief minister. Should I give Finance? There will be demand for certain ministries, but certain decisions are made internally in the party," he told reporters in Bengaluru, adding that such wishes of becoming a minister first and then wanting certain specific portfolios are common.

Earlier, the chief minister had drawn flak for saying he was at the "mercy" of the Congress and not the people. Kumaraswamy later said he never meant to show disrespect to the people of the state.

"What I meant was so long as they (Congress) support me I can continue. So, whatever programmes we have to pursue, I will be at the mercy of Congress," he said.

Kumaraswamy had last night allocated portfolios but it has left some upset including GT Devegowda and CS Puttaraju, who got the Minor Irrigation portfolio.

Kumaraswamy retained the key Finance department, as also Energy with him while giving Home to his deputy G Parameshwara of the Congress.

The chief minister had inducted 25 new ministers on June 6, including those from his party JD(S), Congress, BSP, and the fledgling KPJP.

The JDS leader became the chief minister after the Congress offered support to the party keep out the BJP. In the 225-member Assembly, including one nominated, the Congress has 78 MLAs, the JDS has 36 and the BJP 104, with three others.

PTI
Monsoon update: 'Very Heavy' rainfall likely in coastal Maharashtra, Goa today

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

With monsoon already having entered Maharashtra yesterday (June 8), very heavy rainfall is expected today in coastal parts of the state, including Mumbai, and Goa. There has already been an increased rainfall activity over coastal Karnataka, Goa and south Maharashtra.

The civic authorities in Mumbai and surrounding areas are on alert to tackle with and emergency. Even the weenkend offs of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) employees has been cancelled in view of IMD's forecast.

IMD's bulletin today said Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of Central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Goa, Karnataka and Rayalaseema, some parts of south Konkan, south Madhya Maharashtra, Marathawada, Vidarbha, south Chhattisgarh and south Odisha, entire Telangana, most parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh, remaining parts of West Central Bay of Bengal and most parts of North Bay of Bengal.

"Conditions are very likely to become favorable for further advance of

Southwest Monsoon into most parts of Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Maharashtra, some parts of south Gujarat region, southern parts of Madhya Pradesh, some more parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha, some parts of West Bengal & Sikkim, remaining parts of Northeastern States and Bay of

Bengal during the subsequent 48 hours," it added.

Pre-monsoon showers in Mumbai on Thursday disrupted the normal life as the local trains serivces were affected. Trains running on Mumbai's suburban railway Central line were delayed by at least 20 minutes. Some flights also had to be diverted to Ahmedabad as the downpour was heavy.

The IMD has been warning that Mumbai and surrounding areas may witness heavy to very heavy rainfall from June 8 to June 10.

Coastal Maharashtra and Goa remain particularly vulnarable as the can really be heavy in these parts. As per the IMD forecast, there is a possibility of very heavy rainfall in Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts on June 9. There is a similar forecast for the six districts of Konkan region, including Mumbai, and surrounding areas on June 10 and 11.

People in Mumbai can dial 1916 and those outside Mumbai can dial 1077 in case of emergency.

[Weather forecast for June 9: Rain and thundershowers to continue in Hyderabad]

According to the IMD's prediction on distribution of rainfall this monsoon, the central India will get 'normal' rainfall but the southern Peninsula - Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry - may get 'below normal' rainfall. The north-east India is expected to get least rainfall (below normal) during the period. The monthly rainfall over the country as whole is likely to be 101% of its Long Period Average (LPA) during July, and 94% of the LPA during August - both with a model error of plus or minus 9%.

Anything between 90%-96% of the LPA is considered "below normal" while rainfall in the range of 96%-104% of the LPA is considered "normal." Also, rainfall is considered "deficient" if it ranges below 90% of the LPA, and "above normal" if it falls between 104%-110% cent of the LPA. Above 110% of the LPA is considered "excess" rainfall.
Drugs case: Aryan Khan speaks to parents via video call from jail; gets Rs 4,500 via money-order

Monsoon reaches Mumbai; Heavy rains disrupt local train services, flights

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Heavy rains in Mumbai on Saturday morning disrupted normal life as the local train service was affected. Even the flights are affected by the heavy downpour. 11 domestic flights and 12 international flights have been delayed. Four international flights have reportedly been cancelled.

Mumbai's local trains are the lifeline of the city as it is the main form of public transport for the dwellers of the metropolitan city. Reports say that the trains were running late by around 15 minutes.

"The trains on Central Railways suburban are running with delay of 10-12 minutes. There is no cancellation at present," news agency ANI quoted CPRO Central Railways as saying.

IMD today confirmed that South Western monsoon has reached Mumbai, a day before expected.

With monsoon already having entered Maharashtra yesterday (June 8), it was predicted that very heavy rainfall may hit coastal parts of the state, including Mumbai.

"We are expecting heavy rainfall to continue over Mumbai and Konkan region for the next two days. We have issued warnings of heavy rainfall to all agencies and fishermen," IMD's Ajay Kumar told news agency ANI.

People in Mumbai can dial 1916 and those outside Mumbai can dial 1077 in case of emergency.

Pre-monsoon showers in Mumbai on Thursday disrupted the normal life as the local trains serivces were affected. Trains running on Mumbai's suburban railway Central line were delayed by at least 20 minutes. Some flights also had to be diverted to Ahmedabad as the downpour was heavy.

[Monsoon arrives in Maharashtra, high alert in Mumbai]

The IMD has been warning that Mumbai and surrounding areas may witness heavy to very heavy rainfall from June 8 to June 10. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cancelled weekend offs of its employees so that they remain on standby to deal with any possible disruptions due to the downpour.
Naqvi meets minority leaders for Sampark for Samarthan initiative

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is focusing on leaders from the minority community for Sampark for Samarthan initiative taken by the party to reach out to one lakh eminent people from across the country.

Naqvi met India Islamic Cultural Centre President Sirajuddin Qureshi at his office at Lodhi Road, New Delhi. He had met Rt. Revd. Warris K. Masih, Bishop of Delhi, Church of North India at his residence cum office at Church Lane in New Delhi on Friday. Every BJP leader has to meet 25 such people.

However, the BJP was not answering that who will meet minority leaders. Prominent people from various Muslim educational institutes and social field were also present. Naqvi informed them about Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's initiative aimed at "Inclusive Growth".

Naqvi said that the Prime Minister has become effective and strong voice for peace and humanity not only in India but also for entire world. The desperate and disappointed evil forces want to disturb peace in the society but people's commitment to peace and unity will defeat and isolate such evil forces.

He said that the Modi government was working with commitment to 'Development with Dignity' and 'Empowerment without Discrimination'. The Modi government has ensured "happiness in eyes, prosperity in life" of every needy.

He further said, "Social-communal harmony and tolerance is the DNA of India. We have to work together to strengthen the fabric of our unity. Minorities in India are safe and socio-religious, constitutional rights of the minorities are more safe than any democratic country in the world."

Naqvi met with prominent people from Christian educational institutes, Churches, social field were also present. During meeting with Naqvi, people gave various suggestions related to socio-economic-educational empowerment and employment oriented skill development of the Christian community. Naqvi assured them positive initiatives on these suggestions.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 19:52 [IST]
NIA charges three from Karnataka in fake currency case

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The National Investigation Agency has filed a chargesheet in connection with a fake currency case reported in Karnataka. Three persons Dalim Mia, Ashok Kumar and Rajendra Patil have been named in the chargesheet.

The case was initially registered at Chikodi Police Station, District Belagavi, Karnataka on the basis of information provided by NIA. During investigation, police searched the residence of Ashok Kumbar and seized 41 fake Indian currency notes, all in the denomination of Rs. 2000 having face value Rs. 82,000/-.

During the investigation, it was found that arrested accused along with absconding accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to procure and circulate fake Indian currency notes in India. In furtherance of said conspiracy, accused Dalim Mia procured fake Indian currency notes of face value of Rs. 6.80 lacs and Rs. 3.50 lacs (in the denomination of Rs. 2000/-) with the help of absconding accused and delivered it to arrested accused Ashok Kumbar in two consignments. The said case has revealed interstate and international linkages pointing towards supply of FICN received from Bangladesh.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 15:50 [IST]
Protesting farmers explain how middlemen are harming both producers and consumers

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Chandigarh, June 9: On June 1, hundreds of farmers in the country started their 10-day-long nationwide protest to demand loan waiver and right price for crops among others from the government. After getting initial media coverage and political attention (both for and against the protest), the grave issues plaguing the farm sector in the country have been once again relegated to the background.

However, the protesting farmers continued with their agitation. On Friday, several farmers in Uttar Pradesh threw tomatoes on roads as they were getting just Rs 1 per kilogram of their tomato produce.

In the initial days of the agitation too farmers across Punjab, Maharashtra and Rajasthan threw vegetables and milk on roads as a mark of protest. Members and supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the farmers for throwing their produce on roads and wasting valuable food items.

The protesting farmers are also asking the government to do away with the middlemen who are allegedly the main culprits causing great "losses" to both the producers and consumers.

"By our protest, we have told the government what we wanted to. We wanted to tell the people that middlemen just don't affect the people, but they affect the producers too. I hope government listens to us and eliminate the middlemen," Harmeet Singh Kadyan, president, Bharat Kisan Union (Punjab), told ANI.

By our protest, we've told the govt what we wanted to. We wanted to tell the people that middlemen just don't affect the people, but they affect the producers too.I hope government listens to us & eliminate the middlemen:Harmeet Singh Kadyan, President, Bharat Kisan Union(Punjab) pic.twitter.com/WzgFWbwZ7I  ANI (@ANI) June 8, 2018

The farmers' agitation in seven states--Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh--has been spearheaded by the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKM)--a conglomeration of 130 farmers' organisations across the country.

In spite of the ongoing protest, the ruling Narendra Modi government at the Centre seems to be in no mood to talk to the protesters and come to a settlement. The whole protest has taken a political colour, as the ruling BJP and the Congress accused each other of being responsible for the farm crisis in the country.

Earlier, Union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare Radha Mohan Singh stoked controversy by calling the farmers' protest "an exercise to get media attention". His comment has been dubbed as "insensitive" and opposition parties had demanded his removal.

Singh said the farmers opted for "unusual deeds" to draw media attention as they belong to organisations with only a few thousand members. The farmers too protested against Singh's remark.

On the first anniversary of killing of farmers in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh on June 6, Congress president Rahul Gandhi met the families of the deceased. The entire 10-day-long agitation was started to observe the first anniversary of killing of seven farmers in Mandsaur last year. The farmers died in police firing while they were taking part in a protest.

Since the last year, the Modi government is facing the ire of farmers because of what they called the "anti-farmer policies" of the current regime at the Centre. A few months ago, around 4,000 farmers walked 180 kms from Nashik to Mumbai to meet CM Devendra Fadnavis. They presented a list of demands to the CM. The CM has agreed to meet their demands.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 8:38 [IST]
RSS to provide a road map for Fifth Dham in Cambodia; report to be given to senior leadership

India

oi-Vinod

By Vinod

New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in tandem with the government is trying to engage south Asian and South Asian countries from where it has old cultural links, ties and roots.

In one such initiative, some of the senior RSS functionaries visited Cambodia to support an initiative taken by Guruji Kumaranswami and industrialist Shailesh Hiranandani besides others. Kumaranswami has already acquired 500 acres of land there to built the Fifth Dham.

The RSS representatives will prepare a report and hand it over to the RSS sarkaryawah Suresh (Bhaiyaji) Joshi for the further action.

This is the initiative wherein the RSS will have very important role including being part of its managing committee in guiding role till it is build and while running it. The RSS is calling it a cultural investment where such environment will be provided so people can live a peaceful and quality time.

RSS scholar Shailesh Vats who visited Cambodia along with Indresh Kumar, Shyam Parande and Rajiv Ranjan, told One India, "Time has come to link scattered patches of Indian culture to link them with one thread. Relations are strengthen and go on based on faith so 500 acres of land has been acquired in Cambodia. Such a place will be developed out of the present structure that from mental peace to healing everything will be available here.

Around 1008 Shiv Linga has already been installed with different names. The entire project will be developed on the Gujarat model. A London-based promoter is with this project to take care of everything.

Shailesh said, "Stone of Ankorwat temple in Cambodia will be used for this project which has the biggest Lord Vishnu Idol in the entire region and the entire work will be completed in three years. The RSS is keeping its watch over the project and will decide the course of action to have coordination of Sanatan tradition and Budhdhism."

Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar said that Angkor Vat shrine and Mountain Kulen in Cambodia deserve to be the Fifth Dham for Hindus. The RSS has launched a worldwide campaign to complete this Fifth Dhan Project in Angkor Vat.

The RSS has been able to mobilise people of the international community in this regard. The architecture of this temple is absolutely amazing which is spread in over 400 acres of land built by King Surya Varman which is now Siem Reap city on the banks of Mekong river.

Founder of Sram Mram Ltd Shailesh Hiranandani a london-based businessman is supporting the entire project. In several ancient Hindu treaties Cambodia has been mentioned as a Hindu nation as part of Jambudeep (India).

Shailesh said, "The place is visited by tourists from all across the world to experience the mystic charm of Cambodia. The way we are getting support for this project the day is not far when this place will be known as the fift Dham." The project is also supported by people like Nana Aduboahen.
What are the farmers protesting about? We have stayed the farm laws says SC

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SC says it is unsatisfied with action taken by UP govt

SC stays away from CBI probe into West Bengal BJP workers death

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea seeking a CBI probe into the recent killing of two BJP workers in Purulia district of West Bengal after panchayat polls.

A vacation bench of Justices A K Goel and Ashok Bhushan asked the petitioners to approach the Calcutta High Court for the relief.

Advocate Gaurav Bhatia, appearing for petitioners, said that it is a serious matter as the killing of BJP workers have taken place after the panchayat polls in Purulia district.

On May 30, 18-year-old Tirlochan Mahato, a BJP worker from Balrampur village of Purulia district was found hanging from a tree with a poster written in Bengali struck on his back, saying he was killed for canvassing for the BJP during panchayat election.

Another death of one Dulal Kumar, also a BJP worker, had taken place on June 2 in a similar manner in the same district. The petition was filed by the father of Kumar, who sought a CBI probe into the killings.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 13:20 [IST]
Stringent laws to regulate private hospitals in Maharashtra soon

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that it was in the process of formulating a stringent law, on the lines of the Centre's Clinical Establishments Act, to regulate private nursing homes and hospitals in the state.

Appearing for the state, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that the draft plan for such law was already in place, and the government was in the process of finalising some amendments to it.

"Some doctors and other members of the medical community had some objections and suggestions. A committee was formed to consider these objections and suggestions, and to amend the draft plan accordingly. The committee will finalise the draft plan in about three weeks, after which it will be ready to be placed before the state assembly," Kumbhakoni said.

The submissions were made before a bench of justices Naresh Patil and G S Kulkarni which was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Pune resident Atul Bhosale.

In the PIL it was claimed that several nursing homes and hospitals in the state were operating in violation of rules and without valid licenses.

During random inspections conducted by state authorities of private nursing homes and hospitals across Maharashtra in the past one year, around 6,000 were found to be operating without valid licenses, and in violation of various other provisions of the Maharashtra Nursing Homes Regulation Act 2006.

The advocate general told the court that the state had taken action, such as sealing of nursing homes and even sending some doctors and staff to judicial custody, in the case of around 3,000 such nursing homes and hospitals.

The bench however, told the AG to submit details of the action taken against each of the nursing homes or hospitals that was found violating the state and the Centre's norms.

"The remaining 3,000 odd establishments that were found by the inspections to be erring still continue to operate. That can't be permitted. The health and lives of citizens can't be compromised with," the bench said.

"One requires various permits and a license to even start a small shop," the bench said.

According to the plea, currently, under the Maharashtra Nursing Homes Regulation Act 2006, if found running a nursing home illegally, one has to pay a fine of up to Rs 10,000.

The Union government's Clinical Establishments Act has more stringent provisions, including criminal prosecution under the IPC for those running such establishments, and a fine of Rs 25,000.

The bench accepted the state's submission that on the next date of hearing, scheduled after two weeks from now, it will submit greater details of the draft plan and of the action taken against the illegal nursing homes under the existing 2006 Act.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 13:50 [IST]
Umar Khalid seeks police protection after 'death threat' from gangster Ravi Pujari

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 9: JNU student leader Umar Khalid has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police, alleging he has received death threats from a man who identified himself as fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari, a senior official said on Saturday.

Dalit leader and Independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani too alleged yesterday that he has received death threats from Pujari. Yesterday, Khalid approached the police with a complaint over the threats and a case was registered, the police official said, adding that they are investigating the matter. Khalid tweeted he has asked for police protection.

"Filed a complaint with @DelhiPolice regarding Ravi Pujari's death threat to Jignesh and me. He said that I am on his HIT LIST! I have asked for police protection, given the fact that this is the same person who had previously also issued similar threats of killing me in Feb 2016 (sic)," he said.

In 2016, Khalid's father Syed Qasim Illyas Rasool had filed a police complaint, claiming he received a phone call "threatening to kill" his son if he doesn't leave the country.

The previous incident happened when when the police was looking for Khalid in connection with the sedition case filed against him, former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly organising an event against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Guru was hanged in 2013.

PTI
West Bengal: Another TMC worker found dead

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker has been hacked to death in Jagatballavpur area of West Bengal's Howrah. 44-years old Kartik Dhalli had initially gone missing but was found dead yesterday. The TMC has accused the BJP of being behind the killing.

This is the second TMC worker to have been killed this week. On June 5, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker, whose wife had recently won Panchayat elections, was shot dead in Bagnan. The had pointed finger at the BJP even then.

There is intense political rivalry between the BJP and the TMC in West Bengal. Including today's incident, two BJP workers and two BJP workers have died in the last 20 days.

The BJP had on June 2 lashed out at the TMC after a saffron party's worker, Dulal Kumar, was found hanging from a high-tension electrical transmission tower in Dabha village in West Bengal's Purulia. Two days before that, 20-year-old Trilochan Mahato, a BJP worker, was found hanging from a tree in Purulia's Balarampur development block.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain had termed the TMC, which stands for the Trinamool Congress, as the 'Taliban Congress Party'. "TMC is propagating terrorism. If TMC wants to fight, they must do so ideologically. The manner in which our worker was hanged, Mamata Banerjee does not have the right to stay in power anymore," Hussain had told ANI.

The West Bengal Police had said that the first death was a case of 'personal enmity', while the second death was a case of suicide. Joy Biswas, Purulia SP, said this on the basis of preliminary investigation.

BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya had written to NHRC over the incidents. "We do not trust state government, police, and the CID. We want NHRC do conduct a thorough investigation in the incident," he wrote.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 10:59 [IST]
A comparison between G7 and SCO summits 2018

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

On June 9, two important international summits were taking place in two different hemispheres of the world. On the Western Hemisphere, seven of the world's most industrialised countries met for the 44th Group of Seven (G7) summit in Quebec, Canada on Friday and Saturday while on the Eastern Hemisphere, the 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) happened and for first time, in its expanded form after India and Pakistan joining it as full members in June 2017.

The SCO did not comprise the world's most developed nations but had a bigger quantity - in terms of size and population and also an impressive GDP. Yet, it was the 26-year younger SCO which generated more positive vibes than the G7 across the global media, thanks to its proactive and deeper engagements.

The G7 was walking just to the opposite direction with a serious fault line emerging between the United States and the rest of the members over trade tariffs.

Adam Garrie, a geopolitics expert writes in his column for Eurasia Future: "It is virtually guaranteed that the SCO meeting hosted by Xi Jinping will be more objectively successful than the G7 meeting hosted by Justin Trudeau. Furthermore, when it comes to the issue of peace in Korea, here too China along with fellow SCO partner Russia has many more positive contributions to make than any of the G7 who in the case of the EU and Canada remain remote from the issue."

"In the case of Japan, a difficult history with Korea (to put it politely) means that Tokyo's role in the peace process will ultimately be less important than that of China, Russia and the two Korean states themselves and less influential in terms of both optics and singing off on a final agreement than that of the United States."

"The influence of China over the SCO contrasted with the US influence over the G7 goes a long way in explaining the different characteristics of the two summits which in turn goes along way towards explaining how different the outcomes of both summits will be."

SCO generates optimism, G7 only pessimism

There is a reason to feel convinced about Garrie's viewpoint. The build-up to the SCO's biggest summit so far has generated much optimism about internationalism - be it cooperation in fields of trade and security, counter drug trafficking and overall regional cooperation.

Particularly important has been the growth in interpersonal relations between world leaders like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin or Narendra Modi who have met on a number of occasions in recent times and come closer to each other - the growing protectionism of the US being one gluing factor.

SCO has shown this century is Asia's

The SCO has reiterated the opinion that the 21stcentury belongs to Asia and the convergence of some of the world's top economies of Asia and Eurasia raises more hope about the future path of development of the international community. In case of the G7, the exact opposite scene has unfolded with the industrialised countries engaging them more in personality clashes and focussing less on global problems.

Nothing is more iconic than the fat that US President Trump has expressed interest in leaving Quebec early to focus more his June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore. The focal point at the moment is Asia and not the rich men's club in the West.

Even Russia is not interested in G7 despite Trump's backing

Russia's reluctance to support Trump's remark that Moscow should be readmitted in the G7 from where it was expelled post the invasion in Ukraine in 2014 also points to the gloomy reality for the West.

The Kremlin has clearly said that Russia is interested on "other formats" which makes it evident again that platforms like SCO seem more attractive to the Putin leadership than the G7 where it will only face more roadblocks than making any progress.

SCO's scope of functioning is big

The SCO is perhaps the most happening international grouping at the moment because its scope of functioning is outgoing and big.

Be it in connection with China's Belt and Road Initiative or India's pressing problems with Pakistan or laying out a map for reconstruction of Afghanistan, the SCO offers hope for a better world order and the credit primarily goes to its members' openness to reaching out to each other.

This mentality is clearly absent in case of G7 whose members are struggling to deal with Trump and finding no better ways than retaliating against him.

G7's only Asian member is 'distant' from Korean peace process

As Garrie has pointed out, the G7 too has one Asian member - Japan - but it has found itself in a corner in the North Korean peace process and is playing the least important role in the regional peace process which also affects it significantly.

The Japanese prime minister has been engaging more with the US in the peace process since it is finding little space in engaging with either of the two Koreas and China. This means the G7's only Asian link with the North Korean denuclearisation is also weak and with the US turning a 'foe' within the age-old friends, the G7 virtually has no relevance for the North Korean peace process, an event which will dominate the world headlines in the immediate future.

The SCO might still have its concerns over India's relations with Pakistan and China but given the genuine quest for peace by Jinping and Modi, one is sure there will be ample efforts put into place to manage those problems unlike in G7 where Trump's stubbornness has left very little space for mutual trust and bonding.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 19:23 [IST]
China's honouring Putin ahead of SCO summit is a key development

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, June 8, awarded his country's first Friendship Medal to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the Great Hall of the People in capital Beijing.

Lauding their relationships, Jinping told Putin that irrespective of the fluctuations in international relations, China and Russia have always prioritised development in their relationship.

As the West is drifting apart, China and Russia are bridging gaps

The development is significant and shows that as the US engages in isolationism and causes an internal squabble among the western allies, powers like Russia and China find it convenient to bridge their traditional gaps for mutual benefit. The Chinese president hasn't really taken a collision course with other powers, something that many observers had feared after the Chinese constitution was amended to make Jinping the lifelong president. He has taken a course to nurture closer ties with other world leaders like Putin and India's Narendra Modi besides North Korea's Kim Jong-un to advance China's image as one that is conciliatory and not antagonist.

China's conferring its friendship medal to a Russian head of the government is quite a historic development, given the fallouts the two countries had during the Cold War era over the question of ideological purity. Putin was honoured for making outstanding contributions to China's socialist modernisation and promoting exchange and cooperation between China and the world and protect world peace.

China and Russia bury hatchets

This event is also significant from the perspective of China and Russia's competition within the SCO. Though they have been members of the SCO from the beginning, Russia has been wary of China's grand plans to make inroads into Central Asia, which it considers its own backyard. But the grand rapport at the top between two long-term leaders (Putin won his latest presidential term this year) which culminated into the friendship medal now cements the SCO further and that will be seen with some apprehension in the West.

The move to honour Putin, however, is not the first in this boost to the friendship. In July 2017, Putin awarded Jinping the Oder of St. Andrew for his distinguished service to both China and Russia. The Order of St. Andrew is the highest order of Russia and is conferred for outstanding service to the state, Russia's TASS News Agency said.

The honouring of Putin could also be a strategic move by China to ensure that Russia didn't make India, one of the new entrants in the SCO, a shield against it and that the grouping did not turn out to be a fight club between Russia and India on one hand and China and Pakistan on the other.

Internal squabble in international platforms is something which has pegged Donald Trump's US back and has given powers like China a great opportunity to surge ahead. Jinping is wise enough not to commit the same mistake and hurt China's global ambitions. Jinping has also shown his intention to bridge the gap with India, particularly after the Doklam tension in 2017, as was evident from his informal summit with PM Modi.

SCO included India, Pakistan at a perfect time

The timing of the SCO in expanding its base to include two important Asian powers could not have been more perfect. India though is closer to the US than Pakistan today but Trump has not entirely left New Delhi in a good humour, thanks to its shutting-door policies and threats to impose sanctions on the latter for getting a pact done with India for procuring military hardware.

This also gives a chance to New Delhi and Moscow to renew their time-tested relationship, resulting in a more powerful SCO.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 19:33 [IST]
Modi-Xi meeting: PM arrives in Qingdao for SCO Summit

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday arrived in Qingdao where he would be attend the SCO Summit and hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This will be India's first participation in the summit as a full-time member of the organisation.

The SCO currently comprises eight member states - India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. India, along with Pakistan, became the full-time member during Astana summit in June 2017. The members nations are expected to sign the Qingdao Declaration.

On Friday, the Prime Minister posted a message regarding the summit on his official Facebook account.

"The SCO has a rich agenda for cooperation, ranging from fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promoting cooperation in connectivity, commerce, customs, law, health and agriculture; protecting the environment and mitigating disaster risk, and fostering people-to-people relations," Prime Minister Modi said.

The declaration will hold details of the significant mechanism for resisting the global terror activities.

The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation that focuses on strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states and promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, and making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

"With 8 members, SCO represents approximately 42 per cent of the world's population, 22 per cent of the land area and 20 per cent of the GDP. SCO focuses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation and enables India to engage with Central Asian countries," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted this morning.

[Modi-Xi meeting would take forward issues discussed during Wuhan Summit: Indian envoy]

The meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi today would take forward the discussions held during the informal summit between the two leaders in Wuhan, China, in April, said Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale on Friday.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 13:54 [IST]
Will come back to haunt you: Jaishankar in veiled reference to Pakistan

Pak bans school books which show Kashmir in India

International

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

After some books in Pakistan showed Kashmir as part of India, a ban has been imposed. The books in private schools in the Punjab province have been banned after they showed Kashmir to be a part of India.

"The books on social studies for Grade II, IV, V, VII and VIII have controversial/objectionable contents, especially with reference to the map of Pakistan showing Kashmir part of India," said a notification by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB).

The PCTB, which is a government body, also lodged a complaint with Lahore police for registration of a criminal case against the administration of the private schools and publishers of the books for committing a 'grave mistake'.

To stop such mistakes in the future, the board says, "No person shall, except with the prior approval of the board, print, publish, sell or prescribe in an institution any textbook or supplementary material."

All the district executive officers of the province have been directed to confiscate all these books from the warehouse of the private schools.

PCTB Managing Director Abdul Qayyum issued a notification on Thursday banning the books on social studies in private schools across the Punjab province with immediate effect.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 10:20 [IST]
Pak SC conditionally allows Musharraf to contest July 25 polls; Nawaz Sharif stunned

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's three-time prime minister who could not complete a single full term, was surprised by the country's Supreme Court's directive to allow former president Pervez Musharraf to contest the July 25 general elections on the condition that he would appear before the court in Lahore in person on June 13 to attend the court's hearing, the Dawn reported.

On Thursday, June 7, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took up Musharraf's plea against his lifelong disqualification by the Peshawar High Court ahead of the election in 2013.

The high court gave the decision in view of a 2009 verdict under which the imposition of emergency in November 2007 was declared to be illegal. The former army chief's nomination papers for a Karachi seat in that election was scrapped by the election authorities following the court's verdict.

On Thursday, the chief justice of Pakistan said if Musharraf submitted his nomination, it would be received but added that its fate would be determined by the final outcome in the ongoing case.

Sharif, whose second term was cut short by Musharraf's coup in 1999, could not believe the court's decision and told the media on Friday that it was beyond comprehension that the former army chief was permitted to contest the elections, the Dawn report added.

"How could the chief justice extend such an offer to someone accused of high treason?" Sharif said, as per Dawn.

"Is there any law which can empower someone sitting in a high office to give assurance to a military dictator who is facing a high treason case, the Akbar Bugti murder case, the Benazir murder case, judges' detention case and was involved in Lal Masjid operation?" Sharif further asked, according to the report.

He also raked up the issue of his disqualification, saying the same judiciary barred him from holding an office in his own party - the Pakistan Muslim League(Nawaz), ousted him from the post of the prime minister and also stopped him from contesting elections forever.

He also said that the entire country was surprised to see how the judiciary could soften rules for somebody accused of high treason. He said while Musharraf's case was treated with a relaxation, his own plea for three days of exemption from appearing in the court to visit his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz was rejected, the Dawn report said.

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 6:59 [IST]
A secret trip to an ISIS medical camp in Syria changed the course for this Bengaluru doctor

Syria: Airstrikes on rebel-held Idlib village kills 44; Russia accused

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Situation in war-ravaged Syria has turned tense as airstrikes on a village in Idlib, Syria's rebel-held province, have left at least 44 dead on Thursday, June 7, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday, June 8, Reuters reported.

Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the UK-based war monitoring agency said the strikes were carried out by war planes that were likely Russian.

The village they targeted is Zardana in northern idlib and the casualties were the highest in a single attack on the region, the observatory said, according to Reuters. The deceased included 11 women and six children, the report added.

The death toll was expected to go up as some of the 50 injured in the strikes were in serious state, the observatory added. Rescue work was underway to find survivors from under the ruins, the report said.

Northwestern Idlib is the most populated part of Syria which is still under the control of insurgents fighting Bashar al-Assad's government which has the backing of Russia and Iran and has allegedly targeted its own people, even through the use of poisonous gas.

Russia, meanwhile, refused the charges, saying the allegations had little to do with reality.

"All the reports of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (the other version of the name of the Syrian Human | Rights Monitoring Center) and While Helmets that a Russian plane allegedly delivered an airstrike on June 7 in the area of the community of Zardan in the province of Idlib have nothing to do with reality," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement, Al-Masdar News reported.

It further said: "According to available information, there was fierce fighting in the past twenty-four hours in the said district of the province of Idlib between a large formation of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization [outlawed in Russia] and the Jaysh al-Ahrar irreconcilable opposition grouping with the use of heavy artillery guns."

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Story first published: Saturday, June 9, 2018, 6:54 [IST]
Xi accepts PM's invite for Wuhan-style summit in India next year

International

pti-PTI

Chinese President Xi Jinping has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation for a Wuhan-style informal summit in India next year, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Saturday.

The two leaders had their first informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27-28 to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Dokalam standoff.

Prime Minister Modi had detailed discussions with President Xi on bilateral and global issues which will add further vigour to the India-China friendship.

Addressing a press briefing here, Gokhale said that one of the important outcomes of today's meeting between the two leaders was that the Chinese side conveyed that they have accepted the Prime Minister Modi's invitation to President Xi to have a similar informal summit in India in 2019.

He said that the date for the informal meeting has not been decided. Modi arrived in the picturesque coastal city of China's Shandong province on a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

PTI
(ANSA) - Rome, June 8 - Instead of the charm of nineteenth-century Paris there is multiethnic diversity, cultural ferment and the degradation found in city outskirts in the La Boheme under Catalan director Alex Olle de La Fura dels Baus at the Opera di Roma from June 13.

The new staging, co-produced by the Turin's Teatro Regio, will be the end of the Teatro Costanzi season.

Some 11 performances of Puccini's well-known work will be held, until June 24, with the Hungarian orchestra director Henrik Nanasi in Rome for the first time.

It will leave behind romantic Paris to delve into a darker place that is out of time: an imaginary and turbulent metropolis, similar in some ways to all contemporary cities and made vibrant and alive by a group of young people with fragile, precarious but beautiful hopes who want a future and have a revolutionary dream of happiness. "What is most important for me in the Boheme is the strength of the young. After 120 years, this opera still speaks to the public, because we have all been young, with a hunger for life, a future, success and immediate happiness," said Olle, for whom this is his fifth production at the Opera di Roma. "Mimi's death is, in the end, a metaphor for the end of youth. It is something that makes you into an adult. I did not want to set the opera in Paris or the center of a city - I wanted it in the outskirts. City outskirts are the same around the world: poorer people live there, just as the main characters in the opera do. They do not have money. La Boheme fascinates me because they are not heroes. These are daily situations, it is an opera of small things, as Puccini said," he added.

"I think that the young public will like it," the director continued. "Everything, from the lights to the costumes to the set design, brings the representation closer to today." A great deal of enthusiasm was shown by Nanasi as well, who in the autumn will be back at Costanzi to conduct Il Flauto Magico.

"La Boheme," he said, "is like a drug. When you begin to play it, you can't stop afterwards. The orchestra knows it well, but every time is an exciting experience." He underscored that the Puccini opera has a "perfect balance in the orchestration, between slow movements and faster ones, between the poetic aspect and the dramatic one". Three different casts will be seen on stage, with actors of three different nationalities: in the role of Mimi there will be Anita Hartig, Vittoria Yeo and Louise Kwong; in that of Musetta, there will be Olga Kulchynska and Valentina Nafornita; while the young bohemians will be Giorgio Berrugi and Ivan Ayon-Rivas (Rodolfo), Massimo Cavalletti and Alessandro Luongo (Marcello), Simone del Savio and Enrico Marabelli (Schaunard), Antonio di Matteo and Gabriele Sagona (Colline). The set design is by Alfons Flores, costumes by Luc Castells and lights by Urs Schonebaum.


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Is there a celebrity brotherhood? Kim Kardashian, the reality TV star, turned celebrity, visits the White House and promptly there is clemency for a grandmother serving a life sentence for being part of a cocaine distribution ring. Yet she is right. Draconian sentences are seldom fair, and judges' hands are often tied with strict laws, often lobbied for by private prison corporations. Prohibition leads to violence, gangsterism and innocent victims. It was so with alcohol in the Al Capone days; it is true now with cocaine and heroin.



A society cannot afford to waste resources on victimless crimes. Teaching individual responsibility, health warnings as with smoking and alcohol, can be more effective particularly when added to laws regulating sales. When the war on drugs has been a dismal failure, and the billions in cash involved is a source of corruption and fatal drug wars, it seems time to consider rational alternatives.

The G7 meeting in Canada quickly degenerated into G6+1, the G6 versus Donald Trump. If the US has treated European nations as a benevolent parent in trade agreements, Mr. Trump is forcing the teens into adulthood, and they don't like it.

But there are problems. Forcing American agricultural products will do to European farmers what what it did in Mexico. Japanese farmers wield a powerful lobby and no Japanese prime minister dare agree.

Mr. Trump has also called for Russia to be readmitted and with good reason. Negotiation directly across a table is to be preferred to the under-the-table deals for gas the Europeans are busy making.

Industrial trade is a complicated issue when corporations have internationalized operations. Ford cars can come from Sonora, Mexico and GM engines from Siloa also in Mexico. Assembly operations can be in Canada. The Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico is the only one producing the New Beetle worldwide. Honda engines for the US market are made in the US, Japan and Thailand. Its Marysville, Ohio plant manufactures 680,000 Hondas a year. Mercedes-Benz produces SUVs and its C-class automobiles in Alabama.



It should be fairly obvious that erecting trade barriers is going to be quite a headache. But the Donald has surely got the Europeans thinking. Bravado like President Macron's tweet about the G6 being a powerful unit in itself to set up unilateral deals is just that -- when big-brother's economy is larger than the six put together, and Japan with its security concerns is an unlikely partner.

The coming meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore is surely on Mr. Trump's mind. The eerie quiet before the summit, the differing interpretations of denuclearization and the clear lack of preparation point to a getting-to-know-ya, a walk in the park and little else.



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From Paul Craig Roberts Website

Ron Unz is one of the best men of our time. He searches for truth and he supports others who do the same. In this article, he comes to the defense of David Irving, the best historian of the 20th century.

Zionists destroyed David Irving's livelihood with slander and libel, because he made public a letter from the former chancellor of Germany, Hitler's predecessor, to Winston Churchill, a letter that Irving found in the American publisher's file of Winston Churchill's history of the war, and which the publisher prevented Churchill from publishing in his history. The former chancellor of Germany, who escaped the Nazis and lived in England, wrote to Churchill that two of Hitler's financiers were Jews who managed two of the largest banks in Germany. One was a Zionist leader. The letter exists, and there is no reason to doubt its honesty. However, for making an important historical document public, Irving was labeled by a vicious propaganda campaign an "anti-semite" and "holocaust denier."

Irving simply thought that he was being an historian.

Another Irving honesty, the one that destroyed him, was that after 10 years of research he could not find one document that provided evidence for the claim that Hitler personally conducted the holocaust or that he even knew about it. Irving did find and report documents that he made available in which Hitler issues orders prohibiting extermination of Jews. Being truthful does not make Irving a Hitler apologist. Irving did not say that there was no holocaust, only that things happen in governments, just as they do in police forces about which those in charge are not informed. I know for a fact that things happened during the Reagan administration of which the president was unaware.

The history of World War II is incorrect. It is written in a way that serves the interest of those who prevailed. It glorifies the victors and demonizes the vanquished. As the old adage goes, the victors write the history. In other words, the history is self-serving, not accurate. Irving's histories are far more accurate than those written by court historians. Consequently, the court historians teamed up with Zionists to smear and demonize the best historian of our time.

The two Irving lectures that Ron Unz has located and included are worth your attention. Irving explains why history written by professors is essentially incorrect and why correct renditions are unacceptable to publishers and the ruling class.

Wars are great producers of lies because propaganda is necessary to motivate soldiers to fight and to ensure that populations accept the associated hardships. The use of history as propaganda prevents us from learning from history. Thus, we continue to make the same mistakes.
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From Common Dreams

"That should be a grave concern to anyone who cares about an informed citizenry."



.All leak investigations -- whether they directly target reporters or not -- are a grave threat to press freedom..

(Image by Gage Skidmore) Details DMCA



In an aggressive escalation of its already disturbing crackdown on leaks, Trump's Justice Department secretly obtained a year's worth of phone calls and email records of Ali Watkins, a New York Times reporter who previously covered national security issues for Buzzfeed.

As the New York Times reported on Thursday evening:

"Investigators sought Ms. Watkins's information as part of an inquiry into whether James A. Wolfe, the Senate Intelligence Committee's former director of security, disclosed classified secrets to reporters. F.B.I. agents approached Ms. Watkins about a previous three-year romantic relationship she had with Mr. Wolfe, saying they were investigating unauthorized leaks."

The phone and email records seized by the government, which Watkins was notified about after the fact and was therefore unable to challenge in court, included "those associated with her university email address from her undergraduate years," according to the Times.

The New York Times released a statement saying, "This decision by the Justice Department will endanger reporters ability to promise confidentiality to their sources and undermine the ability of a free press to shine a light on government actions. That should be a grave concern to anyone who cares about an informed citizenry." Buzzfeed editor in chief Ben Smith tweeted, "We are deeply troubled by what looks like a case of law enforcement interfering with a reporter's constitutional right to gather information about her own government."

At virtually the same time the New York Times story broke, the Justice Department announced it has indicted Wolfe for allegedly lying to investigators about his contact with reporters, but at least so far, has not charged him with leaking any alleged classified information.

The indictment of Wolfe released by DOJ -- which, as always, should be taken with a huge grain of salt -- mentions at least three other unidentified reporters. The indictment contains the content of conversations Wolfe allegedly had with multiple reporters on Signal, an encrypted messaging application. It's unclear at this time whether those unidentified reporters had their phone and email records directly surveilled as well.

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From The Nation

Anthony Bourdain took his Emmy Award-winning CNN series Parts Unknown to places where most media do not go. He was, ostensibly, telling tales about the preparation and eating of food. But Bourdain's deepest fascination was with diverse cultures and the human experience reflected in them. That involvement was professional, and personal, and political.

He said he was a storyteller, not a journalist. But the globetrotting chef was invariably a clearer commentator on geopolitics than the pundits who seem always to be conspiring against understandings of our shared humanity.

The chef and author, who has died at age 61, sought to expand those understandings. He did so by traveling to conflict zones and by inviting viewers to go with him to the markets, the kitchens, and the tables of families whose kindness and decency was rarely reflected in media coverage of countries that are at odds with themselves, with their neighbors and with the United States. He did this in Kurdistan, Congo, Libya, Myanmar, and, famously, Iran. But it was his visit to Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem in 2013 that brought his most powerful assessment of the challenges and the possibilities of the work he did.

"There's no hope, none, of ever talking about it without pissing somebody, if not everybody, off," he announced, as he introduced that Parts Unknown episode. "By the end of this hour I will be seen by many as a terrorist sympathizer, a Zionist tool, a self-hating Jew, an apologist for American imperialism, an orientalist, socialist, fascist, CIA agent, and worse."

The hour of cable television that Bourdain presented was so honest and so respectful in its portrayal of Palestinians that the Muslim Public Affairs Council honored the host with its Voices of Courage and Conscience in Media award in 2014.

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From Voices In Our Heads

I keep a pen and notepad on my nightstand so when I get an idea as I drift off to sleep, I can write it down before I forget it. I started doing this years ago because no matter how many times I'd say to myself, "I won't forget this" ... the next morning when I got to the computer the idea would be gone gone gone. I'm not saying they were all good ideas because I don't know how good or bad any idea is until I start typing it out. I can usually tell about a third of the way through whether or not I should keep going or throw it in the garbage. But if the idea has vanished in the night ... there's nothing to get the ball rolling.

At the top of the notepad I wrote this: Fucko the Clown is a lying sack of sh*t.

I didn't write that down to remind me of that miserable fact ... I wrote it down to remind myself that Fucko the Clown hasn't actually done anything. The headlines in the news shout about how Fucko did this or Fucko's done that, but the reality is Fucko the Clown has not done anything. He's a lazy lying sack of sh*t who watches TV eight hours a day, tweets bullsh*t about what he sees on TV and eats cheeseburgers before he goes to bed. On any given day he might squeeze in an hour and a half or two hours of actual work. And that ... um ... "work" entails meeting with his people who tell him generally what's going on in the world. I say "generally" because his people have learned to leave out the details. Details bore him.

Fucko did not work until the wee hours of the morning crafting the health care proposal that would gut health care for millions of people, or the massive tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy. Fucko didn't do any of that sh*t. He just signs his name to pieces of paper in front of the cameras. But Fucko actually does one thing very well. He sets the tone of his administration. He's given permission to those Americans who want to make xenophobia and racism great again. Mission Accomplished.

Every single drop of the misery we've seen since Inauguration Day is due to the rat bastard Republicans and the corrupt Democrats who go along with them. But they are just meat puppets jerking to the strings pulled by the Donor Class. For over 500 days the oligarchs have been calling the shots while they reshape the U.S. into their vision of the future. I could make a long, long list of horrors, but right now I just want to focus on one thing. But first I have to tell you about an old movie.

Paramount released Seven Days in May in 1964. Rod Serling wrote the screenplay and John Frankenheimer directed it. Frankenheimer directed The Manchurian Candidate a few years earlier and was well suited to make another political thriller.

The plot:

Kirk Douglas, playing a Marine Corps Colonel and Pentagon insider, discovers that Burt Lancaster's character, leader of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is fomenting a coup d'etat to remove the president and his entire cabinet. The coup will begin in seven days. Douglas alerts the president, played by Frederick March, and they work to thwart the coup. One of the subplots concerns an ally of the president, a Senator played by Edmond O'Brien, who is sent to uncover a secret army base in Texas that will be used during the coup attempt. But the Senator is arrested when he tries to enter the base.

And a bunch of other stuff happens which I won't go into because I don't do spoilers.

The reason I brought up this movie was because I remember how shocked I was watching the scene when the Senator was arrested for trying to enter a military base. These people were serious and did not give a rat's ass about roughing up a United States Senator. But that was just a scene in a movie ...

Fast forward 54 years to a couple of days ago ...

United States Senator Jeff Merkley was denied entry to an ICE child detention center, a converted Walmart in Brownsville, Texas. Instead of letting the Senator into the facility that houses 1,000 children, the cops were called and the Senator and his crew were turned away.

Merkley inspected another facility in McAllen, Texas, which he described as horrific. Children in cages. Three-year-olds lined up for food with 17-year-olds. Children separated from their parents.

Here's the deal:

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By *James Cogan



Julian Assange

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On Monday Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Mara Fernanda Espinosa was elected to a one-year term as president of the United Nations General Assembly. On Tuesday she declared that her government would continue blocking WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange from all communications and deny him any personal visitors. On Wednesday it became 10 weeks since Ecuador's government deprived Assange of his rights, which it is obliged to honor after granting him political asylum in its London embassy in 2012.

The General Assembly vote in support of Espinosa was a substantial: 128 votes for 62 votes for the other nominee, Honduras's UN ambassador, Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake. There were two abstentions. Washington was believed to favor Honduras because its right-wing government supported the provocative relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. After the vote, Espinosa again hinted that Ecuador is working to force Assange out of the embassy into the clutches of waiting police and the prospect of extradition to the United States on charges of espionage. She stated she was in discussion with both British authorities and Assange's lawyers. "I think all parties are interested in finding an outlet, a solution, to this complex situation," she declared.

Ecuadorian President Lenn Moreno last year slandered Assange as a "hacker" and described the granting of political asylum to him by the previous president as an "inherited problem."

Washington is demanding Assange's head. Then CIA director Mike Pompeo, now U.S. secretary of state, asserted last year that WikiLeaks was a "non-state hostile intelligence agency," due to its publication of documents exposing the operations of U.S. intelligence.

It appears Assange is being used as a bargaining chip in sordid negotiations between the U.S. and Ecuador. On June 4, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met Moreno. Amid the stepped-up persecution of Assange, Pence issued a statement lauding their discussion on "opportunities to reinvigorate the bilateral relationship" between the two countries. In words dripping with what sounded like imperialist deceit, Pence said the two countries would work together "to protect and promote freedom" and "build prosperity, security and democracy."

Such "freedom" apparently does not include freedom of speech or freedom of the press, at least as far as WikiLeaks is concerned. "Democracy" apparently does not include the right to expose war crimes and other misdeeds of the U.S. and other Western governments. The "freedom" espoused by Pence means submitting to the world's wealthiest interests.

Moreno's evidently friendly discussion with Pence, and Espinosa's victory in the UN, follow Moreno's own attacks on Assange last week.

On May 30, Moreno again hinted that Ecuador will renege on the political asylum that the previous government granted to the WikiLeaks editor in 2012. Moreno declared that Assange could remain in the London embassy only on the condition that he accept a permanent ban on "speaking out about politics or intervening in the politics of other countries."

Espinosa stated on Monday that such flagrantly anti-democratic terms were "not a matter of censorship." In reality, Assange has been delivered an unacceptable ultimatum. Unless he renounces the mission of WikiLeaks, which is to publish and comment on whistleblower leaks that expose government and corporate criminality and abuses around the world, he will be forced out of the embassy to be arrested and imprisoned by waiting British police on a bail-related charge.

Assange defied the terms of his bail in June 2012 and sought asylum from Ecuador because his life was in danger. The sole motive behind efforts to extradite him to Sweden, to purportedly answer "questions" in an investigation into allegations of sexual offenses, was to silence him while Washington sought his extradition to stand trial on espionage charges that potentially carry the death penalty.

UN Body Called for His Release

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Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall has been the center of a vast, decentralized conversation for years, letting us hear in interviewees' own words the power of connection in every realm. His new book brings it all together, showing us that the old order is broken and fast being replaced from the bottom up. The old power elite may not know it yet, but millions of us -- organizers, artists, thinkers and doers -- have gotten the message. So should you, by reading Bottom-Up."



Arlene Goldbard, author of The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & The Future
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The Great March of Return is a startling, powerful expression of Palestinian identity and resistance. Thousands of Palestinians have come out, bravely and unapologetically, to say: "We refuse to remain invisible. We reject any attempt to assign us to the discard pile of history. We will exercise our fundamental right to go home." They have done this unarmed, in the face of Israel's use of deadly armed force against targets (children, press, medics) deliberately chosen to demonstrate the Jewish state's unapologetic determination to force them back into submissive exile by any means necessary. By doing this repeatedly over the last few weeks, these incredibly brave men, women, and children have done more than decades of essays and books to strip the aura of virtue from Zionism that's befogged Western liberals' eyes for 70 years.

What the Israelis have done over the past few weeks--killing at least 112 and wounding over 13,000 people (332 with life-threatening injuries and 27 requiring amputation)--is a historical crime that stands alongside the Sharpeville Massacre (69 killed), Bloody Sunday (14 killed), and the Birmingham Fire Hoses and Police-Dog Repression as a defining moment in an ongoing struggle for justice and freedom. Like those events, this month's slaughter may become a turning point for what John Pilger correctly calls "the longest occupation and resistance in modern times"--the continuing, unfinished subjugation of the Palestinian people, which, like apartheid and Jim Crow, requires constant armed repression and at least occasional episodes of extermination.

The American government, political parties, and media, which support and make possible this crime, are disgraceful, criminal accomplices. American politicians, media, and people, who feel all aglow about professing their back-in-the-day support (actual, for some; retrospectively-imagined, for most) of the Civil-Rights movement in the American South and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa but continue to ignore the Palestinian struggle for justice against Zionism, because saying peep one about it might cost them some discomfort, are disgraceful, cowardly hypocrites.

You know, the millions of ant-racist #Resistors who are waiting for a quorum of Natalie Portmans and cool elite, preferably Jewish, personalities to make criticism of Israel acceptable before finding the courage to express the solidarity with the Palestinian people they've always had in their hearts. Back in the day, they'd be waiting for Elvis to denounce Jim Crow before deciding that it's the right time to side with MLK, Malcolm, and Fred Hampton against Bull Connor, George Wallace, and William F. Buckley.











Dis/Ingenuity

The bankruptcy of purportedly anti-racist and humanitarian liberal-Zionist ideology and ideological institutions reached an apogee with the eruption of various apologia for Israel in the wake of this crime, not-so-subtly embedded in mealy-mouthed "regret the tragic loss of life" bleats across the mediascape. All the usual rhetorical subjects were rounded up and thrown into ideological battle: "Israel has every right to defend its borders" (NYT Editorial Board); the "misogynists and homophobes of Hamas" orchestrated the whole thing (Bret Stephens); the protestors are either Hamas "terrorists" or Hamas-manipulated robots, to be considered "nominal civilians" (WaPo). And, of course, the recurring piece de re'sistance: Human Shields!

Somewhere in his or her discourse, virtually every American pundit is dutifully echoing the Israeli talking point laid down by Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli attack on Gaza in 2014: that Hamas uses the "telegenically dead" to further "their cause." The whole March of Return action is "reckless endangerment, bottomlessly cynical" (Stephens). Women and children were "dispatched" to "lead the charges" although they had been "amply forewarned"of the mortal risk." It's a "politics of human sacrifice" (Jonathan S. Tobin and Tom Friedman), staged by Hamas, "the terrorist group that controls [Gazans'] lives," to "get people killed on camera." (Matt Friedman, NYT Op-Ed). The White House, via spokesman, Raj Shah, adopts this line as its official response: "The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas," which "intentionally and cynically provoke[ed] this response" in "a gruesome" propaganda attempt."

Shmuel Rosner takes this "human shields" trope to its ultimate "no apologies" conclusion in his notorious op-ed in the NYT, "Israel Needs to Protect Its Borders. By Whatever Means Necessary." Feeling "no need to engage in inge'nue mourning," Rosner forthrightly asserts that "Guarding the border [or whatever it is] was more important than avoiding killing." They want human sacrifice, we'll give 'em human sacrifice!

He acknowledges that Gazans "marched because they are desperate and frustrated. Because living in Gaza is not much better than living in hell," and that "the people of Gaza " deserve sympathy and pity." But the Palestinians were seeking "to violate [Israel's] territorial integrity," so "Israel had no choice" but to "draw a line that cannot be crossed," and kill people trying to leave that hell. It was "the only way to ultimately persuade the Palestinians to abandon the futile battle for things they cannot get ("return," control of Jerusalem, the elimination of Israel)." The alternative is "more demonstrations -- and therefore more bloodshed, mostly Palestinian."

Though he acknowledges that "the interests of Palestinians are [not] at the top of the list of my priorities," Shmuel nonetheless feels comfortable speaking on their behalf. He sincerely "believe[s] Israel's current policy toward Gaza ultimately benefits not only Israel but also the Palestinians." Following the wisdom of "the Jewish sages" (featuring Nick Lowe?) he opines: "Those who are kind to the cruel end up being cruel to the kind."

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The CM seat which oould be vacant soon

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The "fake news" in our mainstream English dailies is a slow poison. This venom seizes our brains; paralyses our actions, manifests itself into a kind of plague. This wind is then seized by off-shore forces which then returns with terrifying ferocity and sinks truth into a bottomless pit.

The expansion of H.D. Kumaraswamy's unholy government in Karnataka on Wednesday was one such news. Karnataka is important to Indians in many respects: it's a template for opposition unity; alligators and hippos sunning together. The 6.41-crore people of the state have suffered a thousand cuts; being treated no better than cattle. First, made to lock horns; then kiss each other's back and finally, left to numbness inside a deep freezer. A 37-seat party chief was hoisted as Chief Minister in a 224-seat state. All in the name of "saving democracy."

When the gates of Supreme Court were opened after midnight, it wasn't for democracy. When Rahul Gandhi went abroad--quicker than a prostitute leaves the bed after the deed is done--it wasn't for democracy. If Kumaraswamy and Congis parked themselves in the Capital, logging air miles, it wasn't for democracy. If no portfolio has still been allocated after nearly a fortnight, it isn't for democracy. If some ministerial berths have been left vacant, to accommodate dissenters, it isn't for democracy.

Now look at how our mainstream English dailies have gone about their task on Thursday. Nearly everyone has headlined: "expands cabinet". What cabinet? What expansion? Who all were there in the first place to merit the tag "expansion"? And all without portfolios?

Indian Express, which specializes in making dead bodies appear kissable, unsurprisingly took the cake in its "fake news." It spelt out all the data: how many ministers, how many Vookaligas, who Lingayat, who Muslim, who woman, who Dalit in the "expanded" cabinet. What it skillfully hid from its readers' view is that the event marked an open revolt among senior Congress-JDS leaders. No mention, not even a vague line as its comrade-in-arms The Hindu casually slipped in: "(it) triggered protests by the supporters of the ministerial aspirants."

So Indian Express didn't know about the protests. It didn't know that HK Patil, who won the Gadag assembly seat, a minister in the outgoing Siddaramaiah government, hailed as "Tiger of Hulkoti" has openly rebelled? It didn't know MB Patil, former water resources minister, said after the swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday: "I will call on the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara to know why I was not included in the Cabinet... my self-respect is hurt."

Three-time MLA from Hirekerur , BC Patil, said: "MLAs who indulged in blackmail politics and those with money power have been given Cabinet berth." Patil, an actor, producer and director, has said he would consult his constituency before taking next course of action.

TB Nagaraj, MLA from Hoskote, BK Sangameshwar, from Bhadravati, too criticized party leaders, threatening to quit party, if he didn't get a "suitable post."

B. Satyanarana, MLA for Sira, said: "My name was on the list till last night... I am very much pained."

Senior leader AH Vishwanath, for Hunsur, remarked: "I won't accept the post of the Deputy Speaker (even if it comes my way)."

These are just a few MLAs. Trust me, I am leaving out almost as many who are protesting and dissenting as I have mentioned.

(As an aside, do any of your readers remember what happened to BJP's call for a day's strike on May 28 in Karnataka? Well, it couldn't go ahead as Kamal Pant, ADGP, Karnataka, had put his foot down: "Calling for a bandh is illegal." You are unlikely to have read it in your morning's newspaper.)

So tomorrow, when these dissenting MLAs quit, and the Congress-JDS alliance is in minority on the floor of the House, these very presstitutes would go to the town, claiming "murder of democracy." Rahul would decry Modi-Shah duo for their fascist tendencies. The New York Times would comment that Indian democracy is subverted. Archbishops of this country would worry about the sanctity of Constitution. The "Mombatti-gangs" would hold protests around the country. A few former Election Commissioners, Chief Justices would write sanguine pieces in edit pages of "journalism of corrupt." Randeep Surjewala, in his irritating high-pitched tone, would chew out such words: The nation can't take it any more.

But then, be beware of the strike of the silent. You all are out there in open in your full glory. The sight is not pretty for the citizens of this country. Your echo-chamber would be of little use. Down you must go. All.

(You must know another update on "Mahagathbandan": Mayawati and Akhilesh skipped the Iftaar Party which Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had thrown on Wednesday. Even as celebrations of Kairana win are still on.)
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Medicare for All Rally

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Perhaps I'm missing something, but it appears to me that millennial activism, about which I am very excited, may still fail to quite grasp something crucial. That electing people to office is only a first step. Electees must be constantly supported and held accountable. One's politician is ideally one's representative, not one's leader. S/he must be supported in a multitude of ways when diligent and effective, and re-called when not. I was recently at an Indivisible meeting where about 75 members interviewed six political candidates. Following a brief introductory statement to the entire assembly, each met with us broken into smaller groups for more intimate question-and-answer. As a newcomer, I was a bit surprised that no one in my group asked any candidate if they were thoroughly familiar with Indivisible's agenda, how it resembled and differed from other movement agendas, or if s/he had issues with any aspects of it. I asked a related question, however, which each said was a first for them: "Once in office, what further action do you want from we your hopeful electors?" Four candidates affirmed emphatically that their offices would always be open to us and that we would invariably be heard. Two, after a little thought, answered in a fashion I found compelling: "I want you to agitate, constantly," "I want you to hold town meetings and forums, to tell me what you want from me and hold me accountable."

I don't know how many of the group I was in shared my sense that these particular responses were important. Which makes me wonder how the core strategists of Indivisible or The Young Turks or Brand New Congress or Our Revolution or The Women's March or Black Lives Matter -- and other national initiatives view in-the-trenches political process in this country. So far I am only being asked to man a phone bank or walk a neighborhood or march now and then, and always to donate money. In response, I ask if I might volunteer for a team focused on morphing intense periodic activism into continuous activism, aiming to build solid, stable, long-lasting organization committed to the changes good candidates might help to bring about once we get them elected. No replies so far.

I'm thinking of the kinds of changes National Gray Panther activist Clint Smith, strives for daily in my own community of Austin, Texas. Appointed by Richard Nixon to insure that civil-service hirings and firings by his own cabinet members were based entirely on merit, Smith was demeaned and marginalized when he took his mission to heart. Nowadays, working closely with the ACLU, Smith diligently attempts to hold local government accountable for enforcing its own laws and resolutions protecting vulnerable demographics from gentrification and other abuses. Unfortunately, the people Smith represents very realistically fear retribution should they activate too vigorously and fail. They need the support of people like those at the Indivisible meeting I attended.

What if Indivisible and its sister movements should expand their activism to include dynamic community engagement in support of the grass-root goals of activists like Smith and his counterparts all over the country. This might include picketing a city hall, or demonstrating at a school-board meeting, and more. It seems to me that such an expanded focus would not water down the thrust of Indivisible as a national social force, but significantly enhance it.
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Quantitative Analysis on Multi-tenant Data Center Market with CAGR of +12%, Emerging Trends, Future Prospects, Market Segments by Types, Verticals and Most Dominant Players in the market

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Multi-tenant data centers are data centers that are operated by third parties for multiple enterprise tenants. They are also called as colocation data centers. There are generally two types of multi-tenant data centers: Retail colocation, and Wholesale data centers. Retail colocation facilities are shared facilities where enterprises can rent space and host their IT equipment within the racks provided by the colocation vendors. A wholesale data center is a facility that is offered by the colocation vendor for exclusive and dedicated use.The Multi-tenant Data Center market is anticipated to develop at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of +12%.The report comprises of the growth in the market since last few years and the estimated growth trajectory for the coming future. The report also examines the factors accountable for the modification in the market and the rise in the requirement. 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Global Farm Equipment Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2023

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The increasing population has been propelling the demand for food items, which is consequently driving the growth of the global farm equipment market. The up gradation in the technology, increasing government subsidies on agricultural machineries, growth of precision farming and easily available credit schemes from financial institutions are encouraging the growth of the global market.**Request for sample copy of this research report @Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest share in the global market in 2014, owing to its large population that translates into demand for crops. Among the various types, the tractors segment dominated the global farm equipment market in 2014.The government in different countries has been extending several subsidy programs to encourage farmers in their agricultural ventures. In 2004, China implemented subsidy policy for agricultural machineries, which increased over the years and now includes 12 agricultural categories. Around 175 types of agricultural machineries were subsidized by the Chinese government in 2015. During 2004  2012, the Chinese government dedicated $12 as subsidy for agricultural machineries. In order to promote food security in the country, the Chinese government has announced a subsidy scheme in 2015 for farm equipment, under which about 30% of the sales price of such equipment will be subsidized. The staple crop growers in the country, including sugar and cotton farmers will be prioritized.**Explore Research Report Description @Certain product related legal restrictions associated with the modern farm equipment are creating a low degree of dissatisfaction among the consumers. Such restrictions include legal authorization of manufacturers for putting password or an encryption on the devices associated with the equipment, and the legal unlawfulness on the password breach by the consumers.The major farm equipment markets in Europe include Germany, France, Italy, the U.K., Russia, Turkey, and Poland. Whereas the key markets in Asia-Pacific include China, India, Japan, and Australia. The major companies in the global market include Alamo Group Inc., AGCO Corporation, Deere & Company, Daedong industrial Company Limited, Escorts Group, and Netafim.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.CONTACT:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market by Technology, Business Opportunities and Regional Outlook till 2022

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Global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market Professional Survey Report 2018-2022 Purchase This Report by calling ITintelligencemarkets.com at +91 705-760-0700.In computing, virtualization refers to the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including virtual computer hardware platforms, storage devices, and computer network resources. Cloud management is the management of cloud computing products and services. Public clouds are managed by public cloud service providers, which include the public cloud environment's servers, storage, networking and data center operations.The report systematically analyzes the most significant details of the Global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market with the help of a thorough and specialized analysis. Characterized in a ground-up manner, the report presents an extensive synopsis of the market in view of the factors that are foreseen to have a considerable and measurable impact on the markets developmental states over the conjecture time frame.Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market Estimated to Grow at a CAGR of +14% during the Forecast PeriodThe study presents a critical assessment of the scope of key applications and the innovations in products brought about by Key Players. It further takes a closer look at prevailing regulatory landscape in major regions and identifies promising avenues. The analysis of the market presented in the report takes a significant look at the prevailing competitive landscape and product offerings of prominent players in key regions including The Americas, Europe & Asia-Pacific.Download PDF Sample Copy:Company Profiled: The Top Key Players operating in the Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market includes Amazon Web Services, Citrix Systems, Microsoft, Red Hat, VMware, Google, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, Parallels, Proxmox, SAP.A detailed analysis of the key vendors, recent developments in technologies, distribution of solution providers and consumers, and other technical data pertaining to the most popular solutions in Virtualization and Cloud Management Software market are also included in the report. The report provides an analysis of the key end-use industries utilizing various principles and solutions across a number of application segments.To Get Reasonable Discount:The report offers a multi-step view of the Global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market. The first approach focuses on an impression of the market. This passage includes several arrangements, definitions, the chain assembly of the industry in one piece, and the various uses for the global market. This section also incorporates a wide-ranging study of the different development plans and government policies that impact the market, its cost assemblies, and manufacturing processes.The research report has been collaborated using primary and secondary research methodologies to provide its readers an accurate and exact account of the global market. The report provides a granular view of the global market along with estimating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats influencing the segments of the global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software market.For More Information:Table of ContentsGlobal Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market Research Report 2018Chapter 1 Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software 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 Virtualization and Cloud Management Software 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 Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market ForecastAbout ITintelligenceMarkets:We at IT Intelligence Markets conduct intensive market research and generate detailed reports about the products and services offered in the IT domain. Our team is devoted to providing custom reports that are taylor-made to suit the customers requirements. We make sure to keep our customers updated with the latest market dynamics as IT industry is undergoing sea change intrinsically & extrinsically by forces such as regulatory fluctuations, rapidly evolving consumer preferences, and newer technologies. Not only do our market research analysts scrutinize market requirements but also track competitors relentlessly for obtaining the most updated scenario of the market.Contact:Vijay Tanna(IT Intelligence Markets)Nigidi, Pune 411044+91 705-760-0700sales@itintelligencemarkets.com
IT Spending on Security Technology Market to Grow at a CAGR of +10% by 2022 Along with Major Regions Analysis and Revenue global Analysis Forecasts to 2023

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The testament on the Global IT Spending on Security Technology Market is an in-depth section of work and is amassed by organizing both major as well as minor research. The data integrated in the report has been taken by mentioning superior-quality whitepapers, report descriptions, press releases, and by taking responses from top industry contestants. The top sectors in the market have been emphasized. These fragments have been reachable by giving information on their present and foreseen position by the end of the forecast horizon. These facts help the forthcoming players to gauge the speculation scope within the sections and sub-sections of the Global IT Spending on Security Technology Market.For more Information:In the Global IT Spending on Security Technology Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023. 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The research analysts provide an elaborate description of the value chain and its distributor analysis.For Sample Report:Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales (consumption), revenue, market share and growth rate of IT Spending On Security Technology in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeUSAChinaEuropeJapanIndiaSoutheast AsiaSplit by product Types, with sales, revenue, price and gross margin, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided into Type 1, Type2, Type 3.Split by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of IT Spending On Security Technology in each application, can be divided into Application 1Application 2, Application 3Reasons for Buying this Report:This report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamics It provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growth It provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow It helps in understanding the key product segments and their future It provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitors It helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsAsk For Discount:The topographical subdivision of the Global IT Spending On Security Technology Market entails the prime regions in the market during the forecast period. Information on the province leading this market and the reasons for the sovereignty of this region are also some of the aspects featured under this section of the report. The competitive landscape section of the report presents the key vendors operating in the Global IT Spending On Security Technology Software Market. These competitors are analyzed based on characteristics such as their product synopsis, product frameworks, SWOT analysis, and contact information.Top Key Venders of Market:Dell, IBM, Infosys, SAPGet this report @Table of Content:Global IT Spending On Security Technology Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1: Global IT Spending On Security Technology OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic ImpactChapter 3: Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4: Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5: Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 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 Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13: AppendixAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports, a leading market research report published accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers includes prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SMEs and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into the analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.The Global IT Spending on Security Technology Report includes a comprehensive analysis of the present market. The report starts with the basic Global IT Spending On Security Technology overview and then goes into each and every detail.QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.com
IR Camera Market growth report and Key Trends forecast to 2025

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IR Camera Market is expected to be worth USD XX.XX Billion by 2023 from USD XX.XX Billion in 2017, at a CAGR of X.XX% between 2018 and 2025.In this IR Camera Market research report, the major factors driving the growth of this market were documented and the business partners & end operators were long-winded. The configuration of the business division, examples and complications manipulating the market internationally are similarly a piece of this broad analysis. Numerous gatherings and meetings were led by the noticeable pioneers of this industry to get steadfast and refreshed insights concerned to the market.This IR Camera 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 managedGet Sample Copy of this Report @Top Key Vendors in Market:Ircameras, Jai, Xenics, ICI, Infratec, Telops, Sat Infrared, Nippon Avionics, Fluke, Guide Infrared, Sofradir Ec, Flir, OptrisMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales (consumption), revenue, and market share and growth rate of IR Camera in these regions, from 2018 to 2025 (forecast), like- United States- China- Europe- Japan- Southeast Asia- IndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into- Short Wave- Mid Wave- Long WaveOthersBy Application, the market can be split into- Industrial Automation- Monitoring and Security- Research and DevelopmentOthersFor more Information:Table of Content:Global IR Camera Market Research Report 2018-2025Chapter 1: Industry OverviewChapter 2: IR Camera International and China Market AnalysisChapter 3: Environment Analysis of IR CameraChapter 4: Analysis of Revenue by ClassificationsChapter 5: Analysis of Revenue by Regions and ApplicationsChapter 6: Analysis of IR Camera Revenue Market Status.Chapter 7: Analysis of IR Camera Industry Key ManufacturersChapter 8: Sales Price and Gross Margin AnalysisChapter 9: Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of IR CameraChapter 10: Development Trend of IR Camera Industry 2016-2021Chapter 11: Industry Chain Suppliers of IR Camera with Contact InformationChapter 12: New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of IR CameraChapter 13: Conclusion of the Global IR Camera Industry 2015 MarketResearch ReportAsk for discount@We at, QYReports, a leading market research report published accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers includes prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SMEs and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into the analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.QYReportsThe Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, India411016+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.com
Global Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) Sales Market Overview and Guide, Company Positioning Grid, Company Market Share Analysis and Forecast 2017-2021

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This market report is a thorough analysis of the existing situation and the anticipated condition for Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market. Investigation for gathering the content for this report is done in depth and meticulously. Present scenarios, past progress, global recognition and future prospects of Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market is offered in this report. Main strategies, market shares, products of the companies and investments in Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market is also mentioned in detail.The major geographical regions which include, North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East & Africa and Latin America are studied. Top manufacturers from all these regions are studied to help give a better picture of the market investment. Production, price, capacity, revenue and many such important data is been discussed with precise data.For Sample copy of this report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.The study is a source of reliable data on:Key market segments and sub-segmentsEvolving market trends and dynamicsChanging supply and demand scenariosQuantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecastingTracking current trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive insightsOpportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughsThis research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report include: United States, China, Europe & Japan.The Major players reported in the market include:AirIQ, Inc. (Canada),Agero Inc (USA),Ctrack (UK),ETAS Group (Germany),OnStar Corporation (USA),Trimble Transport & Logistics (Belgium),QUALCOMM, Inc. (USA),OmniTRACS,WebTech Wireless, Inc. (USA).Avail Discount on This report:Depending on the end users/ applications, this report sheds light on the status and outlook for key applications/end users, sales, market share, growth rate of Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market for each and every application.The report further discusses key players in the Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market and the strategies leveraged by them. It also explains the various factors driving or restraining the Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market. It makes use of Porters Five Forces analysis and SWOT analysis to understand the potential of the Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market and offers interesting insights to new and existing players to enable them to strategize properly.Various aspects are been elucidated including primary application areas, latest trends, leading players operating in the global Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market, factors which are expected to accelerate the growth, primary challenges faced by the leading players and many more. The research study further offers a detailed overview of the competitive landscape of the global Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market and throws light on the key players operating in it.For more information about this report:Most important data include the key recommendations and predictions by our analysts, intended to steer a strategic business decision. The company profiles section of this research service is a compilation of the growth strategies, financial status, product portfolio, and recent developments of key market participants. The report provides detailed industry analysis of the global Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) market with the help of proven research methodologies such as Porters five forces. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of the buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and the degree of competition.Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently, we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin  77064,+1-8886316977
Global Optical Fibers Cables Consumption Market Estimated to Expand at a Robust Growth Over 2018  2022

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The global market has been elaborately explained in a research report and put on sale by Research N Reports in its repository. The report titles, Global Optical Fibers Cables Consumption Market Report. The publication has estimated the sales forecast values for the global market for the period 20182022. The forecast of the sales growth of the market has also been calculated on the basis of type, application, and region. A section on the evaluation of market effect factors has shed light upon some of the most crucial aspects such as environmental change due to economic or political reasons, change in consumer preference, and technological evolution in associated sectors.Get Sample copy of this report now at:The Global Optical Fibers Cables Consumption 2018 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Optical Fibers Cables market. First, the report provides a basic overview of the Optical Fibers Cables industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Secondly, the report states the global Optical Fibers Cables market size (volume and value), and the segment markets by regions, types, applications and companies are also discussed.Third, the Optical Fibers Cables market analysis is provided for major regions including USA, Europe, China and Japan, and other regions can be added. For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.The global Optical Fibers Cables Consumption market is anticipated to register a significant CAGR over a forecast period. The increasing prevalence of the diseases globally is expected to boost the demand and drive the global market. The increasing research and development activities for the new drugs and new combinations of drugs, is also anticipated to drive the market. The strong initiatives taken by the various state governments and regulatory bodies such as U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce the prevalence of diseases throughout the world, is likewise expected to fuel the demand and has become the one of the factor that drives the global market over a forecast period.Now get discount at:However, the possible side effects of the may hamper the demand and restrain the growth of the global Optical Fibers Cables Consumption market. The availability of pure quality of drugs in the Southeast Asia and Saharan African countries leads to the inadequate treatment, which may pose a threat to the demand of and restrain the growth of the global market during the study period.Geographically, the global market is segmented into: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. Currently, North America is contributing foremost share to the global Optical Fibers Cables Consumption market in terms of value and is anticipated to register a significant CAGR over the research period. Moreover, Europe is also subsidizing moderate market shares due to the advanced medical facilities and availability of the drugs in the market. Asia-Pacific is the most lucrative market due to the highest prevalence of diseases in the region and expected to show a robust growth in the global market. Middle East & Africa is at a nascent stage and is projected to register a decent growth throughout the forecast period. Overall, the global market is expected to show substantial growth over the estimated period.The report also includes a thorough overview of the competitive landscape and regulatory framework of the global Optical Fibers Cables Consumption market. This will offer readers a perfect understanding of the state of competition, threats, major opportunities, and the major rules, regulations, plans, and policies impacting the market.About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently, we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact:Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin  77064,+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com,
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Ishaq Akintola, the director of The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has said the organisation would still take legal action against Folarin Falz Falana, if he fails to withdraw his This is Nigeria video on the expiration of the seven days ultimatum.

Speaking exclusively to PREMIUM TIMES on June 8, Mr. Akintola, a professor, gave reasons for its demands.

PT: Falzs management team has said that it wont pull down the video but would rather meet MURIC in court. What does your organisation have to say to this?

Akintola: We dont need to react to that again because weve made our stance known. We told the world what well do, well go to court. Unfortunately, some Nigerians will not face the fact; theyll not respect the rule of law.

There are people who will because they are provoked by a production, go to the street, fighting, breaking bottles, breaking windscreen. We are civilised people, we are peace-lovers, law-abiding Nigerians, people who have respect for the rule of law, we have decided to go to court and a lot of Nigerians think that it is just too much.

PT: Your ultimatum expires on June 12, do you see Falz apologising or pulling down the video before then?

Akintola: I dont know. We dont have a problem, we have told Falz what well do, if we like, we can go to court at the end of the ultimatum, if we like, we can defer it for three or even seven years.

The video is eternal, were not in a hurry and there are other steps that can be taken. There is a government in this country, there is a system, if the system worked such video should not be in circulation.

There are other options we can explore. Falz is a young man, he is like my own son and I dont have to push him.

PT: Are you aware that another group, Muslim Against Terror has defended Falz? They say MURIC does not have an understanding of veil usage.

Akintola: Let me also tell you that we have heard about a fake, faceless group Muslims Against Error. Im asking people in the media if they have ever heard of them before. So, it is fake, it is make-belief.

When a group just evolves suddenly, it is because some people feel anybody that is an enemy of the Muslim is our friend. That is the attitude of some people in this country.

Those who are behind Falz are the fake Muslim groups. We know the gimmicks and we are not bothered. You can see, they even issued a statement that has no signature; the name of the leader is not mentioned.

Why should the media publish rubbish? It is so irresponsible. We are challenging that group that we want names of those behind it. Muric has a name and there is no Islamic association as such. Let them come out, let us meet at a press conference where journalists will be present and see our challenge.

PT: But Falz has explained that depicting the girls in hijab was not to offend the sensibility of Muslims but it was just a representation.

Akintola: If he doesnt want to hurt the Muslims and it is just a representation, let him say sorry that he is being misunderstood and that he is sorry if anyone is offended. That statement is enough for us. Why is it difficult to be humble?

How has Falzs song promoted unity? It has promoted ethnicity, tribalism. It has divided Fulanis against the rest of Nigeria. If Falz portrays the Fulanis as killers what about those behind the killings in Benue State? All those who are in court over the killing of the two Bishops and members of the congregation in Benue State, there is no single fulani among them. They say the Benue state government sponsored them and their names have been published. They were in court and have been remanded in prison.

The video is one-sided, biased and is prejudicial. To clear his conscience, the best Falz could do is to apologise, if he doesnt, he has a moral burden.

PT: On a final note, what are MURICs demands?

Akintola: Falz must take down the video and apologise to Muslims, whose sensibility he has hurt. He needs to really speak with real Muslims, not those who are deceiving him.
The declaration on June 6 by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) be conferred on the late business mogul, Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola, has caused ripples in the polity in the last few days. The pronouncement, quite expectedly, has divided analysts since it surfaced in the media largely because of its significance in the context of 2019 electioneering and power play.

Its quite interesting to note that the GCFR was exclusive to presidents and former presidents until former president Shehu Shagari conferred it on the late Obafemi Awolowo.

That, understandably, underscores the importance attached to the move and its symbolic essence in the polity.

Frankly, the pronouncement is in part a political gambit; no ifs, no butsand anyone who thinks otherwise is just being clever by half. What makes it significant, however, is the euphoria and ripples it elicited among Nigerians, in the media, among civil society campaigners, and most importantly among pro-June 12 campaigners.

It has elicited largely positive responses among many Nigerians, especially the people directly affected, notably the Abiola and Fawehinmi families. The reception, quite inevitably, makes it susceptible to politics and political interpretations.

Beyond this, the president and his strategists seemed to have gotten this right this time around, giving the pronouncement the impact of a masterstroke. Its impact is more pronounced when juxtaposed against a similar but poorly thought-out decision by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to rename the University of Lagos (UNILAG), leading to what was Nigerias equivalent of the Mau-mau revolution from alumni associations and students of the institution. To be frank, both decisions were hinged partly or wholly  on politics; but the difference is that while this appears to be a masterstroke; the Jonathan move failed perhaps because it was not well thought out.

Talking about political capital, it is sheer illusion to expect that such a pronouncement would be made by any government  even if with the purest, most altruistic of intentions  without milking political fortunes out of it. So it is a bland argument to make issue out of the governments decision to gain from the pronouncement politically. And, interestingly, given the emotional attachment people have with June 12 mandate, it is plausible that the pronouncement would have ripple effect on SOME voters electoral decisions, especially in the south west.

In his pronouncement , the president also said June 12 will henceforth be preserved as Nigerias Democracy Day to further honour Mr Abiola and the late legal icon and Senior Advocate of the Masses, SAM, Gani Fawehinmi, would also be honoured with the GCON. Of course, Gani deserves more than that, given his footprint in the struggle for democracy.

The only taint in the pronouncement is the directive that Mr Abiolas running mate, Babagana Kingibe, be conferred with the second highest honour of Grand Commander of the Niger (GCON). Apparently, Mr Kingibes recognition is to give a somewhat pan-Nigerian outlook to the entire pronouncement. Of course, his Judas-Iscariotesque treachery is well documented in the book of history and he will forever be seen as the one who sold the June 12 mandate for a pot of porridge.

In all, the recognition is quite commendable irrespective of its curious timing and it is capable of healing the wounds of the post-June 12 troubles as seen in the reaction of the Abiola family. More importantly, it shows that the struggles of all pro-democracy activists were not in vain, especially those killed in the dark days of the struggle.

In the last few days, especially on social media, there have been attempts to create a Yoruba affair out of the June 12 and it is really unsettling. In fact, details of the government itinerary on the modality of the conferment of the honour and those invited seemed to reinforce this sentiment. But its important to affirm that the mandate itself was a pan-Nigerian mandate which saw people jettison hate and divisions to embrace a Muslim-muslim ticket based on the expectations that they would get good governance in return. More importantly, the post-June 12 struggle had notable non-Yorubas at the forefront, fighting endless to ensure the mandate was recognized and it will be mischievous to ethnicise the struggle. Its a recognition I support wholeheartedly.

But a caveat: there is the seemingly inconsequential but important issue of motive and the need to put issues in proper historical contexts. Mr Buhari, to the best of my knowledge, never identified with the June 12 and was even reported to have allegedly made derisive remarks about the mandate. This is important and must be properly contextualized because of history and posterity. There have been ahistorical narratives, especially online, creating fictitious bond between the president and the June 12 mandate.

First, it is on record that the major undertaker of the June 12, under whom Mr Buhari served as PTF chair, is the presidents beloved boss who never stole and actually did no wrong: Sani Abacha. The president in fact served Abacha at a time Mr Abiola languished in jail; Mr Fawehinmi was being hounded by Abacha and his goons; Alfred Rewane and many other pro-democracy activists including Kudirat, Abiolas wife, were assassinated; scores of journalists were incarcerated and hounded. So its plausible that any sane individual would find it difficult to reconcile these two extremes.

Nevertheless, congratulations to the Abiola family and all those who stood for good governance and fought relentlessly for this democracy. And for the government, its important to realise that, beyond symbolic recognition, the greatest honour they could give to the man is to deliver good governance.

For the alleluia crowd who handed the government another four year mandate on the basis of this otherwise commendable move, perhaps SATIRE SATURDAY must restate loudly that the GCFR title will not construct the Lagos-Sango end of the rickety Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.

Barrister Dino Melaye!

Dino Melaye, at the height of his certificate crisis, didnt make one disclosure: that he had another certificate in law. Given his penchant for flaunting things  cars, designer wears, wristwatches, degrees, and even baby mamas  maybe the distinguished senator didnt make the disclosure because he had no evidence of being called to the bar.

Dino Melaye

The senator however displayed his learned mind earlier in the week when he cautioned President Muhammdu Buhari against breaching the constitution in his latest move of conferring the honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Moshood Abiola.

Citing Chapter 43(2) of the National Honours Act on Thursday, Mr Melaye argued that the act does not allow for conferment of the honours on non-Nigerians. He claimed that Mr Abiola is dead and that automatically makes him not to be a Nigerian.

One sometimes agrees that his controversial legislative life notwithstanding, Mr Melaye does depression-challenged Nigerians some good with his horrific sense of humour, especially his theatrics in his numerous video clips. But one sometimes feels that some issues are so serious that they make the lousiest, most undiscerning person act with decorum. Yes, the legal issues are importanrt but shouldnt be subjected to ridiculous interpretation.

Many have pushed forward quite a number of reasons for Mr Melayes line of argument but we seem to be missing the point. The missing link, for me, is in peoples failure to recognize that the man recently fell off something. And as a way of showing empathy for people who have gone through what the distinguished senator went through, it wont be out of place if the hallowed chamber could make a law that would compel lawmakers with similar experience to go through post-falling-off therapy. That would stabilise persecuted senators like Mr Melaye psychologicallyand ultimately improve the quality of debate on the floor of the senate.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) experts said they have recorded 62 Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during this latest outbreak, with 38 confirmations and 27 deaths.

The Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response of WHO, Peter Salama, reported in Geneva that was very strong progress in response to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC, one month after the start of the disease.

He said that the first phase  protecting urban centres and towns  has gone well, and we can be cautiously optimistic.

There have been 62 Ebola cases in the DRC during this latest outbreak, with 38 confirmations and 27 deaths.

The latest case, confirmed on Thursday, was in the remote Iboko health zone in the northwest, an indication that the outbreak is ongoing, he said.

Mr Salama, who just returned from a two-day visit to the DRC said: Theres been very strong progress in the outbreak response, particularly in relation to two of the initial three sites: Mbandaka and Bikoro.

Mbandaka, in northwest DRC, has a population of around one million,and it is the capital of Equateur province, where the small town of Bikoro also is located.

Were cautiously optimistic but theres a lot of very tough work to do in phase two before we say that were on the top of this outbreak and weve learned the hard way in the past never to underestimate Ebola, Mr Salama said.

He said the focus now was on rural isolated communities in the Iboko health zone which would present logistical and other challenges.

Mr Salama described it as among the most remote territory on Earth, mainly inhabited by indigenous populations, while WHO currently has 80 staff in the area.

Were talking about an enormous logistical effort required to reach every alert of a case. And then if there is a confirmation of a case, every contact of those cases, he explained. (NAN)
The Federal Ministry of Water Resources says the National Water Resources Bill is consistent with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Land Use Act, and should not be politicised.

The ministry also on Friday urged Nigerians to disregard misleading allegations, which were evident from the various commentaries noticed from those opposing the Bill.

The minister, Suleiman Adamu, in a statement noted that the bill was not a new law; rather an amalgamation of Water Resources Laws that have been in existence as enshrined in LFN 2004.

He said reports in the media appeared to had neglected the provisions of the bill which was for the development, management and efficient use of the nations water resources in line with global best practices.

The minister further appealed to stakeholders and Nigerians in general to have faith in the bill as it was for the good of the nation.

It is in the overall best interest of every citizen of the country that the process of its passage is not politicised.

The general public is invited to note that this National Water Resources Bill when passed into law will better serve and provide for the enhancement of the Nigeria Water Sector in line with global best practices.

He said the attention of the ministry was drawn to the erroneous and distorted analysis of the National Water Resources Bill, which was currently before the Senate having already been passed by the House of Representatives.

He noted that the overall objective was geared towards efficient management of the Water Resources Sector for the economic development of Nigeria and the well-being of its citizens.

These Laws are: Water Resources Act, Cap W2 LFN 2004, the River Basin Development Authority Act, Cap R9 LFN 2004, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (Establishment) Act, Cap N1100A.LFN, 2004 and National Water Resources Institute Act, Cap N83 LFN 2004.

These Laws are being re-enacted with necessary modifications in the new bill to actualise current global trends and best practices in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
President Muhammadu Buhari will begin a two-day working visit to Morocco, the presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said.

Mr Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Saturday, said the visit was at the invitation of King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

He said the two leaders would discuss socio-economic matters affecting their countries, following prior engagements in December 2016, during the official visit of the Moroccan leader to Nigeria.

In Rabat, discussions will focus on strengthening existing agreements on the fertiliser industry, education cooperation, the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project and establishing a basic chemical platform to harness Nigerias vast natural gas resources and support Moroccos diammonium phosphate industry, he said.

The presidential aide recalled that Nigeria and Morocco had in December 2016 signed a collaboration agreement to revive the abandoned Nigerian fertiliser blending plants.

He said that following the signing of the agreement, 14 fertiliser plants had been revitalised so far under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative with a capacity of 2.3 million metric tonnes of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (K)  NPK fertiliser.

Mr Shehu said the president would be accompanied on the trip by governors of Ebonyi and Jigawa, Mr Dave Umahi and Alhaji Abubakar Badaru respectively; and other senior government officials.

(NAN)
The Senate suspended its legislative activities for four weeks, but the week did not end without the usual drama that characterises its plenary.

In the outgoing week, the Senate threatened to use its constitutional power on the president if he fails to meet certain demands.

Below are some major events at the Senate last week:

Tuesday:

 The National Assembly threatened to invoke its constitutional power of checking President Muhammadu Buhari if he fails to accede to their demands.

The Chairman of the National Assembly, Bukola Saraki, read the resolutions of the lawmakers after a closed-door session which lasted about three hours on Tuesday.

The resolutions were on insecurity around the country, ongoing prosecution of lawmakers, disregard of National Assembly authority by the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, among others.

The lawmakers said they would not hesitate to invoke their constitutional powers if Mr Buhari fails to act.

 Mr Buhari wrote a letter to the Senate requesting the confirmation of Adamu Abdu-Kafarati as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

Mr Abdu-Kafarati was confirmed by the Senate two days later.

He was sworn-in as the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in September 2017.

Wednesday:

The Senate on Wednesday called on the Minister of Defence, Mansur Ali, to withdraw his statement calling for the suspension of the anti-grazing law in some states. The lawmakers said the enactment of the law is not the reason for the killings going on in several parts of Nigeria.

 The Senate confirmed four Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commissioner nominees.

They are Monday Udo Tom (Akwa-Ibom), Attahiru Madami (Niger), Ahmed Mahmud (Zamfara) as Resident Electoral Commissioners and Festus Okoye (South-east Geo Political Zone) as National Electoral Commissioner.

It however rescinded its confirmation of Monday Tom as a Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC on the grounds that there was a petition against him that was yet to be treated.

 The Senate called for an increase in tax payable on plastic bags and bottles to discourage their use.

It also called for the introduction of eco-friendly reusable bags.

The call came after the lawmakers deliberated a motion on the 2018 World Environmental Day sponsored by Rose Oko (PDP, Cross River North) and nine other senators.

 Mr Buhari wrote a letter to the Senate containing the draft of a deep offshore and inland basin production sharing contracts amendment bill 2018 for the consideration and passage by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 The Senate resolved to look into a report by the international human rights organisation, Amnesty International, accusing Nigerian security forces of rape and domestic violence against women in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Borno.

The lawmakers agreed to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the allegations.

The resolution follows a motion by Shehu Sani (Kaduna-APC). Mr Sani, dissatisfied with the reaction of the Nigerian government to the report, asked the Senate re-open the issue for probe.

Thursday:

 The Senate debated the President Buharis declaration that June 12 would be Nigerias Democracy Day. The president also resolved to honour late Moshood Abiola, late Gani Fawehinmi and Babagana Kingibe.

Some senators like Eyinnaya Abaribe and Dino Melaye expressed opposition to the presidents declaration. Some other lawmakers, however, spoke in support.

 At the end of the debate, the Senate resolved to take President Muhammadu Buharis declaration a step further by asking that the official results of the June 12,1993 presidential election be announced.

The June 12 election is considered one of the freest and fairest in Nigerias history. It is believed to have been won Mr Abiola and his running mate Mr Kingibe.

The election was annulled before final results were officially announced. Mr Abiola was eventually jailed by Sani Abacha, a military dictator, for seeking to actualise his mandate. He died in prison in 1998.

 The Senate, thereafter, adjourned its plenary for four weeks.

Senate plenary will not resume until Tuesday, July 3, Senate President Bukola Saraki announced on Thursday.

However, during the recess, committees may sit or continue their work.

Mr Saraki did not formally state any reason for the long break which will covers the period of the Islamic Eid-el-Fitri holiday.

The holiday celebrates the conclusion of 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting by Muslims during the Islamic month of Ramadan. The festival is expected to hold mid-June.
The Akwa Ibom Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has, in apparent reaction to PREMIUM TIMES investigative series, spoken on the rot in the states public schools.

The reports, which exposed the harrowing experience pupils, students, and teachers go through in the states broken education system  where some poor kids have to sit on bare floor in roofless classrooms to learn  have prompted Nigerians to wonder what has become of the trillions of naira that have been accruing from oil to the state.

Mr Emmanuel linked the Akwa Ibom situation on inadequate resources and the surge in enrollments in public schools.

You know we are running free and compulsory education, even pupils and students from neighbouring states come in here (to Akwa Ibom to learn), the governor said on June 2 during a press conference to mark the third anniversary of his administration.

The governor mentioned West Itam Secondary School, in Itu, and the Uyo High School, in Uyo, as examples of two secondary schools with student population of over 4,000 and 5,000 respectively in the state because of high enrollment.

You can imagine even if I provide 1,000 seats today, the surge in population and the way they handle it, tomorrow if you go there, you might see 100 students not being able to get seats, and youll go and write oh, Akwa Ibom, this is where we are..

Even the oil money you are reporting, you dont report that I dont even get 20 per cent of what I should be getting.

While our oil prices are going up, our revenue is coming down. And this is where you should shout to the whole world, but nobody is shouting, the governor said.

Mr Emmanuel said his desire to do more for the state was being frustrated by lack of adequate resources.

He said his administration has renovated more than 346 public schools so far.

Please when writing some of these things, write as if you are encouraging us to do more, Mr Emmanuel said. Dont write something that will drive away investors.

A few days before, during an interview with Planet FM in Uyo, Mr Emmanuel had dismissed the PREMIUM TIMES reports as being mischievous.

I know we are not there yet, he said. Sometimes when you see people go to the Internet, and probably snap one school out of over 3,000 schools, it is out of mischief.

The governor did not, however, comment on a foremost technical college, Government Technical College, Ikot Ada Idem, in Ibiono Ibom, which has been shut down and abandoned for more than seven years now.
The police in Lagos have denied shooting a man at the Ojota area of Lagos on Friday.

Chike Oti, the police spokesperson, said in a statement on Friday that the man, identified as Ademuwagun Solomon, collapsed after inhaling tear-gas sprayed by police officers attached to a neighbourhood patrol team.

The police statement came after a video titled SARS Operatives shoot man wrongly labeled a fraudster in Ojota, Lagos surfaced online on Friday.

The video showed a man lying on the ground and an armed police officer standing near him.

Based on this report, the CP Lagos, immediately activated the Command X-Squad section in collaboration with the Divisional Police Officer, Ogudu Division, CSP Gbenga Olorunfemi, to fish out the policemen involved in matter, Mr Oti, a Superintendent of Police, said.

Their findings revealed that the victim by name, Ademuwagun Temitope Solomon was not shot by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) as reported by the online media but suffered from the inhalation of tear-gas spray a.k.a pepper spray occasioned by a neighbourhood police patrol team attached to Area-H- Command, Ogudu, Lagos.

The infamous patrol team was led by Inspr Momoh Sulaiman assisted by Sgt. Monday Emmanuel. The victim had been revived.

Mr Oti said the police investigating team had arrested and detained the officers involved, on the orders of the Command Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal.

Their trial will commence today 09/06/2018 and if found guilty of offence of incivility to a member of the public and unlawful exercise of authority, they could face punishment as severe as dismissal.
The governments of the South-west states have declared June 12 as a public holiday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the annulled 1993 Presidential election adjudged to have been won by the late M.K.O Abiola.

The states include Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, and Oyo states.

The federal government on Wednesday announced that June 12would become a national holiday for the celebration of democracy day starting from 2019, although the day had always been public holidays in the South west.

In Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, the governor, said the recent decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare June 12 as the new democracy day would ensure that Mr Abiola and other martyrs of democracy who laid down their lives in the struggle to entrench good governance did not do so in vain.

No matter how long you try to hide history, history will always reveal itself with a true platform, Mr Ambode said in a statement signed by Tunji Bello, the secretary to the state government.

So, we know that is one very important singular step as we go forward to build an enduring democracy. And for all democrats in this country, we are excited that we are moving in the right direction.

It also affirms that Nigeria can get it right if we begin to put things in the right perspective and work for the general good of the greater number of people. That is the true essence of democracy.

For us in Lagos, June 12 is not just a day to remember, it is a rallying point for those of us in service that we must continuously strive to entrench true democracy and good governance which is what Chief MKO Abiola totally exemplified.

In Ogun, the state government announced that June 12 would be a work-free day to enable the residents mark the Democracy Day and celebrate the recent conferment of a posthumous national honour on Mr Abiola.

In Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor, said day would be celebrated with a town hall assembly at the International Culture and Events Centre (The Dome) in Akure.

All civil servants, market women, artisans, politicians, clergymen, students and Ondo State residents from all walks of life are invited to be part of the historic gathering in honour of M.K.O Abiola, winner of the June 12 1993 Presidential Election, the governor said in a statement signed by Yemi Olowolabi.

It promises to be a riveting event with extensive focus on June 12: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

The town hall assembly, the statement said, would be anchored by Kayode Fayemi, a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development and former Governor of Ekiti State.

Other members of the panel of discussants at the special Assembly include Dare Babarinsa, founding Executive Editor of TELL Magazine; Odia Ofeimun, renowned Poet; and Ifeanyi Odili, National Secretary of Campaign for Democracy amongst other pro democracy activists.

In Osun, the government said the public holiday is to mark democracy day in the state.

Obawale Adebisi, the Commissioner for Home Affairs, said in a statement on Saturday that the public holiday was in line with a policy of the state to observe June 12 as democracy day every year.

Aregbesolas stance on June 12 as democracy day had been justified by President Muhammadu Buharis declaration of the day as Nigerias democracy day instead of May 29, Mr Adebisi said.

We also commend the President for honouring Chief MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election with a posthumous award of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).

The state government of Osun commends the President on this righteous step of honouring June 12 and key players of the 1993 presidential election, 25 years after.

The Government of the State of Osun has, therefore, declared Tuesday, June 12 a public holiday.

In Ekiti, Ayo Fayose, the governor announced via his official Twitter handle that the state would continue in its tradition of honouring Mr Abiola with a public holiday.

Peter Ayodele Fayose



Verified account

@GovAyoFayose

Jun 7

MKO Abiola is worthy to be honoured and we in Ekiti honoured him with a public holiday on June 12, 2017, we will do it again this year.However, the greatest honour anyone can bestow on MKO Abiola is total respect for the rule of law and conduct of free,fair & credible elections.

In Oyo State, Bolaji Tunji, the media assistant to Abiola Ajimobi, the state governor, said the state would also declare June 12 a public holiday.

Weve already decided on that, the only thing left is to make the announcement, Mr Tunji told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday night.
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: Blue Phoenix Branding Powered by Proforma

Contact

Tara Byrne, Public Relations Specialist

***@proforma.com Tara Byrne, Public Relations Specialist

End

-- Travis and Angela Powell have recently become owners of Blue Phoenix Branding Powered by Proforma. By joining Proforma, the Powell's join a 500 million dollar leader in the promotional products industry and a network of resources. Blue Phoenix Branding will serve Twin Falls and the surrounding areas with their expertise of marketing using print and promotional products."We are so excited to join the Proforma family. They epitomize the culture that we want our business to project," said Travis. "After visiting the Worldwide Support Center in Cleveland, Proforma truly did feel like family. Everyone was extremely helpful in making the process easy. It just felt right from start to finish."Travis is no stranger to the print industry, as he has been working in it since 1993 and never fully left. Five years ago, at the request of a customer, he hesitantly provided promotional ideas. The customer was so appreciative of his efforts and the items purchased that Travis began offering promotional items as part of his services"Proforma seemed like the perfect fit to complement my extensive knowledge in the print and promotional product industries, and that instinct has proven to be right time and time again."Blue Phoenix Branding will not only be joining the Proforma family, but they will also be utilizing their family in their business efforts. Travis and Angela's three children help fulfill orders, research products, and develop marketing collateral."They are an integral part of what we do and they bring a unique perspective to the business," said Angela.Blue Phoenix Branding Powered by Proforma is a full service marketing solutions agency. Blue Phoenix provides hot products in branded merchandise, custom packaging and printing services to help businesses create long lasting relationships with your clients. For more information about Blue Phoenix Branding Powered by Proforma, please visit https://www.bluephoenixbranding.com/ With 40 years of experience and $500 million in sales, Proforma remains clearly focused on providing solutions to businesses worldwide for their graphic communications needs. A leading provider of promotional products, printing services, business documents, and eCommerce solutions, Proforma has received numerous awards and is recognized as one of the top five largest companies in our industry. Proforma serves approximately 60,000 clients through 700 member offices across the globe, backed by 200 Team Members in the Proforma Worldwide Support Center located in Cleveland, Ohio and Tampa, Florida. www.Proforma.com
Amy Bickford ~ 'Path to Ferry Beach' ~ Gouache on Gesso Board 9" x 12"

Contact

Pamela Williamson

Richard Boyd Art Gallery

***@richardboydartgallery.com Pamela WilliamsonRichard Boyd Art Gallery

End

-- Richard Boyd Art Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of a solo exhibition of paintings byWednesday, August 1 at 10:00 a.m. with a meet the artist reception to follow on the 4th.A year-round resident of New Gloucester, Maine Amy creates paintings in a traditional style that are her interpretation of the timeless beauty and essence of Maine. Whether depicting a landscape or a familiar coastal scene, Amy's paintings are a response to the experience and to every-day life.The public is invited to meet Amy at a reception at Richard Boyd Art Gallery Saturday, August 4th between the hours of 12:00 noon and 3:00 p.m. when she will be available to discuss her paintings.is open free of charge between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily through August 30, 2018.When asked about her career as a commercial and fine artist Amy replied, "I graduated from the Maine College of Art (MECA) in 1983. Since graduating, I've held a variety of jobs while continuing to create works of visual art for individual clients, corporations, and small businesses, including painting murals for the Children's Museum of Art in Portland and recreating the artworks on the ceiling of St. John's Cathedral in Bangor, Maine.The abundant and often random beauty throughout the state of Maine has been a constant source of inspiration for my work. Old brick buildings, birch trees and seascapes spark my interest, but sometimes something as simple as a fence on the beach grass that I've strolled by dozens of times will call out to me to paint it.I create paintings in my studio using drawings and photographs as references to help me see beyond the physical attributes of the scene and capture my interpretation of the beauty of that place in time. I prefer painting with gouache, but use a variety of mediums, selecting the medium that bests helps me interpret the scene. My goal is to create a painting that makes the viewer relate to it on a personal level."Richard Boyd Art Gallery is located on Peaks Island in Portland, ME at the corner of Island Avenue and Epps Street. The gallery represents a diverse group of established and emerging artists with a connection to the state of Maine, creating original works of visual art in a broad range of styles from contemporary to traditional realism. Exhibitions change monthly and include solo, group, and theme exhibits, so clients and visitors always discover something new and exciting when visiting the gallery.During the months of April through October the gallery is open free of charge between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily. From November through the end of March the gallery is open free of charge between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Additional days and times by chance or scheduled by appointment.For more information about the exhibition or reception contact the gallery by phone at (207)-712-1097, via email at info@richardboydartgallery.com or visit the gallery's website at http://www.richardboydartgallery.com . Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ RichardBoydArtGallery Copyright2018 Richard Boyd Art Gallery All Rights Reserved.
JERUSALEM, June 9, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC CEO David Harris issued the following statement about the death yesterday of Per Ahlmark, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Member of Parliament, and human rights advocate:

Per Ahlmark was the real thing  that all too rare righteous individual. To the Jewish people, he was an authentic hero of our age, and, believe me, I don't use the word hero lightly.

But what was most impressive about this man is not what he was  a politician, an author, a columnist  but who he was.

Per Ahlmark devoted his life, his every waking moment, to the same values that defined Jan Karski, the legendary Polish Catholic who stood up for the Jewish people during the Holocaust and throughout his life, which is precisely why AJC gave its very first Jan Karski Award, in 2004, to him.

He spoke out, again and again, on the danger of resurgent anti-Semitism. He never hesitated to confront those who use anti-Zionism as a convenient mask for anti-Semitism.

He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel throughout his life, traveling to the Jewish state dozens of times, including when war broke out, to express his unwavering support.

And Per Ahlmark stood foursquare in defense of human rights, whether for Soviet Jews or Bosnian Muslims, and in steadfast opposition to those in the international community who would practice double standards or selective moral indignation.

His views were not always popular in Sweden, where he fought strenuously against what he saw as a suffocating political correctness and a tendency to downplay the enemies of democracy and liberal values.

We have lost a dear, devoted friend, a champion of passionate principle, and a fearless voice of reason and truth.

We extend our condolences to his grieving family, and shall always cherish the memory of this remarkable individual.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


The mayor's key theme, that commencement day is the time to move beyond talking and dreaming about having a successful future, and to start "being about" that success, in everything you do seemed to resonate with the graduates and with others in attendance.

Other speakers at the Aston Campus commencement event included CCCS Chief Education Officer Dr. David Clark; Aston Campus Principal Mr. Terrane Polnitz, and Ms. Aaliyah Campbell and Ms. Olivia Coulanges, the Aston valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, for the class of 2018.

Speakers at the East D Campus commencement included East D Principal Ms. Sharon Watkins; Tahkel Richardson, a distinguished CCCS alumnus; Ms. Halle Griffin, the campus's valedictorian and Ms. Charnae Berry-Coleman, the campus's salutatorian.

During the commencement programs, the school also announced that 11 academic scholarships to prestigious private high schools had been awarded to: Gary Acuna, Kethzy Baez-Muniz, Charnae Berry Coleman, Katelynn Goodwin and Tymir Jackson, who will attend Cardinal O'Hara High School; Tahmaj Lawler-Powell, who will attend St. Elizabeth's High School; Kiara DeWilliams, who will attend Bonner and Prendergast Catholic High School; Olivia Coulanges, who will attend Neumann Goretti High School; and Jihan Bailey and Katie Acuna-Martinez will attend Archmere Academy, in Claymont, Delaware and Aaliyah Campbell will attend the Tatnall School, in Wilmington, Delaware.

The scholarship program is coordinated by CCCS's High School Search and Selection Program, and most of the scholarship funds, as has been the case since 2006, are contributed directly by the Gureghian Charitable Foundation.

Aside from the private-school scholarship winners, the majority of the school's graduates will pursue their high school diplomas at Chester High School, and other regional public schools, and 53 of this year's graduates have applied for acceptance to Chester's STEM Academy at Showalter.

Commenting on the next steps for the school's graduates, Chester Community Charter School CEO Dr. David Clark said: "I am confident that our students are well prepared to excel academically, once they receive their CCCS diplomas, whether they were fortunate enough to win a scholarship, here, or not. We are committed to 'empowering all of our students as learners,' a lesson we encourage them to take with them, through additional academic studies, and beyond, for the rest of their lives."



About Chester Community Charter School

Chester Community Charter School (CCCS) opened its doors on September 9, 1998, serving 97 students from its modest, four, meeting rooms in the lobby of the Howard Johnson Hotel, in Chester, PA.

Since that time, the school has steadily grown to include more than 4200 students in 12 state-of-the-art buildings, spanning four campuses. It is now the largest brick-and-mortar charter school in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

In fact, when CCCS opened its first permanent structure in 2001, it was also the first new school building constructed in Chester-Upland, since 1975. By comparison, the average age of a school building owned by the Chester-Upland School District is 64 years.

Through collaboration with the Gureghian Charitable Foundation, and CCCS's High School Search and Selection Program, more than $10 million in scholarships and financial assistance to prestigious private secondary schools has been awarded to 350 of the school's graduates.

CONTACT: A. Bruce Crawley

Tel: 215-751-0140

[email protected]

SOURCE Chester Community Charter School
Zhejiang, located on the eastern coast of China, is a pioneer in China's reform and opening up. Since China's reform and opening up in 1978, the province has paid close attention to the opportunities brought about by economic globalization, continuously improved the level of opening up, vigorously introduced foreign investment, and speeded up the construction of a high-energy open cooperation platform represented by the ZJITS, in an effort to create high standards. The quality of foreign capital gathering places, gradually promoted the formation of a new pattern of full opening.

As the most important and influential event in Zhejiang related to foreign trade and economic cooperation, the ZJITS has been successfully held for 19 consecutive terms since the first session in 1999. The previous symposiums have witnessed the signing of more than 3,700 foreign-invested projects, with a total committed investment of over 50 billion US dollars. The ZJITS has become an important instrument for Zhejiang to expand international cooperation and enhance the level of its opening to the outside world.

Speaking at the Zhejiang Investment and Trade Fair, Ji Ruida, President of the America Chamber of Commerce stated that, "China remains a vital destination for US investment." Zhejiang province, famous for its entrepreneurial spirit and the vitality of its economy, has provided countless opportunities and support for foreign enterprises over the last couple of decades. This has included the construction of various development zones, industrial parks as well as holding a range of events that encourage economic cooperation.

According to statistics from the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province, as of the end of April this year, Zhejiang accumulated a total of nearly 62,000 foreign-invested companies, and actually utilized foreign capital of nearly 200 billion US dollars. The rapid development of foreign trade and two-way investment has promoted industrial upgrading in Zhejiang. It has effectively promoted the development of Zhejiang products from the low end of the global value chain to the middle and high end, and continued to create the "Zhejiang Height" in participating in the international industrial division of labor and competition.

Statistics show that from 2013 to 2017, the paid-in foreign investment in high-tech industries of Zhejiang recorded an annual growth rate of 22.7 percent, accounting for 24.4 percent of the total paid-in foreign investment of the province in 2017, up from 12 percent in 2012.

Sheng Qiuping, director of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, said that "Continuing to open up to the international community is the only way to develop and prosper." Following the concept of 'Two Resources, Two Markets', Zhejiang is actively promoting it's economic, technological and administrative progress to audiences at home and abroad.

On May 9th of this year, after fourteen years of silence, a conference was held on how to continue the 'opening up' of Zhejiang province. In line with the direction set by the Belt and Road Initiative, ten new major policies were introduced to accelerate the modernisation and internationalisation of the province. By 2020 Zhejiang province will committed to developing into a major centre of two-way investment as well as becoming a major destination for both domestic and international talent.

Source: The Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province

Image Attachments Links:

http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=313892

SOURCE The Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province
NEW ORLEANS, June 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT).

On December 19, 2016, the Company's largest U.S. customer, Chevron, terminated its 10-year relationship with the Company. Then, beginning in March 2017, numerous news and analyst reports revealed allegations against the Company for a pattern of misconduct involving fraudulent billing, misleading marketing and predatory sales tactics. In May 2017, Chevron filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the Company relating in part to the Company's mistreatment of customers. Further, between May 10, 2016 and March 10, 2017, the Company's President/CEO/Chairman, CFO and four other directors disposed of 685,720 shares of FleetCor stock at artificially inflated prices, receiving over $108 million in proceeds.

Thereafter, the Company and certain of its executives were sued in a securities class action lawsuit, charging them with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. Recently, the U.S. District Court presiding over that case denied the Company's motion to dismiss in part, allowing the case to move forward.

KSF's investigation is focusing on whether FleetCor's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to FleetCor's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.

If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of FleetCor shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-flt/ to learn more.

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.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner

[email protected]

1-877-515-1850

206 Covington St.

Madisonville, LA 70447

SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Related Links

http://www.ksfcounsel.com


LOS ANGELES, June 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In the well-publicized bankruptcy proceedings surrounding Relativity Media, Platform Media Group (PMG) announces that US Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Wiles ruled Carey Metz' claim against Ryan Kavanaugh improper and without merit. Judge Wiles instructed Metz to withdraw his State Court action against Kavanaugh and had no grounds to bring the action in question.

A link to the two-page ruling is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/indfb9ncyc0yo5y/15-11989-MEW-DE%202337.pdf?dl=0

Kavanaugh spokesperson Henry Eshelman said, "We could not be more pleased with The Honorable Judge Wiles' finding. Simply stated, Mr. Metz lost and his claims were disallowed.

"This ruling is significant as it hopefully serves as an instructive example of how irresponsible reporting can mislead an entire industry.

"Anyone with $500 can file a lawsuit that says anything at all, even if it contains no truth. 'Litigation privilege' protects the person who filed the case, even if everything stated in it is false, and knowingly filed with an intent to harm. Specifically, other than prevailing in a case, there is absolutely no relief or forum reviewing these suits for truth or accuracy."

Eshelman continued, "As was done here, the press then picks up the information from the suit and presents it as fact, which generates a misleading and false public story line. In this case, Metz never even served Kavanaugh; rather, Kavanaugh read about it in the media, which was exactly what Metz had counted on. After sending the unfiled suit to the press, he attempted to use the press to garner a settlement by threatening to continue to send negative information to media unless Kavanaugh settled with him.

"As with the recent matter of RKA, which was dismissed with prejudice after the court found a complete lack of evidence to proceed with a claim against Kavanaugh, the same holds true here. Prior to the court ruling certain media outlets wrote articles implying the unfounded (and now proven false) allegations against Kavanaugh were true.

"These outlets needs to realize the power and responsibility they hold. People believe what they read. As with RKA, no one should have to endure a barrage of negative press with implications of wrongdoing before those implications are actually proven.

"The Metz action was published widely in the press, with each story implying Kavanaugh had done what the suit had claimed. This resultthat Metz' case had no merit and his claims were falseshows why the media need to be more responsible and not write about unproven allegations.

"It is a relief to see the justice system work, and with the judge's action, Kavanaugh now has absolutely no further Relativity-related court defense litigation pending, as he prevailed in each and every case."

Media Contact: PMG; 323.337.9042

[email protected]

SOURCE Platform Media Group
Tel Aviv, June 9 : More than 250,000 people took part here on Friday in Tel Aviv's 20th anniversary Gay Pride Parade, the largest event of its kind in the Middle East.

The march unfolded in a festive atmosphere, with music and playful bursts of water pistols to celebrate gay rights in Israel, yet hundreds of police were on hand, Efe reported.

"I am a lesbian in Israel and I have come to support those who are like me, I think it is very important to come ... so people know we exist," Alina Berezon, a teenager from Haifa, said.

A small group of pink-clad protesters gathered near the procession to denounce the parade as a media stunt to burnish Israel's international image as a supporter of liberal values in the Middle East.

"Israel uses the gay community to show the world that it respects human rights, while it denies the rights of millions of Palestinians, occupying their lands and killing the protesters in Gaza," Zizo Abul Hawa, a Palestinian, said.

Tel Aviv Major Ron Huldai inaugurated the event with a short speech.

"I am proud to stand here before you. I remember how it was 20 years ago when we started this parade and I am thrilled to see the wide audience here in the street," he said.

March organizers said that thousands of tourists joined the match, including some who came especially for the parade.

"We started to plan this trip since January. We have come to the Pride to enjoy the scenery and the people," one half of a French same-sex couple visiting Israel for the first time said.
Tehran, June 9 : Iran on Friday ruled out the possibility of re-negotiating with the US on the 2015 nuclear deal unless Washington ends threats to the Islamic republic.

"There is no prospect for dialogue between Iran and the United States in any area before Washington uses the language of dignity," Xinhua quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

His remarks came in response to the latest threats by US President Donald Trump to impose the most severe sanctions against Iran.

Trump had better stop his threats, sanctions, pressures and unilateral approaches to other countries and nations, the Iranian spokesman warned.

At a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on Thursday, Trump said Washington is "putting sanctions on Iran, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before".

Trump also expressed the hope that "at some point" Iran would sit down with the US to make a deal "that's good for them, and good for us, and good for everybody".

The Iranian people "have never changed their wise judgement, deeds and behaviour in dealing with any bullying and threats and will never do in the future," Qasemi said.

Trump's decision to withdraw from the nuclear accord Iran signed with major powers in 2015 is a clear example of the US breach of international regulations, he noted.
Moscow, June 9 : The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday called on the Taliban insurgent group to respond positively to a ceasefire initiative proposed by the Afghan authorities.

The Afghan government has announced an eight-day ceasefire with the Taliban from the 27 of Ramadan (fasting month) on June 12 to June 19, the fifth day of the second largest annual religious festival Eid-ul-Fitr, Xinhua reported.

"We urge the Taliban to react positively to this initiative. This decision would be a step towards peace, would allow the Afghans to celebrate the holiday without fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones," a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry said.

It reaffirmed support for efforts aimed at facilitating peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban for the sake of achieving national reconciliation and ending the civil war, the statement said.

The Taliban militants, who ruled Afghanistan before being ousted in late 2001, have been waging an insurgency of more than 17 years.
United Nations, June 9 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has held up the India-United Nations Development Partnership Fund as a model of deepening South-South cooperation that helps the poorest countries by working with them on their priorities.

Delivering the keynote address on Friday at the Fund's first anniversary celebrations, he said its "focus on supporting people in least developed countries, small island developing states and landlocked developing states reflects our ambition to reach those that are left furthest behind and to reach them first."

Guterres and other leaders of UN organisations as well representatives of the fund's beneficiaries praised India for leading the way in South-South cooperation.

The celebrations heard testimonies from officials, diplomats and UN Development Programme representatives from the field, who connected via video links, to the uniqueness of the Fund's responsiveness and its effectiveness by not earmarking the contributions and letting the recipients decide what their most pressing needs are.

India has committed $100 million over the next decade for the Fund and an additional $50 million during the next five years for Commonwealth countries under a separate window under the fund, India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin said.

The Fund has more than 20 projects underway across the world in 25 countries, ranging from hurricane rehabilitation and climate early warning system to government accountability and agriculture.

Akbaruddin called for speeding up the implementation of the projects done through the UN agencies under what he called a "1-2-3 process."

India has cut down the time it takes to assess and accept a project in under one month and hopes the projects will be completed in two years and none should go beyond three years, he said.

Akbaruddin said the at Fund was in addition to the various other aid programmes that India has bilaterally with countries and multilaterally with organisations.

Palau's Permanent Representative Ngedikes Olai Uludong gave an example of how the Fund takes up the priorities of the recipients and not restrict them to match the donor's.

None of the major donors were willing to finance the small community health programmes vital to the small Pacific island nation as they only wanted to underwrite big hospitals, he said.

When he proposed a modest $50,000 community health project, he said India offered to provide even more money to extend the programme that was more important than hospitals to ensure its people's well-being.

India's leadership in technology could be harnessed to help the countries deal with their problems, many speakers said.

Uruguay's Permanent Representative Elbio Rosselli said that in his country the Fund has put a special emphasis on technology with a system for government accountability and dialogue.

Grete Faremo, the Executive Director of the UN office of Project Services, which has partnered with India on Fund projects, said that India lives up to the values of its ancient saying, "Vasudhaiva kutumbakam" - World is one family - through the Fund.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
Lucknow, June 9 : An Uttar Pradesh head constable shot himself dead on Saturday apparently unable to continue with 20-hours of work shift each day, police said.

Raj Ratan Verma was posted at the Dial 100 emergency response service and was apparently under a lot of stress by the overtimes and prolonged duty hours, a close friend told senior officers.

Verma, in his 50s, was found dead early on Saturday. He was discovered lying in a pool of blood at his residential quarters near the Loco toll tax office. He had shot himself in the head.

Though there was no suicide note recovered from the scene, his close friends have told his superiors that Verma would often rue the long working hours which prevented him from spending time with his family.

Verma's working hours averaged 20-hours a day leaving little personal time. A probe is on, a senior police officer told IANS.
New Delhi, June 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for Qingdao, China, to take part in the 2018 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit where on the sidelines he will hold a bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This will be the first time India will be participating in the SCO Summit after being granted full membership of the bloc, along with Pakistan, in June 2017.

The SCO is an Eurasian inter-governmental organisation, the creation of which was announced in 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.

"SCO focusses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation and enables India to engage with Central Asian countries," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted as Modi departed.

After his arrival on Saturday afternoon in Qingdao, Modi is scheduled to hold the bilateral meeting with Xi.

It comes over a month after their informal summit on April 27-28 in Wuhan on a Chinese invitation, when they pledged to keep the India-China border quiet and personally guide their respective armies to avert a Doklam-like military stand-off in future.

Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO member states on the sidelines of the Summit.

On Friday, Modi said that the SCO meeting will herald a new beginning for India's engagement with the Eurasian bloc.
Washington, June 9 : US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated calls for North Korea to completely rid itself of all remnants of its nuclear weapons programme before international sanctions are lifted.

Speaking in a series of Friday interviews, Pompeo said that would include any possible clandestine sites unknown to those outside North Korea, reports CNN.

"I don't want to get too far into the details, but when you think about complete denuclearization, it would certainly be all of their sites, not just those that have been declared," Pompeo said.

"So we've got to make sure that it's complete," he added.

The denuclearization is a "great big commitment on the part of North Korea as well, and there'll be a parallel set of security assurances that are also big and bold and different", Pompeo said.

He suggested the administration would link those security assurances to the economic benefits that could stem from a deal.

The top US diplomat also held out a possibility that some sort of written statement or communique that lays out tangible achievements from the June 12 meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and American President Donald Trump could emerge.

"In the event that we are successful, as we are hopeful that we will be, yes, I would hope that there would be a statement that they would put out that each could agree to... But we'll have to see."

Pompeo will travel on to meetings with officials in South Korea and China after the summit in Singapore, CNN reported.

President Trump "is willing to do something big, something bold. I think that Chairman Kim Jong Un is prepared to do that as well", he said.
Mumbai, June 9 : At least two firemen were injured in a blaze that broke out in an abandoned five-storeyed building as a portion of it collapsed here early on Saturday, an official said.

The inferno destroyed the dilapidated and vacant Kothari Building in Fort area of Central Business District around 4.00 a.m.

As a team of firemen rushed to fight the conflagration, the blaze spread and came in contact with some old electrical appliances and fittings lying there.

The firemen were caught unawares when the south portion of the structure suddenly collapsed around 6.45 a.m.

A fire brigade tanker and a specialised equipment unit were also damaged in the crash.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Disaster Cell said the building was abandoned more than five years ago after its main staircase crashed, rendering it unfit for habitation.

The fire-fighters took precaution to control the blaze from outside with the water curtain and not allow it to spread to adjoining buildings in the congested area.
Washington, June 9 : The US has withdrawn two more people from the American embassy in Havana, Cuba, due to health concerns, according to a senior State Department official.

These are "potentially new cases" of a mystery illness that has plagued embassy employees but the official cautions that the two individuals are undergoing medical evaluations and have not yet been "medically-confirmed", CNN quoted the official as saying on Friday.

In the past, some officials have characterised the incidents at the embassy as "sonic attacks" or "acoustic attacks" because they have often coincided with a high-pitched sound.

US officials have detailed how personnel in Cuba came to experience a variety of symptoms including sharp ear pain, headaches, ringing in one ear, vertigo, disorientation, attention issues and signs consistent with mild traumatic brain injury or concussion.

Earlier this week, a number of US personnel in China have been sent back to Washington for further health screenings after concerns over reports of mysterious acoustic incidents similar to the Cuba "sonic attacks", CNN reported.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Tuesday the formation of a task force in response to "unexplained health incidents" affecting US diplomats and their family members.
Quebec (Canada), June 9 : Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump discussed accelerating the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) talks during a bilateral meeting at the ongoing G7 summit here.

"The Prime Minister and the President had a very positive, productive meeting and it lasted longer than originally scheduled," CBC News quoted a senior Candian government official as saying on Friday.

"They did discuss NAFTA at length and they discussed the future of NAFTA, and I would say they also talked about accelerating the talks."

Speaking after the meeting with Trudeau, Trump said he had a positive meeting with the Canadians during which NAFTA was the principal topic of discussion.

"We had a very positive meeting a little while ago on NAFTA. So this is turning out to be an interesting day. But we had a very, very good meeting on NAFTA with Justin and his representatives," Trump said.

The reportedly positive tone of the leaders' one-on-one meeting stood in stark contrast to a week of increasingly testy public statements by Trump, following Canada's announcement last week that it would impose $16.6 billion in tariffs against US products on July 1 in retaliation against the American tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium.

Trump's only other bilateral meeting on Friday was with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, CBC News reported.

Like Trudeau, Trump has sparred publicly with Macron on Twitter over what the US President calls unfair trade deals that impoverish American interests to the benefit of its allies.

But on the tariffs, the leaders sounded a bit optimistic on Friday.

"We had a very direct and open discussion," Macron told reporters Friday of his one-on-one with Trump.

"And I saw the willingness on all the sides to find agreements and have a win-win approach for our people, our workers, and our middle classes."

Besides the bilateral meetings, the G7 leaders took part in two working groups where discussion of trade was front and centre.

Before leaving for the summit, Trump called for reinstating Russia into the group of top industrialised nations after its expulsion for annexing Crimea, reports the BBC.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said all the European Union members were against the idea.

Trump will the two-day summit early to head to Singapore for his landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Hague, June 9 : Relatives of the victims aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which was downed over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, held a silent protest in front of Russia's embassy here.

Red roses were placed on 298 white chairs on Friday in memory of the mainly Dutch passengers and crew of flight MH17 who perished on July 17, 2014, reports the BBC.

All those on board the Boeing 777 aircraft died when it broke apart in a missile strike.

Investigators last month said the missile belonged to Russian forces.

Moscow however, has denied the allegation.

Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and was travelling over conflict-hit Ukraine when it was struck.
New Delhi : It was an evening of pious homilies at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur where former President and now citizen Pranab Mukherjee was the guest of honour at a valedictory function.

While he dwelt on how pluralism and tolerance constituted the "soul" of India, the RSS sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat, expounded on the organization's vision which extended well beyond the Hindu samaj (society) with which it is usually associated to encompass all the children of Bharat Mata (Mother India).

There was no 'paraya' (outsider) in his view, nor any 'dushman' (enemy). Observers noted that there was no mention of a Hindu 'rashtra' (nation), the leitmotif of the RSS, in Bhagwat's speech.

Was this a concession to a diehard former Congressman Mukherjee's secular sensitivities or has there been a change of heart on the part of the RSS ? If the latter, it will mark a seminal change in the outlook of the 93-year-old organization and carries the potential of a political and social upheaval.

Arguably, Bhagwat's claim about Mother India's parentage of all Indians, irrespective of caste or creed, is on a par with Narendra Modi's "sabka saath, sabka vikas" (For all, development for all) mantra. It is also the essence of the multicultural, multireligious secular concept, which is routinely derided as "sickular" by the saffron trolls.

However, just as the agenda of development for all hasn't led to any marked diminution in the "darkness, fear and mistrust", as Mukherjee said, in the minds of the minorities, as testified by, among others, former vice-president Hamid Ansari and the archbishop of Delhi, Anil Couto, it remains to be seen whether Bhagwat's outreach to everyone leads to Muslims not being called "Babur ki aulad" (children of the Mughal emperor, Babur) by Hindutva activists or to Christian missionaries not being accused of a relentless engagement with conversions.

How difficult a transformation in the attitudes of the average RSS supporter would be might be gauged from the way a saffron commentator on television latched on to Mukherjee's reference to Muslim "invaders" and British colonisers to note how the former President's views differed from the benignity of the secularists in associating Muslims with biryani and the British with cakes.

Notwithstanding the time it might take for the Hindu Right and the secular camp to evolve some kind of a commonality, it goes without saying that the initiative taken by the RSS to invite a person from the opposing camp, so to say, and also by the latter's acceptance of the invitation bode well for the country.

It will be a matter of great relief all around if last Thursday's interaction in Nagpur leads to a reduction in the present atmosphere of bitter polarization. The process might be a long-drawn one considering how for decades the two lines of thought of a composite culture (of Hindus, Muslims and others) on one hand and of cultural nationalism (one people, one nation, one culture) on the other have battled one another.

But the endeavour towards a consensus will be worthwhile if only it dissuades an M.P. like Vinay Katiyar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from saying that Muslims have no right to live in India or for an arrested suspect to justify the journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder on the grounds that she was anti-Hindu.

The test of the Nagpur bonhomie, therefore, will be to see whether there has been a mollifying impact on the Hindutva hotheads.

It has to be remembered, however, that although the RSS is the paterfamilias of the saffron brotherhood, there are other organizations - the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal (which are a part of the Sangh Parivar) and Hindu Mahasabha (which is not) as well as others - which are ardent votaries of a Hindu 'rashtra' by, of and for Hindus where the minorities have to live as second-class citizens.

It will take more than two speeches in Nagpur, therefore, to save the pluralist "soul" of India.

What is more, since fundamentalism begets fundamentalism, the stridency of the Hindu version even if only by outliers like the VHP can encourage the bigots among Muslims or the Khalistanis among Sikhs to up the ante at the instigation of Pakistan.

Another fallout of the Nagpur interaction will be for the Left-Liberals to interpret a toning down of the saffron rhetoric as victory for the secular camp and a defeat for the Parivar. The Congress is already gloating over how Mukherjee held up the "mirror of truth" to the RSS although the party was at first extremely nervous about what their old stalwart would say on entering enemy territory.

Now that his history lessons were seen to be in line with the authorized version favoured by the Congress as opposed to the saffron interpretations, the party has heaved a sigh of relief. But the battle of wits is likely to continue.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
Kabul, June 9 : Hours after announcing a ceasefire in Afghanistan on Saturday, Taliban militants killed at least 20 pro-government forces, police said.

The Taliban launched the multi-pronged offensives on security checkpoints in Kunduz province's Qala-e-Zal district, police spokesman Inamudin Rahmani told Xinhua news agency.

"Taliban rebels launched coordinated attacks on security checkpoints in Qala-e-Zal district early morning, which resulted in the death of 20 pro-government forces and injuring six others," said Rahmani.

Earlier on Saturday, the Taliban announced a ceasefire in Afghanistan during the three days of Eid-ul-Fitr when no attack will be carried out on Afghan forces.

"All mujahidin are instructed to stop all their offensive operations against the domestic opposition forces throughout the country during the first, second and third days of the Eid," read a Taliban statement.

Eid al-fitr will begin on June 14.
Los Angeles, June 9 : Late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was honoured by his CNN colleagues during the networks hour-long memoriam.

Longtime friends and co-workers including Don Lemon, Christiane Amanpour and Wolf Blitzer, paid tribute to the "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" host who died at the age of 61 on Friday in Paris, reports people.com.

Anderson Cooper expressed "shock, confusion and sadness that a man who was seemingly having the ride of his life in the middle of his life has now suddenly reached the end of his life".

Cooper added: "He loved and was loved in return."

"New Day" co-anchor John Berman also told viewers at the beginning of the special tribute that many at CNN received the news in the early morning hours as Berman said he found out about Bourdain's death at 4:45 a.m.

Bourdain was found unresponsive in his hotel room by his close friend and French chef Eric Ripert, according to CNN. Both were filming an upcoming episode of "Parts Unknown".
London, June 9 : The London edition of Indias popular Jaipur Literature Festival "ZEE JLF at The British Library" has kicked off, filling the historic spaces of Londons iconic literary venue and welcoming over 100 eminent authors and thinkers from across the globe.

The festival aims to showcase South Asia's literary heritage, multilingualism, oral traditions, performing arts, books and ideas.

At the inaugural address "Imagining Our Worlds" on Friday evening here, festival producer Sanjoy K. Roy, welcomed a packed house of attendees.

"London is the capital of the arts world and it was important for us to set up a platform here to bring together authors to debate and discuss, and most importantly to dissent. It is through dissent that we create some kind of dialogue, and have a sense of everybody's point of view being expressed," he said.

Festival Co-Director Namita Gokhale said it was an "emotional moment" to see the opening of the festival at the British Library after all the hard work of the year.

William Dalrymple, who is curating the festival along with Gokhale, observed that the annual literary event in Jaipur is the largest literature festival in the world, with over half a million footfalls recorded this year.

The first session "India Sutra: Why I Am A Hindu" featured writer-politician Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Gokhale.

Tharoor discussed the difference between the "vision" of Hinduism and its social practices, which he claimed is often "distorted" for political means.

He maintained that it is "wrong" to use Hinduism politically, and "there is the need to reclaim Hinduism" for its vision as a faith, "with ideas of life and purpose of this planet."

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Festival's presence in London.
Kolkata, June 9 : West Bengal has produced around nine lakh tonnes of mangoes this year and is also set to export them to Dubai and Hong Kong, said a senior minister on Saturday.

The produce comes despite the inclement weather and the fruit's consumption remains unaffected by the scare of the Nipah virus.

"This year's mango production in West Bengal was almost around nine lakh tonnes, despite the fact that some mangoes were destroyed due to the rains. One can say the production was good this year," said Abdur Razzak Molla, Minister-in-charge of Food Processing Industries and Horticulture, West Bengal.

The Nipah virus had spread panic across the country and badly affected the mango trade in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

"The mango producers or say the mango lovers in our state are not really affected by the scare of Nipah virus. They are consuming the fruit with same eagerness," said Molla.

Mollah said the state government is exploring the export possibilities of the fruit to the Middle East, Europe and South East Asian countries.

"This year, the mango producers have made export connections with Hong-Kong. Under the government's initiative, mangoes will be exported to Dubai in bulk," he revealed.

According to Mollah, if the quality is good then bulks of export are expected after Eid.

Molla's department along with the Indian Chamber of Commerce has organised a three-day long Bengal Mango Utsav 2018 that began on Friday.

Special varieties of mangoes from Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Malda and other places will be available at the Utsav. The public can enjoy the fruit and other products from here.
Mumbai, June 9 : Anthony Bourdain developed an affinity for Indian vegetarian food and was curious about recipes, says Indian chef Vikas Khanna, for whom the late American star chef was a hero.

Bourdain was found dead in Paris on Friday.

Recounting his memories, Khanna said: "We worked together many times. I'm so heartbroken. Anthony was my hero. I looked up to him and was privileged to have bonded with him. He hated vegetarian food. I told him until he visits India he wouldn't know the pleasures of vegetarian cuisine."

Khanna had first met Bourdain while doing a tasting menu with mangoes at his mid-town restaurant Purnima in New York.

"I did not get a chance to talk to him then. The second time we met, I cooked for him at the Rubin Museum. I told him that I was researching extensively on Himalayan foods, 'Utsav' and creating Holy Kitchens documentaries. He just said one thing, 'Keep pushing the limits'.

"Later, he was hosting CNN's 'Parts Unknown' in India and he wanted me to travel to Punjab with him to show him my hometown. I could not travel to India at that time. But I was so happy that he started loving Indian vegetarian food and asked me for recipes which were eventually used on the show."

Khanna reckoned that there are many pressures on a chef's life that could have killed Bourdain.

"There is a lot of drug usage, time management issues.... Small spaces to cook in. Michelin pressure. Fire hazards. Customer service issues. Health and mental hygiene issues. Nepotism. Demanding critics. Labour issues. Emotional distress and breakdowns. Standard consistency. Long hours... Oh, being a chef is not an easy job.

"People only see the food on the table, not the fire in the kitchen. I have seen individuals of great skill go down in a jiffy. It's the curse of those who are in the quest of perfection. Sorry if I've said too much. I idolised Anthony. I can't believe he's gone."
Kuala Lumpur, June 9 : Bangladesh outclassed hosts Malaysia by 70 runs in their final league tie to set their date with six-time champions India in the summit clash of the women's Asia Cup at the Kinrara Academy Oval here on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, India dished out a clinical performance to hammer arch-rivals Pakistan by seven wickets and enter their seventh straight final.

Going in to the final, India will be wary of Bangladesh's prowess, having lost to them in the league stages and would aim to avenge the humiliation en-route to their seventh consecutive title.

Against the Pakistanis, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side had a rather easy outing barring the tricky chase that saw them lose two wickets with just five runs on the board.

Electing to bat, Pakistan folded up for a meagre 72/7 with Sana Mir (20 not out) and Nahida Khan (18) managing to reach the double figures in a lacklustre batting effort.

In response, Harmanpreet (34 not out) and her deputy Smriti Mandhana (38) steered India to a comfortable victory with 23 balls to spare after starting on a shaky note.

Earlier, left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht spun a web around the Pakistanis with three wickets, and was well assisted by the other Indian bowlers who stuck to a disciplined effort.

During their chase, India got off to a forgettable start, losing former skipper Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma for ducks with the scoreboard ticking 5/2.

But thereafter the defending champions did not look back as the left-right combo of Smriti and Harmanpreet forged a brilliant 65-run third wicket stand to take the side within sniffing distance of victory.

Later in the day, Bangladesh rode on a collective batting effort to score 130/4 after electing to bat. In reply, the hosts could manage a paltry 60/9 in their 20 overs.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 72/7 (Sana Mir 20 not out, Nahida Khan 18; Ekta Bisht 3/14) lose to India 75/3 (Smriti Mandhana 38, Harmanpreet Kaur 34 not out) by 7 wickets.

Bangladesh 130/4 (Shamima Sultana 43, Ayasha Rahman 31; Winifred Duraisingam 2/19) beat Malaysia 60/9 (Winifred Duraisingam 17, Mas Elysa 14; Rumana Ahmed 3/8) by 70 runs.
Mumbai, June 9 : Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez, winner of Miss Sri Lankan Universe pageant 2006, was on Saturday announced as the first global ambassador of eyewear brand Nova, which has been operating in the Indian market for over a decade.

Jacqueline will be promoting its latest range of lenses, powered sunglasses and frames internationally.

The brand "effectively addresses the need of vision correction and protection without compromising on aesthetics, by combining high technology and high fashion," the actress said in a statement.

On her personal styling tips for eyewear, she said: "I am very particular about quality, comfort, clarity and style when comes to choosing eyewear whether or sunglasses. It should not only look good on me it but it should fit me well. So I try them on to make sure it fit me properly.

"Besides that, lenses are equally important. When it comes to sunglasses, I opt for lenses which provide optimum UV protection from harmful sun rays along with polarization to block unwanted glares. As for spectacle lenses I prefer lenses which are light in weight and provide adequate protection from digital strain and ensures clear and comfortable vision."

Jacqueline was found to be a perfect fit as brand ambassador as she is not just fashionable, but has also found fame in a short span of time, said Lalit Kumar Gupta, Chief Business Officer of Vision Rx Lab for the flagship brand Nova.

"We are hopeful and sure that Jacqueline's association with Nova will not only refresh regular style codes but also elevate the fashion statement of the generation making them conscious about eye care in general. We also wish Jacqueline the very best for her upcoming star projects," Gupta added.

The brand is available across 25 countries worldwide.
Agartala/Aizawl, June 9 : Tripura and Mizoram have taken steps to strengthen their existing setup to deal with the growing incidents of cyber crime, including misuse of social media, officials said on Saturday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Tripura has recently decided to set up a separate full-fledged Crime Branch comprising senior IPS officers.

A senior police officer said the state government has already requested the Central government to repatriate three senior IPS officers to Tripura to join the proposed Crime ranch and to deal with the diverse crimes.

"Three Tripura cadre IPS officers - Rajiv Singh, Anish Prasad and R. Gopal Krishna Rao -- currently posted in CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) are likely to return to Tripura soon.

"After they join Tripura Police, the crime branch would start making all-out efforts," the official said.

Law and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said the state government recently decided to set up a separate full-fledged crime branch to improve the efficiency of police investigations and to curb the incidents of diverse crimes.

"Our government wants to make Tripura a drug free state. We want to reduce crimes against women. The state cabinet last month decided to reserve 10 per cent posts in all types of recruitment in police force for women. Currently there is four per cent women police personnel in Tripura Police," Nath told IANS.

There are cases on abuses of social media pending with Tripura Police involving both incumbent Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

Recently a youth was arrested for "misusing" a picture of Deb in his Facebook profile and posting offensive comments against him while separate fake Facebook accounts were opened using detailed information and a photograph of Sarkar.

In Aizawl, a senior police officer said the Mizoram government would soon set up the first cyber crime police station in the state capital.

"The existing cyber crime cell under the CID would be elevated to a separate full-fledged cyber crime wing and a police station," a Deputy Inspector General rank officer of Mizoram Police said on condition of anonymity.

He said that bank frauds using information technology and abuse of social media have steadily increased in Mizoram.

"Women and children have mostly become victims of cyber crime. The state government is also considering setting up a cyber forensic laboratory and cyber training centre with financial assistance from the Union Home Ministry," the official added.
Qingdao (China), June 9 : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit here and signed deals on Beijing sharing Brahmaputra river data with New Delhi and India's export of rice to China.

The two leaders took stock of the developments of Sino-Indian relations after their ice-breaking summit at the Chinese central city of Wuhan in late April.

Xi and Modi had agreed to maintain peace along their 3,448-km-long disputed border over which the two countries went to war in 1962.

"Further strengthening the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship generated at the Wuhan informal summit, PM Narendra Modi had a warm and forward-looking meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit," India's External Affairs Ministry's spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

"Memorandum of understanding was signed between Ministry of Water Resources, the People's Republic of China, and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, the Republic of India, upon provision of hydrological information of the Brahmaputra river in flood season," the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The agreement enables the Chinese side to provide hydrological data in flood season from May 15 to October 15 every year. The article also enables the Chinese side to provide hydrological data if water level exceeds mutually agreed level during the non-flood season."

China had withheld the river data of Brahmaputra to India last year after Indian and Chinese military faced off at Doklam over a road being built by Beijing in the area.

"The 2006 Protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China has been amended to include the non-Basmati rice," the statement said.
New Delhi, June 9 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday paid tributes to freedom fighter Birsa Munda on his 118th death anniversary.

Gandhi, in a tweet, termed Birsa Munda as warrior of Tribal identity and self-pride.

"I pray the leader of Ulgulan Birsa Munda with full respect on the day of his sacrifice," the Congress chief said.

Gandhi also said that tribal culture was the base of Indian civilization.

"Today, the genuine tribute to Birsa Munda would be by standing with tribal brothers and sisters who are facing repression and displacement."

Birsa Munda was an Indian tribal freedom fighter, religious leader and folk hero, who belonged to the Munda tribe.
Mumbai, June 9 : Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan on Saturday mooted a "Maha Aghadi" (grand alliance) of all like-minded parties to challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 parliamentary and state assembly elections.

After a meeting of senior party leaders to review the political situation, and the feedback of district, division and state leaders, the party was now ready to go for a "grand alliance" in the state, he said.

"We want to ensure that by having such an alliance, the anti-BJP votes are not divided. We shall apprise Congress President Rahul Gandhi of this decision when we discuss the matter with him here next week," Chavan said.

He pointed out that in the recent Palghar Lok Sabha bypolls, in the five-cornered contest, the BJP got the advantage and won the seat due to the division of secular votes.

Chavan said it would be now up to the other parties in the state, like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Republican Party of India factions and the Communist Party of India (M), besides the Nationalist Congress Party to respond positively in the matter.

Though there was no immediate proposal of a seat-sharing formula, he indicated it could be worked out after the Congress top brass takes a final decision in the matter.

However, to a query whether the ruling ally Shiv Sena, which is bitterly critical of the BJP, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena would be a part of the grand alliance, Chavan said owing to the ideological differences, an alliance with them was "out of question".

Chavan also demanded that the Centre and state government make official statements regarding the alleged Maoist threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"These are a cause of serious concern. The government must clarify it immediately," Chavan urged.
New Delhi, June 9 : Amid rebellion in Karnataka Congress over Cabinet formation, former Minister M.B. Patil and working president of party's state unit Dinesh Gundu Rao, who were denied ministerial berths, on Saturday met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

According to sources, Patil met Gandhi and then had a meeting with party's senior leader Ahmed Patel.

The central leadership had called the disgruntled leaders for talks in order to resolve the matter after state Congress leadership could not placate them.

Considering the seniority of Patil in the party, he could be given a ministerial berth in the Karnataka Cabinet.

Patil was very upset on being denied a ministerial post and he had told reporters that "his self-respect was hurt".

Earlier, there were reports that the party would rotate ministers to placate disgruntled MLAs and that non-performers could be dropped after six months.

On the situation in Karnataka over distribution of portfolios, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said: "We are all here to serve the people to honour our manifesto, to honour the commitments we made to the people during our campaign, to the farmers, to the poor, to the unemployed youth and so on and so forth.

"These are processes and it is a very vibrant democracy which is full of sound and light. We are here to honour our commitments. These processes have to be lived through, gone through and then we come out with it."
Panaji, June 9 : Known for his steady flow of incisive press notes and, therefore, invariably billed as a 'paper tiger' by rivals in the BJP, former state Congress president Shantaram Naik died on Saturday after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 72 and is survived by wife Beena and son Archit.

Naik, who relinquished charge as the state Congress president in April, died on the way to a hospital in the morning.

Naik's wife is the sister of high profile criminal lawyer Ujjwal Nikam who, as special public prosecutor, was responsible for pleading the Maharastra government's case against the accused in the 1993 Mumbai terror attacks and 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi said: "I'm sorry to hear about the passing away of Shri Shantaram Naik... who played an important role in the battle for Goa's statehood."

"My condolences to his family in their time of grief. May his soul rest in peace."

In the ultra treacherous, double-crossing, party swapping world of Goa's politics, where a majority of Congress leaders, both youngsters and veterans, have brazenly walked in and out of political parties, Naik was a rare breed who stayed put in the party and was one of the rare few "original" Congressmen.

His faith in the party paid off over time with the Congress appointing him as the state president on numerous occasions. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha twice and Lok Sabha once in 1984.

"Shantaram Naik played his part as a Congressman in the development and progress in the state of Goa. Shantaram has worked for the party even to his last breath, because he was a state Congress president just a few months back. We have lost a great Congressman," former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro told IANS.

Not a mass-based politician, Naik, however, was known for his steady stream of media conferences and press notes on issues related to communalism and fascism, which often resulted in the Opposition, especially the BJP leadership in Goa, dubbing him as a "paper tiger".

Perhaps Naik's greatest contribution to the state as a politician was his role in granting of statehood to Goa, the country's smallest state in 1987, by moving a resolution in the Lok Sabha when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister.

The incident earned him the sobriquet 'Hero of the Zero Hour'. "His contribution for Goa's statehood and inclusion of Konkani language in the 8th schedule of the Constitution will always be remembered," Goa Congress spokesperson Amarnath Panjikar has said.

BJP's South Goa MP Narendra Savoikar also expressed sadness at Naik's sudden death. "As colleagues, though from different political parties, we shared and discussed on various issues concerning out state," Savoikar said.
New Delhi, June 9 : The Delhi government has approved 88 proposals and rejected 66 of the total 827 work estimates received till May 25 under the MLA Local Area Development (MLALAD) Scheme in the national capital, according to a Minister.

The remaining were under consideration, Urban Development Minister Satyendra Jain told the Delhi Assembly.

He informed the House on Thursday that the work estimates were rejected as they were not prepared as per the existing MLALAD guidelines.

The MLALAD fund was shifted to the Urban Development Department in December 2017 from the District Urban Development Agency.

Under the LAD scheme, started in 1994, an MLA in Delhi gets Rs 4 crore in a year to execute various works in his or her constituency.

Modelled on the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme, each MLA can suggest works to be done in their constituencies up to Rs 4 crore in a year with each individual project not exceeding Rs 2 crore.

The Delhi Assembly in April passed a resolution directing the authorities to formulate "strict" guidelines for the execution of works under MLALAD funds.

According to the guidelines, no executing agency should take more than 21 days for providing an estimate of work requested from an MLA and if there was any other proposal for the same work by other entities, the MLA concerned must be informed within seven days.
Rome, June 9 : A Nigerian national masquerading as an American missionary priest was nabbed upon landing at Rome's international airport with three kilos of pure heroin stitched into his laptop case, Italian police said on Saturday.

That amount of heroin has street retail value of over $1.2 million, according to a police statement cited by Xinhua news agency.

The fake priest claimed he was returning from missionary work in the African country of Mozambique. When customs agents at Fiumicino Airport began taking his luggage apart, he brandished a cross hanging around his neck and threatened the officers with excommunication, saying they were committing sacrilege.
New Delhi, June 9 : The Congress on Saturday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying the issue of Maoist threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be investigated and not used for "petty politics".

Briefing the media here, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said a threat to the security and the safety of the Prime Minister cannot be dismissed lightly even if it is a rumour or appears suspicious.

"It has to be taken seriously, it should be investigated and action should be taken if somebody is found guilty," said Khera, adding that the issue should not be politicised.

"Do not use a threat to the Prime Minister of India for petty politics," he said.

The country has lost two Prime Ministers and the entire leadership of Chhattisgarh to Naxal violence, he said.

Pune police on Thursday told a court that a plan to assassinate Modi in a "Rajiv Gandhi-like incident" was revealed in a letter seized from a suspected Maoist.

Khera took a dig at the BJP, saying the party "does not know how to conduct itself" when it wins or loses elections, or when it is in power.

"We know what it means, what it means to fight terrorism, to fight Naxalism...but do not play politics. We lost the leadership in Chhattisgarh when the BJP was in power. Did we play politics with that? No we did not... Please do not play politics with PM's security for god's sake," he said.
Qingdao, June 9 : Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a dinner here on Saturday to welcome guests ahead of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

"It is such a pleasure to have you with us here in Qingdao, Shandong province, on the shore of the Yellow Sea," Xi said in his address, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, a very warm welcome to all of you, particularly the state leaders and heads of international organisations who have come to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO," he said.

Shandong is the home province of Confucius and birthplace of Confucianism. An integral part of Chinese civilization, Confucianism believes that "a just cause should be pursued for the common good" and champions harmony, unity and a shared community for all nations, Xi told the guests.

Its emphasis on unity and harmony has much in common with the Shanghai Spirit, namely, mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, he said.

"The Shanghai Spirit's focus on seeking common ground while setting aside differences and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation has won widespread international endorsement and support," the Chinese President said.

Guided by the Shanghai Spirit, the SCO has delivered fruitful outcomes in security, economic and cultural cooperation and made historic strides in institution building, he said.

With eight member states, four observer states and six dialogue partners, the SCO has become an important force for upholding regional security, promoting common development and improving global governance, Xi said.

"Qingdao is a famous international sailing capital. It is from here that many ships set sail in pursuit of dreams. On Sunday, we will hold the first summit of the SCO after its expansion and draw up a blueprint for its future growth," Xi said.

"The Qingdao summit is a new departure point for us. Together, let us hoist the sail of the Shanghai Spirit, break waves and embark on a new voyage for our organisation," he said.
New Delhi, June 9 : Financial technology firm 63 moons, formerly known as FTIL on Saturday said that National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai, has dismissed the plea of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to supersede its Board.

According to the firm, NCLT has exonerated the present Board of 63 moons of "all the baseless allegations of oppression and mismanagement".

Welcoming the NCLT order, 63 moons Managing Director and CEO S. Rajendran said: "We are extremely happy to note that NCLT has rejected MCA's prayer to supersede the Board of 63 moons in connection with the payment defaults that occurred at one of our subsidiaries, National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) in 2013."

"This judicial order in fact confirms the opinion given by Law Ministry way back in June 2014 to MCA, of non-applicability of Section 397 and many such sections on FTIL. The order has also given a clean chit to the current Board of 63 moons of any alleged misconduct or wrongdoing against the interest of its shareholders."

However, the company said that it will go for a review of certain aspects of the order.

"We are completely shocked and astonished to note that the NCLT order has applied Section 388B and such sections against some of the past directors who were not even on Board of NSEL i.e. Manjay Shah and Dewang Neralla and strangely in case of Jignesh Shah, Section 388B is applied on the basis of material beyond the original petition filed by MCA in 2015," said Rajendran.

"Shockingly, out of the three directors of FTIL, only Jignesh Shah was on Board of NSEL and no Section 397 proceedings are initiated against NSEL nor any Section 388B is upheld against any other directors of NSEL including other directors of FTIL who were also on NSEL Board. This complete contradiction is one of the many unexplained and unsubstantiated inconsistencies in the Order".
Bengaluru, June 9 : The fledgling JD-S-Congress coalition government in Karnataka would start working from Monday, as most of the cabinet ministers went to their constituencies for the week-end, said an official on Saturday.

"As government offices are closed on second Saturday and the support staff were also on leave at the state secretariat here, the 25 new cabinet ministers will work from Monday," the senior official told IANS, preferring anonymity.

Of the 25 ministers, 14 are from Congress and 9 from Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and one each from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Karnataka Pragnyavanta Janata Paksha (KPJP), which are allies of both the coalition partners.

Though all the cabinet ministers took oath on Wednesday, portfolios were allocated on Friday night, as many of them were vying for high-profile posts between the alliance partners.

"As portfolio allocation got delayed by 2 days and the ministers were unaware of them till Friday night, they decided to assume charge on Monday when offices re-open after the weekend break," said the official.

As per the agreement between the alliance partners, the cabinet posts and portfolios are shared in the ratio of 21:11, with the Congress getting 21, including the Deputy Chief Minister rank, as it has 78 legislators in the hung assembly, and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-) 11, including Chief Minister rank, as it has 36 lawmakers.

JD-S leader H.D. Kumaraswamy and Congress state unit president G. Parameshwara were sworn-in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister on May 23.

The Congress has six more cabinet berths and the JD-S one more to fill in the 34-member ministry, which is 15 per cent of the 225-member assembly strength.

In a related development, Kumaraswamy advised his party ministers G.T. Devegowda and C.S. Puttaraju to work with the portfolios they were allocated than seeking change.

Devegowda, who studied only up to 8th standard, has been allocated Higher Education and Puttaraju Minior Irrigation though he wanted Transport.

"Even I have studied only up to degree (B.Sc). Yet, I am the Chief Minister. It is not education qualification or which portfolio that matters. All posts give same opportunity to work and serve the people. Is there a better department than Higher Education and Minor Irrigation to work?" Kumaraswamy told reporters here later.
Thiruvananthapuram, June 09 : Despite explicit instructions from the high command to desist from indulging in mudslinging at one another, party leaders on Saturday continued their war of words over the state leaderships arbitrary allocation of the sole rajya sabha seat UDF can win to the K M Manis KC(M).

Pulling no punches, young congress MLA V T Balram in a facebook post called for a reshuffle of the top brass of the party in the state, saying that the congress deserved a better set of leaders at the helm.

Balram hit out at the state leadership, saying that the hare-brained decision to allot the rajya sabha seat was taken without discussing it in party forums, adding that its fallout would be a dangerous communal polarisation.

Within minutes of Balrams facebook post, another young turk of the congress Anil Akkara also joined him in calling for revamp of the party state leadership.

Former KPCC president V M Sudheeran also blasted the decision to give the upper house seat to the KC(M), charging that the decision was tantamount to a betrayal of the congress workers in the state.

Describing the decision as mysterious and an act of sabotage, he said that there was a general feeling among the congress rank and file that the seat was given to the KC(M) to thwart the prospects of another congress leader.

Outgoing rajya sabha MP P J Kurien also fired a salvo against the state leadership on Saturday. Speaking at a presser, he charged that the allocation of the rajya sabha seat to the KC(M) was part of Oommen Chandys agenda to keep him out. He had earlier accused Chandy of instigating young congress MLAs to revolt against giving him another term in the rajya sabha.

Senior leaders like Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and K Muraleedharan had also come out strongly against the congress relinquishing its claim to the rajya sabha seat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China on June 9, 2018. Image Source: IANS

: Qingdao: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China on June 9, 2018. (Photo: ... Image Source: IANS

Qingdao (China), June 9 : India and China on Saturday made some fairly big announcements, including Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India, as he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.

The two leaders, who met a second time in just over a month after their informal summit in Wuhan, had a "substantive" meeting in which they took stock of the developments in the Sino-Indian ties after their ice-breaking meeting in late April.

Both countries decided to set a trade target of $100 billion and Beijing showed its readiness to open its market to Indian pharmaceutical as well as agriculture products.

"One of the outcomes of the meeting is that the Chinese side conveyed they have accepted the Prime Minister's invitation to Xi Jinping to have a Wuhan-like informal summit in India in 2019," India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

"It was a longish meeting which went close to one hour. It was a very substantive meeting.

"Both also agreed to, as they had decided in Wuhan, maintaining strategic communications between them through various channels ... through telephone calls and frequent meetings on the sidelines of multilateral events."

Gokhale said that Modi and Xi would again meet on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in South Africa.

He said Chinese Defence Minister as well as the Minister of Public Security would also visit India this year.

Some discussion on trade and investment-related issue also came up, according to Gokhale.

Xi told Modi that the two countries should set a trade target of 100 billion dollars by 2020.

Xi said China was looking to enhance imports of agriculture products from India including non-Basmati rice and sugar.

The Chinese side said it would also encourage high-quality Indian pharmaceuticals products in the Chinese market.

India has been pushing for pharmaceutical exports to China.

Gokhale said Modi conveyed to Xi India's readiness to permit Bank of China to establish its branch in Mumbai.

The two leaders also signed deals about Beijing sharing Brahamaputra river data with New Delhi and India's export of rice to China.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com)
Quebec City, June 10 : Renegotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could lead to a new trilateral trade deal with substantial changes or two separate trade agreements, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

"We'll either leave it the way it is as a threesome deal with Canada, the US and Mexico, and change it very substantially... Or we're going to make a deal directly with Canada, directly with Mexico," Xinhua quoted Trump as saying at a press conference at the Group of Seven (G7) summit here in Canada.

"So we are either going to have NAFTA in a better negotiated form or we're going to have two deals. Both of those things could happen," Trump said, warning that it would be "very bad" for Canada and Mexico if no deal could be reached among the three countries.

Trump also said NAFTA negotiators were "pretty close" to agree on some kind of sunset provision, which could allow the trade agreement to be renegotiated every five years.

Talks on renegotiating the NAFTA began in August 2017 as Trump threatened to withdraw from the 23-year-old trade deal. The three countries remain divided over the rules of origin for automobiles and other issues following months-long negotiations.

The G7 summit came after the Trump administration announced last week to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico, which has drawn strong opposition from the domestic business community and quick retaliation from US major trading partners.

Trump said he had demanded for "fair and reciprocal" trade practices and proposed to eliminate all trade barriers at the G7 summit.

"No tariffs, no barriers, that's the way it should be, and no subsidies," he said, warning that other countries could lose access to the United States if they don't reduce trade barriers.

"I did suggest it and people were -- I guess they're going to go back to the drawing board and check it out," Trump said.

Trade experts and officials are skeptical about Trump's idea of zero tariffs, as the Trump administration has slapped high tariffs on imports of solar panel, washing machines, steel and aluminum products.

European Council President Donald Tusk warned on Friday that Trump's protectionist trade measures pose a threat to the rules-based international order.

"What worries me most, however, is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged. Quite surprisingly, not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor: the US," Tusk said, adding the US and other G7 members would continue to disagree on trade, climate change and the Iran nuclear deal.
Stertil-Koni Honors the 2018 Aspire Award Winners We are honored to receive this award. It really confirms our hard work is paying off.

Heavy duty vehicle lift leader Stertil-Koni today announced that six distributors in its North American network have been recognized as Aspire Program awardees based on their 2017 sales growth.

The coveted Aspire Program, now entering its third year, salutes Stertil-Koni distributors who have achieved marked incremental sales gains on a year-over-year basis, thereby placing them in a new, heightened level of performance.

Recipients were recognized at Stertil-Konis recent 22nd Annual Distributor Meeting  and the reactions show just how excited the honorees were.

One of those accepting the award, Chris Bussey, regional sales manager with Reeder Distributors, Inc., noted: It is gratifying to be recognized by Stertil-Koni for the hard work that Reeder Distributors has put forth over the past few years to get to the point where we are today. It has been a great partnership between Reeder and Stertil-Koni and we greatly appreciate the opportunity to grow alongside them.

Planning and goal-setting has been a big part of the collective success. Bussey added, Reeder Distributors has taken a deliberate and focused approach toward the heavy duty market within the Texas and Louisiana region. We, together with Stertil-Koni USA, developed a team to target this market.

Another Aspire Program Award recipient, Kayla Fay, president of Northwest Lifts, echoed the sentiment when she said, We are honored to receive this award. It really confirms our hard work is paying off.

In all, six independent Stertil-Koni exclusive distributors received the Aspire Program Award. These were:

1. Midwest Equipment Specialists  headquartered in McFarland, WI

2. Northwest Lift & Equipment  headquartered in Hillsboro, OR

3. Reeder Distributors Inc.  headquartered in Fort Worth, TX

4. USA Lifts  headquartered in Bloomington, IL

5. Southwest Lift & Equipment  headquartered in San Bernardino, CA

6. Vendor Network  headquartered in Bronxville, NY

In making the announcement, Stertil-Koni President, Dr. Jean DellAmore noted, Stertil-Koni distributors are a highly trained, focused and an extremely service-oriented group. It is my distinct pleasure to honor those who have had an outstanding year of growth. I also want to thank all of our distributors for their contributions in 2017. Together, they truly provide our expanding customer base with what we believe is the broadest range of high quality, high performance heavy duty vehicle lifting systems in the industry  all combined with exceptional customer service.

In conclusion, Dr. DellAmore added, through the years, our partnership with our distributors has only grown stronger and has helped to solidify our leadership position in the industry. We have the very best heavy duty vehicle lift distributors in North America each of whom we are proud to say is exclusive to Stertil-Koni in our sector.

About Stertil-Koni

Stertil-Koni is the market leader in heavy duty vehicle lifts, notably bus lifts and truck lifts, and proudly serves municipalities, state agencies, school bus fleets, major corporations, the U.S. Military and more. Stertil-Koni's breadth of products meets all ranges of lifting needs and includes portable lifts such as mobile column lifts, 2-post, 4-post, inground piston lifts, platform lifts, and its axle-engaging, inground, scissor lift configuration, ECOLIFT. The companys innovative, inground telescopic piston DIAMONDLIFT is now available with an optional Continuous Recess system, ideal for low clearance vehicles. Stertil-Koni USA is headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland with production facilities in Europe, The Netherlands, and in Streator, IL.
The United Nations Foundation today announced that Jeffrey Feltman, a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and former official with the U.S. Department of State, will join the Foundation as a Senior Fellow.

In this role, Feltman will provide strategic advice and counsel to the Foundation on its work supporting the UN and strengthening the multilateral system, especially on fast-moving peace and security issues.

Elizabeth Cousens, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the UN Foundation, said:

Jeff Feltman is a strategic thinker, a savvy diplomat, and a committed peacemaker. For more than three decades, he has served on the front lines of international affairs  working to resolve conflict and foster peace and understanding in some of the worlds toughest trouble spots. His experience and insights will be invaluable to the UN Foundations work to help the UN advance peace and progress for everyone, everywhere.

Feltman has deep experience in diplomacy and international affairs. He served as the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs from 2012 until March 2018, where he led UN conflict prevention, mediation, and peace efforts. Before joining the UN, Feltman worked in the U.S. foreign service for more than 26 years, focusing especially on Middle East affairs. During his time at the U.S. Department of State, he served as a U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, as well as worked in Iraq, Hungary, Tunisia, Israel, and Haiti.

Feltman received a bachelors degree in history and fine arts from Ball State University and a masters degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He speaks Arabic, French, and Hungarian.

About the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the worlds most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors. Learn more at: http://www.unfoundation.org.
Maria Dahvana Headleys bold new novel, The Mere Wife (MCD, June), is a retelling of Beowulf set against the backdrop of contemporary America and dealing with subjects such as PTSD and economic inequality. But to hear Headley tell it, a key moment of inspiration came when she first sat down with Richard Yatess 1961 novel Revolutionary Road. I grew up in rural, weird, survivalist Idaho, she says. So the notion of Revolutionary Road, where the misery is the suburb, was jarring to me, because the suburbs to me as a kid always seemed like success and potentiala fixed life, a happy and functional life.

Headleys books span a host of styles and genres: shes written YA novels (Magonia and Aerie), a memoir (The Year of Yes), and a novel set among royalty and immortals in ancient Egypt (Queen of Kings).

The story of Beowulf has been told and retold numerous times over the centuries. A quick primer: a monster, Grendel, menaces Herot Hall, the palace of the Danish king. A warrior, Beowulf, arrives and defeats both Grendel and his mother; later, Beowulf faces a dragon and is less lucky. Some may be familiar with Seamus Heaneys acclaimed 1999 translation, or John Gardners revisionist 1971 novel Grendel.

The Mere Wifes version of Herot Hall is a suburban development built in the shadow of a mountain and on the ashes of a working-class community. And though the original story of Beowulf is largely framed as the story of two men, Headley has centered her retelling around a pair of women, and in doing so questions exactly what makes a hero heroic and what makes a monster monstrous.

Headley became aware of these issues in the narrative after looking at the original text of the poem in Old English. (Her own verse translation of Beowulf is due to be published in 2019.) I was writing this book in 2015, so we were at the beginning of the Trump momentwe were at the beginning of knowing that some of these politics were starting to shift and that people were behind itand I was interested in that notion of that kind of hero, she says. She points out the same word has been translated variously as hero and monster from the original. Its the same word used for Beowulf, Grendel, and Grendels mother, Headley adds. The feminine version of it is usually translated as hag or monster; the masculine version, for Beowulf, is translated as hero, but its the same word. Its out of that linguistic ambiguity that much of the power of this novel arises.

The Mere Wife opens in the aftermath of war: Dana, a soldier, is taken captive by extremists and mysteriously escapes death. She returns to her hometown pregnant and gives birth to Gren; the two then take refuge within the mountain outside of Herot Hall. I was thinking about the ways that we make war on the backs of people who are marginalized within the war, even as soldiers, Headley says, citing the rescue of Jessica Lynch, who was taken prisoner during the Iraq War, and the media narrative that surrounded it as one inspiration for this aspect of her novel.

When I started to research the discussion of translations for Grendels mother, I thought, Oh, its all there. This is a solider who has PTSD. This is a veteran,  Headley says. Its Danas scars, literal and metaphorical, that cause her to keep her son Grenwho even from a young age seems somehow different from other childrenaway from the world.

This is a book about the creation of monstersbecause of confusion, uncertainty, racist fears, and fears of the other, Headley notes. Even within her, [Dana] has a fear that is pretty justified: that her son will be seen as so other that he will be killed.

This mother-son pair, Dana and Gren, exists in sharp contrast to another: Willa, who is married to the wealthy suburban developer, and her son, Dylan. Each mother is intent on protecting her son, while the two children secretly become friends.

Its at this point in the narrative that The Mere Wifes Beowulf counterpart arrives. The story of Beowulf to me is interesting because in the original, Beowulf is a flawed man searching for validation of his masculinity, Headley says.

In the novel, Beowulf becomes Ben Woolf, a veteran small-town police officer in way over his head. The fact that he shares a surname with Virginia Woolf is no coincidence. Im interested in the way that Woolf wrote about heroic narrative, really, Headley says. Im interested in how she shaped her own heroic narrative. The list of really, really famous female writers is not as long as it should be, but shes one of them, and I thought it would be interesting to align Ben and his ongoing discomfort with her.

For Headley, there was no shortage of ways in which the story of Beowulf overlapped with contemporary concerns and anxieties. One of the things that Im constantly thinking about is the way that hero and villain myths have shaped the culture that we live in, she says, and also the ways that we justify ourselves in terms of being allowed to colonize and gentrify aggressively, allowed to resegregate, and the ways that we make that seem plausible to ourselvesthe way that we justify police violence, another hero-villain motif.

Early in our conversation, Headley described her childhood as having survivalist elements. Much of The Mere Wife consists of scenes of a mother and son living in a harsh environment. It was very easy for me to write those parts from my own experience as a child being raised with a father who is very intelligent and very unhinged, Headley says. I dont necessarily think that Dana is very unhinged. I think shes logical. She knows what the world is like, and shes afraid, and shes taking extreme measures. But my father was a person who was very tempted by the world, but he also felt that the world was going to come and create giant problems. He was not your traditional survivalist.

As Headley wrote and revised her novel, the state of American politics continued to inform its shape. It was already a political book, but then I would say it became more political, she says. Because just the knowledge of how easy it is to institute an other, with just a few wordsto say, That person is a monster... Thats what weve been looking at now for the last couple of years: constant declarations of monsterhood.

In The Mere Wife, Headley finds an ideal balance between the accumulated weight of old stories and the contemporary issues keeping some people awake at night. For her, thats an essential part of the power of storytellingsomething shes especially learned through her writings for younger readers.

You can change the world with stories, Headley says. These stories changed the world. Beowulf changed the world. So Im maybe slightly utopian in that regard.

Tobias Carroll is the author of the novel Reel and the story collection Transitory.
Doubleday Gets Older with Maigret and Mas

In a preempt, Doubledays Shelley Wanger took North American rights to Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mass Older but Better, but Older. The authors, who wrote the bestseller How to Be a Parisian Wherever You Are, were represented by agent Susanna Lea, who has an eponymous shingle. This book, Lea said, is an irreverent, playful account of leaving your youth behind. Rights had also sold, at press time, to publishers in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K.

Hajdu Goes Graphic at Columbia

David Hajdu (Positively 4th Street) sold his first work of graphic nonfiction to Columbia University Press. Phillip Leventhal at Columbia took world English rights to A Revolution in Three Acts from Chris Calhoun at the Chris Calhoun Agency. Calhoun said the book is a historical story of three wildly transgressive stars of the Vaudeville stage: Bert Williams, the African-American minstrel performer; Eva Tanguay, the I Dont Care girl; and Julian Eltinge, a female impersonator. Cartoonist John Carey is handling art for the book.

Gallery Buys New Andrews Titles

Gallery Books Jennifer Bergstrom inked a four-book deal, with Writers House, to continue publishing V.C. Andrewsbylined books. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic) died in 1986, but her series has lived on; Flowers in the Attic titles have continually been released for over 30 years. Al Zuckerman at WH inked the world rights agreement, through which Andrew Neiderman (The Devils Advocate) will continue to pen the Andrews-branded titles. The first book under the deal is titled The Swan and, per Zuckerman, explores the story of the first Corrine, the grandmother of the mother who locks her children in an attic in Flowers in the Attic. Its planned that The Swan and its sequel will be two of the four titles under this deal. The publication of the original Flowers in the Attic will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year.

Morrow Re-ups Shalvis

Bestselling author Jill Shalvis signed a four-book deal with William Morrow and its Avon imprint. The world rights agreement, brokered by Shalviss current editor, May Chen, and Writers House agent Robin Rue, covers three new Heartbreaker Bay contemporary romances that will be released by Avon, as well as a womens fiction trade paperback to be published by Morrow.

Wallace Kennedy Hits the Road with Bloomsbury

Nancy Miller at Bloomsbury bought North American rights to a book by Peggy Wallace Kennedy, the daughter of former Alabama governor and vocal Jim Crow supporter George Wallace. The book, titled The Broken Road, will offer, Bloomsbury said, a powerful look back at [the authors] political awakening and her life as the daughter of one of Americas most virulent segregationists. Wallace Kennedy, who is writing The Broken Road with her husband Mark Kennedy (a former Alabama Supreme Court justice), is now, as Bloomsbury put it, a noted racial reconciliation advocate; she was represented by Gail Ross at the Ross Yoon Agency, and the book is set for winter 2020.

Briefs

Eileen Rothschild at St. Martins Press took world rights to three new books in Emily Marchs bestselling Eternity Springs series. Meg Ruley and Christina Hogrebe at the Jane Rotrosen Agency represented March, who will, with the books released under the deal, be branching the series out to a new plot arc called the McBrides of Texas. The contemporary romances, set in a small town, will begin with Boone in spring 2019 and, SMP said, will be a family-linked trilogy set within the Eternity Springs world.

For Thomas & Mercer, Jessica Tribble bought world rights, at auction, to a currently untitled debut by Vanessa Lillie. The psychological suspense title was sold by Victoria Sanders at Victoria Sanders & Associates; she said the novel, set for 2019, follows a new mother suffering from postpartum psychosis while reeling from the brutal murder of a close friend.

John Scognamiglio at Kensington nabbed world rights to James D. Shipmans Task Force Baum in a deal brokered by Evan Marshall at the Evan Marshall Agency. The novel is based on the true story of the secret mission orchestrated by General Patton in March 1945 that sent a group of American soldiers into Germany. Kensington said the unauthorized raid saw 300 men dash 50 miles behind enemy lines to liberate a POW camp because one of its prisoners was [Pattons] son-in-law. Shipmans book, Kensington added, tells the story of the raid from three different points of view.

In another deal at St. Martins Press, Peter Wolverton took world English rights to Brian C. Murareskus The Religion with No Name. The book, subtitled Rediscovering a Lost History of Psychedelics, the Secret Origins of Christianity and the Faith of the Future, was described by SMP as David Grann meets Dan Brown and chronicles the authors attempts to reveal how psychedelics hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos and the meaning of life, and why these taboo substances are destined to save a civilization in crisis. Emma Parry at Janklow & Nesbit represented the author.

Sasquatch Books Susan Roxborough acquired world rights to Melissa Harts Better with Books: 500 Diverse Novels to Open Minds, Ignite Empathy, and Encourage Self-Acceptance in Teens. The nonfiction title was sold by Jennifer Unter at the Unter Agency and will, the agent said, help young readers explore social issues affecting their lives. The book is set for April 2019.

For more childrens and YA book deals, see our latest Rights Report.
Humanoids, a French-owned, Los Angelesbased publisher of French graphic novels, is expanding its catalogue with three new lines: a character-driven imprint focused on personal memoir called Life Drawn, which launched in April; a childrens/YA line called Humanoids Kids, which launched in fall 2017; and another imprint to be announced in October at New York Comic Con. The new imprints bring variety to the Humanoids list, which is best known for epic science fiction, as the company looks to attract new readers while retaining its core audience.

Humanoids was founded in Paris in 1974 by comics artists Moebius (Jean Giraud) and Philippe Druillet and writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet. Swiss entrepreneur Fabrice Giger purchased the company in 1988, and under his stewardship, it established offices in the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. office became the companys headquarters in 2013, and it has added a production division to work on developing its properties for other media.

The publishers core line includes multivolume sci-fi sagas such as Moebius and Alejandro Jodorowskys The Incal and Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenezs The Metabarons, as well as long list of popular crime, humor, and action/adventure stories. Humanoids is also known for its oversize hardcover volumes and high production values. In addition to graphic novels, Humanoids founded the legendary French comics anthology magazine Metal hurlant, which later became Heavy Metal after it was sold to American ownership.

The Life Drawn titles are a departure from the companys previous books. In what we call the Humanoids core line, the characters play their roles in a larger, epic tale, Giger said. In the Life Drawn books, the characters are the story; its all about them.

Life Drawn launched in April with the first volume of Nicholas Wilds Kabul Disco, a memoir of Wilds time in Afghanistan; the second volume of the trilogy will be out in September. In May, Life Drawn will publish the first volume of Clement Baloups Vietnamese Memories, a collection of first-person stories of Vietnamese immigrants living in France. Following in June will be Carole Maurels Luisa, a young adult graphic novel with an LGBTQ twist about a 15-year-old girl who travels forward in time and meets her 33-year-old self. Humanoids brought in noted American writer Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer) to adapt Luisa for American readers.

The Life Drawn titles all come from another French publisher, La Boite a Bulles, with which Humanoids formed a partnership last year. Giger credits La Boite a Bulles founder Vincent Henry with building the line: Its a type of content that was not previously covered by Humanoidsnot because we didnt want to [cover it], but because it is highly complicated to build a coherent, and profitable, graphic novel catalogue in that field, Giger said. And that is precisely what Vincent has achieved in the past 15 years.

Humanoids juvenile line launched in August 2017 with the first volume of Gregory and the Gargoyles by Denis-Pierre Filippi, J. Etienne, and Silvio Camboni. The three-volume series was a top seller for Humanoids in Europe, Giger said, and he hopes to replicate its success with English-language readers. The young readers catalogue also includes The Magical Twins, a childrens book by Jodorowskywhich, Giger points out, is a book that adult fans of Jodorowskys work can share with their children.

Humanoids director of sales and marketing Jud Meyers said the publisher will be at the American Library Associations Annual Conference this month, as well as at the Thought Bubble comics convention in the U.K. in September.

Meyers said the publisher will be marketing the new material to bookstores and to the comic shop market. The bookstore market has always been our bread and butter, Meyers said. The content we are coming out with is very much bookstore/library/school material, because its topicalthere is social/political content, very emotional content. However, we all know the trend in the direct market has been toward graphic novels and away from periodicals. We are seeing with the orders for Kabul Disco, which are very healthy, that the direct market stores understand that they need to have more [graphic novels] because thats what people want.

Giger sees the new imprints as an addition that stays close to the companys roots in terms of stories and production values. I believe that this new imprint will appeal to many of our core readers, as they will find our usual Humanoids touch: well-curated books with a strikingly original tone, he said. But we also expect to capture a brand new readership: individuals of all ages and gender who have been moved by [graphic works of memoir and literary fiction] and consequently made a success of books such as Persepolis, Blankets, and Maus.

Correction: Humanoids no longer publishes Metal hurlant.
David R. Godine, Publisher has more than 500 titles in print, including works by celebrated authors whose careers have taken decades to bear fruit, such as Nobel laureates J.M.G. Le Clezio and Patrick Modiano. Yet in the nearly half-century of the Boston-based houses existence, it hasnt relaunched a bookuntil now.

Godine is reissuing the works of Andre Dubus with the publication of three short story collections: We Dont Live Here Anymore (June), The Winter Father (June), and The Cross Country Runner (Sept.). The collections, which feature writings by Dubus from 1966 to his death in 1999, have reset interiors and new cover art. The third volume also includes stories previously published only in periodicals. In addition, each book has an introduction, written by authors Ann Beattie, Richard Russo, and Tobias Wolff, respectively.

The project is the brainchild of Joshua Bodwell, who runs the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. In 2016, Bodwell took note of the relaunching of a number of writersincluding Lucia Berlin, James Salter, and Joy Williamswhose writing, he said, had been languishing in certain ways.

I realized that the last repackaging of Dubus had been many years ago, Bodwell said. Though Dubuss sales have been steady and he has a devoted readership among MFA teachers and students, he has had little in the way of a general audience. As a longtime reader of Godine books, Bodwell had profiled the press for a feature in Poets & Writers in 2005 and knew of its long-standing relationship with Dubus.

Bodwell, who wrote a 2008 piece entitled The Art of Reading Andre Dubus, decided to approach publisher David Godine with the idea of reissuing Dubus. The time is perfect, given all these writers writers having moments, he told Godine, who agreed.

Godine first read Dubus in 1974, when agent Phillip Spitzer handed him a copy of Separate Flights in a brown paper bag over lunch in New York City. Godine read it all night, and he called Spitzer the following morning and acquired the manuscript outright.

Dubus, who would only pen a handful of longer works in his career, thought it was something of a miracle that anyone would buy the book without the promise of a novel forthcoming, Godine said. Dubus published with the press for the rest of his life, even when more lucrative offers from large publishers were on the table.

Dubus was so anomalous, Godine said. He was really from the South. He took the Louisiana part of his life and what he spoke to was the Northeast experience. Thirty years before Boston became a city on steroids, these towns were dying, he added, speaking of the New England river and mill towns that feature heavily in Dubuss writings. You saw that. You read a story like The Fat Girl and you really heard the dialect of Haverhill and the North Shore and connected it with a universal humanity and with a real sympathy, especially for women.

George Gibson, executive editor at Grove, was with Godine from 1974 to 1985 and knew Dubus well, attending every Red Sox opening day with him for years. When Bodwell started his work to relaunch Dubuss writing, Godine put him in touch with Gibson so that the latter could share his experiences of knowing and working with Dubus.

Its thrilling to see, Gibson said, noting that new readers will encounter a uniqueness in Dubus. Theres an enormous humanity in his characters. They are every man, every person, every woman. They are enormously human. Theyre very realpainfully so at times. They reveal all of their foibles and weaknesses in powerful ways. I think Andre is truly one of the great writers of the latter half of the 20th century. Hes one of the finest short story writers weve ever had.

In reissuing the books, Bodwell found a welcoming community of writers at the ready to support his effort, beginning with Dubuss son, the novelist Andre Dubus III, who Bodwell said was incredibly helpful in securing and organizing the material. All three authors who were asked to write introductions said yes right away, as did a cadre of writers who were asked to provide blurbs, including Molly Antopol, Richard Ford, Peter Orner, and Elizabeth Strout.

That community of writers is an extension of the one that Dubus cultivated in his lifetime, Godine noted, recalling the 1987 fund-raiser that was arranged to help pay Dubuss medical bills after he was hit by a car while attempting to help two injured motorists outside of Boston. In four nights of readings in Cambridge, Mass., authors including Beattie, E.L. Doctorow, John Irving, Gail Godwin, Stephen King, John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, and Richard Yates raised $86,000 for Dubus.

To promote the reissues, Godine has arranged for Beatties introduction to appear in the Paris Review, and Richard Russos will be published in the New Yorker. In addition, the publisher is hosting a June 20 launch for the book at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, where filmmaker Todd Field will screen In the Bedroom, which is based on the story Killings by Dubus, followed by a q&a. For booksellers, the publisher is offering a free copy to each bookstore that buys six copies or more of the new editions.

As he prepares to reissue the books, Godine reflected on his long history with Dubus. If we are a success with an author, we dont [usually] hold on to that author for very long. We kept Andre because Andre insisted on it.
As the romance world grapples with its need to be more diverseand to reflect that diversity in its offeringsbook covers are on the front lines of the battle. And several authors experiences suggest that some readers may be more reluctant to pick up romances whose jackets feature characters of color.

Take the first two covers in Alana Albertsons self-published romance series the Trident Code. Both show a long-haired beauty, her head tilted to receive a kiss from the handsome, muscular man cradling her jaw.

Steamy, right? Albertson thought so. But sales figures revealed something troubling to her.

The first book, Invincible (2014), featuring a white man on the cover, made $9,500 in its first year, Albertson said. The second, Invaluable (2017), earned just $1,375 in its first year despite being similarly rated in reviews. Although its not uncommon for series to see a drop in sales from the first title to the second, the difference, Albertson says, is that Invaluables cover depicted a black manand readers werent buying.

Its absolutely heartbreaking, says Albertson, a biracial Mexican-American who writes characters of many ethnicities in her books. It just tanked.

A similar experience for Naima Simone had her publisher, Entangled Publishing, questioning what it could have done better to promote Simones Scoring with the Wrong Twin (WAGS #1, 2018), a book featuring a black hero, which sold fewer copies in its first two months than the second book in the series, Scoring Off the Field, sold in its first two weeks. The latter cover featured a white hero.

Is it my fault? Am I not finding the readers for this book? asks Liz Pelletier, Entangleds cofounder and publisher. It brought home the fact that she and the Entangled staff need to do more to reach new readers.

Love Is Love

Latoya C. Smith, an agent with the L. Perkins Agency who was named 2017s agent of the year by RWANYC, says publishers need to treat romances with multicultural characters and authors as they would any other book in the genre.

Lets say its a contemporary romance; you would promote that the same way that you would promote any other contemporary romance, says Smith, whose clients include LaQuette, an author of erotic, multicultural romances. Treat the covers the same way, treat the marketing the same way.

Authors and editors say theyve seen more readers picking up books whose covers feature multicultural characters, written by authors of color, in the young adult genreand they think the same can happen in romance if publishers do more to seek out such titles. Its important, they say, that the models used on the covers of those books accurately represent the ethnicity of the main characters.

When readers walk into a bookstore, they [should] have a variety of choices, so that theyre seeing covers featuring happy, gorgeous couples of color in love, says Tara Gelsomino, former executive editor at Crimson Romance, which Simon & Schuster closed in March. She launched One Track Literary Agency in April and says shes seeking own voices stories. Change has to start somewhere, and if were considered the gatekeepers, we have to open the gate wider.

Leslye Penelope, who writes under the name L. Penelope, says that for her self-published debut novel, Song of Blood & Stone, having a black woman on the cover was a must, and ultimately very powerful. I thought about younger Leslye walking through the bookstore craving covers that looked like her, she says. It was important to have that cover.

For LaQuette, a good cover is artful, sexy, and still tasteful, and above all doesnt fetishize the characters depicted.

Shannon Criss, senior acquisitions editor at EverAfter Romance, says that in an ideal world, an appealing, professionally done cover should catch any romance readers eye, regardless of the skin color of the character or couple portrayed. We all judge books by covers, she says. But [it should not be] because they have an African-American person on the cover.

Cameras Ready

The major hurdle, authors and editors say, is finding professionally shot, appropriate photos featuring models of color. Albertson recalls searching the internet for interracial stock photos once and being horrified at the search results, which included offensive depictions of men of color in chains.

Most recently, Albertson says, shes struggled to find a Mexican-American model to portray a Mexican-American character named Joaquin on the cover of an upcoming book. Im this close to hitting the local bars near the Marine Corps base and walking up to some men: Hey, want to be on the cover of my book?  she says.

Jenn LeBlanc, a Los Angeles photographer, often does custom work for authors and has made a concerted effort to build a stock photo portfolio with images representing a number of multicultural groups, including the LGBTQ and disabled communities, and a variety of romantic combinations. To make headway on that goal, shes putting together a big shoot this summer.

Were going to go through and make this big matrix of peoplea big checkerboardand see how many we can mix and match, LeBlanc says. We can shoot straight, we can shoot queer, we can shoot everything.

Mina V. Esguerra, whose next self-published romance is What Kind of Day (June), spearheaded a similar effort within her writing community in the Philippines to crowdfund a photo shoot featuring Filipino models. The group, known as #RomanceClass, began after Esguerra hosted a free workshop in 2013 to encourage Filipino romance readers to start writing and publishing their own stories. Their books, which are available via Amazon and other online retailers, are written in English and mainly feature Filipino characters. Before the photo shoot, however, many of the titles covers had to be digitally illustrated because stock photography featuring Filipinos was rare.

When the covers featuring the models started coming out and getting published, there was excitementreal excitementto finally see Filipino faces on the cover, Esquerra says.

The main thing to keep in mind when designing covers, Esguerra and other authors of color say, is that representation matters. We should see ourselves [on covers], she says. And we should also see someone that we like.

For more on romance cover design, see Everyone Judges a Book By Its CoverSo Choose Wisely."

Return to the main feature.
In a shock move, communications giant Verizon has announced that CEO Lowell McAdam is stepping down as of 1 August, to be replaced with the sometimes controversial former Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg.





Vestberg was hired as the corporations CTO a little more than a year ago, tasked with what the company said were fibre-centric businesses as well as the wireless networks.McAdam, who has been with the company for 35 years, seven of them as CEO, said that Vestberg will shepherd the companys 5G aspirations going forward."I know that he has the right expertise, experience and business acumen to lead us forward and build on our strategy, McAdam noted in a note to employees. Importantly, Hans is an inspiring leader, with high energy and a passion for delivering on the core values that truly make Verizon the world leader it is today."He added, As I think about the power of 5G, I am convinced that this is a significant and pivotal time for Verizon and our entire industry  and now is the time to bring Verizon into its next chapter.He also said that his retirement has been planned for some time, with the move being the endgame in a two-year plan. McAdam will remain as executive chairman of the board through the end of the year, and then serve as chairman in a non-executive capacity starting in 2019.Under McAdam, Verizon completed the $130 billion buyout of Vodafones wireless business in 2014, and acquired Yahoo and AOL to diversify into digital media. Verizons stock price has also increased 36 percent during his tenure.Vestberg meanwhile stepped down as Ericsson chief in 2016 after dismal earnings resulted in sustained criticism of his leadership of the infrastructure giant. He, like McAdam, had been CEO for seven years and with the company for almost three decades.I have had 28 fantastic years at Ericsson, Vestberg said at the time. As the industry enters a next phase, driven by 5G, IoT and cloud, it is time for a new CEO to step in and continue the work to ensure Ericsson's industry leadership.Now, it appears hes carrying out the same mission at Verizon There are number of different ways Hans Vestberg could reshape Verizons future, BTIG analyst Walt Piecyk told the Washington Post, given that communications companies are facing new competition and disruption to their existing business models  referring to OTT.The news comes as a judge is expected next week to rule on the mega-merger between AT&T and Time Warner. If the deal gets a go-ahead, Piecyk said that Vestberg could pursue a media acquisition of his own.
Youd be forgiven if you thought the tide of public opinion had turned against capitalism. As the news media eagerly report on polls showing that millennials increasingly reject capitalism, progressives energetically push the Democratic Party to the left. A forceful rebuttal has arrived in the form of a new book by Andy Puzder, the one-time nominee to be U.S. secretary of labor. Puzder, the former chief operating officer of CKE Restaurants, uses history to make a rousing defense of capitalism in The Capitalist Comeback: The Trump Boom and the Lefts Plot to Stop It. He also details the never-ending war to defeat it.

In all of human history, capitalism is the only economic system that has ever [produced] the expansive growth that lifts people out of poverty, raises their standard of living, and reduces income inequality, he writes. He also shows how capitalism always dovetailed with the Founding Fathers commitment to limited government and individual freedom.

Despite capitalisms successes, Puzder acknowledges its challenges. He argues that unrestricted free trade and loose immigration policies, which have been free-market Republican mantras, have had devastating consequences for low-skilled workers, particularly those in the industrial Midwest. Free trade might sound good on paper, but when a town loses its economic engine thanks to a factory moving to Mexico or China, the residents might have a difficult time understanding the benefits, he writes.

He notes that in 2016 this wasnt a theoretical conversation  it was the economic argument that propelled so many working-class Americans to vote for Donald Trump, who promised to bulldoze the countrys existing trade and immigration policies. But even with improved policies on trade and immigration, Puzder concedes, we will still need economic growth to create good-paying jobs that lift people from one economic class to another.

Puzders book offers a sweeping historical view of capitalism  and of the opposition to it, ranging from the lefts war on profit following the Gilded Age and the rise of labor unions to modern progressives vilification of business and their rejection of the views of moderate Democratic Party leaders such a John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton.

Puzder describes the election of Barack Obama as progressives version of Mission Accomplished in this regard. The left believed that President Obamas commitment to expanding government through a trillion-dollar stimulus package, administrative regulatory expansion, and a health-care coverage mandate on every American would usher in a lasting Progressive Era. Instead, Puzder contends, it had a deleterious impact on the American economy and its workers. The regulatory state expanded, taxes increased, and investment declined, hobbling growth, he writes. Growth averaged a meager 2.1 percent following the end of the recession, when it should have surged, he added. For Obamas final year in office, GDP growth slowed to an anemic 1.5 percent.

Puzder sees the election of Donald Trump, a businessman with no political experience, as Middle Americas clear rejection of progressivism. Hillary Clinton assured voters she would continue Obamas failed progressive legacy as president, he writes. The author also notes that the day after working-class voters defeated Clinton, Americas free market erupted with optimism. The [stock market] surged up 250 points. It hit record highs more than seventy times in President Trumps first year, he writes. Much of the initial enthusiasm was based on the anticipation that President Trump would reverse President Obamas antibusiness policies by aggressively reducing government regulations and cutting taxes. After delivering on some of his promises, the Dow is up 35 percent since the 2016 election and capital investment has soared.

In todays information-driven economy, business and scientific talent constrains growth. High-skilled workers increasingly choose lucrative jobs that dont serve or supervise low-skilled workers. Low-skilled productivity and wage growth has lagged as a result. Low-skilled workers are increasingly dependent on management technologies, like Uber and CKE, to increase low-skilled productivity with a minimum of high-skilled supervision. At a time when so many low-skilled workers have dropped out of the workforce, Puzder saw the effects of the safety net on the motivation of low-skilled workers where his restaurant crew members were declining promotions to shift leader positions because the increase in income would disqualify them for food, housing, medical, or other government benefits. Instead of rocketry, perhaps philanthropists should focus their efforts here.

The Capitalist Comeback provides a valuable historical defense of capitalism. While Puzder acknowledges the progressive forces on the left arent giving up on defeating capitalism, he is optimistic that Trump will succeed and his policies will lead to sustained economic prosperity that keeps capitalisms adversaries at bay. While its a shame that more businessmen like Andy Puzder arent helping to form Americas economic policy, at least hes still on the field fighting the good fight.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  The fiercest primary election battle in Nevada this year is a race between two Democrats vying to become the swing states first Democratic governor in almost two decades.

The contentious primary has seen longtime Clark County Commissioners Steve Sisolak and Christina Giunchigliani spar over their response to the October mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip while pledging to be champions for women and resist President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association.

The two are the leading contenders in a field of six. The winner of Tuesdays Democratic primary will likely face Republican Adam Laxalt, the states top prosecutor with a political pedigree, in November.

The broadsides between the candidates and their supporters led Giunchigliani to say in a campaign ad this week that she was sexually abused as a child. It was a pushback against an attack ad alleging that she single-handedly protected perverts by weakening a proposed state sex offender law more than a decade ago.

Giunchigliani, who says shes tough on sexual assault and her changes allowed a broader sex offender law to pass, said in her ad: Now Steve Sisolak says Id let child molesters go free? Its untrue and its offensive.

Nevada is a swing state thats trending blue. Democrats hope the winner of Tuesdays primary will ride a blue wave fueled by opposition to Trump right into the governors mansion.

Sisolak, chairman of the powerful Clark County Commission that oversees the Las Vegas Strip and surrounding communities, has struck more moderate positions in the past. He contends that hes the best candidate to take on Laxalt.

Laxalt, a 39-year-old former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, supported Trump in 2016 and is backed in his bid for governor by billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson and Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group funded by the wealthy Koch brothers. The attorney general is the grandson of former U.S. Sen. and Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt.

Giunchigliani and Sisolaks efforts to stake themselves out as tried-and-true progressives isnt going to do too much damage to the eventual Democratic nominee, according to John Tuman, chair of the political science department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

This is a unique election year in that it offers opportunities for Democrats in particular to try to make statewide races partly as sort of a referendum on the Trump administration, he said.

The 64-year-old Sisolaks recent campaign finance reports show hes closer to matching Laxalts war chest, which tops $4 million. Sisolak has outraised Giunchigliani but also spent five times as much as she has, spending an average of about $1 million a month this year.

As chair of the Clark County Commission, Sisolak became a prominent figure following the October shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, where a gunman perched in the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel killed 58 people and injured hundreds more at a country music festival.

Hours after the shooting, Sisolak started a fundraiser for victims that went on to raise more than $30 million and was a regular on stage at press conferences.

Last month, the candidates sparred in a debate over his role and the fundraiser that started hours after the attack. Giunchigliani said she wasnt called by the sheriff that night and only found out about the shooting the morning after from a voicemail from a staff member.

Everybody was called. I answered the phone, Sisolak said.

Sisolak received coveted endorsements from Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus and former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who declared in a campaign ad that Sisolak will not allow anyone, including Donald Trump, to push him around.

Giunchigliani, a 63-year-old former state legislator and teacher, has declared herself the true progressive in the race and an advocate for womens issues while casting Sisolak as too moderate. Shes earned the backing of progressive groups like EMILYs List, which works to elect Democratic women, and has touted her efforts in the Assembly to require insurance coverage for birth control.

Sisolak, like Giunchigliani, says hed steer state money toward Planned Parenthood. In a television ad with his adult daughters, Sisolak says he relied on Planned Parenthood as a single father to get them health screenings and information.

The ad resonated with 48-year-old Dianna Lewis of Las Vegas.

I have three daughters, and I know his daughters are in his campaign, Lewis said. I see them on TV all the time and they support their dad. I think theyre a big force behind him.

Sisolak, who once received an A- rating from the NRA, seemed to be more moderate on gun issues, which Lewis said she found appealing.

The gun issue  were not going to stop it. It doesnt start with guns. I mean, maybe it does, but its a people issue. It really is. Like pencils dont write bad things  people write bad things, Lewis said.

Her neighbor, 78-year-old Mary Holguin, wasnt as impressed with Sisolak.

He might have raised his daughters fine, but that doesnt tell me anything about the ballot, what hes in for, Holguin said in the doorway of her Las Vegas home shortly after Giunchigliani came by Tuesday evening to ask for her vote.

Holguin gave her a hug and said Im Democratic all the way!
It's set to be the most acrimonious world summit in years, with President Donald Trump facing off against six other leaders in need of a standard-bearer. If Justin Trudeau is looking for a chance at redemption, this is it.



With the world on the brink of a trade war, the stakes are high for when the Group of Seven meet in Canada with the symbol of postwar collaboration under threat by an aggressive strain of American unilateralism that's ripped up international agreements and undermined multilateral institutions.



Enter Trudeau, the photogenic prime minister whose brand of progressive trade has fallen flat amid foreign flops that wounded his image. In private conversations, some G-7 officials express reservations about the 46-year-old. They may have little choice than to embrace him.



As host, he's in the spotlight to somehow salvage a summit pitting irate Europeans against Trump with Japan's Shinzo Abe falling in the middle. France and Germany are warning they won't bow to Trump just to show unity, while many wonder if the U.S. president will leave early.
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The community of Athens defied the summer sun as they gathered together to celebrate history, community, music and food. From local artists to fish fries and speeches from newly elected county Commissioners, Hot Corner lived up to its name at the Hot Corner Music Festival celebrated its 18th year.
While finding time to read for pleasure during the semester can be difficult, the summer months are perfect for getting in a book or two. Whether youre a fan of non-fiction, fantasy or even a nice psychological thriller, this list has it all. Here are eight novels to pick up this summer.
NASA had already invested about $100 million into a lunar rover tasked with finding water on the moon before the project was scrapped last month, officials said this week.

But they argue the investment in the rover, called Resource Prospector, wasn't in vain. It's instruments will be used in future missions.

"NASA's overall Resource Prospector work toward risk reduction activities to advance instrument developments, component technologies including rover components, and innovation mission operations concepts will help inform future missions," said Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokeswoman.

RELATED STORY: NASA's lunar rover could enable deep-space exploration

NASA abruptly canceled the rover, which has been under development for more than four years, in April, saying it no longer suited the agency's exploration campaign. The decision stunned scientists and researchers alike, especially given the recent push by President Donald Trump's administration to return Americans to the moon as a stepping stone for a mission to Mars.

RELATED STORY: Scientists, engineers say lunar rover axed at NASA, ask Bridenstine to reinstate it

The agency later announced that it intends to use commercial partners for new lunar robotic missions, making use of Resource Prospector's now-scrapped parts, such as its ice drill, its system to search for hydrogen below the lunar surface and its tool to quantify water extracted from the moon.

READ MORE: NASA will use parts from scrapped lunar rover for other missions to moon

Officials will award several contracts throughout the next decade. Contract missions are expected to begin as soon as 2019, and a company's first delivery will arrive on the surface no later than Dec. 31, 2021.

Resource Prospector was slated to fly in 2022 or 2023 and much of the work on the rover was being done at Houston's Johnson Space Center. NASA previously told the Houston Chronicle that all 90 employees working on the $250 million Resource Prospector mission would be reassigned to "other opportunities within the agency."

READ MORE: NASA employees working on recently canceled lunar rover will be 'reassigned'

Since taking office, Trump has made it clear that returning to the moon for the first time since 1972 is a priority for his administration. He revived the defunct National Space Council last year and, later, signed Space Policy Directive-1 urging NASA to return Americans to the moon.

Earlier this year, the president released a $19.9 billion NASA budget proposal for the coming fiscal year that tasks NASA with launching the first flight without a crew for Orion -- the spacecraft meant to take humans to Mars -- by 2022, followed by a launch of Americans around the moon in 2023.

NASA officials hope to launch the uncrewed flight in December 2019, but that will likely slip to June 2020 in part because of construction delays for the rocket that will carry Orion into space.

Centers around the country, including Johnson, already are working diligently to reach these deadlines.

Additionally, Trump's proposal would allow the agency to begin working on the foundation of a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, saying it would "give us a strategic presence in the lunar vicinity that will drive our activity with commercial and international partners and help us further explore the moon and its resources and translate that experience toward human missions to Mars."

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
Border controls aimed at reducing smuggling between North Korea and China have been relaxed in recent weeks following meetings between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese president Xi Jinping, according to North Korean sources.



Talks between the two leaders at the end of March and the beginning of May appear now to have opened the door again to the illicit trade in goods banned under international sanctions punishing Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons and missile programs, sources say.



Smuggling is thriving in the Yalu River area, and this is keeping the border very busy, a resident of North Pyongan provinces Ryongchon county told RFAs Korean Service this week, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Many smugglers and firms tasked with earning foreign currency are now focusing on providing products that their Chinese business partners want, RFAs source said.



Chinese police and border guards had previously controlled smuggling in the border areas of North Pyongan, so that smuggling had almost been stopped, but Chinese police and border guards have definitely eased the crackdown since May, the source said.



North Korean workers from trading companies and foreign currency generating firms now transport still-sanctioned products by ship on the river and hand them over to their Chinese partners on the outskirts of Chinas Donggang and Dandong cities, the source said.



In the case of still-banned seafood, though, smugglers openly cross the river in daylight, as live products have more value, he said.



Hopes for eased sanctions



Also speaking to RFA, a North Korean trader living in North Pyongan said that North Korean authorities had already turned a blind eye to smuggling on the border, fearing damage to the North Korean economy if all trade with China were stopped.



My own company suffered losses in the past year when Chinese border guards seized our vessel and all of our products, but we never stopped smuggling, he said.



To avoid inspection by Chinese border guards, [North Korean] trading firms had to rent Chinese vessels, and the rental fees were determined by the ships owners, the source said, adding, Now, with Chinese authorities easing their restrictions, the rental price is half of what it used to be.



North Korean traders and smugglers are well aware there will be a summit meeting between North Korea and the U.S. in just a few days, he said.



And if this meeting goes well, and results in an easing of economic sanctions, there will be even more smuggling between North Korea and China than before, he said.



Reported by Hyemin Son for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Myanmar government officials on Friday denied any role in the banning by Facebook of the accounts of ultranationalist Buddhist monks accused of hate speech directed at the countrys minority Muslim communities, saying they had only requested that the monks postings be monitored.



In a statement Friday, Myo Nyuntspokesperson for Myanmars National League for Democracy (NLD)-led governmentsaid that his party was not responsible for Facebooks actions Thursday shutting down the accounts.



We cannot answer for Facebook taking action against those who distribute or provoke racial and religious hate speech in Myanmar. We can only explain that we were not a part of that decision, he said.



People reported those accounts to Facebook, and Facebook took action against them after verifying their complaints. Our party and our government had nothing to with that, he said.



According to a statement released on Friday by Myanmars Ministry of Information, Information Minister Pe Myint met with a Facebook representative on June 5 and asked that the social-media giant closely monitor its site for hate speech and vulgar or offensive writings that could stoke tensions in the country.



Facebook then closed the account of the nationalist Buddhist Ma Ba Tha organization, along with the personal accounts of two extremist monks blamed for inciting hatred toward the Muslim Rohingya, 700,000 of whom fled the country to neighboring Bangladesh following communal clashes and a crackdown last year by the national army.



'Peace and harmony'



In a statement, Parmaukkha, one of the monks whose accounts were closed, denied having posted material promoting ethnic hatred, saying he should have been given evidence of any violations before his account was shut down.



My account could also have been suspended for two months as a warning. I could accept that, he said, adding, This kind of thing should not happen while the country is undergoing democratic reforms, as it can only undermine public trust.



U Thein Than Oo, a human rights lawyer and former political prisoner, meanwhile applauded Facebooks move, calling it necessary for the security and tranquility of the country.



We need freedom, but we also need to preserve peace and harmony, he said.



Facebook has been criticized in the past for failing to control hate speech on its platform, and has publicly admitted its failures, he said.



Now they are trying to tighten the noose on hate speech in Myanmar. And if this is what they want to do, we should welcome it, he said.



Reported by Thiha Thun and Thinn Thiri for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Panel, headed by PNB chairman, to report in 2 weeks

Union finance minister Piyush Goyal (centre) is seen along with SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar (left) and PNB chairman Sunil Mehta ahead of a press conference organised by SBI in Mumbai on Friday. (Photo: Debasish Dey)

Mumbai: Union finance minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said that the public sector banks are considering various mechanism for faster resolution of stressed assets and ensure smooth flow of credit to good borrowers and accounts.

The minister said that the issue of stressed assets in the banking system would not be allowed to hamper credit flows to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), exporters and other borrowers with good credit history.

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placing restriction on a few lenders under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) mechanism due to worsening asset quality, Mr Goyal after holding discussion with the heads of all public sector banks on Friday said the lenders who have the capital and liquidity in the consortium have agreed to step in and take the share of troubled banks.

He informed that the PSBs have set up a panel under the chairmanship of Punjab National Bank (PNB) chief Sunil Mehta to consider setting up of an asset reconstruction company (ARC) or asset management company (AMC) for quick resolution of stressed assets in the system. The panel has been asked to submit its report in next two weeks.

Additionally, PSBs are also planning to establish a screening committee or an oversight committee comprising external experts like retired judge of high court or retired heads of banks to get their feedback on the resolution mechanism adopted by the banks.

On asked whether the government would increase the quantum of capital infusion into public sector banks in FY19, the minister said the government stand fully committed to support each and every PSBs and would take all measures necessary to improve the governance and health of state owned banks.

The government has planned a capital infusion of `65,000 crore in FY19. Moodys Investors Service said the governments recapitalisation plan is expected to broadly resolve the regulatory capital needs of the countrys 21 PSBs and help augment the banks loan-loss buffers, but will be insufficient to support credit growth.

With regards to mergers among public sector banks, Mr Goyal said the governments policy is not to interfere with their operations and it is up to individual banks to decide on the basis of potential synergies.

However, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said the fragmented natures of Indian banks are unable to support growth.

After experiencing initial pain, we have finally started seeing the benefit of merger of our associate banks, he added.
Myanmars civilian government held a meeting on national security and international relations with the countrys military Friday to review an investigation into the crisis in Rakhine state, where a crackdown on Rohingya insurgents displaced hundreds of thousands of members of the Muslim ethnic group.

The meeting came after de facto leader Aung San Su Kyis government negotiated a deal to allow the United Nations, which has referred to the crackdown as a form of genocide, to enter Rakhine state to determine when the nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled to neighboring Bangladesh during the operation can return to the region.

Rohingya refugees have alleged that Myanmar troops involved in the crackdown committed widespread rape and murder, which the government has denied. Officials in the capital Naypyidaw also say that Rakhine state is safe for the refugees to return, but had refused to grant outside groups access to the region for months.

On Friday, Aung San Su Kyi and the head of Myanmars military, Min Aung Hlaing, met with 13 other officials to discuss the Rakhine issue, as well as the formation of a three-member investigative commission to look into the allegations of rights abuses, according to a Facebook post by President Win Myints office.

The gathering marks the third time Myanmar has convened such a meeting since Aung San Suu Kyis government took office in 2016, and the first since the aftermath of the Aug. 25, 2017 attacks by Rohingya militants in Rakhine state that killed nearly a dozen border police and precipitated the militarys crackdown in the region.

Analysts on Friday welcomed the meeting between the government and the military, which ruled the country for nearly five decades until its junta was dissolved in 2011, saying it could lead to greater cooperation between the two power bases.

Min Zin, executive director of Myanmars Institute of Strategy and Policy, told RFAs Myanmar Service it was a good sign that the government and military were working to find common views at a time when international pressure is building on the Rakhine state issue.

I dont think they would have found answers to everything [in their relationship], as there are likely differences on some basic issues, but if they can find some kind of common stance on the Rakhine issue and formulate a policy, it could bring relief for the pressures the country is facing at present, he said.

They could smooth out, to a certain extent, some issues over misunderstandings and lack of information shared between various commissions and U.N. agencies, although just one meeting wont solve all the problems regarding repatriation of refugees and the granting of citizenship to these people.

Working together

Myanmar-based political analyst Tin Maung Than said that regardless of what was discussed, any meeting between the two sides is a step in the right direction.

We dont have the details yet, but I think they will have worked together under Aung San Suu Kyis leadership to find solutions to the Rakhine state problem, he said.

This is the time to show the world we have the desire to solve it and are working together to do so, as well as to save face in the international arena.

While Myanmars powerful military operates outside of civilian control under a constitution the junta wrote before handing over power, Aung San Suu Kyis elected government has faced strong international criticism for army actions in Rakhine and in other conflict zones in the multi-ethnic country. Myanmar denials of atrocities repeatedly have been undercut by vivid Rohingya refugee testimony from camps in Bangladesh.

A second political analyst, Yan Myo Thein said he believes the meeting was held to find a path to free and frank discussions between the civilian government and the military on the Rakhine issue.

I think they would be able, from a dialogue like this, to find a lasting solution that would be acceptable to both sides, he said.

Fridays meeting also comes ahead of a June 20 session of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during which the judicial body will determine whether to launch an investigation into the crackdown in Rakhine state. Myanmar has said that it is not subject to such a probe, as it is neither a signatory nor a member of the Rome Statute, on which the ICC is based.

While Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to a repatriation deal for the Rohingya in November, only around 1,000 have been cleared for return, and few have expressed interest in going home, citing fears over safety and concerns over rights guarantees because they are not recognized as a minority by the government and denied citizenship.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
An undated photo of Uyghur businessman Abdulreshit Seley Hajim, 65, who died recently after nine months in a reeducation camp in Xinjiang.

Family members of Abdulreshit Seley Hajim buried the 65-year-old Uyghur businessman under the close scrutiny of Chinese security officials this week, nine months after he was put in a political reeducation camp, his brother told RFAs Uyghur Service.

Seley was born in Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) city in Xinjiangs Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture, and sources told RFA he was detained during the heightened security crackdown taking place in the region and jailed in a camp in Ghujas Nilqa County, where he died recently.

I was told that they brought his corpse yesterday, the mans younger brother told RFA by telephone from Turkey on Wednesday.

It has been nine months since his detention. We did not know anything about his whereabouts and his detention before, added the brother, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

People who saw his corpse told us that he was hit with a blunt object on his head and his head was wrapped with a piece of white cloth. Our relatives were not allowed to see his head at all, he said, adding that only a few family members were able to attend the burial.

Seley was jailed for five years following the 1997 Ghulja massacre, when as many as 167 Uyghurs were killed after police opened fire on crowds after two days of protests, the brother said.

Weve heard that his son also was taken to the camps, but released due to his heart condition. We dont know where he is right now, or if he was released, said the brother.

My brother was a much respected public figure. He opened shops in Urumqi and did business here and there. He had arthritis and he could barely walk for ten meters, but he was dragged away by the authorities and nine months later, he is dead, added the brother.

Police in Ghulja contacted by RFA said they had no information about the death or the funeral.

But an official in the Ghulja city mayors office said it would be inconvenient to disclose such information.

I cannot disclose any information related to reeducation camps. I hope you will understand the situation we are in here, added the official.

Seleys death follows the reported death last month of an elderly Uyghur woman in Yamachang camp in Ghuljas Bayanday township as a result of what sources said was her being unable to cope with the pressure and terrible conditions at the facility.

Since April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect views have been jailed or detained in re-education camps throughout Xinjiang, 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 region, 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.

Last month, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative Chris Smiththe chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on Chinacalled on U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to visit Xinjiang and gather information on the detention of Uyghurs, which they termed "the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.

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 Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang are ordering residents to hand in all digital devices for checking at local police stations by Aug. 1, as part of an operation targeting terrorist videos, according to an announcement and official sources.



"According to the requirements of stability maintenance measures, the Baoshan community district will be carrying out a specific anti-terrorist videos operation," a notice issued to residents of the regional capital Urumqis Baoshan district said.



Please would all residents and business owners of the district submit their personal ID cards, cell phones, external drives, portable hard drives, notebook computers and media storage cards and any similar devices to our district police post for registration and scanning by Aug. 1, 2017," the June 27 notice said.



"Anyone who fails to submit the above devices and content by the stated time will be dealt with according to the relevant national law, should any problems arise," it said, calling on local people to respond "proactively" to the order.



An employee who answered the phone at the Baoshan district committee offices confirmed to RFA that the order is genuine.



"Handheld computers, smartphones, and storage devices [must be handed in]," she said. "We have a special system for scanning them, and this is happening across the whole city, not just here in our district."



"These are orders from higher up."



Everyone must obey



A Han Chinese officer at the Baoshan district police station also confirmed the directive, saying the directive was to check and clean up illegal audio-video content.



As long as you are a Chinese citizen, it is your obligation to cooperate with us, under the necessity of stability maintenance, he said.



As soon as residents see the announcement, they should bring their smart phones, USB drives, [tablets] and notebook computersthese four types of devicesto the nearest police station for inspection.



According to the officer, authorities will install software that opens everything stored on the devices, including documents, archived items, and anything unclean, without providing details.



He said that every Chinese citizen has an obligation to participate in the inspection, though he acknowledged that the order did not extend beyond Xinjiang, where he said the situation is unlike any other part of China in the aftermath of ethnic unrest in Urumqi, on July 5, 2009.



If anyone fails to bring a device for inspection, we will find them through their mobile phone, the officer said.



Everyone must obeyif they dont come, they will face legal consequences, he added.



The officer said that anyone born in Xinjiang must comply with the order, regardless of whether they are living in other parts of China, or even in one of 26 designated countries abroad, without specifying which nations.



They must bring their devices for checkup as soon as they return, he said.



This includes all Han Chinese and ethnic minorities. As long as you are from Xinjiang, you understand well what were doing here.



An announcement notifying residents of Urumqi's Baoshan district to bring their digital devices to the local police station for inspection. Credit: RFA listener Increasing restrictions



The new measures come after the regional government issued orders earlier this year for all vehicles to have compulsory GPS trackers and microchip license plates installed, enabling police to pinpoint the position of vehicles at all times.



Beijing in December 2015 passed an anti-terrorism law banning anyone from disseminating images or information regarding terrorist activities, and authorizing anti-terrorist operations by security forces beyond China's borders.



U.S. officials have said they fear the new law could be used to target peaceful dissent and religious activities among ethnic minorities in China, particularly among the Uyghur ethnic group.



The ruling Chinese Communist Party blames some Uyghurs for a string of violent attacks and clashes in recent years.



But critics say the government has exaggerated the threat from the Uyghurs, and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for violence that has left hundreds dead since 2009.



Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exile World Uyghur Congress group, said the monitoring program will likely result in even more arrests.



"I think this will mean that the situation gets even more unpredictable," Raxit said. "They are now forcibly prying into Uyghurs' private belongings."



Control and surveil



Sophie Richardson, China director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, called the new measure an unprecedented strategy by Chinese authorities to control and surveil residents of Xinjiang, and questioned its legality.



There is no basis for that in Chinese law, absent some sort of credible suggestion that the communications are taking place with the view towards committing some kind of actual crime, she said.



From our perspective its another counterproductive strategy. Instead of actually addressing the legitimate grievances of the Uyghur people in the region  authorities are compounding them by preventing people from discussing them freely.



An ethnic Kazakh resident of Urumqi told RFA that the authorities are increasingly stepping up pressure on his ethnic group too, however.



"Since 2000, all the ethnic minority schools, including Uyghur and Kazakh schools, have been merged with Han Chinese schools," the Kazakh resident said. "That includes 2,000 Kazakh schools that have been merged with Chinese schools."



"Ethnic minorities' right to their language and religious beliefs have been stripped away," he said. "We should continue to fight for justice, and say what needs to be said. We shouldn't allow them to suppress us."



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service and Ghulchehra Hoja for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie, Alim Seytoff and Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie and Joshua Lipes.
The Afghan Taliban has announced a three-day cease-fire over the Eid-al-Fitr holiday, their first offer of its kind, following an earlier unilateral cessation of hostilities announced by the government.

But the militant group warned that the suspension of fighting for the first three days of Eid-al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, did not extend to foreign forces, who would continue to be targeted.

Despite the announcement, officials said on June 9 that Taliban militants had killed over 40 government security personnel in attacks across the country.

At least 25 local policemen were killed when militants stormed three checkpoints in the Qala-e Zal district of the northern province of Kunduz on June 9, said Amanaddin Qureshi, the governor of neighboring Imam Sahib district.

Qureshi said eight militants were killed and nine wounded in the clashes.

In the western province of Herat, at least 17 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint in the Zawol district, provincial government spokesman Jelani Farhad said.

Farhad said at least 13 others were wounded in the attack.

Rare Positive Sign?

The unexpected cease-fire came two days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's own surprise announcement of a weeklong halt to operations against the Taliban and allied Haqqani network.

The government truce, which excludes the Islamic State (IS) extremist group and Al-Qaeda, will last from June 12 until around June 20. The Taliban's cease-fire is expected to run from June 15 to June 17.

It is the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001 that the militants have declared a cease-fire, albeit a limited one.

Taliban fighters "are directed to stop offensive operations against Afghan forces for the first three days of Eid-al-Fitr," the group said in a statement on June 9. But it added that if attacked "we will strongly defend [ourselves].

The statement said the Taliban may also consider releasing prisoners of war, if they promise not to return to the battlefield.

"We welcome the three days ceasefire announced by the Taliban starting on the first day of Eid," Ghani said on Twitter after the Taliban announcement.

Although the Taliban's cease-fire was not in direct response to Ghani's offer, it remains a rare positive sign for the troubled peace process.

"Talibans announcement of cease-fire with ANSF during Eid & indication to release some captives is encouraging & important step towards prospects for peace," Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan's ambassador to Paksitan, wrote on Twitter on June 9.

Ghani's decision came after Islamic clerics declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings at a gathering in Kabul that itself was the target of a suicide attack claimed by IS militants that killed 14 people.

Ghani endorsed a recommendation by the clerics for a cease-fire with the Taliban.

Ghani has urged cease-fires with the Taliban before, but this was the first unconditional offer he made since he was elected in 2014.

Despite more aggressive military operations against the Taliban under a new approach adopted by U.S. President Donald Trump last year, the Taliban still hold large swaths of the country.

The United States had said its forces and coalition partners will honor the cease-fire.

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan said military operations against IS would intensify during the temporary cease-fire.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters
Afghan officials say Taliban militants have killed over 40 government security personnel in attacks across the country.

At least 25 local policemen were killed when militants stormed three checkpoints in the Qala-e Zal district of the northern province of Kunduz on June 9, said Amanaddin Qureshi, the governor of neighboring Imam Sahib district.

Qureshi said eight militants were killed and nine wounded in the clashes.

In the western province of Herat, at least 17 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint in the Zawol district, provincial government spokesman Jelani Farhad said.

Farhad said at least 13 others were wounded in the attack.

The attacks came as the Taliban announced a three-day cease-fire over the Eid-al-Fitr holiday, their first offer of its kind, following an earlier unliteral cessation of hostilities announced by the government.

The Taliban's cease-fire is expected to run from June 12 to June 14, while the governments will last until around June 20.

With reporting by dpa
Bulgaria's parliament on June 8 approved a plan to spend about $2 billion (1.6 billion euros) to purchase 150 combat vehicles and 16 new or used fighter jets to replace its aging Soviet-designed MiG-29s.

Problems with Bulgaria's fleet of 15 Soviet aircraft have raised safety concerns among the country's military pilots, who refused to fly in a training operation last October in a bid to speed up the new acquisitions.

The air force has said just seven of the MiGs are in good flying order.

Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004, but the question of which warplanes to buy to replace the MiGs has vexed successive governments for more than a decade.

NATO has encouraged its eastern members to develop or buy new equipment from Western alliance members that is compatible with their older Soviet-era systems.

Some eastern European NATO members that were once Soviet satellites still rely on Russian-made military jets. Two-thirds of Poland's military equipment dates from the pre-1991 Soviet era, for example.

Sofia has said it will call for bids to replace its MiGs with aircraft from the United States, Portugal, Italy, France, Sweden, and Israel.

Under the plan approved by 151 to 7 in the 240-seat parliament, Sofia would acquire the jets in two stages to improve its compliance with NATO standards.

Some $1 billion will cover the cost of the first eight aircraft, as well as team training and initial logistics support.

The Balkan country would also spend about $1 billion on armored vehicles for three infantry battalion groups, including equipment and training.

Several companies, including French state-owned group Nexter Systems, Finland's Patria, Germany's Rheinmetall Defense AG , U.S.-based Textron, and the Swiss firm Mowag have expressed interest in supplying armored vehicles, Bulgarian officials said.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP


Chinese President Xi Jingping has praised the "unity" of the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement (SCO) at the opening ceremony of the organization's summit in the coastal Chinese city of Quingdao.

Xi said on June 9 that the SCO "focuses on seeking common ground while setting aside differences and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation."

The SCO is led by China and Russia, and includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia have SCO observer status.

The current summit is the first to include India and Pakistan as members after they joined in 2017.

The main working day of the summit will be June 10.

Ahead of the summit opening, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rohani, to discuss the 2015 deal between Iran and leading world powers that restricted Iran's nuclear program.

The United States recently withdrew from the agreement and Iran was seeking a commitment from China, Russia, and European signatories to uphold the deal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists that Moscow and Beijing had outlined a "road map" for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

He emphasized that the first step was to stop "belligerent rhetoric on both sides" and to convene multilateral peace talks.

"Everything is happening under the outline of the Russian-Chinese road map," Lavrov said.

The comments come just days before a historic summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Putin also held a separate meeting with Xi and Mongolian President Khaltmaagin Battulga to discuss proposals to build oil and gas pipelines from Russia to China through Mongolia.

Putin said he supported the Mongolian proposal generally but that it needed further study.

Officials of the SCO also met with counterparts from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), two other Russia-dominated Eurasian organizations.

The three organizations signed a memorandum of understanding on improving their "counterterrorism cooperation" and on creating "a joint approach" to countering drugs trafficking.

The next SCO summit will be held in Kyrgyzstan in June 2019.

With reporting by AFP, TASS, and Reuters
European leaders are fighting back against U.S. President Donald Trump after the American leader threw a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations into disarray by withdrawing his endorsement of a statement he initially had accepted.

Late on June 9, Trump tweeted that based on false statements by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who hosted the G7 summit in Quebec, he had instructed U.S. representatives not to endorse the final communique, which the Canadian leader had said was agreed to by all G7 nations.

In recent weeks, trading partners of the United States have criticized new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports imposed by the Trump administration.

At a news conference after the summit, Trudeau reiterated his opposition to the U.S. tariffs and vowed to "move forward with retaliatory measures" in July.

"I have made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing, but it something that we absolutely will do," he said. "Canadians, we're polite, we're reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around."

As Trump flew from the summit to a planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, he lashed out at Trudeau, saying he acted so meek and mild during our G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, US Tariffs were kind of insulting and he will not be pushed around.

Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of [sic] 270% on dairy! Trump wrote.

Trudeaus office released a statement quoting the prime minister as saying that he said nothing at the G7 that he hadnt told Trump in person and voiced publicly before.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on June 10 that Trump's revocation of support for the joint communique was "sobering and a little depressing."

"It's hard, it's depressing this time, but that's not the end" of the G7, she said in an interview with ARD public television, adding that the European Union is preparing countermeasures against U.S. tariffs.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made a veiled barb at Trump, tweeting: "With one tweet, an unsettling amount of trust can be very quickly destroyed."

"It is even more important that Europe stands together and even more aggressively represents its interests," Maas added.

In Paris, a French presidency official said France and Europe stood by the G7 communique and anyone departing from the commitments made at the summit would be showing their "incoherence and inconsistency."

"International cooperation cannot depend on being angry and on sound bites. Let's be serious," the official said.

But Trump's economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, told CNN that Trudeau "stabbed us in the back."

"There is a special place in hell for any leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland later said that Canada "does not conduct its diplomacy through ad hominem attacks."

"We don't think that that is a useful or productive way to do business, and perhaps we refrain particularly from ad hominem attacks when it comes to our relationship with our allies," she added.

The eight-page G7 communique issued earlier stated that we stand ready to take further restrictive measures to increase costs on Russia if its behavior makes it necessary.

It also demanded that Russia "cease its destabilizing behavior, to undermine democratic systems, and its support of the Syrian regime."

The communique was issued after tumultuous summit that mainly had Washington squaring off against its longtime allies over Russia, trade, climate issues, and the Iran nuclear accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed criticism by the G7 as "creative babbling" and said at a summit in China on June 10 that it was time for all sides to resume cooperation.

"I believe it's necessary to stop this creative babbling and shift to concrete issues related to real cooperation," Putin told reporters when asked to comment on the joint statement.

He added that the G7 countries had "again" failed to provide any evidence that Russia was behind the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Britain in March.

Because of the disputes, many observers were not certain a statement would be issued under all seven countries' names. Still, the meeting did not appear to bring the sides much closer together.

The G7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the United States.

Trump had shocked many of allies with repeated calls for Russia to be readmitted into the group, which was known as the G8 when Moscow was a member of the association of the worlds leading industrial nations.

Trump told journalists on June 9 that "it would be an asset to have Russia back in."

In response, Putin said on June 10 that Russia did not choose to leave the group and would be happy to see its member countries in Moscow. He also said he's ready to meet with Trump once the White House is ready for a summit.

Many states have voiced an interest in hosting the meeting, including Austria, Putin said.

It would be the first bilateral summit between the two leaders since Trump took office in January 2017. Trump and Putin have only ever spoken briefly on the sidelines of major events.

European Union countries, which make up four of the group's seven members, agreed ahead of the summit that "a return of Russia to the G7-format summits can't happen until substantial progress has been made in connection with the problems with Ukraine," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said as the summit began on June 8.

At the summit's end, Trudeau said he told Trump that he was "not remotely interested" in seeing Russia return to the G7.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also welcomed that the G7 statement recognized the need to maintain sanctions on Russia.

The statement made no reference to Russia being invited back into the G7, but the leaders did say they would continue "to engage with Russia on addressing regional crises and global challenges, where it is in our interests."

Russia was expelled from the group four years ago after annexing Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fueling a war in eastern Ukraine that has killed at least 10,300 people.

Trump was asked if he thought Russia's control over Crimea should be recognized by the international community, but he avoided answering directly and instead blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for the situation.

"Crimea was let go during the Obama administration and, you know, Obama can say all he wants, but he allowed Russia to take Crimea," Trump said.

"But, with that being said," he added, "it's been done a long time."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on June 9 said Moscow was not seeking to rejoin the group. He added that Russia was "working fine in other formats," such as the G20.

Although Merkel said the common view" in Europe was to continue to exclude Russia, Italy's new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, echoed Trump's call for returning Russia to the "negotiating table" in a post on Twitter.

U.S. allies said they were stunned by Trump's friendly gesture toward Russia, especially considering his move last month to cite "national security" reasons for threatening to impose tariffs on the steel imports of major U.S. allies.

Many U.S. lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, have also expressed concern about Trump's departure from past U.S. views on trade, Russia, and the international order. Trump has been open on his desires for better relations with Moscow.

Republican Senator John McCain, who has been at loggerheads with Trump over many issues lately, tweeted his displeasure at the presidents actions in Quebec.

To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesnt, he wrote.

The G7 leaders also said they were "committed to permanently ensuring that Iran's nuclear program remains peaceful in line with its international obligations and commitments to never seek, develop, or acquire a nuclear weapon."

"We condemn all financial support of terrorism including terrorist groups sponsored by Iran. We also call upon Iran to play a constructive role by contributing to efforts to counter terrorism and achieve political solutions, reconciliation, and peace in the region," the statement added.

It did not specifically mention the 2015 nuclear accord, which provided Tehran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Trump withdrew from the pact in May against the wishes of the allies and Russia and China.

With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters, and the BBC
Russia's Gulag History Museum says a researcher has discovered a secret Moscow directive in 2014 ordering the destruction of some of the last remaining documents on Soviet-era prisoners -- a move it described as "catastrophic" for historians.

The discovery by Russian researcher Sergei Prudovsky, who has posted online the evidence he provided to the Moscow museum, has alarmed historians and prompted a Russian human rights body to intervene, media reported on June 8.

As many as 17 million people were sent to the Gulag, the notorious Soviet prison camp system, in the 1930s and 1940s, and at least 5 million of them were convicted on false testimony. The prison population in the sprawling labor camps peaked at 2 million people.

Case files of the gulag prisoners were often destroyed, but their personal data was kept on registration cards, which are still held by police and intelligence agencies.

The museum said the newly disclosed classified order in 2014 instructed Russian officials at those agencies to destroy the registration cards of prisoners who had reached the age of 80 -- which now would include almost all of them.

Prudovsky told AFP he discovered the secret order when he contacted authorities in far eastern Magadan, where Soviet prisoners once mined gold, and was told a prisoner's record card had been destroyed under an "official order" from 2014.

"I found out absolutely by chance the record cards were destroyed," said Prudovsky, who specializes in researching camps in Russia's far east.

"I submitted a request. I was interested in the fate of one person, whether he had survived in the camps. I found out that there exists an order for internal use."

The reply from the local Interior Ministry branch, which Prudovsky posted on Facebook, says record cards are only stored for a limited time under an order given in 2014 to the ministry, the FSB security service, and other agencies with Soviet-era archives.

The cards contained information such as when prisoners entered camps and moved between them, as well as what happened to them in the end -- whether they died or were released, researchers said.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian authorities have moved to downplay the horrors of the Soviet imprisonment of millions, including the many political dissidents sent to the gulag camps.

They in particular have played down Soviet ruler Josef Stalin's terror, during which millions of people were killed or convicted and sent to camps, instead hailing Stalin for building a new economy and helping the Soviet Union win World War II.

Prudovsky said he passed the letter he received from the Interior Ministry to the gulag museum, which then contacted the Presidential Rights Council, an influential advisory body at the Kremlin.

The head of the council, Mikhail Fedotov, told RIA Novosti news agency that the destruction of such cards would be "barbarism," but that he hoped in this case "simply some mistake happened." He promised to raise the question with officials.

"We will always defend preserving archive records; they contain very important historical information," Fedotov told Interfax news agency.

"It is crucial, as it is a means to counter the falsification of history," he said. "When there is a document, it is almost impossible to falsify. And if there is no document, anything can be invented. This is why all documents of that time must be preserved if possible."

Aleksei Makarov, a researcher at Memorial, the country's top rights group that honors the victims of Soviet repression, said the news came as a surprise.

"We heard about this from Sergei Prudovsky when he received the letter. This is an order for internal use, not published, which doesn't get discussed with the public or with Rosarkhiv," he said, referring to the state archive agency.

It is unclear how many cards have been destroyed, Makarov said.

"It's impossible to understand the scale of what happened," he said. "They could have acted to fulfill it in a half-hearted way.... Unfortunately we don't know how bad the picture is."

If the destruction has happened on a mass scale, "this will make our work more difficult," he said.

A researcher at the gulag museum, Aleksandr Makeyev, told Interfax that so far the problem had only been found in Magadan and the museum wanted to find out if it affects other regions.

U.S. historian Steven Barnes, associate professor of Russian history at George Mason University, told AFP that he had not personally encountered the issue in his gulag research, but added that "any destruction of extant materials related to the history of repression is deeply disturbing."

While most of the gulag central-administration archive has been put on microfilm and stored outside Russia, "a large number of documents remain off-limits to researchers and subject to the whims of the Russian political system for their long-term preservation," he said.

The report has prompted outrage in the Russian historical community and beyond.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democrat Party, said on social media on June 8 that historical "archives should be opened to the public, not destroyed," and that Russians should be able to know the truth about their past.

With reporting by AP, RIA Novosti, Interfax, and AFP
The Kremlin has said Vienna is one of the cities being considered as the venue for a possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on June 9 that Putin and Trump discussed the prospects for their meeting in a March phone call and talked about locations, with the Austrian capital as a possibility.

Speaking in the Chinese port city of Qingdao where Putin is attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Peskov said that "there have been no concrete agreements or understandings, and no specific discussions are being conducted now."

Peskov added the issue came up during Putin's talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz earlier this week.

Trump said in March that the two leaders would meet soon, but since then ties between Washington and Moscow have further deteriorated over the conflict in Syria and the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, which the West blamed on Moscow.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
About Rs 14,000 crore of refunds of exporters were stuck due to various mismatches.

GST refunds of exporters has been cleared in the first nine days of the ongoing special refund fortnight.

New Delhi: Over Rs 7,000 crore or half of the pending GST refunds of exporters has been cleared in the first nine days of the ongoing special refund fortnight.

"More than Rs 7,000 crore of IGST/ ITC refunds sanctioned till now during the ongoing Special Refund Fortnight," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in a tweet late last night.

It asked exporters and traders to visit their jurisdictional GST office or Customs House/Port and settle pending claims during the Special Refund Fortnight from May 31 to June 14, 2018.

About Rs 14,000 crore of refunds of exporters were stuck due to various mismatches and CBIC has organised the special fortnight to fast track clearances.

The CBIC has also allowed clearance of GST refunds based on PAN of exporters if such refunds are held up due to mismatch in GSTIN mentioned in shipping bill and return forms.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeated his call for Russia to be readmitted into the Group of Seven (G7) during a press conference on the sidelines of a summit in Quebec, Canada.

Trump told journalists on June 9 that "it would be an asset to have Russia back in."

"I think it would be good for the world," he added. "I think it would be good for Russia. I think it would be good for the United States. I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7."

Despite the disagreements on Russia and also on trade issues, the G7 issued a final communique on June 9 that the host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said was signed by all member nations.

The communique said that should Moscows actions require it, we stand ready to take further restrictive measures to increase costs on Russia.

Earlier, Western powers dismissed Trump's suggestion of inviting Russia back into the G7, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying that won't happen until "progress" is made in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

European Union countries, which make up four of the group's seven members, agreed ahead of the summit "that a return of Russia to the G7-format summits can't happen until substantial progress has been made in connection with the problems with Ukraine," Merkel said as the summit began on June 8.

Russia was expelled from the group four years ago after annexing Ukraines Crimea Peninsula and fueling a war in eastern Ukraine that has killed at least 10,300 people.

Trump was asked if he thought Russia's control over Crimea should be recognized by the international community, but he avoided answering directly and instead blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for the situation.

"Crimea was let go during the Obama administration and, you know, Obama can say all he wants, but he allowed Russia to take Crimea," Trump said.

"But, with that being said," he added, "it's been done a long time."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on Russian television on June 9, said Moscow was not seeking to rejoin the group. He added that Russia was "working fine in other formats."

Lavrov said the G20 "is a mechanism to reach consensus" and the "most promising format for the future."

Although Merkel said the common view" in Europe was to continue to exclude Russia, Italy's new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, later echoed Trump's call for returning Russia to the "negotiating table" in a post on Twitter.

Trump had said on his way to the summit: "You know, whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run and the G7, which used to be the G8, they threw Russia out. They can let Russia come back in, because we should have Russia at the negotiating table."

Canada had an indignant reaction to Trump's suggestion.

"Russia made clear it has no interest in behaving by the rules of Western democracies," Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said. "There are no grounds whatsoever to bring Russia, with its current behavior, back to the G7."

The G7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the United States.

U.S. allies at the summit said they were stunned by Trump's friendly gesture toward Russia, especially considering his move last month to cite "national security" reasons for threatening to impose tariffs on the steel imports of major U.S. allies, in a move that markets fear could spark a trade war.

"We are very clear that Canada does not pose a national security threat to the United States," Freeland said, calling Trump's move on tariffs "an illegal act" that "is absolutely unjustified."

The wrangling over whether Russian President Vladimir Putin should be welcomed back to the G7 came as the summit opened with the sharpest divisions in recent history between the United States and its top allies on issues ranging from global trade and tariffs to the international agreements on climate change and Iran's nuclear program.

EU President Donald Tusk said he feared the deep divisions that have opened up between the United States and its allies may end up unraveling the post-World War II and post-Cold War world order they worked for decades to build together.

"It is evident that the American president and the rest of the group continue to disagree on trade, climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal," Tusk said when he arrived in Canada.

"What worries me most, however, is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor, the United States," he said.

Tusk said he and other European leaders came to the summit prepared to keep trying to persuade Trump, who campaigned for office questioning such global institutions as NATO and the World Trade Organization, to rejoin the G7 group's previous consensus on the rules of trade, security, and other matters.

"Naturally we cannot force the U.S. to change their mind," he said. "At the same time, we will not stop trying to convince our American friends and President Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all, because it would only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist."

Many U.S. legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, have also been concerned about Trump's departure from past U.S. views on trade, Russia, and the international order.

"We need the president to be able to distinguish between our allies and adversaries, and to treat each accordingly," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

Republican Senator Ben Sasse said that Trump should understand that "Putin is not our friend, and he is not the president's buddy. He is a thug using Soviet-style aggression to wage a shadow war against America, and our leaders should act like it."

With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters
More than 100,000 people have demonstrated in support of the government in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, to protest alleged abuses by anticorruption prosecutors.

The government of the ruling Social Democratic Party bused in thousands of supporters from around the country on June 9 for the rally, which critics say was intended to intimidate judges and prosecutors.

The government argues that prosecutors have too much power and has accused them of using illegal phone taps and other violations.

Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea addressed the rally and said it was organized "to defend dignity and freedom." She said that antigovernment protesters against alleged high-level corruption had been "paid" to demonstrate "against our interests."

Romania is one of the most corrupt states in the European Union, and the bloc keeps the country's judicial system under special monitoring.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
The editor in chief of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, Nikolai Uskov, has been fired.

The media group ACMG, which publishes the Russian Forbes, issued a statement saying Uskov was fired for unsatisfactory job performance and for violating a company rule against participating in "the events of other brands."

In a statement on Facebook, Uskov said he was fired for participating in a program on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Uskov also said that he was offered nearly $100,000 in severance compensation, but that he refused it so that he could speak publicly about his dismissal and contest it in court.

"I want to do everything I can to protect the magazine, its dignity, the work we have done, and the memory of Paul Klebnikov," he wrote, referring to the former Forbes editor who was shot dead in Moscow in 2004.

Uskov accused Forbes owner Aleksandr Fedotov of repeatedly interfering in the magazine's editorial affairs, including an incident in which Fedotov ordered the magazine not to publish information about the salary of the president of the state-controlled VTB financial group, Andrei Kostin.

Uskov was named editor in chief of Forbes in early 2016. Previously, he was the editor in chief of the Russian version of GQ magazine and the magazine Snob.

Longtime Forbes journalist Nikolai Mazurin was named acting editor in chief of Forbes.

He issued a statement on June 9 saying the magazine had always adhered to strict standards of independence and journalistic integrity.

"Forbes exists as long as its editorial board is independent of the authorities, the business community, newsmakers, advertisers, and from its owner," the statement said.

In 2015, the German publisher Axel Springer sold its stake in the Russian edition of Forbes after Russia adopted a law limiting foreign ownership of Russian media to 20 percent. Fedotov's ACMG became the magazine's publisher at that time.

With reporting by RBC and Interfax
Tajikistan is set to take strict new measures to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD) that many believe have been brought to the country primarily by labor migrants returning from Russia.

One new measure involves setting up medical booths at entry points -- including airports -- so blood samples can be drawn from returning migrants.

The migrants are to then be given free condoms and official instructions to not have unprotected sex for three days until the test results are in.

"The migrants would be allowed to enter the country only after taking a blood test. Only then can they go home to their spouses and children," said Usmonali Latifov, a spokesman for the Labor and Migration Ministry, the organization behind the initiative.

The tests -- which apart from HIV/AIDS and STDs also cover tuberculosis -- are quick, easy, and free of charge, Latifov told RFE/RL's Tajik Service on June 5.

Those who get the all-clear are not required to take further steps, while the individuals whose test results come back positive would be called in for further medical checks.

Importing Disease

Tajikistan has made it mandatory for tuberculosis patients to seek medical treatment at specialized facilities to prevent the spread of the disease.

HIV/AIDS patients are required by law to register with health authorities, who inform the patients' sexual partners of their health status.

Tajikistan offers free medical treatment for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS patients in state-owned facilities that include consultations both for the patients and their family members. HIV/AIDS patients also have access to free counseling by qualified professionals.

The compulsory blood-test initiative comes after the Health Ministry said in 2017 that blood tests conducted on 15,000 returning migrants the previous year revealed that 165 of them, including 14 women, were HIV-positive.

According to the ministry, it was determined that more than 90 percent of them contracted the potentially deadly virus through unprotected sex.

Tajik health officials say that all the mothers who have been registered as HIV-positive and who have never been outside the country are married to migrant workers who contracted the virus in Russia.

Tajikistan depends heavily on remittances sent home by seasonal labor migrants, and Russia is the primary destination. Hundreds of thousands of Tajiks, most of them aged between 18 and mid-40s, travel to Russia each year for work.

Can It Help?

A national program focusing on the years 2017-2020 was established to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS. There are some 9,000 officially registered HIV-positive patients in the country of more than 8 million, although health authorities fear that the real figures could be higher. Most Tajiks simply don't do regular medical check-ups.

An official from the Sughd provincial department for labor and migration told RFE/RL that authorities see no choice but to start mandatory blood tests with labor migrants to protect their families and society at large.

"The migrants -- regardless of their gender -- will be told not to have unprotected sex until authorities contact them within three days to inform the blood test results," the official said under condition of anonymity, as he wasn't authorized to speak to media.

It remains unclear, however, how authorities will oversee compliance with the order. And it's not yet known if the tests will apply only to Tajik migrants returning from Russia, or from other countries as well.

Their status as migrants would be determined from obligatory entry forms Tajik citizens are required to fill in before entering the country.

The compulsory blood tests are expected to begin later this year, although the exact date hasn't been announced.

One Tajik migrant worker in Russia welcomed the decision as a "good thing for everyone, including the migrants themselves."

"A health check-up is always a good idea," said Avaz Boronov, who works in St. Petersburg.

However, given the spread of corruption culture in the country, Boronov said he hopes "it won't turn into just another bribery avenue for officials and those who want to avoid a blood test."

Written by Farangis Najibullah with interviews conducted by RFE/RL Tajik Service correspondent Mumin Ahmadi
State prosecutor says ex-Playa del Carmen mayor wont leave prison

Playa del Carmen, Q. R.  The Attorney General of the State of Quintana Roo, Miguel Angel Pech, said that despite the Amparo granted by a judge in defense of Mauricio Gongora Escalante, the former mayor of Solidarity will remain in prison.

The lawyer of the ex-mayor of Playa del Carmen has filed an Amparo in an attempt to see his client under house arrest during the investigative time rather than remain behind bars, however, the state prosecutor says that wont happen.

At this time, we must not forget that the judge does not look only at the charges for which the Amparo was applied. The Office of the Prosecutor filed an appeal for review, and in addition to the appeal, we are ensuring that the other charges are being taken into consideration, which means that his process will continue in prison.

He explained that in total there are three open cases against the former mayor for the crimes of irregular performance of the public function and embezzlement, among others. The charges include both Playa del Carmen and Chetumal.

Former Solidaridad mayor, Mauricio Gongora Escalante, was transferred to Playa del Carmen in March after his arrest in Mexico City to face allegations of embezzlement and negligence in the performance of his duties while mayor.
A department spokesperson said the agency was not specifying the exact number of people evacuated, saying it was due to medical privacy concerns. Similar sonic attacks occurred, described as vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure. The symptoms, which first appeared in late 2016 in Havana, where 24 persons were affected, include dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping. Chinas government said Thursday that it investigated and could not find anything to cause the described symptoms.



The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou

The foreign ministry said it takes its obligation to protect foreign diplomats seriously and is open to conducting further investigations if requested by the U.S. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a task force to respond to the unexplained health incidents. Medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated, spokeswoman Heather Nauert of the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday. The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, in southern China, officially opened in 1979.
Major international financiers, asset managers and executives in charge of public pension funds are also expected to attend. The conference, titled Energy Transition and Care for Our Common Home, is being held in the Pontifical Academy of Science. The meeting is not open to the press. It was not yet confirmed if the popes speech to the group would be made public after the event. Pope Francis strongly supported the Paris Climate Accord and has implicitly criticized the United States for withdrawing from the agreement.

Previously, in 2015, the Pope publicly focused on the environment and sustainable development, decrying environmental degradation and global warming while criticizing consumerism and irresponsible development. Pope Francis also warned of unprecedented destruction of ecosystems if prompt climate-change mitigation efforts are not undertaken. If energy companies are serious about caring for our common home, they need to take the popes advice and hurry up with shifting their priorities  and therefore their money  from fossil fuels to renewables, Neil Thorns, director of advocacy at Catholic aid agency CAFOD in London, said in a statement.
PM Narendra Modi arrives in Qingdao to attend SCO summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here today on a two-day visit primarily to attend the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which is likely to deliberate on several pressing global issues including future of Iran nuclear deal, the impact of US sanctions on Russia and situation in the Indo-Pacific region. It is Modi's second visit to China in little over five weeks. He was in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27 and 28 to attend an informal summit with President Xi Jinping.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

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Diplomats said the summit is also likely to explore ways to deepen cooperation among the SCO member countries in dealing with threats of terrorism, extremism, and radicalization besides delving into issues relating to trade, investment, and connectivity. It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became a full-fledged member of the grouping, jointly dominated by China and Russia, which has been increasingly seen as a counter to NATO.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represent around 42 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of the global GDP. Besides Modi, other leaders attending the summit in this picturesque coastal city of China's Shandong province include President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain.

President Xi Jinping

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In his address at the SCO Modi, is likely to articulate India's position on dealing with major challenges facing the world including ways to tackle terrorism, and boosting trade and investment in the region. The summit in this Chinese port city is taking place under the shadow of Washington's pullout from the Iran nuclear deal, its sanction regime against Russia and frictions with China over the trade tariff dispute and diplomats said all these issues may figure at the summit as well as during deliberations on its sidelines.

In the wake of Washington's strained ties with Russia, China and Iran, officials said the SCO summit will provide an opportunity for President Xi and his Russian counterpart Putin to reflect on a common vision for the region and present the bloc as a powerful voice to deal with pressing global issues. The situation in the Indo-Pacific may figure in the talks but it is unlikely that the issue will find a mention in the SCO outcome document.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

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Officials said the US pullout from the Iran nuclear deal, Washington's sanctions against Russia under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) may also figure in the talks. The sanctions have impacted Russia's defense cooperation with a number of countries including India. The SCO leaders are also expected to review the situation in the Korean peninsula, Afghanistan, and Syria.

Officials said India will pitch for evolving effective ways to deal with the growing challenge of terrorism and enhancing security cooperation among SCO countries. India is also keen on deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defense. India was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.

Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure

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The officials said India is also likely to focus on the importance of regional connectivity projects to boost trade among members of the SCO countries. India has been strongly pushing for connectivity projects like the Chabahar port project and International North-South Transport Corridor to gain access to resource-rich central Asian countries. Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries.

However, there is no official word on whether there will be any interaction between Modi and Pakistan President Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in China. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members last year.
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja is also one of the most awaited faces on the red carpet of Cannes Film Fetsival.

At the age of 33, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja believes she is making a mark in Bollywood. She is, but not as an actress and rather as a fashionista.

Sonam has done many movies, some even with stars like Akshay Kumar (Thank You) and Salman Khan (Prem Ratan Dhan Payo), but her claim to fame has always been the fashion industry.

She started her career with Saawariya, a movie which was forgotten as soon as it released. Sonam was reported to be dating her co-star Ranbir Kapoor then and life comes to a full circle for her since she has been cast as his girlfriend in the upcoming movie Sanju, which is a biopic on superstar-criminal Sanjay Dutt.

The actress always had a sense of style, which soon became her identity, especially after doing films like Aisha and Khoobsurat which also starred Pakistani actor (making his Bollywood debut) Fawad Khan.

Sonam has been credited for her acting skills only in one movie  Neerja, which also got the actress her first National Award.

And through this, along with her family, stood her husband Anand Ahuja, who got married to the actress recently. Before taking the plunge, Sonam opened a clothing line called Rheson along with sister Rhea Kapoor. She is the top choice for magazines because of her glam sense.

Even today, Sonam is often remembered for her clothes than her acting, take for example even her recent release Veere Di Wedding, which, despite being her production film, did not garner her as many praises as Swara Bhasker, Shikha Talsania or Kareena Kapoor Khan got.

Sonam Kapoor Ahuja is also one of the most awaited faces on the red carpet of Cannes, which is also where her journey of fashion began, and knowing that her husband Anand too is involved with brands, clothing and shoes, it doesnt look like life changes for Sonam any time soon as she might continue being a fashionista before an actress.
A study out of Florida International University evaluates the use of scent-discriminating canines for the detection of laurel wilt-affected wood from avocado trees. Julian Mendel, Kenneth G. Furton, and DeEtta Mills have ferreted out a possible solution to a serious issue in one corner of the horticultural industry, and then ascertained the extent to which this solution is effective.

The results of this study are presented in their article "An Evaluation of Scent-discriminating Canines for Rapid Response to Agricultural Diseases" published in the latest issue of HortTechnology.

Laurel wilt disease has resulted in the death of more than 300 million laurel trees in the United States alone. One affected plant is the commercially important avocado tree, the second-largest tree crop in Florida behind citrus. This disease has had a devastating effect on the industry in South Florida in past harvest seasons, and two larger avocado industries in Mexico and California are naturally worried that this disease, if it hits their crops, could spread fast enough to destroy their seasons.

Once affected by laurel wilt disease, trees succumb soon after infection. Once external symptoms are evident, this disease is very difficult to control and contain as the pathogen can spread to adjacent trees via root grafting. Until now, there has been no viable, cost-effective method of early diagnosis and treatment.

Laurel wilt is the consequence of an invasive species -- the redbay ambrosia beetle -- originally from Asia, which was inadvertently introduced into the United States in untreated wooden packing material.

But as with so many ailments, early detection can be instrumental in deterring a widespread infection. The use of scent-discriminating dogs has shown to offer the avocado industry legitimate signs of hope in their fight against the spread of such a profit-crusher throughout their groves.

Three dogs were trained and studied for their ability to detect the early presence of laurel wilt by scent. At present, canines are extensively used in law enforcement and forensics in the location of missing persons, explosives, drugs, weapons, and ammunition. More directly applicable, dogs have demonstrated the ability to detect invasive species of spotted knapweed, brown tree snakes, desert tortoises, and various cancers.

The highly sensitive canine olfactory system is capable of detecting odor concentrations at exceedingly minute 1 to 2 parts per trillion. The authors believe it likely, with properly directed training, that these dogs could use their natural talents to service the protective needs of the potentially ailing avocado industry.

During the course of the study, 229 trials were performed, and only 12 of those yielded false alerts. It was observed that dogs are indeed capable of high levels of relevant performance, even in harsh weather conditions such as high heat and humidity. The study provided proof that dogs can detect agricultural diseases such as laurel wilt and can be a powerful management tool if the disease is caught in its earliest stages.

About the valuable service provided by these dogs, Mills adds, "It is the best 'technology' so far that can detect a diseased tree before external symptoms are visible. The old saying that 'dogs are man's best friend' reaches far beyond a personal bond with their handler and trainer. It is depicted in their excitement every day as they deploy to the groves. Man's best friend may even help save an industry."
Nestled deep in each of your cells is what seems like a magic trick: Six feet of DNA is packaged into a tiny space 50 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Like a long, thin string of genetic spaghetti, this DNA blueprint for your whole body is folded, twisted, and compacted to fit into the nucleus of each cell.

Now, Caltech researchers have shown how cells organize the seemingly immense genome in a clever manner so that they can conveniently find and access important genes. Understanding the delicate three-dimensional organization of the genome is crucial, particularly because alterations in DNA structure have been linked to certain diseases such as cancer and early aging. Mapping and pinpointing alterations in nuclear structure may help in finding solutions to these diseases.

The work was done in the laboratory of Mitchell Guttman, assistant professor of biology and Heritage Medical Research Institute investigator. A paper describing the research appears in the June 7 online issue of the journal Cell.

Though the vast majority of cells in every human body contain identical genomes, different types of cells are able to have diverse functions because genes can be expressed at varying levels -- in other words, they can be turned on or off. For example, when a stem cell is developing into a neuron, a flurry of activity happens in the nucleus to dial up and down levels of gene expression. These levels would be different, for example, if the stem cell was turning into a muscle cell or if the cell were making the decision to self-destruct.

In addition to the genome, the nucleus also contains structures called nuclear bodies, which are like miniature factories in the nucleus that contain a high concentration of cellular machinery all working to accomplish similar tasks, such as turning on specific sets of genes or modifying RNA molecules to produce proteins in the cell. This cellular machinery needs to be able to efficiently search through six feet of DNA -- approximately 20,000 total genes, in mammals -- in order to precisely find and control its targets. This is made possible because DNA is organized into three-dimensional structures that make certain genes more or less accessible.

In the new research, Guttman and his team describe a method to three-dimensionally map out how DNA is organized within the space of the nucleus and how regions of chromosomes interact with each other and with nuclear bodies. The technique, dubbed SPRITE (Split-Pool Recognition of Interactions by Tag Extension), allows researchers to examine clusters (or "complexes") of molecules within the nucleus to see which molecules are interacting with each other and where they are located.

In the technique, each complex in the nucleus is given a different molecular barcode, with all of the molecules within a single complex receiving the same barcode. Then, the complexes can be broken open and the molecules analyzed. This way, scientists can determine if two or more molecules were interacting, depending on whether they had the same barcode.

Led by graduate student Sofia Quinodoz, the team used SPRITE to discover that genes across different chromosomes (large folded structures of DNA) cluster together around specific nuclear bodies. Specifically, inactive genes -- those that are turned off -- across different chromosomes cluster together around a particular nuclear body called the nucleolus, which contains repressive proteins on DNA that keep genes turned off. Conversely, active genes grouped about another kind of nuclear body called the nuclear speckle, contain molecules that help turn the genes on and make them into proteins.

"With SPRITE, we were able to see thousands of molecules -- DNAs and RNAs -- coming together at various 'hubs' around the nucleus in single cells," says Quinodoz, the study's first author. "Previously, researchers theorized that each chromosome is kind of on its own, occupying its own 'territory' in the nucleus. But now we see that multiple genes on different chromosomes are clustering together around these bodies of cellular machinery. We think these 'hubs' may help the cell keep DNA that are all turned on or turned off neatly organized in different parts of the nucleus to allow cellular machinery to easily access specific genes within the nucleus."
Researchers from the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center describe the first strain of carbapenem-resistant, hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae exhibiting colistin heteroresistance and enhanced virulence isolated from a patient in the United States. The research is presented at ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, held from June 7th to 11th, in Atlanta, Georgia.

"The problem of antibiotic resistance is becoming increasingly alarming. The combination of increased virulence and multidrug resistance makes the situation worse," said Dr. David Weiss, director of the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center.

The researchers showed that the K. pneumoniae isolate was heteroresistant to the last resort antibiotic colistin. This means that a small subpopulation of cells showed resistance. Heteroresistance is more difficult to detect with standard antibiotic susceptibility tests in clinical microbiology labs, and this isolate was classified as susceptible to colistin by standard methods. This discrepancy is particularly important, as Weiss' lab has shown that such undetected colistin heteroresistance can cause antibiotic treatment failure in mice.

In a hospital in Hangzhou, China, a 2016 deadly outbreak of carbapenem-resistant, hypervirulent K. pneumoniae was recently reported in Lancet Infectious Diseases.

"The isolate we are studying is not nearly as virulent (able to cause disease) in a mouse model as the bacteria from China," said Dr. Weiss, "However, finding the combination of antibiotic resistance and enhanced virulence from a clinical isolate in the United States (New York) is still alarming." The previously reported hypervirulent forms were largely antibiotic susceptible. Carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae, part of the carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) superbug family, is considered an urgent (top 3) threat by the CDC.

The researchers are urging more monitoring for this form of bacteria, which have the potential for increased virulence and may be especially worrisome in healthcare settings.

Jessie Wozniak, a Microbiology and Molecular Genetics graduate student at Emory University School of Medicine, and her colleagues examined 265 isolates of carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae from the Emerging Infections Program's Multi-site Gram-negative Surveillance Initiative, using a simple "string test."

"The string test is very low-tech," Wozniak says. "You take a loop, touch it to the bacterial colony, and pull back. The hypermucoviscous one looks like a string of cheese being pulled from a pizza."

The stretchiness observed by the string test is a sign that the bacteria produce more capsule polysaccharide, and has been associated with enhanced virulence previously. Wozniak verified that the isolate was approximately ten times more virulent in mice than other isolates of the same sequence type.

She also used whole-genome sequencing to discover that the U.S. isolate carried several antibiotic resistance genes, along with a new arrangement of virulence genes, but not the same set seen in similar K. pneumoniae isolates from Asian countries.
Suhana turned 18 some days back and her birthday was celebrated in United States of America.

Suhana Khan is undoubtedly her mommas favourite child. Gauris obsession with Suhana can be seen in the photos she shares of her daughter  be it from their recent trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra or a picture of Suhana before her birthday party, Gauri has shared all special moments with her daughter.

Now the entrepreneur mom has shared another photo of her daughter dearest from London, where she poses along with some ladies.

Dressed in a mini black dress, jacket and high boots, Suhana looks drop dead gorgeous and it is no wonder that Gauri too ended up making her a part of the British charm.

The British charm @annabelsmayfair 76.2k Likes, 259 Comments - Gauri Khan (@gaurikhan) on Instagram: "The British charm @annabelsmayfair"

Suhana turned 18 some days back and her birthday was celebrated in United States of America where father Shah Rukh Khan was shooting for his movie Zero.
The California Highway Patrol told the story Friday of an officer who coaxed a man off the railing of the Bay Bridge after he appeared ready to leap from the 190-foot-high ledge.

The San Francisco officers received calls about a pedestrian walking westbound on the shoulder of the bridge at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, the CHP said.

Officer Dustin Ribergaard soon located the man, who wore a black ball cap and black pants. But he walked away from Ribergaard, before turning and pointing a large stick at him, officials said.

Ribergaard followed at a distance and waited for backup units. Officials said that when other officers arrived at the scene, the man suddenly walked to the concrete bridge railing and swung both his legs over the side as though to jump off the bridge.

Officer Vu Williams, a spokesman with the CHP, said the officers relied on their crisis-intervention training and designated Ribergaard as the sole officer to communicate with the man. The other officers backed away as Ribergaard spoke to him.

The man initially ignored Ribergaard. Although its not clear specifically what Ribergaard told the man, all CHP officers receive crisis-intervention training designed to diffuse situations with those experiencing mental health or drug-related issues, Williams said.

Tactics include speaking slowly, keeping physical distance and taking time, he said. The goal is to resolve the situation without using force.

It worked.

The man agreed to leave the bridge with Ribergaard after about 30 to 45 minutes, Williams said.

Officials said the incident was resolved without injuries, and the man was taken into custody for a mental health evaluation.

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The training officers receive includes how to spot clues about a persons state of mind and tailoring the way you communicate with people through that, Williams said.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com
In November 1942, the heavy cruiser San Francisco, flagship of an outgunned and outnumbered American task force, was ordered to stop a much stronger Japanese armada that was steaming toward the U.S.-held island of Guadalcanal. The Japanese planned to pulverize an all-important airstrip, Henderson Field, land thousands of troops and destroy any U.S. ships that opposed them.

As recounted in the previous Portals, the San Franciscos captain, Cassin Young, told the task forces commander, Rear Adm. Daniel Callaghan, that the mission amounted to suicide. Callaghan, a San Francisco native, replied, I know, but we have to do it.

The night of Friday, Nov. 13, was hot and moonless as the Japanese force under Rear Adm. Hiroaki Abe and Callaghans ships approached each other. At 1:30 a.m., the powerful new radar on one of the U.S. cruisers, the Helena, picked up the locations of the enemy force, between 27,100 and 32,000 yards away.

The Japanese did not possess this high-powered radar, so Callaghan temporarily had the advantage of surprise. But as James Hornfischer writes in Neptunes Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, Callaghan was a traditionalist who placed his faith in people, not in technics. He did not order his destroyers to launch their torpedoes, nor did he maneuver his ships to cross the enemys T  the classic maneuver in which a line of warships sails at 90 degrees across the front of a single file of approaching ships, allowing it to fire broadsides at the enemy.

But if Callaghan had squandered the tactical advantage the radar had given him, he still had a deadly surprise to spring on the Japanese.

At 1:40 a.m., the enemies collided  almost literally. Two Japanese destroyers suddenly emerged from the dark, forcing the lead ship in the American column, the destroyer Cushing, to veer hard to port to avoid running into them. Callaghan now gave his last meaningful command, ordering his ships to change course 90 degrees to the left, into the middle of a widely dispersed Japanese force that included two battleships.

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Callaghan never issued a written battle plan, and exactly what the U.S. admiral was thinking has been lost in the fog of war. But consciously or not, he was pursuing an incredibly audacious strategy: It was, one observer said, like Tennysons Charge of the Light Brigade.

As Hornfischer writes, It is possible the order (to turn directly into the Japanese force) reflected Callaghans recognition that, confronted with battleships, cruisers could prevail only at point-blank range, where even a battleships heavier armor was no proof against 8-inch fire.

More Information Trivia time The previous trivia question: What San Francisco tragedy is associated with a mechanical piano? Answer: In 1983, bouncer Jimmy Ferrozzo was having sex with his girlfriend atop the hydraulic piano used by topless dancer Carol Doda in her act at the Condor Club when it accidentally rose to the ceiling, crushing him to death. This week's trivia question: What bar featured the "Girl in a Fishbowl"? Editor's note Every corner in San Francisco has an astonishing story to tell. Gary Kamiya's Portals of the Past tells those lost stories, using a specific location to illuminate San Francisco's extraordinary history - from the days when giant mammoths wandered through what is now North Beach to the Gold Rush delirium, the dot-com madness and beyond. His column appears every other Saturday, alternating with Peter Hartlaub's OurSF. See More Collapse

Five minutes later, the Japanese destroyers opened fire. The Americans returned fire, their targets so close that they could aim by sight. One of the most vicious battles in naval history had begun.

Japanese searchlights suddenly stabbed through the night and illuminated U.S. ships. Seconds later high-explosive shells found their mark, ripping apart bulkheads and turrets. But the searchlights also allowed the American gunners to see their adversaries. A Japanese destroyer was riddled by fire from the San Francisco and other ships. Within minutes, it was a burning hulk.

American sailors on the destroyers Cushing and Laffey looked up to find Adm. Abes flagship, the battleship Heiei, sailing directly at them. As it surged past the Laffeys fantail, so close (Lt. Cmdr. William) Hank could have hit her with a slingshot, the destroyers gunners raked the upper structure of the 37,000-ton behemoth with cannon and machine-gun fire. Sailor John H. Jenkins ran to a 20mm gun whose operator had been killed. Wrapping his arms around the corpse and using it as a shield, he fired a clip into the battleships portholes.

The withering fire from the Laffey, the San Francisco and other U.S. ships hit home. Abe was wounded by shrapnel in the face, the Heieis captain was also wounded, and Abes chief of staff was killed.

The destroyers had momentarily blinded the Cyclops, in one sailors words, but the battle was just beginning. The light cruiser Atlanta was struck by torpedoes, then devastated by fire from the San Francisco, which in the chaos had mistaken the U.S. ship for a foe. The salvos killed Adm. Norman Scott. Several other U.S. vessels were also left sinking or burning.

Just before 2 a.m., the Japanese battleships and U.S. cruisers encountered each other. Callaghan ordered, We want the big ones! It was his last command. Seconds later, the San Francisco was struck by fire from both battleships. The third salvo from the Heiei sent four 1,400-pound shells crashing into the cruisers bridge, killing Callaghan and Capt. Young.

In all, 45 shells rocked the San Francisco. But the wounded flagship returned fire, claiming at least 18 hits, including a crucial one that damaged the battleships steering gear.

Just 24 minutes after the battle had begun, the gunfire faded away over Ironbottom Sound. Adm. Abe had lost only two destroyers, but he had been wounded and the Heieis upperworks were blazing, preventing it from being maneuvered properly. Unsure how large a force he was facing and worried the dawn would bring U.S. air strikes, he canceled the planned bombardment of Henderson Field and retired.

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The American losses were much larger. Six ships were sunk and four others heavily damaged; only two were still capable of fighting. The worst loss was the cruiser Juneau, which sank after being torpedoed. Seven hundred men died, many succumbing to shark attacks. Almost 1,500 Navy personnel were killed in the engagement, compared with an estimated 550 to 800 Japanese.

But if the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was a tactical defeat for the Americans, it was a strategic victory. The Japanese battleships had failed to put Henderson Field out of action. American planes sank the Heiei the next day. And in the next two days, U.S. ships and planes inflicted such grievous losses on the Japanese fleet that Tokyo abandoned the campaign to retake Guadalcanal. It was the turning point in the war in the Pacific.

The San Francisco returned to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo for repairs. On Dec. 17, its crew was given a ticker-tape parade. Some 75,000 people lined Market Street as the procession of sailors, some in hospital robes and walking with crutches, stretched out for a mile. A Chronicle reporter wrote, They gave this city a strange feeling of humility and sadness, and at the same time its greatest thrill in many a year. ... It was the quietest parade this city has ever seen.

Adm. Daniel J. Callaghan and three men who helped save the ship  Lt. Cmdrs. Bruce McCandless and Herbert E. Schonland, and boatswains mate Reinhardt J. Keppler, who fought fires below decks and ministered to the injured before dying of his own wounds  were awarded the Medal of Honor.

The San Francisco returned to action, ultimately earning 17 battle stars, making it one of the most highly decorated ships of World War II. Its memorial, at Lands End, stands on the great circle route from San Francisco to Guadalcanal.

Gary Kamiya is the author of the best-selling book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, awarded the Northern California Book Award in creative nonfiction. All the material in Portals of the Past is original for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: metro@sfchronicle.com
Bechtel, the San Francisco-based engineering and construction behemoth, isnt going to be based in San Francisco anymore.

The company said on Thursday it was moving its headquarters to Reston, Va., near Washington, D.C., although it will maintain offices in San Francisco.

About 150 employees based in San Francisco and in Houston will be reassigned to the Virginia headquarters, which has served since 2011 as operational headquarters, when the move becomes official by the end of 2018.

Consolidating the corporate leadership and operations in Reston will enable the company to thrive in the current fast-paced business environment  one that demands faster and seamless decision-making, integration and collaboration, said Jack Futcher, the companys chief operating officer.

Several San Francisco-based positions, numbering in the dozens, according to a company spokeswoman, have been eliminated.

Other San Francisco employees who were offered positions in Reston declined to make the move and will leave the company, according to spokeswoman Iva Zagar. Bechtel currently has 1,300 workers in Reston.

Bechtel, known for building enormous projects for industry, the military and the government, has been based in San Francisco for a century. Its Beale Street office featured an old-fashioned brown railroad car out front. That landmark isnt moving to Reston, Zagar said, at least not for now.

Bechtel was among the contractors that built BART and the Bay Bridge. Among its other massive works were Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada border and countless top-secret military projects. The company says it has built 25,000 projects in 160 countries since its founding in 1898.

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Over the last 15 years, the customer base that supported our San Francisco office has diminished, and as a consequence the employee population in San Francisco diminished because the customers moved to other locations, Futcher said, according to Zagar. Were closing that chapter in the history of our company, but were opening a new chapter.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
The State Compensation Insurance Fund, one of the largest providers of workers compensation insurance in California, has cut its spending on prescription opioids by 74 percent amid a broader push by insurers and doctors to reduce the long-term use of addictive prescription painkillers.

State Fund, as it is often called, slashed spending on opioids from $21.7 million in 2014 to $5.6 million in 2017, the agency announced Thursday. It also reduced the number of opioid prescriptions it covered by 60 percent during the same period, from 140,300 prescriptions to 56,200.

The agencys spending on opioids, as a proportion of its overall spending on prescription drugs, shrank from 25 percent to 17 percent.

The reductions are part of a broader effort in the health care industry to decrease the use of prescription opioids, or reduce the amount of time that patients take them. In 2016, a record 42,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses, many of them from prescriptions.

State Fund insures about 110,000 employers in California for workplace injuries and collects roughly 10 percent of all workers comp insurance premiums in the state  more than any other workers comp insurer except Berkshire Hathaway.

State Fund was created by the California Legislature in 1914 and is a quasi-public agency. Most of its employees are state employees, but it operates more like a private insurer, collecting revenue from insurance premiums paid by employers.

In 2014, State Fund began a concerted effort to reduce opioid prescriptions. It focused on preventing newly injured workers from getting on prescription opioids in the first place, and on reducing opioid use among injured workers who had been taking the drugs, in some cases, for many years.

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One change imposed new restrictions on how long patients could take opioids  from 90 days to 30 days  before the case gets reviewed by an outside group of medical experts. Soon, the 30-day period will be shortened even more, to just four days.

Patients are encouraged to seek other treatments like acupuncture and physical therapy and, for those coping with addiction, cognitive behavioral therapy and treatment programs for opioid dependence.

Through this effort, we have helped to improve  and potentially save  the lives of many injured workers, while also reducing expenses in the workers compensation system for California businesses, State Fund President and CEO Vern Steiner said in a statement.

Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
If Nitish Kumar or Mr Paswan remain in the NDA then they will lose. Nitish wont be able to damage us.

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress have begun to broadly discuss the strategy for next years Lok Sabha elections as well as the Assembly polls which are scheduled shortly thereafter.

Sources said that though no talks have yet been held on seat-sharing, the two parties are putting their heads together on whether bringing more parties on board the Grand Alliance was a good idea.

At the meeting between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashvi Yadav on Thursday, which was also attended by Bihar in-charge of Congress Shaktisinh Gohil, the talks veered on NDA partners like Lok Janashakti Party led by Ramvilas Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP and whether it was a good idea to induct them in case the situation so arises.

It is a cordial alliance unlike the NDA and the discussions were broadly on the Lok Sabha polls though there were no seat-sharing talks, a senior leader of the Bihar Congress told this newspaper.

Interestingly, the talks between the two were held on the day of the dinner meeting of NDA constituents in Bihar, where Mr Kushwaha was conspicuous with his absence.

There have been grumblings within the NDA in Bihar with even JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar giving many hints of his uneasiness with the BJP recently, which includes replacing the Prime Ministers crop insurance scheme and criticising demonetisation, more than a year after he had praised it. It might be recalled that Mr Kumar had switched sides and joined the NDA after having won the Assembly polls as a part of the Congress-RJD-JD(U) Grand Alliance in 2015.

If Nitish Kumar or Mr Paswan remain in the NDA then they will lose. Nitish wont be able to damage us. He has lost secular vote. He will get Kurmi votes, but not the secular votes, the Congress leader said.

The call on new parties on board, however, rested with Mr Yadav, as the RJD was the senior alliance partner being the larger party in the state, sources said, adding that as of now, the Congress was focused on strengthening its own organisation in the state.

Though Mr Yadav seemed to be open to the idea of inclusion Mr Paswans LJP or Mr Kushwahas RSLP if such a situation arises, he was not in favour of taking Mr Kumar-led JD(U) back in Mahagathbandhans fold.

Both Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav have taken potshots at each other with the latter even branding the Bihar chief minister as a turncoat.
As a dozen women mingled in the Noe Valley living room and sipped Chablis from mason jars, comments wafted through the air:

I have a gorgeous one-shoulder dress I want to wear but Ive gained some weight.

I want a bra that will look chic even if it shows.

I need to hold everything in but I wont wear Spanx; Id have to take it off in the middle of the party.

The occasion was a house party to sell intimate apparel from Burlingame startup Ruby Ribbon. Like Amway, Avon and Pampered Chef, Ruby Ribbon sells via direct sales, eschewing storefronts.

In the age of Amazon, a company whose business model harks back to the 1950s Tupperware party may seem oddly retro, but Ruby Ribbon says it has a modern take: The sales reps (called stylists) are social media mavens and about a third of sales parties happen via video chat. The in-person parties? Think of them as pop-up stores in private homes or offices.

Certain products really, really require service, said Anna Zornosa, founder and CEO. Amazon will never send someone into a powder room with a woman to make sure shes comfortable with what shes wearing and its the right size.

She points to Ruby Ribbons $18 million in venture backing as proof that its approach has legs.

Venture capitalists are interested in very, very big markets that need to be disrupted, Zornosa said. Bra replacement and shapewear are a multibillion-dollar industry.

Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle

Patricia Nakache, general partner at Menlo Parks Trinity Ventures, the largest investor in Ruby Ribbon, said direct sales is ripe for technological change.

Anna is thinking about how to turbocharge a very successful channel for reaching consumers, she said. Shes all about how we can apply data and analytics to optimize and improve direct sales.

Tech also boosts the sales reps and helps with quick onboarding, such as through video tutorials. Compared to Avons age, women today in direct sales have much more efficient megaphones, Nakache said. They can use social channels and let the world know what theyre excited about. Ruby Ribbon helps their stylists harness those tools to amplify their message.

Despite  or perhaps because of  the rise of e-commerce, people are craving more personal connections, she said. Direct sales provide those.

Ruby Ribbon has 35 headquarters staff and more than 2,700 reps nationwide, with the heaviest concentration from Wisconsin to Texas. Annual growth over the past five years has ranged from 60 to 100 percent, the company says, though without knowing the base number, thats hard to assess.

Tech plays a big role in the products, too. Zornosa said the company has multiple patents on its variable compression fabrics, which smooth, shape and support a woman of any cup size.

The top seller is a $59 to $79 support camisole that replaces an underwire bra; the company says its much more comfortable.

Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle

While Ruby Ribbon sells other clothing, including swimsuits, pants, tops and dresses, many of them with shaping built in, intimate apparel accounts for the lions share of sales.

Several other direct-sales companies, including Essential Bodywear, also target the lingerie market, while e-commerce companies ThirdLove and True both sell bras they pitch as being ultra-comfortable.

This is such an intimate purchase for anyone that direct sales is a compelling business model for it, said Moira Nelson, CEO of New Yorks Bra La Mode, which consults on lingerie products. A previous client was Peach, which also did direct sales of bras but has shifted to other apparel. Customers loved the one-on-one consultation aspect of that sales environment, she said.

Direct sales is exactly what it sounds like: independent reps who market products directly to consumers in exchange for commissions on sales. In 2016, a record 20.5 million Americans, three-quarters of them women, did direct sales of everything from cosmetics to jewelry to health tonics, according to the trade group Direct Selling Association, racking up $35.54 billion in sales. Their median income: $2,500.

At Ruby Ribbon, the median stylist income is $500 a month, implying that most work part-time. Commissions range from 20 to 40 percent.

Like many direct sales companies, Ruby Ribbon is also a multilevel marketing company, meaning its stylists make extra commissions on products sold by other sales people whom they recruit.

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Multilevel marketings reputation is mixed because sometimes it crosses the line into pyramid schemes, which are illegal. The Federal Trade Commission says the litmus test is: Does a company make money by selling products to end consumers (legitimate) or by enticing sales reps into loading up on pricey inventory and paying for the right to sell products and recruit others (scam)?

Leggings company LuLaRoe, which reached a stunning $2.3 billion in sales last year, is now facing more than a dozen lawsuits by sales reps who claim its a pyramid scheme. It required reps to spend thousands of dollars on inventory to get started.

Ruby Ribbon is adamant that it falls on the legitimate side of the spectrum. Its stylists pay from $250 to $500 for a sample set, and generally get additional samples for free as they meet sales goals.

Sheri Kearney, the stylist at the Noe Valley house party, was the companys first sales rep in 2012 and remains among its top sellers, making close to $50,000 a year working about 20 to 25 hours a week. She has 76 reps under her. She also works full-time as a hair stylist in Burlingame and said the two endeavors complement each another.

Clients trust my taste, she said. I have a rack of Ruby Ribbon items at the salon; people like to shop while theyre waiting.

At the house party, she showed off products from a rack of samples and encouraged women to pass them around to feel the fabrics and to try them on.

With Ruby Ribbon, you do not have to wear a bra or wires at all, she told the group. You can get extra hold and boost without being squished or flattened.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
For more than 25 years, San Franciscos American Indian community has fought for the removal of the Early Days portion of the Pioneer Monument at Civic Center.

The statue, on Fulton Street between the San Francisco Public Library and the Asian Art Museum, shows a swaggering Spanish cowboy gazing out on the horizon, while his religious corollary, a Catholic missionary, berates the barely clothed American Indian man who cowers beneath them.

It is part of an 1894 monument that was a gift to the city from the investor James Lick. Its sculptor, Frank Happersberger, designed it to be easy for the public to understand.

Through the positioning of its bronze figures  their clothing, and their actions  the message of Early Days is particularly clear:

The conquerors of this land are here, it says, and its original inhabitants belong at our feet.

The Bay Areas American Indian community rightfully disagrees. Activists have requested removal of the statue from a prominent public position since the 1990s.

The 2015 Charleston church shooting, when a white supremacist murdered nine African American churchgoers, inspired them to redouble their efforts.

When I look at that statue, what I see is that a part of myself is not seen as human, said Mariposa Villaluna, a 37-year-old whos been active in the latest effort to remove the monument. I grew up looking at a message that I deserve to be colonized, that Im not as good as other people. I dont want my toddler to grow up with it, too.

The latest effort was finally paying off. Earlier this year, San Franciscos Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously to remove the statue.

This came after a unamimous removal vote from the San Francisco Arts Commission, a unanimous resolution from the Board of Supervisors, and packed public meetings of approving San Francisco residents.

Then a 64-year-old Petaluma lawyer named Frear Stephen Schmid filed an appeal to block the removal. The citys Board of Appeals agreed with him.

On Wednesday, June 13, the Arts Commission and the citys Historic Preservation Commission will request a re-hearing from the appeals board  and the whole maddening process will begin again.

All over the country, cities and states have been removing their monuments to a misinterpreted history that reflects shame, not honor, on their residents. According to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, 110 Confederate symbols  47 of them monuments  have been removed across the nation since the Charleston murders.

New Orleans removed four very public monuments. The state of Georgia renamed two holidays. North Carolina, Texas, Virginia  they have all taken down monuments, renamed schools and retitled highways.

These are places that San Franciscans enjoy believing are backward and benighted.

Meanwhile, despite unanimous approval, San Francisco cant seem to get rid of Early Days.

I am deeply embarrassed by my city.

I called Schmid. I was unsurprised to learn that he is the kind of person who, upon being asked to explain his reasons for attempting to block the removal of a statue in a city where he doesnt even live, answers with, Read my brief.

I was also unsurprised on reading Schmids stated opposition to the June re-hearing request that he called Supervisor Katy Tangs argument for statue removal highly emotional (Tang says she never made any statements about the statue). He also mentioned that he sought to educate Mayor Mark Farrell, who expressed disappointment at the appeal boards decision.

Sadly, sexism, pedanticism and lack of consideration for other peoples experiences are an oft-mixed personality cocktail.

The interesting thing about Schmids argument is that it hangs on a common misperception. In his April 18 statement to the Board of Appeals, Schmid writes, (N)ot to know history, is to repeat history. In his June opposition, he writes, Let history stand.

Many people believe that removing public monuments to white supremacists and brutal colonizers amounts to some kind of historical erasure. Its an idea that assumes history is settled and unchanging, instead of a living document thats being frantically revised every day.

For example, most Confederate monuments were erected not after the Civil War, but during the early 1900s as well as the 1950s and 60s. The purpose of putting them up then wasnt to celebrate recently departed soldiers. It was to terrorize African Americans and discourage them from fighting for civil rights.

Similarly, the days of conquering Spanish cowboys and austere missionaries were long over by the 1890s in California. What wasnt over by then was the idea of forcing education on American Indians: California set up its first Native boarding schools during the 1890s, where young children were abused and forced to conform to white culture.

Like every monument, Happersbergers statue is a reflection of the time when it was made  not the past it pretends to portray.

Its way past time for San Francisco to look toward a future in which every human being has value.

Caille Millner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cmillner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @caillemillner
The legacy of cookbook author and television personality Anthony Bourdain  who was found dead of an apparent suicide on Friday morning in a hotel room in Alsace, France, where he was filming his CNN food travel show Parts Unknown  cannot be overstated.

From the very beginning with his groundbreaking 2000 book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, the international multimedia figure helped to change the way the world  from kitchen professionals to armchair foodies  thought about food.

(Read Tara Duggans and my remembrance here.)

Bourdain, who was an executive producer of the 2016 Jeremiah Tower documentary, The Last Magnificent, was no stranger to the Bay Area.

Local chefs who knew Bourdain or who said they were mentored by him responded quickly to the news of his death with sadness and disbelief.

On Twitter, many more recalled Bourdains honesty, friendship and vibrancy.

ALEX WELSH/NYT

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. You showed us all there is to LOVE LIFE and all its pleasures, tweeted Preeti Mistry of Navi Kitchen, whose previous restaurant, Juhu Beach Club, Bourdain covered in his show in 2015.

Friday morning, Daniel Patterson tweeted about the first time he read Bourdains writing, in 1999 with Paula Wolfert, when the beginning of what would become Bourdains Kitchen Confidential was published in the New Yorker.

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Id never heard anyone write about our industry in such an honest and open and human way, Patterson wrote.

Tyler Florence wrote, His swagger, his prose, his grit. Tony didnt give a f the way most of us wish we could. Thats what made him special. Right now He, Bukowski, Hemingway and Wilde are splitting a bottle of scotch, swapping war stories, prepared to drink each other under the table, with verve.

On Instagram, La Folies Roland Passot, who shared a photo of himself with Bourdain at a book event, wrote, There is no Words, Im so sad, my friend Tony.

Saisons Joshua Skenes posted a photo of a laughing Bourdain and wrote, The world will never be the same. Rest in paradise Uncle Tony.

While on tour to promote his 2010 book Medium Raw (Ecco), Bourdain stopped by The Chronicle for a chat and had plenty to say about our fair city.

Of all the places in America, here, Seattle and Portland in particular have been out in the front of the rest when it comes to cooking becoming a counterculture. After I wrote Kitchen Confidential I felt right at home here.

Bourdain, however, was a frequent critic of Alice Waters  he once reportedly referred to the Chez Panisse founder as Pol Pot in a muumuu  and during his visit with The Chronicle, he said: I have an ongoing argument in my head with Alice Waters, but by no means does it keep me awake at night.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Bourdain also shared some of his favorite places to eat in the city, including shuttered gems like Hayes Valley sushi restaurant Sebo and Chris Cosentinos Incanto. Not surprisingly, he was also a big fan of San Francisco classics like Swan Oyster Depot and House of Prime Rib.

How can you not love a place like (House of Prime Rib) and not want to protect and cherish it? I mean, when they bring out that zeppelin without any hint of irony, who does that?

On a 2012 episode of his Travel Channel series, The Layover, Bourdain visited the Tonga Room at the Fairmont with Chris Cosentino (Cockscomb, Acacia House) and decreed the San Francisco landmark the greatest place in the world.

Although a critical voice of both the culinary world and social injustice, including as an advocate for immigrant rights and the #MeToo movement, Bourdain also had his own critics, including Chronicle columnist Tunde Wey.

Earlier this year, after watching an episode of Parts Unknown, in which Bourdain visited Weys hometown of Lagos, Nigeria, Wey penned an essay about the white privilege that tinted Bourdains storytelling and what he called his role as patron saint of obscure cuisines, interceding on behalf of the culturally ignorant.

Amid both the praise and criticism, there is no doubt, however, that both Bourdain and his voice will be missed.

Sarah Fritsche and Tara Duggan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: sfritsche@sfchronicle.com and tduggan@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @foodcentric @taraduffan
Anthony Bourdain, the author and television host who elevated the role of chefs in American culture and shared his passion for food with millions, was found dead in a hotel room Friday in France, where he was filming his CNN food and travel show Parts Unknown. He was 61.

Authorities in the town of Kaysersberg in Frances Alsace region, where Bourdain was found unresponsive in his hotel room by chef Eric Ripert, said that there was no suspicion of foul play, though investigations are continuing. CNN called the death a suicide.

Bay Area foodies and industry insiders reacted with shock and sadness Friday to the loss of the international media figure whose groundbreaking 2000 book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, galvanized a generation of chefs with its graphic detail and rock n roll attitude.

Bourdain went on to become the voice and conscience of the culinary world, speaking frankly about controversial issues like immigration and sexual harassment in the restaurant industry.

Now Playing: Anthony Bourdain: "You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together." Video: San Antonio Express-News

His frequent appearances in the Bay Area and encouragement of local restaurateurs left many chefs gutted by the news, said Chris Cosentino of Cockscomb in San Francisco and Acacia House in St. Helena.

More on Anthony Bourdain People are sharing their favorite Anthony Bourdain quotes and passages

He opened the doors for thousands of chefs, said Cosentino, who met Bourdain in San Francisco during the original Kitchen Confidential book tour. He showed us places in the world we thought we would never see in our lifetime.

Born in New York City on June 25, 1956, and raised in Leonia, N.J., Bourdain attended Vassar College for two years before dropping out to devote himself to cooking. He worked in restaurants in New York and Massachusetts, and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., in 1978. It was while he was executive chef at New Yorks Brasserie Les Halles that he wrote and published Kitchen Confidential.

While Bourdain would go on to write more bestselling books, he reached an even wider audience on television, starting with A Cooks Tour on the Food Network in 2002, followed by No Reservations on the Travel Channel and Parts Unknown on CNN in 2013.

A May 2017 episode of Parts Unknown covered Bourdains trip to Laos with Oakland chef James Syhabout, whose cookbook, Hawker Fare, Bourdain published through Anthony Bourdain Books, an imprint of Ecco HarperCollins.

Bourdain never held back in expressing his feelings about the places he visited, including San Francisco.

Anyone who doesnt have a great time in San Francisco is pretty much dead to me. You go there as a snarky New Yorker thinking its politically correct, its crunchy granola, its vegetarian, and it surprises you every time. Its a two-fisted drinking town, a carnivorous meat-eating town, its dirty and nasty and wonderful, he said in a 2011 New York Times interview.

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Many Bay Area chefs reared by Kitchen Confidential found inspiration in Bourdains bold honesty about the challenges facing their industry. In addition to voicing support for the immigrants who work in kitchens, Bourdain, who was dating Italian actress and director Asia Argento  one of Harvey Weinsteins numerous accusers  was also a fiercely outspoken advocate of the #MeToo movement.

Tony always championed what is good, regardless of whether it was popular. His influence and his voice and take on life, whether food, art or politics, was respected far and wide. I think it was because it was an authentic voice. It was never to please anyone, said chef Preeti Mistry of Navi Kitchen in Emeryville.

Mistry said Bourdains coverage of her previous restaurant, Juhu Beach Club, in a 2015 episode of Parts Unknown was transformative.

Oakland food writer John Birdsall, who co-authored Syhabouts cookbook and appeared on the episode at Juhu Beach Club, said Bourdains interest in Mistrys little strip-mall cafe, the kind of spot where big national food critics wouldnt have even considered for best-of roundups was emblematic of his generosity of spirit and his interest in unexplored aspects of restaurant culture.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Bourdain felt his rise to stardom and influence had been deeply irrational, Birdsall said in an email. He was always generous with his good fortune, pulling into the spotlight with him the writers, cooks and bar owners he believed were the champions of a kind of humanity that the greedy and powerful were indifferent about killing off.

Cosentino said that Bourdain showed that chefs had unique personalities and creativity before they were considered celebrities.

Tony gave basically a land of misfit toys a view to the world, and he allowed us to be proud of who we are, Cosentino said. His death was a huge shock to a lot of people, and its gong to be a huge loss to the world.

Bourdain is survived by his daughter, Ariane, 11, from his second marriage.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jonathan Kauffman

and the Associated Press

contributed to this report.

Tara Duggan and Sarah Fritsche are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com and sfritsche@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @taraduggan @foodcentric
In 2017, women directed a woeful 11 percent of the 250 highest-grossing films in the United States, researchers from San Diego State found. At the 42nd San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, the number will be nearly five times that.

Fifty-two percent of the festivals 153 films were directed or co-directed by women, said Frances Wallace, executive director of Frameline, the nonprofit behind the festival running Thursday, June 14, through June 24.

Frameline42 will highlight women filmmakers through a Rise Up! Queer Women Take the Helm program featuring free events with female filmmakers. Films directed by women also occupy some of the most important programming slots.

Frameline42s opener, Transmilitary, a documentary about the struggles of transgender military personnel, was co-directed by Fiona Dawson. The festivals June 20 centerpiece U.S. feature, Wild Nights With Emily, depicts poet Emily Dickinson (Molly Shannon) not as the reclusive writing hobbyist of lore but an ambitious woman who had a longtime affair with her sister-in-law.

The June 19 centerpiece world feature is Isolde Uggadottirs And Breathe Normally, in which an Icelandic border security trainee finds a connection with a refugee from Guinea-Bissau.

More Information Frameline42 The 42nd San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival When: June 14-24 Where: Castro, Roxie and Victoria theaters in San Francisco; Elmwood in Berkeley; and Piedmont in Oakland. Opening night: "Transmilitary," 7 p.m. June 14 at the Castro Theatre, followed by a gala at Terra Gallery, 511 Harrison St., San Francisco. U.S. centerpiece: "Wild Nights With Emily," 6:30 p.m. June 20, Castro. "Nights" director Madeleine Olnek will be in conversation at 4 p.m. June 21 at the Roxie Theater, in a free event. World centerpiece: "And Breathe Normally," 6:30 p.m., June 19, Castro. Closing night: "Studio 54," a documentary about the heyday of the famed Manhattan nightclub, 7 p.m. June 24, Castro, followed by a party at Oasis, 298 11th St., San Francisco. Women's focus: "Dykes, Camera, Action!," 4 p.m. June 19, Castro, followed by a free panel discussion about documentaries by queer women. Frameline Award: This year's award will posthumously honor Oscar-winning Bay Area documentary filmmaker Debra Chasnoff, who died last year. The award presentation at 4 p.m. June 20 at the Castro will be followed by a screening of Chasnoff's 1996 film "It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School." Information: www.frameline.org See More Collapse

I think that in the current culture of #TimesUp and #MeToo, it was really important to focus on women in the film industry and women filmmakers, Wallace said.

Frameline received funding from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for the Rise Up programming, which includes a June 21 in conversation event with Wild Nights director Madeleine Olnek, whose first two features, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same and The Foxy Merkins, played previous Frameline festivals. The free panel discussion Lights. Camera. Take Action, on June 19, will include film scholar B. Ruby Rich and directors including Caroline Berler, whose Dykes, Camera, Action! documentary about queer women filmmakers will play directly before the panel talk at the Castro.

The number of women filmmakers at the festival did not suddenly shoot up because of an Academy-funded initiative or #MeToo. Films made by women have made up at least 40 percent of content for years, and reached 49 percent last year, Wallace said.

It is always a focus of Frameline to look at and put the spotlight on underserved communities  women, transgender communities, people of color, Wallace said. Thats its mission.

That mission entails offering completion funds to promising works in progress. One beneficiary was Berlers documentary, which she started during film school in New York. The documentary tracks lesbian-themed film from the dour days of The Childrens Hour and The Killing of Sister George to now, placing a special emphasis on the 1990s, when the rise of independent film helped bring forth such gems as Go Fish, The Watermelon Woman, High Art and But Im a Cheerleader.

Such films helped Berler during her youth in San Antonio, she said.

Film was really important to me, especially queer film, because I grew up in a place where I didnt know any gay adults, Berler said. It was the only exposure I had to gay culture. Berlers director subjects in Dykes, Camera, Action! tell similar stories.

Emily Dickinson looked to her own creative female forerunners in the 19th century, Wild Nights director Olnek said.

She had a picture of Charlotte Bronte on her wall, and George Eliot, Olnek said. She really saw herself as part of this lineage of female writers. Emily Dickinson is never presented to us this way, as someone who had a conscious image of herself.

The always lively Shannon does do not do as much behind-a-fan acting in the comedic Wild Nights as Cynthia Nixon did in the recent Dickinson biopic A Quiet Passion. But if that 2016 drama challenged the legend of Dickinson as a recluse who wrote poems just for her intimate circle, Nights busts it open.

Researching Dickinsons life with help from a Guggenheim Fellowship, Olnek found that Dickinson avidly pursued publication during her lifetime, but was met mostly with rejection by male editors who found her writing too unconventional.

She spent thousands of hours writing these poems, Olnek said. The idea she lacked ambition is is infantilizing, and patronizing.

Olnek first heard in the 1990s about batches of intimate letters Dickinson had sent to her sister-in-law, and wrote a play about Dickinson. As the years passed, Olnek became less intrigued by the romantic angle and more by Dickinsons unrequited desire to be known during her lifetime.

Stifling creative work by women creates a void in the culture, Olnek said.

That is why female directors are so important, she said. And technique can be as vital as content. When we talk about women directors, we talk about image length, image size, where we hold the camera, when we look at things, when we look away. All those things change our perception.

How we are seen, the way we are understood, absolutely determines our place in the world.

Carla Meyer is a Northern California freelance writer.
Napa is seeing red all over again.

Wow, said Dan Dwyer, whose 4,500-square-foot home on Burning Tree Court burned to the ground in the 2017 firestorm that CalFire declared on Friday to be the fault of inadequate PG&E maintenance.

Its a kick in the gut, he said. Im disappointed. Id heard they had not paid as much money into maintenance as they should have.

He shook his head as he borrowed a pair or reading glasses from his wife, Cindy, to pore over the CalFire announcement.

My tears have been shed long ago, he said at last, although Cindy looked as if she might have a few more to spare. It is what it is. We have to focus on rebuilding.

On Monticello Road, not far from the heart of the 51,624-acre Atlas Fire that killed six people and destroyed 783 structures, restaurateur Bashar Elkhalil said his establishment, Cordeiros Steakhouse, lost $80,000 or so in patronage and another $10,000 in thawed steaks and seafood after PG& E shut off the power for repairs in the region after the fire was out and the restaurant had reopened.

The small guy always gets the bad end of it, Elkhalil said. Good luck to guys like me. Everything we say falls on deaf ears.

But, he said, the restaurant was doing its best to recover, one $69 New York steak at a time.

At nearby Valley Liquor and Gas service station and convenience store, owner Rasheed Khan said hed had to close his doors for six days.

Of course they (PG&E) should take responsibility, he said. I dont want to blame anybody. My mind does not want to do that now. But if theyre responsible, theyre responsible.

Not all residents felt it was fair to blame the utilitys lapses for all 51,624 lost acres.

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.

Arborist Mark Hyatt of Cut-Rite Tree Service said Atlas Peak is going to burn every few decades no matter who does what.

Wildfires are a natural phenomenon, he said, even as he gazed across Monticello Road at two PG&E poles that were clearly making contact with the untrimmed branches and leaves of adjacent trees  the very fault that CalFire cited in its announcement.

I get it. People lost everything. You gotta be mad at somebody.

Hyatt, sho lives on nearby Mount George, lost his barn in the firestorm but saved his house and his eight cats.

Ive got a hard time blaming PG&E. They didnt put up all that foliage themselves. No matter what starts a wildfire, its going to burn.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com
Four years ago, Lisa Gonzales and a group of San Francisco tenant-rights activists stormed into a city real estate office to protest her attempted eviction from her Mission District apartment.

Now the 47-year-old Gonzales is in San Francisco County Jail, accused of killing her roommate  and chopping her body up  after trying to evict her from the same apartment.

Gonzales appeared before a judge Friday for the first time since her arrest last weekend. She did not enter a plea to a charge of murdering Maggie Mamer, 61.

Officers checking on a missing-person report at the residence June 2 discovered Mamers dismembered and decomposing remains, officials said. According to prosecutors, Mamer had moved into the home on the 200 block of 14th Street in August.

Ms. Mamer represented that she had been evicted by unscrupulous landlords and that she was a victim of gentrification and needed a place to stay, Gonzales public defender, Alex Lilien, said outside court Friday. Ms. Gonzales was acutely aware of how expensive and difficult this city can be and took Ms. Mamer in.

Lilien said Gonzales grew up in the three-story building and never left.

It was August 2014 when she and other activists walked into a San Francisco real estate office, protesting that her landlord was trying to evict her. Local filmmaker Peter Menchini shot video of the incident, showing Gonzales reading a letter to her landlord, who was not there.

You have completely disrespected and disregarded my family as tenants and as human beings, Gonzales says in the video. Your repeated refusal to address health and safety issues in my unit forced me to use my time and my money toward maintenance for your investment, which is my home.

Efforts by The Chronicle to reach the owner of the building have been unsuccessful.

Menchini said Friday he was shocked to learn of the murder allegations against Gonzales.

Theres some pretty gruesome stuff about it, he said. I hope its not true, and whatever is the truth comes out.

Gonzales was never evicted, and three years later let Mamer move in. At her previous apartment, court records show, Mamer had been accused of not paying her rent for several months by her landlords, who took her to court in 2016 to force her to move out.

When Ms. Gonzales took in Ms. Mamer, she didnt know her terribly well, Lilien said. I dont know that she had a history of not paying rent. Im not saying thats a justification for anything. Thats just what I know so far.

In court Friday, Gonzales said only yes, sir when Superior Court Judge Raymond Arata asked if she understood her rights. She wore orange jail-issued clothing with her hands cuffed behind her.

More Information See the video Watch Lisa Gonzales protest her attempted eviction from her Mission District apartment: https:/vimeo.com/104536103 See More Collapse

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.

Asked about claims by the defense, district attorneys office spokesman Alex Bastian said, I dont respond to victim-blaming, especially in a murder case.

The facts of this case are very disturbing, and the facts are still unfolding, he said. Were going to do everything we can to bring justice to this family and this victim.

Prosecutors said Gonzales probably killed Mamer around May 15 when the two got into an argument in a hallway in the apartment. Gonzales told her new roommate in April that she had 30 days to move out, but Mamer refused, prosecutors said.

Gonzales admitted to police that she flipped during the argument, and when asked what happened next, she answered, probably nothing good, prosecutors said.

On June 2, police knocked on her door to follow up on a missing-person report after Mamers friends became concerned that they hadnt heard from her in weeks.

Gonzales let the officers into the apartment, where they discovered Mamers remains in a plastic tub in a basement storage unit, prosecutors said.

Another roommate told police that she smelled rotten eggs and heard the sound of sawing coming from the bathroom in the days after Gonzales allegedly killed Mamer, prosecutors said.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Congress move to host Iftar on June 13 comes at a time when party is positioning itself as centre of oppn unity ahead of 2019 LS polls.

The Congress did not hold Iftar, which marks the customary breaking of the daylong fast in the holy month of Ramzan, during the past 2 yrs and its last Iftar was in 2015. (Photo: File/PTI)

New Delhi: After a gap of two years, the Congress has decided to hold Iftar on June 13 with party President Rahul Gandhi playing host to a galaxy of leaders who are likely to attend the event.

For Rahul Gandhi, this will be the first occasion to host an Iftar since he took charge as the Congress chief.

"Iftar will be held on June 13 at Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi," Congress' Minority Cell chief Nadeem Javed said.

The party did not hold Iftar, which marks the customary breaking of the daylong fast in the holy month of Ramzan, during the past two years and its last Iftar was in 2015. The then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had hosted the feast at that time.

The party conventionally invites leaders of all faiths to the event as also top diplomats.

This year's Iftar will be keenly watched for the presence of opposition leaders at a time when the Congress is positioning itself as the centre of opposition unity ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The party's decision to resume Iftar comes days after President Ram Nath Kovind decided to discontinue the feast traditionally held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Recently Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao hosted Iftar triggering a controversy around expenditure related to the event.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also hosted an Iftar but Congress leaders stayed away from it.

Prior to 2016, the Congress used to host Iftar in one way or the other. When the party was in power, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh used to organise the event.

In Opposition, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi played host until the party decided to skip the event in 2016 and 2017.

The resumption of Iftar comes at a time when the Congress is seen to be pursuing a policy of soft Hindutva as evidenced in Rahul Gandhi's several recent temple visits.
Rare is the election where both major parties celebrate victory over a common enemy. But that was the case in California on Tuesday night when Republicans and Democrats breathed a sigh of relief that each was not the victim of a system that allows the top two finishers, regardless of party, to advance to the general election.

Republicans had been worrying that they might not have a candidate on the November ballot in the marquee races of governor and U.S. Senate. That fear was alleviated with the late surge of gubernatorial candidate John Cox, boosted by an endorsement from President Trump and a push from Democrat Gavin Newsom, who saw the businessman as easy prey in the general election.

Republicans were in a panic in January, and today theyre feeling a lot better than they were even three weeks ago, said Sean Walsh, a veteran Republican strategist.

For Democrats, their nightmare scenario was being shut out in some of the seven House seats held by Republicans in districts carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016. Democratic victories in those seats are considered critical to the partys chances of recapturing control of the House. A Democrat finished second in each case, keeping the partys hope alive.

The two parties have hated the top-two system since it was adopted by California voters with Proposition 14 in 2010.

I think there likely will be some attempt to reform this, given that both parties have now seen some negative consequences, said Mac Zilber, a Democratic strategist from Los Angeles.

Why do the parties dread the top two so much? It puts voters, not the party leaders, in control of who reaches the general election.

In the long term, the parties being worried and not guaranteed anything is going to be good, said John Opdycke, president of the national advocacy group Open Primaries. Its going to be good for the voters, its going to be good for government, and ultimately its going to be good for the parties ... if they embrace that they have to operate in a much more competitive marketplace.

Bay Area voters do not need to look far for examples of the systems benefit. Neither Eric Swalwell nor Ro Khanna, two of the rising stars in Congress, could have been elected under the old system. The party establishment was solidly behind Rep. Pete Stark, who edged Swalwell by six points in the 2012 primary in a heavily Democratic East Bay district. But in the general election, Swalwell was able to make an extended case to voters, including Republicans and independents, and ousted the incumbent who had become out of touch and ineffective.

Similarly, Khannas exposure in the 2014 general election against a fellow Democrat, longtime South Bay Rep. Mike Honda, set the stage for a convincing victory in a 2016 rematch.

In each case, the Democratic registration was sufficiently overwhelming that no Republican would have had a chance against an entrenched incumbent. The Democratic primary had always been the last word. The top-two system gave voters a choice  and they took it.

Its a democratic reform worth preserving, even if the political parties despise it.

I dare anyone on the Democratic side to show that its detrimental to Democrats. Its quite the contrary, said Democratic strategist Garry South, a top-two supporter who noted that the party has not lost a statewide race and gained a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature under the system.

However, its not without its curious twists.

For Democrats determined to take back the House, the source of the Panic of 2018 was too much democracy. Democratic candidates sensing the opportunity of an anti-Trump blue wave jumped into the fray for those targeted seats, raising fears that they would divide the vote and thus leave a pair of Republicans atop the count. That concern prompted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to endorse favored candidates and pour $7 million into those primaries.

The frantic efforts worked. A Democrat qualified for November in each of the seven. It was the asteroid missed, as Rob Pyers of the California Target Book put it to Politico.

Now the Democrats hope in the House faces another potential asteroid, courtesy of their gubernatorial nominee, Gavin Newsom.

The former San Francisco mayor had no desire to face fellow Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, the former Los Angeles mayor with more centrist views on education and health care, in a general election. So Newsom worked to elevate the chances of Republican Cox, a California transplant and perennial candidate from Illinois with some oddball ideas  such as creating a 12,000-member citizen legislature  and an avowed supporter of a president who is deeply unpopular in the state.

A Newsom-Villaraigosa matchup at the top of the ticket would have been a sure suppressant for Republican turnout, which would have lifted the chances of Democrats in the seven targeted congressional districts. Now Newsom is on a glide path to the governors office.

Newsom had better put as much effort in assisting those House Democratic candidates as he did in advancing Cox ... or risk being blamed for helping keep Republicans in control of Congress and Trump in the White House.

Former San Francisco Mayor and now fellow Chronicle columnist Willie Brown said Newsoms attempt to get an opponent of choice was neither surprising nor unfair. Its politics as played in any system.

Everybody should assume that Newsom is going to look out for Newsom, which is a selfish way to be, but thats who politicians are, Brown said in an election-night SFChronicle.com video interview with Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper and me. He clearly does not want somebody who can beat him running against him. Period.

John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. Email: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnDiazChron
SACRAMENTO  Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders compromised on plans to put millions more toward homeless programs and agreed to pump more money into higher education under a $139 billion general fund budget deal announced Friday.

The agreement includes about $1 billion more in additional spending than what Brown proposed last month for the 2018-19 fiscal year beginning July 1. It came one week ahead of the deadline for the Legislature to pass a state budget, which Brown has until June 30 to sign.

Democratic lawmakers and mayors of large cities had been lobbying for more funding for programs to reduce homelessness. Brown included $359 million to help local governments combat homelessness in his proposed $138 billion general fund budget in May, short of the $1.5 billion mayors wanted and the $1 billion that Democratic lawmakers were seeking.

On Friday, Brown and legislative leaders agreed to spend $600 million on programs that reduce homelessness.

No single budget can capture all the opportunities California has or meet all the challenges we face  but the smart and sensible choices in this budget absolutely move California closer to where we want and need to be, said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount (Los Angeles County).

Democrats in the Assembly also wanted $1 billion for a major expansion of Medi-Cal, to extend coverage to undocumented immigrant adults under 26 and create a tax credit for health insurance premiums.

They didnt get it. Instead, the budget calls for a commission to be created to study how much it would cost to offer universal coverage in the state.

Health care and immigrant advocates were outraged.

A study is no solution, said Anthony Wright, executive director of the advocacy group Health Access. New health care spending was zeroed out. Its stunning.

Cynthia Buiza, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, called the budget deal devastating.

The agreement preserves one of Browns top priorities: adding to budget reserves that the state can draw on in an economic downturn. In May, the soon-to-be-termed-out governor called for banking most of an unexpected $8.8 billion surplus, telling lawmakers: This is a time to save for our future, not to make pricey promises we cant keep.

The deal he reached with lawmakers will fill the states rainy day fund to its constitutional limit of 10 percent of general fund revenue, or $13.8 billion.

In May, Brown proposed placing $3.2 billion into the states budget reserve for unexpected expenses like wildfires and floods. But under Fridays deal, $2.2 billion would be set aside instead. That left $1 billion for added spending, most of which is aimed at one-time budget boosts. Brown has emphasized that short-term surpluses should not go toward ongoing programs.

California is on the verge of having another on-time, balanced budget, Brown said in a statement. From a $27 billion deficit in 2011, the state now enjoys a healthy surplus and a solid rainy day fund.

The agreement would increase spending in a few areas. The California State University system would receive an extra $105 million in ongoing funding that will be included in future budgets as well, primarily to improve graduation rates. The deal also sends $167 million in one-time funding to CSU, mainly to pay for an enrollment increase of 3,641 full-time students and deferred maintenance.

The University of California would receive far less than CSU in extra ongoing money  just $5 million to help increase enrollment by 500 students. Another $177 million in one-time spending would go primarily toward general university needs and deferred maintenance.

Also included in the budget deal is $120 million that Brown proposed to create an online public college to help millions of working adults learn new skills that could help them get better-paying jobs.

This budget agreement saves money for a possible downturn while assisting struggling Californians who havent benefited from our robust economy, said Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, who chairs the Assembly Budget Committee. We are addressing the homeless crisis, providing a path toward universal health care and keeping college affordable. These are the right investments for our state.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
San Francisco Supervisor London Breed pulled ahead of former state Sen. Mark Leno on Saturday by just 498 votes in the race to become the citys next mayor, according to the latest round of preliminary election results.

Breed steadily chipped away at Lenos paper-thin lead throughout the week, but on Saturday, she came out on top with 50.13 percent of the vote, compared with Lenos 49.87 percent. That gives Breed 94,771 votes to Lenos 94,273. Almost 42,000 ballots have yet to be counted.

As the tense waiting game to determine whether Leno or Breed will be the next mayor of San Francisco enters its fifth day, uneasy voters searching for answers in the mountain of uncounted ballots might consider some recent history in Oakland.

The 2010 come-from-behind victory that installed Jean Quan as mayor of Oakland over the heavily favored Don Perata has a number of striking similarities with the current San Francisco race that could offer a glimpse into the future of electioneering under the ranked-choice voting system both cities use.

When you watch the San Francisco mayors race play out, its deja vu all over again, said Larry Tramutola, a political consultant who managed Peratas 2010 campaign.

Just as in the Oakland race eight years ago, two candidates in San Franciscos race with similarly progressive political outlooks teamed up against a more moderate opponent who chose to go it alone. Under the ranked-choice system, voters select their favorite candidate as well as a second and third preference. If no candidate gains a majority, the votes from the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes get redistributed to their supporters second and third preferences. The process continues until a winner emerges.

Less than a month before election day, Leno and Supervisor Jane Kim jointly urged voters to list them as their top two picks on the June 5 ballot, mirroring in many ways what happened in Oakland.

Quan also endorsed another contender in the Oakland race, Rebecca Kaplan, trumpeting an anyone but Don campaign slogan and increasing the odds that one of them could beat Perata, who, like Breed, never endorsed another candidate in the race.

It was pretty simple, Quan said. I knew that a lot of people were having a hard time deciding between me and Rebecca. So I said, I get it if youre going to vote for Rebecca, but Id like your No. 2 vote, she said. I wanted someone more like me to win. We were both women and we both supported pretty progressive causes.

At the last mayoral debate in San Francisco, all candidates were asked whom theyd be selecting as their second choice on the ballot. Breed told the crowd, My No. 2 choice was London Breed, and my No. 3 choice.

There was never a time where we considered having London run with someone else, as a team, said Tara Moriarty, a spokeswoman for Breeds campaign. She stands strong on her own.

An initial count of first-place votes in the Oakland mayors race put Perata in a comfortable lead: 35 percent to Quans 24 percent. Those results are nearly identical in San Francisco, with Breed holding on to a roughly 10-point lead over Leno in first-place votes.

But after the ranked-choice votes were tabulated, Quan surged ahead to a 2,058-vote victory, thanks to the fact that she won 75 percent of Kaplans second-place votes. Because of their reciprocal endorsement strategy, Leno has taken on around 77 percent of Kims second-place votes, once again echoing Oaklands election.

Jane Kim deserves a lot of credit if Mark Leno does indeed get elected mayor, said Jason McDaniel, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University.

The parallels to the Oakland race dont extend indefinitely, though. Over his many years in public office, Perata built up a negative reputation among some voters that rendered him particularly vulnerable to the Quan-Kaplan tag team. Breed, political observers say, isnt viewed nearly as negatively as Perata was by much of the Oakland electorate in 2010, which could boost her chances of being a No. 2 or No. 3 selection on San Francisco ballots.

Sarahbeth Maney / Special to The Chronicle 2018

Quans stunning victory caused a debate about the merits of ranked-choice voting, with critics of the system raising questions about whether its fair for a candidate who wins a plurality of votes to still lose an election  as Perata did. Should the lead flip back to Leno in the end, Breeds supporters would have perfectly legitimate reasons to be upset, McDaniel said.

The feeling of We have a popular African American woman who got the most votes from across the city, and shes not going to be mayor is something thats very frustrating for people. That will fuel some grievances, he said.

Steven Hill, an author and political consultant who drafted the charter amendments instituting ranked-choice voting in San Francisco and Oakland, warned against that line of thinking.

You could have a plurality system to elect the mayor  the highest vote getter wins. But that means the mayor of Oakland would have won with 35 percent of the votes, which means two-thirds of voters would have preferred someone else. Is that a good system? Hill said. Once you go down that road, you realize there are no perfect electoral systems. They all have pluses and minuses.

Proponents of ranked-choice voting also point out that cities save money by eliminating the need for a runoff election, which usually see scant turnout. John Arntz, director of the San Francisco Department of Elections, said the cost of a citywide runoff is about $3.5 million. San Francisco voters adopted the ranked-choice system in 2002 and have been using it since 2004.

But Tramutola, Peratas campaign manager, and other critics of ranked-choice voting insist runoff elections provide the best way for voters to compare candidates head-to-head.

Political operatives on both sides of the ranked-choice debate agree that if a city is using the system, there is strength in numbers. Candidates, particularly those not considered front-runners or who are at risk of being outspent by their opponents, should consider teaming up.

Candidates that dont adopt a ranked-choice voting strategy are taking a risk, McDaniel said, especially if the candidates political perspectives are well matched.

Tramutola hasnt come around to ranked-choice voting since the 2010 election  he wasnt fond of it then and he isnt fond of it now. But with the benefit of eight years of hindsight, he said hed likely do things differently if he had the chance.

Every consultant is looking for an advantage. They arent looking at whats best for democracy, they look at what it takes to win, he said. Philosophically, I would have had a problem (endorsing another candidate), but professionally, I probably would have done it, to be honest. Youd have to be a fool not to take advantage of that.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
WELLINGTON, New Zealand  Matt Lauer, the former Today show co-host who lost his job over sexual misconduct allegations, will be allowed to keep his ranch in New Zealand, after a government agency said Friday it did not have sufficient evidence he had breached a good-character test for foreign property buyers.

But a spokeswoman for the Overseas Investment Office, which started an investigation after Lauers firing in November into his fitness to hold the lease of the 16,000-acre ranch, said it would continue to monitor the matter and could revisit the case should further information come to light.
The As optioned outfielder Nick Martini to Triple-A Nashville before Saturdays game to create a roster spot for starting pitcher Chris Bassitt, who was recalled from Triple-A.

Bassitt was activated to start against the Royals in place of Trevor Cahill, who was skipped after feeling discomfort in his Achilles while running. Manager Bob Melvin said the As hope Cahill, who has a 2.77 ERA in eight starts, will miss only one turn.

We had him out (Friday) and taped him up a little bit, he threw a little bit off the mound, but we just werent comfortable, Melvin said. So hopefully every day he gets a little bit better and we can push him in there somewhere four or five days down the road.

Keeping Cahill active and sending out Martini left the As with a two-man bench for Saturdays game. Outfielder Dustin Fowler and catcher Jonathan Lucroy were the lone available reserves.

Martini was activated and made his big-league debut Wednesday, when Matt Joyce (back) landed on the disabled list. Martini went hitless in nine at-bats over three games.

We really like Nick, Melvin said. When you first get to the big leagues and get a couple games under your belt and dont get a hit, you feel like you did something wrong. Thats not the case. He made a real nice play in the outfield, we like the quality of his at-bats.

Recovery road: Reliever Ryan Buchter (strained left shoulder) threw 20 pitches to hitters at Class A Stockton on Friday night and felt good, Melvin said.

Outfielder Boog Powell (sprained right knee) has been rehabbing at the As facility in Arizona and is close to starting a rehab assignment.

Staying put: The As havent done much base-stealing this season: They have the fewest steals (12) and lowest success percentage (48) in the majors, and Melvin said even their 25 attempts (second fewest in MLB) might be too many.

I may have even pushed it a little too much at times, because our numbers arent great, and we dont want to run into outs, Melvin said. Weve been doing a nice job around that.  We have guys that get on base, guys that hit homers, and our offensive numbers as a whole look pretty good right now.

Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
A 34-year-old woman was trying to leave a violent marriage when she was slain in San Franciscos Mission Terrace neighborhood, family members said Friday.

Hours after the grieving relatives of Vanessa Palma spoke, investigators confirmed they were searching for her estranged husband, Robert Riley, 43, also known as Chui Chekele Riley.

Officials said he may be driving a white Chrysler 300, with license plate 7UAB831, and should be considered armed and dangerous. They did not discuss a motive in the case.

Palma was fatally shot just after 11 a.m. Thursday on the 4500 block of Mission Street. She was one of five shooting victims in three incidents over 24 hours Thursday and Friday in San Francisco.

Palma, a South San Francisco resident, was a very kind person, so caring and so close with her family, said her aunt, Maria Napuri.

Napuri, the sister of Palmas mother, said the three recently traveled to Italy, in part to help Palma heal from what she had described as a violent relationship in which her husband hit her for years.

Napuri said her niece also was subjected to his threats and other abusive behavior that family members witnessed.

He told her, If you ever leave me, Ill kill you, Napuri said.

Four hours after Palma was killed, three men were shot in the Mission District near Cesar Chavez Street and Treat Avenue, police said. One died at the hospital. The medical examiners office identified him as Jaime Poole, 21, of San Francisco.

Then, early Friday morning, a shooting in San Franciscos Polk Gulch left one man wounded and seeking help at a Polk Street doughnut shop. Robert Rueca, a police spokesman, said investigators believe the shooting occurred a couple of blocks away, on the 1500 block of California Street.

The victim was expected to survive, Rueca said. The three shootings are not considered to be linked.

Palmas family had been impatient for the Police Department to publicly identify Riley as a suspect.

There were so many witnesses to prior violence, Napuri said. People need to know hes out there.

Napuri said Palma worked at a family members souvenir shop in San Francisco, and had recently moved out of the apartment she shared with her husband. But he wouldnt let go and continued to contact her, Napuri said.

A cousin, J.C. Carlo, described Palma as a happy soul who always had a smile.

We just want to find justice for her, he said.

Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney
Wives of Army officers have launched campaign- 'Say no to opening Cantonment roads to public. Support the real guardians of the nation'.

On May 21, Army Headquarters and Directorate General of Defence Estates issued a letter stating, 'All barriers, check-posts and roadblocks will be removed. Vehicles will not be stopped or checked.' (Photo: Indian Army | Twitter | @adgpi)

Mumbai: A recent remark by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has spurred the Army base into action.

With incessant attacks on Srinagars army base having become a norm, it looks like the Ministry of Defences new dictum to open cantonment roads to public has not gone down well with the army community.

On May 21, Army Headquarters and Directorate General of Defence Estates issued a letter stating, All barriers, check-posts and roadblocks will be removed. Vehicles will not be stopped or checked.

Notably, Sitharaman had recently said that the roads of the cantonments were opened by consulting Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and other top Army officials.

According to Sitharaman, a total of 850 roads are closed in various cantonments, out of which 119 were blocked without following laid down procedures and now some of them have been opened.

To clarify rumours of opening roads to civilians without consultation, Sitharaman clarified the defence ministry held a series of meetings with various stakeholders including the Army before deciding to open up the roads for civilians.

Sitharaman added that she had held various other meetings with senior army officials, elected representatives and General Rawat along with the Vice Chief of the Army Staff before coming to the decision.

The Army Headquarters and Directorate General of Defence Estates letter on its part was issued after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman meeting on May 4.

However, the military community was taken aback with the decision and stated that with this new rule, the safety and security of the officers and their families would be compromised.

The idea of opening the roads wasnt taken well especially by the wives of Army officers, who have launched a signature campaign- titled Say no to opening Cantonment roads to public. Support the real guardians of the nation- against the Ministrys decision.

In addition to coming together and signing the campaign, the army wives also met the Defence Minister and will write to the PM and President, asking for the order to be reversed, if required.

Speaking about the issue, one of the Army wives, Rekha* (name changed), said that they have started talks with the Defence Minister and internal talks are already on with other officials that can make a difference to get the order reversed.

However, Minister has said that the decision will be reviewed after a month which isnt acceptable to Army wives; as the order hasnt been passed and it is just a verbal order because of which the gates are open to everyone, she said, adding, Open gates in army cantonments is like a ticking bomb for cantonment, soldiers and their families and are the softest target for anti-social elements in the society.

Another army wife, Deepti Sharma, whose husband is posted in Nashik, said, Life of defence officials and their families will obviously be at risk as we are the easiest targets for terror attacks. Our husbands can go on borders knowing that their families are safe in the cantonment but this order has shaken the morale and faith in the system.

She further added that with the new orders being implemented, there might be a spurt in petty crimes like eve-teasing and theft.

Bhardwaj* (name changed) added , As you would know almost all the complaints and issues, we as Army wives are facing, my question is why we dont come on a middle path. Instead of opening all the 62 cantonments across nation, why dont we treat every cantonment as a separate case as each place has its security concerns which would differ from Srinagar to Kanyakumari and from Gujarat to North East? Why dont we try to construct flyovers or underpass to keep both the communities happy?

Bharadwaj further added that though they are trying to raise concerns all over social media, there have been no firm answers from any quarters.

While cantonments are highly secured that they dont require CCTV cameras like other societies and have basic doors but opening roads means giving leverage to anyone to intrude our homes, she said.

The Defence Minister on her part had told reporters that she met the wives of the Armed Forces personnel and heard their concerns which were largely about the security.

However, the ministry stated that the issue of closure of individual roads was to be reviewed fresh in conformity with the provisions as laid down, and any closure of roads to be undertaken will be done only after following the due procedure.

To calm down the agitated military community, Sitharaman said, "If you (army) decide to close the roads based on intelligence input, you are welcome to do so. But follow due procedure."

Army wives across the nation are joining the cause, expecting the ministers and civilians to understand that they arent against anyone but are rather voicing their security concerns.

*Names have been changed due to security concerns
A San Francisco police officer shot and critically wounded a man early Saturday during a foot pursuit in North Beach, officials said.

The man, who was not identified, was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was being treated for life-threatening injuries, a police spokesman said.

A brief statement released by the department said the shooting happened just after 12:15 a.m. on the 1300 block of Grant Avenue, between Vallejo and Green streets.

Two uniformed SFPD officers initiated a foot pursuit of a suspect on the 1300 block of Grant Avenue, the statement said. During that pursuit, an officer-involved shooting occurred and the suspect, an adult male, was struck by gunfire.

Officials said the officers rendered aid and requested medical assistance, and recovered a gun from the scene. The officers were uninjured.

The police statement did not provide further details on what prompted the chase, what happened during the encounter, or why the officer fired upon the man.

Giovanni Berber, a San Francisco resident who said he saw the chase, said he walked out of the Tope Lounge nightclub and saw a commotion coming up from Vallejo Street.

Berber said he saw a man running and a cop running after him, and then I heard gunshots. He said he heard at least two shots, and then saw the man on the ground, not moving.

Someone started yelling, You shot him in the back, he said.

Which is true. The guy had his back to the cop, Berber said. He was fleeing, and the way he fell was like stomach first.

Videos and photos on social media showed the aftermath of the shooting, as police closed off Grant Avenue and onlookers gathered.

Under city protocol, police homicide inspectors will investigate the shooting, along with the San Francisco district attorneys office, the police internal affairs division and the civilian Department of Police Accountability.

Police plan to hold a town hall meeting on the shooting within 10 days.

Demian Bulwa and Sophie Haigney are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: dbulwa@sfchronicle.com, sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @demianbulwa, @SophieHaigney
A growing number of e-cigarette and vaporizer sellers have started offering college scholarships as a way to get their brands listed on university websites and to get students to write essays about the potential benefits of vaping.

The tactic is taken from a method that was once believed to improve a sites ranking in search results, and it has successfully landed vaping brands on the sites of some of the nations best-known universities, including Harvard. It also has drawn criticism that the scholarships are a thinly disguised ploy to attract young customers.

The scholarships, ranging from $250 to $5,000, mostly involve essay contests that ask students to write about the dangers of tobacco or whether vaping could be a safer alternative. At least one company asks applicants to write about different types of e-cigarettes and which one they recommend. Some seek papers in support of medical marijuana.

Over the past two years, the grants have been posted online by e-cigarette retailers and review websites such as Slick Vapes, SmokeTastic and DaVinci Vaporizer.

Robert Pagano, owner of the Las Vegas review site Vapor Vanity, said he was offering new scholarships of up to $1,500 this year. He acknowledged its partly a marketing tool, but he also says many in the industry are former smokers and want to help teens avoid tobacco.

Its a little bit of being genuine, a little bit of self-interest, said Pagano, whose company does not sell vaping products. This is probably the best way to get people to actually focus on the issues that were trying to write about.

Days after Pagano was interviewed by the Associated Press, the scholarships were removed from his site without explanation. He did not return calls or emails seeking further comment.

The grants have emerged as high schools struggle to rein in booming teen use of the devices, sometimes threatening students with suspensions or installing alarms that can detect the devices discreet vapor. Federal agencies have attempted to crack down on underage sales and are investigating marketing efforts by the brand Juul, which has become especially popular among teens.

Although some of the scholarships are limited to students 18 and older  the nations legal age to buy vaping products  many are open to younger teens or have no age limit.

Most companies behind the essay contests did not return calls or declined interview requests. But the American Vaping Association trade group defended the practice, saying it allows companies to boost their brand while offering college students a helping hand.

The head of the association, Gregory Conley, compared it with scholarship programs that have long been offered by alcohol makers like Anheuser-Busch, which distributes tens of thousands of dollars each year for minority students.

Some anti-tobacco groups were unaware of the scholarships until asked about them by the AP, but they sharply criticized efforts to get teens writing in favor of vaping.

Theyre trying to use youth as their marketing surrogates, said Gregg Haifley, director of federal relations for the American Cancer Societys lobbying arm in Washington. They can gussy it up any way they want, try to put lipstick on that pig, but this is about marketing.

Opponents said the scholarships could test federal rules forbidding tobacco and e-cigarette companies from marketing to minors. The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees regulation of e-cigarettes, declined to comment on the question and referred a reporter to the Federal Trade Commission. An FTC spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Most medical experts agree that vaping is safer than smoking traditional cigarettes, but little is known about its long-term health effects.

Manufacturers often say vaping products are meant only for adults trying to quit smoking, and some of the essay contests note that they arent meant to promote vaping. But some anti-tobacco groups say theres no other reason the companies would reach out to young people.

Most of these kids are not smokers, said Robin Koval, president of the Truth Initiative, a Washington-based nonprofit that opposes the tobacco and vaping industries. What theyre saying and what theyre doing dont seem to agree here. But thats not surprising.

Its unclear how many  if any  of the scholarships have been awarded. Several websites promise to publicize winners and their essays, but it doesnt appear any have done so. None of the 15 companies contacted by the AP would disclose winners, and only one agreed to an interview.

Marketing experts say the vaping industry isnt the first to use college scholarships as a form of cheap advertising. The internet is teeming with similar offers from websites that sell weight-loss pills and protein powders, as well as payday lenders and companies that pay cash for gold.

The tactic was created years ago, at a time when websites thought getting their link on a college or government site would boost their rankings in Google search results. Some created scholarships purely to get their links on university financial aid pages.

This is almost a backdoor way to get your name on a university website, and from the point of view of the student, it would look like the university is supporting this effort, said Ron Berman, who teaches marketing at the University of Pennsylvanias business school.

The tactic worked. Vaping scholarships have ended up on financial-aid directories compiled by Harvard, UC Berkeley, the University of Pittsburgh and others, including institutions that have taken a stance against e-cigarettes.

Harvard and Cal State Long Beach immediately removed the listings after being asked about them by the AP, saying they had been posted inadvertently.

Were not interested in being a platform for tobacco or vaping, said Jeff Bliss, a spokesman for CSU Long Beach.

Some marketing firms advise against the strategy, calling it outdated. Google has updated its algorithm to defeat similar tactics, and it penalizes sites that try to manipulate search rankings.

Wil Reynolds, founder of Philadelphia marketing agency Seer Interactive, said his company employed the strategy years ago for clients connected to the education world, but he abandoned it after other industries started exploiting it.

It is a shady practice when you really cant back it up with a legitimate reason, he said.

Collin Binkley is an Associated Press writer.
The landline telephone  curly-corded, cord-free, rotary or with chunky plastic buttons  used to be a fixture of American homes.

But like most analog technology, its rapidly going the way of the dinosaur. More than half of U.S. households  53.9 percent  rely entirely on cell phones, according to a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number is remarkable for how rapidly it has increased, according to researchers behind the survey. In 2006, only 15.8 percent of survey respondents said they didnt have a landline. The iPhone and its Android counterparts were released the next year, and the rate of landline abandonment has since steadily climbed.

There are countries in Europe where 80 (percent) to 90 percent of households are wireless only, so this trend could continue for some time, said Stephen J. Blumberg, one of the researchers who compiled the NCHS report.

The survey was conducted in the second half of 2017, and its results were released last week.

The shift from landline to wireless isnt surprising, according to telecommunications experts, for a number of reasons: Cell phones can now do more than landlines, cell service quality and connectivity have become increasingly reliable, and many people who grew up in the age of cell phones and data plans have never even had to use a landline.

People are cutting the cord on everything, said Brian Peterson, co-founder of Dialpad and the former head of engineering for Google Voice. If youre someone moving into your 20s, and you start to pay bills, the last thing youre going to do is pay for a landline where someone can only reach you at home.

There are, of course, some downsides to landline abandonment. Landline phones have historically been more reliable than cell phones, particularly during emergencies. Many landline phones also work during power outages, whereas cell phones require frequent charging.

But cell phones can do things that standard landline phones cannot, Peterson pointed out.

For example, todays cell phones and their software give users more control over when and how they can be reached. People can customize their do not disturb settings, connect one phone to multiple numbers and dynamically reroute calls depending on whos calling.

The health statistics centers survey also found that members of cell-phone-only households were more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking, binge drinking, lacking health insurance and driving without seat belts, although the survey did not delve into why that might be.

Ten years ago, cutting a landline was itself considered a riskier behavior, Blumberg said, because having a landline was associated with home ownership, adulthood, settling down and stability. Thats not the case anymore, he said.

Tracey Lien is a Los Angeles Times writer.
BOSTON  Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg didnt shy away from her companys ongoing privacy scandal in a Friday commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Instead, she turned it into a lesson about accountability.

Sandberg, the companys chief operating officer, repeatedly warned graduates that even technology created with the best intentions can be twisted to do harm, a lesson that she said hits close to home, given some of the issues Facebook has had.

At Facebook, we didnt see all the risks coming, and we didnt do enough to stop them, Sandberg said. Its hard when you know you let people down.

Echoing previous comments from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg went on to emphasize the importance of taking full responsibility for mistakes.

When you own your mistakes, you can work hard to correct them, and even harder to prevent the next ones, she said at the campus in Cambridge, Mass. Thats my job now. It wont be easy, and its not going to be fast, but we will see it through.

The Menlo Park company has faced a backlash in the wake of a privacy scandal involving British data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica. In April, Zuckerberg appeared before Congress to apologize for the sites role in foreign interference in the 2016 election.

The furor continued with recent revelations that Facebook shared user data with device makers including Chinas Huawei, and that an unrelated software bug made some private posts public for up to 14 million users over several days in May.

Sandberg said shes still proud of the company, noting its power to help organize movements like the Womens March and Black Lives Matter. But she warned graduates that technology has a flip side and isnt always used for the sake of good.

It also empowers those who would seek to do harm, she said. When everyone has a voice, some raise their voices in hatred. When everyone can share, some share lies. And when everyone can organize, some organize against the things we value the most.

Sandberg, an alumna of Harvard University, is a former vice president at Google and was chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton. She has written three bestselling books on leadership and resilience.

Much of her speech was about the role of technology in society, a common topic at MIT, a school known for its tech prowess. But her advice also drew on broader topics that have captured the nations attention, including tensions tied to race and gender.

Build workplaces where everyone  everyone  is treated with respect, she said. We need to stop harassment and hold both perpetrators and enablers accountable. And we need to make a personal commitment to stop racism and sexism.

Collin Binkley is an Associated Press writer.
In route news this week, Delta adds new transcontinental service from San Jose; United begins a Midwestern route from San Francisco, and several others around the country; American kicks off Iceland flights and some domestic regional routes; JetSuiteX comes to Orange County; Denver gets a new seasonal route to Switzerland; Ethiopian Airlines adds Chicago flights; and Frontier adds and drops a bunch of routes.

Delta on June 8 kicked off the newest transcontinental route from the Bay Area, beginning daily flights from Mineta San Jose International to its New York JFK hub. The new Delta flight is a red-eye on the eastbound leg, departing SJC at 10:35 p.m. and arriving in New York at 7:15 a.m. The return departs JFK at 8:15 a.m. and gets to SJC at 11:45. Delta is using a 737-800 with 16 seats in first class, 36 in extra-legroom Comfort+ and 108 in the main cabin. In addition to Delta's New York-JFK service, other SJC carriers offering daily nonstop service to the New York area are: JetBlue Airways' late-evening flight and Alaska Airlines begins daytime service on July 6, 2018 to JFK. To Newark, Alaska and United Airlines, both daytime flights.

United is adding another spoke from its San Francisco International hub. The airline this week started new daily flights from SFO to Madison, Wisconsin, using an Embraer E175 equipped with larger overhead bins and in-flight Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, United is planning to increase service next winter from San Francisco to Omaha, Nebraska, by adding a second daily flight starting February 14.

Besides the new SFO-Madison flights, United this week also began service on other new routes around its domestic network. In California, it began daily flights from Los Angeles to Eureka and from Fresno Yosemite International Airport to Chicago OHare; at Houston Bush Intercontinental, United started daily service to Dayton and Akron/Canton, Ohio; at its Denver hub, United initiated daily flights to Norfolk, Virginia and Appleton, Wisconsin; and at Chicago OHare, it kicked off twice-daily service to Bismarck, North Dakota. All those new routes operate with regional jets except Norfolk-Denver, which uses an A319.

It was also a busy time for new routes at American Airlines Dallas/Ft. Worth hub this week. Besides launching new seasonal daily 757 flights from DFW to Reykjavik, which will continue through October 26, American also started new daily service from DFW to Missoula, Montana; South Bend, Indiana; and Key West and Panama City, Florida, as well as new weekend service to Asheville, North Carolina and Flagstaff, Arizona.

In the coming winter season, American plans to add new daily flights from DFW to Buffalo, N.Y. with an A319 starting December 19; and daily regional jet service from DFW to Del Rio, Texas as of November 4; DFW-Sarasota, Florida and Wilmington, Delaware beginning December 19; Miami-Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina (twice-daily) as of December 19; and Miami-Knoxville starting December 19. At New York LaGuardia on November 4, American will inaugurate twice-weekly flights to both Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, also with regional jets.

Small-jet, full-service specialist JetSuiteX continues its steady expansion in the western U.S. On June 29, JetSuiteX will start flying out of Orange County's John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, offering daily trips to Las Vegas. JetSuiteX operates out of smaller private terminals at the airports it serves, and for Orange County, it will use the ACI Jet facility at 19301 Campus Drive #100.

Edelweiss, the leisure-oriented affiliate of Lufthansa Groups Swiss International Air Lines, this week started seasonal service between Denver and Zurich, offering two flights a week through October 26. The carrier uses a 315-passenger A330-300 fitted with 27 lie-flat seats in business class, 56 in premium economy, and 232 in regular economy.

Heading to East Africa? On June 9, Ethiopian Airlines will begin flying to Chicago O'Hare from Addis Ababa, using a Boeing 787-8 to operate three flights week (departing Chicago Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays). The westbound service out of Addis Ababa will make a stop in Dublin on its way to Chicago. (And if you are going there, be advised that Ethiopia this month launched an online e-visa application service for all international visitors. You can see the details here.)

What would a routes update be without a bunch of changes from ultra-low-cost Frontier Airlines? In its latest announcements, Frontier said it will begin new seasonal service in mid-August from San Diego to Cleveland, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Raleigh/Durham; from Las Vegas to Calgary, Norfolk and Spokane; from Austin to Orange County and Louisville; from San Antonio to Orange County and Salt Lake City; from Orlando to Ontario, CA and Pittsburgh; and from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Charleston, S.C. All those routes will get two to four flights a week. Meanwhile, in the second week of August, Frontier will suspend flights from San Diego to Colorado Springs, Oklahoma City and Tulsa; from Cleveland to Phoenix and Seattle; from Cincinnati to Phoenix and Philadelphia; and from Philadelphia to Grand Rapids.

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.
Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

A Sebastopol man was robbed of cash and drugs Saturday in what officials said was likely a marijuana-related home invasion.

The victim reported four men breaking into his home near Big Plum Drive and Bing Tree Way and gunshots being fired during the robbery, the Sonoma County sheriffs office said. No one was injured.
Two alleged San Francisco gang members have been sentenced to multiple life terms for murder, as well as pimping and racketeering charges.

Charles Heard, known as Cheese, 33, and Jaquain Young, known as Loc, 44, were sentenced Friday. They were convicted in March after a 14-week trial. Both are members of the Central Divis Playas, a Western Addition neighborhood gang, acting U.S. Attorney Alex Tse said in a statement.

Heard received four life sentences after being convicted of murdering Andre Helton and Isiah Turner in August 2008. They were found shot to death in a parked car near the University of San Francisco. Heard was also convicted of racketeering conspiracy.

Young was convicted of murdering Andre Heltons brother, Jelvon Helton, at the Gravity bar in the Marina district of San Francisco in November 2010. Young was also convicted of racketeering conspiracy and pimping charges. He allegedly attempted to persuade a minor to engage in prostitution. Young received three life sentences, as well as 10 years on a firearm charge and 20 years for a attempting to persuade someone to travel for prostitution.

The multiple life sentences handed down today is the just punishment under the law for the proven heinous crimes of violence, Tse said. This office will zealously advocate for the strongest sentences in these gang-related crimes to vindicate the rights of victims and protect our community against crimes of violence.

Three other alleged gang members were convicted on racketeering charges and are to be sentenced June 29. The trial follows a larger indictment in 2014 that came from an investigation of the Central Divis Playas, a powerful gang in San Francisco.

The indictment described CDP as a racketeering organization that worked collectively with other gangs in the Western Addition of San Francisco to preserve and protect power, territory, reputation, and profits of the enterprise through the use of intimidation, violence, assaults and murder, Tse said.

The sentences came from U.S. District Judge William Orrick. Heard and Young are in custody and will begin serving sentences immediately.

Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney
Police were able to nab the woman; however, the man, who appeared to be a foreign national, managed to flee.

A youn couple was seen making love on a road divider in Mumbais Marine Drive area in Nariman point. (Photo: File/AFP)

Mumbai: A young couple was seen making love on a road divider in Mumbais Marine Drive area in Nariman point. While many passed from there, some people watched, clicked pictures and filmed the bizarre incident.

After someone alerted the Police Control Room, a mobile van was rushed to the spot from Marine Drive Police Station.

Seeing the police, the couple tried to escape.

According to reports, police were able to nab the woman; however, the man, who appeared to be a foreign national, managed to flee.

During questioning, the woman first told the police that she was from Goa, but later backtracked and started to give evasive replies.

The woman seems to be mentally unstable. She was unable to tell her address or contact number of any of her relatives or where she resided, a report in Times of India quoted DCP Manoj Kumar Sharma as saying.

The woman was sent to the Chembur womens remand home and further investigations are on.

The police have not registered any case of indecent behaviour in public and efforts are on to apprehend the man.
Finding furniture and other items for small outdoor spaces can be tricky.

Be it for a petite deck, patio, or balcony, here are our top finds for getting high style with a small footprint.
Ira Berlin, a historian whose research and acclaimed books helped reveal the complexities of American slavery and its aftermath, died on Tuesday in Washington. He was 77.

The cause was complications of multiple myeloma, his son, Richard, said.

In books like Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South (1974) and Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (1998), Berlin, a longtime professor at the University of Maryland, upended simplistic notions of how slavery was practiced and what happened after it ended.

His masterpiece was Many Thousands Gone, Joshua D. Rothman, history department chairman at the University of Alabama, said by email. That book recounted the first two centuries of slavery in North America and stressed how the institution varied and was experienced differently by enslaved people over time and across space, Rothman said.

Its impossible to finish that book and come away with the same stereotypes and preconceptions about slavery that you began it with, he continued. Yet even as Berlin centered the story on the struggles of people in bondage to make their own diverse worlds, he never let the reader lose sight of slaverys fundamental cruelty. The level of difficulty in holding so much together in a coherent narrative is tremendous, and he managed it with elegant prose to boot.

Berlin was also instrumental in helping to preserve and disseminate the source material for the history that he wrote about. He was the founding director of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland, which since 1976 has studied, transcribed and published thousands of original documents from the Civil War and Reconstruction.

He also edited or helped edit numerous works about the period. One particularly ambitious effort was Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation (1998), which he edited with Marc Favreau and Steven F. Miller.

They transcribed recordings of former slaves made by the Works Progress Administration in the early 1930s. The recordings had sat for years in the Library of Congress largely untouched. A hardcover edition of the book came with cassette tapes of the actual recordings and dramatic readings by actors, including Debbie Allen and James Earl Jones.

Renee Graham, reviewing Remembering Slavery in the Boston Globe, called it as vital and necessary a historical document as anyone has ever produced in this country.

Berlin was born on May 27, 1941, in New York City. His father, Louis, was a grocer, and his mother, Sylvia (Lebwohl) Berlin, was a homemaker and later business manager for Ralph Lauren.

He grew up in the Bronx, where Van Cortlandt Park provided a green haven.

What I didnt know was that it was probably once Van Cortlandt plantation and that there were slaves living and working there, he told the Baltimore Sun years later when he helped organize Slavery in New York, a 2005 exhibition by the New York Historical Society.

After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1959, Berlin received a bachelors degree in chemistry, and a masters and doctorate in history, all from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle and Federal City College in Washington before landing at the University of Maryland in 1974.

In 2005 he was asked how he came to be interested in slavery and African American history.

When I was in graduate school in the 1960s, he said, for many people involved in the issues of those days, the civil rights movement, there was always a desire to make your work consonant with your politics. I guess thats where my own interest first came from.

Probably we all thought that once weve figured this all out, this business of race, once weve learned something about slavery and its origins, its connection to race, well, we could all go home early that night. The problem would be solved. We were extremely naive.

Whatever naivete he began with was dispelled by his rigorous research, which showed him, and by extension his students and readers, that slavery had numerous variations and that the experience of African Americans in the United States was not one story but many.

He showed, for instance, that the North was not as free of slavery as many people thought.

New York had slave auctions and slave whipping posts and slave rebellions, he noted. Everything we connect with slavery in the South was there.

But that did not mean slavery was the same everywhere, especially once the plantation system took hold in the South. He distinguished between societies with slaves  where slavery was just one form of labor  and more brutal slave societies, where (as he wrote in Many Thousands Gone) slavery stood at the center of economic production, and the master-slave relationship provided the model for all social relations: husband and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, teacher and student.

The historian Steven Hahn described the effect of Berlins scholarship.

He forced us to confront the deep histories of slavery and captivity in North America, he said by email, the enormous changes that took place as much of the country came to be dominated by slavery and slaveholders, and the central role of slaves and freed people in destroying the most formidable slave system in the world and in forging the road of freedom and democracy.

Hahn singled out a series that the Freedmen and Southern Society Project began publishing in the 1980s called Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation. The series established an agenda that is followed by historians to this day, he said.

His mark on the field of slavery and African American history stands as one of the most significant since W.E.B. Du Bois, Hahn said.

Berlin was an advocate for improved teaching of history. He helped establish teacher seminars sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, leading summer seminars on slavery for teachers from across the country, James G. Basker, the institutes president said.

In addition to his son, Berlin is survived by his wife, Martha Chait Berlin, whom he married in 1963; a daughter, Lisa Berlin Wittenstein; and three grandchildren.

Richard Berlin said his father was particularly proud of his urging the University of Maryland to commemorate the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a Maryland native.

He felt Douglass omission from the university was an incredible injustice and stain on the university that he was pleased to correct, Richard Berlin said.

The university dedicated Frederick Douglass Square, a plaza featuring a statue of Douglass, in 2015.

That same year, Berlin published his final book, The Long Emancipation: The Demise of Slavery in the United States. Edward E. Baptist, a history professor at Cornell, reviewed the book for the New York Times.

Like the participants in todays Black Lives Matter movement, he wrote, Berlin has not forgotten that the history of slavery in the United States  especially the history of how slavery ended  is never far away when contemporary Americans debate whether their nation needs to change.

Neil Genzlinger is a New York Times writer.
Ramon Espinosa / Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba  A new dining hall for guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention center has a shimmering view of the Caribbean and a lifespan of 20 years. Barracks scheduled to start getting built next year are meant to last five decades. And the Pentagon has asked Congress to approve money for a new super-max prison unit to be designed with the understanding that prisoners will likely grow old and frail in custody  some perhaps still without being convicted of a crime.

President Trumps order in January to keep the Guantanamo jail open, and allow the Pentagon to bring new prisoners there, is prompting military officials to consider a future for the controversial facility that the Obama administration sought to close. Officials talked about the plans in an unusually frank manner as a small group of journalists toured the isolated base where 40 men are still held behind tall fences and coils of razor wire on the southeastern coast of Cuba.
Theres no evidence of foul play or violence in celebrity chef Anthony Bourdains death in a French hotel room, a French prosecutor said Saturday.

The famed cook, writer and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown killed himself Friday in a luxury hotel in the ancient village of Kaysersberg, Christian de Rocquigny, the prosecutor of Colmar in Frances eastern Alsace region, said in a phone interview.

Rocquigny said there did not appear to be much planning in the television personalitys suicide.

There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment, he said, adding that a medical expert had concluded that there were no signs of violence on Bourdains body.

Rocquigny said toxicology tests were being performed on Bourdains body, including urine tests, to see if the 61-year-old American took any medications or other drugs, in an effort to help his family understand if anything led him to kill himself.

Olivier Nasti, the chef and owner of Le Chambard, the luxury hotel in Kaysersberg where Bourdain took his life, paid tribute to his colleague Saturday.

It is with great respect for the leader, the author, the TV entertainer, the visionary Anthony Bourdain that I express all my condolences to his family and to the anonymous people around the world who he made dream so much, Nasti said in a statement Saturday.

It is the whole family of French gastronomy that joins me, to renew our deep friendship to our bereaved American brothers, he added.

Bourdains death came three days after fashion designer Kate Spade killed herself in her Park Avenue apartment in New York. Spades husband and business partner said the 55-year-old business mogul had suffered from depression and anxiety for many years.

In a 2008 interview with the Associated Press, Bourdain had said his daughters birth had changed his outlook on life. I feel obliged to at least do the best I can and not do anything really stupidly self-destructive if I can avoid it, he said.

Thomas Adamson is an Associated Press writer.
The Election Commission told the party that the issue of image repetition was being rectified.

The EC teams visited Narela, Bhojpur, Seoni-Malwa and Hoshangabad assembly seats to check on the discrepancies, if any. (Representational image)

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Friday rejected Congress' allegations of large-scale discrepancies in the voters' list of Madhya Pradesh, saying field verifications showed that such charges were not borne out.

In a letter to AICC, the poll body said, "The allegations of large-scale entries of multiple voters in these assembly constituencies is not borne out". It said image repetition found was "not related to multiple entries".

The Election Commission told the party that the issue of image repetition was being rectified.

Soon after a Congress delegation approached the poll body on the issue on Sunday, the Commission formed two teams to probe the allegations. The Congress claimed that there were at least 60 lakh bogus voters listed in the state. It also submitted evidence to back its allegation.

Read: 60 lakh bogus names added by BJP to MP voters list: Congress

"We have provided evidence to the Election Commission that there are approximately 60 lakh fake voters registered in the voting list. These are not merely mistakes. The lists have been deliberately altered at the behest of the BJP government in the state," Congress leader Kamal Nath said.

The EC teams visited Narela, Bhojpur, Seoni-Malwa and Hoshangabad assembly seats to check on the discrepancies, if any.

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections will be held in November 2018.
Learning of the revolt, it was JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda who asked Kumaraswamy to visit Mr Patil, sources said.

Bengaluru: Sensing trouble for the fledgling coalition government in Karnataka, chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and senior Congress leaders on Friday made a beeline for the house of former minister M.B. Patil, who has raised the banner of revolt after being denied a Cabinet berth.

Mr Kumaraswamy, who also met former minister Satish Jarkiholi and MLAs Sudhakar and M.T.B. Nagaraj on Thursday evening, met Mr Patil on Friday afternoon, accompanied by deputy CM G. Parameshwar and ministers D.K. Shivakumar, R.V. Deshpande and K.J. George.

But Mr Patil reportedly refused to be pacified and instead claimed there were 15 to 20 other legislators who were upset at their treatment by the party and would take a decision on their future in a day and two.

Learning of the revolt, it was JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda who asked Mr Kumaraswamy to visit Mr Patil, sources said. Mr Kumaraswamy, who spent almost an hour with Mr Patil, said the Congress high command may have to address some of his grievances.

Although he belongs to the Congress, I came here to talk to him as I head the coalition government. Besides, my father and Mr Patils father have worked together in the past. I have heard what he had to say. But he has not committed to anything, saying he has to consult others, who are in touch with him after being deprived of Cabinet berths, Mr Kumaraswamy said.

Mr Patil too later told reporters that he could not refuse to meet Mr Kumaraswamy when he asked to come to his house for a chat over coffee, although he was not from the Congress. Making his displeasure clear at the way he was being treated by the party, he said: It has dumped us, but we are not doing the same. Around 15 to 20 legislators are in touch with me. We will meet in a day or two and take a decision.

Sources said Mr Patil was not happy with the offer of a ministerial position in the next Cabinet expansion and is pitching for the post of a second deputy chief minister.

At his meeting with Mr Kumaraswamy, Mr Patil talked tough, regretting that the party had used him for issues like the Lingayat-Veerashaiva conflict and the elections, but dropped him when it came to a Cabinet berth. He was also upset that his arch-rival Shivananda Patil had been made a minister instead, sources added.
The PDP-BJP government is learnt to have strongly recommended the conditional ceasefire should be extended beyond Ramzan.

Srinagar: Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who was on a two-day visit of Jammu and Kashmir, said on Friday that a decision whether to extend the conditional Ramzan ceasefire in the state or not will be taken after reviewing and assessing the security situation.

He told reporters in frontier Kupwara, The decision regarding the extension of Ramzan ceasefire will be taken after proper consultation with the public representatives and reviewing the security situation. We need to review the security situation and other related matters at the highest level. It will be done soon and thereafter decision in connection with the extension of ceasefire will be taken.

The Centre had on May 16 announced suspending military operations against separatist militants in J&K to help the peace-loving Muslims observe Ramzan in a peaceful environment.

Mr Singh had at a press conference here on Thursday where referring to the surge in militants activities after the conditional ceasefire announcement said, Shouldnt we call napak (impure) those who dont stop such activities even during the holy month of Ramzan?

He had also said that however despite provocations the security forces including the Army and the J&K police have worked with utmost restraint. He said, I would like to repeat, that no matter how many obstacles come in our way, we will not be deterred to bring lasting peace to Kashmir.

A day before the home ministers arrival, CM Mehbooba Mufti had tweeted, Even as we see the ceasefire bringing great relief to the people of J&K, militants seem to be continuing their violent activities & desperately trying to sabotage the process. I only hope that they realise the futility of their actions soon.

The chief ministers allegation came in the backdrop of a series of attacks carried out by militants across the Kashmir valley during past three weeks. These include more than a dozen grenade and, at least, three IED blasts which left over twenty people including security personnel and civilians injured. Also, the Army shot dead eleven alleged infiltrators in three separatist clashes near the Line of Control (LoC) during this period but said such operations dont call in the ambit of Ramzan ceasefire.

The PDP-BJP government is learnt to have strongly recommended the conditional ceasefire should be extended beyond Ramzan. Mr. Singh has had separate meetings with Governor N.N. Vohra, chief minister Ms. Mufti and Armys Northern Command chief Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh to discuss the security situation in the hinterland as well as along the borders with Pakistan on the first leg of his visit on Thursday. He also held a review meeting on the overall security situation with senior officials of various security forces, intelligence agencies and civil administration.

Official sources said that he was given a power point presentation on success of the conditional truce apparently to seek its extension beyond Ramzan. During the briefing, he was told that though the militants have made several desperate attempts to sabotage the truce, only one major incident of violence has taken place during the past three weeks in which fatal injuries were reported.

There are indications of Ramzan truce being extended, at least, for a couple of months as it suits ruling combine politically besides may will work as a catalyst towards creating a conducive atmosphere for holding dialogue with separatists.

Accompanied by Union minister of state at the PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh, home secretary, Rajiv Gauba, and other senior officers of the MHA, Mr. Singh on Friday visited frontier Kupwara where he addressed the jawans of the J&K police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at the district police lines.

He said that five more battalions of IR will be raised and sixty percent vacancies will be reserved for the people of border areas. He told local delegations that all necessary steps will be taken by the government to ensure development of Kupwara.

Kupwara is listed among the 115 inspirational districts where the central government has pledged to lay special emphasis on the overall development to fight poverty and backwardness

A complete shutdown was observed in the main town of Kupwara and its neighbourhood during the home ministers visit.

Earlier hours before Mr. Singhs arrival in Kupwara, militants attacked an Army patrol with gunfire in the district. The officials said that after brief exchange of fire at Langaet, about 20-km from the district headquarters, the assailants escaped from the scene. No casualties were reported.

The home minister later flew to Jammu where he visited areas along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan which witnessed escalation in cross-border firing recently leaving several people dead.
Gupta later took back his accusation issuing an apology.

Lucknow: High drama prevailed in Lucknow on Friday after the police arrested the man who had accused Mr S.P. Goyal, principal secretary to the chief minister, of demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakhs.

The man Abhishek Guptas family reached the chief ministers residence, demanding justice and wanting to know where their son had been kept by the police.

Late on Friday night, Abhishek Gupta reportedly submitted a written apology and withdrew his charges while in police custody.

A video clip of Gupta saying that he had lost his mental balance when his file for land for petrol pump was rejected by Mr Goyal, went viral on Friday night.

He said he had taken a loan of Rs 1 crore and could not bear the setback.

The video clip was uploaded from an unidentified number and sent to all journalists. The veracity of the video clip could not be verified because none of the senior police officials responded to calls on their mobile phones.

Earlier in the day, Abhisheks grandfather Om Prakash Gupta, who said he had worked with BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, said, I have come here to seek justice. The complainant has been arrested which is unprecedented and there is no inquiry against the accused.

Abhishek Gupta, a resident of Hardoi, had earlier written a letter to UP Governor Ram Naik saying that he had been sanctioned a petrol pump in Raiso village in Hardoi. He said that the width of the road which led to the proposed petrol pump was less than the stipulated width and he had approached Mr S P Goyal, principal secretary to the chief minister, for additional land.

The complainant claimed that the official had demanded Rs 25 lakhs from him for the work.

The governor, on April 30, sent a letter to the chief minister apprising him of the matter and the allegations against the official.

Almost 38 days after the governor sent the letter, the document went viral on the social media on Thursday evening and the BJP office in Lucknow immediately sent a complaint to the SSP saying that Abhishek Gupta was not a BJP worker but was posing as one to take favors from the state government.
Ms Mayawati, apparently, is worried about the lack of second rung leadership in the party and even more, the absence of dalit leaders.

Lucknow: BSP president Mayawati seems to be in a generous mood these days. She has re-inducted 200 Lucknow zone workers who had defected to other political parties before the state assembly elections last year.

Ms Mayawati, normally, does not take back leaders who quit the party though there have been some exceptions like former Speaker Barkhu Ram Varma and former minister R.K. Chaudhary. Both the leaders were expelled in 2001 but were re-inducted in 2003 mainly because they did not level any allegations against the BSP leadership.

Later former BSP minister Daddu Prasad was expelled from the party in 2015 but re-inducted in 2017. In January this year, he was again expelled from the BSP. According to party sources, the 200 party workers who were allowed back into the party are those who had left along with former minister Inderjit Saroj and had joined the Samajwadi Party. If sources close to Ms Mayawati are to be believed than the party president is now in a forgiving mood as far as ex-leaders are concerned. There are some leaders who went to BJP last and are now feeling uncomfortable there. They have sent us feelers and want to return and we have informed BSP supremo about this. She did not shoot down the message immediately and we are confident that the homecoming of these leaders will take place soon, said a party functionary.

BSP has been witnessing a depletion of leaders with most of them rebelling against the work culture.

Ms Mayawati, apparently, is worried about the lack of second rung leadership in the party and even more, the absence of dalit leaders.

She wants that leaders who had left the party should be allowed to return so that the party can firm up its position in areas where these leaders wield considerable influence, albeit in a limited area. Unconfirmed sources said that former minister Babu Singh Kushwaha could be among those who could return to the BSP.

He has been to jail in the NRHM scam but not once did he utter a word against Behenji and that should be reason enough for his return, said a party leader.

As of now, the BSP does not have a second rung leadership except Mr Satish Chandra Misra who continues to enjoy the confidence of Ms Mayawati.
DALY CITY (BCN)



A gun show is taking place at the Cow Palace in Daly City this weekend, even as some state and local lawmakers are proposing to ban such shows.



Crossroads of the West, a Utah-based company, is holding a gun show at the Cow Palace at 2600 Geneva Ave. on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., organizers confirmed.



The show is taking place just four days after the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in support of proposed state legislation that would ban gun shows at the Cow Palace. The Cow Palace is in San Mateo County.



The board voted 5-0 Tuesday in support of Senate Bill 221. State Sen. Scott Weiner introduced the bill in May.



Under the bill, sales of guns and ammunition would be banned at the Cow Palace with an exemption for gun buyback programs organized by law enforcement.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



The race for San Francisco mayor seems to be getting closer and closer everyday, with the latest ranked-choice voting numbers showing former state Sen. Mark Leno ahead of President of the Board of Supervisors London Breed by just 144 votes.



According to numbers released this afternoon, Leno has received 50.04 percent of the vote, or 83,667 votes, while Breed has received 49.96 percent, or 83,523 votes.



Since Tuesday's election, the gap between Leno and Breed has been closing, with Wednesday's tally showing Leno leading with 1,121 votes and Thursday's showing him ahead by 255 votes.



Officials with the San Francisco Department of Elections have said they will continue to provide updated numbers through the weekend, daily at 4 p.m.



Today, election officials said they still had to review and process about 64,900 ballots, down from as many as 90,000 on Wednesday. The uncounted ballots include about 51,000 vote-by-mail ballots and about 14,000 provisional ballots.



The department said it would process additional mail ballots that are postmarked by June 5 and received by today.



The department is hoping to process most of the mail ballots by Sunday.



The mayoral vote reflects San Francisco ranked-choice voting, in which voters mark their first, second and third choices. As candidates with fewer votes are successively eliminated, their supporters' votes are given to their other choices.



On Wednesday, Breed, 43, released a statement on Facebook, saying she was "incredibly grateful" for her supporters and that "the race is still too close to call."



Similarly, Leno, 66, on Wednesday thanked his supporters in a statement on Facebook, saying, "It's been the honor of a lifetime to run for mayor of San Francisco. We're encouraged by very early returns."



The winner of the race will serve the remainder of the late Mayor Ed Lee's term, which runs through January 2020. Lee died unexpectedly in December.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
SANTA ROSA (BCN)



Frances Farias was sentenced Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court to fours years in prison for stealing more than $100,000 from the Oakmont Management Group LLC where she worked as a payroll clerk, the Sonoma County District Attorney's office said.



Farias, 60, pleaded guilty to grand theft and will serve her sentence in state prison, the District Attorney's Office said. She was previously convicted of embezzlement in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties in 2010 and was sentenced to four and five years respectively, prosecutors said.



Farias was hired in January 2014 in the human services department of the Oakmont Management Group and used her position of trust to embezzle more than $250,000, the District Attorney's Office said.



Farias created fake employee profiles in the payroll system and used legitimate employees' names to set up direct deposit accounts of alleged salaries into pre-paid debit card accounts in her name.



"This is yet another example of why companies need to impose internal audits and other controls to ensure that this type of theft cannot go unnoticed," District Attorney Jill Ravitch said.



The grand theft and identity theft investigation began Jan. 13, 2017 when the company's management called the sheriff's office to report Farias, the former payroll clerk, funneled funds to secondary fictitious employees, Crum said.



Farias left the company in May, 2016. The new payroll clerk noticed the accounting irregularities which triggered the investigation, Crum said.



Farias worked at the company's Oakmont Senior Living facility in Windsor, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said.





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SAN ANSELMO (BCN)



Police are looking for a man who they say robbed prescription medication from a drugstore in San Anselmo Friday night.



A man walked up to the pharmacy counter in a Walgreens drugstore in San Anselmo around 8:30 p.m. and handed the pharmacist a note, witnesses told police.



The note said something to the effect of, "I have a gun, open the safe, don't make a ruckus," according to police.



The suspect jumped the counter and followed the pharmacist to the safe, where he took several bottles of Promethazine with codeine, put them in his backpack, ran out of the store and rode off on a bicycle, police said.



The man is described as African American, about 20 years old, with short hair, carrying a backpack. Anyone who may have seen him or might have information is asked to contact Central Marin police at (415) 927-5150.





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More than half of the Bay Area's voters disagree with the federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants, according to a Bay Area Council poll released today.



Of the 1,000 registered voters in the nine-county Bay Area who took the poll in March and April, 55 percent disagree with the crackdown. Twenty-eight percent favor the crackdown and 17 percent are undecided.



"Regardless of what side of the immigration debate you're on, there's just one thing to know: Our immigration system is broken," said Jim Wunderman, CEO of the San Francisco-based council, in a statement. The council is a business association founded in 1945 dedicated to solving the area's problems.



Wunderman called for immigration reform, saying that immigrants "continue to be valuable contributors to our economy."



While 80 percent of Republicans taking the poll favor cracking down on immigrants, 76 percent of Democrats disagree. San Francisco led the area in opposition at 70 percent, while Contra Costa County voters showed the least opposition at 47 percent.



The study was released on the same day as an interfaith prayer vigil was planned for detained immigrants at the West County Detention Center in Richmond, in Contra Costa County.



"As children are being separated from parents at the border, community and faith leaders will gather in prayer and protest highlighting local families long separated," organizers from the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity said in a statement.



The Interfaith Movement has played a big role in organizing rallies and providing support for detained undocumented immigrants. At present, it is highlighting Raul Lopez, a Guatemalan national who has lived in the United States for decades and has been separated from his wife and four children for more than a year.



Lopez is jailed at the detention center.



His wife Dianeth Lopez said her husband already had a pending immigration case, but made the mistake of driving under the influence of alcohol. Raul Lopez was subsequently placed on house arrest and also spent two months in jail for the DUI case.



In March 2017, however, when he went to a check-in appointment at the San Francisco ICE office, he was taken into custody and has remained jailed since.



"We want to be able to be there for people during these check-ins, which are becoming increasingly more and more dangerous," said Rev. Deborah Lee, executive director for Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, in May.



"We really want to help this man who has been here for 29 years, who has no family in Guatemala to return to. He has absolutely has to be allowed to stay right here with his family where he belongs," Lee said of Raul Lopez.





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A state agency Thursday issued an advisory regarding the consumption of certain species of fish in the Laguna de Santa Rosa.



The California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, OEHHA, issued safe eating advice of black bass species including common carp, fathead minnow, Sacramento blackfish and sunfish based on the levels of mercury and PCBs found in fish in the laguna west of Santa Rosa.



The Laguna de Santa Rosa advisory recommendations are among 100 other OEHHA advisories that provide specific, health-based fish consumption advice in the state's lakes, rivers, bays, reservoirs and the California coast.



The Laguna de Santa Rosa, a 22-mile long channel that forms the largest tributary of the Russian River. Its diamond-shaped wetland complex drains a 254-square mile watershed in the Santa Rosa plain from Sebastopol to the west, Windsor to the north, Cotati to the south and Santa Rosa to the east.



The OEHHA advisory recommends women ages 18-45 and children 1-17 not eat black bass species. They may safely eat a maximum of three servings a week of fathead minnow, two servings a week of common carp or Sacramento blackfish or one servings a week of sunfish species.



Women 46 and older and men 18 and older may safely eat a maximum of seven total servings of fathead minnow, five weekly servings of Sacramento blackfish, three servings a week of common carp or one serving a week of black bass species.



A serving is an eight-ounce fillet measured before cooking.



OEHHA director Dr. Lauren Seize said fish have nutrients that may reduce the risk of heart disease and are rich in protein.



"By following our guidelines for fish caught in the Laguna de Santa Rosa, people can safely eat fish low in chemical contaminants and enjoy the well-known health benefits of fish consumption," Zeise said in a news release.



Methylmercury in fish can damage the brain and nervous system, especially in developing children and fetuses. The industrial chemical PCB found in spills, leaks and improper disposal could cause health problems including cancer, the OEHHA said.



Kevin Munroe, executive director of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, said the laguna has had water quality issues for decades and was considered "void of life" in the 1970s.



"It is now considered 'impaired' but there are still pollution and water quality challenges. We recommend not eating fish from the Laguna," Munroe said.



Some streams in the Laguna are fine for fishing, but not those that accept water runoff from roads, highways and parking lots, Munroe said.



Munroe said the OEHHA is not saying all fish in the Laguna are unsafe.



"They are saying there are serious issues with pollution and water quality, but it's getting much better. We are halfway to restoring the Laguna to the health it was. Our goal is to restore the Laguna de Santa Rosa to be fishable one day," Munroe said.





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DALY CITY (BCN)



San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa today called for a ban on gun shows at the Cow Palace in Daly City as a two-day gun show got underway at the venue.



Crossroads of the West, a Utah-based company, is holding a gun show at the Cow Palace Saturday and Sunday. The show is taking place just four days after county supervisors voted unanimously in support of proposed state legislation that would ban gun shows at the Cow Palace.



"The state should not profit from the sales of guns," Canepa said in a statement. "For 15 years this board has urged the state to ban gun shows at the Cow Palace to no avail."



Canepa said he stands with Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Phil Ting, who introduced Senate Bill 221 in May. Under the bill, sales of guns and ammunition would be banned at the Cow Palace with an exemption for gun buyback programs organized by law enforcement.



Canepa is available to the media Saturday and Sunday at the Cow Palace, 2600 Geneva Ave., to talk on county legislation passed. Canepa can be reached on his cell phone at (415) 513-9410.





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Advani says Pranabs visit to RSS headquarters significant event in Indias history.

New Delhi: Minutes after former President Pranab Mukherjee spoke at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur Thursday, a morphed image of him assuming an RSS-style prayer position started doing the rounds on social media. Mr Mukherjees daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukh-erjee, who had objected to his visit to the RSS headquarters, highlighted this and tweeted: See, this is exactly what I was fearing & warned my father about. Not even few hours have passed, but BJP/RSS dirty tricks dept is at work in full swing! The RSS, however, blamed divisive political forces for the morphed photograph, saying first they had tried to make the former President refrain from attending its event and then posted a morphed photograph showing him in a prayer position identified with the saffron outfit.

While veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani praised Mr Mukhejee for showing grace and goodwill in accepting the RSS invitation, Congress leader Manish Tewari questioned the former President over his visit, asking why he had chosen to go there and deliver homilies on nationalism after having cautioned young Congressmen like him against the Sangh.

A statement by RSS joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya read: Some divisive political forces have posted a morphed photo of former President Pranab Mukherjee standing in a prayer position with a folded hand during recitation of the Sangha prarthana (prayer) at yesterdays RSS function at Nagpur.

The RSS claimed these forces had initially tried to create an opposition to make Mukherjee refrain from attending this function, and now these frustrated forces are indulging in all such dirty tricks to defame the RSS. We denounce and strongly condemn the lowly act of these divisive political forces who are deliberately trying to defame the RSS.

Despite the official reaction of the Congress after Mr Mukherjee delieved his speech at the RSS headquarters, Congress leader Manish Tewari posed some stinging questions to the former President, asking him what was evil about the RSS then that has now become virtuous, and if the former President was trying to mainstream the Sangh.

Your generation cautioned mine in training camp after training camp through 1980s and 1990s about the intent and designs of the RSS. You were a part of the government that banned the RSS in 1975 and then again in 1992. Dont you think you should tell us what was evil about the RSS then that has become virtuous now? he asked.

Drawing parallels, he said after the 1938 Munich pact, other countries had the false notion that they had bought peace with Nazi Germany, which then overran Europe. He told the veteran Congressman that whatever the motivation behind the visit, it will be seen as an attempt to mainstream the RSS in the secular and pluralistic consciousness.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Police in San Francisco this morning are investigating an officer-involved shooting that sent a suspect to the hospital.



At 12:17 a.m., two uniformed San Francisco Police Department officers initiated a foot pursuit of a suspect in the 1300 block of Grant Avenue, police said.



During the pursuit, a male suspect was struck by gunfire.



The suspect was transported to the hospital with injuries that were listed as life threatening.



The officers were not injured in the incident.



Police said there was a firearm recovered from the scene.



The SFPD Homicide Detail, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, the San Francisco Police Internal Affairs Division and the Department of Police Accountability are investigating the incident.



Per police department policy, there will be a town-hall meeting held about the incident within 10 days.



No other information about the shooting was immediately available.









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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Two men injured in a triple shooting that killed a 21-year-old man Thursday afternoon in San Francisco's Mission District have been upgraded to stable condition, according to police.



The victim who died has been identified as Jaime Poole of San Francisco, officials with the city's medical examiner's office said.



Poole was taken to the hospital, but died around 4 p.m.



The other two victims, aged 27 and 22, remain hospitalized, both in stable condition. On Thursday, police said one was in critical condition while the other was in serious condition.



The shooting occurred around 3:20 p.m. in the 1400 block of Treat Ave., near Cesar Chavez Street, according to police.



No arrest has been made in the shooting and police are continuing to investigate it.



Also on Thursday, a separate shooting at Mission Street and Santa Rosa Avenue around 11:12 a.m. killed a 34-year-old woman, identified as South San Francisco resident Vanessa Palma. Police have not announced any arrests in that case.



Additionally, a separate shooting early this morning, around 4:35 a.m. near Polk and California streets left a 63-year-old man injured. The suspect fled the scene and officers were unable to catch him, police said.





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BCN2)



SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A 34-year-old woman shot to death Thursday in San Francisco's Mission Terrace neighborhood may have been the victim of domestic violence.



The victim, identified by the city's medical examiner's office as Vanessa Palma of South San Francisco, was allegedly killed by her husband, police said. He's been identified by police as 43-year-old Robert Riley.



Riley apparently fled after the shooting, which occurred around 11:30 a.m. in the 4500 block of Mission Street, near Santa Rosa Avenue, police said.



Palma was taken to a hospital, where she died a short while later.



Riley was last seen driving a white Chrysler 300 with the California license plate 7UAB831. He is considered armed and dangerous, according to police.



Anyone who sees him or has information on his whereabouts is asked to call police at (415) 553-1071 or their 24-hour tipline at (415) 575-4444. Tipsters can also text tips to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.





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Starting today, Oakland and San Francisco residents age five and up can show their Warriors spirit by getting a new Golden State Warriors library card, library officials said.



The collector's edition Warriors library cards become available today and will be available only while supplies last. Library users can visit any branch of the Oakland Public Library and sign up for a card.



In partnership with the Oakland Public Library, the San Francisco Public Library is also offering a Golden State Warriors library card this summer. Library officials hope to encourage children to use the library by offering the cards.



The card design combines an illustration of the Bay Bridge and a hand-drawn rendering of a Warriors player in the team's special "The Town" jersey, which highlights and celebrates Oakland's heritage, library officials said.





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PM Modi had detailed discussions with Xi on bilateral, global issues which will add vigour to Indo-China ties.

Qingdao/New Delhi: Chinese President Xi Jinping has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation for a Wuhan-style informal summit in India next year, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said in Qingdao on Saturday.

The two leaders had their first informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27-28 to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Dokalam standoff.

Prime Minister Modi had detailed discussions with President Xi on bilateral and global issues which will add further vigour to the India-China friendship.

Also Read: SCO summit: Modi, Xi talk stronger bilateral ties, review Wuhan gains

Addressing a press briefing here, Gokhale said that one of the important outcomes of Saturday's meeting between the two leaders was that the Chinese side conveyed that they have accepted the Prime Minister Modi's invitation to President Xi to have a similar informal summit in India in 2019.

He said that the date for the informal meeting has not been decided.

Modi arrived in the picturesque coastal city of China's Shandong province on a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
PM Modi is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Xi Jinping apart from holding meetings with various other participating leaders.

On Friday, the Prime Minister posted a message regarding the summit on his official Facebook account. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in China's Qingdao on Saturday afternoon to attend the two-day long 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

On Friday, the Prime Minister posted a message regarding the summit on his official Facebook account.

"The SCO has a rich agenda for cooperation, ranging from fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promoting cooperation in connectivity, commerce, customs, law, health and agriculture; protecting the environment and mitigating disaster risk, and fostering people-to-people relations," Prime Minister Modi said.

He also said he would be holding multiple meetings with the heads of various SCO member states on the sidelines of the summit.

This will be India's first participation in the summit as a full-time member of the organisation. India, along with Pakistan, became the full-time member during Astana summit in June 2017.

Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping apart from holding meetings with various other participating leaders.

With 8 members, SCO represents approximately 42 percent of the worlds population, 22 percent of the land area and 20 percent of the GDP. #SCO focusses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation & enables India to engage with Central Asian countries. pic.twitter.com/iMm8TIdH80  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2018

Further, the member-countries, including India, Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, are expected to sign the Qingdao Declaration.

The declaration will hold details of the significant mechanism for resisting the global terror activities.

The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation that focuses on strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states and promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, and making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

The SCO has two sub-divisions including Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) and SCO Secretariat.
China also ink pact to share with India hydrological data of Brahmaputra River in flood season after the Modi-Xi talks.

Qingdao/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he had detailed discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on bilateral and global issues which will add further vigour to the India-China friendship after their informal summit in Wuhan.

An MoU on sharing hydrological information of the Brahmaputra River by China to India and another pact on an amendment of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include non-Basmati rice were signed after the Modi-Xi talks in the eastern Chinese port city.

Read: PM Modi arrives in Qingdao to attend SCO summit, India's focus on combating terror

During their meeting, which came nearly six weeks since the Wuhan summit, the two leaders discussed a blueprint for deepening bilateral relationship and reviewed the implementation of decisions they had taken in the central Chinese city.

The meeting took place ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and covered key aspects of the bilateral engagement, reflecting the resolve by the two countries to reset relations and bring back trust in their ties which was hit by the Doklam standoff and several other thorny issues.

"Met this year's SCO host, President Xi Jinping this evening. We had detailed discussions on bilateral and global issues. Our talks will add further vigour to the India-China friendship," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

Recalling that he and Prime Minister Modi successfully had an informal meeting and reached important consensus in Wuhan, President Xi said the meeting had been well received by both countries and the international community, and a positive atmosphere is taking shape to pay close attention to and support the development of China-India relations.

China is willing to work with India to take the Wuhan meeting as a new starting point to continuously enhance political mutual trust and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, so as to push forward China-India relations in a better, faster and steadier manner, Xi was quoted as saying by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar described the meeting as "warm" and "forward looking" while Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui said the two leaders focused on the implementation of the "Wuhan consensus" and drawing a blueprint for the future Sino-India relations.

"Further strengthening the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship generated at the Wuhan informal summit, PM Narendra Modi had a warm and forward looking meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit," Kumar tweeted.

The meeting between the leaders of two Asian powers came after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan to solidify the relationship in a broad spectrum of areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Doklam standoff.

After their talks in Wuhan, Modi and Xi had decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications to build trust and understanding as part of efforts to avoid a Doklam-like situation in the future. The two leaders had also discussed ways to give impetus to their economic ties as well as people-to-people relations.

Luo said it was the 14th meeting between our two leaders over past four years.

Modi arrived in Qingdao on a two-day visit to attend the annual SCO summit.

The ties between the two neighbouring nuclear powers had nosedived following last year's Doklam standoff as well as due to a number of other issues including China blocking India's move to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN and its opposition to India's bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group membership. China's Belt and Road Initiative was also strongly opposed by India as part of it goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Troops of India and China were locked in the 73-day standoff in Doklam since June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army in the disputed area. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off had ended on August 28.

However, there have been concerted efforts by both sides to reset ties leaving behind the Doklam episode.

Last week, Prime Minister Modi had said that Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests.

PM Modi also said that an "Asia of rivalry" will hold the region back while an Asia of cooperation will shape the current century. The Prime Minister's comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore were appreciated by China.

China's appreciation of what Modi said was conveyed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in South Africa this week.

It is for the first time the Indian Prime Minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping last year.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represent around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP.
The CBI recently filed its first chargesheet in the alleged Rs 13,400 crore PNB fraud case involving Modi and his uncle Choksi.

New Delhi: The CBI is all set to issue a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against diamantaire Nirav Modi and owner of Gitanjali Gems Mehul Choksi as part of its investigation into the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. The agency, sources said, will get permission for issuing RCNs against the duo from the competent authority in a day or two.

Since the CBI has already filed chargesheet in the PNB fraud case, the agency is now finalising RCNs against the duo. The process for getting the RCN issued against the duo has already been initiated. Request for issuing the notice will soon be sent to the Interpol, sources said.

The chargesheet filed by the CBI in this case will certainly help the agency in expediting the extradition process against Nirav Modi and Choksi, they added.

The ministry of external affairs (MEA) had in February this year revoked the passports of Modi and Choksi, after the duo failed to furnish their replies to a notice from the MEA in the stipulated time of one week.

A Red Corner Notice is issued to seek the arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action in a criminal case probe. Once an RCN is issued, the Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world and notifies that country to take his or her custody for further action at their end, sources said.

The CBI recently filed its first chargesheet in the alleged Rs 13,400 crore PNB fraud case involving Modi and his uncle Choksi.

In the chargesheet, the agency detailed the role of the banks former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian, who is now Allahabad Bank CEO and MD. The CBI chargesheet, filed in Mumbai Sessions Court, also named several other top officials of the bank including PNB executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and general manager (international operations) Nehal Ahad. The agency, in its chargesheet, detailed the roles of Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Subhash Parab, an executive in Nirav Modis company. The chargesheet basically deals with the first FIR registered in the case relating to the fraudulent issuance over Rs 6,000 crore of letters of undertaking to Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.
The victim has been identified has Kartik Dhaki, who was missing since Friday.

According to media reports, a case has been registered and the police are investigating for further details. (Photo: ANI)

Howrah (West Bengal): A Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker was allegedly hacked to death in the Jagat Ballabhpur area of Howrah on Saturday.

The victim has been identified has Kartik Dhaki, who was missing since Friday.

Following the incident, the TMC has accused the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the alleged killing while the latter has rubbished their claims.

"The BJP doesn't believe in violence unlike TMC and hence, no such acts happen during elections in BJP ruled states. If we were believers of violence, we wouldn't have been elected in 22-23 states of India. The TMC has turned West Bengal into Afghanistan murdering people throughout the state," said Debanjan Chatterjee of BJP.

This is the second TMC worker to have been killed this week. On June 5, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker, Mohsin Khan, whose wife, Nurnessa Begum had recently won Panchayat elections, was shot dead in Bagnan.

This comes just a few days after two BJP workers were found dead under suspicious circumstances in two separate incidents in West Bengal sparking a political row between the BJP and the TMC.

Read: Another BJP worker's body found hanging from pole in WB

Including this incident, two BJP workers and two TMC workers have died in the last 20 days.

Read: WB BJP worker found hanging from tree, killers left message on his t-shirt

According to media reports, a case has been registered and the police are investigating for further details.
Modi had met Mr Xi in April in an unprecedented two-day heart-to-heart summit in Wuhan to solidify the India-China relationship.

Qingdao (China): India and China have decided to set up a new people to people mechanism to build on the momentum in bilateral ties from the Wuhan Summit, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on Saturday during their second meeting in nearly six weeks.

The decision to step up people to people contacts was announced by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale during a press briefing after the meeting between the two leaders in this coastal city of China where the Prime Minister Modi has arrived for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Mr Modi had met Mr Xi in April in an unprecedented two-day heart-to-heart summit in Wuhan to solidify the India-China relationship after the Dokalam standoff last year. During their summit, they had held a candid exchange of views in a relaxing and friendly atmosphere on topics related to international relations, China-India relations and cooperation in various areas and reached important consensus.
As more passengers gear up for the busy travel months ahead, there's one thing that probably isn't on their checklist: Whos going to fly the aircraft?

Last July, Boeing released a pilot outlook report stating that the aviation industry is calling for 637,000 certified pilots globally, a number they hope to fill by 2036; 117,000 will be needed in North America alone.

Carriers have long relied on military pilots to enter into commercial careers but that dependability has been an issue as the Air Force struggles to find pilots of their own.

If you look at the number of pilots needed and divide it by the next 20 years, currently youre looking at tens of thousands of pilots per year. I dont think any one agency can do it all, said Keith Cooper, vice president of training and professional services at Boeing.

Growth of aircraft production and a steady rise in passenger air travel have contributed to this demand. Statista notes that airline passenger growth from 2017 to 2036 is expected to increase by 4.7 percent.

But pilot retirement is another issue that comes into play.

There are currently 120,000 active pilots. Theyre saying that in the next 10 years, 42 percent of these pilots are going to retire, said Dr. Fred Barez, department chair of aviation and technology at San Jose State University.

Aviation colleges, like the one at SJSU, are trying to address this need, but thats been met with some challenges.

Barez said that typically at the start of the bachelors degree, 95 percent of freshmen are interested in becoming a commercial airline pilot. As time goes, that number radically drops for those that complete the program.

The students that continue to pursue the career to become a commercial pilot is 15 percent. Its a significant drop because of finances and the time they have to devote, Barez said.

Tuition at SJSUs department of aviation costs around $28,800 for all four years. On top of that, theres an added $45,000, not included in the tuition cost, that students need to pay at flight schools to accrue 120 to 200 hours of actual flight time.

The total adds up to about $74,000 in four years.

Additionally, to become a certified commercial airline pilot, students need to accumulate a total of 1,000 hours in flight time, compared to students that enroll directly through flight schools require 1,500 hours. The difference is based on the degree earned.

Take a look at the slideshow above to see what it takes to gain your commercial airline pilot license

SJSU does offer a few scholarships to aid the cost of tuition that range from $2,000 to $10,000. Cooper thinks that despite the high cost, the career is still worth pursuing.

Even if you accumulate a little debt going along that training path, knowing you have a position at the end where you know you could be working in a phenomenal field and ultimately have income coming in right away [is] almost worth the offset of the debt," he said.

Barez explained that once students gain their commercial airline pilot license they can eventually demand $175,000 to $200,000 annually and work at regional carriers like Surf Air, Signature Airlines, Horizon Air, and Western Airlines.

Barez believes that student interest is still there. He said that the department recently gained a boost in enrollment, thanks in part to a new ranking that placed SJSU as the fourth-best aviation college in the country.

Things are improving. When I came in, enrollment in aviation was 190 and we have 265 students now, Barez said.

One way Barez and Cooper want to approach the pilot demand is by stressing the importance of reaching out to students at a young age.

We have to do a better job about getting the interest at a younger age, getting them involved in middle school and early high school activities, to show them the benefits and the greatness of what its like to be a pilot, Cooper said.

Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect that the salary a commercial airline pilot can eventually make is $175,000 to $200,000.

Follow Susana Guerrero on Twitter and email her at sguerrero@sfchronicle.com
Senior party leaders are miffed at having been overlooked and a rank newcomer with little political experience being given control of the party.

Patna: RJD chief Lalu Yadavs elder son Tej Pratap Yadav created a flutter in political circles with a tweet hinting that he may be quitting politics. In his tweet, Tej Pratap Yadav used a quote from Mahabharata and said he wished to hand over the throne of Hastinapur to Arjun and leave for Dwarika. He added that some leaders were upset because he could emerge as a kingmaker in Bihar.

Mera sochna hai ki main Arjun ko Hastinapur ki gaddi par baithaun aur khud Dawarika chala jaun... Ab kuch ek chuglon ko kasht hai ki main king maker naa kahlaun, Tej Pratap Yadav tweeted. Clarifying his stand on the statement, Tej Pratap Yadav told reporters on Saturday, I cannot tolerate indiscipline within RJD. People dont listen to me. They dont entertain my phone calls. My instructions are not followed and when I inquire about the delay in work, they dont give clear answers. He added, My father has been running this party but some leaders are involved in anti-party activities which I cannot allow. He further said that some people were trying to create differences between him and his younger brother (Tejashwi Yadav) whom he loves very much.

Dissent has been brewing in RJD since Lalu Yadav handed over reins of the party to his younger son Tejashwi after he was convicted and jailed in the fodder scam. Senior party leaders are miffed at having been overlooked and a rank newcomer with little political experience being given control of the party. Political analysts say that Tej Prataps tweet may be a reflection of this desperation of not being taken seriously by party seniors over and above the disappointment of his brother being chosen over him to lead the party.

Taking a dig at him NDA leaders on Saturday said, A situation like this generally occurs in dynastic politics. Party leaders are not happy with Lalu Yadav overlooking them and promoting his younger son.

29-year-old Tej Pratap was elected as MLA from the Mahua constituency. He was appointed health minister in the Grand Secular Alliance government. In December last year, Tej Pratap Yadav had created a controversy by allegedly threatening to assault Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and also vowed to set his house on fire at his sons wedding. Sources said that Tej Pratap Yadav was upset with Sushil Kumar Modi for accusing the family of being involed in benami land deals.
BEIRUT  A Lebanese presidential decree to naturalize hundreds of foreigners, including Iraqi Vice President Iyad Allawi and other regional elites, has ignited a row over who deserves citizenship in this tiny Mediterranean country, where 1 in 4 people is a refugee and women married to foreigners cannot pass on their citizenship to their children.

News of the decree, which was signed in secret in mid-May but leaked to the public two weeks later, has fueled the perception that citizenship, like so many other liberties in this country, is a privilege reserved for the wealthy.

Meanwhile, Lebanese women married to foreigners dont have the right to pass on their nationality to their children. And more than a million Syrian and Palestinian refugees toil away in vital but back-breaking labor, without any legal protections against abuse, wage theft, arbitrary arrest and deportation.

This decree should rattle our conscience, said May Elian, a Lebanese woman married to a foreigner and an activist with the campaign My Nationality is My Right and My Familys Right.

But Prime Minister Saad Hariri has defended the decree, saying it is the presidents constitutional right to grant citizenship to whomever he pleases.

Customarily Lebanons presidents have waited until the end of their terms to issue a naturalization decree. In this case, President Michel Aoun signed an order less than two years into his six-year term, and without disclosing it to the public, raising suspicions of malfeasance in this corruption-ridden country.

Hariri and Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, who co-signed the decree, challenged opponents to make their claims in court that some of the recipients were less than deserving.

Some politicians have alleged that the beneficiaries include businessmen linked to the government in neighboring Syria, though this was not immediately clear from the published list.

Legislator Wael Abu Faour, a harsh critic of Syrian President Bashar Assads government, said it is not acceptable that Lebanese citizenship becomes a commodity sold to killers and their assistants.

Many struggling Syrians are quietly bitter that Lebanon is welcoming elites while turning its back on the laborers and menial workers who work long hours for little pay in Lebanons grossly unequal economy.

The decree has also galled campaigners who have pushed hard to have Lebanon reform its discriminatory personal status laws, which grant men wide-ranging rights over women, including the right to pass on their nationality to their children, while mothers cannot.

By Philip Issa and Bassem Mroue are Associated Press writers.
1 U.S. soldier killed: A U.S. Special Operations soldier was killed and four others were wounded Friday in a southwestern Somalia gunbattle against fighters for the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, three Defense Department officials said. The attack marked the first combat casualties that have been publicized in Africa since an ambush in Niger in October. The U.S. forces were alongside Somali troops at a small outpost near the town of Jamaame when they came under small arms and mortar fire, Defense Department officials said Friday.

2 War crimes overturned: In a blow to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court and to victims of rape and murder in a conflict-ravaged African nation, appeals judges on Friday overturned the convictions of former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba for atrocities committed by his forces in Central African Republic. The reversal delivered a serious setback to ICC prosecutors by scrapping all the convictions in the The Hague courts first trial to focus largely on sexual violence and on command responsibility  the legal principle that a commanding officer can be held responsible for crimes committed by his or her troops or for failing to prevent or punish the crimes. Bemba was the most senior suspect convicted by the global court and his 18-year sentence was the highest handed down in the courts history.
1 Somalia attack: Four U.S. service members who were wounded in an extremist attack that killed one special operations soldier have been treated and discharged, the U.S. military said Saturday. A U.S. Africa Command statement said the four were in the care of the U.S. Embassy medical team in neighboring Kenya. Staff Sgt. Alexander Conrad, 26, of Chandler, Ariz., died from injuries sustained Friday from what the Pentagon called enemy indirect fire in the attack in Jubaland about 215 miles southwest of the capital of Mogadishu. The al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which is based in Somalia and controls parts of the countrys rural south and central regions, claimed responsibility.

2 Vatican indictment: A Vatican court has indicted a diplomat recalled from Washington last year on child pornography possession charges amid ongoing investigations in three jurisdictions. The Vatican said in a statement Saturday that Monsignor Carlo Capella, who was the No. 4 official in its Washington embassy, would face trial June 22. The Vatican recalled Capella after the U.S. State Department notified it in August of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a diplomat in Washington. Canadian police have said Capella allegedly uploaded child porn from a social networking site.
BEIRUT  A Russian force deployment on the Syria-Lebanon border last week in a Hezbollah stronghold sparked protests by the Lebanese militant group, prompting the force to withdraw from its positions only a day later in a rare sign of tension between the allies.

The Russian move was not expected as Moscows military police have been deploying in areas controlled by Syrian government forces and close to insurgent positions. The outskirts of the Syrian town of Qusair where the Russian troops set up three observation positions on Monday have been held by Hezbollah and Syrian troops since 2013, when they drove rebels from the area.

The Russian deployment and subsequent withdrawal shows that as rebels are being defeated in different parts of Syria, frictions could rise between Assads main foreign backers  Russia and Iran  and the militias Tehran backs throughout Syria.

They came and deployed without coordination, said an official with the Axis of Resistance led by Iran, which includes Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and other groups fighting alongside President Bashar Assads forces.

Its better if they dont come back. There is no work for them there. There is no Daesh or any other terrorist organization, the official said, referring to the Islamic State group and other insurgents that the Syrian government and its allies call terrorist organizations. What do they want to observe?

Asked if there is tension between Hezbollah and Russian troops, the official refused to comment, speaking by telephone from Syria on condition of anonymity.

In 2013, Hezbollah openly joined the Syrian civil war along with Assads forces capturing the then rebel stronghold of Qusair in June that year after losing dozens of its battle-hardened fighters.

Although there have been no reports of frictions between Russian and Iranian or Iran-backed fighters in Syria, calls for Tehran to end its military presence in Syria have been on the rise in recent weeks.

At a meeting with Assad, who visited the Russian city of Sochi last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that a political settlement in Syria should encourage foreign countries to withdraw their troops.

Putins envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, later commented that the Russian leaders statement was aimed at the United States and Turkey, along with Iran and Hezbollah.

Bassem Mroue is an Associated Press writer.
LA MALBAIE, Quebec  President Trump threw the G-7 summit into disarray Saturday, tweeting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is dishonest & weak and that the U.S. is pulling back its endorsement of the groups communique in part because of what he called Trudeaus false statements at a news conference.

In an extraordinary set of tweets aboard Air Force One, on his way to Singapore for next weeks summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, Trump lashed out just as Canada released the G-7s official communique. Its statement took a generally positive view of the leaders positions on trade matters while acknowledging tensions with the U.S.

A few hours earlier, Trudeau had told reporters that all seven leaders had come together to sign the joint declaration.

Trump tweeted: Based on Justins false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!

He followed up by tweeting: PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, US Tariffs were kind of insulting and he will not be pushed around. Very dishonest & weak.

In a statement, a spokesman for Trudeau did not address Trumps insults. We are focused on everything we accomplished here at the #G7 summit, spokesman Cameron Ahmad said.

As he exited the world summit, Trump had delivered a stark warning to Americas trading partners not to counter his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. But the summit host, Trudeau, whose nation was among those singled out by Trump, pushed back and said he would not hesitate to retaliate against his neighbor to the south.

If they retaliate, theyre making a mistake, Trump declared before departing the annual Group of Seven summit, which also includes Britain, Italy, France, Germany and Japan.

Speaking Saturday during a rare solo news conference, Trump said he pressed for the G-7 countries to eliminate all tariffs, trade barriers and subsidies in their trading practices. He reiterated his view that the U.S. has been taken advantage of in global trade, adding, Were like the piggy bank that everybodys robbing.

Before his arrival Friday, the president injected additional controversy by suggesting that the G-7 offer a seat at the table to Russia, which was ousted from the group in 2014.

Catherine Lucey, Rob Gillies and Ken Thomas are Associated Press writers.
WASHINGTON Heading into his North Korea summit with characteristic bravado, President Trump says that attitude is more important than preparation as he looks to negotiate an accord with Kim Jong Un to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

Hes also rebuffing any advice from Democrats, alleging in a tweet Friday that they did NOTHING on North Korea while in charge. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has said hes concerned that the president wants a deal so badly he might strike a bad one.

Schumer failed with North Korea and Iran, we dont need his advice! Trump tweeted.

Preparing to depart Washington for next weeks meeting, Trump dangled before Kim visions of normalized relations with the United States, economic investment and even a White House visit. Characterizing the upcoming talks with the third-generation autocrat as a friendly negotiation, Trump said, I really believe that Kim Jong Un wants to do something.

Trumps comments came as he looked to reassure allies that he wont give away the store in pursuit of a legacy-defining deal with Kim, who has long sought to cast off his pariah status on the international stage. The North has faced crippling diplomatic and economic sanctions as it has advanced development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

I dont think I have to prepare very much, Trump said. Its about attitude. Its about willingness to get things done.

Declaring the summit to be much more than a photo-op, he predicted a terrific success or a modified success when he meets with Kim next Tuesday in Singapore. He said the talks would start a process to bring about a resolution to the nuclear issue.

I think its not a one-meeting deal, he said. Asked how many days hes willing to stay to talk with Kim, Trump said, One, two three, depending on what happens.

Still he predicted hell know very quickly whether Kim is serious about dealing with U.S. demands.

They have to de-nuke, Trump said. If they dont denuclearize, that will not be acceptable. And we cannot take sanctions off.

Trump, who coined the term maximum pressure to describe U.S. sanctions against the North, said they would be an indicator for the success or failure of the talks.

At another point, Trump said it was absolutely possible he and Kim could sign a declaration to end the Korean War. The 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice but not a formal peace treaty.

Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin and Catherine Lucey are Associated Press writers.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has directed the DGP to to take prompt action against all the culprits.

Two men, returning from a picnic spot, were pulled out of their car and lynched by villagers who suspected them to be childlifters in Assam's Karbi Anglong district. (Representational Image)

Guwahati: Two men, returning from a picnic spot, were pulled out of their car and lynched by villagers who suspected them to be childlifters in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, in a gruesome incident of mob fury which police blamed on panic created by social media posts.

Nilotpal Das (29), a sound engineer based in Mumbai, and his friend Abhijeet Nath (30), a businessman, had gone to the picnic spot Kangthilangso Friday night to capture the sounds of nature and were on their way back when they were stopped by some villagers at Panjuri and thrashed, despite the duo pleading that they were Assamese and not outsiders, police said.

In a video of the incident circulated on social media, the two men can be heard begging for their lives and trying to explain to the livid crowd that they were innocent but to no avail.

After the police reached the spot, the two seriously injured men were rushed to a hospital but they died on the way.

As the incident sparked outrage, police said they had arrested five of the culprits and others will be nabbed soon.

Assam Chief Minster Sarbananda Sonowal directed the Director General of Police (DGP) Kuladhar Saikia to take prompt action against all the culprits.

"The killing of the two youths is very unfortunate and I have directed the DGP to ensure that the culprits are arrested at the earliest," the chief minister said here.

Senior police officers, led by Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Mukesh Agarwal, rushed to the spot.

The DGP told reporters that the incident was "very unfortunate and we have taken the matter very seriously. The culprits will be brought to book at the earliest."

Saikia said for the past few days, posts on child lifters have been shared on social media which created panic among the people.

"We request people not to be misled by such posts. All such posts must be reported to the nearest police station and we asked all Superintendents of Police to take immediate action so that such posts do not go viral," he said.

Agarwal said that five persons have been arrested so far and their interrogation was on to nab the other culprits.

The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia, condemned the lynching and called it yet another instance of the state government's "utter failure" to maintain law and order. He also demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- The words of Thomas Fucaloro's poetry have resonated with crowds of Staten Islanders for years. Now, they live inside the pages of his latest book, titled "There Is Always Tomorrow."

This release marks Fucaloro's fifth published paperback, thanks to Mad Gleam Press. The book's illustrations were done by local artist Julie Bentsen.

As a day job, Fucaloro is the editor of the Staten Island-based press organization, NYSAI Press. When he's not reading or writing poetry, Fucaloro teaches at the Harlem Children's Zone and Wagner College.

Content for "There Is Always Tomorrow" came from a vulnerable moment in a hotel room, the author says.

"I suffer from anxiety and sometimes the wires in my brain get crossed," Fucaloro says. "I had a therapist who told me making lists will help organize my head and might possibly relieve stress."

In 2016, the Staten Island-based Advanced Poetry Slam team went to a national competition for the first time. Fucaloro was on that team, saying the words to his latest book came to him in a Georgia hotel room amid panic.

"My anxiety was hitting me pretty hard and I stayed in the hotel room most of the time. I started writing lists and turned them into list poems. Then I asked Julie, who was on the team as well, to illustrate them."

The rest is poetic history. The humble author says its hard to pinpoint where inspiration will hit him But when it does, it hits hard and the words just flow.

"I'm not sure what I want readers to take away from my book," he continues. "Maybe the thought of writing their own book. I want the readers to get whatever moves them, or doesn't."

WANT A COPY?

Join the Staten Island Creative Community for its spoken word session on Sunday, June 10 at Art on the Terrace, starting at 3 p.m.

Art on the Terrace is located at 776 Richmond Terr. For more information, contact Robin at lampmanrobin@gmail.com.

For those unable to make the signing, "There Is Always Tomorrow" is available online for $10 at MadGleamPress.com.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Emergency personnel responded to a pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle in West Brighton Friday evening.

A call came in at 6:50 p.m., said an FDNY spokeswoman, to Castleton and Oakland Avenues.

The individual was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center, and is in serious condition, the spokeswoman said.

This report will be updated as information becomes available.
HUNTINGTON, Ore. -- A small town with a population of 400, Huntington, Ore., is now a hotspot for sales of legal marijuana. Oregon legislators passed a bill nearly two years ago to legalize cannabis, but some cities vote to prohibit sales.

Huntington is not one of those towns, but neighboring cities are. In fact, Huntington is home to the only dispensaries in a three-hour-radius. Local business owners say the sale of marijuana has brought in an influx of out-of-towners who are bringing much needed business to the once bustling railroad town.

With New Jersey soon to become the next state to legalize recreational cannabis, which we have covered extensively in our United States of Weed project, towns such as Perth Amboy and Elizabeth could likewise see an influx of visitors from New York, including Staten Island.

To see how one small town in Oregon was affected by visitors in search of legal cannabis, check out the video above.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island man's regular trips to the Boston area to deliver supplies of oxycodone to a father-and-son team have earned him an extended stay in a federal prison cell.

Ilir Bregu, 46, has been sentenced to six years behind bars and three years' post-release supervision, stemming from his conviction three months ago of conspiring to possess and distribute oxycodone, prosecutors said.

Bregu was found guilty in March in Massachusetts federal court.

Prosecutors said Bregu, in 2014 and 2015, drove up to Revere, Mass. or East Boston every two or three weeks to meet with Mario Scata, 72, and Manuele Scata, 45.

He then returned to Staten Island.

During that time, investigators said they spied foot and vehicle traffic around the Scatas' Revere home.

They observed similar activities about the younger Scata's business, D&M Auto Doctor, in East Boston.

Through surveillance and phone analysis, investigators determined Bregu supplied the Scatas with quantities of oxycodone, said authorities.

Public records indicate Bregu recently lived in West Brighton.

On July 16, 2015, authorities executed a series of search warrants after Bregu's phone was tracked from Staten Island to East Boston and he was seen meeting with the Scatas at D&M Auto Body, prosecutors said.

Investigators discovered a sophisticated secret compartment in Bregu's vehicle which contained $37,800 in cash, said authorities.

Also seized were 1,900 oxycodone pills, a loaded gun, and a machete from Manuele Scata's vehicle, as well as more pills, a hand-written drug ledger and nearly $12,000 in cash from the Scatas' home, prosecutors said.

Mario Scata pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to possess and distribute oxycodone. He awaits sentencing.

In February, Manuele Scata pleaded guilty to the same crime, as well as use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug-trafficking offense. He, too, awaits sentencing.

Bregu potentially faced up to 20 years in prison, plus a period of post release supervision and a maximum fine of $1 million for his trial conviction.

His lawyer Joseph B. Simons, maintained a five-year sentence was appropriate, given the facts of the case and the defendant's lack of a criminal record.

In a pre-sentencing filing, he said his client had never sold the narcotics on the street, and his conduct was "not that of a typical 'drug dealer.'"

Bregu, he said, worked long hours in "legitimate construction and trucking jobs" during that time to support his wife and three children.

Even so, Bregu's family, he said, "lived in poverty, barely able to make ends meet."

"The worst punishment for Mr. Bregu is the knowledge that his family is suffering due to his actions," wrote Simons.

Federal prosecutors sought a prison sentence of 151 months, or more than 12 years.

Bregu, prosecutors wrote in their pre-sentencing memorandum, was "involved in at least 17 documented deliveries of pills for large sums of cash."

"The defendant's criminal conduct was brazen, was repeated at regular intervals, was committed over a long period of time, was conducted with a degree of sophistication, and was done for one of the basest reasons of all - greed," prosecutors maintained.
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The BJP has also worked to propagate its ideology and enhance the country's prestige, and not merely to get power, Shah said.

Shah said the difference between other parties and the BJP was that their soul was their leader while workers were its soul. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Mocking Rahul Gandhi as a babua (child), BJP president Amit Shah on Friday said the Congress chief keeps attacking the government for not doing one thing or another but should instead give account of the works of his three generations who ruled India for decades.

Addressing workers of Jaipur Rural Lok Sabha constituency represented by union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Shah also took a jibe at the rival party over its "happiness" on the BJP's defeat in bypolls and said he considered himself lucky that he has got such an opposition which was satisfied with victory in a few by-elections even though it was losing power in many states.

"We lost eight bypolls, but snatched power from them (opposition) in 14 states," he said in New Delhi.

Giving an account of the Modi government's works, including building of toilets, distribution of LPG cylinders and other welfare measures, he said, "Rahul Gandhi (says) this has not happened, that has not happened."

"'Arre babua', tell me brother what you have done in 70 years? Your three generations were in power for 70 years and if they had done all these works then it would not be our luck to provide people toilets and poor mothers gas cylinders," he said.

The opposition is disconnected from the ground, Shah said and, in an apparent attack on Gandhi, added that nobody knows when he goes on a vacation and comes back.

Temperature in Gujarat and Rajasthan soars to 50 degrees Celsius and it is difficult to tolerate it, he said wryly.

Shah asked BJP workers to work overtime to ensure the party's win in the Rajasthan assembly poll, which is due later this year along with elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, so that the party's winning streak after emerging as the single largest party in Karnataka continues.

Shah said the difference between other parties and the BJP was that their soul was their leader while workers were its soul.

The BJP has also worked to propagate its ideology and enhance the country's prestige, and not merely to get power, he said.

"We are lucky that the world's most popular leader in Narendra Modi is leading the country and under him it is marching to become vishwa guru," he said.

The Modi government has done a lot of work to bring about a fundamental change in the lives of the people and positively impacted over 50 crore citizens, he said.

It was due to its works that the BJP won elections in so many states and is now ruling 20 of them.

The central government had built 7.5 crore toilets, distributed 4 crore gas cylinders, taken electricity to one crore homes after electrifying all villages, provided one crore houses and opened bank accounts of more than 30 crore people, the BJP president added.
Organisers of the Miss America beauty pageant might want to reconsider their ban on the bikini, which they claim is an attempt to make the event more relevant to modern times.

I mean, puhlease!

Back stage at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in 1985. Credit:AP

Yes, after nearly 100 years of parading about in their swimwear, for the first time in the event's history Miss America contestants will no longer strut down the catwalk in stilettos, fake tans, huge hair, blindingly white smiles and skimpy bikinis to be judged by a panel of "experts", and a few million more armchair commentators.

They are also getting rid of the evening gown segment, with focus now moving to "what comes out of their mouths" rather than what they are wearing, according to the new chairwoman of Miss America, Gretchen Carlson.
As I sat in church looking at my eldest son Charlie standing before the gold altar, clutching a candle at his Holy Communion, I let the priest's words wash over me. "Nothing," he said, "will ever be more important than going to church."

I glanced at my husband Dominic, who was beaming at the priest and Charlie. Could he not see that it was ridiculous? At eight years old, Charlie's life should be carefree and revolve around sport, sleepovers, friends and fun  not heavyweight pledges about religion. But I buttoned my lip  it wasn't the first time Dominic and I had had this debate.

The idea that a celibate priest should advise us on marriage seemed laughable. Credit:Stocksy

I don't remember when Dominic first told me that he was Catholic. When we met, in our early 20s, he rarely went to church, though his mother was a devout Irish Catholic. It was only when we got engaged and the words "mixed-faith marriage course" were mentioned that I had a sense of alarm.

I'd had a churchy upbringing, too (I'd been christened and confirmed), but by my 20s I identified as an atheist, and the idea that a celibate priest should advise us on marriage seemed laughable. Still, I agreed to complete the six-week course because it made Dominic happy, and while I baulked at the pledge we had to make to raise our unborn children as Catholics, I was so caught up in booking marquees that I went along with it.
As a young boy, Kieran is every parents dream. He is affectionate to his mum, adores his sisters, and gets on well with both boys and girls at school. He does so well in the primary years, that his parents decide to take the plunge and send him to a private school for his secondary education. It means both parents working long hours to pay the fees though, and the family has a lot less time to relax.

At Kierans new school, the boy culture is more aggressive. These kids are affluent and entitled but un-anchored, left to their own devices, literally and figuratively. Within weeks Kieran seems changed, he has taken on a dismissive tone, the sneering attitude to life of his new peers. There is much trash-talking about girls, sharing of gross pornography, and hearing the older boys boasting about sexual experiences, real or imagined. By year nine Kieran is a sullen, withdrawn boy who spends most of the time in his room. His parents grieve for the loss of connection. When he talks at all, its often to denigrate people - other races, sexualities, the poor. His masculinity is shaping up to be a very unhealthy one.

Boys need elders to step up to show them how to grow into good men. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

Most boys, it is important to remember, grow up to be caring and safe, with clear values about treating others well. They may take risks or show poor judgement at times in their teens, but these lessons are well learned and they grow into decent men. Many schools, public and private, now address masculinity directly with classes or programs teaching what a good man is, and how to relate to women as people, not as things.

Toxic masculinity is neither the norm, nor the default for Australian males. It's a perversion of what manhood is supposed to be, a contagion that occurs in the absence of proper transmission of healthy manhood. It's what happens when elders are absent and men do not step up, and the peer group becomes the substitute source of life wisdom. Good manhood does not just happen, it has to be taught.
The Aboriginal Legal Service has called on ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay to raise Canberra's age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years old.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Aboriginal children in the ACT between 10 and 14 years old are up to seven times more likely to be charged than non-Indigenous children the same age.

The legal service's urging means increased pressure on the government to act after the ACT's Human Rights Commission called for the age to be raised to 12 years old in December last year.

Aboriginal Legal Service chairman Bunja Smith said raising the age would help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children avoid being "hooked" by the criminal justice system.

"What we're witnessing in the ACT is that those children, at that age, come into contact with the justice system and are hooked, they can't break away from it," Mr Smith said.
The ACT government has made almost $6000 in recent months from advertising homesteads in national parks for rent on Airbnb, despite the government not formally endorsing the service in the capital.

Since February, ACT Parks and Conservation has listed both the Nil Desperandum homestead in Tidbinbilla and the Ready Cut Cottage in Namadgi for rent on the website, charging up to $220 per night.

The Nil Desperandum homestead is being advertised for $148 per night. Credit:Matt Bedford

The listings are part of a government trial of marketing the homesteads to a broader market, with the trial set to end in June.

Despite the use of the home-sharing website, the ACT government has said it does not hold a formal position on the use of Airbnb in the capital.
Her daughter said negligence from staff as well as staff being intimidated as a result of a culture of bullying at the hospital contributed to her mother's death. An investigation into the circumstances that led to Gwen's death, undertaken by the ACT Health Services Commission, found that staff failed to call emergency medical teams to treat her, despite Gwen's Modified Emergency Warning Score (MEWS) being high enough to warrant an emergency response. In a statement to the commission at the time, the ward's clinical nurse consultant said emergency medical staff were not called due to previous encounters of intimidation by senior staff over similar incidents. "The nurse did not feel confident to call the [emergency team] as she had been made to feel foolish by the team in similar circumstances when she did," the nurse consultant said. Calvary's after hours medical officer also said the behaviours had previously taken place.

"The registrar should certainly have been notified," the officer said. "I can certainly emphasise with the nurses' comments, however [as] registrars are often extremely overworked and can get quite crabby if [they are] called inappropriately. Some anxiety around making these calls is to be expected. "This applies to junior doctors too, and I have experienced this first hand and it can be very intimidating." Calvary's patient safety and quality manager said "there was a culture in some areas of Calvary Public Hospital of not making after-hours calls to medical staff due to retribution", according to transcripts of a meeting between Robyn's family and Calvary representatives. Following the commission's review, a summary of its findings found after-hours staff "lacked the requisite variety of experience" to identify sepsis.

"Calvary acknowledges that treatment team attending Gwen did not conclusively identify the severity of [Gwen]'s sepsis. A more experienced clinician may have done so," Calvary chief executive Karen Edwards wrote in a letter on September 6 last year, seen by the Times. Robyn said: "It just added trauma on top of all of the grief. "We were just appalled at the way the hospital acted at the time." Calvary Hospital. Credit:Jamila Toderas In a statement to the Sunday Canberra Times, Calvary Bruce chief executive Barbara Reid said processes were in place to treat patients at times, such as weekends, where there were fewer staff members.

"Calvary Public Hospital Bruce has protocols that support quality practice and safe care of our patients," she said. "Protocols include those that support the management a patient may deteriorate or require patient care; whether that occurs during general weekdays or a weekend." Following a complaint made by Robyn on June 22 last year about the treatment of her mother before her death, Robyn said she was told by a senior staff member at Calvary Hospital that there was a "culture" of not calling staff on the weekend in the event a patient's health had rapidly deteriorated, due to a backlash of bullying and intimidation. "No staff members on the ward conducted observations on my mother or even entered the room while we were there on that Sunday afternoon," Robyn said. The health commission review also heard from clinical nurse consultants on the ward Gwen was on at the time, and said a medical emergency team (MET) should have been called.

"Escalation pathways for patients who are not responding to treatment is a MET call," the staff member said. "Staff do acknowledge that they should have considered a MET, but also feel that the backlash of "inappropriate" calls often influences this. 'The education around communication and patient/family engagement is ongoing." A three-hour conciliation took place in February this year between Calvary Hospital and Robyn's family, but no agreement between the two parties was reached. "The mediation process and associated legislation ensures confidentiality for the mediation for all parties," Ms Reid said.

"As such, Calvary cannot provide any further comment to The Canberra Times regarding specific questions asked about [Gwen]." In her last correspondence with the hospital, Robyn wrote to Calvary suggesting staff training in respectful behaviour between doctors to prevent circumstances that happened to her mother happening to other patients. She has not received a response. "Three separate times I've been told there's intimidation and bullying going on," she said. "Obviously there's a bullying culture going on, and there should be a mandatory course for all staff members in respectful behaviour towards each other." Almost one year from her mother's death Robyn said she was still searching for answers.
The ACT has recorded more knee replacement surgeries per capita than any other jurisdiction in Australia.

Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed 256.9 Canberrans per 100,000 were undergoing knee replacements, the highest per capita rate in the country.

Murray Williams had both of his knees replaced 12 years ago and has found it has helped him a lot. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

Australian Rheumatology Association president Dr David Nicholls said while the figures were high, medical experts have said there could be another range of factors involved in the high uptake.

"It's unfortunate that people rely on surgery as the mainstay of managing arthritis of the knee," Dr Nicholls said.
The ACT Human Rights Commission says a man whose application for the NDIS was lodged more than a year before his release from prison ultimately returned to jail after the relevant agency failed to process his claim and left him in the community without the necessary supports.

Public advocate Jodie Griffiths-Cook has shared the stories of two Canberra detainees who fell victim to the complex NDIS processes during an ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry into the scheme.

The ACT Human Rights Commission has shared the stories of two men who fell victim to complexities in NDIS processes. Credit:Tribune Subscription

In one case, a complaint lodged on behalf of a detainee with psychosocial disability alleged the National Disability Insurance Agency told the man's parent NDIS package applications could only be processed three months before a prisoner's release date.

The parent later contacted the NDIA after receiving their son's parole date and was informed not only that a new application was required but that it would take four months to process.
A Canberra organisation that smashes stigma attached to mental illness is calling on budding filmmakers to share their experiences with mental health.

This is My Brave Australia will host a national mental health film festival in Canberra later this year.

Tim Daly of This is My Brave. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Festival director Tim Daly said the project would help break the stigma surrounding mental health.

We want people to see other people talking about their experiences with mental illness and see that they are living fulfilling and productive lives," he said.
Before you mentally dig your toes into that sand, dig into the details so you don't end up being your own "something blue."

Before you mentally dig your toes into that sand, dig into the details so you don't end up being your own "something blue." (Photo: Pixabay)

Planning an overseas destination wedding is no day at the beach - even if that's exactly your vision for your big day.

Details could be lost in translation, travel restrictions might dampen attendance and legal requirements may get complicated.

Before you mentally dig your toes into that sand, dig into the details so you don't end up being your own "something blue."

1. FACTOR IN COSTS, TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

According to a 2016 survey from wedding site The Knot, the average cost of an international destination wedding is $25,800. That figure may be within your event budget, but for guests, international airfare and multinight lodging could be out of reach.

Of course, a smaller, more intimate gathering may be what you're after. In addition to costs, consider logistics for your guests. Work schedules, health conditions or a lack of child care may pose additional hurdles. Criminal convictions may also be an obstacle. For example, if you have a DUI on record, you may not be allowed entry into Canada, says Ashley Morris, owner and travel concierge at Alpaca Your Bags Travel.

2. CONSIDER A TRAVEL AGENT

Travel agents can alleviate some of this pressure by handling guests' needs, questions and payments.

They also may be able to negotiate discounted group quotes based on their partnerships. They might also negotiate perks when more guests stay at the host hotel, such as a free welcome happy hour or brunch, or even free rooms.

Your guests might try booking a different hotel on their own to save money, but be aware that they may have to pay a day fee - sometimes $100 to $150 - for access to weddings at private resorts abroad, Morris says.

3. ANTICIPATE GUESTS' NEEDS

When Elise Giannasi, style and beauty blogger at Belle Meets World , planned her wedding in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, she did the research for guests. Her wedding website answered frequently asked questions about travel requirements, hotel options, restaurants in the area, scheduled activities and more.

"It's a balance between giving too much information and making them think they can come to you with any question versus giving them enough information so that they know how to figure their trip out," Giannasi says.

At a minimum, give guests enough notice to save the date; Morris advises around 11 months.

4. DELEGATE SOME PLANNING

A wedding coordinator can keep details from falling through the cracks.

Consider a coordinator in the U.S. who has relationships with vendors in the destination; a private on-site wedding coordinator; or an on-site wedding coordinator provided by an all-inclusive resort.

For destinations overseas, on-site coordinators who speak the local language can make communication with local vendors easier.

5. MAKE ROOM FOR MISHAPS

Speaking of language barriers, details for a destination wedding can often get lost in translation because you're not on site to oversee them. That's what happened to Giannasi when the wreath on the front door of her venue didn't meet her expectations.

"You just roll with it," she says. "For a destination wedding, you do need to go in with an understanding that you need to relinquish a little bit more control."

If you live in a different time zone from the destination, patience is especially important, as you likely won't get immediate responses from vendors there.

6. UNDERSTAND FOREIGN FEES, PAYMENT METHODS

With a year or so to plan, you can map out a budget. But that budget can quickly balloon with foreign fees.

For example, debit or credit cards may charge foreign transaction fees ranging from 1 percent to 3 percent of each purchase. A no-foreign-transaction-fee credit card can eliminate that cost.

Some destinations abroad may operate mostly in cash, but your bank might charge a fee for international ATM withdrawals. Research your vendors' payment methods.

7. KNOW THE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

Getting legally married abroad can be costly and time-consuming, the U.S. State Department notes on its website. Among the requirements could be blood tests, a residence requirement, and the translation and authentication of documents. Contact the embassy or tourist information bureau of your destination for specifics.

Morris avoided such hurdles by having two events: a legal wedding in Las Vegas and a symbolic ceremony in the Dominican Republic.

One perk of such an arrangement? Anyone can perform the symbolic ceremony, Morris says. "My husband's best friend was our officiant because we did a symbolic wedding."
A Sydney woman says she was denied entry to the Above & Beyond show at the Sydney Showground on Saturday night following the implementation of strict new rules regarding drugs, despite the fact that no drugs were found on her.

Stephanie Korfiatis, 23, a long-time fan of the electronic music band, told a Fairfax Media photographer she was waiting in line outside the venue with a group of friends to have her bag checked by security when a drug detection dog sat beside her.

Stephanie Korfiatis, 23, from Roselands, says she was ejected from the Above & Beyond concert after a drug detection dog sat next to her. Credit:Brook Mitchell

She was pulled aside, asked to remove an item of clothing and interrogated about her association with illicit drugs.

"I was just about to go through the bag check and then the dog came up around and they pulled me aside and asked me come over to the check-in station," she said.
Before ''lessons'' at the NSW Schoolhouse Museum of Public Education , curator Kathryn Watkins inspects the hands of visiting schoolchildren dressed in pinafores and sailor collars for any visible smudges of dirt.

Far from the sandstone mile of Macquarie and College streets, lie Sydney's tiny treasure houses. Housing eclectic collections, often manned by enthusiastic volunteers who keep the doors open for no more than a gold coin donation, these museums tell unique stories from our past. This is the second in a series about the 350 community-based museums and the precious collections they protect.

''The students think it hysterical when I ask, 'Have you been brushing the pony? Have you been bathing the baby?'' Watkins says. ''I say, 'Make sure your horse has got water when you go out for lunch', because there would have been horses in the back paddock of the school."

History as a living, breathing subject haunts every square inch  no hint of the decimal system here  of the original school buildings of the North Ryde Public School, its four classrooms charting the beginnings of public education in NSW, through two world wars and the post-war baby boom.

In the authentically furnished classroom dating to 1877, it's pen and ink writing and rote learning of times tables. In the classroom of 1910 children search for artefacts as part of a treasure hunt and experience school life before electricity, iPads and phones.

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It's a fully immersive experience and Watkins, dressed in ankle length skirt and buttoned-to-the-neck blouse, notices children tend to slow down. "When they come they really get a shock, the fire is on, there are no lights; they suck their breath in because it's like Mars for them. They love the solid timber of their desk and they get a bit of ink on their hands and we say, 'Isn't that great? You've gone back 100 years'.''
The driver of a ute has been charged after a man died in a five-car crash in Sydney's south on Friday evening.

Two cars - a ute and a Toyota Echo - were travelling the same direction on New Illawarra Road at Lucas Heights when they were involved in a crash about 4pm on Friday.

The impact of the crash pushed the Echo into the path of on-coming traffic, where it collided head-on with another car, a Mitsubishi Lancer, police allege.

Police said that another two cars - a Honda CRV and a Toyota Camry - then crashed into the vehicles.

The driver of the Echo, a 66-year-old man from Revesby, died at the scene.
Before the words "smashed avo", "kale juice" and "Uber eats" entered Sydney's food lexicon, Anthony Bourdain was on the hunt for a piece of real estate.

The chef, writer and TV presenter - who suffered from a severe case of wanderlust - could have probably afforded a little slice of the Emerald City too. It's not like he would have wasted his deposit by regularly splashing out on something as banal as a $17 piece of sourdough topped with a smattering of an exorbentently priced piece of fruit anyway.

No, the Sydney Bourdain experienced was simmering with potential and simple pleasures.

Anthony Bourdain enjoyed the simple pleasures Sydney had to offer during filming of his TV show No Reservations.

The time was 2012. A time when we still had to leave the house to seek sustenance and the good times rolled into the early hours in the heady, pre-clean eating, pre-lock out laws days.
A father charged with murdering his five-year-old son appeared disoriented and confused during his first court appearance.

"Where am I?," he asked, as prison officers ushered him into a small video room at Amber Laurel Correctional Centre.

"You are at Parramatta Local Court on Saturday morning," magistrate Michael Price responded.

The father, who legally cannot be named, watched via video link from the prison as lawyers discussed his case with the magistrate.
While thousands of people make the journey to Australia's former parliament each year, for married couple Jim and Wendy Starkey, there's a close connection with the historic building: both are descendants of former prime ministers.

Jim and Wendy Starkey are the descendants of two former Prime Ministers Joseph Lyons and Billy Hughes. The couple were visiting Canberra this week. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Wendy is the great-granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister Billy Hughes and Jim the great-grandson of Joseph Lyons.

The couple live in the Illawarra in NSW but made a rare trip to Canberra this week to see some of the many locations their ancestors once stood.

"We are just happened to be related to part of all of this, and it makes you feel proud that our forefathers changed the way Australia was shaped," Mr Starkey said.
A car and minibus have crashed near the top of the Gateway Bridge with paramedics taking 10 patients to various hospitals.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Police Service said officers at the scene had reported that a car had run out of petrol on the bridge and led to the minibus hitting it from behind.

Fire crews and paramedics get the injured into ambulances and on their way to hospital. Credit:Queensland Ambulance Service - Twitter

Emergency services were called to Murarrie about 11.10am and paramedics treated 11 patients, but one did not required further treatment at hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Ambulance Service said three patients had to be stretchered into ambulances while seven others were also transported by paramedics to hospital.
A start date for construction of an upgrade to the Sunshine Coast rail line has been announced after the state government committed $160 million in funding as part of the Queensland budget, due to be delivered in full on Tuesday.

The advocacy group which has campaigned for this work for nine years, since Labor first announced the planned upgrade in 2009, said "it's about time" and believe the upgrade will benefit the Sunshine Coast in ways never seen before.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has jumped on board the Sunshine Coast rail upgrade and ended locals' nine-year wait. Credit:Darren England - AAP

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey announced funding for the Beerburrum to Nambour Upgrade on Saturday, which means more than $550 million in funding has been promised for the project, when factoring in the federal government contribution.

The project will see the duplication of about 20 kilometres of North Coast Line between Beerburrum and Landsborough, as well as the construction of more 'park and rides' and extra passing points.
Lusy Hutabarat. Credit:Queensland Police Service

An Indonesian woman who had not been heard from for more than 12 weeks has been found.

Lusy Hutabarat, 29, was last seen in New Farm on March 18 and reported missing by her family after they had not heard from her.

She told them she was going to live with a friend in Kangaroo Point, but relatives held concerns for her safety.

An email had been sent from Lusys account to a Brisbane business on April 23 and an unconfirmed sighting at a Kangaroo Point cafe had been reported to police on May 23.
Police have charged a second man over the murder of missing Brisbane man Sam Price-Purcell, who disappeared from Mitchelton in February 2015.

A 29-year-old man from Roma, about 480km north-west of Brisbane, was charged with murder and misconduct with a corpse on Saturday. He was due to appear in Roma Magistrates Court on Monday.

The body of Sam Price-Purcell, 25, has not yet been found.

It comes after homicide detectives charged a 36-year-old Leyburn man with Sams murder on Monday and he was expected to reappear in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on September 10.

Homicide Group Acting Detective Inspector David Nicoll said despite the two major breakthroughs in the case, the investigation continued.
The industry should seize the opportunity to present books as an antidote to today's hectic, digital world.

The industry should seize the opportunity to present books as an antidote to today's hectic, digital world. (Photo: AP)

Are you all caught up on your favourite Netflix show, but that novel on your nightstand is gathering dust?

You're far from alone, according to a German study released Thursday decrying a "dramatic" decline in book readership as more time is spent online.

The number of people buying books in Germany plummeted by nearly 18 percent between 2013 and 2017, the study commissioned by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association found.

The drop was even steeper at 24 to 37 percent among those aged 20 to 50 -- the same age group that now spends more than three hours a day on the internet.

"There's growing social pressure to constantly react and be tuned in so you don't get left behind," Boersenverein head Alexander Skipis said in a statement accompanying the study, titled "Book buyers, where are you going?".

Streaming services like Netflix with their binge-worthy television series in particular "exert a great appeal" and frequently replace books as a pastime, it said.

The findings are likely to make for grim reading in a country that prides itself on being well-read and is home to the world's largest book fair.

The study, for which the GfK polling firm questioned 25,000 people, revealed that the long-held truism that every second German was a book buyer no longer stood up.

Last year just 44 percent of Germans over the age of 10 -- or 29.6 million people -- bought a book.

On a brighter note for the industry, those that are still bookworms are reading and spending more than before.

The average customer bought 12 books last year, up from 11 in 2013. The total amount spent jumped from around 117 euros ($138) to 137 euros.

The story is similar among e-books, with customer numbers slipping nearly eight percent between 2016 and 2017 to 3.5 million, but the amount of titles purchased per person went up.

Reacting to the findings, the Publishers and Booksellers Association said the industry should seize the opportunity to present books as an antidote to today's hectic, digital world.

"People are yearning for a time-out," said Skipis, stressing that all age groups reported having a "very positive" attitude towards books.

Some respondents offered their own suggestions for how to better incorporate books in their lives.

These ranged from apps that made personalised recommendations to encounters with fans and authors to make the reading experience more interactive, and putting books in unexpected places like the gym.


The Markets West End shopping centre has reopened almost 24 hours after shoppers and staff were evacuated when flooring tiles began buckling and collapsing outside Coles supermarket.

A statement from centre management said engineers had completed structural inspections overnight and cleared the centre to reopen, which it did at 10am on Saturday.

The Markets shopping centre in Brisbane's West End. (File Image) Credit:Google Maps

The collapse was caused by ground movement and the associated movement in flooring expansion joints, according to a spokesman for The Markets West End.

"We again apologise for yesterdays inconvenience to tenants, their staff, customers and local residents resulting from the closure," the spokesman said in a statement on Saturday.
Arson Squad detectives are asking for the public's help to catch the culprits behind a deliberately lit fire at a home in Barker Avenue, Balcatta, on Thursday, May 24.

Police have asked for the public to help find those responsible for a house fire in Balcatta. Credit:WA Police Force

Police said the occupants of the house were woken by a loud bang out the front about midnight.

They saw their couch on the driveway was ablaze and the front of the house was on fire.
Labor is quietly preparing for a spring election, despite Malcolm Turnbull's continued assurances of a 2019 poll.

Sources confirm the Opposition has recently stepped up its internal processes for completing policy documents, finalising candidates, and mapping out its media buys.

The flurry of activity reflects Labor's hard-headed assessment of the electoral landscape spearheaded by a particular wariness about the super-Saturday byelections on July 28.

The feeling is that the byelections - all in non-Coalition seats - could lead quickly to a general election if the government improves its vote or even its parliamentary majority.
To hear Brendan Nelson tell it, arms manufacturers have a patriotic duty to fund the Australian War Memorial. It's about "completing the loop", he says. And it's certainly not crass.

Australian War Memorial Director Dr Brendan Nelson. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"You need to know that the man on behalf of BAE Systems with whom I negotiated the sponsorship of our theatre, the BAE Systems Theatre, himself spent over 30 years serving our country in the Royal Australian Air Force and his own father was killed in the service of our country," the War Memorial director told Radio National.

BAE Systems sells guns, bombs, submarines, jet fighters and components for nuclear weapons. Its customers include Chile, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tanzania and Qatar. It maintains Australia's Jindalee over the horizon radar.

The former defence minister says the British firm employs 4000 Australians. "Of course that company needs to be involved in the Australian War Memorial," he says. "What makes me angry are the ones who won't."
A German backpacker who had been reported missing from Byron Bay earlier this week has been found "safe and well" on Saturday afternoon.

Jacqueline Kupke had last been seen on Friday June 1 at an English language school on Carlyle Street.

German backpacker Jacqueline Kupke is missing from Byron Bay. Credit:NSW Police Force Facebook

The 20-year-old did not show up to work on Monday this week, and was reported missing on Thursday to Byron police.

Police confirmed shortly after 2pm on Saturday that she had been located "safe and well".
Germany's squeaky-clean business image looked to be in danger of being severely tainted this week by the seeming never-ending string of corruption allegations at one the country's best-known and hitherto most respected companies, Siemens.

In fact, commentators were asking themselves whether the much-prized German principle of co-determination -- whereby labour representatives make up half of a company's supervisory board -- was not a "licence to corrupt," as the daily Die Welt suggested.

The cosy ties between management and unions in Germany had already come under fierce scrutiny in the recent bribery scandal at auto giant Volkswagen where works council members saw the car maker allegedly pick up the tab for plush foreign trips and even visits from prostitutes in return for union approval of unpopular restructuring measures.

But the mighty IG Metall labour union claimed this week that the Siemens affair was much worse than anything that had been uncovered at VW.

"It seems that our suspicion that Siemens systematically tried to influence works councils and employee representation is hardening," said IG Metall official Michael Leppek.
Gaza: Israeli troops killed four Palestinians and wounded hundreds with live fire and tear gas used against protesters at the Gaza border, medics said.

Israel said it was defending the frontier against crowds that threw stones and burned tyres in an attempt to cross. It said at one location at least two Palestinian militants fired guns at its forces and others had thrown grenades.

A Palestinian medic treats a protester shot in the face with a teargas canister on Friday. Credit:AP

The protests tapered off around sunset when many demonstrators left border camps for the evening meal that breaks their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Those killed on Friday were three adult men and a 15-year-old boy, Gaza medics said. Of 620 people wounded, 120 were from live fire, they said.
A lot of my friends had done it and they were like, Its totally fine, its the easiest option, Cynthia said. I was like 'OK, if theyre telling me, theyre clever people, so its obviously doable'. Its insanely common, Moses added. It seems like every fourth person I speak to is like, I know someone whos done that or Someone asked me to marry them. The pair married at New York City Hall earlier this year. A photographer was on hand to capture the moment. Most couples pore over their wedding photos as mementos of their special day. For this couple, they are evidence. But with the wedding behind them, Cynthia and Moses face an even bigger test: an interview with an immigration agent. Here, couples are peppered with questions designed to catch people trying to game the system.

What side of the bed does your spouse sleep on? Do they have any allergies? What night is the rubbish collected? What words did your spouse use when they proposed to you?

If couples get more than three questions wrong, theyre called back for a second session known as the Stokes interview, where they are separated and face hours of interrogation. Spouses are also asked to provide evidence of shared bank accounts, pictures of holidays together, years of text messages and lease agreements with both their names. Immigration lawyer Michael Musa-Obregon said he has seen even legitimate married couples fail the test under a Russian roulette of questioning which has become even tougher under the Trump administration. Newlyweds have to prove their marriage is genuine. Credit:TongRo Image Stock RF Musa-Obregon said in his own practice he has seen immigrants  particularly those without documents  become more proactive because of harsher enforcement methods used by the Department of Homeland Security.

More people feel that. Theyve always been at risk, but more people now are afraid and motivated to seek out whatever legal recourse. Marriage to a US citizen is sometimes described as the golden loophole; a path to permanent residency in the States even if an immigrant was previously living in the country illegally. Several illegal immigrants living in New York, either recently married or about to be married, told The Sunday Age they did so out of fear that the Trump administration would refuse their union because they overstayed their visas. One of those people is Esteban*, a German-Venezuelan who came to New York on a three-month tourist visa in 2012 and has been living in the city illegally ever since. Slowly, he built a life in the US and put his entire savings into a bar. Overstaying his tourist visa meant he was ineligible for any visa, so he couldnt leave the country when his father in Venezuela had a stroke in December.

My lawyer said your only option is getting married. I was like, Do I want to stay in America for that long? Year after year, you realise: Ive been here for six years'. I own a bar, I want to open a second bar. I have to get married, I have no other option. I could tell you 10 people right now whove done it. Everybodys doing it." After his fathers stroke, a close female friend offered to marry him for $US10,000. Esteban must now wait two years until he is eligible to apply for a green card. In the meantime, he has a permanent resident's card but must pass the interview with his new wife. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) considers marriage fraud a severe national security risk and is committing a growing amount of resources to combat it. The US government has established 29 taskforces across the country to combat fraud schemes, including sham marriages, an ICE spokesman said. Five more taskforces were created in the 2017 financial year.

Marriage fraud creates a vulnerability that may enable terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens to gain entry into the United States and remain in the country under the guise of legitimacy, a department spokesman said. In 2017, Homeland Security investigations initiated 1912 document and benefit fraud investigations, made 1176 arrests and received 758 convictions relating to document and benefit fraud cases. At least one woman was jailed for two years in connection to marriage fraud. New Yorker Michaela* was 26 when she married her Brazilian friend in 2006 to save him from deportation. They divorced in 2008. Looking back now, I say to myself, what a fool, dont do something like that, dont take that risk, she said. Its very 50/50, my feelings on it. Thankfully it all worked out and we got a divorce, no problem. Its water under the bridge and luckily nothing happened. Would I do it again? I dont think so.

She tells anyone entering a sham marriage to think very carefully about the risks. Obviously its super nerve-racking because they could be like, No, get out, Cynthia said. One question can just f--- up everything. Its a long process but its worth it in the end. For Esteban, overstaying his visa was the best decision he ever made. Im on the thirty-somethingth floor in Wall Street overlooking Manhattan when my lawyer tells me, Youll have a temporary travel permit and a social security number within 100 days.

Ive been waiting six years to hear those words. For Moses, the scariest thing is not lying to the government, its that someone who knows about his arrangement with Cynthia might tip off authorities. The only sure-fire way of this not blowing up in our faces is that we actually become married, and I dont think either of us wants that, Moses said. So everything is just a hope and a prayer and just trying to prep, prep, prep [for the interviews]. Despite the immense personal risk, Moses is also standing by his friend.
Paris: There's no evidence of foul play or violence in celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain's death in a French hotel room, a French prosecutor said on Saturday.

The famed cook, writer and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown killed himself on Friday in a luxury hotel in the ancient village of Kaysersberg, Christian de Rocquigny, the prosecutor of Colmar in France's eastern Alsace region, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Rocquigny said there did not appear to be much planning in the television personality's suicide.

"There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment," he said, adding that a medical expert had concluded that there were no signs of violence on Bourdain's body.
La Malbaie, Quebec: Bruising for a fight, President Donald Trump barreled into the Group of Seven summit Friday, confronting longtime US allies over a burgeoning trade dispute and insisting Russia should be brought back into the fold.

Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau gather for a family photograph at G7 in La Malbaie. Credit:Bloomberg

Trump joined the leaders of major industrialised nations in an idyllic Canadian resort town after days of escalating conflict over new US tariffs he slapped on imports of steel and aluminum. Facing pointed criticism from increasingly disillusioned allies, he punched back, uncowed by the growing global outcry.

"Look, all of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade," Trump told reporters as he left the White House, repeating his longstanding complaints about trade deficits and tariffs. He declared, "We have to straighten it out."

However, Trump did seek to lower the temperature after his arrival. He bantered easily with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, joking that the neighbouring leader had "agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers." And he emphasised a "good relationship" with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying they sometimes have a "little test" on trade, but predicting a positive outcome.
Mum and her boyfriend inflicted eight-months of horrific abuse on Gabriel Fernandez before finally killing him.

Shortly before his death a counsellor had phoned police after finding a suicide note written by the boy. (Representational Image)

An eight-year-old boy was beaten, starved, locked in a wardrobe and forced to eat cat poo before being killed by his mother who thought he was gay

The woman, Pearl Fernandez was sentenced to life and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre will be executed for their crimes in Los Angeles, California.

The murderous couple inflicted eight-months of horrific abuse on little Gabriel Fernandez before finally killing him in May 2013.

The child was repeatedly beaten, starved, tied up, locked in a cabinet, shot in the genitals with a BB gun and even had his teeth knocked out with a bat.

The couple reportedly would ram socks in his mouth to muffle his cries while he was locked in the cupboard.

They even forced the poor lad to eat his own vomit and cat excrement.

The mother would make him wear girls' clothes to school and batter him if he caught him playing with dolls.

Teachers raised the alarm after the boy demonstrated how to snort cocaine and arrived at school bleeding having been beaten with a belt but social workers dismissed the concerns.

According to reports, Fernandez called 911 on May 22, 2013, to report that her son wasn't breathing. She told responding deputies that he had fallen and hit his head on a dresser.

The boy had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burns across his body and BB gun pellets embedded in his lung.

He died two days later of blunt-force trauma and neglect, the coroner's office found.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli told the couple that he hopes they wake up in the middle of the night and think of the injuries they inflicted on Gabriel.

Fernandez pleaded guilty to murder in February in the death of her son.

A jury found Aguirre guilty of murder last year and found that he intentionally tortured the boy.

Gabriel's siblings testified that Fernandez and Aguirre would call the boy gay, punish him if he played with dolls and forced him to wear girls' clothes to school.

Shortly before his death a counsellor had phoned police after finding a suicide note written by the boy.

Prosecutors have since filed charges of child abuse and falsifying records against four county social workers in Gabriel's death.
"The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades," Trump said at a press conference on the second day of a two-day summit in Canada.

Trump, who angered his G7 partners last week with tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico as part of his "America First" agenda, vowed to hold firm until US goods had "fair" access to markets.

Quebec: US President Donald Trump told Group of Seven leaders that the United States wanted a quick end to trade practices that he says have led to an exodus of American companies and jobs to other countries.

He said he had suggested to the other G7 leaders that all trade barriers, including tariffs and subsidies, be eliminated.

"You go tariff-free, you go barrier-free, you go subsidy free," he said. "I did suggest it and people I guess were going to go back to the drawing board. We're like the piggy bank that everybody's robbing  and that ends."

Trump denied that the summit had been contentious, a remark that contradicted what one G7 official described as a bitter harangue on Friday between the US president and his counterparts over tariffs.

In an "extraordinary" exchange, Trump repeated a list of grievances about US trade, mainly with the EU and Canada, a French presidency official told reporters.

"And so began a long litany of recriminations, somewhat bitter reports that the United States was treated unfairly, that the trading system was totally unfavorable to the United States, the American economy, American workers, the middle class," the official said.
Quebec: President Donald Trump predicted on Saturday that he will know almost immediately when meeting Kim Jong-un whether the North Korean leader is serious about negotiating a nuclear deal, suggesting his intuition is enough to size up the leader of the world's most opaque authoritarian regime.

"Within the first minute, I'll know. My touch, my feel - that's what I do," Trump said during a news conference in Quebec as he prepared to depart the G7 summit en route to Singapore, where he is scheduled to meet Kim on Tuesday.

"You know the way they say you know if you like somebody in the first five seconds?" he added. "Well, I think very quickly I'll know whether something good is going to happen. I think I'll also know whether it will happen fast."

Trump's remarks came two days after he said he didn't need to do a lot of preparation ahead of the historic summit because the interpersonal relationship between the two leaders would be the more important factor. Foreign policy analysts have said that Kim is likely to attempt to get Trump to agree on mostly symbolic steps, including a peace deal to formally end the Korean War, while biding time on significant commitments toward denuclearisation.
Washington: Paul Manafort and his long-time business associate were indicted on Friday on new charges they conspired to obstruct justice - ratcheting up the pressure on US President Donald Trump's former campaign manager as he tries to stay out of jail while awaiting trial.

Paul Manafort is facing fresh charges he conspired to obstruct justice. Credit:AP

The indictment filed in US District Court in Washington marks the first such charges for Manafort's associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who is believed to be in Moscow and therefore likely safe from arrest, because Russia does not extradite its citizens. Prosecutors have previously said Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence, which he denies.

For Manafort though, the charges come at a perilous time, just hours before his lawyers were due to file legal briefs explaining why he should be allowed to remain free on bond pending his trial scheduled for next month in Virginia. He faces a second trial in Washington in September.

Prosecutors filed court papers Monday accusing Manafort and Kilimnik of attempting to sway the testimony of two potential witnesses who might offer evidence against Manafort. Authorities charge that the conduct of Manafort and Kilimnik amounts to witness tampering, and have asked a judge to revise or revoke Manafort's bail package.
Summer is here, and with it comes days spent with sun, sand and seafood.

And if you're driving around southwestern Connecticut looking for the perfect seafood eatery to satisfy all of your summertime cravings, look no further. From Stowe's Seafood in West Haven to The Crab Shell in Stamford, choices abound when it comes to finding tasty, four and five-star Yelp-reviewed seafood sites on Fairfield County's shoreline.
STAMFORD  Some of Eloisa Melendezs colleagues have been working in politics since before she was born.

Its not surprising, considering Melendez is only a 24-year-old student at the University of Connecticut-Stamford who was first elected to the Norwalk Common Council when she was 19.

Melendez has long been enamored with elections since she was little and her mother, a Colombian immigrant, taught her how to vote at the polls. It was a memorable experience when Melendez was able to vote for the first time during the 2012 presidential election.

The first time I could vote was very, very special," she said. Theres an election every year, but there was something about being able to vote in a presidential election. I was like all right, what's next?

The next step came in the form of a vacant seat in District A for the Norwalk city council. With the help of family friend and former city council member Warren Pena, Melendez went for the seat and won. The Democrat became one of the youngest council members in recent history when she took office in November 2013.

The Norwalk High School grad has since joined four committees  Planning; Health, Welfare & Public Safety; Public Works; and Ordinance. Melendez estimates she attends about 10 to 15 meetings a month and said she goes out of her way to try to answer every call, email and text she receives from her constituents.

Shes also a full-time student at UConn-Stamford and is on track to receive her bachelors degree in political science with a minor in womens studies next year. She already has an associates degree in general studies from Norwalk Community College. She said attending local colleges has allowed her to stay involved in her community while fulfilling her dream of becoming a UConn Husky.

She also is the vice president of the Latinx Student Association and is the president of the UConn-Stamford College Democrats, both of which were founded this semester.

Im one of those people that does not work well if Im not busy, Melendez said. When you have free time, you fill it with things you probably shouldnt be doing. People are like how do you work? In some ways, I work well under pressure. I put out fires all day. It keeps me going because I need to get things done.

Melendez is also among just three women on the Norwalk city council and one of the few Hispanic officials. However, she brings a fresh perspective to city planning as someone who recently attended Norwalk schools and plans to one day raise her own family in the city.

A lot of young people are leaving Connecticut, she said. Thats whats always reported...I wouldnt say young people dont want to stay in Connecticut. I think they feel like they cant. From the perspective of a young person who wants to stay in Connecticut, particularly in Norwalk, you have to plan. Ive seen how Norwalk has grown and I kind of understand the potential we have as a city and more than anything, I know what we can be while also preserving some of the things that are important to us.

Being Latina and the daughter of an immigrant helps Melendez bring a new point of view to politics. When she campaigns door-to-door, she is able to use her fluency in Spanish to break down barriers and to understand the challenges of immigrants.

Being the child of an immigrant comes with a lot of different things, she said. You have to help your parents when youre the child of an immigrant. I definitely relate to a lot of kids who have to deal with that, too. When your family has lived here for generations, they know how everything works. They know how the culture works, theyre more established. Theres a lot of different aspects of that. When youre the daughter of an immigrant or an immigrant, youre starting from the very bottom and learning the culture and all those different things. When you have someone who represents you whose experienced part of that, I think its important."

Melendez said her mother was her age when she came to the United States and she says that adds even more significance to her political success.

I dont think she ever couldve imagined having a daughter in office who was able to run for office as a teenager while still getting their education and was able to be a part of something so special," Melendez said. Thats something thats really important.

Melendez has been working recently to help establish a fracking waste ban in Norwalk, as well as working on a noise ordinance so residents can coexist with local businesses. Her term will end next year and she remains unsure what the future holds.

Right now, Im enjoying the question mark when I think about whats really in the future, she said. Although itd be an honor to serve statewide, Im one of those people who personally feels I will only really go for something I can really be the best and help people the most. Its hard to predict if Ill ever be in a position where I can be governor. Right now, I feel incredibly capable and ready to be a council member."

However, Melendez said she will always be involved in politics and encourages her peers to also get involved. Last year, she gave some advice to Will Haskell, a Westport native who is running for state Senate.

Young people need to understand this is our future," Melendez said. Its not always about getting involved and running for office. Sometimes its just voting. Sometimes its running. Sometimes it's working on someones campaign...we should definitely as a generation understand the importance of getting involved and taking every opportunity we can to get involved in the future. 

erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayata
After the arrest of all accused on June 4 afternoon, they were brought to Kolkata on a five-day transit remand.

Kolkata: Four persons including three African youth were arrested by the cyber crime wing of the Bidhannagar City Police from Bangalore for allegedly cheating a 62-year-old man over Rs 18 lakhs.

The accused are Steve Gomes (33) and Kachi Aguguo (29) of Maragonda Nahalli at K.R.Puram and Jhonson Uhunamoure (34) of T.C Paliya at K. R. Puram and his wife Sanchita Dey (30) alias Vinita.

While Steve is originally from Guinea-Bissau, Kachi is from Nigeria and Jhonson is from Ghana. Bhaskar Ghosh of Rajarhat Road in Baguiati lodged a complaint of cheating with the cyber crime police station on May 19.

On April 6 he accepted a friend request from one Anne Elizabeth, introducing herself as an US General on Facebook, who gave him a proposal of business of supplying herbal seeds to the US from India for manufacturing life saving medicine.

Anne also connected Mr Ghosh with Vinita, the seed supplier, whom he paid Rs 19,500 through a cheque for one packet of seeds. Getting the packet through courier Mr Ghosh flew to Bangalore on April 25 to meet a US medicine companys delegate to show him the seed sample he bought from Vinita.

After the meeting, the delegate, one of the accused, bought a seed as sample from Mr Ghosh and paid him US $100 as cost to take it for examination. Optimistic about the business Mr Ghosh bought 100 packets of seeds from Vinita for Rs 18,32,500 as he was told the US company delegate would visit his residence to buy them for Rs 81,000 per packet. But none visited him.

After the arrest of all accused on June 4 afternoon, they were brought to Kolkata on a five-day transit remand. A laptop, two passbooks and two ATM cards, Steves passport were seized.
I f the name Jo Malone conjures the citrusy scents of lime, basil and mandarin or the image of crisp cream boxes tied with black grosgrain bows, then you're probably one of the millions who have flocked to the eponymous stores that have made Jo Malone a household name.

An accomplished businesswoman and master of fragrance creation, Jo Malone has been awarded a CBE in the Queens birthday honours list for services to the British Economy and the GREAT Britain campaign, which promotes British creativity and industry on the international stage.

Jo Malone is globally recognised for the eponymous fragrance empire she built in the 1990s and sold to Estee Lauder in 1999 for millions. She remained Creative Director of the brand until she left in 2006. Two years later in 2008, Jo was honoured with an MBE for her services to the beauty industry.

In November 2011, five years after leaving Jo Malone London (a requirement of her termination contract), she launched her new brand, Jo Loves. Now, shes intent on changing the fragrance industry for a second time.

Getty Images for Elle

Here are a few things you might not know about her:

She was obsessed with fragrance from a young age. Aged nine, she would grind sandalwood and strain juniper at the kitchen table.

Severely dyslexic, she left school aged 14, without qualifications. Her first job was in a florist.

Home life wasnt always easy. Her dad was a talented painter but a chronic gambler too, and home life was sometimes hand-to-mouth. Her mother, suffered a stroke when Jo was 15 and Jo had to quit her job at the florists to look after her.

She started out as a facial therapist. Jo fell in love with fragrance whilst working from her discreet skin care clinic which she set up from her London home. Discovering an instinctual talent for creating scented products by hand in her kitchen, word of her exceptional potions quickly spread and soon Jo was unable to keep up with demand. From these artisan beginnings Jo launched her first brand, Jo Malone London which gained cult status around the world.

At 37, Jo Malone was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. In a moving section of her Desert Island Discs programme, she dedicates Coldplay's Fix You to the doctor that helped her survive the ordeal. I remember flying to New York and meeting a man named Doctor Larry Norton, and for the next year I put my life in his hands, she says on the show. So Id like to dedicate this song to him, and his team and all the amazing people across this world who fix people in this position. This is for you Larry, and I love you very, very, much because you fixed me. Thank you.

She has synaesthesia, a rare, yet harmless neurological condition that affects sensory perception, often fusing two or more of the senses to work in unison. "I see in smell, I hear in smell, I feel in smell," she tells the Huffington Post. "I didnt learn to do it, I dont think about it - it just happens. My red scarf, I can smell it. The green grass, I can smell it."
S o it's World Gin Day today, a day for gin lovers around the world to sit back, kick off their shoes and relax into the cosiest of chairs with an ice cold G&T in-hand. Or maybe it's a martini. Or a gimlet. Negroni? Oh, the options!

Aah gin. How we do love thee. Let us count the ways... (No let's not, we'll be here till next World Gin Day).

To celebrate this fabulous spirit, here we take a look at its history, find out what it's actually made of, and explore some new and delicious ways to enjoy it.

The history of gin

We have the Netherlands and Belgium to thank for gin; it derives from the juniper-flavoured national spirit of both countries and that spirit is called 'jenever'.

Once produced by distilling malt wine to 50% ABV, jenever was originally a medicine and the first reference to it dates back to the 1500s.

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In the mid-17th century, the re-distillation of malt wine with juniper, anise, caraway, and coriander (jenever) was being sold by Dutch and Flemish pharmacies as cures for ailments like stomach problems, gallstones and gout.

Gin arrived on British shores in the early 17th century, but it wasn't until the 'Gin Craze' of the 18th century that us Brits really fell for it hard. Heavy taxes were imposed on all imported spirits and the government simultaneously okayed unlicensed gin production. Cue: drinking gin galore.

As journalist Daniel Defoe commented at the time: "the Distillers have found out a way to hit the palate of the Poor, by their new fashion'd compound Waters called Geneva, so that the common People seem not to value the French-brandy as usual, and even not to desire it."

Five acts had to be passed by Parliament that century, all in an effort to curb the drunkenness of the nation as gin mania swept through the land. The final act, the Gin Act of 1751, was most successful and gradually the Gin Craze went into decline.

In the 19th century, the first Gin Palaces were built. Lavish bars selling, of course, gin, they were deemed most improper at the time, but - like most improper things - proved incredibly popular. Indeed, so appealing were they, they went on to provide design inspiration for what became the late Victorian pubs.

What is in gin?

Gin is made from distilled and fermented grain and a delicate balance of botanicals, namely juniper.

Most often the alcohol base is wheat, however, barley, sugar and grapes can also be used.

In terms of botanicals, where to start? Coriander, cardamom, grapefruit, liquorice, cedar, sandlewood, florals, and so it goes on. Literally, the options are endless.

Where does the gin and tonic come from?

The G&T was invented by the British army, specifically, the British East India Company in India.

During the 18th century, malaria was prevalent across tropical regions and when Scottish doctor George Cleghorn discovered quinine could not only treat but prevent the disease too, it was made into a tonic and consumed in large quantities.

A bitter, fairly revolting drink, British soldiers of the early 19th century found that by mixing it with water, sugar, lime and gin, it tasted a lot better.

And that, dear readers, is how the gin and tonic was born.

The Connaught mixologist, Agostino Perrone / The Connaught

What else can you enjoy gin with?

Yes, we love our G&Ts but what about doing something a bit different to mark National Gin Day this year?

The Connaught's award-winning mixologist Agostino Perrone suggests infusing a bottle of gin with cardamom pods or coriander seeds (to taste) and letting that sit for 24 hours, to deliver your very own homemade cardamom/coriander-enhanced spirit.

Or else, he suggests, why not add tinctures to your gin drink of choice, an alcoholic infusion which can be bought or, similarly, made at home? "Botanicals don't need to be fresh botanicals, like you might put rosemary or cardamom in a gin and tonic," he says. "They can be also tinctures... [an] infusion with a high concentrated amount of the flavour," he says.

Tinctures can be made from herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables and spices, and it's a case of making what you think will work best with your gin: a lemon tincture, for instance. Or perhaps a black pepper version? Chipotle spiked gin, anyone?

"Everything comes with experience, like when you start cooking," Perrone explains. "Slowly you learn the basics... and then you make up your own database of recipes and flavours in the mind. And then you use it. It's the same for cocktails. So you need to have a starting point and then from there, you know how to tweak it, how to improvise it [and] how to elaborate it."

Whilst Perrone's choice of gin varies according to which drink he's preparing, where he is and how he feels at the time, his preferred labels are generally classic ones, like Sipsmith, as well as Hepple Gin, Star of Bombay, Tanqueray Number 10 and Beefeater 24.

As to the tonic water, he's not fussy: Fever Tree or Schweppes will do.

Agostino Perrone's favourite gin cocktail: the Yellow Submarine

Agostino Perrone's favourite gin cocktail: Yellow Submarine / Agostino Perrone

Ingredients

45ml gin

15ml Galliano Autentico

10ml dry sherry

2 dash of celery bitters

Method

Stir all the ingredients with ice and pour i a whiskey glass on an ice sphere.

Garnish with cucumber skin and red pine essence oils.
 In recent years, Mallorca has quietly been shrugging off its 'all-inclusive' reputation and redefining itself as a boutique destination for the discerning traveller.

And now, the hype is set to continue thanks to Love Island. The hit ITV dating reality show is currently being filmed at a swanky villa on the Balearic island - and a recent study has shown that the Bafta-winning TV show has increased Brits flying to Mallorca by 23 per cent.

If you're planning a trip, here's our edit of the island's best spots to add to your tick list, from the subterranean Lake Martel to the hillside town of Valldemossa.

1. Deia

 Pep Roig / Alamy Stock Photo

This tiny village might seem quaint with its uniform green-shuttered houses, but its actually been home to everyone from poet and novelist Robert Graves to the super rich looking for a coastal hideaway. Head to the towns small shingle beach, Cala Deia, for (optional) naked swimming and probably some of the freshest seafood youll ever taste.

Love Island 2018 Series 4: Villa - In pictures 1 /31 Love Island 2018 Series 4: Villa - In pictures The new look blue bedroom ITV The all-important fire pit ITV The Hideaway ITV The pool area ITV The gym ITV The hot tub ITV Outside sofa ITV The kitchen ITV Outside beds ITV Outside ITV Cosy chair ITV A bed ITV The garden ITV New look walls ITV Outside chat area ITV Interior ITV The villa ITV A motivational message ITV The Beach Hut ITV The lounge ITV Crack On. ITV The bathroom ITV The kitchen ITV The bathroom ITV The salon area ITV The bathtub ITV The two-tone stairs ITV The lounge ITV The villa ITV Date night? ITV The grass wall ITV

2. Lake Martel

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It doesnt get much more magical than a boat tour of Lake Martels stalactite and stalagmite-filled caves, while a quartet serenades you with classical music. All thats left for you to do is gaze in wonder at the 10 million year old caves and one of the largest subterranean lakes in the world.

3. Valldemossa Town

 Prisma Bildagentur AG / Alamy Stock Photo

Valldemossa is a sleepy town surrounded by the forest-covered hills of the Tramuntana range and vast expanses of countryside, making it a great spot for hiking. Dont leave without trying one of the local delicacies from its traditional family bakeries  coca de patata is a sweet cake made with boiled potatoes and served with a mug of hot chocolate.

4. Es Ponta

Mallorca is well noted for its rock climbing spots  the most famous being this giant natural arch formation that rock climber Chris Sharma free-climbed a few years back. Es Ponta is located on the southeastern side of the island, within easy reach of nearby town Santanyi.

Serra Tramuntara /  imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo

5. Serra Tramuntara

The islands northwest coast couldnt be more different to the built-up resorts youll find in other parts of the island. The UNESCO World Heritage site is a haven for pine forests, olive groves, wild spring flowers and dramatic cliff tops. It's very popular with cyclists in the cooler months of the year.

6. Pollensa Bay & Town

Pollensa, which sits at the eastern end of the Serra de Tramuntana, is a place where Spanish cafe culture continues to thrive. Visit the market filled stalls of the Placa Major, which is usually where locals flock to on a Sunday, or head to the port and beach area a few kilometres north.

Pollensa Bay /  Marcos Molina / Alamy Stock Photo

7. Palma

Mallorcas capital is fast becoming one of Europe's most desirable weekend destinations with plenty of boutique hotel options to explore. It's worth visitng along if only to see the cobbled lanes and Gothic Cathedral in the old quarter. There are also plenty of market stalls, boutiques and foodie spots to explore while youre there. Check out 13th-century church Iglesia de Santa Eulalia, which you may recognise as being one of the spots where The Night Manager was shot.

8. Port de Soller

Another prime filming location for The Night Manager (Carrer de la Marina is the street where Pine and Burr have one of their clandestine meetings), the pretty port town of Port de Soller is home to the only decent beach on the north west coast of the island. Chances are youll also get to do a bit of celeb spotting  rumour has it Roman Abramovichs yacht is moored just off the coast.

Pictures from alamy.com
A 14-year-old boy has been charged over seven moped robberies which happened over one hour in broad daylight in north London.

The teenager is alleged to have been a pillion passenger on a moped during a string of incidents Thursday.

Police said robberies were reported in Hornsey, Crouch End and Muswell Hill between 1.15pm and 2.15pm.

Officers identified two suspects on a moped in nearby Middle Lane at about 2.20pm, and detained the passenger. The driver of the moped fled.

The teenage suspect, from Tottenham, was taken into custody. A total of 13 mobile phones were found in his possession, Scotland Yard said.

He will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Saturday charged with seven counts of robbery.

This week Met Police figures revealed a 50 per cent rise in moped muggings in the last 12 months in the capital to a rate of 60 offences a day.
A woman was injured in a suspected acid attack which happened in broad daylight on a busy west London high street.

Police and paramedics rushed to help the woman after the incident shortly after 7pm on Friday in Brentford High Street.

A man was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

Images posted on social media show a section of the road cordoned off by police while others show firefighters at the scene.

Police tape: A man has been arrested after the incident on Friday evening / @zdzichudyrma/Twitter

A Met Police spokesman said: A woman, aged in her 30s, was treated at the scene by paramedics for injuries that are not life-threatening or life-changing. She did not require hospital treatment.

A 20-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. Enquiries continue.
P olice officers were injured and five people were arrested as scuffles broke at a 'free Tommy Robinson' protest in central London.

Thousands of protesters descended on Trafalgar Square for the protest before marching to Whitehall after the right wing activist was jailed for breaking contempt of court laws.

Footage posted on social media shows a large group of men surrounding police and hurling objects while shouting "we want Tommy out".

Five police officers were hurt at the protest on Saturday, none seriously, Scotland Yard said.

The Met Police confirmed that five arrests have been made including two for assaulting a police officer.

Demonstrators clash with police during a 'Free Tommy Robinson' protest on Whitehall / Getty Images

One was arrested for possession of a flare while another was detained for possession of an offensive weapon.

Protesters were calling for the release of former leader Robinson / Getty Images

A fifth person was later arrested for criminal damage to a bus.

Metropolitan Police confirmed that four arrests were made at the protest / Getty Images

Riot police were forced to block the gate down the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace amid the troubling scenes.

In one incident, hundreds of supporters crowded onto an open-top Megabus sightseeing vehicle waving Union Jack Flags, while one supporter posed on the roof in a Donald Trump mask.

Police blocked off the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace / Getty Images

A spokeswoman for megasightseeing.com said: "Our London sightseeing bus was on its normal route when it got caught up in the demonstrations.

"The bus was stormed by demonstrators and the driver and a small number of customers got off.

Five police officers were injured in the protest on Saturday / Getty Images

"The demonstrators have caused a significant amount of damage to the bus which meant it had to be towed away.

"We have reported this to the police and will help them with any investigations."

Demonstrators climb aboard a sightseeing bus during the protest / Getty Images

By 6pm, officers had removed protesters from the bus and had kettled those that remained on a traffic island overhead.

Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders, who campaigned last year to become Dutch Prime Minister, was among those attending the march, as was UKIP leader Gerard Batten.

Mr Wilders was banned from Britain in 2009 over a film about Islam only to later get it overturned.

A counter-protest was also been organised in central London by campaign groups Stand Up To Racism and Unite Against Fascism.

It comes after Robinson last month admitted contempt of court following his arrest for streaming a Facebook live video outside Leeds Crown Court.

The charges relate to him publishing information that could prejudice an ongoing trial which is subject to blanket reporting restrictions.

The 35-year-old received 10 months for contempt of court and a further three months for breaching the terms of a previous suspended sentence.

He was already subject to a suspended sentence for contempt for filming in court during a rape trial in Canterbury last year.

His sentence can be revealed for the first time after reporting restrictions were lifted.
P ride Month draws to a close but the fun isn't over yet. The annual march is just around the corner and London's streets will be full for a joyous weekend of celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.

This weekend is the climax of Pride in London's festivities, this year paying tribute to 50 years of activism, celebration and protest that followed the Stonewall Riots in 1969.

Events of this month have shown that Pride is still an essential time in the calendar, not just for parties but for furthering the fight for equality.

All over the world, queer people are getting involved and London is no exception. If youre planning on taking part, heres what you need to know.

What is Pride?

Pride is an annual celebration of LGBTQ+ people held in London and cities all over the world. The month will be full of events including art exhibitions, film screenings, talks and club nights.

But the main attraction is the huge parade through the centre of the city, with thousands of people travelling the route in costumes or on floats.

The Pride parade began as a march at a time when LGBTQ+ people had fewer rights than we do now. This is a time to celebrate how far we have come as a society, but also to continue to demand better.

Pride Month always takes place in June, to coincide of the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York, which served as a catalyst for LGBTQ+ rights and activism.

This years theme is Jubilee, marking 50 years since the riots.

When and where is the parade?

This years parade will begin at 12pm on July 6, leaving from Portland Place. The 1.4-mile route travels down Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, Pall Mall and Trafalgar Square, before finishing in Whitehall.

Attending the parade is free, but the best view of all the floats is on the grandstand with tickets costing 50.

How many people will be involved?

Last year more than a million people were estimated to have attended the Pride parade, and that number is set to increase.

Applications for groups to take part in the parade have closed, but you can still volunteer as a steward to help keep things running smoothly. Otherwise, the streets are the place to be to get really involved in the vibe.

Pride in London 2019: The Rainbow Jubilee

What else will be happening in London?

Over the festival weekend, UK Black Pride takes place in Haggerston Park on July 7. It is Europe's largest celebration for African, Caribbean-heritage, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American LGBTQ+ people.

For a timetable of other events taking place in the capital click here.

Why was Pride first launched?

The first official gay pride rally in the UK was held in London on July 1 1972. The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York, which happened on June 28 1969.

These riots were a series of demonstrations held in reaction to a police raid on a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.

During the 1990s, Londons gay pride event evolved as well into a carnival event, with large gatherings and music following the parade.

What is happening across the world?

Parades and festivals take place globally to commemorate the Stonewall riots in New York and to call for an end to LGBTQ+ discrimination. From South Africa to Brazil and Japan to Iceland, millions of people take to the streets to celebrate the queer communities in their own countries.

It is worth remembering that there are still many places where LGBTQ+ people face dangerous discrimination, including Kenya, which recently elected to uphold the ban on gay sex.

Pride in London, while being a celebration of queer love and acceptance, also exists to bring attention to the changes that still need to be made.
Ajoy Mehta had held a meeting of top civic officials and those from the IMD on Thursday, in view of the weather forecast.

Mumbai: The monsoon will remain active vigorously over coastal Maharashtra, including Mumbai and north coastal Karnataka in the next 24 hours. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted heavy to very heavy showers over Mumbai between Saturday to Monday. According to Skymet weather, a private weather agency, the northern limit of the monsoon was passing through Ratnagiri, Nanded and Solapur in Maharashtra on Friday.

An IMD statement said that conditions were favourable for the further advancement of the southwest monsoon into more parts of the central Arabian Sea and Maharashtra, including Mumbai, during the next 24 hours.

Increased rainfall activity over coastal Karnataka, Goa and south Maharashtra is likely to continue till June 10. It is very likely to extend to north coastal Maharashtra, including Mumbai, from Saturday, read the statement

According to IMD, winds with speeds ranging between 40 kilometres per hour to 60 kmph, were likely to be witnessed along the coasts of Goa and Konkan during the specified period. Extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in these regions is also very likely during this period. The rainfall over these regions is likely to reduce from June 12, the statement informed. said a senior IMD official.

Earlier, municipal chief Ajoy Mehta had held a meeting of top civic officials and those from the IMD on Thursday, in view of the weather forecast.
A woman has been rushed to hospital after being struck by a roof tile as Storm Hector battered the UK with 70mph gusts.

The woman, in her 40s, was hit by the slate as she left her flat in Edinburgh at around 9.40 on Thursday morning. She was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in a serious condition.

It comes amid a yellow "be aware" weather warning covering Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland.

Fallen trees have caused widespread travel problems and ScotRail said workers have been deployed across the rail network to remove trees and branches that caused delays and cancellations to services.

Areas affected north of the Border include Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, Partick and North Lanarkshire.

In England, police closed the Tees flyover to high-sided vehicles and the Shields Ferry across the Tyne was not operating.

A gust of 74mph in Orlock Head, Northern Ireland, broke the June record for a gust in Ireland, the Met Office said.

The storm brought heavy rain to parts of Cumbria with 80mm falling, and 130mm in the Isle of Skye over the past 24 hours.

The Tay Bridge was closed to all traffic as winds picked up while the Forth Road Bridge was closed to double-decker buses.

An outdoor mass planned at Falkirk Stadium to mark 100 years of Catholic education in Scotland was cancelled because of the weather.

Barbara Coupar, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, said: "It is with great regret that, due to storm Hector and the exceptional winds, for health and safety reasons the National Schools Mass at Falkirk stadium has been cancelled.

"We would ask schools currently travelling to return to school. Do not make your way to the stadium."

The wind did give a boost to Britain's electricity supply with official figures showing that in the 30 minutes before 10am on Thursday, 34.5% of Britain's electricity came from wind - far higher than the 6% recorded on previous, calmer days.

A much weaker weather front is due to follow after Storm Hector passes out into the North Sea.

The outlook for Saturday is similar, with the possibility of thunder while Sunday is expected to be the best day of the weekend, being drier with hazy sunshine.

Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: "The wettest weather will be out of the way but there will be some blustery showers following and with the yellow warning in force disruption is possible.
U S president Donald Trump arrived late to the Gender Equality Advisory Council breakfast at the G7 summit.

Mr Trump missed the start of the meeting as he had been "huddling with some senior staffers discussing G-7 related issues."

The breakfast had been billed as a chance for leaders to draft concrete actions for the G7 to advance gender equality and womens empowerment, reports CBC.

Womens empowerment is one of the five themes of this years G7 summit held in Quebec, Canada.

Mr Trump missed Prime Minister Trudeaus introductory remarks forcing the president to start his address again.

Mr Trudeau addressed the meeting: Every topic we discuss needs to reflect on its impact on women as well as further intersectionalities, whether it be race, gender identity or background or cultures.

The breakfast meeting covered the issue of women's empowerment / AP

During the breakfast meeting, the Gender Equality Advisory Council suggested funding developing and conflict-affected countries to improve access to at least 12 years of education.

Mr Trump is leaving the summit early so he can arrive in Singapore on time for his summit with Kim Jong-un.

The summit is due to take place on Tuesday.

He will be missing meetings on protecting the worlds oceans and efforts to try and halt climate change.

The summit has been eventful for Mr Trump as he called for Russia to be able to re-join the group. Russia was suspended from the group in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea.

Before the summit, Mr Trump attacked Canadas trade policies on Twitter.
C reated to award the countrys top tradespeople, a warrant from the royal family is a mark of recognition that a company receives when they reach a standard of superior quality.

In celebration of the Queens birthday we take a look at some of the best Royal Warrant holders who are making the finest gifts, goods and everyday items fit for the Queen.

To become a royal warrant holder, a trades person  not professions like doctors and bankers  must have been supplying the royal family with goods or services for at least five out of seven years including the 12 months prior to applying. Royal warrants are granted for up to five years and must come from companies that supply the royal household. Applications open at the end of May and close at the end of June.

There are currently 686 royal warrants from Queen Elizabeth, 159 from the Prince of Wales and 38 by the Duke of Edinburgh with an online directory that allows you to browse between them.

While each one of the Royal Warrant holders have earned their place through sincere craftsmanship, we take a look at some of the best labels with Royal approval.

Corgi Socks

Established 1892, sock makers Corgi Socks is a family run company based in Wales. Using traditional production methods, the luxury sock brand has long been supplying the royal family with socks, receiving the royal warrant in 1989 by Prince of Wales.

Burberry

British luxury fashion house Burberry is one of the UKs most sought-after luxury brands established in 1856. The two royal warrant holders specialise in trench coats embellished with the houses iconic checked print. A British institution, the coats were worn in the trenches during the First World War. A firm favourite on the London Fashion Week agenda, the fashion houses chief creative officer, Christopher Bailey presented his last show for the brand, replaced with former Givenchy designer, Riccardo Tisci at the helm.

Rex

John Bell & Croyden

The pharmacy for the entire royal household, John Bell & Croyden is luxury of a different league. Resembling more of a high end department store, this Mayfair establishment was founded in 1798 and has held a Royal Warrant as pharmacists to the Queen since 1958. With a particular focus on health and welling, customers can undergo personal consultations including cholesterol, blood pressure and type 2 diabetes check-ups. However, the real treat when visiting John Bell & Croyden is shopping their extensive range of health and beauty products. From brands you've never heard of to products you didn't know existed, you could easily spend an hour or two just wandering the white marbled aisles marvelling the endless goodies. It's an experience in itself to shop John Bell & Croyden, and no great wonder why they hold a Royal Warrant.

Find John Bell & Croyden at 50-54 Wigmore St, Marylebone, London W1U 2AU

Hunter Boots

Before Hunter Boots were a Glastonbury festival essential, the British heritage brand created the iconic Original boot that earned them two royal warrants. Founded in 1856, the label has now evolved into other accessories including the star rain macs.

Tim Graham/Getty Images

House of Fraser

British department store House of Fraser was founded in 1849. The royal warrant holder is a one stop shop offering goods ranging from beauty to fashion, electrical appliances and homeware.

Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Pringle of Scotland

Founded in 1815, Pringle of Scotland is renowned for its luxury cashmere and uses Argyle pattern as its signature. Another fixture at London Fashion Week, the label received the royal warrant in 1956 for its manufacturing of knitted garments. The label was once led by Claire Waight Keller, the current designer at Givenchy and maker of Meghan Markle wedding dress from 2007 to 2011.

Everything the Queen carries in the handbag

Gieves & Hawkes

Situated on the most covetable address in fashion, 1 Savile Row, Gieves & Hawkes was founded in 1771 and is the oldest bespoke tailors in the world. Designing tailor-made suits for every occasion as well as more casualwear, the label has three royal warrants, from the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales after dressing almost all the members of the royal family as well as royal families around the world. Prince William wore the tailor's design for his wedding day to the Duchess of Cambridge.

Prince William wearing Gieves & Hawkes at his wedding to the Duchess of Cambridge (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) / Prince William wearing Gieves & Hawkes at his wedding to the Duchess of Cambridge (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Dege & Skinner

Also housed on Savile Row, Dege & Skinner was established in 1865. The bespoke shirt service are the only tailors to have a permanent shirt-cutting service in store. While there are ready-to-wear shirts available as well, each of the bespoke shirts are hand cut. The royal warrant holders are still family owned to this day with over 150 years in service under their belt.

Getty Images

Daks

With a long history dating back to 1894, Daks created the self-supporting trousers in 1934 by including an adjustable waistline. Now evolved into both mens and womenswear, the tailors hold three royal warrants.

( Daks show during Milan Men's Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2018/19 (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)) / Daks show during Milan Men's Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2018/19 (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

John Lobb Bootmaker

Creating bespoke shoes, John Lobb first earned the title of a royal warrant as Bootmaker to Edward, Prince of Wales. Now a triple royal warrant holder, the bootmaker specialises in handmade shoes where each piece is considered a work of art, designed by specialist craftsmen. The bootmakers boast Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin on their long list of loyal clientele.

Prince Charles inspects wooden lasts during a visit to cobbler John Lobb's workshop in London on January 23, 2009 (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Fulton Umbrellas

Established in 1956, Fulton Umbrellas has both a royal warrant as well as the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2014. The label is the UK's biggest supplier for umbrellas, with colour and size variations to match your umbrella with every possible ensemble or occasion.

Fulton Umbrellas
A ctress Eunice Gayson, who played the first Bond girl, has died at the age of 90, according to reports.

Gayson starred as James Bond's love interest Sylvia Trench alongside Sir Sean Connery in the films Dr No and From Russia With Love.

A post on her official Twitter profile was accompanied with a picture of Gayson, and read: "We are very sad to learn that our dear Eunice passed away on June 8.

"An amazing lady who left a lasting impression on everyone she met. She will be very much missed."

The James Bond franchise's producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli paid tribute to Gayson in a comment that was posted on the official James Bond Twitter account.

The post read: "We are so sad to learn that Eunice Gayson, our very first 'Bond girl' who played Sylvia Trench in Dr No and From Russia With Love, has passed away.

"Our sincere thoughts are with her family."

The message from the daughter and stepson of original Bond producer Albert R Broccoli appeared alongside a picture of Gayson in character as Trench.
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A total of 54 cases were registered out of which 36 are found guilty hence will be debarred for two examinations.

Mumbai: Thirty-six Secondary School Certificate (SSC) students in the Mumbai division have been debarred for two examinations by the Maharashtra board for cheating and copying during the examinations that was conducted in March. Apart from these 36, the results of 31 other students are being put on hold or reserved, as they were allegedly involved in the question paper leaks during the examinations.

The SSC examinations were conducted from March 1 to 24 by the board in the entire state. Question papers of two subjects  Information and Technology and Social Science  were leaked an hour before the day of examination at Andheri, Titwala, Kalyan and Mumbra. After the incident, the board and the respective school registered a First Information Report (FIR) at Saki Naka, Amboli and Titwala police station against the students who were involved in this.

A total of 54 cases were registered out of which 36 are found guilty hence will be debarred for two examinations. These students can reappear now directly in next year in the month of March-2019, said Subhash Bhorse, secretary in-charge of MSBSHSE, Mumbai division. He further said, 31 cases are being reserved as the investigations are still going on by the police. Depending on the final result of the investigation, they will be either debarred or declared innocent.

According to our sources at the board office, if these 31 students are found guilty, they are eligible for a punishment of being debarred for three years.
An "anti-abuse" rally is being organized today as of 20:00 hrs by the ruling Social Democratic party (PSD), with hundreds of thousands expected to gather in the venue of the event - the Bucharest Victoria Square.

The relevant decision was taken in the PSD National Executive Committee (CExN) early last week.

"It is a rally organized against long-standing abuse, a rally to protest democracy and the rule of law having been seriously challenged and even harmed for several years now in Romania. We are calling this rally to show that we are determined to go all the way for Romania to become a democratic country, a country where the citizens' fundamental freedoms and rights are respected, as set forth in the Constitution of Romania and all the international treaties Romania is a signatory of," said PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea at the end of the party's CExN meeting. He invited all those wishing to "live in a free country" to join.Although he didn't nominate the institutions which he deems to be committing abuses, stating that he will elaborate on the subject at the event, Dragnea mentioned these are the enforcement agencies and that they are not limited to the Romanian Intelligence Service and the National Anticorruption Directorate."No one is compelled to come to the rally, but at the same time all those who have been silently suffering and who did not react when their pensions were cut, when their phones were wiretapped, who witnessed abuses piling up, they are all welcome to join the rally Saturday evening and freely express themselves. (...) We want to mount a safe demonstration, but at the same time we are waiting for everyone who wants to vent their discontent. This is not an exclusive PSD rally," said the Social Democrat leader.Premier Viorica Dancila said she will be there too "in her capacity as PSD member and party executive chairperson," insisting that this is not a rally in support of the government, but against abuses.PSD's junior ruling partner, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), announced they would participate with senior party members included: "Yes, we do take part [in the PSD rally]. It's called to protest all judiciary abuses in recent years, the grave errors and illegalities committed, the cooperation agreements between the intelligence agencies and judicial institutions, everything we see has happened and which in the end harms the element that is fundamental to any democracy: the respect for the citizens' rights and freedoms, an eminently liberal and European value the European liberal democracy was built upon," said ALDE head Calin Popescu Tariceanu.Bucharest General Mayor Gabriela Firea said that as several demonstrations will be taking place in the capital city today, the local authorities' capacity to handle the situation is put to the test. She said the request for the authorization of the PSD rally states an estimated number of 200,000 - 250,000 participants and that the mayoralty and the competent authorities - the Traffic Brigade, the Streets Administration and the Municipal Police - have assigned several locations for the incoming buses and cars to park and designed a plan to manage the crowd inflow and then clear the venue so as to prevent all incidents. An arrival schedule for the vehicles from various counties has also been established to avoid overlaps and traffic overflow. According to rally organizer, PSD Secretary general Marian Neacsu, the meeting is expected to last around one hour and a half.* * *The US Embassy issued a demonstration alert for June 9, advising that four separate demonstrations and protests are expected to take place on this day in Bucharest (the LGBT rally and march, the 'Normality' rally and march by Noua Dreapta, the PSD rally, and a counter PSD rally) and that the number of attendees is expected to be large, so that normal pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the respective areas are likely to be adversely affected.The Embassy advises US citizens to avoid aggressive or agitated crowds while remaining alert and aware of their surroundings at all times.
President Klaus Iohannis met on Friday in Warsaw with his Estonian counterpart Kersti Kaljulaid, encouraging on this occasion Estonia's active involvement in preparations for the Three Seas Initiative summit that will take place in Bucharest this September.

"Regarding regional cooperation, President Klaus Iohannis gave a briefing on the progress of preparations for the Three Seas Initiative summit that will be organized by Romania September 17-18, an event aimed at taking the initiative to the phase of concrete results, based on transport, energy and digital interconnection projects, emphasizing at the same time Estonia's potential role, in the digital area in particular, given its established expertise in this industry. In this context, the President of Romania encouraged an active involvement of the Estonian side in the preparation process, as well as top-participation in the Business Forum, another concrete derivative of the Summit, with the two events running in parallel. Iohannis also invited an important economic presence of Estonian business people at the Forum," the Presidential Administration informed in a release.

According to the cited source, the President of Estonia confirmed his country's strong support for the goals of the Bucharest Summit and mentioned interest in identifying adequate financing sources for the projects.President Klaus Iohannis advocated maintaining and strengthening the transatlantic relationship, with both heads of state expressing their resolve to take international action to this effect.The two heads of state also emphasized the important role of multilateralism in keeping international relations balanced. The two Presidents said that the Three Seas Initiative can make a relevant contribution to the transatlantic relationship and to multilateralism.President Klaus Iohannis also voiced appreciation for the highly positive bilateral relation, expressing his desire to see it further developing, as 2018 carries a special historic symbolism for both countries, with Romania celebrating the Great Union Centennial, and Estonia marking this year the 100th anniversary of its declaration of independence.President Kersti Kaljulaid congratulated Klaus Iohannis on his recently having received the Franz Josef Strauss Award from the prestigious Hanns Seidel Foundation.The two Presidents met on the sidelines of the meeting of the Bucharest Nine (B9) format.
The UK's Minister of State for Exiting the European Union, the Lord Callanan, paid an official visit to Romania on Friday, in order to discuss about the latest developments of the negotiations regarding Brexit.

According to a release of the UK Emabssy sent to AGERPRES, the Lord Callanan met with Minister-delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu, Presidential Advisor for European Affairs Leonard Orban and Undersecretary of State with the Ministry for Romanians Abroad Victor Ionescu.

Moreover, the Lord Callanan attended the sixth edition of the EUROSFAT conference, where he provided recent information regarding Brexit.Within this event, which was co-oragnised by the British Embassy, there were tackled topics regarding the future of Romania, of the European Union, but also that of Romania inside the European Union. The discussion focused on the exiting process of the UK from the EU and its implications, as well as Romania's contribution to the re-launching of the European project and the consolidation of the Romanian-British bilateral relationship, the quoted source mentions.The Lord Callanan talked about a new type of relationship with the European Union, conveying to the 27 states that will remain members of the Union that the UK's commitment towards European values and tight connections in trade and defence areas will remain unchanged. He went on mentioning the wish that the UK's friends in Europe, such as Romania, be militating for a close economic and security partnership, based on their common interest.The British official also underscored that the UK will further consolidate its historic ties with Romania even after exiting the EU.He stated that the UK remains the same state, an outward-oriented advocate of free-trade relations, that will continue to strengthen its historic ties with Romania long after leaving the European Union.Among the speakers of the conference there were also Minister-delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu, head of the British-Romania Chamber of Commerce Charlie Crocker, representative of Romania's Chamber of Commerce and Industry Lazar Comanescu and Romanian entrepreneur of the UK Paul Balogh.
The former President used the opportunity to distance himself individually from the Congress.

There can be no dialogue with ideological certitude. The Jews could not have had a dialogue with Adolf Hitler. The Americans could not have had a dialogue with Osama bin Laden. And the Syrians or the Iraqis cant sit across the table and convince the Islamic State of the futility of its millennial dreams. A fascist mind functions with incredible clarity essentially because it is closed. Only those with delusions of grandeur think that they can talk fascism out of fascists.

Was former President Pranab Mukherjee indulging in a dialogue of the deaf with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at the passing-out parade of its proselytisers or pracharaks, which the RSS, in military style, calls its officers training course?

That is certainly what RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat seemed to suggest in welcoming President Mukherjee with the observation: The Sangh will remain the Sangh and Pranab Mukherjee will remain Pranab Mukherjee.

It was predestined, therefore, that there would be no conclusion about what constitutes Indian nationalism or the idea of India at Nagpur. The future of India will be decided by the people of India and not by two old men holding hands on stage.

Mr Mukherjees potted account of Indias history and the evolution of its constitutional nationalism was delivered with hallmark pomposity and in verbose prose. Yet it was not a complete waste of time, it had a symbolic purpose.

The former President used the opportunity to distance himself individually from the Congress. As a retired President he has no job except to run an eponymous foundation and go on the speaking circuit. Not satisfied with sitting in the pavilion, he wants to pad up again.

It seems that the former President is positioning himself as a conciliator, a man of destiny who can bridge the ideological divide in a sharply polarised polity. Projecting himself as someone who stands for rapprochement in politics, he has signalled that he is a practising Hindu and that Hinduism and secularism can coexist. Taking a step further, he made an unscheduled visit to the house where RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar was born, describing him in the visitors book as a great son of Mother India. This political theatre of opening a dialogue helped to normalise the RSS and its ongoing divisive activities.

By appearing on its platform, Mr Mukherjee has underlined that the RSS is no longer untouchable and that it is like any other social and political organisation even though it trades in communal hatred, fear and intimidation. He sees some merit in what the RSS does and is therefore mainstreaming their platform.

There have been such attempts in the past as well. The RSS tasted power when the Jan Sangh was included in the anti-Congress Samyukta Vidhayak Dal governments in the mid-1960s. It was again able to enter broad political alliances during and after the Emergency. In the aftermath of the November 1984 riots, the RSS threw its weight behind the Congress. It also supported V.P. Singhs campaign against the Rajiv Gandhi government in the 1989 general election. Now a Bengali brahmin has sprinkled holy water on the merchants of hate and come back proclaiming victory in an ideological battle.

Some prescient political observers have suggested that Mr Mukherjee may be doing this to position himself as a consensus leader in a potentially messy and fragmented scenario following the general election of 2019. However, by supping with the RSS, he may have lost the goodwill of two large and important chunks of Indias electorate  the Muslims and the dalits. The political parties which count on the support of these groups will be wary of associating with him.

He may have also overestimated his own acceptability to the RSS and other advocates of Hindutva as the leader of a coalition government post-May 2019. It is unlikely that the RSS will choose him over those who have spent their lifetime in its service, whereas he enjoyed power and privileges under the Congress for nearly 50 years.

The Congress Party has heaved a sigh of relief that the man they helped reach the highest office in the land has not wrought any worse damage. The Congress has expressed public satisfaction in the fact that the former Congress leader lectured the RSS on tolerance and pluralism on its home turf.

But they refuse to see that the former President actually tried to find a meeting ground with the RSS in his long ramble about Indian history. He paid homage to the civilisational notion of an India which always existed, a notion dear to the RSS and its ideological founder, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. His claim that Indian civilisation was always pluralist and tolerant papered over the virtual disappearance of Buddhism from the place of its birth or more recently, the destruction of the Babari Masjid.

Mr Mukherjee may have fooled only some politically uneducated Congress spokespersons and television commentators at best.

Nor should Congressmen take heart from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat reprimanding the arrogance and intolerance of rulers, warning that power without humility could turn into a demonic force. Even if they would like to interpret this as a warning to the present establishment, this is not a sign of its impending divorce from the BJP.

The Congress Party should have clearly distanced itself from the activities of the former President. There was no need to first persuade him not to go to Nagpur, and then later to praise him. The Congress will gain nothing by associating itself with a wily politician who is willing to gamble away his lifelong political capital for uncertain gains.

The RSS is the main beneficiary of the carefully choreographed event in Nagpur. It took the most iconic living Congressman and showed the hollowness of his secular ideals. The Hindutva ideologues have successfully demonstrated that even those coming from a self-confessed politics of secularism are only men of straw. It remains to be seen how many others will jump ship as the elections near to follow the path shown by Citizen Mukherjee.
Apple has often been accused of copying ideas from others in the past.

New products were announced at the WWDC2018 and Apple has been accused of stealing the logo for one of the new apps.

Apple at the WWDC2018 had announced a plethora of new apps and two new operating system versions. While most of the announcements were based on new apps and features, one app took a major highlight, and for a controversy. Amongst the series of new apps and features, Apple announced a new app called Siri Shortcuts, which allows the user to create a series of commands for controlling other apps.

A few days after Apple announced the new app at the WWDC 2018 Keynote, Apple was sued by a blockchain startup over copying their logo. Surprisingly, the logo of the startup, called Shift, also has a similar looking shape, which resembles Shortcuts. The startup has now sent a letter to Apple demanding a compensation amounting to $200,000. The company demands that either Apple redesigns the apps logo or pays up the compensation.

Shifts lawyer sent a letter to Apple mentioning that their logo cost them a designing fee and Apple blatantly copied it, demanding the compensation of $200,000. Additionally, the lawyer also mentioned in the letter that the Apple logo will now cause confusion in the marketplace, affecting the sales for the startups app.

In a response to The Sun, Shift said that they are not having any pleasure in going after Apple and also said that Apple can keep the logo if they wish, but has to compensate them for redesigning a new logo for themselves.

Apple has not yet commented on this issue.

Apple has not been accused for the first time. In the past, they were sued by many companies over copyrights.
ZTE Chairman Yin Yimin apologized to employees, clients, shareholders and business partners.

The company agreed to pay the fine and overhaul its leadership to lift the ban which has been in place since April.

The chairman of ZTE Corp apologized to staff and customers on Friday after the Chinese technology firm agreed to pay a $1 billion fine to the United States to end a supplier ban that has crippled its business.

The deal allows Chinas second-largest telecoms equipment firm to restart operations, reaffirm supplier relationships and rebuild trust with global clients, as it works to move on from an episode which it said threatened its very existence.

But industry experts estimate it would take at least a month for ZTE to ship phones again after the ban is lifted, while employees fear job cuts, wage reductions and a potential loss of customers, as the firm is set to reshuffle senior management.

The company agreed on Thursday to pay the fine and overhaul its leadership to lift the ban which has been in place since April.

The ban, which traces back to a breach of a US embargo on trade with Iran, had prevented ZTE from buying the US components it heavily relies on to make smartphones and other devices.

The case has become highly politicized and a key focus of whipsawing talks as Washington and Beijing look to avert a trade war.

In a memo sent to staff on Friday, ZTE Chairman Yin Yimin apologized to employees, clients, shareholders and business partners and said the firm would look to learn from its errors and hold those responsible accountable, a member of staff told Reuters.

This issue reflects problems that exist with our firms compliance culture and at management level, Yin wrote, according to the staffer, adding the incident was caused by the mistakes of a few ZTE leaders and employees.

The activation of the denial order has caused huge losses for the company. The firm has paid a disastrous price.

ZTE did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Paying the fine is no problem, the real difficulty lies ahead and getting future business, especially overseas. Market confidence is lost, another employee told Reuters.

The person added that staff feared there would be pay cuts and possible job losses. Bonuses are bound to be affected.

Under the deal, ZTE will change its board and management within 30 days, pay a $1 billion fine and put an additional $400 million in escrow. The deal also includes a new 10-year ban that is suspended unless there are future violations.

A third member of staff said all ZTE employees were being called to have group meetings to deeply reflect on the case, including attending compliance training and writing up reports.

The management shake-up would also likely create instability - at least in the short-term.

If so many bosses are gone at the same time, what would the succession process be like? Theres going to be lots of internal power struggles to come, the third employee said.

The employees declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

US HANDSET SHARE THREATENED

ZTE pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to evade US embargoes by buying US components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment and illegally shipping them to Iran. The new sanction in April was because the firm breached terms of an agreement about disciplining executives responsible for the original violations.

Analysts said the fine - after a $1.2 billion settlement last year - would be a heavy burden, but not crippling for the company. ZTE can financially handle it, said brokerage Jefferies in a report late on Thursday.

The Shenzhen-listed firm had close to 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) of cash and short-term investment as at the end of March. Net profit last year was around $795 million.

We do not believe ZTE will need to immediately raise any debt or equity financing to fund the cash penalty, said Jefferies.

At ZTEs headquarters in Shenzhen, most employees Reuters spoke to were reticent to comment on the US deal.

One office worker, who only gave his surname Liu, said he was not worried about the firm making major staff cuts or failing. Im not planning on looking for a new job.

As a smartphone seller, ZTE was ranked the fourth-biggest in the United States in the first quarter of the year with an 11.4 percent market share, but has since seen sales of its handsets suspended.

It will be very difficult for ZTE to keep its position as the fourth-biggest smartphone vendor in the US for 2018 considering damage to the brand, said Shanghai-based analyst Mo Jia at technology researcher Canalys.
The Tu-22M3M variant of the Tu-22, a supersonic variable-sweep wing bomber, is to make its maiden flight in August and enter into service in October. The Russian Air Force operates 62 Tu-22M3s. Some of the planes have carried out combat missions in Syria. According to the plans that have been announced, 30 TU-22M3s will have been modernized to meet the M3M standard by 2020. This aircraft is not classified as a heavy bomber and therefore is not covered by the New START treaty.

This far-reaching upgrade includes improved avionics, a new communications suite, an updated weapon-control system, digital radio-navigation equipment, and the ability to attack surface and sea targets with long-range precision-guided weapons.

It has the following specifications: a maximum speed of 2,300 km/h; a cruising speed of 900 km/h; an operating ceiling of 13,000 m; a maximum altitude of 14,000 m; a rate of climb of 15m/s; an operational range of 7,000 km (10,000 km with air refueling); an empty weight of 53,500 kg; a maximum takeoff weight of 126,400 kg; and a crew of 4. The pressurized cockpit is fitted with climate-control systems. The plane is powered by two NK-25 turbofan engines with large air intakes and dual exhausts. Each engine produces a maximum thrust of 25,000 kg. With its tricycle gear, the aircraft can land on unprepared runways.

The armament suite includes a Kh-32 long-range, multi-purpose missile specifically designed to attack US Navy carrier strike groups with a nuclear or conventional 500-kilogram (1,102 lb) warhead. It can hit land targets as well. The list of enemy assets it is capable of knocking out includes radar equipment, large vessels, bridges, power stations, command posts, and other military installations. Equipped with an inertial navigation system and a radio-radar seeker, it need not depend on satellites for guidance, making it immune to jamming.

The missile flies along a unique trajectory, climbing to the stratosphere (40 kilometers) after launch and then either going straight down to hit the target or executing a shallower dive in order to approach it flying as low as five meters above the surface. At such a low altitude the Kh-32 cannot be detected by radar until it is only about 10 km away, leaving a reaction window of approximately 10 seconds. Fast and maneuverable, air-defense systems have little opportunity to fend it off. The SM-6 surface-to-air-missile (SAM), Americas best air-defense tool, is useless against the Kh-32.

It has an operational range of up to 1,000 kilometers and a maximum speed of 5,400 kilometers per hour (1,500 meters per second) during the terminal phase of its flight.

The Tu-22M3M can carry three KH-32s (weighing about six tons each) or 12 of the lighter Kh-15 missiles. The Raduga Kh-15 is an air-to-surface hypersonic aero-ballistic weapon with an operational range of 300 km. The aircraft will be able to carry six to eight Kh-SD medium-range (up to 2,000 km) cruise missiles, and there are plans to develop and produce it under the auspices of Russias State Armament Program for 201827 (GPV-2027).

Its payload is also made up of FAB-250 or FAB-1500 free-fall bombs. The aircraft is armed with a double-barreled GSH-23 (23 mm) gun installed in the remotely controlled tail turret.

The Tu-22M3M uses the SVP-24 all-weather special computing subsystem for precise guidance. The GLONASS satellite navigation system constantly compares the position of the plane and the target. The SVP-24 measures environmental parameters to correct the flight. Information is received from all datalinks to compute its flight envelope. There are enough sensors to enable targeting even if the GLONASS receivers are jammed. With fire-andforget guidance in place, the pilot can concentrate on countering threats and finding new targets to hit.

Currently Russias strategic aviation fleet is undergoing an extensive revamping. The modernization of the Tu-160 supersonic strategic heavy bombers is underway and due to be complete by 2030, along with the Tu-22M3M upgrade. The Russian Air Forces ability to attack enemy assets as an element of conventional, not nuclear, warfare will be greatly expanded. The conventional strike capability of its armed forces is to be augmented by adding relatively low-cost multipliers to their existing arsenal of conventional offensive long-range weapons. This will significantly enhance its power projection capability. The conflict in Syria has been a good example of this. The successful updates to Russias long-range aviation forces illustrate the ability of the Russian defense industry to meet the challenges of today.
In any analysis of contemporary international politics it pays to be cautiously pessimistic. As the default mode one can generally expect that any way in which things can go wrong to threaten the peace and security of the planet, they will. Anticipation of improvement is a chumps bet.

Thats why the analysts gut instinct rebels at any indication that things overall may be moving in a positive direction, however haltingly or indirectly. But consider:

Trump-Putin summit : President Donald Trump has again indicated his interest in finally holding a formal summit with President Vladimir Putin . Austria has offered Vienna as a venue.

European populism marches on : Viva lItalia! The European Unions (EU) favorite Sicilian, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, tied to whack the M5S/Lega coalition. The hit failed. Now Italy, the third-largest economy in the eurozone  too big to be smacked around like Greece  joins the . This has particular importance with respect to the EUs (and Germanys) disastrous open door migration policy . : Viva lItalia! The European Unions (EU) favorite Sicilian, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, tied to whack the M5S/Lega coalition. The hit failed. Now Italy, the third-largest economy in the eurozone  too big to be smacked around like Greece  joins the populist bloc centered in the Visegrad Group, plus Austria

Trade : In his boldest America First! move to date, Trump has slapped higher steel and aluminum tariffs on  well, pretty much everybody. While the move itself may be a bit ham-fisted, it has signaled that . : In his boldest America First! move to date, Trump has slapped higher steel and aluminum tariffs on  well, pretty much everybody. While the move itself may be a bit ham-fisted, it has signaled that the days of the US attachment to one-way free trade while our trade partners practice mercantilism are over

Europes anti-Russia sanctions : American pressure on Europe with respect to trade with Iran, added to Trumps new tariffs, feeds resentment across Europe, especially in powerful Germany, which especially objects to Washingtons threatening sanctions on companies participating in Nord Stream 2. It may be too soon to guess how soon the EU will pull the plug on anti-Russian sanctions, but theres something in the air when even the likes of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker can say that  . Italys voice will be key . : American pressure on Europe with respect to trade with Iran, added to Trumps new tariffs, feeds resentment across Europe, especially in powerful Germany, which especially objects to Washingtons threatening sanctions on companies participating in Nord Stream 2. It may be too soon to guess how soon the EU will pull the plug on anti-Russian sanctions, but theres something in the air when even the likes of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker can say that  Russia-bashing has to be brought to an end

At the epicenter of each one of these earthshaking developments is one man: Donald Trump.

It would be inaccurate to say that these are even moves of the US government, of which Trump is only in partial control. With the permanent government  not to mention some of his own appointees  seeking to undermine him at every step, Trump seems to be resorting to the one tool he has at his personal disposal: disruption.

Lets remember that, especially in the Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, those who voted for Trump wanted something radically different from business as usual. They voted for him because they wanted a bull in a china shop, a wrecking ball, a human hand grenade, a big FU to the system.

Maybe thats what we got.

To be sure, none of the foregoing itemized developments is dispositive. But taken together they point to a remarkable confluence of good omens, at least from the point of view of those who wanted to shake up, even shatter, the cozy arrangements that have guided the so-called liberal global order.

But those whose careers and privileges, and in some cases their freedom and even lives, depend on perpetuating that order will not go gentle into that good night. They are getting nervous. This means in particular the elements of the US-UK special services, their Democratic and GOP Never-Trump fellow travelers, the Trump-hating fake news media, and the bureaucratic nonentities in Brussels (not only at the European Commission but at NATO headquarters).

If past is prologue, the Empire will strike back  hard and dirty.

One is reminded of the past seven years of war in Syria, where every time the US indicated a willingness to disengage, or when Syrian forces had made major military gains, then  BAM!  a chemical weapons attack immediately and without evidence is attributed to government forces, followed by renewed cries of Assad is killing his own people! Assad must go! (This is a ploy that goes back at least the Bosnian war of the 1990s. Every time a negotiated ceasefire seemed to be taking shape, another Serb mortar attack on civilians took place, leading to calls for NATO military action.)

The question is not if there will be a provocation, rather its one of when, where and how. While its difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, its nonetheless possible to anticipate some possibilities:

FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia (June 14 to July 15) : Given the huge expense and effort Russia has put into the World Cup as a favorable showcase to the world, it will be a tempting target. Lets remember that the unconstitutional ouster of Ukraines elected government took place as Putins attention was presumably distracted by his pride and joy, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The 2008 attack by Georgias then-president, Mikheil Saakashvili, on South Ossetia, was launched while the worlds eyes were focused on the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Both initiatives led to a strong counteraction by Moscow, leading in turn to worsened relations between Russia and the west  including Russias suspension from the G8 in 2014. (Though in the fevered imagination of western Russophobes , Putin was the one using the games as a cover, not the other way around.) A provocation could be directed against the FIFA events themselves  perhaps a terrorist attack by ISIS operatives reportedly being ferried out of the Middle East to Russia  or something elsewhere timed to coincide with matches being played all over Russia .

Ukraine : Regarding President Petro Poroshenkos actions, everything must be put into the context of upcoming presidential elections in 2019. Poroshenko has to find a way to get into a runoff, presumably against Yulia Tymoshenko. The most beneficial thing he could do would be somehow to pull a rabbit out of his hat and achieve a peace deal in the Donbas. But chances of that are slim to none, as it would require flexibility from Kiev that Poroshenko cant afford to show lest he be accused of being a Russian puppet. Conversely, he can up the ante with the Russians and hope the West will line up behind him. Perhaps the recent was to have been one such ploy but it misfired. But there are other options, such as a provocation along the line of control in the Donbas (the newly delivered US Javelin missiles are handy, as is the Dutch MH17 report ), maybe a covert attack on the Kerch bridge , as well as other less obvious possibilities. : Regarding President Petro Poroshenkos actions, everything must be put into the context of upcoming presidential elections in 2019. Poroshenko has to find a way to get into a runoff, presumably against Yulia Tymoshenko. The most beneficial thing he could do would be somehow to pull a rabbit out of his hat and achieve a peace deal in the Donbas. But chances of that are slim to none, as it would require flexibility from Kiev that Poroshenko cant afford to show lest he be accused of being a Russian puppet. Conversely, he can up the ante with the Russians and hope the West will line up behind him. Perhaps the recent fake news murder fiasco regarding the still very much alive Arkady Babchenko

Incident between NATO and Russian forces : NATO forces are stepping up provocative maneuvers on Russias doorstep in the Baltic and Black seas  purely to deter Moscows aggression, mind you. An incident could occur as any time, either by accident or on purpose. Either way, it would be the hostile Russians fault for putting their country so close to our bases and the venues of our military exercises.

Assassination : One of Putins well-known predilections is for killing, or at least attempting to kill, anyone who might displease him. Or like Assad with his chemical weapons, maybe Putin kills just for the sheer, malicious fun of it. : Babchenko (except, not), the two Skripals (except, not them either), political opponents like Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Yushenkov, muckraking journalists like Anna Politkovskaya and Natalia Estemirova, former chekist Aleksandr Litvinenko, RT network founder Mikhail Lesin, crusading lawyers like Stanislav Markelov and Sergei Magnitsky, oligarch Boris Berezovsky, and so on. A well-timed rubout of a suitably visible figure would have a salubrious impact on any annoying moves towards east-west rapprochement. No evidence is needed  the mere identity of the victim would be irrefutable proof of Putins guilt. : One of Putins well-known predilections is for killing, or at least attempting to kill, anyone who might displease him. Or like Assad with his chemical weapons, maybe Putin kills just for the sheer, malicious fun of it. The list of victims is long

Regarding the last item, assassination, it should always be kept in mind that in the end the man threatening to upset the applecart of the liberal global order isnt Putin  its Trump. That suggests an ultimate solution that might become tempting if The Donalds continued functioning at higher than room temperature becomes just too much to endure.

As Joseph Stalin is reputed to have remarked, Death solves all problems. No man, no problem. Trump, who for many powerful people is quite a problem indeed, has been recklessly compared to Jean-Marie Le Pen, Silvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin  even to Hitler and Mussolini. In an American context, to Andrew Jackson, Huey Long, and George Wallace. Lets note that each of those three Americans was the target of assassination. Jackson (someone Trump is known to admire) survived by a failure of his attackers pistols, hailed by some at the time as miraculous. The Kingfish was killed. Wallace was crippled for life.

There is reason to think that Trump is well aware of the fate of the last American president who so threatened the habitual order of things and the entrenched, ruthless establishment that profits so mightily from it. He has repeatedly indicated his interest in releasing the full file on Jack Kennedys assassination, then backed off from it for undisclosed reasons. The shooting death of the presidents brother Robert Kennedy, who had he been elected president in 1968 would have had the opportunity to reopen the investigation into his brothers murder, is back in the news with Robert Kennedy, Jr., expressing doubt about the official conclusion that his father was killed by Sirhan Sirhan.

If anyone thinks there is any length to which Trumps enemies will not go, think again.
President Mamnoon Hussain reached Chinas coastal city of Shandong province to attend the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The president was received by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou and Vice Governor of Shandong Province Ren Airong as he touched down Qingdao Liuting International Airport.

Secretary Foreign Affairs Tehmina Janjua and Ambassador of Pakistan in China Masood Khalid were also present to receive the president.

The smartly turned out contingents of Chinese armed forces presented guard of honor to the president.

Clad in beautiful dresses, two children also presented bouquet to the dignitary who reciprocated the gesture with some gifts.

At the summit, President Mamnoon would join the leaders of another seven full member countries of SCO and would also address the high profile gathering.

The event would also be attended by the leaders from Observer states and representatives of various international organizations.

President Mamnoon is attending the SCO Summit at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping who would chair the meeting.

A heavy agenda awaits the president here, who besides addressing the summit would also hold the bilateral meetings with his counterparts from China, Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to discuss the bilateral ties and ways to further enhance the cooperation.
President Mamnoon Hussain called on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Qingdao today (Saturday).

Matters pertaining to bilateral relations between Pakistan and China came under discussion during the meeting. They also discussed regional security situation and global issues.

Mamnoon Hussain congratulated XI Jinping on his selection as Secretary General, Communist Party of China for the second time.

He also felicitated his Chinese counterpart on successful conduct of SCO Summit in China.

The President said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor is an important part of Belt and Road Project.

The Chinese President welcomed Pakistan's representation in the Organization as a member. He also appreciated the role of Pakistan in elimination of terrorism.
Pakistan and Iran have agreed to further bolster their economic relations.

The understanding came at a meeting between President Mamnoon Hussain and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Qingdao, China.

Both the leaders are on a visit to China to attend the SCO Summit.

President Mamnoon Hussain said connectivity between Gwadar and Chabahar ports will further strengthen Pak-Iran relations.

The President said Pakistan and Iran enjoy cordial fraternal relations and support each other on important matters.

The President welcomed the Iranian Supreme leader's statement in support of Kashmiri people.

The two leaders also discussed matters pertaining to regional and international significance.

On the issue of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, President Mamnoon Hussain expressed the hope that all parties would continue to implement the agreement and uphold their commitments.

The two leaders also discussed current global situation and agreed on the need to focus on upholding principles and rules of international law and amicably resolving various global and regional crises through diplomacy and negotiations.

They emphasized that peace and stability in Afghanistan is important for both Pakistan and Iran.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif through his counsel submitted his reply in the Asghar Khan case in the Supreme Court on Saturday.

Nawaz, in the four-page reply, states that he never received Rs3.5 million from Lt. General (retd) Asad Durrani or under his instructions from his representatives as a donation to spend on the general election campaign of 1990.

Nawaz also denied receiving an amount in the sum of Rs3.5 million and Rs2.5 million from Younus Habib or under his instructions.

The reply adds that Nawaz Sharif has already recorded his statement on October 14, 2015 before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) inquiry committee.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had directed 31 respondents including Nawaz Sharif to submit written replies by June 9 in the Asghar Khan case. Nawaz, who failed to appear before the bench hearing the case, was allowed to be represented by a lawyer.

Asghar Khan case

On October 19, 2012, the Supreme Court issued a 141-page verdict, ordering legal proceedings against Gen (retd) Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani in a case filed 16 years ago by former air chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan.

Khan, who passed away in January this year, was represented in the Supreme Court by renowned lawyer Salman Akram Raja.

Khan had petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 alleging that the two senior army officers and the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had doled out Rs140 million among several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to ensure Benazir Bhutto's defeat in the polls.

The Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), consisting of nine parties including the Pakistan Muslim League, National Peoples Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, had won the 1990 elections, with Nawaz Sharif being elected prime minister. The alliance had been formed to oppose the Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party.

In 1996, Khan had written a letter to the then Supreme Court Chief Justice Nasim Hassan Shah naming Beg, Durrani and Younis Habib, the ex-Habib Bank Sindh chief and owner of Mehran Bank, about the unlawful disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes.

The 2012 apex court judgment, authored by the then-Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, had directed the Federal Investigation Agency to initiate a transparent investigation and subsequent trial if sufficient evidence is found against the former army officers.

The investigation is yet to conclude.
According to the details, former President received nomination papers from NA 247 to contest upcoming polls.MQMs Farooq Sattar, Arif Alvi of PTI, PSPs Mustafa Kamal and MMAs Hafeez Naeemur Rehman But will contest election against Musharraf on NA 247.

Human rights activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir has also submitted his nomination papers for NA-247 and PS-11 as an independent candidate.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also submitted his nomination papers for NA 246.Talking to the newsmen after filling his nomination papers, Bilawal Bhutto said today is the happiest movement of his life, he will carry the mission of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.

Earlier, Pakistan Peoples Party senior leader, Raza Rabbani warned that if former president Pervez Musharraf was allowed to file nomination papers for the forthcoming elections then the rule of law would be devastated in the country.

It appeared that a person, who violated the law and ran away from justice, had special privileges, Rabbani slammed. The PPP senator noted that a special court had declared Musharraf an absconder on May 2016. He accused the former president of misleading the court on the pretext of his deteriorating health.Rabbani said that it was worrisome that a person, who was declared an absconder and had warrants issued for him from different courts, had been allowed to submit his nomination papers.

It is a matter of grave concern that a person who has been declared an absconder and whose warrants of arrest had been issued by various courts had been allowed to file his nomination papers, conditionally, the statement reads.On Thursday, the Supreme Court, while hearing Musharrafs review petition against his disqualification by the Peshawar High Court, ordered the former president to appear before it, assuring that he would not be arrested.

We will pass an order ensuring authorities do not arrest the former president before his appearance in court, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had said.

He had also remarked, I will ask returning officers to accept Musharrafs nomination papers but conditional to the final verdict on his appeal.
'It's unknown territory in the truest sense but I really feel confident,' Trump said as he prepared to leave ongoing G7 summit in Canada.

Donald Trump said his summit with Kim Jong-un represented 'a one-time' chance to forge peace between the US and North Korea. (Photo: File/AP)

La Malbaie (Canada): Donald Trump said his summit with Kim Jong-un represented "a one-time" chance to forge peace between the US and North Korea as he prepared to fly to the venue in Singapore.

"It's unknown territory in the truest sense but I really feel confident," Trump said as he prepared to leave the ongoing G7 summit in Canada.

"I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people and he has that opportunity... It's a one-time shot," he said at a press conference, adding that the North Koreans had been working "very well with us" in the build-up to Tuesday's summit.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- When nearly everyone arrived to mourn Rayshonn Hester in front of 404 Oak Street, Common Council president Helen Hudson asked for everyone in attendance to form a circle.

There was Donna Howard, his biological mother. There was Kim Hester, his stepmother. There were his sisters, a brother, cousins.



There were the activists and politicians. OG Against Gun Violence Clifford Ryans, Hudson, deputy mayor Sharon Owens, members of Mothers Against Gun Violence, members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Rayshonn Hester, 35 (provided photo).

The fabric of the vigil was woven like many others, but Hudson noted the difference between this vigil and past ones -- everyone knows who killed their son, brother, cousin and friend.

"Closure never comes," said Hudson, whose stepson was murdered in 2005. His murder is still unsolved.

Syracuse police said this week that Rayshonn, 35, was killed by Wendell V. Griffin, 29, and Joshua C. Wright, 27, on Sunday morning at the Sunoco on the 2500 block of Erie Boulevard East. Wright was arrested and police are still looking for Griffin, police said.

That police identified two men they say are responsible for Rayshonn's murder brought some measure of security to family members, some family members said.

Despite that, Hudson and Owens still carried the refrain Police Chief Frank Fowler and Mayor Ben Walsh have passed along at past vigils this year: "See something, say something."

"It's murderers running around the city and you know who they are," Hudson said. "See something, say something. Open your mouths."

Everyone gathered in front of 404 Oak Street because it's the location of Felons on the Move, a program that helps those who have gone to prison get jobs. Sharon Washington, who helps run the program, had been helping Rayshonn since he was released from prison in March.

Rayshonn spent approximately 10 years in prison spread across two stints for two drug possession, according to New York State prison records.

Washington said when Rayshonn came to her, she asked him whether he was ready to change. She emphasized she couldn't help him if he wasn't committed to separating himself from his past mistakes.

He told her he was ready. Washington often got calls from Rayshonn waking her up or asking where she was, she said.



"Sometimes I got tired of him," Washington said.

"I can't say whether he was still in the streets," she said. "But he was willing to change."

When he was killed, Rayshonn had started working and tried reconnecting with his 14-year-old daughter, Kim Hester said.

While others talked, much of Rayshonn's family listened. They let others memorialize him and talk about the last two-plus months they had with him.

Donna Howard was one of the last few people to speak at the vigil. Three days before he was killed, Rayshonn told Howard he was close to getting another job, she said. She was hopeful for his future.

Instead of a call about Rayshonn's new job, she's taken calls telling her how sorry people were about his death.

Earlier at the vigil, Hudson talked about some of her own experiences when her stepson was murdered and in helping others deal with murdered family members.

Right now, everyone will be there for Rayshonn's family because Rayshonn had just been killed, she said. People will pour in the "I got yous" and show support, but she pointed out the importance of being there as time pushes Howard, Kim Hester and Rayshonn's family further from his murder.

For now, Howard said she hasn't always been able to sleep in the days after her son's murder. She's monitored her blood pressure because she's worried about the effect on her health.

"I just want us to all come together," she said of her family.
CICERO, N.Y. -- One person was killed and another was seriously injured after a car hit a motorcycle in Cicero, troopers said.

Frank L. Lizardi, of Liverpool, died Friday night after his motorcycle was struck on Northern Boulevard at Interstate 481, said the New York State Police. He was 44 years old.

The crash happened around 9:30 p.m.

Edward Taglialatela, 59, of Cicero, was driving south on Nothern Boulevard when he turned left toward Interstate 481, troopers said. His 1969 Chevrolet Impala struck an oncoming motorcycle, troopers said.

Lizardi, the driver of the 1980 Honda motorcycle, was traveling north on Northern Boulevard when he was struck. He was riding with Tonya Tiewul, his 32-year-old passenger, troopers said.

Lizardi was rushed to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, where he was pronounced dead.

Tiewul was transported to Upstate with "severe" leg injuries, troopers said. She is listed in serious but stable condition.

Taglialatela was not injured, troopers said.

The investigation remains open.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he has "a clear objective" for his upcoming nuclear summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, though he acknowledged that potential progress "will always be spur of the moment."

He described the meeting set for Tuesday in Singapore as a "one-time shot" for Kim and characterized it as a "mission of peace," speaking shortly before he left a Group of Seven summit in Canada to fly to Asia.

The president told reporters that it's "so far, so good" as he cast ahead to what he called "unknown territory in the truest sense." He said he thinks "it's going to work out very well."

Trump, who prides himself on his deal-making prowess, said he will know "within the first minute" of meeting Kim whether the North Korean leader is serious about the nuclear negotiations.

"I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen. And if I think it won't happen, I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time," Trump said.

The meeting will be the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

Trump cited the unprecedented nature of the meeting and said he was convinced that Kim is serious about doing good things for his country.

"He could take that nation with those great people and truly make it great, so it's a one-time, it's a one-time shot, and I think it's going to work out very well," Trump said. "That's why I feel positive, because it makes so much sense."

He also praised the North Koreans, saying they have been "really working very well with us" during preparations for the summit, which Trump had canceled last month following a recent period of what he called "tremendous anger and open hostility" from the North Korean government. But then Trump did a quick pivot, signaling almost immediately after scrapping the meeting that he was open to going ahead with it after all.

Delegations from both countries then launched into a frenetic period of negotiations that are expected to culminate with Tuesday's meeting.

"So far, so good. We're going to have to see what happens. I very much look forward to it," Trump said.

Trump hopes to persuade Kim to completely abandon the arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that the North Koreans have spent generations amassing.

"I have a clear objective, but I have to say that it's going to be something that will always be spur of the moment. This has not been done before at this level. This is a leader who really is an unknown personality. People don't know much about him. I think that he's going to surprise on the upside, very much on the upside," the president said.

Questions remain about what a deal on the North's nuclear weapons would look like.

Trump has said he believes Kim would agree to denuclearization, but the two countries have offered differing visions of what that would entail. Despite Kim's apparent eagerness for a summit with Trump, there are doubts that he would fully relinquish his nuclear arsenal, which he may see as his guarantee of survival.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials have assessed the North to be on the threshold of having the capability to strike anywhere in the continental U.S. with a nuclear-tipped missile -- a capacity that Trump and other U.S. officials have said they would not tolerate.

Trump has promised to provide "protections" for Kim and his government in return for him giving up the nuclear program. He also indicated that South Korea, China and Japan would be prepared to invest in the North to boost its besieged economy.
Students of Liverpool High School celebrated Friday, June 8, 2018, at their senior ball. The event was held at Oncenter War Memorial in Syracuse.

Our gallery of photos can be found above.

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As you're browsing the gallery, look for the "BUY IMAGE" link to order high-quality reprints and other products.

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Students of Mexico Central Schools celebrated at their senior dinner dance Friday, June 8, 2018, at The American Foundry in Oswego.

Our gallery of photos can be found above.

Want to buy a photo?

As you're browsing the gallery, look for the "BUY IMAGE" link to order high-quality reprints and other products.

More prom photos

See all photo galleries from proms, senior balls, and other formals around Central New York.
For anyone involved in an online romance, the FBI has some advice. Be cautious.

More and more, scammers are preying on people, mostly women, who are looking for a relationship through dating websites and social media.

If you don't believe it, consider a Western NY woman, a highly paid, white-collar professional in her late 50s, who lost $718,000 to a fake boyfriend she met on MillionaireMatch.com.

On Friday, Jason Osei Bonsu, a resident of Ghana and one of the two men who targeted the victim, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to two years in prison.

"The victims tend to be older women who have lost a husband and accumulated a nest egg," said Gary A. Loeffert, special agent in charge of the FBI in Buffalo. "These criminals then try to gain the victim's confidence in order to gain access to the nest egg."

The FBI, which investigated the local case, says the financial losses experienced by romance scam victims exceed those of any other online crime. In 2017, the agency received 15,372 romance fraud complaints from victims who lost more than $211 million.

Closer to home, the FBI in Buffalo received complaints from 137 victims who lost more than $970,000 last year.

Prosecutors say the local woman who fell victim to a scam thought she was communicating with Marvin Roecker, a self-described millionaire who wooed her with intimate phone calls, romantic texts and personal online messages.

Roecker told her he was in the midst of a $7 million deal to sell dried cocoa beans to Kraft Heinz, according to court papers.

And then came his request for money.

He told her he needed the extra cash to pay for shipping and insurance, and promised to repay her, plus interest. He also provided an airline itinerary indicating when he would arrive in Buffalo to begin their relationship.

She agreed and sent him five separate payments, including a final wire transfer of $465,000 in April 2016.

In the eyes of the FBI, that was her biggest mistake.

"Don't send them money, but that's easy for me to say," said Loeffert. "Social media can be a great tool to meet people. Unfortunately, there's also a dark side to the internet."

Prosecutors say Roecker's online profile was a fake and included a photo that belonged to someone else, a realtor from Texas who is not Marvin Roecker.

No one is certain who was behind the Roecker persona, but two men, Bonsu and Adams Amen, both citizens of Ghana, were charged with taking part in the scam. Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud.

"He didn't set this up. This wasn't his scheme," defense lawyer Joel L. Daniels said of Bonsu Friday.

Daniels said his client was a minor player in a scam orchestrated by people in Ghana who were never caught or prosecuted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango countered by noting that Bonsu took part in the scheme for 18 months and, during that time, took in more than $211,000 from victims.

As part of his sentence, Bonsu was ordered to repay $139,000. He also faces deportation back to Ghana.

To protect yourself against online predators, the FBI recommends you look for red flags.

The agency says people should be wary of individuals they never met in person, and suggested they use the web to research a person's name, profile and photo to see if it was used elsewhere.

They also warn against individuals who want to talk "offline," or people who try to isolate you from friends and family.

"They groom their victims,"Loeffert said of the scammers. "The object is to gain the person's confidence and, once they succeed, go for the bank account."

Prosecutors said the local woman who was victimized by Amen and Bonsu is not the only one who fell victim to the fraud. And the other victim was a man.

In court papers, they claim Bonsu and Amen cheated the South Dakota resident out of $72,500 as part of a separate romance scam.

The man was apparently told his money would pay for shipping and insurance costs associated with an inheritance, including a large quantity of gold.

While the man and woman who were victimized by Bonsu and Amen went to authorities, Loeffert said it's common for victims to remain quiet.

"For those women out there, we urge them to come forward," he said. "These people are still out there hurting others."

Investigators said Ghana, where Amen and Bonsu reside, is a hotbed of romance scammers.

- By Phil Fairbanks, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
ALBANY -- Federal prosecutors on Friday asked a judge to reject NXIVM founder Keith Raniere's request to be released on a $10 million bond, unveiling text messages the Justice Department said show Raniere was directly involved in recruiting women to be his sex slaves and having them branded with a "monogram" that included his initials.

The request by the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn was filed in response to Raniere's motion earlier this week in which he characterized his prosecutors as the "morality police" and alleged the women around him were never forced to have sex and were willingly branded. Raniere also argued that he is not a flight risk and offered to live in a New York residence secured by armed private guards.

But prosecutors urged the judge to reject Raniere's request and keep him in custody, describing him as a flight risk and danger to the community with access to private jets and unlimited wealth. They said he also has both male and female devotees who may remain willing to help him escape.

"One could imagine scenarios where any escape or obstruction plan would involve the presence or help of one of the defendant's devotees or slaves," the government's motion states. "An escape attempt could result in armed guards pursuing the defendant in New York City streets."

The Justice Department's filing included a series of 2015 text messages attributed to Raniere that were obtained with a search warrant. Prosecutors said the messages demonstrate that Raniere created the secret slave-master club within NXIVM and that his position as the head of the group would be kept hidden from the women lured into it.

The text messages, the government argued, also showed there was a sexual component to the club.

"I think it would be good for you to own a (expletive) toy slave for me, that you could groom, and use as a tool, to pleasure me," Raniere wrote in a text message to one of his slaves, according to the filing.

In another text attributed to Raniere, also sent to his female slave, he acknowledged his awareness of the branding rituals that had taken place.

"Without going into detail. It caused there to be other slaves, all who want to be branded with my monogram plus a number ... your number is reserved ... it is number 1. It is now a secret growing organization," he wrote. "I don't know well some of the people involved but I command them ultimately. They are not who you might think ... I think there are 10 or more in the current jness2 track ... and others outside of it."

Jness was a training program for a women's group within NXIVM that touted a special curriculum and was created by Raniere.

In the motion seeking his release, Raniere's attorneys accused the government of wrongly implicating Raniere in sex trafficking and forced labor. Raniere last year publicly disavowed any connection with the secret club, but in his motion he said it was similar to a college fraternity.

"The federal government apparently does not approve of the way hundreds of women are searching for happiness, fulfillment and meaning in their lives and is now seeking to incarcerate a number of them as well as Raniere, whose ideas inspired this group," states the the motion seeking Raniere's release..

Raniere, 57, whose organization has been described by experts as a cult, was arrested in late March at a luxury beach villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, along the Pacific Ocean. In Mexico, authorities said, Raniere got rid of his mobile phone and used encrypted email to communicate with his followers. It took authorities nearly two months to locate and arrest him.

Raniere's attorneys said that he was keeping a low profile -- including staying in a private compound protected by armed security -- merely to avoid a group of NXIVM critics who had been stalking and photographing him there. They said he was not fleeing law enforcement, and that one of his attorneys had contacted federal authorities almost two weeks before his arrest asking for Raniere to be able to explain his side of the allegations being made against him.

In a federal indictment unsealed April 20, Raniere and former television actress Allison Mack -- a longtime NXIVM member and close associate of Raniere's -- were accused of organizing the secret group within NXIVM in which some of its female members said they felt coerced into joining a slave-master club, and later branded with a design that included the initials of Raniere and Mack.

In the motion for bail, Raniere's attorneys do not acknowledge whether he took part in forming the secretive group, which they compared to the international college fraternity Omega Psi Phi, "with over 750 undergraduate and graduate chapters, (that) has developed an unofficial practice where members voluntarily brand themselves to show dedication to the group."

In the government's response on Friday, they provided additional details about Raniere's alleged imprisonment of a young Mexican woman who was held against her will in a Halfmoon townhouse for more than a year. NXIVM insiders said the woman was punished for showing interest in a man other than Raniere.

"The defendant admits participation in the psychological torture of a young woman by ordering her to be confined to a room for a year-and-a-half, but characterizes her imprisonment as 'akin to grounding,'" prosecutors wrote. The government characterized her as a victim of "psychological torture."

The woman had no human contact during the 18 months she was held captive except for"occasional visits from Nxivm members who were there to make sure the woman was 'healing' her 'breach.'"

Prosecutors said their evidence of that incident includes video footage from a security camera that had been positioned outside the room where the woman was held under the threat of being returned to Mexico.

"When the woman finally did leave the room, the defendant, as he had threatened, had her driven to the Mexican border and ordered to walk across, without money or identification papers," prosecutors said. She is the sister of a woman who gave birth to one of Raniere's children.

Frank Parlato, a former NXIVM publicist who runs a Buffalo-based blog that first exposed the slave-master club and branding, said the government's assertions are not fully accurate. He said that the woman escaped and was driven to the Mexican border by her father, who has been a NXIVM devotee, and Kristen Keeffe, who was a member of Raniere's inner circle before she fled the group several years ago.

Federal prosecutors said emails seized from Raniere's private messaging accounts "support the conclusion that Raniere created" the club, known as "Dominus Obsequious Sororium," which means "Master Over the Slave Women."

The women in the group, according to federal court records, 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.

The government alleges that some of the women felt coerced into having sex with Raniere due to the threat of having the damaging information about them released if they tried to leave the group or failed to follow orders.

The motion by Raniere argues that many woman who joined the secret group did not have sex with him and were not branded. Also, his attorneys argued, the women who were branded were never held down against their will. Some have said they were held down by other female members to help them get through the grueling and painful branding, which was done by a female osteopath, Danielle Roberts, associated with NXIVM.

"While there may be instances of someone branded who later second-guessed or regretted her decision, the evidence will be clear that the decision was knowing, voluntary and based on free will at the time it was made," the motion for bail states. "In fact, the woman being branded typically placed the stencil on her body where she wanted the brand to be located."

Raniere's motion also disputes the government's assertion that women were coerced into having sex with him.

"First, there is no evidence of force, threats of force, fraud, coercion or any combination. None of the women have stated, nor could truthfully state, that Raniere had sex with them against their will," the motion states.

Raniere's application for bail requests a hearing and includes his offers to restrict his travel to eastern and southern New York, wear an electronic monitoring device, limit his use of a computer only to helping prepare for his criminal trial, and surrender his passport.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis has not issued a decision on the request and it's unclear whether he will schedule a hearing.

- By Brendan J. Lyons, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
June 09--MENANDS -- Marion Hanlon lived a life intertwined with the Titanic after her four-months-pregnant mother escaped aboard one of the last lifeboats to leave, as her father went down with the sinking liner.

Hanlon was born Marion Columba O'Brien on Sept. 3, 1912 to Hannah Godfrey O'Brien in Brooklyn, where the woman settled after coming ashore. Her father, Thomas O'Brien, was never seen again after the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912.

"They had to know they'd never see each other again," Kelly Grimaldi, historian of St. Agnes Cemetery, an Albany Roman Catholic diocesan cemetery, said Friday about the couple who had sailed from Ireland headed to a new life in Chicago.

Hanlon is buried in the cemetery alongside her husband and son. Grimaldi said cemetery overseers just learned this past week about Hanlon's Titanic connection and have dubbed her "Albany's Youngest Titanic Survivor."

St. Agnes Cemetery discovers link to Titanic https://t.co/aoArEpGx8w pic.twitter.com/oj9d5dH4FO  Brooklyn Roundup (@BrooklynRoundup) June 9, 2018

It was an inquiry from Trevor Baxter, a Titanic researcher from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, that revealed the cemetery's connection to the ship. Baxter wanted to get the location of Hanlon's grave and a photo of her headstone as part of an effort to locate as many Titanic survivors grave sites and memorials as possible.

"She's just not a name carved in stone now," Grimaldi said. "She has a story now."

Anything to do with the Titanic always has a fresh audience. Of the 2,240 people aboard, about 1,500 perished when the "unsinkable" ship sank in the North Atlantic en route from England to New York City.

"It's been over 100 years but for some reason or another, it's one of those things nobody forgets," Catherine A. Fisher, 81, said about the Titanic and her mother's connection.

Her grandparents' romance in Ireland and journey aboard the Titanic, and her mother's birth a few months afterward is a story that everyone is eager to learn about, Fisher said.

"She did talk about it quite a bit. Not only is it something we talked about, but my kids talk about it," Fisher said of herself, her seven children and 11 grandchildren.

Hannah O'Brien is listed as one of 17 pregnant women aboard the Titanic when it sank, according to the Encyclopedia Titanica, an online site that seeks to tell the story of every person aboard the ship when it sank.

O'Brien opted not to continue her trip to Chicago. She and her husband's family fought over the money paid to Titanic survivors. It wasn't until she produced evidence she had married her husband that this was settled.

O'Brien stayed in Brooklyn where she married James Quinn. They had a son named James. O'Brien and her daughter would have six years together before she died Oct. 17, 1918 during the Spanish influenza epidemic that killed an estimated 22 million to 40 million people.

Thomas O'Brien worked for his wife's family, Fisher said during a telephone interview from her home in Manchester, Tenn., 60 miles south of Nashville.

"They were very upset that they wanted to get married," Fisher said.

Hanlon's stepfather would remarry and a daughter, Mae, was born. Hanlon went to work when she was 14 years old as an operator for AT&T, said Fisher, who described her as being poor.

Hanlon would marry William J. Hanlon, an Irish immigrant, who became a civil engineer after studying at Columbia University. They would eventually move to Albany where they raised their family. Marion Hanlon moved to join Fisher in Tennessee after her husband died. She lived to be 81-years-old, dying on July 4, 1994.

Hanlon did not reconnect with her mother's family members until later in life, when she traveled to Ireland with her husband.

"When I needed anything from them, they weren't there," Fisher said about her mother's feelings toward her relatives.

Fisher said her mother is buried in St. Agnes Cemetery because she wanted to be with her husband.

Now that Hanlon rests at St. Agnes, Grimaldi said the cemetery can join nearby Albany Rural Cemetery in claiming a Titanic survivor among its burials. Gilbert M. Tucker Jr., an 1898 Albany Academy graduate, survived the Titanic. He died in 1968.

"I never thought we would have a survivor here," Grimaldi said looking around St. Agnes Cemetery. "These people have stories. They lived different kinds of lives."

- By Kenneth C. Crowe II, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
Both countries signed deals related to energy, industry, finance, science and technology, culture, sports, health, and tourism. | Read More
The Singapore City condominium in Dandong, the main gateway into N Korea in northeastern China, is celebrating strongest sales in 6 years.

Trump sent the city-state spinning when he announced that the summit would be held there last month, only to cancel it a week later. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Dandong: Even as the island nation of Singapore rushes to get ready for the historic meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, one of its namesakes is basking in the publicity too - on China's border with North Korea.

The Singapore City condominium in Dandong, the main gateway into North Korea in northeastern China, is celebrating its strongest sales in six years thanks to property speculators who see the June 12 meeting as another sign that the reclusive state will soon be open for business.

With a riverside view that looks directly over North Korea, the 2,400-unit project by Singaporean developer Brothers (Holdings) Ltd broke ground in 2008 but saw annual sales of less than a hundred units in the last five years as China's neighbour grew more focused on its nuclear programme.

That changed in one stroke at end of April when North Korea's Kim announced that the isolated country would immediately suspend nuclear and missile tests, scrap its nuclear test site and pursue economic growth and peace, said T.C. Koh, group managing director of the company.

Singapore City then sold 587 units in May, more than quadruple the number in April, making it the top-selling development in the area, he said. That drove the price from an average of about 4,000 yuan ($625) per square metre in 2015 to close to 6,000 yuan per square metre.

"Suddenly everybody came in. From that time onwards we started selling 30-40 units a day," he told Reuters in an interview at the project's showroom, decorated with water-spouting statues of Singapore's unofficial mascot, the mythical Merlion.

Trump sent the city-state spinning when he announced that the summit would be held there last month, only to cancel it a week later. On June 1, he said the summit was back on, prompting urgent preparations and a wave of promotions from businesses looking to cash in.

Koh said he did not think the Singapore's host status was driving buyers to its namesake project, saying it was ultimately the development's location in Dandong where the broader property market has heated up.

Still, he said he was contemplating launching activities to commemorate the event at the showroom, though he was a little cautious, citing the uncertain nature of the meeting and the countries' leaders.

"It's still a wait and see, because you don't know if it'll be a success or failure," he said. "If it's a failure then we'll have a problem. All the investors will run away!
Eunice Gayson, the original Bond girl. Credit:Fox Photos

London: Actress Eunice Gayson, who played the first Bond girl, has died at the age of 90.

Gayson starred as James Bond's love interest Sylvia Trench alongside Sir Sean Connery in the films Dr No and From Russia With Love.

A post on her official Twitter profile read: "We are very sad to learn that our dear Eunice passed away on June 8.

"An amazing lady who left a lasting impression on everyone she met. She will be very much missed."
The top politicians in this country are guilty of major criminal offences, but they are unlikely ever to be tried for them, says lawyer Julian Burnside.

I think its pretty clear that Australian prime ministers and immigration ministers are guilty of criminal offences against our own law, says the Melbourne-based QC. The problem is that no one can bring a prosecution for those offences without the approval of the Attorney General. Take a lucky guess what the Attorney General would say.

The offences he has in mind involve the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers  deliberate and unnecessary cruelty that amounts, he argues in the documentary Border Politics, to torture.

Since 2002, Australia has been a signature member of the International Criminal Court, and as a result, he explains, there is a series of offences [in Australian law] that mirror the offences over which the ICC has jurisdiction.
I was standing in the immigration queue at JFK airport when the news of Kate Spade's suicide flashed on the TV screens in the hall there. It was all the more shocking because, even if you don't believe in that ultimately empty trope about having it all, Spade, one of the fashion industry's more discreet, more down-to-earth individuals, really did seem to have a lot: a husband (and business partner) she'd been married to for 24 years, a longed-for child, one business empire already behind her - she cashed out approximately $94 million from Kate Spade - and a nascent label, Frances Valentine, named for her daughter, which she launched in 2015.

Kate Spade during an interview in New York in 2004. Credit:AP

Flashbacks to Lee Alexander McQueen's suicide in 2010 and L'Wren Scott's suicide in 2014 are inevitable. What about John Galliano's crazy apparently alcohol-fuelled and self-destructive anti-Semitic rant in 2011?

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Or Claude Montana's tormented and tormenting relationship with his wife and muse Wallis Franken Montana, which ended when she killed herself in 1996 - a scandal from which his reputation never recovered. And who can forget the tragic early death of fashion stylist Isabella Blow in 2007, who had suffered from depression for years and become concerned about her career waning?
A Canberra woman was jailed Friday night for reporting to ACT Policing 39 minutes later than required under her bail conditions.

The ACT Magistrates Court heard on Saturday Natasha Williams, 31, was imprisoned overnight after reporting late to Woden Police Station.

Magistrate Bernadette Boss told the police prosecutor to remind ACT Policing it had discretionary powers that meant it did not have to jail people.

"They may well find themselves that there's a false imprisonment claim," Dr Boss said.

Ms Williams had been on a bail with her conditions requiring her to report to Woden Police Station by 8pm on Friday.
Four lanes were blocked off outside the Newmarket Hotel on Saturday morning after a two-car smash at the intersection of Enoggera and Newmarket roads.

Three patients were assessed by paramedics. Two declined transport to hospital but one patient was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, believed to be a woman suffering neck pain.

One of the damaged cars after the crash. Credit:Toby Crockford - Fairfax Media

Emergency services were called about 6.45am, with police blocking two inbound lanes and one outbound right turning lane on Newmarket Road.

Officers also blocked the right turning lane on Newmarket Road while the cars were loaded onto tow trucks.
A Special Air Service Regiment trooper on his first deployment to Afghanistan was pressured to execute an elderly, unarmed detainee by fellow higher-ranking soldiers as part of a "blooding" ritual, according to defence insiders who were witnesses at the scene.

And on the same mission, another man with a prosthetic leg was killed by machine-gun fire. His plastic leg was souvenired and later taken back to SAS headquarters in Perth to be used as a novelty beer drinking vessel.

This man, whose right leg is prosthetic, was among Afghans killed in 2009 in incident that involved alleged war crime. We have chosen to blur the image.

The summary execution of the elderly detainee on Easter Sunday, 2009, is one of several incidents involving a rogue SASR team operating in Afghanistan which has been uncovered by a Fairfax Media investigation and corroborated by special forces insiders.

The grey-haired, bearded Afghan man executed by the "rookie" was, according to some SASR members, a suspected Taliban member, but at the time presented no threat to Australian soldiers. The newly deployed soldier allegedly shot the man after being prompted by two more senior soldiers, one of whom was earlier overheard proclaiming a need to "blood the rookie".
The group decided to contest for over 200 seats on the platform of 'dormant' political entity Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek registered with ECP.

The JuD was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. (Photo: File/AFP)

Lahore: Hafiz Saeed's Jammat-ud-Dawah is fielding more than 200 candidates in the July 25 general elections on national and provincial Assembly seats across the country even as the Mumbai terror attack mastermind has decided not to run for parliament.

Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack, launched its political front Milli Muslim League (MML), but it has not been yet registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

With general elections approaching, the group decided to contest on the platform of a "dormant" political entity Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) registered with the ECP.

The JuD activists and sympathisers have taken the nomination papers from the ECP and are fielding their candidates on the platform of the AAT.

"MML president Saifullah Khalid and AAT chief Ehsan Bari have agreed to field joint candidates on the platform of ATT in the upcoming elections. Under the seat adjustment agreement, the MML will field more than 200 educated candidates. They will contest the elections on the AAT's election symbol chair," Ahmad Nadeem, an MML spokesperson, told PTI on June 9.

He said there are many political figures who have joined the MML and it has awarded them AAT tickets.

Asked if Saeed plans to run as a parliamentary candidate in this election, the spokesman said: "No ... Hafiz sahib has no such plans at the moment. The MML is taking part for the first time in the general elections and hopefully, we will make to the parliament."

To a question, if any "significant leader" of the JuD would contest the election, he said: "Our priority is that those joining us from other political parties or educated youths in respective constituencies be given AAT tickets."

He said the AAT will launch its political campaign once its candidates file nomination papers.

"We are hopeful that the people will elect our candidates," he said.

It is believed that since the MML has hardly any chance to get registered with the ECP as the latter had announced the election schedule and issued election symbols, it had no other option but to contest the election on any 'dormant' entity like the AAT.

Earlier, MML president Saifullah Khalid had said: "We have decided to support the candidates of AAT in July 25 elections. We will play a role in the victory of those contesting on the symbol of a chair. To save Pakistan, patriotic people should be supported in the elections."

Khalid said the MML had been denied registration in the ECP for the last 11 months but will take part in the polls by supporting AAT candidates.

The interior ministry had opposed enlisting of the MML as a political party arguing it's an offshoot of Saeed's JuD banned under a UN resolution.

The JuD formed MML at the time when Saeed was detained in Lahore. Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were placed under house arrest in Lahore on January 30 under the anti-terrorism act.

The JuD was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The JuD chief also carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for his role in terror activities.
Dust, rocks, bumps, dry creeks and bugs are all in a day's work for a group of drivers trekking thousands of kilometres through the drought-stricken NSW and Queensland outback, as part of the annual Outback Car Trek.

The event, now in its 29th year, has clocked up more than 110,000 kilometres through remote areas across Australia, raising more than $28 million for the Royal Flying Doctors Service in the process.

This year 82 cars - that were all at least 40-years-old - drove 3500 kilometres starting last week at Tamworth, to arrive in Airlie Beach in Queensland on Saturday.

RFDS Trek participants hit a patch of bull dust on the road to Emerald, QLD. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The 220 participants camped out overnight or stayed in local hotels in small towns along the route, including Inverell, Meandarra, Taroom, Emerald, Alpha, and Mount Coolon.
While Premier Mark McGowan spent the end of the week in China , his candidate Tania Lawrence was in the field pressing the flesh.

Labor Darling Range candidate Tania Lawrence braves the cold on Friday morning to campaign.

There are only two weeks left before polls close on the Darling Range byelection.

This was all about local jobs, according to Labor's press releases.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Mike Nahan was with Liberal candidate Alyssa Hayden accusing Labor of breaking a promise to fund the Tonkin Highway extension.

"The federal government have provided $253 million in the 2018/19 Federal Budget for the much needed extension of Tonkin Highway from Thomas Road to South West Highway and other developments," Dr Nahan said.

"Yet, despite entering this agreement with the Commonwealth to co-fund the project, the McGowan Government are not committing any funding for the extension of Tonkin Highway."
It is for first time the Indian PM will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pak became full-fledged members of the grouping.

It is Modi's second visit to China in little over five weeks. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Qingdao (China): Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Qingdao on Saturday on a two-day visit primarily to attend the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which is likely to deliberate on several pressing global issues including future of Iran nuclear deal, the impact of US sanctions on Russia and situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

It is Modi's second visit to China in little over five weeks. He was in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27 and 28 to attend an informal summit with President Xi Jinping. Diplomats said the summit is also likely to explore ways to deepen cooperation among the SCO member countries in dealing with threats of terrorism, extremism, and radicalisation besides delving into issues relating to trade, investment, and connectivity.

Read: PM Modi heads to China for SCO Summit, to hold bilateral talks with Xi Jinping

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became a full-fledged members of the grouping, jointly dominated by China and Russia, which has been increasingly seen as a counter to NATO.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP. Besides Modi, other leaders attending the summit in this picturesque coastal city of China's Shandong province include President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain.

In his address at the SCO Modi, is likely to articulate India's position on dealing with major challenges facing the world including ways to tackle terrorism, and boosting trade and investment in the region. The summit in this Chinese port city is taking place under the shadow of Washington's pull out from the Iran nuclear deal, its sanction regime against Russia and frictions with China over the trade tariff dispute and diplomats said all these issues may figure at the summit as well as during deliberations on its sidelines.

In the wake of Washington's strained ties with Russia, China and Iran, officials said the SCO summit will provide an opportunity for President Xi and his Russian counterpart Putin to reflect on a common vision for the region and present the bloc as a powerful voice to deal with pressing global issues.

The situation in the Indo-Pacific may figure in the talks but it is unlikely that the issue will find a mention in the SCO outcome document. Officials said the US pull out from the Iran nuclear deal, Washington's sanctions against Russia under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) may also figure in the talks. The sanctions have impacted Russia's defence cooperation with a number of countries including India.

The SCO leaders are also expected to review the situation in the Korean peninsula, Afghanistan and Syria. Officials said India will pitch for evolving effective ways to deal with the growing challenge of terrorism and enhancing security cooperation among SCO countries.

India is also keen on deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

India was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. The officials said India is also likely to focus on importance of regional connectivity projects to boost trade among members of the SCO countries.

India has been strongly pushing for connectivity projects like the Chabahar port project and International North-South Transport Corridor to gain access to resource-rich central Asian countries.

Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries.

However, there is no official word on whether there will be any interaction between Modi and Pakistan President Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in China. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members in 2017.
10th Grader Found Dead Inside School. Officials Release Cause of Death

Hundreds of people arrived at a vigil held at McKinney North on June 3, to commemorate the 10th-grader who is believed to have committed suicide.

The event was held by students of the high school to begin the healing process for this tragic incident.

A student at the vigil said that we needed to focus more on the good in the world, whether it was on social media, the internet, or the news. Instead of focusing on the negativity, we should focus on the positive and start sharing it with others, CBS 11 reported.

On June 1, a 10th-grade boy shot himself at McKinney North High School, in Texas.

A teacher and a student walked into an empty classroom and found the 10th-grader, whose identity is still unknown, with what was believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said the McKinney Police.

No other students are believed to be injured or involved in the shooting.

The entire school was on lockdown after it was notified about the incidentthe police came at approximately 9 a.m.

The students who didnt drive to school were moved to McKinney Boyd High School where their parents picked them up. The students who did drive to school could leave after they were checked out.

The school will have additional security guards and grief counselors starting on June 4.

It is unknown how the student got the gun, the investigation is ongoing.

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3-Year-Old Girl Found Dead in CarAuthorities Reveal Heartbreaking Reason Why

A 3-year-old Indiana girl has died after being left in a car for hours, authorities said.

Hannah Grace Miller was found inside of a vehicle that was parked on West 10th Street in Anderson on Sunday evening, June 3, reported Fox 59.

The little girl had been inside the car for around two hours, authorities said. Thats something that were still looking into, thats part of our investigation, Anderson Police Department Major Joel Sandefur said.

Millers father discovered her inside the car and started performing CPR, but Hannah was pronounced dead upon arrival at the St. Vincent Regional Hospital at 6:40 p.m. on Sunday.

The Madison County coroner said that the cause of death was acute heat exhaustion and overheating.

Its unclear if the father will face charges.

Were just going to go into and let the evidence lead us and direct us in the direction that we need to go at this point, said Sandefur.

According to the website Kids and Cars, Indiana has had 11 deaths from children left in hot cars since 1997. On average, each year 37 children left in cars die.

According to a study from researchers at Arizona State University and the University of California San Diego, interior temperatures in a vehicle left in the sun on a 95-degree day in Arizona heated up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit in just an hour, while the seats heated to 123 degrees.

A vehicle in the shade reached 100 degrees in interior temperatures and the seats registered at 105 degrees.

These tests replicated what might happen during a shopping trip, said Nancy Selover, an Arizona State University climatologist and research professor. We wanted to know what the interior of each vehicle would be like after one hour, about the amount of time it would take to get groceries. I knew the temperatures would be hot, but I was surprised by the surface temperatures.

Authorities said the best prevention is for parents to make sure not to leave their children in the vehicle. One recommended method is putting important things in the backseat so parents are compelled to grab those when leaving vehicles and grabbing their children at the same time.

Its sad when this happens so all we can do is push this awareness out there to make people stop and just think for a second to do things to remind them that the childs in the backseat, car needs to be locked and take those safety precautions, Wayne Township Fire Department Captain Michael Pruitt said.

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When Florida police arrested a car theft suspect, they were shocked to discover a monkey clinging to the mans pink polo shirt.

Pasco County Sheriffs Office deputies arrested Cody Blake Hession on Friday after he allegedly drove a stolen car into a ditch, according to WTVD TV. Unexpectedly, they discovered a capuchin monkey clutching the mans shirt, and not letting go.

In police bodycam video released by the Pasco Sheriffs Office, Hession can be heard telling officers that hes had the monkeynamed Monk for three years, since the monkey was 3 days old. He said he got it from a South Carolina breeder.

Hession, 23, of Holly Hill, also told officers there was no licensing or permitting required in that state. But since he didnt have an exotic animal permit for the monkey, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took the animal into custody, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Monk was to be taken to a nearby primate sanctuary.
Florida Infant Dies After Being Bitten by Dog

An 8-month-old girl in Florida has died after being bitten by a dog, authorities said.

The girl was at her grandmothers house after her mother, Brenda Vallasin, dropped her infant daughter off there, reported the Miami Herald.

Several hours after she was dropped off on Wednesday morning, Vallasin received a phone call from a relative telling her something had happened to the little girl, Liana.

Vallasin sped from her job in Pompano Beach to the home of the grandmother in Miramar only to find her daughter had already passed away.

I am numb right now, said Villasin, 24. She was the best thing to ever happen to me.

A male pit bull, 3 or 4 years old, bit the little girl.

The baby was sitting on a bouncy chair in a bedroom when she was killed, Miramar police officers told WLPG.

The family at the home owned three pit bulls, all of which were removed by Broward County Animal Care and Adoption Division.

8-month-old baby girl dies after she was attacked by pet dog in Florida https://t.co/59c1tB7dsU pic.twitter.com/AEmjN9S2R2  TCPalm (@TCPalm) May 31, 2018

One neighbor believed that the dog made a crucial mistake.

Children play and sometimes dogs dont understand that, Jackie Knapp said.

Dogsbite.org, which advocates for a ban on pit bulls, says that on average 33 people are killed each year by dogs in the United States. The website, which culls media reports and public records, says that two-thirds of the fatal attacks are committed by pit bulls.

A number of studies appear to support the claim that pit bulls are responsible for more attacks than any other breeds, such as a five-year review of dog-bite injuries from the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia that found almost 51 percent of the attacks were from pit bulls, with another 9 percent from Rottweilers and another 6 percent from mixes of those two breeds, reported Live Science.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, though, said that early experiences for dogs, including pit bulls, seem to lead to violence.

Given the powerful impact of socialization, its no surprise that dogs that are chained outside and isolated from positive human interaction are more likely to bite people than dogs that are integrated into our homes, the group stated.

Unfortunately, pit bull type dogs that find themselves in these conditions may be at greater risk for developing aggressive behavior. But because these factors are ones that can be controlled by better-educated owners, it is possible to reduce these risks, not just in pit bulls but in dogs of all breeds, it also said.

For her part, Vallasin said she doesnt believe the breed had a role in the killing. I still dont feel any type of way about a pit bull, she said.

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Taliban agreed to three-day ceasefire with Afghan forces but said that its fighters would 'strongly defend' themselves if attacked.

Afghan forces for the first three days of Eid-al-Fitr," the Taliban said in a WhatsApp message. (Photo: File/AP)

Kabul: The Taliban announced on June 9 a three-day ceasefire with Afghan security forces for Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, though it said operations against "foreign occupiers" would continue.

But the group warned that its fighters would "strongly defend" themselves if attacked, according to a statement sent to the media two days after the Afghan government announced a week-long ceasefire.

"All the mujahideen are directed to stop offensive operations against Afghan forces for the first three days of Eid-al-Fitr," the Taliban said in a WhatsApp message.

"But if the mujahideen are attacked we will strongly defend (ourselves)." The Taliban added that "foreign occupiers are the exception" to the order sent to its fighters.

"Our operations will continue against them, we will attack them wherever we see them," it said. It was the first time the Taliban had agreed to a ceasefire for Eid since the US invasion in 2001.

The announcement came after President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday declared an apparently unilateral week-long ceasefire with the Taliban. It would last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr", Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19.

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Group Leaves Popular Restaurant With $420 Unpaid  This Is Not All They Did

A group of more than a dozen people who were dining at a popular Tennessee restaurant started smoking marijuana inside the establishment before leaving without paying the hefty bill, according to the police.

The situation unfolded on June 3 at Fridas Mexican Restaurante in Memphis.

Surveillance footage shows the group of 16 people having a good time and eating lots of food.

Jessee Gonzalez, who was managing that night, said that the group was one of the last tables seated. They arrived at 10:30 p.m. The restaurant closes at 11 p.m.

The group ordered many drinks, including multiple $11 margaritas, and a number of the most expensive entrees.

Pretty soon, Gonzalez was forced to speak to one member of the group who had started smoking marijuana. The group was not happy.

Group lights up, walks out on $420 restaurant bill https://t.co/65mPa3vKXc pic.twitter.com/oPx6WDFMQJ  fox8news (@fox8news) June 7, 2018

They started getting louder and louder, getting upset, yelling offenses to the server, saying come on, come on, Gonzalez told WREG.

After the chaos calmed down, the group started slipping away one by one. Eventually, everyone was gone. A bill of $420 was left unpaid.

Gonzalez said its the restaurants first major walkout and that hes never seen anything like it.

Memphis police officers are searching for the group, utilizing the surveillance footage. Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

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Mahathir Mohamad speaks during a news conference following the general election in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, May 10, 2018. (Reuters/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo)

Malaysias Mahathir Calls for Review of Trans-Pacific Trade Pact

KUALA LUMPURMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called for a review of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, saying smaller economies like Malaysia were at a disadvantage under the current terms.

In an interview with Japans Nikkei published on Saturday, Mahathir said the trade pactwhich includes Japan and Canadashould take into consideration the level of development of various countries.

Small, weaker economies must be given a chance to protect their products, Mahathir told the Japanese financial daily. We have to review the TPP.

Mahathirs call to review the TPP agreement would be a blow for the 11-member trade pact, which was finalized after tough negotiations earlier this year following the withdrawal of one of the original signatories, the United States.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as it is now called following the U.S. withdrawal, will reduce tariffs in countries that together amount to more than 13 percent of the global economy  a total of $10 trillion in gross domestic product. With the United States, it would have represented 40 percent.

Mahathir did not reject the significance of agreements such as the TPP and he did not say whether he would consider leaving the trade pact altogether, Nikkei reported.

The 92-year-old took over as Malaysias prime minister last month after a stunning election victory over Najib Razak, promising to stamp out corruption and lower living costs.

He has immediately embarked on reviewing several projects and agreements signed by the Najib government. The premier has pulled out of a high-speed rail project with Singapore and is reviewing a $14 billion local rail line to be built by Chinese companies.

In the Nikkei interview, Mahathir said his government must review all agreements entered into by the previous administration, including infrastructure, trade and security pacts.

He said Malaysia will review the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea, which is being negotiated between Beijing and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Nikkei reported that Mahathir reiterated Malaysia did not want the presence of warships in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca.

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Mother Charged for Doing the Unthinkable to 18-Month-Old SonPolice Reveal What Happened

A 20-year-old mother from Sydney, Australia, has been arrested and charged over the alleged repeat-poisoning of her infant son, police said.

Detectives from the New South Wales Crime Commands Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad launched an investigation earlier this year after an 18-month-old boy was treated for a near-fatal overdose of a prescription medication, according to a police statement.

The child was admitted to the Sydney Childrens Hospital in January and was found to have high levels of Tegretola prescription medication used to treat epilepsy and neuropathic painin his system. He had not been prescribed the medication at the time.

According to NPS Medicinewise, Tegretol can cause side effects such as dizziness, vomiting, stomach pain, and weakness.

The boys mother, who has not been identified for legal reasons, was arrested at a home at Lurnea around 7.30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, after extensive inquiries. She was subsequently taken to Liverpool Police Station and charged with seven counts of using poison to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm, the statement said. She as refused bail.

Police allege the mother administered the drug to her child without a current prescription and contrary to medical instruction.

The mothers defence lawyer Ted Bramble told reporters outside court today that she was very sad and thoughtful about the incident, reported 9News.

The poor woman has been labouring under some loads, emotionally, he told reporters.

The good thing is hopefully now shell get the help she much needs and eventually, hopefully, she and this little son can be reconciled. At the moment, thats not possible.

The boy has since been released from the hospital and is currently being cared for by relatives.

Detective chief inspector Brian Parker told reporters that the boy is healthier now but may suffer cognitive damage as a result of the overdose.

In terms of any long-term conditions the child may suffer, we may be looking at three to five years away before we know anything, Parker said, reported the news station.

The mother is scheduled to next appear in Liverpool Local Court on June 13.

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Myanmar Hardline Monks Vow to Stay on Facebook Despite Ban

YANGONMyanmars hardline monks will dodge bans on Facebook and keep using it to tell the truth, they said on Friday, after the social media giant barred several Buddhist nationalists for hate messages targeting Rohingya Muslims.

United Nations officials investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar have said Facebook has been a source of propaganda against the minority in a country where it has become a near-ubiquitous communications tool as the economy opens up.

Myanmars nationalist monks and activists, who have emerged as a political force in recent years, have been sharing violent and angry rhetoric on Facebook targeting the minority, seen by many in the Buddhist-majority country as illegal immigrants.

It is a violation of freedom of expression, Thuseitta, a member of the Patriotic Myanmar Monks Union told Reuters hours after Facebook identified him as a hate figure.

We will keep using Facebook with different names and accounts to tell the truth to people.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, the United Nations and aid agencies have said, following an army crackdown after Rohingya insurgent attacks last August.

Washington has called the army response ethnic cleansing  a charge Myanmar denies, saying its security forces have been waging a legitimate counter-insurgency operation against Bengali terrorists.

Pinnyawenta, another monk from the union whose account was deactivated in May after repeatedly being asked by Facebook to remove some posts, said he had registered again under another name and would continue to write about the truth on the site.

In an email message, Facebook told Reuters it was investing more in the teams who are working on Myanmar as it seeks to understand and respond to Myanmars unique technical challenges.

Theres always more we can do to get ahead of these repeat offenders, and we are committed to improving our detection tools to remove them from Facebook as quickly as possible, the company said.

The California-based company will invest more in artificial intelligence to deal with languages in Myanmar, it said.

Facebook added that it had designated as hate figures and organizations a radical Buddhist group, Ma Ba Tha, and several prominent monks known for vitriol toward Rohingya, blocking them from the platform.

The move had led to the removal of a lot of harmful and violating content, it said.

Ei Myat Noe Khin, a manager of Yangon-based Phandeeyar, which helped Facebook translate its Burmese-language community standards, urged the company to hire more people who are unbiased and understand Myanmar well.

That would be the only way for Facebook to tackle the proliferating accounts behind the rumors spread to trigger violence, riots and conflict, she added.

By Sam Aung Moon and Yimou Lee

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The Crippling Costs of Social Anxiety

Modern technology and a perfectionist culture feed an affliction of isolation

We all need moments of solitude, but people are primarily social creatures. Connecting with others gives us a sense of meaning and purpose, and helps us make our way in the world.

Thats why social anxiety can be so devastatingit injures our ability to connect.

Sometimes known as social phobia, this affliction can turn an otherwise ordinary social interaction into a humiliating experience. It starts as a worry and a loss for words. Then it builds to a panic. Over time, it develops into a deep sense of inferiority.

Writer and editor Jazmin Cybulski has struggled with social anxiety for most of her life. She describes feeling distant in social situations for reasons beyond her control. During bouts of social anxiety, her usual facility for language escapes her. Sometimes it strikes when shes one-on-one with a person she admires. Other times, it hits when shes in a room full of people.

Its like theres a disconnect between my brains ability to cope with whatever situation is happening and my desire to be fully engaged in the situation, Cybulski said. I want to be there, but my brain wont let me fully be there.

Shaun Walker, creative director and co-founder of a marketing and PR agency, has suffered from social anxiety since he was a teen. An introverted individual from a family of extroverts, Walker says he feels like theres something wrong with him, but hes not sure how to fix it.

Ive seen a psychologist for this and now take prescriptions, which helps with the anxiety, but I still feel at times disappointed in myself in social scenes, he said. I want to talk more; I do. But I just dont. I dont know what to say or am held back from previous experiences.

These are common themes according to Jonathan Berent, a clinical social worker and therapist from Great Neck, New York, who has devoted the past 40 years to understanding and treating social anxiety. Berent has written three books on the subject, and has had consistent clinical success with helping clients deal with social anxiety.

Its very rewarding when you can help people like this because there are profoundly positive things that can happen, he said.

An Affliction of Avoidance

Low self-esteem and a sense of missing out can haunt those with social anxiety, but freeing oneself from this mindset can seem like an impossible task. The impulse to avoid social situations is strengthened by a feeling of defectiveness, resulting from uncontrollably weird or stilted behavior in the presence of others, feeding a vicious cycle.

To cope with the pain of being around people, social anxiety sufferers often develop a knack for numbing themselves to the outside world. Thats why Berent calls it the disease of resistance.

As a defense mechanism, sufferers learn to disconnect from thoughts and feelings associated with anxiety. This detachment leads to avoidance and repressed emotion, which recycles negatively, Berent said.

Social anxiety is estimated to impact as much as 7 percent of the population, but the actual number may be much larger. Experts believe that many cases go undiagnosed because sufferers are too embarrassed to seek help.

One form of social anxiety that most people can relate to is the fear of public speaking. We become more self-conscious when a crowd is focused on our speech and appearance. Now imagine if you always felt under the spotlightyour every word and action subject to intense public scrutiny.

Often confused with shyness, social anxiety isnt about having a quiet or timid disposition, but rather a constant fear of ridicule and rejection. Its thinking too much about what to say to avoid looking foolish, and looking more foolish in the process.

For some, classic symptoms of embarrassmentsuch as blushing, stammering, and sweatingflare up. Quirks and flaws seem to magnify in the presence of people, the mind goes blank, and self-esteem shrivels.

There are no data available to show a rise in social anxiety, but therapists report seeing more people who struggle with it in recent years. Cybulski believes the cultural pressure to be perfect plays a big role.

We all are told to be the best in everything, but no one is perfect, and that expectation is crippling to a lot of people, she said. This extends to social situations. We dont want to be seen as failing at being perfect at sociability, but that fear of failure causes us to fail anyway.

Side Effects of Technology

In a society that emphasizes competition, increased productivity, and perfect performance, social anxiety follows along.

Technology perpetuates this affliction as our convenient gadgets keep unwanted human contact at a comfortable distance.

Everyone has social needs, and people with social anxiety naturally gravitate toward social media to meet those needs. This format allows anxious individuals the time to craft exactly what they want to say without the pressure, awkward silences, or embarrassing behaviors that might arise with an actual person in real-time.

In an article exploring the rise in social anxiety and why people are reluctant to seek help, psychologist Dr. Laura Chackes says social media is sometimes the only way socially nervous people will interact with others. But this strategy can backfire, inflicting some of the ugliest features of online culture on extremely sensitive individuals.

They are at an even higher risk of the negative effects related to comparisons to others, being left out, and cyberbullying, Chackes said.

Too much reliance on technology may also erode our people skills. Author and travel blogger Lauren Juliff has suffered from social anxiety for most of her life. She works online, so its easy for her to avoid other people. But her social anxiety got much worse while working on a time-sensitive project a few years ago.

In 2015, Juliff landed a book deal that demanded a finished manuscript in just a few months. She agreed to the tight deadline and hunkered downworking 18-hour days and rarely leaving the house.

When she finally emerged, Juliff hadnt seen friends or even felt the sunlight on her skin for four months. Just being outside made her jumpy and nervous, and talking to people felt too far out of her comfort zone.

I overanalyzed everything I said in a conversation for months afterward, beating myself up if a joke didnt land or if I couldnt find anything to say when faced with an awkward silence, Juliff said.

There were physical symptoms, too. Talking to friends would result in dizziness and heart palpitations. Simply walking to a friends house would trigger severe stomach cramps. Juliff would have to turn around and go home, reporting through text that she was too sick to meet up.

On the rare occasions when I was able to push through the pain, Id arrive and be so nervous I was going to say something weird that Id opt for saying nothing at all, and stand on my own in an awkward silence, Juliff said. It got pretty bad.

Juliffs is an extreme case, but in a world in which texting has replaced talking as the dominant form of nonpersonal communication for people under 50, it may be a sign of a growing trend.

Berent believes that with our increased dependence on technology, the neural pathways required for basic social skills, such as verbal communication, have started to atrophy.

This is really becoming an epidemic, he said.

Confronting Social Fears

Social anxiety doesnt just go away on its own. Therapists and sufferers agree that challenging social fears is essential to recovery.

For Juliff, this meant learning to let go of what other people thought, and forcing herself to do things that made her uncomfortable, such as asking a stranger a question, accepting invitations, or inviting friends to her house. To keep calm, Juliff turned to meditation.

I found that if I meditated before going outside, I would leave the house feeling relaxed, which then helped me feel better equipped to deal with talking to friends, she said. I realized I stopped overanalyzing every word that came out of my mouth, too.

The conventional strategy for addressing social anxiety is cognitive behavioral therapy with the option of medication if anxious feelings prove too difficult to get under control. But Berent doesnt think these strategies alone get to the heart of the problem.

Cognition is very important; everything starts with a thought. Behavior speaks for itself. But this doesnt work with the core issue, which is anger and how its related to physiology, he said.

This insight is inspired by the work of the late Dr. John Sarno, a professor of rehabilitation medicine at New York University School of Medicine known for his surprisingly effective yet controversial idea. Sarno discovered that most chronic back pain could be traced to repressed rage. Berent sees the same pattern in social anxiety.

This is the quintessential disease of resistance because people dont want to feel it, Berent said. Once they start processing the anger, the goal is to channel that into productive energy.

These people have a lot to be angry at. Living in constant fear of what others think is an enormous burden to carry and makes life extremely limiting. It also prevents a lot of the good experiences spending time with others has to offer, such as building healthy relationships.

People who dont suffer from social anxiety often believe you can simply snap out of it given enough willpower. But some say recovery is the hardest thing theyve ever done.

There is a big reward for coming out the other side. Berent teaches his patients to learn how to harness the adrenaline surges that once tripped them up, and use it as a means to focus, stay present, and zero in on what they truly want to communicate. The result is engaged, sincere, and more meaningful interaction.

Getting to this place requires introspection. Someone who spends most of their time alone may believe they already excel at this skill, but Berent insists that being in your head isnt the same as going inside.

They can be more worrying; more ruminating. But introspection is a different process. Its looking at and identifying what is. Then its emotional agilitythe process of identifying the specificity and intensity of feelings, as well as how the thinking is gluing it all together, he said.

Because of the work and courage required for recovery, a key quality to pursuing this process is initiative. For some, the motivation is the promise of dating, or better employment opportunities. For Juliff, it was a realization that all her close friends had moved on because she was unable to maintain a relationship.

I knew I had to make a change or Id end up miserable and alone for the rest of my life, she said.

For those who lack initiative, they may never be able to break free.

When parents contact Berent for help because their adult, unemployed, live-in son or daughter spend their lives playing video games, they are often surprised when he wants to talk to them first. But the parents may not realize that they are standing in the way of their childs initiative.

This is an addiction to avoidance, Berent said. So if you do not teach the enablers what to do, this problem will sustain itself.
Special Counsel Adds More Charges to Paul Manafort Indictment

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has added charges for obstruction of justice to the indictment of Paul Manafort on Friday.

The indictment states that Manafort and his associate Konstantin Kilimnik knowingly and intentionally attempted to corruptly persuade two unnamed witnesses with intent to influence, delay, and prevent the testimony. It doesnt mention any further details. It also adds a charge for conspiracy to obstruct justice, meaning Manafort and Kilimnik allegedly did it together.

Mueller previously charged Manafort in two separate lawsuits with conspiring to launder money, lying to investigators, committing tax and bank fraud, and failing to register as a foreign agent. The charges stemmed from his PR and campaign work for former pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Kilimnik, described as a former Russian intelligence officer, worked with Manafort on the Yanukovych job.

Years after his work for Yanukovych ended, Manafort joined the campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump in March 2016 and served briefly as the campaign manager from June to August that year. He stepped down amid reports of his previous work in Ukraine.

Trump later questioned why the FBI never told him Manafort was being investigated for his past business.

We should have been told that [then-FBI Director James] Comey and the boys were doing a number on him, and he wouldnt have been hired! Trump wrote on Twitter on June 3.

.Paul Manafort came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time (he represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole & many others over the years), but we should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him, and he wouldnt have been hired!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2018

None of the charges against Manafort are related to Russian interference in the 2016 elections or any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which Mueller was originally appointed to investigate. Manafort pleaded not guilty and is fighting the charges in court.

The judge in Manaforts case rebuked Muellers team during a hearing in early May, saying that the prosecutors are more interested in taking down Trump than securing a conviction against Manafort.

You dont really care about Mr. Manafort, District Judge T.S. Ellis III told the prosecutors. You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr. Trump and an impeachment, or whatever.

Ellis demanded to view a classified scope memo sent to Mueller by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which outlines what the special counsel is authorized to probe. The judge demanded to see the memo because the charges brought against Manafort are well outside the scope of the Russia probe.

Manafort was one of at least seven of Trumps associates secretly surveilled by the Obama administration. He was spied on from sometime in 2016 to early 2017, including times when he spoke to Trump, according to leaks to the media from anonymous sources.

The Epoch Times previously laid out how a select group of Obama-administration officials orchestrated an expansive spy operation against the Trump campaign that included national security lettersa type of secret subpoenaForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, at least one spy, the unmasking of American citizens in intelligence reports, and spying conducted by foreign intelligence agencies. A large amount of information obtained through the operation was illegally leaked to certain media.

Both the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general and the House intelligence committee are currently probing the officials involved and why they launched the operation.

A group of congressmen already referred former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente for criminal investigation over their roles in signing a FISA warrant to surveil Trump campaign volunteer adviser Carter Page. The FBI wiretapped Page using a warrant based on an unverified dossier funded by Hillary Clintons campaign.

The lawmakers accuse the four officials of depriving Page of his rights and of investigative misconduct.

Mueller and his team took over the FBI investigation in May 2017.

Of his team of 17 lawyers, most worked at the DOJ or FBI headquarters during the Obama administration. At least 13 are registered Democrats, and at least 11 of them made campaign contributions to Democratic candidates, The Daily Caller reported. None are Republican except, perhaps, Mueller himself.

Epoch Times reporter Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.

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Teenager With Cerebral Palsy Makes Stunning Move at Her Graduation

An Ohio teenager with cerebral palsy surprised her parents by walking across the stage at her high school graduation.

Lexi Wright, 19, shocked her parents and the rest of the crowd at Ravenna High School on Wednesday night when she got out of her wheelchair and, gripping a walker, walked across the stage to accept her diploma.

Almost immediately after she started walking, people began applauding, reported the Ravenna Record-Courier.

Wrights mother Dede was especially touched to see her daughter, who doctors said would likely die within one year of birth and would never walk, walk for the first time.

I knew nothing about it until they started to move her feet (support) on her wheelchair, then I knew something was happening, Dede said. When she received a standing ovation, that melted my heart.

Wright practiced for an entire year in secret to be able to walk across the stage.

"Ohio teen with cerebral palsy walks at graduation to surprise family " via FOX NEWS https://t.co/8XKH4cJP6T pic.twitter.com/BDzWYQN7m7  Shaitan Rajpurohit (@ishaitanpurohit) June 6, 2018

I thought to myself: Wouldnt it be cool if I walked across the stage and received my diploma? Wright told Fox 8.

She practiced at least once a week with a physical therapist at school.

And when the moment she dreamed of arrived, she delivered.

My hands and my feet were shaking, but as I was walking I felt amazing, like I thought to myself, wow, Im really doing this, she said.

Wright has cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder.

In general, cerebral palsy causes impaired movement associated with abnormal reflexes, floppiness or rigidity of the limbs and trunk, abnormal posture, involuntary movements, unsteady walking, or some combination of these, according to the Mayo Clinic. People with cerebral palsy may have problems swallowing and commonly have eye muscle imbalance, in which the eyes dont focus on the same object. People with cerebral palsy also may suffer reduced range of motion at various joints of their bodies due to muscle stiffness.

Wrights mother said she always told her daughter that she could do anything she wanted.

I always try to embed in her brain that she can do whatever she wants in life and to not let anyone tell her differently, Dede said. I guess what I am saying is, the sky is the limit and for her not to think that because she is disabled that she cant do what other people do. She is capable of doing whatever she sets her mind to. She has always been a determined girl.

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The remaining signatories to the pact have been scrambling to find ways to preserve the accord since Trump's announcement.

Last month a senior Iranian official said European powers had until the end of May to come up with an economic package to compensate Iran for the effects of the US withdrawal. (Photo: AP)

Vilinius: A senior Iranian official said on Friday that Tehran "cannot wait forever" for the confirmation of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers that is hanging in the balance after the United States withdrew.

Speaking to AFP in Lithuania's capital Vilnius, Iran's vice president for women's affairs Massoumeh Ebtekar also said that Tehran "will be ready for further uranium enrichments, these are preparations which are underway, all within the framework of JCPOA".

The future of the deal -- known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- has been thrown into doubt after President Donald Trump announced last month that the US would withdraw from the accord and re-impose sanctions.

The remaining signatories to the pact have been scrambling to find ways to preserve the accord since Trump's announcement.

Last month a senior Iranian official said European powers had until the end of May to come up with an economic package to compensate Iran for the effects of the US withdrawal.

Ebtekar told AFP that Iran wanted European powers, Russia and China to confirm the deal "as soon as possible because Iran cannot wait forever and it's part of our national right".

"We have been a faithful player to this commitment, we've done our best, we've shown our good intentions. We are facing a very volatile region," added Ebtekar, who was visiting Vilnius to attend the Women Political Leaders Global Forum.

Ebtekar said that the deal was "important to preserve because it is not only a nuclear but also a non-proliferation deal", adding that it was "very important" for peace and security "not only for the Middle East but also the broader region and at global level".

Her comments regarding Iran's preparations to relaunch uranium enrichment echo ones made on Wednesday by Reza Najafi, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA's board in Vienna.

Najafi said that Iran was in "preparatory works" to restart nuclear activities in the event of the failure of the accord.

Ebtekar called on the European Union to "take a very strong stance against any unilateral action that could impede peace and security processes, and could undermine the trust that has been created between countries to this pledge."

Experts from the countries still in the Iran nuclear deal held a scheduled meeting in Tehran on Thursday.

The closed-door talks involving representatives from Iran, Britain, China France, Germany and Russia as well as the European Union had long been on the cards, but comes as tensions rose on the heels of Tehran's announced plan to boost uranium enrichment capacity.
Good Samaritan Saves Young Boy Drowning at Gastonia Hotel, Hotel Owner Talks About Pool Signs

A 3-year-old boys life was saved by a good Samaritan after the boy nearly drowned at a hotel swimming pool.

Corey Bennett said he saw the incident from his hotel room and subsequently ran to the child. When he got there, the boys lips were already purple, and he was not breathing.

Police were called around 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, to Days Inn Hotel in Gastonia, Gaston County, North Carolina, according to Gaston County Emergency Services, for a possible drowning.

A kid was drowning and when they pulled him out of the pool, I just started doing CPR, Bennett said, reported WJZY.

It was a split second, it happened so fast, it wasnt nobodys fault, it wasnt nothing about bad parenting, Bennett said.

Bennett continued to perform CPR until paramedics arrived. The boy was revived and was awake when he was transported to Gaston Memorial Hospital.

I just did what I feel like any human should do, Bennett said. Anybody out here thats certified, you shouldnt freeze up under that pressure, you shouldnt stop. If you can save someones life you should save it, period.

Days Inn Manager, Hitendra Raja, told WJZY, Its a miracle the child is still alive.

Raja said that surveillance video showed the boy sitting on a float for three to four minutes alone, while his mother was sitting on the pool deck. Later, the float flipped over, but no one appeared to notice. Raja said that about two and half minutes later, the boys mother started looking around for her son, and jumped into the pool to pull him out.

Gaston Police are investigating the incident, and said the Department of Social Services was contacted, WJZY reported. The Gastonia Health Department was also notified and inspected the pool.

Raja says pool rules will remain the same. He also said the pool was cleared because all the signs required under state law were posted. Such signs included: No lifeguard on duty; children must be accompanied by adults; and children should not use the swimming pool without supervision.

When Raja called the family, he said he was informed the child is still in the hospital but in okay condition.

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President Donald Trump holds a press conference ahead of his early departure from the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Canada, on June 9, 2018. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Trump at G7: US Will No Longer Be Worlds Piggy Bank

Before his departure from G7, Trump talked about trade, Russia, North Korea, and Iran

QUEBEC CITYPresident Donald Trump told the Group of Seven (G7) leaders that there should be no tariffs and barriers among the G7 countries, during the summit in La Malbaie, Quebec.

You go tariff-free, you go barrier-free, you go subsidy-free. Thats the way you learn at the Wharton School of Finance Trump told reporters on Saturday. I did suggest it, and people wereI guess, they got to go back to the drawing board and check it out.

President Donald Trump left the G7 talks early, flying directly to Singapore to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

He held a press conference in La Malbaie before his departure, addressing a wide range of topics including the trade tensions, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

Trump said the leaders tackled a variety of issues facing the countries but trade topped the list. The talks on trade were not contentious, according to Trump. The language, however, was strong, he added.

The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades, and we cant do that anymore, Trump said.

Were like the piggy bank that everybodys robbing, Trump complained. And I dont blame other leaders for that. I blame our past leaders.

The United States would not back off from its tough stance in negotiations with trading partners, Trump said.

The trade imbalance would change, he added. They have no choice. If its not going to change were not going to trade with them.

Trump had bilateral meetings on Friday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Before heading to the summit, he had engaged in a bitter back-and-forth with both leaders over Twitter, criticizing Canada and the EU for their unfair trade practices.

In a trade war, Trump told reporters that the United States has nothing to lose.

We win that war a thousand times out of a thousand, he said.

Should the NAFTA talks fail, Trump repeated that the United States would consider separate bilateral trade deals with Canada and Mexico.

Trump earlier called on the G7 leaders to reinstate Russia as a member. He reiterated his position, saying it would be an asset to have Russia back in the group.

Were looking for peace in the world. Were not looking to play games, Trump said.

Responding to Trumps proposal, Italys new Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte tweeted on Friday: I agree with President @realDonaldTrump: Russia should re-enter the G8. Its in everyones interests.

Russia was suspended from what was then the G8 after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Trump accused President Obama of letting Russia take over Crimea.

Crimea was let go during the Obama administration. And you know Obama can say all he wants, but he allowed Russia to take Crimea, he said.

With respect to the North Korea summit, Trump said that it would be a one time shot for Kim Jong-un but he is hopeful that the meeting would work out.

He wont have that opportunity again, Trump said. Hes going to do something very positive for his people, for himself, his family.

Within the first minute, Ill know, Trump said in response to a question on how long it would take him to understand the Korean leaders sincerity.

The G7 leaders also discussed the issue of uncontrolled migration and the threat it poses to national security.

We are committed to addressing the migration challenge by helping migrants to remain and prosper in their own home countries, Trump said.

During the summit, other security threats were addressed including the threat of Iran.

The G7 nations remain committed to controlling Irans nuclear ambitions with or without them. Those ambitions are going to be controlled along with efforts to combat terrorism and extremism and those who spread this deadly ideology, Trump said.
Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (R) speaks with President Donald Trump during the G7 official welcome at Le Manoir Richelieu on day one of the G7 meeting in Quebec City, Canada on June 8, 2018. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Trump Meets Trudeau to Address Trade Tensions

After engaging in Twitter spat ahead of G7 Summit, both leaders swapped friendly jokes about trade and NAFTA

QUEBEC CITYPresident Donald Trump had a bilateral meeting on Friday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec. Both leaders traded friendly jokes about trade and NAFTA before the start of the meeting.

Trump first joked that Justin has agreed to cut all tariffs, all trade barriers between Canada and the United States, which made Trudeau laugh. Trudeau responded, I would say NAFTA is in good shape.

Both leaders are expected to address tensions over trade and the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Our relationship is very good. Were actually working on cutting tariffs and making it all very fair for both countries, said Trump. And weve made a lot of progress today. Well see how it all works out.

Trump reiterated the United States would not rule out separate bilateral trade deals with Canada and Mexico.

It could be that NAFTA will be a different form. It could be with Canada, with Mexico, one on one. A much simpler agreement, much easier to do, he explained.

After his meeting with Trudeau, Trump held a separate meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

We had a very direct and open discussion, said Macron after the meeting, adding both sides had goodwill to find a win-win solution.

The United States has had a very big trade deficit for many years with the European Union, and were working it out, said Trump after the meeting. And Emmanuel has been very helpful in that regard.

Trump also at that time said he had a very, very good meeting on NAFTA with Justin and his representatives.

Before heading to the summit, Trump engaged in a bitter back-and-forth with both Macron and Trudeau over Twitter, accusing Canada and the EU of being unfair to the United States.

Why isnt the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S., Trump wrote on Thursday. Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies.

The world leaders are meeting at a time of heightened tensions over trade between the United States and other G7 members. A week before the summit, Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada, Mexico, and the EU.

Host country Canada is the largest supplier of metals. Trudeau earlier called the tariffs unacceptable and said they would introduce countermeasures.

Trump accused Trudeau of being indignant, in another tweet on Thursday.

He doesnt bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300 percent on dairy, hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture, he wrote.

A senior White House official said that Trump would leave the summit at 10:30 am on Saturday rather than 3:30 pm, as originally scheduled.

Asked if Trudeau was disappointed that the president would be leaving the summit early, Trump joked Hes happy.
Woman Held Captive by Boyfriend in Florida Escapes After Quick Decision

A woman being held captive by her boyfriend in Florida was able to escape thanks to a secret note.

The woman was held captive by her boyfriend for two days, according to the Volusia County Sheriffs Office.

On the third day, he allowed her to leave the home to go to the veterinarian but was with her.

At the animal hospital, the 28-year-old woman managed to slip a note to the vet that read, Call the cops, my boyfriend is threatening me. He has a gun. Please dont let him know.

The vet alerted the police and officers rushed to the home, reported ABC.

After the man was arrested, the woman told officers that he held her captive for two days and repeatedly battered her on Wednesday night, threatened her at gunpoint, and physically prevented her from leaving their home.

She said that on their way to the hospital, the man pointed the gun at her and threatened to kill her and her family.

After the arrest, the woman was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for a head injury, a black eye, and bruised arms.

The sheriffs office said that the boyfriend, 39-year-old Jeremy Floyd, is a convicted felon who has been convicted of possession of a controlled substance, sale of cocaine, burglary, and grand theft.

He is being held without bail and has been charged with a number of charges, including domestic violence, false imprisonment, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, reported WESH.

When officers went to the victims house in the 900 block of South Amelia Avenue, they found two bullet holes in a hallway.

The woman told officers that she had tried to escape from her imprisonment by hopping out of a window and running down the street but that Floyd chased her down and dragged her back in the house, reported the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Floyd then allegedly struck her several times in the head, leading to her to try to grab the loaded handgun. During the struggle, the gun went off.

Floyd denied assaulting his girlfriend and said shed been injured when she dove out the window and struggled with him for the gun.

The woman wrote a sworn statement, but declined to press criminal charges.

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But in a new study of more than 200 women who had their eggs removed and frozen as a form of counter-infertility insurance, nearly half expressed regret.

While most women expressed positive reactions of enhanced reproductive options after freezing eggs, we were surprised to discover that for a group of women, it wasnt so simple, said lead author Dr. Eleni Greenwood, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of CaliforniaSan Francisco (UCSF). Some even frankly regretted their choice.

Greenwood and her colleagues invited women who had their oocytes surgically removed and frozen at UCSF from 2012 until 2016 to fill out email surveys. All underwent the procedure because they elected to delay childbearing rather than because of infertility or a cancer diagnosis.

The participants ranged in age from 27 to 44. Most were white, 78 percent had graduate or professional degrees, and 68 percent earned more than $100,000 a year.

Nearly a quarter worked for companies that paid for at least part of the procedure. It costs $10,000 to $20,000, and storage fees can be as high as $1,000 a year.

The vast majority, or 89 percent, of the 201 women who responded to the survey said they expected to be happy they froze eggs, even if they never used them.

But 49 percent revealed feeling some regret about their decision to undergo the procedure. Of those, about two-thirds reported mild regret and the rest reported moderate to severe regret.

The survey did not ask women to explain the reasons for their regret.

Women who choose to freeze their eggs undergo 10 days of injections of hormones to stimulate their ovaries and as many as six ultrasounds to monitor oocyte development. When the eggs look mature, the patient is anesthetized, and a doctor passes a needle through the vaginal wall to retrieve the eggs.

Women seem to be suggesting to us through this data that they needed more emotional support, senior author Dr. Heather Huddleston said in a phone interview.

We need to do a better job of educating women as they go through the process emotionally, said Huddleston, a reproductive endocrinologist and UCSF professor.

In fact, 13 of the women, who were between the ages of 34 and 40, estimated their likelihood of having a baby with their banked eggs at 100 percenta highly inflated estimate. The authors called the expectations unrealistic.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Kara Goldman of New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City expressed alarm over the exaggerated expectations, which could lead to unintended childlessness with devastating consequences.

There is no data on the efficacy of egg freezing in healthy women, a 2013 report said. But a separate large study that year of women who were having trouble conceiving found, for example, that the probability of a live birth for a 30-year-old woman who has two to six frozen eggs ranges from about 9 percent to 24 percent.

In 2012, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine stopped considering egg freezing an experimental procedure for infertile women or women diagnosed with cancer. But it warned, Marketing this technology for the purpose of deferring childbearing may give women false hope and encourage women to delay childbearing.

Rene Almeling, a sociology professor at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, praised the new study for being one of the first to consider egg-freezing patients experiences.

Almeling, who was not involved with the current research, has called attention to the short-term dangers of egg freezinghealth problems associated with the injected drugs and the surgery. She has joined other womens health advocates in calling for studies to examine potential long-term problems.

Although the first so-called test-tube baby is about to turn 40, no longitudinal studies have been done on assisted-reproduction technologies, she said.

Without the rigorous, scientific-based evidence, you cant really say, yes, its safe, or no, its not safe, she said. If that were communicated, there would be fewer women willing to throw their eggs into the egg freezer.
WESTPORT  A Stamford resident was charged Thursday after fleeing from troopers and officer in a car he wasnt supposed to be driving, police said.

Scott Cogswell, 28, of Stamford, was charged with second-degree criminal trover damage to a motor vehicle, interfering with an officer, using a motor vehicle without owners permission by fraud, disobeying the signal of an officer in an attempt to elude or escape, illegal operation of a motor vehicle under suspension and reckless driving.

On April 23, Westport cops were called to help state police in a pursuit of a car on the Sherwood Island Connector. Westport officers immediately saw the vehicle and tried to stop it.

The suspect refused to stop for officers who pursued the vehicle through Westport into Fairfield, Lt. Jillian Cabana said.

The driver went off the road on Fulling Hill Lane in Fairfield and fled the scene, leaving the car behind, police said. A phone was found in the car, and when officers answered it when it rang the caller asked to speak to Scott.

Officers figured out that the phone belonged to Cogswell.

Cogswell had been hired by the registered owner to do work on the vehicle and did not have permission to operate the vehicle, Cabana said. Police also found that Cogswell had a suspended license.

The investigating officer submitted an arrest warrant application which was approved. On June 7, officers responded to Norwalk police headquarters for Cogswell was in custody. He was taken back to Westport police headquarters to be processed.

Cogswell was released after posted his $25,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 18.
Editors note: This is the third in a series of profiles of candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticuts 5th Congressional District.

When Ruby Corby ONeill says shes been a fighter all her life - and she wants to take that fight to Washington, D.C. - shes not suggesting that Congress needs another partisan soldier.

Instead, the fight the retired Southbury psychology professor is referring to is a strength of spirit and a singleness of purpose that stems from her faith and her Republican principles, she says.

I am a fighter, but I am also a leader who brings people together, says ONeill, 65, the vice chair of the state Commission on Equity and Opportunity, who is running in the GOP primary for the 5th District. I have been able to create consensus and bring people to the table when we have worked on issues ... and you have to be able to do that in an effective way in order for people to join you.

The first-time candidate is fighting for votes and campaign support in the most competitive Congressional district in Connecticut. Former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos, who won the GOP endorsement at the Republican convention in mid-May, and Watertown businessman Richard Dupont are her two chief opponents in the Aug. 14 Republican primary.

Her advantage, she says, is her personal story as a single mom who was forced to start life over in Connecticut after a bad divorce, and as a conservative professor who stood up for minority voices on college campuses.

Her supporters agree.

She is an exceptionally strong person who does not give up on anybody, says her longtime friend, Susan Forcella of Bedford, N.Y. She is resourceful, extremely smart, and solution-oriented, and that is why I think this (Congressional seat) would be ideal for her.

Republicans would like to think this is their year to break the Democrats monopoly in the states Congressional delegation.

Although the 5th District is still considered Democratic territory - Republicans make up just 24 percent of voters - the GOPs chances improved when three-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty ended her bid for a fourth term. Esty, a Democrat, had raised $1.5 million when news broke that she covered up an office abuse scandal involving her former chief of staff.

In response, Republicans and Democrats tried to draft big-name candidates, including GOP state Rep. William Petit, the survivor of the 2007 Cheshire home invasion.

Petit declined, and instead backed ONeill, who is married to longtime state Rep. Arthur ONeill.

ONeill announced her candidacy just two weeks before the GOP convention. Santos, who was the only candidate while Esty was in the race, had raised $18,000 through mid-April.

Neither campaign would say how much money it has raised as of last week. The next time candidates report contributions to the Federal Elections Commission is at the end of the month.

Meanwhile Democrats are preparing for their own primary. Former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman had raised $175,000 by the end of May. Her primary opponent Jahana Hayes, the former star teacher from Waterbury, had raised $100,000.

During an interview on the campaign trail last week in New Milford, ONeill said the timing was right to run for Congress.

I was asked to run against Elizabeth Esty in 2016, but it wasnt the right time  I was involved in big programs on the commission, and I was involved in (political) campaigns, ONeill said. But when the opportunity came this time, I said Now is the time.

Rubys story

ONeills story as a fighter is as much a credential as her academic degrees and her advocacy when it comes to connecting with voters, she says.

I tell my story so that other people know that they are not alone, said ONeill, who grew up in the Bronx. When I talk to people, I want them to know I have walked a mile in your shoes. I know what this feels like.

The short version of ONeills life story is she was the mother of a toddler and a full-time student when problems with her first husband reached a crisis.

I hadnt finished my Ph.D when I had to deal with all these substance abuse issues and problems of his, and when we got divorced, that is when I realized I needed to finish this, ONeill said.

With her two children, ONeill moved from New York to Bethel, and started life over. She completed her doctorate in developmental psychology, and went on to teach at area colleges - first as an adjunct and then as a full-time professor at Post University in Waterbury.

A former student who is studying for a doctorate in industrial organizational psychology said he wouldnt have the confidence to pursue a Ph.D. without ONeills encouragement.

She is a genuinely good person who genuinely cares about people, said Rick Laguerre, 32, of Windsor. And that will translate well into caring for the people she represents.

ONeills platform includes stimulating the economy by reducing regulations, reforming immigration with a combination of enforcement and incentives, and making the opioid overdose epidemic a top priority.

She really is a force because she has lived these issues, said Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry. She brings things to the GOP that have not been represented well - the Latino experience and being a single, working mom - things that people can really relate to.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
NORWALK  Major track-and-signal work related to the upcoming Walk Bridge replacement is bordering science fiction for some Norwalk residents.

Mary Ann Mahan, who lives at Pine Street Studios next to Metro-North Railroads Danbury Line tracks, described the light and noise outside her window at 2 a.m. recently as akin to a UFO landing.

She and several neighbors asked Connecticut Department of Transportation officials for relief when the department came to Norwalk last Tuesday evening to update the public on the Danbury Dockyard, CP243 and Walk Bridge projects.

The plan is a living document, meaning it can be changed, Mahan said. I would like an assurance that you will not apply for a variance on such egregious noise levels at such egregious hours of the morning. Can you assure me of that?

Mahans was one of five Walk Bridge project noise-related complaints received by the Norwalk Customer Service Center in the last year. Replacement of the 122-year-old bridge wont start until late 2019.

Another Pine Street Studios resident asked how the nighttime work circumvented Norwalks noise ordinance. She was told the DOT is governed by state and federal regulations. On Friday, in response to an inquiry from Hearst Connecticut Media, the department elaborated on the noise standards.

Rail traffic along the Danbury Line is driving the nighttime construction work on the dockyard project, according to DOT officials. Trains run the line from morning rush hour until midnight. After midnight, only special freight trains or maintenance trains use the track.

The contractor is allowed to work on the tracks once the rails are cleared of all rail traffic, the DOT said in a document related to the project. This allows the contractor to work in the overnight hours from about midnight till about 5 a.m. The contractor is required to keep his operations below 90 dBA (decibels) during all of his operations.

At the same time, the department cited its environmental compliance standards concerning noise pollution. A contractor shall use all reasonable efforts to implement noise reduction methods listed below to minimize noise emission levels.

For example, the contractor has scheduled operations during the daytime wherever possible to reduce noise, set up several direct connections to the power grid to reduce the need for generators, set equipment back-up alarms to 5 decibels over ambient noise levels, and installed mufflers on the equipment to lower the noise levels, the DOT said.

The noise standards also address nuisance conditions where specific tones or frequencies  such as back-up alarms, brake squeals and jackhammers  reach or exceed 90 decibels.

To that end, the contractor has set up noise monitors to record the readings at two locations: One next to Track No. 1, north of Ann Street, between the Corset Factory building and 32 Pine St. for the dockyard project, the other at Norden Place for the CP243 project, the DOT said.

In addition, portable noise monitors are in use by inspectors to make sure operations remain below the 90-dedibel threshold, according to the DOT.

Residents of Pine Street Studios didnt need monitors to know how loud construction was one Sunday and Monday morning earlier this month.

A thousands pile drivers going all at once and bright lights, said Mahan, describing the activity.

The four-building, 28-unit complex flanks the Danbury Line tracks, within 30 feet of where contractors removed large trees and installed foundations for new catenary towers.

They were drilling for catenary foundations in that vicinity, DOT project engineer Stacey Epps told Mahan and her neighbors. The activity is expected to continue for another three weeks, and then theyll shift to the daytime.

The DOT plans to complete the Danbury Branch Dockyard Project by 2020 and the CP243 Interlocking Project on the east side of the Walk Bridge by 2021. Replacement of the Walk Bridge is slated to start in late 2019 and take four to five years to finish.

The department encourages business owners or managers near the Walk Bridge to complete by June 15 an online Business Coordination Plan Survey aimed at helping them survive the roughly $1 billion multi-year project. The survey can be found at surveymonkey.com/r/WalkBridgeSurvey.

Information about the Walk Bridge project can be found at walkbridgect.com.
NORWALK  When doctors in the Norwalk Hospital Emergency Department pull up their electronic care plan system on a computer, next to the most common patient ailments is a new option: non-opiate.

When the option is clicked, the system lists alternatives to opiate-based treatments. Its part of the hospitals recent opioid initiative aimed reducing the amount of opiates the emergency department orders for use in-house. In the past two years, it succeeded dramatically  the amount of opiates the department ordered nearly halved, dropping by 46 percent.

Benjamin Greenblatt, chairman of the emergency department, said the initiative was the departments response to the opioid pandemic.

You cant ignore it, right? he said. Its in the newspapers, its in the news, its in the literature  whether in the throwaway magazines or the peer-reviewed journals. It is just everywhere.

However, when one of the departments physicians, Chris Michos, began advocating for an opioid initiative, Greenblatt was unsure how much the department could reduce its opiate ordering. It had been years since the staff had learned about the dangers of opiates.

Had we already changed our ordering habits? he asked.

When the data came in this January, two years after the initiative began, it became clear that the new measures had made a significant impact. The number was a lot bigger than we ever thought it was going to be, Greenblatt said of the drop.

In addition to changing the electronic care plan system, the department invited guest speakers and educated staff on the latest research and practices. Michos visited St. Josephs Healthcare System, which hasNew Jerseys busiest emergency department, to learn best practices after it also launched an alternatives to opiates program (St. Josephs reported a 58 percent drop in opioid prescriptions within a year).

The goal, staff said, was not to eliminate opiate orders but to reduce unnecessary use.

With Dr. Greenblatts support, a collaborative team including myself, nursing and pharmacy met to include evidence-based new treatments and to utilize standard medications that, based on new research, was as effective as opioid medication without the side effects and risk of addiction, Michos said.

Continued education is important because medical consensus shifts over time.

When I trained, if someone had a lot of pain, it was Percocet, Valium, Greenblatt said (both are narcotics). In the intervening years, studies showed that Tylenol and Motrine can work together to be as effective as a Percocet and could be combined with other non-opiate treatments, such as muscle relaxers, steroids and heating pads.

From our point of view, its a much safer way of doing things, Greenblatt said. He pointed out that the initiative was also a very low-cost way of reducing opiate orders. So the idea would really be to scale it up through the network.

More Information Opiate order rates Between January of 2016 and December of 2017, the number of Norwalk Hospital Emergency Department opioid orders decreased 46 percent (from 1,712 to 932). When the Western Connecticut Health Network looked to compare its opiate order rates to the country's average, it ran into a problem: staff could not find a publicly available database such information. At the network's request, Sen. Chris Murphy's office reached out to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which responded with the following numbers: Between 2006 and 2010, the percentage of emergency department visits that had an opioid ordered or prescribed increased 15 percent for people between 18 and 44 years old (from 34.3 to 39.3 percent) increased 15 percent for people between 45 and 64 years old (from 33.2 to 38.3 percent) Between 2010 and 2015, the percentage of emergency department visits that had an opioid ordered or prescribed decreased 17 percent for people between 18 and 44 years old (from 39.3 to 32.7 percent) decreased 8 percent for people between 45 and 64 years old (from 38.3 to 35.2 percent) See More Collapse

Katherine Michael, a psychiatrist and medical director of community health at the Western Connecticut Health Network, of which Norwalk Hospital is part, said Norwalk Hospitals opiate initiative fits in with other ways the network addresses the opioid pandemic. For example, the network looks for flags that patients may have substance-abuse problems and pairs such patients with specialists who have worked through similar issued themselves. Essentially the way I think about it is were trying to bring treatment of this problem into everything that we do, Michael said.

As Greenblatt left his office, Brian McGovern, an attending emergency department physician, came up and began quietly updating him on a patient who had come in that day. The patient was aching from a virus, and his family had requested narcotics to ease the discomfort.

A lot of the time, people come here for us to take care of their pain, he said. And you have to be careful about how you do that.

McGovern said he had pointed the family to a host of alternatives with lesser potential side effects than a narcotic and explained that the recent initiative had made it easier for him to do so. I feel now I have a backing to say no.

rschuetz@hearstmediact.com; @raschuetz
He commended India for its leadership in development partnership fund with UN that is a vital example of deepening South-South cooperation.

Guterres thanked India for its 'strong commitment to multilateralism' and to partnership with the United Nations, which he said is expressed in many ways across the global agenda and seen through the activities of this 'important' fund. (Photo: File)

United Nations: Describing India as a "very important inspiration" for the international community, UN chief Antonio Guterres has commended the country for its leadership in a development partnership fund with the UN that he said has emerged as a vital example of deepening South-South cooperation.

Guterres thanked India for its "strong commitment to multilateralism" and to partnership with the United Nations, which he said is expressed in many ways across the global agenda and seen through the activities of this "important" fund.

India played a very important role in shaping the Sustainable Development Goals. And even before the Goals were crystallized, India's own development efforts and vision reflected many of the same priorities and aspirations. India is, for all of us, a very important inspiration, Guterres said in his remarks to an event marking the first anniversary of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund.

The Fund shows the further deepening of South-South cooperation, an increasingly valuable dimension of our work for development, the Secretary General said.

The UN Chief, who is expected to visit India later this year, commended India for its leadership and solidarity, saying he looks forward to further engagement with the country on the fund.

And I will have the opportunity soon in Delhi to congratulate the Indian government on this very very important initiative, he said at the event here on June 8 attended by several UN Ambassadors and diplomats.

The India-UN Development Partnership Fund was launched last year with the aim of assisting projects for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in partner countries. It supports Southern-owned and led, demand-driven, and transformational sustainable development projects across the developing world, with a focus on least developed countries and small island developing states.

The fund is managed by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation and UN agencies implement the Fund's projects in close collaboration with partnering governments.

The Indian Government has committed an amount of 100 million dollars over ten years.

In April 2018, the Government of India established a separate Commonwealth Window under the Fund aimed at partnership with developing countries in the Commonwealth. Under this window, an additional sum of USD 50 million over the next five years has been committed for partnerships with developing country members of the Commonwealth.

Projects supporting biomedical waste management in Grenada, clean energy in Tuvalu and census data collection in Vanuatu have been approved under this window.

Guterres said that South-South cooperation between developing nations is not an instrument aimed at replacing North-South cooperation between developed and developing nations.

South-South cooperation is not an instrument for the commitments that were made by developed countries now to be put aside. South-South cooperation must be a stimulus for an intensified North-South cooperation, for the Addis Ababa agenda to be fully implemented and for everybody to assume their responsibilities in the context of a world in which we want a fair globalization, in which justice prevails in international relations, he said.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said that from the first project of a million dollars, the annual contribution and portfolio of projects has multiplied several times within the first year of the fund's operation. Calling for a 1-2-3 process, Akbaruddin urged the Secretary General to ensure that the speed of implementation of projects entrusted to the UN agencies is enhanced.

Explaining the 1-2-3 process, Akbaruddin said funds are put up up-front and the mechanisms for assessing a project from the partner countries and accepting it in consultation with the South-South Fund has been cut down to less than a month.

So that is part 1, he said. He added that Part 2 entails that each of the projects in this Fund are implemented quickly and completed within a two-year period, none going beyond the 3rd year.

Only then can we call it the 1-2-3 process with true meaning and effectiveness. We look forward to the reformed system being put in place from January 1, 2018 providing greater efficiency and effectiveness to the UN's facilitation of sustainable development efforts across the world and ensuring a 1-2-3 process for triangular cooperation with the Global South, Akbaruddin said.
WILTON  A pest control company had their solicitation permits revoked after the town received multiple complaints from residents about the companys door-to-door tactics.

The town suspended the permits of Aptive Environmental LLC, a pest control company with offices around the nation, after the town learned the companys salespeople were not sanctioned by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, according to Wilton Police Chief John Lynch.

Police said Aptive representatives agreed to leave Wilton after they were warned they were in violation of state statute and would be charged if they continued to solicit.

I want to thank the Wilton Police Department and Chief Lynch for their diligence in responding to residents and for their commitment to our community, First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice said. I also want to thank residents for contacting us about this and other matters. Whether through direct communication or the use of SeeClickFix, it is only through such communication, that employees of the town can effectively address resident concerns.

The investigation into Aptive began following an outpouring of complaints from town residents regarding the salespeoples alleged tenacity.

Residents were complaining that the Aptive salespeople were being particularly persistent in some cases, police spokesman Capt. Rob Cipolla said.

Many residents took to the towns SeeClickFix problem reporting application and the Wilton 411 Facebook page to vent about the door-to-door salespeople. Also, at least five formal complaints were made to the police department, Cipolla said.

As of Wednesday, June 6, Aptive salespeople were no longer allowed to solicit in Wilton.

Residents should contact the police department in the event they see any Aptive representatives going door-to-door in your neighborhood, Cipolla said.

Vanderslice said the Board of Selectmen will re-evaluate the towns peddling and soliciting ordinance, along with input from the Police Department, the Police Commission and the public. Any recommended changes will be required to be submitted to the Town Meeting for a vote.

Any questions related to the suspension of the permits should be directed to the police departments public information officer, Lt. Robert Kluk. The department can be reached at 203-834-6260.
The following companies are subsidiares of BlackRock: Acero Cooperatief U.A., Acero Holdings I B.V., Amethyst Merger Sub LLC, AnalytX Hosting LLC, AnalytX LLC, AnalytX Software LLC, Aperio, Aperio, Aquila Heywood, Asia-Pacific Private Credit Opportunities Fund I (GenPar) Ltd., BAA Holdings LLC, BFM Holdco LLC, BLK (Gallatin) Holdings LLC, BLK SMI LLC, BR Acquisition Mexico S.A. de C.V., BR Jersey International Holdings L.P., Beijing eFront Software Company Limited, BlackRock (Barbados) Finco 1 SRL, BlackRock (Channel Islands) Limited, BlackRock (Luxembourg) S.A., BlackRock (Netherlands) B.V., BlackRock (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock (Singapore) Holdco II Pte. Ltd., BlackRock (Singapore) Holdco Pte. Limited, BlackRock (Singapore) Limited, BlackRock AP Investment Holdco LLC, BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited, BlackRock Advisors LLC, BlackRock Advisors Singapore Pte. Limited, BlackRock Alternative Advisors GP Holdings LLC, BlackRock Alternatives Management LLC, BlackRock Argentina Asesorias Ltda., BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG, BlackRock Asset Management International Inc., BlackRock Asset Management Investor Services Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Ireland Limited, BlackRock Asset Management North Asia Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Schweiz AG, BlackRock Asset Management UK Limited, BlackRock Australia Holdco Pty. Ltd., BlackRock Brasil Gestora de Investimentos Ltda., BlackRock Cal 1 Investor LLC, BlackRock Canada Holdings LP, BlackRock Canada Holdings ULC, BlackRock Capital Holdings Inc., BlackRock Capital Investment Advisors LLC, BlackRock Capital Management Inc., BlackRock Cayco Limited, BlackRock Cayman 1 LP, BlackRock Cayman Capital Holdings Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco 2 Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco 3 Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco Limited, BlackRock Cayman West Bay Finco Limited, BlackRock Cayman West Bay IV Limited, BlackRock Cayman Z Limited, BlackRock Channel Islands Holdco Limited, BlackRock Chile Asesorias Limitada, BlackRock Colombia Holdco LLC, BlackRock Colombia Infraestructura S.A.S., BlackRock Colombia SAS, BlackRock Company Secretarial Services (UK) Limited, BlackRock Corporation US Inc., BlackRock Delaware Holdings Inc., BlackRock Enterprise Management Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Europe Development Management Limited, BlackRock Execution Services, BlackRock Finance Europe Limited, BlackRock Financial Management Inc., BlackRock Finco LLC, BlackRock Finco UK Ltd., BlackRock First Partner Limited, BlackRock France SAS, BlackRock Fund Advisors, BlackRock Fund Management Company S.A., BlackRock Fund Managers Limited, BlackRock Funding International Ltd., BlackRock Funds Services Group LLC, BlackRock Germany GmBH, BlackRock Group Limited, BlackRock HK Holdco Limited, BlackRock Holdco 2 Inc., BlackRock Holdco 3 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 4 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 5 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 6 LLC, BlackRock Hungary Kft, BlackRock Index Services LLC, BlackRock Infrastructure Management I LLC, BlackRock Institutional Services Inc., BlackRock Institutional Trust Company National Association, BlackRock International Holdings Inc., BlackRock International Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Dublin) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Korea) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management Ireland Holdings Limited, BlackRock Investment Management LLC, BlackRock Investments LLC, BlackRock Japan Co. Ltd., BlackRock Japan Holdings GK, BlackRock Jersey Finco 2 Limited, BlackRock Latin America Holdco LLC, BlackRock Latin American Holdings B.V., BlackRock Life Limited, BlackRock Lux Finco S.a r.l., BlackRock Luxembourg Holdco S.a r.l., BlackRock Mexican Holdco B.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura I S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura II S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura III S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager II S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager III S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager S de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Operadora S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, BlackRock Mortgage Ventures LLC, BlackRock Niagara LLC, BlackRock Operations (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., BlackRock Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock PC Holdings LLC, BlackRock Pensions Limited, BlackRock Peru Asesorias S.A., BlackRock Property Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Property France S.a.r.l., BlackRock Property Lux S.a.r.l., BlackRock Property Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., BlackRock Realty Advisors Inc., BlackRock Saudi Arabia, BlackRock Scale Holdings LLC, BlackRock Services India Private Limited, BlackRock Singapore III Pte. Ltd., BlackRock Slovakia s.r.o., BlackRock Strategic Investors GP LLC, BlackRock Strategic Investors LP, BlackRock Trident Holding Company Limited, BlackRock UK (Alpha) Limited, BlackRock UK (Beta) Limited, BlackRock UK (Delta) LP, BlackRock UK (Gamma) Limited, BlackRock UK (Sigma) Limited, BlackRock UK 2 LLP, BlackRock UK 3 LLP, BlackRock UK 4 LLP, BlackRock UK A LLP, BlackRock UK Holdco 2 Limited, BlackRock UK Holdco Limited, Blackhawk Investment Holding LLC, CIE Automotive, Cachematrix Holdings, Cachematrix Holdings LLC, Cachematrix Integrations Private Limited, Cachematrix Software Solutions LLC, Cachematrix UK Limited, FutureAdvisor Inc., Glass Mountain Pipeline, Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Advisors LLC, Global Energy & Power Infrastructure II Advisors LLC, Grosvenor Alternate Partner Limited, Grosvenor Ventures Limited, HLX Financial Holdings LLC, MGPA (Bermuda) Limited, MGPA (Exec) Limited, MGPA Limited, Mercury Carry Company Ltd., Mercury Private Equity MUST 3 (Jersey) Limited, Object Capital Technology Inc., Phoenix Acquisition B.V., Phoenix Acquisitions Holdings LLC, Portfolio Administration & Management Ltd., Prestadora de Servicios Integrales BlackRock Mexico S.A. de C.V., SVOF/MM LLC, St. Albans House Nominees (Jersey) Ltd., State Street Research & Management, Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC, Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC, Tlali Acero S.A. de C.V. SOFOM ENR, Trident Merger LLC, eFront, eFront, eFront (Jersey) Limited, eFront DMLT Holdings LLC, eFront DMLT Holdings S.R.L, eFront DR S.R.L, eFront Do Brasil Solucoes Informaticas Para Sistemas Financeiros Ltda., eFront FZ-LLC, eFront Financial Solutions Inc., eFront GmbH, eFront Holding II SAS, eFront Holdings SAS, eFront Hong Kong Limited, eFront II SAS, eFront Kabushiki Kaisha, eFront Ltd, eFront SAS, eFront Singapore Pte. Ltd, eFront Software Luxembourg S.a r.l., eFront Solutions Financeieres Inc., eFront d.o.o. Beograd, iShares (DE) I Investmentaktiengesellschaft mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, and iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC.
On June 15, the Islamic holiday will end Ramadan. Two days ago, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared a unilateral ceasefire until the 20th. A few hours after the truce was announced, the Taliban launched a series of coordinated attacks.

Kabul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - For the first time since the US invasion of 2001, the Taliban have announced a military truce. The ceasefire with the Government Forces will last three days and coincide with the Islamic holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, which will end Ramadan on June 15th.

The militants announced this morning the interruption of all offensive operations. The suspension will not affect the defensive ones and the actions against foreign forces operating in the country.

Two days ago, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had declared a unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban. The government's move followed the gathering of thousands of Islamic religious in Kabul, marked by an attack that caused 14 victims.

The religious have issued a fatwa, or edict, against suicide attacks and suggested that the government stop operations against the Taliban. Ghani welcomed the council and announced a truce until June 20 next. The Islamic State (IS) fighters of the are excluded from the provision.

The US State Department says its Forces and coalition partners in Afghanistan "will honor the ceasefire". The foreign contingent in the country has dropped to about 15 thousand units, from 140 thousand in 2014.

A few hours after the truce was announced, the Taliban launched a series of coordinated attacks against some government outposts of the Qala-e-Zal district (Kunduz province). At least 20 soldiers died in operations.
The following companies are subsidiares of PPG Industries: AIPCF V Texstars Blocker Inc., AkzoNobel, Alermac Inversiones S.A. de C.V., Alpha Coating Technologies LLC, Alpha Coatings Inc., Broad Range Development Limited, Brown Brothers Distribution Limited, CG Holdings Manufacturing Co., Centro de Investigacion en Polimeros S.A. de C.V., Chemfil Canada Limited, Chorlton Trade Paints Limited, Comercial Mexicana de Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Comex, Comex Industrial Coatings S.A. de C.V., Consorcio Comex S.A. de C.V., Cristacol S.A., Cuming Microwave Corporation, Deutek SA, Dexmet Corporation, Dexmet Holding Corporation, Distribuidora Kroma S.A. de C.V., EPIC Insurance Co. Ltd., Eberle Design Inc., Empresa Aga S.A. de C.V., Ennis Canadian Holding Company, Ennis Flint Soluciones Seguras Para Trafico, Ennis Highway Traffic Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Ennis Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, Ennis Paint Australia Holding Pty Ltd, Ennis Paint Boya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Ennis Paint Canada ULC, Ennis Paint Germany GmbH, Ennis Paint Netherlands Holdings LLC, Ennis Paint U.K. Holding Company Limited, Ennis Prismo Italio S.r.l., Ennis Traffic Safety Solutions Pty Ltd, Ennis  Flint Mexico, Ennis  Flint New Zealand, Ennis  Flint New Zealand Holding Pty Ltd, Ennis-Flint, Ennis-Flint Africa (Pty) Ltd, Ennis-Flint Inc., Foshan Bairun Chemicals Co. Ltd., Fpu Industrial S.A. de C.V., Grupo Comex S.A. de C.V., Hemmelrath Automotive Coatings (Jilin) Co. Ltd., Hodij Coatings B.V., Homax Products, Industria Chimica Reggiana I.C.R. SPA, Johnstones Paints Limited, Kalon Investment Company Limited, Kalon South Africa Proprietary Limited, Manchester Thermoplastics LLC, Masterwork Paint, MetoKote Canada Limited, MetoKote Corporation, MetoKote Mexico Holding Inc., MetoKote UK Limited, MetoKote de Mexico S. de RL de CV, PPG AC - France SA, PPG ALESCO Automotive Finishes Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., PPG AP Resinas S.A. de C.V., PPG Aerospace Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., PPG Architectural Coatings (Puerto Rico) Inc., PPG Architectural Coatings Canada Inc., PPG Architectural Coatings Ireland Limited, PPG Architectural Coatings Italy S.r.l., PPG Architectural Coatings UK Limited, PPG Architectural Finishes Inc., PPG Asian Paints Private Ltd., PPG COATINGS SINGAPORE PTE. LTD., PPG Canada Inc., PPG Cieszyn S.A., PPG Coatings (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, PPG Coatings (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., PPG Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Thailand) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Wuhu) Company Ltd., PPG Coatings (Zhangjiagang) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings B.V., PPG Coatings Belgium BV, PPG Coatings Danmark A/S, PPG Coatings Deutschland GmbH, PPG Coatings Europe B.V., PPG Coatings Manufacturing SARL, PPG Coatings Nederland BV, PPG Coatings S.A., PPG Coatings South Africa (Pty) Ltd., PPG DYRUP S.A., PPG Deco Czech a.s., PPG Deco Polska sp. z.o.o., PPG Deco Slovakia s.r.o., PPG Deutschland Business Support GmbH, PPG Deutschland Sales & Services GmbH, PPG Distribution S.A.S., PPG Europe B.V., PPG Finance B.V., PPG France Business Support S.A.S., PPG France Manufacturing S.A.S., PPG Guadeloupe SAS, PPG Hellas S.A., PPG Hemmelrath Coatings Inc., PPG Hemmelrath Lackfabrik GmbH, PPG Holdco SAS, PPG Holdings (U.K.) Limited, PPG Holdings Argentina USA LLC, PPG Holdings Latin America USA LLC, PPG Iberica S.A., PPG Iberica Sales & Services S.L., PPG Industrial Coatings B.V., PPG Industrial do Brasil - Tintas E. Vernizes - Ltda., PPG Industries (Korea) Ltd., PPG Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PPG Industries (UK) Ltd, PPG Industries Argentina S.R.L., PPG Industries Australia PTY Limited A.C.N. 055 500 939, PPG Industries Colombia Ltda., PPG Industries Czech Republic s.r.o., PPG Industries Delfzijl B.V., PPG Industries Europe Sarl, PPG Industries France S.A.S., PPG Industries International Inc., PPG Industries Italia S.r.l., PPG Industries Kimya a Sanayi VE Ticaret AS, PPG Industries LLC, PPG Industries Lipetsk LLC, PPG Industries Middle East FZE, PPG Industries Netherlands B.V., PPG Industries New Zealand Limited, PPG Industries Ohio Inc., PPG Industries Poland Sp. Z.o.o., PPG Industries Securities LLC, PPG Industries de Mexico S.A. de C.V., PPG Italia Business Support S.r.l., PPG Italia Sales & Services S.r.l., PPG Japan Ltd., PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes Canada LP, PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes U.K. LLP, PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes U.S. LLC, PPG Luxembourg Finance S.aR.L., PPG Luxembourg Holdings S.aR.L., PPG Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Mexico S.A. de C.V., PPG Packaging Coatings (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., PPG Paints Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Performance Coatings (Hong Kong) Limited, PPG Powder Coatings (Shanghai) Limited, PPG Romania S.A., PPG SSC Co. Ltd., PPG Switzerland GmbH, PPG Trilak Kft., PPG Vietnam Co. Ltd., PRC-DeSoto Australia Pty Ltd., PRC-DeSoto International Inc., PT. PPG Coatings Indonesia, Painter's Supply, Paintzen, Peintures de Paris SAS, Plasticos Envolventes S.A. de C.V., Polymeric Systems Inc., Prismo Road Markings Limited, ProCoatings B.V., ProCoatings BV, Protec Pty Ltd. A.C.N. 007 857 392, Reno A&E LLC, Revocoat France SAS, Revocoat Holding SAS, Revocoat Iberica SLU, Revocoat S.A.S, Road Infrastructure Investment Holdings Inc., SEM Products Inc., Sealants Europe SAS, Sierracin Corporation, Sierracin/Sylmar Corporation, Sigma Marine & Protective Coatings Holding B.V., SigmaKalon (BC) UK Limited, SigmaKalon Group, SigmaKalon Middle East B.V., Sikar (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Spraylat International Ltd, Texstars LLC, The Crown Group Co., The Crown Group Inc, The Homax Group, Tikkurila Group, Traffic Safety Intermediate LLC, Traffic Safety Parent LLC, United International Business NV, Vanex Inc., Vernisol S.p.A., Versaflex, Viasa S.A. de C.V., Whitford, Whitford B.V., Whitford Corporation, Whitford Jiangmen Ltd., Whitford Ltd. (HK), Whitford Ltd. (UK), Whitford Pte. Ltd., Whitford S.r.l., Whitford Worldwide Company LLC, Worwag Coatings, and Zaganite Industries Pty Ltd.
HDFC Bank Ltd. engages in the provision of banking and financial services, including commercial banking and treasury operations. The firm also provides financial services to upper and middle income individuals and corporations in India. It operates through the following segments: Treasury, Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking and Other Banking Operations. The Treasury segment consists of bank's investment portfolio, money market borrowing and lending, investment operations and trading in foreign exchange and derivative contracts. The Retail Banking segment provides loans and other services to customers through a branch network and other delivery channels. The Wholesale Banking segment provides loans, non-fund facilities and transaction services to large corporates, emerging corporates, public sector units, government bodies, financial institutions, and medium scale enterprises. The Other Banking Business segment includes income from para banking activities such as credit cards, debit cards, third party product distribution, primary dealership business, and the associated costs. The company was founded by Aditya Tapishwar Puri in August 1994 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.

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3 Stocks Cowen Thinks Are Going Higher

Earlier this week, the folks over at Cowen released their findings from a consumer survey of millennials and Generation Z. In a published note, they said "our proprietary survey of 18-34-year-old consumers suggests the themes of sustainability, social commerce and shifts to digital will have profound effects on growth and risk across retail, e-commerce, restaurants/food, cannabis, and payments sectors.

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by Wang Zhicheng

The Chinese-style Via Crucis led to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, previously threatened with destruction. The sanctuary was built by PIME missionaries in the early 1900s.

Anyang (AsiaNews) - With bulldozers and drills, Anyang authorities (Henan) have demolished a Via Crucis along the path that leads to the site of the ancient pilgrimage of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tianjiajing. The 14 stations of the Via Crucis, in slate stone, represented the various moments of Jesus' passion with Chinese style drawings and etchings and with devotional prayers (see photo).

The government had long threatened the destruction of the Via Crucis and of the sanctuary (or of what remains of it). The sanctuary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is located in the Linxian district, on a mountain overlooking a scenic landscape.

Its construction was ordered by PIME missionary Msgr. Stefano Scarella, then Apostolic Vicar of Northern Henan, to thank the Virgin for having escaped dangers during the persecution of the Boxers in 1900. Construction took place in the years 1903-1905. The church was destroyed by the Japanese in the Second World War and by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.

Despite this each year a national pilgrimage attracted 40-50 thousand people. Since May 2007, the provincial government of Henan has banned national pilgrimages; the government of the city of Anyang has revoked the permission from the sanctuary and the pilgrimage, calling them "illegal religious activities".

With the implementation of the new religious regulations, Henan has become the target of a strong persecution against Protestant Christians, but also Catholics, the destruction of tombs and unofficial churches, but also bans on minors attending masses of official communities. According to some analysts, the persecution in Henan is primarily targeting Protestant communities, which are growing in number, but in reality the violence is against all religious communities.
by Melani Manel Perera

The girls study at the Catholic Women's Institute Holy Family Convent School in Bambalapitiya, a district of Colombo. The initiative launched on the occasion of the feast of Mary, at the end of May. First ever aid for inhabitants of the village of Anguluwa.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - The students of a Catholic school in Colombo have delivered 275 packages of food to the victims of last Mays floods. The foodstuffs are the result of an initiative promoted by the female Catholic Institute Holy Family Convent School of Bambalapitiya, which this year for the feast of Mary asked the female students to donate less flower crowns and more food. Sr. Deepa Fernando, director of the institute, told AsiaNews: "Our girls have contributed so generously! I am very happy with the [donations made] by the pupils and their parents ".

The girls, accompanied by some teachers, travelled to the flooded areas. They met the inhabitants of the village of Dummalasooriya Anguluwa and listened to their stories. 15 families live here, where the rains flooded everything: livestock, crops and houses made of wood. Some of them say: "We are grateful to these girls, because so far no one has come to help us. We are the most unfortunate, we have received nothing. We have known that some people living in urban areas have benefited from donations, but we live in a remote area ".

AsiaNews accompanied the students, along with a BBC reporter. The parcels were handed over to representatives of 12 villages in the districts of Kurunegala and Puttalam. Inside the packs, several boxes of dehydrated food, dhal [red lentils, ed], milk powder, flour, tea, noodles [Chinese noodles] and salmon.

The conditions left in the wake of the heavy rains is painful. According to the Center for Disaster Management (DMC), the pre-monsoon rains that struck from May 20 to 26 resulted in the death of at least 24 people, while another 170 thousand live in precarious conditions in 20 districts.

Meanwhile, in addition to the flooding disaster, with water reaching up to knee level, schools in the southern part of Sri Lanka were hit by a wave of flu that caused the death of 13 children. Therefore the Colombo government has decided to close the primary schools and kindergartens, to avoid the spread of the virus. The medical staff advises the most vulnerable categories - minors, pregnant women and the elderly - to pay particular attention.
Is there an udder way? Farmer begs EU to spare his wandering cow

BULGARIA: A pregnant runaway cow from Bulgaria which roamed into neighbouring Serbia has been condemned to death because she crossed the EU border, prompting a desperate plea from her owner last Thursday (May 31) to save her.

animalsdeathpoliticsimmigration

By AFP

Saturday 9 June 2018, 03:30PM

Pregnant cow Penka accidentally left the EU when it strayed from Bulgaria into neighbouring Serbia. Photo: AFP

Red cow Penka, due in around three months time, wandered westwards away from its herd near the Bulgarian village of Kopilovtsi on May 12, straying over a border checkpoint into non-EU Serbia. But after it was returned to its owner Ivan Haralampiev by a farmer over the frontier, Bulgarian officials said the animal must be put down because of strict EU rules  despite being given a clean bill of health by Serbian vets. The motives are that she had left the borders of the EU and cannot be imported back into the European Union, Haralampiev told public BNT television last Thursday as he pleaded for his cow to be saved. A vet comes and orders it to be immediately culled! The farmer also lamented how the cow was able to saunter over the border unchecked. How come nobody attempted to stop it? he said. Although Serbian vets wrote a statement saying Penka was in a perfect condition and fit to return home, Bulgarian authorities said it should be put down without delay. Officials last Thursday said that it was not in their powers to save Penka from the EU regulations. It is not for us to decide. We are only implementing rules that come from Brussels, vet expert Lyubomir Lyubomirov said.
Retail, apartment space planned for development

The removal of the old Zimmels Furniture building is clearing the way for a new multi-use building downtown featuring retail and apartment space.
As the largest U.S. insurers gathered at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square to discuss the prospects for their industry, a threat to that future emerged from the nations other coast.

Amazon.com Inc., the e-commerce behemoth, is reportedly considering whether to offer home insurance. The Seattle-based company, which has shaken up industries from booksellers to grocers to shoe stores, tends to incite fear among would-be rivals. Yet while the report was a timely topic at the S&P Global Ratings insurance conference Wednesday, analysts said theres no reason to panic.

If Amazon does offer home insurance, it would probably start small with simple, bare-bones coverage, Joshua Shanker, a Deutsche Bank AG analyst, said at the conference. And he questioned whether the e-tailer would even take such a step. Does Amazon really want to get regulated? I dont think they do.

Amazon has explored ways to offer insurance as part of a push into other consumer offerings including robots to use in the home, The Information reported Wednesday. Insurers including Allstate Corp. and Progressive Corp. fell on the news. Amazon declined to comment.

The market could be a lucrative one to disrupt. Insurers in the U.S. and Canada generated $92 billion of premium revenue from homeowners policies last year, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Cracking the market wont be easy, however. Analysts pointed to defences including a maze of regulation and customer loyalty. And Meyer Shields, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, said that established insurers hold troves of data that can be a competitive advantage because the industry relies that information for its models.

Im probably a bit skeptical about this, Josh Esterov, an analyst at CreditSights Inc., said in a phone interview. I would be very surprised if this is the type of industry they want to get into. He said home coverage can create earnings volatility when storms or natural disasters generate claims, and it is time-consuming to set up the legal entities needed to underwrite risk.

To be sure, Amazon has made tentative moves into other big regulated industries without yet taking the plunge. Pharmacy companies trembled for months after Amazon acquired licenses in more than a dozen states to offer health-care goods as a wholesaler, and banks have been girding for the tech companys expansion of finance offerings. Neither push has begun yet.

A few years ago, insurers faced a threat from Alphabet Inc.s Google, which launched a comparison site allowing customers to shop for auto policies. The technology company eventually discounted the product. Entry by another tech giant could be a clear negative for insurers, according to Amit Kumar, an analyst at Buckingham Research Group.

The easiest way for Amazon to dive in may be to act as an insurance brokerage, helping to guide customers to other companies policies and earning money for those referrals, according to CreditSights Esterov. However it proceeds  if it does  Amazon would benefit from brand recognition, which is key in the insurance world, according to KBWs Shields.

Amazon has another potential edge. Its store of data on consumers could become a tool for pricing insurance, Seth Rachlin, executive vice president at Capgemini, said in a telephone interview.

A foray by Amazon could be a long way off. In its report, The Information conceded that theres nothing that suggests Amazon has any concrete plans for insurance.

Investors shouldnt be too concerned anyway, Jay Gelb, an analyst at Barclays Plc, said Wednesday in a note. Homeowners coverage is a sticky business, he said, meaning that consumers dont shop around and premiums are frequently rolled into mortgage payments.

Our advice to investors is to not panic  yet, Gelb wrote.

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In the land of the 35-hour workweek, French President Emmanuel Macrons frenetic efforts to transform France has left members of parliament exhausted, with many clocking in more than twice those hours.

We have had sessions this past month that lasted 80 hours a week, we were in session 17 consecutive days, National Assembly President Francois de Rugy said Tuesday on Europe 1 radio. After a while, its no longer possible. This is not how a normal assembly works. It doesnt allow us to produce good laws.

De Rugy is meeting with party whips to find ways to speed up parliamentary work and stop holding debates on weekends, when many parliamentarians say they should be back in their constituencies meeting voters.

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All of this is totally unreasonable, Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the far-left party France Unbowed said on May 31 in parliament. We are exasperated and for some of us, exhausted. This isnt the normal life of a parliamentarian, staying night and day.

The government is unapologetic.

Its good news that members of parliament are working hard, government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux told reporters Wednesday. It means they are hard at work on the transformation of the country. We ask a lot, and we are aware of that.

Griveaux also said the government is working on an overhaul of Frances legislature to cut the number of deputies, add an element of proportional representation and speed up debate by limiting how many amendments can be presented.

In the past month, parliament has had to consider bills on asylum and immigration, railways, agricultural practices, housing, and professional training.

Lawmakers staff say theyre fed up. In a statement late May, the French association of parliamentary assistants said that working on weekends shouldnt become the norm. Macrons aides also privately grumble about workdays that run well into the evenings.

At least no one is calling us lazy, Richard Ferrand, chief whip for Macrons LREM party, which holds a majority in the lower house, told reporters Wednesday.

Newspaper Le Figaro cast doubt on how much more the National Assembly is working. Using statistics collected by two websites that track parliamentary work, the newspaper calculated that the number of sessions is actually only up 4 per cent from the first year of president Francois Hollandes presidency, though its a 61-per-cent increase from Nicolas Sarkozys first year.

Christian Jacob, an opposition member of parliament from Sarkozys the Republicans party, told Le Figaro that he blamed the erratic nature of Macrons agenda.

From January to March, we werent doing all that much, and we often finished the week Wednesday, he said. The government controls our agenda.

Whats also new now is that 75 per cent of the National Assembly elected last June hadnt served in the previous legislature, compared with 40 per cent in the 2012 elections.

LREM was created in the slipstream of Macrons successful presidential run, and used a selection process to whittle down 14,000 candidates to 428 candidates, of which half came from civil society and had no political background. It holds 311 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly. While France also has an upper Senate, its powers are limited.

For the record, members of parliament, like managers and liberal professionals, arent limited to 35-hour weeks. They earn about 5,400 euros ($6,480 U.S.) a month after social charges.

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French distiller Pernod Ricard SA is targeting Chinese millennials with services such as cocktail-kit delivery as it aims to double the share of international spirits in the countrys 1-trillion yuan ($156 billion U.S.) alcohol market.

After establishing itself in China with high-end brands like Chivas Regal whisky and Martell cognac, the company is looking to sustain growth by appealing to the countrys emerging middle class, CEO Alexandre Ricard said. The goal: to drive the share of western-style spirits in China from the current 1 per cent of volume to 2 per cent by 2025.

Heres a big opportunity with the sheer volume of middle-class Chinese consumers with enough disposable income, which will keep growing into the future, Ricard said in an interview in Shenzhen, where the company is holding an event for investors and analysts.

Pernod is making a big bet that its mass-market brands like Absolut Vodka and Ballantines whisky will catch on in a country where the drinking culture is dominated by the local grain-based baijiu. It says its leading the way with a 40 per cent market share of Chinas international spirits segment, ahead of rivals like Diageo Plc.

Many of the French companys local innovations are adapted to the fast-moving e-commerce market. Since consumers get quick delivery from ordering online, they like smaller bottle sizes, Ricard said. The company is also selling kits that provide all the ingredients for classic cocktails, delivered to homes within an hour. Pernod wants to expand that service beyond China, Pernod China brand director Liya Zhang said.

In another pitch to Chinese millennials, Absolut vodka sponsored a television rap contest. Pernod Ricard has also begun selling premixed highballs, a combination of whiskey and soda that was popularized by Japanese convenience stores.

Pernod Ricard is trying to convert baijiu drinkers with a Chivas line, named Distinction, thats meant to be drunk in small shots during multicourse meals, as baijiu is. The fiery local liquor is an essential part of social gatherings and celebrations in China.

Asia has fueled Pernod Ricards growth, with net sales in the twin engines of China and India growing 19 per cent and 14 per cent respectively in the nine months through March.

It took 15 years to get to 1 per cent, said Ricard, referring to the current penetration of international spirits in China. To double this by 2025, its both a long time and its tomorrow.

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At first look, it seems too obvious to need saying: Long after a Communist regimes fall, people who lived under communism remain different from those who didnt. Its possible, however, that the differences between them have even deeper historical roots than merely the Communist experience.

In a recent paper, Christine Laudenbach of the Goethe University in Frankfurt; Ulrike Malmendier of University of California, Berkeley; and Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi of the University of Mannheim show using German brokerage data that east Germans financial behaviour is still, in part, determined by their past in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The investing environment for them and their West German peers is exactly the same, and so are the financial literacy levels of those who become brokerage clients. But the easterners are less likely to put money in the stock market or take risks on margin, and they would rather invest in former state companies than in the financial sector.

Even the geography of their investments is different: They are more open to opportunities in countries that used to be the GDRs allies  Russia, China, Vietnam  than in the U.S.

These effects, according to the Laudenbach paper, get stronger the longer an investor has lived in the GDR and the further away from the West German border. The eastern investing identity is more pronounced in communities that were home to East German Olympic champions, national heroes and sources of pride in Communist times. It is also amplified in election years, when people tend to be more focused on their political beliefs.

Other researchers have pointed to even more substantive behavioural differences between east and west Germans. A 2014 paper by Duke Universitys Dan Ariely and collaborators showed that the easterners were more likely to cheat in a game  evidence that the experience of constantly playing games with the oppressive Communist regime stayed with people even a quarter of a century after the Berlin Wall was dismantled. It also has been shown that east Germans are less trusting than westerners.

The obvious reaction to these observed differences is to link them to communisms pervasive influence: The blanket propaganda (the explanation favoured by Laudenbach and her collaborators) or a planned economys corrupting effect on morality (discussed in the Ariely paper). No doubt theres much to this. However, that isnt the whole story. Turns out that its also likely that experiences that predate communism are influencing behaviour.

Read more: New walls have emerged, many Germans still feel divide 27 years after unification

Last year, Davide Cantoni of the University of Munich and his two collaborators, Felix Hagemeister and Mark Westcott, demonstrated that, as the anti-establishment Alternative for Germany (AfD) switched from anti-euro to nationalist rhetoric, it received more electoral support in the same communities that backed the Nazis in 1928, 1930 and 1933. Almost no one who voted in those elections is still among the living  but somehow the patterns hold.

In a similar vein, maps that superimpose the borders of old empires, which ceased to exist after the First World War, onto the map of modern Europe show that modern voting patterns follow those old borders. Polands western regions, which were part of the pre-1918 German Reich, tend to support centrist candidates, while the east, once part of the Russian empire, votes nationalist and populist. In the Romanian presidential election of 2014, the Austro-Hungarian regions backed liberal Klaus Iohannis, while others were mostly in favour of Social Democrat Viktor Ponta.

Sascha Becker of the University of Warwick in the U.K. and University of Munichs Luger Woessmann concluded in 2011 that the legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still manifests itself as higher levels of trust in state institutions and between citizens, as well as in lower corruption levels, than in regions that were part of the Russian or Ottoman empires.

The Communist experiment was, of course, a traumatic event wherever it took place. But a search for the historical roots of peoples behaviour leads down a deep rabbit hole, especially in Central Europe with its constantly warring, shape-shifting empires. Its possible that in some places, people were made more susceptible to communism by centuries of belonging to a communitarian strain of Christianity, as Simeon Djankov and Elena Nikolova suggested in a recent controversial paper for the World Bank.

Whether thats true or not, identities are shaped by extremely complex historical influence mixes. Relatively recent influences may appear to provide eminently logical explanations, but they are themselves only points in chain reactions that started in the distant past.
CALGARYA bazaar took over the halls of the Falconridge/Castleridge Community Association this weekend to celebrate the final days before the Muslim festival of Eid and bring a bit of Middle Eastern, Pakistani and Indian culture to the city.

The halls were a maze of brightly coloured fabrics, intricate gold jewelry and decorative shoes for the fourth annual Eid Bazaar. Eid is a holiday that marks the end of Ramadan fasting.

A bazaar is a marketplace commonly found in the Middle East. Melissa Pereira, who organized the event, said the concept has been slowly building momentum in the West.

The movement has been happening for a few years. We got into it four years ago, but its been happening around Canada for about 12 years, Pereira said. Bazaars are not just a venue for shopping, theyre also a place for people to get together and mingle.

She said its still a relatively new concept to many, because bazaars in the past werent advertised as well. But the rise of social media has given bazaars more of a platform.

Pereira, who used to own an accessory business, found that bazaars around the city were too small to support all the local businesses that wanted to get involved, so she decided to start her own.

We are the largest in Alberta. Ive been to a few other ones and they dont have as many vendors, said Pereira. Usually (we) have around 600 to 700 people a year walking through these doors.

Pereira said the 36 vendors are mostly home-based businesses.

Tarun Sechdeva owns Nazakat, a relatively new Indian clothing brand. He said he wanted to set up shop at the bazaar to get the word out about his company and pick up some tips from others.

Were learning from others here, said Sechdeva. Were seeing different ways of selling.

Over the years the bazaar has grown and broadened its appeal, Pereira said.

When we started off we only had Pakistani people show up to our events, but now theres a huge diversity, she added.

Hamid Abduel-Rhman said walking through the racks reminds him of being back home. This is the first year his business, Canvita, which makes halal multivitamins, has had a booth at the bazaar.

People are offering cultural things that you cant find outside or things that are hard to find, he said.

When youre at a bazaar, things you find back home, you find here. Its a good way to bring people together, because its not easy to find all these things in one place.

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EDMONTONTucked away in the south end of Edmonton is a road-test facility where cars are being equipped to talk to each other.

Technically, theyre communicating using wireless technology.

At a two-day conference where representatives from the cities of Edmonton and Calgary announced residents will soon have an opportunity to test driverless shuttles, attendees were taken on a tour of one of the University of Albertas Active Aurora test beds.

The facility is one of several on-road and in-lab test beds in Edmonton equipped and linked with connected vehicle technology.

As Edmonton and Calgary move ahead on testing driverless vehicles for transit, experts at Active Aurora are fine-tuning the latest technology to make breakthroughs in the world of connected and autonomous vehicle research.

What do you think?

On Thursday, industry professionals and media were taken from the Shaw Conference Centre in downtown Edmonton to one of these test beds near 63 Avenue and 118 Street to see cars wirelessly communicate with each other.

Beyond a gated portion of 118 Street, the Centre for Smart Transportation  the university department overseeing the facility  and its industry partners have installed sensors that connected vehicles can use to interact with one another. Using these sensors, cars can be alerted to slow down if the driver in front slams on the brakes or if pedestrians are crossing the street.

Developing this kind of technology is necessary to bring autonomous vehicles onto roads, said Aalyssa Atley, a communications co-ordinator with Active Aurora.

Connected vehicle technology works with automated (vehicles), because even though youll have the sensors on the car, the car still needs to be able to communicate with the infrastructure to get messages, she said.

For example, if a car was stuck in congestion in an area of the city, you want that car to be able to communicate with the entire network of vehicles, so that other vehicles maybe dont go that same route.

While Active Aurora isnt yet testing driverless cars, there are plans to assist Edmonton and Calgary with their driverless shuttle pilot project this fall.

This pilot will give the public in Edmonton and Calgary an opportunity to ride a driverless shuttle and provide feedback to the city.

While Calgarys pilot will take place in September on a one-kilometre service roadway connecting the Calgary Zoo to the science centre  separated from other vehicles and pedestrians  Edmonton will announce its location this summer, after consulting with Transportation Alberta.

This is the first autonomous vehicle pilot in Canada that the public will be able to ride, said Andrew Sedor, a city transportation employee in Calgary. If the public really, really enjoys it, then we can definitely explore running it for longer.

Read more:

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Watch: BlackBerry self-driving car hits the road in the first Canadian street test

Both cities have hired the Pacific Western Group of Companies to operate the shuttle, which is made by French manufacturer EasyMile. More specifically, it is the EZ10 model, and the one being used in Edmonton and Calgary has been named Ela.

The shuttle will operate under 20 km/h, contain an access ramp for people with disabilities and hold up to 12 people  six seated and six standing.

Its really too early for us to consider exactly how residents are going to see it, said Stephanie McCabe, a branch manager with the city in Edmonton, when asked if Edmonton could be poised to receive a permanent driverless shuttle.

Six #EZ10 #driverless #shuttles were operating until June 2015 as part of the European Project CityMobil2 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).

We need to be prepared for the future, because technology does change rapidly, so we need to make sure that weve got the data and an understanding of how citizens perceive the technology.

At the Active Aurora facility on Thursday, in addition to demonstrating cars with built-in sensors to communicate with other vehicles, researchers also demonstrated an Edmonton city bus equipped with sensors, providing drivers with warning messages to reduce speeds, for example, while travelling along a curved road.

This type of technology could also warn drivers about signal countdown timings, too.

Industry experts commended Albertas two largest cities for publicly testing driverless shuttles, but say it could take time until such technology becomes commonplace

The driverless shuttle being piloted in both cities is the first generation of such vehicles, said Barrie Kirk, executive director of Ottawa-based Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE).

It could take until the 2020s for technology to catch up, so such shuttles can be implemented on roads, he said.

Nobody is going to throw a light switch and we jump into the era of AV.

According to Kirk, Ontario remains ahead of other provinces in terms of AV research, development and planning, but he believes Alberta isnt too far behind.

The advent of AV technology, in his mind, is inevitable.

The other provinces, including Alberta, are not there yet, he said. But clearly, I think, these pilots in Edmonton and Calgary are going to help spur Alberta to do a lot more to develop the kind of rigorous framework thats required.

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EDMONTONA homegrown app seeks to foster empathy toward sexual and gender minorities by showing the most transformative locations in the city.

Jason Harley, an educational psychology professor at the University of Alberta, created the Edmonton Queer History App after noticing a glaring lack of LGBTQ history in textbooks.

The app, which launched Tuesday and is available for free through izi.TRAVEL, pinpoints key locations on a map and offers multimedia presentations for each, explaining its significance.

His research team recruited 60 people to conduct a study using the app, without letting participants know beforehand that it would deal with queer history.

After using it for 30 to 45 minutes each and learning about key points in the citys LGBTQ history, participants walked out showing statistically significant increases in empathy towards sexual orientation and gender identity minorities, Harley said.

That was wonderful.

Read more:

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Harley interviewed prominent members of the LGBTQ community to compile the information included in the app. They shared personal anecdotes, news clippings and other memorabilia.

He hopes the tool gives people a starting point to get more educated about Edmontons LGBTQ history.

What would our education be like, and what would our social perspective be like, for example, if we didnt cover the civil-rights movement or if we didnt cover the suffrage movement? Harley said. Its kind of unthinkable.

With Edmontons Pride Parade slated to hit Whyte Ave. on Saturday morning, StarMetro cruised through the app and picked out five key locations.

The Gazebo in Wilbert McIntyre Park

The night before Edmontons first pride rally, organizers decorated the Old Strathcona gazebo, at 83rd Ave. and 104th St., with pink flowers to mark it as a meeting point. When they showed up the next morning, organizers were surprised to see people had actually gathered at the gazebo to join them.

Many of the early meeting places were peoples houses, so that they had that privacy, Harley said. And so this was exciting because it was a public place, it was out of the open, and that was really different.

Common Woman Books

A collective of women came together in the 1980s to launch the feminist bookstore Common Woman Books, on 81st Ave. and 104th St., to carry resources for gay women as well as literature on political action and feminism. Members of the collective shared what little profit they made.

It was really important for us to be able to talk about the social side of life as well, Harley said. Social life is not bars and clubs for everyone. And it was really great that there were these more quiet spaces to socialize.

Flashback

An alleyway entrance and a neon sign led partiers inside an old warehouse, near 104th St. and 104th Ave., and onto Flashbacks iconic checkered dance floor. People who partied there said Flashback was known across North America and was one of the first places around to break away from gay bar norms and become a shared space for those in and outside of the LGBTQ community.

I think Flashback was a really pioneering location for that and probably helped foster a progressive spirit overall that I would say Edmonton has, Harley said. Having this club that was progressive and edgy but also really opening and welcoming was probably a really wonderful thing for people at the time.

Womonspace

Crowds tended to skew male at gay bars in the late 70s and early 80s. In response, a group of gay women organized Edmontons first Womonspace dance event in September 1981. Womonspace grew from there, holding dances once a month at the Hazeldean Community Centre on 96th St. and 66th Ave. and others at halls in Bonnie Doon and Riverdale. Womonspace also launched a newsletter, written by and for members of the LGBTQ community, to counter often-negative portrayals in the mainstream media of the time.

Pisces Health Spa

Homosexuality was criminalized in Canada until 1969, and the stigma remained strong for years after. Many hid their sexuality, and gay men turned to parks and bathhouses  like Pisces on 109th St. and 105th Ave.  to discretely meet other men.

In 1981, police shocked the gay community by raiding Pisces. The names of men found inside were published in newspapers, unceremoniously outing many. The police raid was a catalyst for Edmontons first pride march.

A lot of the interviewees talked about the Pisces Health Spa as essentially Edmontons Stonewall event  where the queer community realized it wasnt enough to stay under the radar, to keep their head down, that they needed to be more proactive, Harley said. It also brought people together from different parts of the queer community, because people realized it was a common threat. It was definitely a formative event.

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EDMONTONAfter Doug Fords Progressive Conservatives swept into Ontarios legislature with a majority government on Thursday night, Alberta pundits are considering the effects a new Ford Nation could have at home.

Part of the Ontario PCs plan for the people involves scrapping the provinces cap-and-trade carbon-cutting plan, and challenging the federal governments power to impose carbon- pricing measures in lieu of a provincial equivalency plan, such as the carbon tax adopted by British Columbia and Alberta.

The platform point, which sits high on the Ontario PCs agenda, follows Saskatchewans recent constitutional challenge against a federally imposed carbon tax, and echoes a similar promise United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney has in store for Alberta if his party trumps Premier Rachel Notleys New Democrats in 2019.

Kenney told reporters in Calgary on Friday that he believes Ontario, under a Doug Ford-led government, will join Saskatchewans court challenge against the federal carbon tax  a battle Alberta would support if his party wins next years election.

The NDP has been flogging their carbon tax now for the past two years, spending, I think, $9 million tax dollars promoting it to Albertans, Kenney said. Yet the polls consistently show its rejected by two-thirds of Albertans, or more.

If I were the Alberta NDP, Id be taking a very serious look at what happened in Ontarios election ... to wonder if they really want to be defending higher energy prices on Albertans in the next campaign.

Laurie Adkin, a political science professor at the University of Alberta, said Fords government could lend strength to the UCPs position. Should Kenney get elected, three governments strongly opposed to carbon pricing could worsen federal co-operation on climate change.

The federal government has constitutional power to regulate CO2 emissions, and so it doesnt need agreement from the provinces to do that, Adkin said. However, she added, Its difficult for the federal government to impose something against concerted opposition from the provinces.

Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Fords impact on Albertas political scene, particularly on Notleys or Kenneys fortunes, largely hinges on how well his government performs and is viewed by voters here.

If Doug Ford does a good job and people like what hes doing, that momentum is something that Kenney can piggyback on, Williams said. But if things go badly with the Doug Ford government  that could become a liability.

Kenney, she added, must be cautious when signalling he will join Ford to combat the federal governments carbon tax because the move could backfire since it is viewed as part of a broader environmental plan that has generated greater support for the Trans Mountain pipeline.

I dont know if (PM Justin) Trudeau and Notley are going to be able to maintain that link, or if Jason Kenney is going to be successful in decoupling the federal governments approval and the buyout of the pipeline, Williams said.

Pipeline politics, I think, will still play into this and Im not sure that just stark opposition to a carbon tax is going to work.

Because the federal government has the constitutional authority to impose environmental regulations on provinces, it may be unwise for Kenney to take the issue to court, she said.

My guess is he will either modify the (federal carbon) tax or come up with something of his own to try to take its place because of the pipeline politics, Williams said. He doesnt want to go toe-to-toe with Ottawa on a legal fight or a constitutional fight that he might lose.

Looking at the parallels between Kenneys and Fords proposed policies, Joel French, executive director of Alberta Public Interest, sees the claims as nothing more than political posturing, since the question of pricing carbon falls out of provincial jurisdiction.

They dont want to be seen as the ones bringing in carbon pricing, French said. But its not going to be their choice as long as we have a government in Ottawa that wants to see that go forward.

As long as the Liberal Party of Canada holds power, he added, the most these leaders can do is change how carbon pricing is structured. Without their own regional plans, provinces will have to defer to federal provisions for how revenues are collected and spent.

According to the federal plan, the taxing of greenhouse gas emissions will start at $10 per tonne in 2018, and increase to $50 a tonne in 2022.

Despite the influence Fords government may have on Alberta politics, French sees the development as an opportunity to see what a UCP government might look like at home.

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EDMONTON  A group of protesters blocked the Edmonton Pride Parade on Saturday afternoon to make a series of demands to the organizers  including one to halt all police and military from marching in future parades.

Protestors say their demands were met after they consulted with Edmonton Pride Festival Society representatives at the blockade, which took place after 11 a.m. on the parade route at Whyte Avenue and 104 Street.

We feel strongly that police should not be welcomed to march in pride parades because police have done little to seriously address the constant mistreatment of trans people, Indigenous people, Black people, people of colour and the homeless community, the groups media liaison Agnieszka Kucharska said in a statement.

Engaging in civil disobedience is the true meaning of the history of pride, which was and is the struggle to create a better world for all.

The group, which billed itself as a coalition of queer and trans people of colour, additionally demanded the Edmonton Pride Festival Society restructure its board and staff to have better representation of ethnic minorities and trans people.

The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) could not be reached immediately for comment.

Around 30 protesters formed a chain at the intersection shortly after the parade started. They held up the parade floats while chanting Pride for all and carried signs saying No pride in police and No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.

While the floats waited behind them, protest organizers say they talked to representatives from the society, who agreed to their demands, and the parade was on its way shortly after noon.

According to a release from the group, it made four demands. These include the the society fund spaces specifically designed for people of colour and trans folks and that these spaces acknowledge and honour prides history as a demonstration against police oppression.

Read more:

Edmonton Pride Festival Society denies United Conservative Partys application to march in the 2018 pride parade

Pride Toronto apologizes to Black Lives Matter for history of anti-Blackness

Stepping up for Edmonton Pride, Wiccans say theyve long been the most LGBTQ-friendly religion

On Saturday evening, the Edmonton Pride Festival Societys board of directors issued a statement saying they were in agreement with each of the demands presented.

EPS, RCMP and military will not march in the parade until the community feels that they have taken the necessary steps for all community members to feel safe with their presence, said the statement.

The society announced it will hold confidential consultations with the protestors and stakeholder meetings with community members in order to best support all communities suffering from systemic racism and oppression.

Edmonton police had agreed to march in the 2018 parade in plain clothes as a way of easing tension between officers and marginalized members of the LGBTQ community who may be wary of police.

The move came after Black Lives Matter protesters ground Torontos pride parade to a halt in 2016 as they made a list of demands, including banning uniformed officers from participating in the parade.

Toronto Pride then banned uniformed officers from their 2017 festivities.

After consulting with members of the queer and transgender Indigenous, Black and people of colour community  what they called QTIBPOC  the Edmonton Pride Festival Society followed suit and restricted the use of police vehicles, lights and sirens in their 2017 parade.

But Kucharska said that isnt enough.

In the statement, the activists lauded the society for taking positive steps to invite queer and trans people of colour to marshal this years parade, but said their concerns regarding police presence in the parade were ignored.

The pride board had multiple opportunities to engage in dialogue with the queer and trans community of colour, after being ignored repeatedly, community members had no choice but to take action, by halting this year's pride parade.

After the brief standoff, the parade resumed. Leaders from all of Albertas major political parties attended except for United Conservative Party (UCP) Leader Jason Kenney. The partys application to march in the parade was rejected.

Instead, the UCP, which forms the official opposition in the Alberta legislature, decided to hold a pancake breakfast at the McKernan Community League on Saturday morning that was open to the public. Kenney attended with fellow party caucus members and mingled with the crowd, which included several candidates vying for the partys nomination in the 2019 provincial election.

I think this was a fantastic move by the UCP, given that they were denied their application to (march in) pride, said Payman Parseyan, who is running for the UCP nomination in the riding of Edmonton-Whitemud. Instead of pouting away in a corner, the UCP took on the initiative to host a mini pride for their own supporters that may have been discouraged (from) attending based on the application rejection.

Around 50 people gathered around to hear Kenney speak at the breakfast. In his address, the former federal minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism talked about initiatives he undertook during his time in Ottawa to assist LGBTQ people persecuted abroad.

He ended by urging people to support the UCP in next years election, making a pitch focusing on jobs and the economy.

It doesnt matter whether youre gay or straight or what your sexual orientation or identity is, if you dont have a job, I want to get you a job in Alberta.

Two members of the Alberta Handsmaids Coalition  a pro-choice group  stood by the edge of the community league, collecting money they said would go toward LGBTQ youth who are at risk of homelessness.

The pancake breakfast, they said, was happening the same time as another fundraiser for homeless LBGTQ youth, so they had decided to attend the UCP breakfast to collect donations.

With files from Claire Theobald and Kashmala Fida

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An editor once told me that food writing is a deceptively powerful tool. Start with a flavour, an ingredient or a dish and go on to tell whos cooking it, how the dish came to be, what political, cultural, historical or environmental factors shaped it. Use food to grab the readers attention and use it as a way to educate. No one understood this more than Anthony Bourdain.

For almost two decades, Bourdain captivated audiences with his food and travel shows.

He took us to Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza  places that rarely get attention beyond doom-and-gloom news headlines. He showed the humanity, growth, nuance and beauty of every place without sugar-coating it and opened them up to an audience of millions that hung on Bourdains every word. He knew he had a powerful platform, and knew when to step aside to let others tell their stories of tragedy and triumph through the universal language of food.

He also put his influence to good use in the restaurant industry, being one of the few prominent male chefs to call out the culture of toxic masculinity in kitchens that oddly enough, gave him his rock star chef persona when his memoir Kitchen Confidential came out.

I only interviewed Bourdain once, a brief, 10-minute phone call back in 2011 when he was promoting his new show, The Layover, which guided viewers on where to eat and drink with only a day or two in a city. Ironically, he was calling during a layover. He filmed an episode in Toronto, visiting Poutinis, Carousel Bakery at the St. Lawrence Market, Kensington Market bar Cold Tea, Porchetta and Co. and The Black Hoof, which he described as a must-visit for guests to our city, and credited owner and friend Jen Agg with being a leader in calling out the restaurant industrys sexist culture.

Bourdain loved Canadadespite once saying Toronto had all the worst architectural fads of the 20th century (Lets be honest: he said what we were all thinking). Just like that friend who wouldnt shut up after a great meal at a new restaurant, Bourdain praised restaurants such as Montreals Joe Beef and Au Pied Du Cochon.

His friends at Joe Beef, Dave McMillan and Fred Morin, convinced him to go to Newfoundland to film an episode of Parts Unknown, which aired last month. It not only showcased the diversity of the provinces culinary offerings from cod tongues to sea urchin pate, but also shed light on issues such as sustainable fishing and preserving local traditions. Even through the episode was momentarily shrouded by controversy when the shows Twitter account referred to Newfoundlanders as newfies, nonetheless East Coasters were proud to have their food showcased.

As Canadians, we already knew these places were awesome, but it was comforting that someone as well-travelled as Bourdain, who slurped noodles with then-President Barack Obama in Hanoi, reminded us that, yes, our food stands with the best, and the rest of the world needs to know about it.

While there will never be another Bourdain, he showed us as food writers that there are countless stories that need to be told, whether its in a country on the other side of the world or the little takeout shop we pass by every day.
WINNIPEGAn animal rescue organization in Manitoba has sent a letter to Indigenous Services Canada asking for help with hundreds of dogs left behind when two First Nations communities were evacuated last month due to fire.

Debra Vandekerkhove, the director of Norway House Animal Rescue, estimates about 700 dogs  200 in Pauingassi and 500 in Little Grand Rapids  were stranded after a wildfire forced about 1,400 people to flee.

In the letter dated June 7, Vandekerkhove wrote that the situation for the dogs has become dire and, if left unchanged, will continue to deteriorate. Many younger dogs have already died and the ones left need to be removed, she said.

There is also a concern that the dogs are forming larger, more aggressive packs.

The Canadian Red Cross contacted the rescue group last week because the animals were running out of food. Vandekerkhove said arrangements have been made for more than 6,000 kilograms of food to be flown in, but there are few people in the communities who can distribute it.

They cant keep up with the amount of dogs that need to be fed, she said Friday.

We cant get up there. We are not allowed because we are not a part of the emergency measures organization.

The Red Cross is working with Norway House Animal Rescue and the RCMP to distribute the food, said communications adviser Michelle Palansky in an email.

Vandekerkhove said volunteers from the rescue group and from the First Nations would like to be temporarily flown back to help hand out food and to remove any pets that need veterinary help. But that needs approval and funding from the federal government, she said.

The few people who have stayed behind have sent Vandekerkhove pictures of the dogs. Many show puppies that are gaunt and desperately eating the food that they find. There were dogs left without food or water for more than a week inside some homes, she said.

Martine Stevens, spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada, said the department is supporting the Red Cross in its efforts to help the animals. Offers of assistance are appreciated and will be shared with First Nation leadership, Stevens said in an email.

The wildfire that blazed towards Little Grand Rapids, about 260 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, forced hundreds of people in the fly-in community to huddle in a school gymnasium as they waited for the smoke to clear enough for planes to land.

Initial reports said 11 houses were destroyed.

Theres been no word on when people will be able to return.

The situation is causing significant stress for the families who had to leave there homes, Vandekerkhove said.

It is traumatic and emotional for them. This is the one thing thats left behind that is a living being that they are strongly connected to, she said.

Its important for their own emotional well-being that they know that their pets are going to be OK and there is somebody looking after them for them.

Read more:

Smoke from Manitoba wildfire prompts evacuation of 1,500 more people from First Nation

First Nation community stranded for more than a day fleeing Manitoba forest fires

Star Investigation | First and death in Canadas First Nations

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Ontarios chief coroner has launched a review into what investigators call concealed homicides  deaths going back decades that were initially written off as natural, accidental, suicidal or undetermined that were later revealed to be criminally suspicious.

The move to examine how homicides fly under the radar comes in the wake of a Star story that documented failures in the Harrison family death investigations. In that case, a mother, father and adult son died years apart in their Mississauga home, but authorities did not treat their cases as homicides until after the third death.

The Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service in March launched an internal review into the handling of the Harrison investigations, but are now expanding it to cover missed homicides stretching back to Tammy Homolka, whose 1990 death at the hands of notorious killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka was initially classified as natural.

We believe theres greater strength in looking at this more broadly and really trying to ensure that were doing the best that we can from a learning point of view, chief coroner Dr. Dirk Huyer said in an interview.

The review will also include some of the victims of serial killer Elizabeth Wettlaufer, who was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty last year to killing eight residents under her care in two nursing homes, and seriously harming six others. Those crimes came to light when she confessed. Her actions are the subject of a public inquiry in St. Thomas, Ont.

The purpose of the concealed homicides review is to compare cases where the system failed to detect homicides to see if themes surface in an effort to understand what happened and improve the work of coroners and forensic pathologists, Huyer said.

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It will not examine active cases like the death of Wayne Millard, 71, father of Dellen Millard, who is on trial for his murder. Waynes 2012 death in his Etobicoke home was ruled a suicide, but investigators reopened the case after his son was charged in two other killings. And it will not probe the December 2017 murders of billionaires Barry and Honey Sherman, a Toronto police investigation that has been criticized for its apparent early focus on a theory of murder-suicide, rather than double homicide.

Huyer did not yet know how many cases of undetected homicides there are, or how many will be part of the review, but its a small number over many years.

Huyer called the internal review a first step and said his organization will likely ask an independent party to review the findings. He said he expects the review will be shared with the family and made public.

Three members of the Harrison family died in their home on Pitch Pine Cres., one after the other, between 2009 and 2013: Bill, then Bridget, then Caleb. Relatives believe two deaths could have been prevented, had the first been properly investigated.

In January, Calebs ex-wife, Melissa Merritt, and her common-law spouse, Christopher Fattore, were convicted of first-degree murder in his 2013 death. Fattore was also found guilty of first-degree murder in Bridgets 2010 death, and not guilty of second-degree murder in Bills 2009 death.

Their convictions followed a criminal trial in which prosecutors argued the Harrisons were murdered at key moments in a bitter custody battle over Merritt and Calebs two children  a motive the victims family had pointed to all along. Merritt and Fattore have both filed appeals.

We appreciate that the coroners office is expanding its probe to a broader system review of what they call concealed homicide cases, Wanda Jamieson, a close family friend, said on behalf of the Harrison family. We believe that we and other families who have had similar experiences need answers about how and why these homicides were missed.

But the family remains concerned that the only probes into what went wrong are being led by the organizations whose work is under scrutiny.

Peel police are conducting their own internal review, but have not said whether any of the findings will be shared with the extended Harrison family or made public, and they have not responded to the familys request for an independent review. Chief Jennifer Evans has not personally spoken to the Harrison family  unlike her leadership counterparts at the coroners office and the forensic pathology service  and has refused all interview requests from the Star, with her spokesperson citing the integrity of the process and the criminal appeal as reasons.

The Harrison family is calling for a full independent inquiry  probing actions of Peel police, coroners and pathologists.

Bill Harrisons 2009 death was initially deemed natural until his wife, Bridget Harrison, died in their home one year later under suspicious circumstances, and concerns were raised about inadequacies in his autopsy. Bridgets 2010 autopsy suggested competing theories: strangulation and a fall down the stairs. Yet four months after her death, Peel police closed the case, saying there was no evidence to suggest (she) was the victim of foul play or any other criminal act. A coroner classified the deaths of husband and wife as undetermined.

Of the 16,000 deaths a year investigated by coroners in Ontario, on average, roughly 420 receive the undetermined label, according to figures from the coroners office.

An undetermined manner of death means the coroner, taking into consideration a pathologists autopsy findings and expert opinion on cause of death, could not conclude whether it was natural, an accident, a suicide or homicide.

Cases like the Harrisons, where the findings suggest homicide or an accident as competing manners of death, are very rare, Huyer said. Many undetermineds are drug overdoses where its unclear if its an accident or suicide. Others are the unexplained deaths of infants, which were in the past more often labelled sudden infant death syndrome  where, despite thorough examination at autopsy, a cause of death cannot be determined.

Families are often unhappy with the undetermined conclusion, Huyer said. But for me, that is the truth. And if we dont know, we dont know, and we should say that we dont know.

The 2008 Goudge Inquiry, which probed mistakes made in pediatric forensic pathology cases handled by Dr. Charles Smith that led to miscarriages of justice, stressed that evidence at autopsy must be followed wherever it leads, even if that is to an undetermined outcome.

The Harrison family wonders if, in the aftermath of Goudge, some forensic pathologists are being too careful to avoid favouring one theory over another in cases where there are competing findings on the cause of death. And in what ways is classifying a manner of death as undetermined influencing police to stop working on an investigation? Jamieson wondered.

Earlier this year, members of the extended Harrison family were troubled to see a case that appeared to resemble their personal tragedy playing out in the news again in the deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman, a case which echoed some of the concerns they had about the investigations into the deaths of Bill and Bridget.

The Shermans were found dead Dec. 15, hanging by belts from a railing beside the indoor pool in their North York mansion. In the immediate aftermath, a Toronto police officer said no suspects were being sought, and police sources told several news outlets that the investigation was focused on murder-suicide. Appalled and not willing to accept that theory, the family hired private police investigators and a forensic pathologist. Six weeks after the bodies were discovered, Toronto police announced they believed both Shermans were the victims of a targeted killing. No one has been charged.

We care deeply about justice for our family and for all other families that have, or are suffering through similar experiences, Jamieson said on behalf of the Harrisons. The Sherman family was fortunate to have the financial resources to hire a parallel set of independent investigators to get answers. This should not be necessary in Ontarios death investigation system. Everyone should have equal access to justice.

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QUEBECAnti-G7 protesters, labour unions and environmental groups kicked off a full day of demonstrations Saturday, which will include a march through Quebec Citys old quarter as well as a nighttime show featuring popular comedians.

Activists with global aid organization Oxfam donned giant heads of each of the seven G7 leaders and performed some theatre outside Quebec's provincial legislature building.

The seven leaders, dressed in red-and-black plaid shirts, pretended to be on a relaxing camping trip while a giant ball representing the earth flamed in back of them, symbolizing the need for G7 countries meeting in Charlevoix to take climate change more seriously.

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Later on, a handful of members of the African diaspora in Canada protested outside the legislature against the invitation to the G7 of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whom they accuse of war crimes during the time he commanded the rebel army that ended the 1994 genocide.

Since Kagame took office in 2000, Human Rights Watch says those in the country who criticize his regime have been arrested, disappeared, or killed.

How can a leader like Kagame be invited here? said Freddy Usabuwera, who fled Rwanda in 1997 to live in Quebec.

Shortly after, a couple of dozen people held Rwandan flags outside the international media centre in support of Kagame, saying they were proud of their president.

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Activists are holding what they call an alternative G7 outside the legislature early this afternoon, which will be followed by a large protest march that will include members of labour unions and at least one Quebec provincial politician, Amir Khadir from the left-wing Quebec Solidaire.

Since Thursday, anti-G7 protesters have taken to the streets in a series of public stunts and actions, but their largely peaceful demonstrations have contrasted in grandeur with the millions of dollars spent on security for the summit.

The two-day meeting is nowhere near the protests, taking place about 140 kilometres to the northeast of Quebec City in the Charlevoix region. U.S. President Donald Trump left on Saturday morning, approximately 24 hours after he arrived.

At most, a few hundred people took part in the largest march so far, held Thursday night, which ended peacefully and with three people arrested.

The following day, a tense standoff between protesters and police on a road leading to the summit site of La Malbaie in the early morning also ended calmly.

Police chased small pockets of activists through the streets of Quebec City for the rest of the day on Friday, but aside from a few pieces of furniture set on fire in the street, the demonstrations were calm.

Amnesty International, along with a human rights advocacy group in Quebec, are leading an 44-person observer mission to monitor the protests.

Spokesperson Nicole Filion said observers have noticed some police carrying assault rifles, which she said could scare people out of exercising their right to protest. Observers also witnessed police pointing the weapons towards protesters and, at times, journalists.

Our group spoke to the police about the assault rifles, she said in an interview. They told us in this age of terrorism, they are needed to protect people.

We don't think assault rifles are needed for crowd control.

Quebec City police said four men and two women were arrested Friday for participating in an illegal protest and for disrupting the work of an officer.

The protest actions are scheduled to culminate Saturday evening with a comedy show at a community centre that will include popular performers Fred Dube and Guillaume Wagner.

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QUEBEC CITYU.S. President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell after the G7 summit ended, essentially calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a liar who made false statements about Canada-U.S. trade.

The president tweeted: Based on Justins false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!

Trumps reversal on the joint statement and declaration that he will proceed with an investigation and possible 25 per cent tariffs on automobile imports  despite all that he heard in Charlevoix over the past 24 hours  was a stunning move.

Trudeau had closed the G7 summit just two hours earlier, calling it a success because the seven leaders had set aside sharp differences on tariffs and come to a consensus to support a vague statement endorsing a rules-based international order and free, fair and mutually beneficial trade and investment.

But Trump tweeted he was now pulling out of the joint communique after all, although it was not entirely clear which of Trudeaus statements he deemed false.

Trump added an even further personal attack, tweeting: PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, US Tariffs were kind of insulting and he will not be pushed around. Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!

In fact, Trumps tweets appear to prove Trudeaus point  that American tariffs are punitive measures and do not deal with actual national security concerns. Trump appears focused on Canadas milk more than any threat to national security.

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The Canadian prime minister, who was in meetings with UN and other leaders Saturday night, had little to say in response.

Trudeaus spokesman, Cameron Ahmad, released a statement from Trudeau, saying: We are focused on everything we accomplished here at the G7 summit. The Prime Minister said nothing he hasnt said before  both in public, and in private conversations with the President.

In fact, Trump had earlier insisted their personal relationship remained good  Trump rated it a 10  but their news conferences, and now the incredibly personal shot at Trudeau, spoke volumes.

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Trump told reporters in the morning that he would not reverse steel and aluminum tariffs that hit Canada and all other G7 members. The U.S. president insisted on the need to blow up Canadas dairy quota system that levies tariffs on American farmers after a foreign import quota is reached, and declared that a new North American free trade pact will have a sunset clause.

He said a five-year expiry, or a longer term to accommodate concerns of business investment cycles, were the two options.

Trudeau said he told the U.S. president that Canada will retaliate with $16 billion in countermeasures against U.S. products starting July 1 if he doesnt lift the tariffs.

Trump told me that would be a mistake, Trudeau said.

It is something that absolutely we will do, Trudeau added. He said he told Trump that Canadians are polite and reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.

Trudeau said he made the case directly to Trump that Canadian steel and aluminum was not a national security threat to America, and that Canadians found it an insulting position for Trump to take.

Other leaders, like U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, said she made the same argument.

Trump said they virtually didnt even make that case.

Finally, Trump and Trudeau each clung to their red-lines on NAFTA.

A trade deal with a sunset clause is not a trade deal and so therefore we will not accept a sunset clause of five, 10, whatever duration is proposed by the President, Trudeau told reporters.

Trump had agreed to the vague language on trade in the consensus document, the result of late-night discussions with the other G7 leaders in a lounge at the leaders hotel after an outdoor cultural show.

Those talks continued between Trumps and Trudeaus top aides until about 2:30 in the morning, and were not finalized until just before Trump held his own closing news conference Friday morning.

At his news conference, it was Trump who surprised his allies, lobbing threats of more sanctions against other countries, saying that unless they removed all tariffs, non-tariff barriers and all subsidies, he would cut trading ties with them.

The gig is up, Trump told reporters before skipping two sessions on climate change and oceans protection and heading to the airport.

They have no choice. If its not going to change, were not going to trade with them.

Trump said the days of unfair trade deals are over.

Were like the piggy bank that everybodys robbing and that ends.

By the end of the day, it was clearer than ever that despite all their talk, the two sides remain deadlocked on key issues at the NAFTA talks, and there is no real path forward for what the next steps toward seriously resolving these issues should be.

Furthermore, Trumps threat to extend tariffs to autos would be devastating to the Canadian and American industries, which insist they are an integrated supply chain.

At a closing news conference, the Canadian prime minister declared the summit had been a success because despite frank disagreements all seven leaders supported the communique on trade and other issues, as well as committing to significant financial measures to empower women and girls through education, training and business development.

What we were able to do this weekend is come together to get big things done.

But the U.S. remained an outlier on climate change and did not sign onto two key commitments in that regard, and Japan joined the Americans in declining to sign a plastics charter.

The final communique had vague endorsements of the importance of working to ensure a clean environment, clean air and clean water.

The United States stood alone in refusing to sign the joint statement on climate change which restated the importance of the Paris accord on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement.

On climate change, it was G6 +1.

But Trump got unanimous support for his efforts on his coming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump said hell know very soon whether he will like the man, and whether he is serious about reaching an agreement with him.

I think within the first minute Ill know. Just my touch, my feel. Thats what I do.

The G7 leaders set aside their differences after an evening fireside cultural show and worked into the evening to find common language they could agree on given the widening gulf with the U.S.

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LA MALBAIE, QUE.A tardy Donald Trump created a distraction Saturday when he showed up late for a G7 meeting on womens empowerment.

The U.S. president arrived several minutes after the start of the breakfast meeting between G7 leaders and the gender equality advisory council that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau created for this years summit in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.

Trump missed Trudeaus introductory statement at the meeting and entered the room while council co-chair Isabelle Hudon, who is Canadas ambassador to France, was speaking.

His arrival was impossible to miss as security personnel had to open a path for Trump through a mob of journalists, many of whom were holding large cameras.

Trump stopped at the edge of the room and flashed a big smile in Trudeaus direction before continuing to his seat.

The rapid-fire clicks of cameras intensified as Trump made his way into the room  to the point that the noise of all the cameras almost drowned out Hudons remarks.

Fellow G7 leaders stared at Trump as he slowly made his way to his seat, which was across the table from Trudeau and next to International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde.

The president has made a lot of noise at this years G7 event in the Quebec town of La Malbaie  first by launching a Twitter attack on Canadas trade policies before the summit and then for suggesting Russia be invited to rejoin the alliance.

The summit ends later Saturday, but Trump is set to leave early, missing the discussion on climate change and protecting oceans.

The president is leaving Quebec for Singapore, where he will hold a summit on Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Before Trumps late arrival at the breakfast event, Trudeau told the room that he wanted to see the creation of a mechanism to look at gender equality across all areas of discussion and study when it comes to the G7.

Every topic we discuss needs to reflect on its impact on women as well as further intersectionalities, whether it be race, gender identity or background or cultures, he said.

These are the kinds of things that we know matter when were talking about economic growth that works for everyone.

Trudeau then thanked the council for its work and for its bold recommendations.

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A jury has convicted Calvin Nimoh of first-degree murder for stabbing Dr. Mark Ernsting nine times in the back, head, face and neck while the cancer researcher was out for his nightly walk in downtown Toronto on Dec. 15, 2015.

Nimoh will receive an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. The jury retired Thursday afternoon and returned Friday at around 7 p.m.

Im just glad for Marks husband and his family that there was the best possible conclusion, Toronto police homicide Det. Paul Worden said.

Even in his short life he made a great contribution to society so Im glad we were able to get justice for the family.

Nimoh returns to court Friday for sentencing.

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Jurors rejected the defence argument that the 24-year-old killer acted impulsively after Ernsting propositioned him for sex just before 9:30 p.m. Defence lawyer Charn Gill said Nimoh was guilty of manslaughter, because there was no evidence of the planning and deliberation required for a first-degree murder conviction.

But the Crown said there was nothing impulsive about Nimohs savagery, that he had no money, no job and set out to commit a robbery.

Ernsting didnt say one word to Mr. Nimoh, because he never got the chance, prosecutor Lindsay Kromm told the jury.

After the attack, Ernsting, 39, was found lying dead on the sidewalk, a knife blade wedged so firmly in his skull it required the force of two adults to remove at the autopsy, she said during her closing address.

He (Nimoh) came into court and told more lies about the event and about my husband, Ernstings husband, Robert Iseman, told reporters in a statement. Thankfully the jury was able to see through his lies and properly convict him.

During the month-long trial, the Crown alleged that two hours before killing Ernsting, Nimoh and two female accomplices robbed theatre director Glynis Brownsey in a park near the Summerhill subway station. Nimoh testified he was not involved, except for providing a balaclava to the women.

Superior Court Justice David McCombs required a separate trial on those robbery charges, but allowed Brownsey to testify about the mugging because of the similar fact evidence in relation to the Crowns theory.

The jury also heard about Nimohs history of doing street robberies since he alleged his two female companions committed the first robbery.

The jury was not told Nimoh has four robbery convictions and one assault causing bodily harm conviction. He had used a knife in the past in street robberies.

Nor were jurors made aware that Nimoh and two others are alleged to have attacked another inmate in a cell at the Toronto South Detention Centre in June 2017. No court date has been set.

He was originally charged with attempt murder, aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit and indictable offence. But after a preliminary hearing, Nimoh was only committed on aggravated assault and conspiracy because the victim recovered.

Last month, Nimohs first trial got off to a false start after a juror looked up the judge and accused on the internet, and then told fellow jurors about what he had done. Another juror reported what had happened to McCombs, who declared a mistrial.

Another jury was picked, and Ernstings husband Robert Iseman was forced to testify for a second time.

The juror who caused the mistrial emailed Iseman after the retrial started, offering his sympathies and a copy of a newspaper story about Nimoh facing charges in connection to the jailhouse beating.
The next time someone makes a joke about Hamilton Mountain not being much of a high place, you can point out that one of the last Canadians to climb Mount Everest actually got his start there.

His name is Michael Lees, 36, and on May 14 he became the 112th Canadian to make it to the summit. It was a harrowing journey, especially during the downbound trip when a major blizzard kicked up as he made his way through a section known as the dead zone.

But he made it, like Edmund Hillary did in May 1953 and like nearly 5,000 others have since. And standing in front of the Wentworth Stairs in Hamilton a couple of weeks later, Lees recalled the days when he got his start at mountain climbing. He would run up and down the escarpment over and over again while dreaming about the big mountain on the other side of the world.

Between here, the Dundas Valley, Spencer Gorge, and running around the bay, this is what I did every day, says Lees, who like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather is a lawyer, although he isnt practising these days.

If you can make it 10 times up the Wentworth Stairs that is 3,000 feet. That is like doing a mountain in Canmore (Alberta), says Lee, who grew up in Ancaster, attending Ancaster High School before going onto Queens University and the University of Toronto.

After graduating from university, he returned to Ancaster  where I chilled out for a few years on my parents couch  and happened to watch a television program about Mount Everest on the Discovery Channel that changed his life.

His mother Vera says from that point on he would say Im going to climb Everest and we would roll our eyes. He would say the same thing to his friends and they would roll their eyes too.

Friends and family pointed out that not only would a climb be outrageously dangerous  almost 300 people have died trying to make the climb  there were other logistical challenges. For one thing, its 12,000 kilometres away and it costs tens of thousands of dollars for climbing permits, guides and other services.

But Lees was determined, caught up in an all-consuming passion that Hillary once tried to explain by saying, It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.

Lees has lived in Calgary for the past several years where he further honed his climbing skills on weekend outings to the Rockies.

And then this spring he figured he was ready.

He travelled to Nepal. But he says he got sick with the flu and had to hang back until he felt better.

It was up in the air about whether I would be able to continue. But the antibiotics he was taking were helping and he decided to go ahead, even though he was still suffering from some congestion in his lungs.

He found himself in a group of climbers from China, one of whom was Xia Boyu, a 69-year-old double-amputee, who lost both legs from frostbite during a previous attempt several years before.

It was his fifth attempt over 40 years and his first with artificial legs.

Lees said he was worried at first that Boyu would hold back the group, but found he managed fine.

In fact, almost everything about the climb was going well  except for some high winds  until they got near to the summit of the 8,848-metre high mountain, the earths highest point of land above sea level.

The summit is the most difficult part of the journey at the best of times. After 7,900 metres they call it the death zone. You cant survive even with oxygen on for an extended period of time, he said.

But in addition to that, the climbers had to deal with a massive storm they could see in the distance. He had to cut short his stay at the summit.

After about 20 minutes, he started making his way down as the storm came in and clobbered us. We were in a whiteout blizzard, and I couldnt see more than 10 or 20 feet in front of me.

As a reminder of the danger, he said, he stumbled upon a frozen body from a climbing attempt some time ago. There are more than 200 climbers who died on the Mountain and whose bodies have never been recovered.

People die at different times for different reasons, said Lees. Sometimes their bodies just give out on them. Other times, their lungs burst or they have cerebral edema where their brain swells so much there is not enough room in their skull, he said.

Then he noticed a Sherpa, who was bleeding out of his mouth from pulmonary edema. Lees offered some steroid pills to help stop the bleeding but the Sherpa refused.

With the increasing storm, he pressed on, coming upon a second Sherpa who was suffering from hypothermia and delusional from the altitude and oxygen deprivation.

He was yelling we are all going to die. I tried to get him to get up and move. But he wouldnt.

The Sherpa had a two-way radio, which Lees used to call for help. The storm was worsening, so he continued his downward descent and became disoriented wandering off the track and became lost.

Luckily, a couple of Sherpas appeared after hearing his radio distress call to guide him back on track.

That radio saved my life, he said.

By then, the distressed Sherpas he had previously seen appeared and passed him on their way down.

From there, he was able to make it the rest of the way down arriving at the bottom on May 16 where he boarded a helicopter back to Kathmandu.

Two days later, he wrote on his Facebook page  a page that he uses under the pseudonym Mikey Foreal  Top of the world. For a brief moment in time, I was king of the castle. What a ride it was. Its taken me several days of silence to digest my emotions. The climb had its challenges, but today Ill only enjoy the success.

After spending a week visiting his parents in Ancaster, he returned to Calgary June 2 to start looking for a job. Hes hoping for something in management to make use of his MBA degree that he has in addition to his law degree.

Asked what he plans to do for an encore after climbing the worlds highest mountain, he said, I really dont know. Ill have to figure it out and do some searching. But Ive been looking at what I have left in my bank account, and I definitely need to find some work pretty quickly.

Photograph by Barry Gray, The Hamilton Spectator
Just remember this, my girl, when you look up in the sky, you can see the stars and still not see the light.

The Eagles, 1974

And remember this, too: that you can miss the stars, or lose them altogether, if you refuse to see the light.

Michael Silver, Toronto mediation arbitrator, September 2017

In the world of astronomy and cosmology, the name Mike Silver is at best a subatomic speck among names such as Nicholaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Stephen Hawking.

Silver does own a telescope. And he has been known to chase the occasional solar eclipse. And like Galileo, who was condemned as a heretic for suggesting that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, Silver has, as a friend put it, had his ass kicked for his beliefs.

And, in the name of astronomy, he has kicked ass in return. Last August, for example, he provoked a five-star dust-up in the Gravenhurst Municipal Council Chamber by accusing the assembled politicians of persistently neglecting their legal obligation to prevent light pollution in and around Gravenhurst. In their delinquency, claimed Silver, they were ruining night-sky visibility at the nearby Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Reserve, a world-renowned star-viewing park on Gravenhursts northwest boundary.

Whats more, they were doing so in violation of their own dark-sky bylaw. And that is something that, during the past couple of years, Silver has become extremely sensitive about. And with good reason. The famous reserve, which Silver was instrumental in creating two decades ago, is fast losing the one glorious asset on which its heralded existence depends: a dark sky  and thus visible stars and planets.

At its founding, environmentalists hailed the reserve as a radical initiative in ecological preservation. No one had yet thought to include darkness and the clarity of the night sky among inviolable ecological legacies, such as uncontaminated soil, breathable air and clean water. The pathetic truth, says Silver, is that nobody had even thought of the visible heavens as something that could be lost. Forever. And yet here we are today, clearly losing this magnificent resource.

By the time the Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Reserve was officially dedicated in 2000, the Royal Astronomical Society had endorsed it, as had astronomers and ecologists in half a dozen countries. And Silver, as much as any amateur stargazer, had emerged as a kind of avatar of public access to the epic natural laboratory in which Copernicus, Galileo and others had sorted out the cosmos.

Silvers pitch to Gravenhurst council last summer was supported by a dozen or more governmental agencies and ecologists, including the U.S. astronaut and environmentalist, Mark Kelly, and Kellys wife, the Arizona ex-congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords. The Canadian astronomer Terence Dickinson once pronounced the dark-sky park a gem, a kind of miracle so close to Toronto.

When Terence came to see the reserve for the first time, in 1999, confides Silver, he said to me quietly, We should keep it a secret. I said, Not gonna happen. We wanted people to come and see it. Use it. Hike around on it. Set up a telescope. Appreciate what it means. That was the only way it stood a chance of surviving.

Among other things, Silver reminded Gravenhurst council that the lighting on the towns impressive new welcome sign, on Highway 11, was in clear violation of the towns dark-sky bylaw. Your own sign! Your own regulations! he pleaded. Moreover, he demanded to know why a massive McDonalds sign on the edge of town had been granted dispensation from the bylaws when it, too, was flagrantly in violation of them.

And what about this sign? And that one? And, by the way, had there been any progress in urging the real estate giant, RioCan, to permanently reduce lighting intensity on the insanely overlit parking lot at its two-hectare shopping centre on the south side of town? At the moment, Silver told council, the only restriction on that lighting was a gentlemans agreement that he had negotiated personally with a RioCan executive who promised to keep half the centres outdoor lights turned off. But that, Silver lamented, is not a lasting solution to curbing lighting that, at full intensity, entirely wipes out star-viewing at the nearby reserve.

For his troubles in excoriating council, Silver was shouted down by a pair of councillors and was all but run out of the council chamber with his supporters, as the disorderly meeting was suspended.

Oh, they treated him abominably, says a prominent Gravenhurst businessman who was ringside for the skirmish. Youd have thought he was an outlaw.

Which is perhaps not the worst thing one might think about the 58-year-old Toronto lawyer and mediator. For, in his quixotically charming and nettlesome way, Silver is indeed a bit of an outlaw  or more accurately, a scofflaw, at least when it comes to standing up for the environment. By his own account, he once crashed a $500-a-plate World Wildlife Fund event and seated himself beside the artist Robert Bateman, who Silver says gave him invaluable artistic advice as they dined. At the same event, he corralled the Duke of Edinburgh and the then-premier of Ontario, Bob Rae, and implored them to support his campaign to have the aforementioned Torrance Barrens (which eventually became the dark-sky reserve) designated a permanent conservation site.

That was 1992, and at the time the 2,000-hectare Barrens were not everybodys idea of a landscape worth protecting. Located off District Road #13, west of Torrance, about 200 kilometres north of Toronto, the arid rockscape was, and remains, the unreconstructed Golgotha of the Muskoka Lakes: domes of parched granite, skeletal stumps, bogs the colour of old blood. It is a place seemingly better suited to spiders, snakes and fire ants than to the average Muskoka vacationer in search of a shady pine and a tall double gin.

When the film director David Cronenberg wanted a freakish visual setting for a driving scene in his 1993 movie, Naked Lunch  wanted a total geophysical scab, noted the actor Peter Weller, who starred in the film  he chose a tortuous rural road that hooks and humps across the Barrens.

To me, the Barrens have always been one of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth, says Silver, who has a cottage on nearby Clear Lake.

It was in that rhapsodic spirit, in 1993, that Silver went to work with numerous others to bring the rarefied ecology of the Barrens under environmental protection. It was a fantastic community effort, says Silver, citing a host of Barrens backers that included the provincial government, various cottaging associations, ratepayer groups and local municipalities.

However, by the time the Barrens were officially declared a conservation area in 1998, a strange thing had happened. Visitors to the area who lingered beyond sunset, or camped out overnight, had begun to notice something that a sprinkling of locals had known for decades but had never thought to mention, let alone publicize: that when the sun and moon are down, and the flashlights and fires have been extinguished, the Barrens can be preternaturally, even spookily, dark. Which of course makes the stars and planets and meteor showers gloriously visible.

Because there are no trees to speak of, says Silver, you can get up on one of those granite whalesbacks and get a 360-degree view of the night sky. On a clear night, its just a gorgeous natural planetarium.

Word spread. Before long, people were coming to the Barrens specifically to see the stars.

For Silver, the possibility of preserving that darkness  perhaps making a kind of park of it  became another obvious ambition-stoker. A few years prior to that, he says, for reasons I had no control over, Id been turned down for partnership in the law firm where Id been working. It was an extremely discouraging time for me. One day when I was more or less on bottom, I remember thinking, Well, it doesnt look like Im going to achieve anything professionally in this life. But Im damn well still going to achieve something personally  to do the world some good! 

Silver embarked on the new preservation idea with the guidance of Toronto architect Peter Goering from the Muskoka Heritage Association, and the support of an expanded array of municipalities and agencies, including the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The lot of them were quickly fixated on having the Barrens recognized as the worlds first dark-sky reserve, a place where the wonders of the night sky would be formally protected against the exponentially expanding encroachments of 21st-century light pollution. Against the very thing that is going on in Gravenhurst right now, says Silver.

Far from being a detriment to this radical new version of Muskoka night life, the parks aridity, its crusted granite, its prickly mosses and bog muck were, in their way, its greatest intrinsic assets.

Had this uniquely desolate landscape not (to quote the novelist Irvine Welsh) been shat into creation by the Wisconsin glacier, which dragged its weary tail north some 10,000 years ago, the territory today would be just another paradise of white pine and shoreline. And boat ramps and parking spots and septic fields. And power lines and transformers. And of course a gazillion glowing watts worth of electric lights. In other words, typical Muskoka cottage country. But because of the terrain, cottage builders have left the Barrens to the warblers, wasps, and garter snakes  and, at night, to the fireflies and stars.

For me all of this is personal. My ancestors are from Bracebridge and Bala, and my family has always kept a cabin within a few kilometres of the Barrens. When I was a child during the 1950s, my dad would take my sisters and me over to the Barrens during the annual Pleiades meteor shower in mid-August. Wed lie on a blanket on the granite and watch the shooting stars and search for the constellations, and gaze into the Milky Way.

Eventually, I took my own kids to the Barrens to see what my dad often referred to as The Greatest Show on Earth.

Beyond a lasting sense of wonder, the legacy of these outings is an appreciative if partial awareness of the enigmas of time and space, and of the contribution of the stars to our scientific and cultural riches. Pythagoras realized in 500 BC that the mathematics of Earth and the mathematics of the galaxies are one. David Thompsons first map of North America during the early 1800s was devised from the particulars of the heavens. Van Goghs Starry Night, one of the dreamiest and most disturbing of paintings, is said to convey the mysteries of the human heart as the artist perceived them while locked in the asylum in Saint-Remy during the days before his suicide.

At night, when I was a boy, you could look south from Clear Lake, across the Torrance Barrens, toward the town of Gravenhurst, into a sky as black as ink. The same view, today, even on a clear night, is a kind of electro-misted haze, variably greenish, yellowish, pinkish, and devoid of stars. On many nights, you cant see the Milky Way.

During the months following the creation of the dark-sky reserve, local governments, cottaging associations and conservation agencies flocked to support it, aware that it would draw healthy attention and a stream of respectful visitors to Muskoka. The reserve would also be a kind of model for a refreshing ecological future.

Because Gravenhurst was the closest significant town, its commitment was crucial both to the spirit of the reserve and to the particulars of keeping artificial light earthbound and at levels that would not interfere with star watching. Plans for all new developments would have to show appropriate lighting to gain council approval. Signs would have to be lit from above. Internally lit signs were out.

And initially, Gravenhurst rose to the occasion. When the extensive waterfront development called Muskoka Wharf came into being in 2006, the hundreds of outdoor lights chosen for the project were full cutoff, meaning that all illumination was prevented from escaping upward or outward. The intensity of the lights was modest. Mike Silver was an adviser on the choice of those lights. He says, Compared to today, it just seems so ironic that the town was quite happy back then to let me influence these important choices. And we were all very proud of the results.

A subsequent initiative to replace the towns streetlights began the gradual installation of some 800 lamps that town planner Scott Lucas says are fully compliant with international standards of dark-sky lighting.

Then in 2009, the town passed its multi-part dark-sky bylaw. The problem with it, says Silver, is that theres never been adequate enforcement. When theres a violation, the town often just looks the other way. So were still getting all sorts of light pollution.

When he scolded council over its delinquency last August, Silver cited half a dozen signs that he says violate the bylaw, including the major sign at McDonalds, as well as a pair at Harveys and Swiss Chalet. Lucas contends that the latter two signs are exempt because they were installed before the bylaw was passed. Which is simply not true, says Silver. The McDonalds sign is exempt, says Lucas, because it sits within 200 metres of a district highway. Which is technically true, says Silver, but McDonalds was perfectly aware of the bylaw and its intent when they put the sign up; they applied for the exemption. Silver says the message to everybody is that big corporations dont have to pay attention to the environment.

As for the lighting on the towns stylish new welcome sign on Highway 11  lighting that for years pointed straight skyward  Lucas accepts that the lighting should have been changed when the sign was renewed a year ago. In response to protest, it has indeed now been changed.

What still rankles Silver more than anything is the excessive lighting in the parking lots at the huge RioCan shopping centre on Gravenhursts south side. Lucas insists that the centres full-cutoff lighting is fully compliant with the centres original site plan agreement with the town. But Silver vehemently denies it. Whatever the case and technicalities, when the lights went on nearly a decade ago, the explosion of reflected light was an all but ruinous assault not just on the Barrens but on the spirit of the towns erstwhile support for the reserve.

When I saw it, says Silver, I just thought immediately, were finished. You could hardly see a star at the reserve, 10 kilometres away. Silver places little lasting confidence in the private agreement he made several years ago with a company executive to keep half the lights off. Im so grateful for the agreement, he says, but the very nature of it should be all the evidence anybody needs of the precariousness of the reserves existence. Ive asked the town to formalize it; I dont know why they wont.

Asked in a recent email if the town was as committed as ever to the values and existence of the Dark Sky Reserve, Gravenhurst Mayor Paisley Donaldson declined to comment, passing the question along to Scott Lucas. Nor did she respond to a 2017 letter from Mike Silver, in which he pleaded for understanding from the town. And she was not in attendance for Silvers presentation to council last August.

The reserve has had support and understanding from the Township of Muskoka Lakes, from the District of Muskoka and from all sorts of other agencies, including the ministry of natural resources, says Silver. But without a genuine commitment from Gravenhurst, its all for nothing.

Reflecting recently on the reserves decreasing likelihood of survival, Silver said, For every person whos not onside, theres somebody who is. Unfortunately, there are also a dozen who couldnt care less. The big apathy. I know if we could get them out there on a clear night, theyd be blown away. Theyd be with us forever.

When it was suggested to Silver that certain Gravenhurst council members might benefit from an evening under the stars, he says, We should all be getting out there. When youre up on those rocks in the dark, gazing at the immensity of the night sky, a lot of what bothers us on Earth can suddenly seem pretty small, pretty solvable.

Another good reason to preserve the view.
WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump revealed new details on Friday about the closely guarded medical condition of Melania Trump, the first lady, saying that she underwent a four-hour operation and that her recovery would keep her from travelling abroad with him.

In the weeks since aides said she underwent an procedure to treat a benign kidney condition, Melania Trump has directed her East Wing aides to release almost no information about her medical condition or explain why she was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for five days.

Until Donald Trump stepped in front of the cameras as he departed on an international trip on Friday, there had been no leaks.

The President said that Melania Trump wanted to go with him to the Group of 7 summit meeting in Quebec, and then on to Singapore for a planned sit-down with Kim Jong Un, North Koreas leader. But, the President said, she was staying at the White House on doctors orders.

She had a big operation, Trump said. That was a close to a four-hour operation. And shes doing great.

Few details have emerged from the first ladys office.

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On May 14, the East Wing said Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure, which is meant to cut off the blood supply that feeds the kidney. It is usually used to stop bleeding from a benign tumour or a small aneurysm, or to reverse the growth of such a tumour, according to specialists.

The White House did not explain what led Melania Trump to seek treatment or whether the benign kidney condition meant she had a benign tumour or something else. In a statement, the East Wing said the procedure had been successful, with no complications.

In the hours afterward, aides wore scrubs around the first lady, a precaution that specialists said would be unnecessary for an embolization procedure.

Presented with the Presidents timeline for Melania Trumps surgery, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys communications director, reiterated that the first ladys embolization procedure had been successful.

The statement I put out on May 14 was correct, Grisham wrote in an email on Friday. Mrs. Trump had a successful embolization procedure. She cannot travel internationally yet, and is doing great.

When asked if the embolization was the only procedure performed that day, Grisham said that it was. She later added that it was the only procedure done for Melania Trumps entire stay at the hospital.

The President has previously provided details to the public about his wifes medical procedure that turned out to be incorrect. After the procedure, Donald Trump told the public that his wife would be home from the hospital in two to three days; she ended up staying for five.

The details given by the President on Friday also do not match up with the surgical or recovery timeline for a typical embolization procedure with no complications, according to experts.

Dr. Kelvin Hong, the director of the Johns Hopkins Interventional Radiology Center, said a four-hour operation to treat the condition described by the White House would be unusual.

I think the range from one to two hours would be much more likely, Hong said.

But, he added, the president could have been taking into account presurgery preparation time and any post-operation treatment, in addition to the embolization itself.

Theres no question that family members can sometimes feel as if the procedure is something of that magnitude, Hong said, from the time the patient departs the pre-procedure area until the time they see the patient again.

Dr. Jeffrey Berns, the associate chief of the nephrology division at Penn Medicine, said that a four-hour procedure would be not unrealistic if all of the preparation work  including cleaning the area, inserting lidocaine to numb the skin and inserting a catheter  was taken into account.

The longer the procedure, the more likely that there was more than one lesion, Berns said. But honestly, I suspect that given who the patient was, they were taking their time and being extra careful.

The president has cited Melania Trumps surgery as a reason she will not accompany him abroad. There are a range of recommended waiting periods to avoid discomfort and blood clotting while flying, but three experts, who have not treated the first lady, said that if Melania Trumps procedure had no complications, as the White House has repeatedly said, it would not be unheard-of for a physician to clear her for travel.

In the past, the stylish, Slovenia-born first lady has been an asset to her husband on the world stage, and has at times softened the image of a president who tends to use blunt force in his diplomatic efforts.

As he arrived in Canada for the Group of 7 summit meeting, Donald Trump stood alone among other leaders and their spouses. After greeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and his wife, Sophie, Trump stood solo and gave a thumbs-up to journalists.

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BEIJINGSingapores foreign minister says its all systems go for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be held in the Southeast Asian city-state next week.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Saturday in Beijing after returning from North Korea that things will start happening within the next 24 hours. He didnt provide details in his remarks to Singaporean reporters.

I went there to make sure that everything was spick and span and in place, no last minute spoilers or difficulties, Balakrishnan said.

Trump and Kim plan to meet in Singapore on Tuesday. It will be the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting U.S. president.

Balakrishnan had visited Washington earlier in the week and met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. He told reporters that Washington and Pyongyang are pleased with the arrangements and said he sees sincerity from both sides ahead of the talks.

If a breakthrough is achieved, if peace comes, there will be a bountiful harvest, primarily of course within the Korean Peninsula but indeed for all the rest of us, he said.

The summit has fuelled hopes in South Korea that the two leaders may weigh a formal declaration to end the Korean War. The 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, but not a formal peace treaty.

Read more:

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Trump says U.S. team in North Korea planning summit with Kim Jong Un

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LONDONGena Turgel, a Holocaust survivor who comforted Anne Frank at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp before the young diarists death and the camps liberation a month later, has died. She was 95.

Turgel died Thursday, Britains chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said on Twitter. The news triggered tributes from some of the people the Polish native touched in the decades during which she shared her Second World War experiences, including witnessing the horrors of the Nazi camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen.

After the Second World War, Turgel married one of Bergen-Belsens British liberators, Norman Turgel, earning the nickname The Bride of Belsen. Her wedding dress, made from parachute silk, is part of the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London.

Turgel attended Britains annual Holocaust remembrance event two months ago, sitting in a wheelchair with a blanket draped over her knees.

My story is the story of one survivor, but it is also the story of six million who perished, she said at the event in Londons Hyde Park. Maybe thats why I was spared  so my testimony would serve as a memorial like that candle that I light, for the men, women and children who have no voice.

Born in Krakow, Poland as Gena Goldfinger on Feb. 1, 1923, Turgel and her family were forced to move into a Jewish ghetto with only a sack of potatoes, some flour and a few belongings in late 1941. One brother was shot by SS police and another disappeared after trying to escape, according to the Holocaust Educational Trust in London.

A sister of hers was shot while trying to smuggle food into a labour camp. In January 1945, Turgel and her mother were forced onto a death march from Auschwitz, leaving her remaining sister behind.

It was in a hospital at Bergen-Belsen, where the 22-year-old Turgel arrived in February, that she cared for Anne Frank as the 15-year-old girl was dying from typhus.

I washed her face, gave her water to drink, and I can still see that face, her hair and how she looked, Turgel once told the BBC.

Turgel published a memoir, I Light a Candle, in 1987 and kept retelling her story in schools across Britain until the end of her life.

Her story was difficult to hear  and difficult for her to tell, but no one who heard her speak will ever forget, said Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he met Turgel at the Hyde Park event in April and was inspired by her lifelong commitment to educating people about the horrors of the Holocaust.

Let us hope for a better future where anti-Semitism and all hatred should be demolished, shouldnt be tolerated, Turgel said at the time. And I do beg you, dont forget those who are less fortunate than yourselves. 

She is survived by her three children, as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren.
A salmonella outbreak that sickened dozens of people last month has been linked to pre-cut melons from a food distributor in Indianapolis, spurring a recall of products in eight states.

Packages of fresh-cut watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and mixed fruit have been recalled in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. An investigation is underway to see if other products or states were affected.

So far, 60 people have been sickened by the outbreak  32 were in Michigan  and at least 31 people have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

No deaths have been reported.

Officials said pre-cut melons distributed by Caito Foods, which is based in Indianapolis, were the likely source of the outbreak.

In a statement, the company said it was voluntarily recalling the products out of an abundance of caution and had stopped producing or distributing the affected products while the investigation is underway.

Because it is possible that products shipped between April 17 and June 7, 2018, could still be on store shelves, this recall extends to both retailers and consumers, the company said.

The affected products were in clear plastic containers and distributed to stores including Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Walgreens and Trader Joes.

Healthy people who contract salmonella can usually recover without treatment after a few days of fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Some cases require hospitalization and the illness can be fatal.

The CDC estimates that salmonella infections  the vast majority of them from food  cause about 1.2 million illnesses and 450 deaths every year in the United States.
KAYSERSBERG, FranceThe suicide of Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef and television host, left the residents of Kaysersberg, a small village in the Alsace region of France, known for its wine, local food and architecture, puzzled about why he chose this place to end his life.

Bourdains sudden death at Le Chambard, a five-star hotel in the village, also sent shock waves through the worlds restaurant industry.

It spurred an outpouring among fans and foodies, too, who paid tribute on social media to a man who used food as a passport to understand other cultures and who used his star power to back the #MeToo movement, in which his girlfriend, Asia Argento, an Italian actress, is a central figure.

The French officials investigating the suicide said Saturday that he had been found hanging in his hotel bathroom at 9:10 a.m. Friday.

The case is closed, said Christian de Rocquigny, the local prosecutor in charge of the investigation. There is no indication of any involvement by a third person, and were ready to give the body to his family.

Read more:

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In interviews with hotel and restaurant employees and with local officials, a portrait of Bourdains last day in the medieval village, close to the German border, emerged.

Bourdain had been in Kaysersberg to shoot an episode for his CNN show Parts Unknown. The village has two Michelin-star restaurants and is in an area famous for its vineyards and its culinary richness.

But on Thursday night, he skipped dinner and did not show up for breakfast the next morning.

Maxime Voinson, 24, a waiter at the Winstub, a restaurant at Le Chambard, said Bourdain had dined there almost every night with his friend Eric Ripert, the chef of Le Bernardin, a three-star New York restaurant.

They both stayed in separate rooms, and usually had breakfast and dined together at the Winstub, Voinson said.

But Thursday night, when Bourdain didnt show up for dinner, he said: Mr. Ripert thought it was strange. We thought it was strange. Mr. Bourdain knew the chef, Monsieur Nasti; he knew the kitchen. Maybe he went out and ate somewhere else, we said, but we didnt think much of it.

But on Friday morning at breakfast, Bourdain again didnt show up. His friend was waiting at breakfast, and waiting and waiting, Voinson said.

Ripert tried to reach Bourdain on his cellphone, according to hotel staff. A receptionist then went to Bourdains room, where he was found hanging in the bathroom.

This leads us to suspect that not much preparation and premeditation went into the act, and leads us more in the direction of an impulsive act, de Rocquigny said.

Investigators were waiting for the results of blood tests, screening for toxic substances and drugs, the results of which were expected to arrive in the coming days, but they were not expected to change the outcome of the investigation.

This is solely to give the family more information about the motivations and the cause of death, de Rocquigny said. We have no indication that he was consuming alcohol the days before his death or changed his behaviour.

When Bourdains body was found, the hotel staff immediately called the gendarmerie, which arrived within less than half an hour and sealed off Bourdains hotel room for the day. His belongings were put into a safe, and his body was taken out the backdoor to Colmar, the nearest city, where the local prosecutor opened an investigation.

Bourdains body is being held at a morgue in Colmar, officials said, as relatives made preparations to claim it.

Olivier Nasti, the two-star chef who runs the Winstub, owns Le Chambard in Kaysersberg and carries the title meilleur ouvrier de France (a national distinction rewarding the best craftsmen in their field), knew Bourdain as a friend and as a colleague.

In a media statement, he expressed his condolences to Bourdains family and to the anonymous people around the world whom he had inspired to dream. He called Bourdain the leader, the author, the TV entertainer, the visionary.

He added: It is the whole family of French gastronomy that joins me, to renew our deep friendship to our American brothers bereaved. Nasti declined to give any further comment.

In Kaysersberg, which has flourished from tourists who flock here for the restaurants and hotels, and for the bucolic landscapes nearby, residents expressed puzzlement at Bourdains death.

Christophe Jalin, who grew up in the village and still lives here, was drinking coffee at a standing table across the street from Le Chambard on Saturday morning.

Why did he do this in France? Jalin asked of Bourdain. Why did he do this in Kaysersberg?

He expressed concern for Nasti, who is known by locals for being kind and open but disciplined at work.

Jim Gil, 66, a retired U.S. automobile tire salesman from the Bay Area in California, was following a tour guide through the town Saturday, along with his wife and two dozen fellow travellers.

Is this where it happened? Gil wondered, standing in front of Le Chambard. Like so many Americans, Gil had watched Bourdains television shows and was a fan.

It makes me sad; its the second star who kills himself, he said. A few days before, celebrated handbag designer Kate Spade had also killed herself. They were at the height of their success; they were young.

He opened up doors; he took people where they would otherwise not go, Gil mused.

He opened up hope, food, where people wouldnt go, because they were afraid to go. He made them be not afraid. He added, Its telling that he killed himself in this picturesque, story tale village in the middle of the vineyards.

On Tuesday, Bourdain posted a photo on his Instagram account of a meal he had: choucroute garnie, a hearty traditional dish from eastern France. Light lunch, he wrote.

In a statement, Ripert said: Anthony was a dear friend. He was an exceptional human being, so inspiring and generous. One of the great storytellers of our time.

As for Nasti, he was back in his kitchen Friday, visible through a glass window. He had ordered his staff not to speak to reporters about Bourdains death and to carry on working.

Dressed in his chef uniform, he could be seen making wild gestures with his arms and directing his kitchen staff to prepare for the opening of the restaurant at noon, guests at the hotel said.

And on Saturday morning, he was back there again, cooking.

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KABUL, AfghanistanIn a move that could inject life into a long-struggling Afghan peace process, the Taliban announced Saturday that they would halt operations against Afghan forces for the three days of the Muslim festival Eid al-Fitr.

Their announcement came days after the Afghan government declared a unilateral eight-day ceasefire, and for the first time it promised Afghan civilians, who have borne the brunt of the 17-year conflict, a temporary reduction in violence, which has only been getting worse in recent years.

The Taliban announcement came after another bloody night in Afghanistan. In three provinces, more than 50 members of the Afghan security forces and pro-government militias were killed overnight, government officials said Saturday.

A strong push is underway to restart a lacklustre peace process, which has repeatedly broken down. It is underpinned both by the heavy daily toll of the long war on ordinary Afghans and U.S. President Donald Trumps limited patience for the costly U.S. involvement here.

Many diplomats and officials in Kabul saw the ceasefire as a small gesture of trust-building at best, and warned that it was too early to pin too much hope on it as some of the most basic questions about a concrete peace process remained unresolved.

Although the Taliban statement did not acknowledge the government ceasefire, the moves by the two sides would overlap for three days.

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For the festival, Taliban fighters are instructed to stop their offensive operations against domestic opposition, the militant groups statement said, referring to Afghan forces. Eid al-Fitr celebrates the end of the holy month of Ramadan and begins June 16.

The Taliban statement said international forces in the U.S.-led NATO coalition would still be the target of attacks. But the movement of international forces has been limited in recent years under a curtailed advisory role, with a smaller counterterrorism mission that largely focuses on remnants of Al Qaeda and Daesh.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said their announcement was not in response to the governments declaration of ceasefire. In past years, Mujahid said, the Taliban have instructed their fighters to abstain from attacks; but they could not announce that publicly out of fear that the government and the U.S. military would take advantage of it and amplify attacks.

The reason for announcing it this time is that, after the Kabul administration announced theirs, the people were concerned that our Mujahedeen might continue operations and it might disturb their Eid celebrations, Mujahid said. We wanted them to be confident that we also wont do any operations. But our announcement is unrelated to the Kabul administrations.

Conversations with diplomats and senior officials in Kabul suggest that the recent unilateral ceasefire announced by the government had been sudden, unco-ordinated with the Taliban and not the outcome of a broader, cohesive peace effort.

Over the past few years, as the U.S. has drawn down from the peak of about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, it has increasingly embraced a political settlement as the only end to the long Afghan war.

But just how that settlement could be negotiated has proved to be a difficult task, compounded by several factors, including the Talibans long but increasingly complicated relationship with the Pakistani military as a source of support, a weak interlocutor in the government in Kabul thats marred by infighting, and the breakdown of consensus among regional players including Iran and Russia, who have stakes in an endgame in Afghanistan.

Although initial contact between the two sides brought sporadic success, there have been many setbacks. The only time the Afghan government came close to initiating substantive direct talks with the Taliban, in the summer of 2015, the process was derailed by news that the insurgent envoys they were meeting had, in fact, come in the name of a Taliban supreme leader who had died years before, the news of which had been kept secret.

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How Ontarios next government could relieve overcrowded hospitals, June 3

Its very telling that even the Star only asks officials for solutions to our health care system problems. Why not ask the patients, their families and care givers at home and in facilities what needs to be done? Theyre the ones actually living through the miseries borne of system indecision, inefficiency and inaction. They will tell you patients want to stay home as long as they possibly can. We dont need any more official opinions or meetings about that. Facilitate staying home.

But when conditions deteriorate and there are insufficient resources to keep someone at home safely, we need fair treatment of ailing seniors and others needing long-term care placement. Weve had at least two seriously flawed attempts by officials at interim beds in northeastern Ontario. It is important to learn from these missteps, and ensure that any future interim beds are authentically temporary, and in sound, safe and comfortable facilities. And we need to make sure that sick folks are never again pressured to move from hospital to these interim spots or be charged approximately $1,000 per day to safely stay in hospital.

Its well past time to do more than think outside the box. We need a new government that will act outside the box and stop the tragic downloading of system inefficiency and indecision onto the backs of our most vulnerable. A past health minister said he was striving for obsessively patient-centred care. To get there, you need to listen to those suffering on the bottom. Then act on what they tell you.
A prescription to address Ontarios hallway medicine, June 5

Dr. Samir Sinhas prescription is a good one because our health-care system hasnt kept up with our aging population. This situation will  worsen dramatically as Canadas ten million baby boomers become octogenarians in 2025, so Ontario will surely benefit from a reasonably paid and supported workforce to keep seniors at home rather than hospitals with more beds.

Unfortunately, Dr. Sinhas prescription does not take into account the role of informal, unpaid family caregivers in the home-care workforce. They save Canada $25 billion year in unpaid labour alone. Furthermore, the health-care system benefits immensely from the efforts of family caregivers who save the system far more than $25 billion, since home care costs far less than hospital care and nursing home care.

Dr. Sinha argues that Denmark has closed thousands of hospital beds because (it) couldnt keep them filled, and it has done so by aggressively expanding its home and community care. By all means lets follow Denmarks lead, but also appreciate the massive contribution of unpaid family caregivers.

We must do far more to make their lives tolerable, since many families cant afford the costs of keeping loved ones engaged in their communities, or are in distress because the hours provided for home care are woefully inadequate.
Justin Trudeaus $4.5 billion Trans Mountain pipeline purchase met with a storm of criticism, May 29

Canada throws billions at Trans Mountain Pipeline in a (probably futile) attempt to save it. A lot, or all, of that money will never be returned. Sure sounds like a subsidy.

And it sure sounds like a conflict-of-interest with carbon pricing. Who now could believe Canada will raise carbon prices to the level needed to meet the Paris Agreement when every increase will further disadvantage its pet oil sands? (Now that Canada has revealed its true priorities.)

It takes a lot of fossil fuelled steam to make the goo flow. All of that fossil fuel used in production of oil sands should be subject to carbon pricing. Which means the higher carbon prices go, oil sands become even less competitive; less demand for pipelines, less return on the Trans Mountain investment. Which means, when push comes to shove, Canada will be less inclined to fight climate change.

Its safe to say the G7, not to mention China and India and the rest of the world, have figured that much out. Its safe to say this debacle has demolished any trust they might have had in Canadas climate change program. Why should they try harder?

Whats the solution? Canada and Alberta get their priorities straight, disavow obeisance to Big Oil and start the inevitable transition to the new, clean economy. Lets make it a just transition, unlike the Thatcherite nightmare British coal miners suffered. (Does Fort Mac even have a brass band?)
VANCOUVER Adriane Carr, Vancouvers only Green city councillor, has decided she wont take the risk of running for mayor.

Carr said that after months of speaking to Vancouverites, other parties as well as her own, shes determined she wont take the chance of losing her council seat by seeking the mayoralty.

The mayors spot is a first-past-the-post race, and the more crowded the field, the slimmer the chances, Carr told StarMetro in a phone interview prior to announcing her decision to Green party members on June 8.

Carr was initially buoyed by poll results that showed she was the most popular choice for mayor.

Vision Vancouvers decision to run a mayoral candidate was a key factor in Carrs decision. The centre-left party has held power on city council for a decade, but Vision has struggled recently and earlier in the spring the party was ambivalent about whether it would hold a mayoral nomination process.

Read more:

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That has now changed: the party acclaimed Ian Campbell, a hereditary chief of the Squamish Nation, as their mayoral candidate on June 7. He ran unopposed after his only competitor, Taleeb Noormohamed, dropped out of the race because of health concerns.

Several independents are also running for mayor, hoping to gain the support of several left or centre-left parties. Those candidates include Kennedy Stewart, NDP MP for Burnaby South, and Shauna Sylvester, executive director of Simon Fraser Universitys Centre for Dialogue.

Carr had mulled running for mayor and seeking support from Vision Vancouver, the Coalition of Progressive Electors and OneCity as a unity candidate for progressives.

What people said to me was, youd make the best mayor but Im so afraid youll lose and we cant afford to lose your voice on council, Carr said.

In an October 2017 byelection, left-leaning votes were split between independent candidate Jean Swanson, the Greens, Onecity and Vision, with Visions candidate coming in fifth place. Hector Bremner, a candidate with the centre-right NPA, won the byelection.

In an attempt to avoid a similar result in the upcoming civic election, the progressive parties have either signed or will soon sign an agreement brokered by the Vancouver District Labour Council.

According to that agreement, OneCity will run two council candidates and three school board candidates; the Greens will run three candidates for school, three for council and three for parks board; and COPE will run two candidates each for council, school board and park board. Vision has agreed to run five candidates for council, three for school board and two for the park board.

Carr said it looks like Vision Vancouver and the NPA will once again dominate Vancouvers election, and said she didnt think she could compete against the two parties. She added that Kennedy Stewart, a former NDP MP who will be able to rely on that partys resources, is also a formidable opponent.

Even though this election will be different because of the new (stricter) donation rules, Carr said, I still think those parties have election machines that are very powerful.

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VANCOUVERThe B.C. government is going to test out how a $10-a-day child-care system would work by pulling 1,800 existing daycare spots into a new prototype program.

Child-care centres have to apply for the program, which will run from Sept. 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019. Families who are eligible for the spots would pay no more than $200 a month, or nothing if their income is below $45,000 a year.

Child-care advocate Sharon Gregson said the test period will provide important information.

How are families positively impacted when their child-care fees are $200 a month instead of $1,200 a month? How are workers impacted when their wages are an average of $25 an hour, not $18 an hour? What does it look like to extend hours to meet the needs of families working shift work? Gregson asked.

This is going to create the ability for government to monitor outcomes.

Participating daycare centres must agree to open their books to the government during the evaluation period, Gregson said.

Read more:

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Heres why these women say B.C. has a lot of work to do on pay equity

New parents hope proposed B.C. parental leave rules hold up

In 2017, Alberta started running a similar prototype program with an initial 22 child-care centres  increased to 100 centres this year  as the province prepares for a $25-a-day child-care system. The province will evaluate the program over a three-year period and will soon release an update on the first year of the program.

The daycares in Albertas programs arent just located in major cities but throughout the province. Thats going to be important for B.C. as well, Gregson said. B.C. will aim the prototype spots toward Indigenous children, families new to Canada, francophone families and young parents.

The B.C. government is using $60 million of a $153-million funding commitment from the federal government to run the prototype program.

Vancouver currently has some of the most expensive daycare costs in Canada, with parents paying an average of $1,292 a month for a spot for toddler-aged children, according to a 2017 study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

B.C.s NDP government introduced a child-care fee-reduction program in the February budget. Starting this April, child-care providers could opt in to the program. Parents are then supposed to see savings of between $60 and $350 a month, depending on the age of their child and the type of care they use.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives estimates a $10-a-day universal child-care program for B.C. would cost $1.5 billion a year. But the left-leaning think tank argues the cost would largely be made up through increased tax revenues as more women enter and remain in the workforce.

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The Californian's Robert Price answers your questions and takes your complaints about our news coverage in this weekly feedback forum. Questions may be edited for space and clarity. To offer your input by phone, call 395-7649 and leave your comments in a voicemail message or email us at soundoff@bakersfield.com. Include your name and phone number; they wont be published.
EDWARDSVILLE  Southern Illinois University Edwardsvilles Eva Dreikurs Ferguson, PhD, professor and distinguished scholar in the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior (SEHHB), is traveling globally this summer to share her knowledge on the pioneering concepts of Adlerian Psychology, specifically as it relates to raising children.

The psychological approach, which places strong focus on counseling and social dynamics, is named for its founder, psychiatrist Alfred Adler. Upon Adlers passing, his theory was further developed by psychiatrist Dr. Rudolf Dreikurs, who guest-taught at SIUE during the early 1960s. Dr. Dreikurs is Eva Dreikurs Fergusons father.

There was a large request, especially by parents, who cover all professions and walks of life, as well as teachers to learn more about Adlers and Dreikurs ideas, so it seemed a worthwhile effort to travel to Beijing to present a series of lectures and workshops, Dreikurs Ferguson said regarding her May 21-27 travels supported by the publisher of Dreikurs CHILDREN: THE CHALLENGE.

Dreikurs Ferguson owns the Dreikurs books copyrights, which are currently mainstream in China. Her Adlerian Theory book will be available for sale next month.

After giving a lecture to approximately 150 people at Beijing Normal University, I signed copies of Dreikurs books published in China. Attendees were devoted to the Adlerian approach for raising children. It was gratifying to see their enthusiasm.

According to SEHHB Interim Dean Paul Rose, PhD, Adlerian Psychology continues to inform psychotherapeutic practice and parent training in many parts of the world. Dr. Fergusons overseas lecturing aligns with our schools priorities of integrating theory and practice, and enhancing our international reputation.

Dreikurs Ferguson notes that her lectures on Adlerian theory are closely related to SIUEs Dreikurs Visiting Scholarship Fellowship, which was established in 2016 and welcomed its first scholar, Paul Rasmussen, PhD, to campus in March 2018. Rasmussen, a clinical psychologist for the Veterans Administration in South Carolina presented, Why is Adlerian/Dreikursian Thinking Relevant Today?

A $500,000 endowment supports the recruitment of a highly regarded visiting scholar like Rasmussen who will visit SIUE annually. The Dreikurs Visiting Scholarship Fellowship will honor the theoretical and methodological legacies of Dreikurs and Ferguson.
Editors note: This is the second set of two articles in a series of six that will highlight the businesses awarded by Deluxe Corporations Small Business Revolution economic development corporate program. The businesses featured in this series will be the main focus of a reality show on Hulu, YouTube and Deluxe Corp.s websites. These articles will run each Sunday through Friday, June 22, when streaming reality show Small Business Revolution  Main Street will hold a wrap party at Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater where festivities will start at 7 p.m., with live music until 9 p.m. when Small Business Revolutions co-hosts Amanda Brinkman and Ty Pennington are scheduled to speak to the audience. Fireworks sponsored by Argosy Casino Alton will explode across the Mississippi River at 9:30 p.m.

ALTON  What started out as a part-time job for one young woman became her passion and livelihood.

Bluff City Outdoors, formerly known as Bluff City Bait & Tackle, 2813 E. Broadway, opened a whole new world to Whitney Allison, 28, of Grafton. Allison, who operates the retail store owned by her mother and stepfather, Felecia and Mark McMurray, will join the couple as a business owner, as well.

This didnt initially come to me as wanting to do a fishing thing. I needed a job, Allison recalled accompanied by an infectious laugh. But, I asked my step-dad for more responsibility. He gave it to me, to run the business and Ive been doing it ever since.

Allison has operated the 14-year-old store for the last six years.

I was more of the thought of not wanting to hurt anything, but Ive become an avid fisher-woman. Its changed my whole outlook on the outdoors, said Allison, who also enjoys hunting and camping. Now I see it as, if Im not out there, I feel Im wasting time if Im inside. We just dont have enough outdoorsy people anymore; its all computers.

Bluff City Outdoors employee Butch Emery works Monday and Tuesday, while Allison covers the rest of the week, except one weekend a month when her stepfather works.

Shes very knowledgeable, very good, said regular customer Dana Knesal, of Belleville, last week at the store. She knew what rod I brought in before she saw the whole thing.

Knesal always gets his tackle at Bluff City Outdoors and fishes the Mississippi River below the Melvin Price Dam, also one of Allisons favorite spots. Knesal brought a Master fishingrods upper half to Bluff City Outdoors, looking to purchase the lower half, but the rod was no longer manufactured.

We set him up with a whole new rod, Allison recalled to The Telegraph. Customers come in and tell us what theyre looking for, how much money they want to spend and we set them up, based on those two factors.

Bluff City Outdoors also carries trapping and bow hunting supplies and holds a catfish tournament series called Catfish on the Confluence, with more information Facebook.

The Deluxe Corp. and Small Business Revolution team gave Bluff City Outdoors a complete makeover.

They did everything  painting, shingles, light fixtures, bathroom, Allison said. They went above and beyond what we thought.

Allison discussed her Revolution wish list with her friend Chelsea Favell, of East Alton, who helps out regularly at the store.

Its everything weve talked about that was needed, Favell recalled.

Deluxe Corp. also provided Allison access to industry expert Hilary Hutcheson, Trout TV owner and co-host, fly fishing guide at Glacier Anglers near the west entrance of Glacier National Park and owner of Larys Fly and Supply in Columbia Falls, Montana.

I love her so much. She stole my heart, Allison said. We gave her a rod and reel to take home and were taking her on a guided fishing trip. Im so excited. Shes going to teach me how to fly fish. Shes the inspiration that I needed  another woman in a mans field. I want more women out there. My boyfriend cant get me away from the water.

I am a river rat  I can proudly say that.

Hutcheson shared advice similar to Allisons motto.

Listen to customers, know your inventory, connect with customers, Allison said.

Bluff City Outdoors hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; and, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call the store at 618-465-6175 for more information.

Reach Jill Moon at 618-208-6448 and Twitter @jill_moon.
Editors note: This is the third set of two articles, the last in a series of six that highlights the businesses awarded by Deluxe Corporations Small Business Revolution economic development corporate program. The businesses featured in this series will be the main focus of a reality show on Hulu, YouTube and Deluxe Corp.s websites. These articles will run each Sunday through Friday, June 22, when streaming reality show Small Business Revolution  Main Street will hold a wrap party at Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater where festivities will start at 7 p.m., with live music until 9 p.m. when Small Business Revolutions co-hosts Amanda Brinkman and Ty Pennington are scheduled to speak to the audience. Fireworks sponsored by Argosy Casino Alton will explode across the Mississippi River at 9:30 p.m.

ALTON  The citys only commercial recording studio came about when friends made a pact at Macs.

We were at Macs one night discussing what kind of business I could start, recalled Jay Hart Stanley, 28, about a conversation with his friend, Alex St. Cin, 26, who ultimately became his business partner.

Stanleys father, the late Jay Stanley, left his son an inheritance that the younger Stanley wanted to invest in a business, but first he had to decide what kind of business. Stanleys background is in hospitality. He works at Graftons Ruebel Hotel & Restaurant, serving on weekends. He started working there eight years ago and knows how much investment and overhead are required to operate hotels and restaurants.

That was not in the picture for me, but a studio was, Stanley recalled to The Telegraph during a break from remodeling Lighthouse Sounds new building at 626 E. Broadway, across the street from Jacoby Arts Center; currently Lighthouse Sounds operates at a leased building at 115 Market St.

St. Cin, who moved to Chicago for a few years, freelanced there and elsewhere recording bands as an engineer. He had recently moved back to Alton at the time he discussed a studio with Stanley.

It was Harts idea, but at first I thought it was a bad idea, St. Cin recalled with a but-what-do-I-know grin.

Lighthouse Sounds renovation of its new building started about three weeks before Deluxes Chief Brand and Communications Officer Amanda Brinkman announced the winners to be featured on the third season of Small Business Revolution - Main Street. But, the Deluxe Corp. team stepped up the process for one of the few, if not only, commercial recording studios in the Metro East.

I was having to do everything myself, so they came at the right time, Stanley noted.

Stanley and St. Cin acquired a lease for Lighthouse Sounds in January of 2016 and opened four months later once they agreed to start the business. Now Lighthouse Sounds has outgrown its current operating space. The new building, owned by Stanley, is three times the size of the studio on Market Street.

Well be able to use every available space in the new building, Stanley said.

Lighthouse Sounds charges for studio time and engineering services, which St. Cin provides. He worked with a band all day last Wednesday, while Stanley worked with the new building.

Hart is not a musician or audio-inclined at all, St. Cin explained. He wanted to do something worthwhile with what his dad left him.

The Stanleys lived in Baltimore, Maryland, until the younger Stanley was in sixth grade, but the family had a house in Godfrey, where Stanley spent summers and met his best friend, Noah Norooz, while St. Cin and Noroozs younger brother, Sam Norooz, were friends through school.

So I became friends with Alex, said Stanley, who graduated from Marquette Catholic High School in 2008; St. Cin graduated from Alton High School in 2010.

St. Cin described their first year in business together as hectic.

We were building a clientbase, he said. Now, every day, sessions are picking up,

The biggest Revolution wish list want came true through help with the new building.

Ive taken 100,000 pounds of plaster from the building, gutted it, exposed all the brick, the hardwood floors and the tin ceiling, Stanley said. Weve done it all ourselves with wheelbarrows, but Deluxe framed the walls at the new spot. That enabled me to pay for the brick work done by Radcliff Masonry in Alton.

Lighthouse Sounds also received a couple pieces of new recording equipment from the Deluxe Corp. team, as well as marketing services, a new logo and new website.

Industry experts Juanita Copeland, president of Sound Emporium in Nashville, Tennessee, and its chief engineer Mike Stankiewicz, came to Alton to offer their expertise to Stanley and St. Cin. The pair benefited from expert input on Lighthouse Sounds new studio build, as well as how to improve roles in running the business.

Lighthouse Sounds sessions are by appointment only. Call 618-374-6365 to book studio time and for more information.

Reach Jill Moon at 618-208-6448 and Twitter @jill_moon.
Editors note: This is the second set of two articles in a series of six that will highlight the businesses awarded by Deluxe Corporations Small Business Revolution economic development corporate program. The businesses featured in this series will be the main focus of a reality show on Hulu, YouTube and Deluxe Corp.s websites. These articles will run each Sunday through Friday, June 22, when streaming reality show Small Business Revolution  Main Street will hold a wrap party at Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater where festivities will start at 7 p.m., with live music until 9 p.m. when Small Business Revolutions co-hosts Amanda Brinkman and Ty Pennington are scheduled to speak to the audience. Fireworks sponsored by Argosy Casino Alton will explode across the Mississippi River at 9:30 p.m.

ALTON  A boost for both a family retail business and their nonprofit gathering space came when their store won a coveted spot on Small Business Revolution - Main Street.

Adjacent to cosmetics and beauty retailer Todays Beauty Supply, 1415 Central Ave., which also sells to barbers and salons, is Todays Place, which has held enrichment programming in the space with the Salvation Army and the YWCA of Alton, said proprietor and patriarch Ben Golley.

Golley operates Todays Beauty Supply with his sister, Angela (Golley) Grubb, who is the day-to-day face of the retail store, though Golley is there almost daily, usually in the latter part of the day. Golleys wife, Amy Golley, an assistant principal at Alton High School, and their sons, Jordan and Jonathan Golley, help out as needed. The Golleys also own LuLus Shaved Ice, which the family purchased one year ago from Jim Eppel, who owns Eppels Pantry and Deli in Godfrey. The Golleys sons operate LuLus Shaved Ice.

I like it, it keeps me busy over the summer, with that and school, said Jordan Golley, who attends Ranken Technical School in St. Louis and is studying to become an electrician. Jonathan Golley, who graduated from Lewis and Clark Community College, works full time for a contractor at Phillips 66.

All three of the familys entities will be incorporated into one comprehensive website  which was on the Golleys Revolution wish list  courtesy of Deluxe Corp.s Small Business Revolution program, developed by Deluxes Chief Brand and Communications Officer Amanda Brinkman.

I havent seen it. Its supposed to be really neat, Ben Golley said of his businesses site, which is being built by Deluxe-provided experts. We collaborated on the phone and in weekly video conferences via Google Hangouts with Amanda and the rest of the team members. Its been a whirlwind.

Not only are the Golleys businesses and nonprofit getting an internet makeover, but also a physical makeover at Todays Beauty Supply, with a complete remodel, including new paint and flooring. Todays Beauty Supply will be closed for the transformation from Sunday, June 10, through Monday, June 18, when exterior work will also be completed.

The website will also help lead more people to Todays Place.

Golley is a mentor to Boys & Girls Club of Alton member, Malik Johnson, 10, who often hangs out with the Golleys at Todays Place.

Education is just a big thing in our family, for our children and children in the community, said Ben Golley, previously an elected official for four years on the Alton District school board. Its been an experience. Amanda and her team are really compassionate, about what theyre doing. You can tell they care.

Likewise, Golley cares immensely about his community, particularly Altons Mexico neighborhood. Golley, who served as the very first chairman of the Alton Community Relations Commission, came to open Todays Beauty Supply via the real estate industry. He and his brother, Timothy Golley, both among 11 siblings, of whom Ben is the youngest and seventh son and Grubb is the youngest daughter and seventh born of the 11, worked in real estate in the community from 1990 to 2000.

It was an epiphany, actually, Ben Golley said of the familys retail business. We were always looking for other opportunities. We transitioned from real estate to retail when the housing financial dip took place. It became harder to get rent for some properties as the dip occurred, but we noticed that a lot of our renters had their hair and nails done. We saw a niche.

Cosmetics and beauty products seem to be almost recession-proof, he continued. No matter the financial conditions of people, they like to look good, beautiful. Todays Beauty Supply provides this through its products and services.

Golley opened the first stores location Nov. 2, 2000, and its current location in approximately 2006. Both operated simultaneously for about three years, with the former operating for about five years total, until Golley closed it, making 1415 Central Ave. a destination.

This is wonderful for the entire community were in, Golley said. This is a community store embedded in the Mexico community.

LuLus Shaved Ice is a mobile unit that operates at fairs, special events and through private individuals who request the unit at their own businesses or properties.

Deluxe Corp. sent a retail expert experienced in the cosmetics and beauty industry to consult with Golley and his team. Todays Beauty Supply will benefit from her sharing how to effectively manage inventory.

We realized that downsizing helps open up space for merchandising, customers can actually see more of what you have, Golley explained. We reduced our inventory by about twenty percent.

With that reduction, Golley donated four to five large boxes of excess inventory to Altons Oasis Womens Center.

Intensive remodeling will take place this week, while the store is closed. Golley and his team will have to move the stores entire inventory out of the retail space while exterior and interior renovation take place simultaneously. Then, upon completion, the Golley team will put the inventory back into the interior space.

Its very physical and it all needs to be done by a deadline, Golley noted. You think, maybe, like in some reality shows, people come back and everything is done, and its like, Wow! Not this show, but its all worth it.

Todays Beauty Supply hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call the store at 618-462-2991 for more information.

Reach Jill Moon at 618-208-6448 and Twitter @jill_moon.
The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...
Prime Minister Narendra Modis keynote address at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 1 can be regarded as the final foreign policy testament of his government. With less than a year left in the term, the time for major foreign policy initiatives is long gone. This speech probably reflects how Modi wants his legacy to be remembered in Indias diplomatic history.

Shangri-La can be a mythical Himalayan utopia or an idyllic place of refuge during what the Russians call the 'Time of Troubles'. The latter seems to be the case here. Modis speech has three inter-related vectorsrecalibration of Indias strategic autonomy; rebalancing of relations with the three big powers (US, Russia and China); and, a revisionist approach to the Indo-Pacific region.

Modi began his address by audaciously mentioning Indias special and privileged relations with Russia as the measure of its strategic autonomy. He recalled that only recently had he shared our views on the need for a strong multipolar world with President Vladimir Putin. Didnt Modi know that his audience included US Secretary of Defence James Mattis, and that the Trump administrations national security strategy highlights Russia (and China) as existential threats to Americas global dominance? Indeed, he made a profound point right at the outset.

Making a point: Modi at the Shangri-La Dialogue | AFP

Modi reaffirmed the Wuhan spirit and his understanding with Chinese President Xi Jinping that strong and stable Sino-Indian ties constitute an important factor of global peace and progress, and that the two countries are displaying maturity and wisdom in managing issues and ensuring a peaceful border. But, Modi also noted Indias deepening partnership with the US.

The Chinese analysts have expressed satisfaction. A commentary in the Chinese Communist Party daily Global Times noted, Whether India accepts the concept of the B&R [Belt and Road] is not a top priority in Sino-Indian relations. What the two countries can focus on is rolling out measures to encourage cooperation on concrete projects. We believe that any contradictions can be solved ultimately as long as cooperation goes forward. Clearly, Indias reservations over Chinas Belt and Road Initiative wont stand in the way of bilateral cooperation. Suffice to say, Indias strategic autonomy matters to China.

Modi rebalanced Indias relations with the US, Russia and China. In sum, India will not identify with the American containment strategies against Russia and China; nor will India get entangled in the big-power rivalries in regional politics. India eschews any bloc mentality. Modi acknowledged Indias affinities in terms of its values, but rejected the America First doctrine of the US administration and stated Indias commitment to globalisation and free trade.

Modi reserved some stunning remarks regarding the concept Indo-Pacific. For a start, Modi hewed the American mantra of free and open Indo-Pacific of its rough edges and chose to call it an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Incredibly enough, Modi called Indo-Pacific a natural regiona geographical definition. He never once mentioned the Quad and, instead, stressed inclusiveness and openness in regional processes. He underscored Indias faith in regionalism and multilateralism and clarified that our friendships are not alliances of containment. Modi cautioned against an Asia of rivalry and any attempts forcing new divisions in the region. All in all, India attributes centrality to the ASEAN in its Indo-Pacific strategy and Act East policies. (Ironically, last week, Pentagon rechristened its Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific Command.)

Alas, it took four long years for Modi to make this voyage of discovery. Its been a chronicle of wasted time where India chased the chimera of a defining partnership with the US that eventually proved barren and adopted muscular diplomacy vis-a-vis China that turned out to be dangerously counterproductive. The good part is that lessons learnt the hard way are likely the enduring ones.

The writer is a former diplomat.
A foreign scribe asked me why last week's governors' conference, though coming on the heels of the Karnataka crisis, didn't discuss the role and conduct of governors. The simple soul didn't know that we Indians aren't constitutionally built to introspect. Pun intended.

All the same, the president or the prime minister could have initiated a debateboth of them addressed the governors' conferenceover Raj Bhavan reform. Neither did. Both used the forum for talking about governmental agendas.

President Ram Nath Kovind lectured to the governors about environment protection, the Paris Accord, the International Solar Alliance, how the governors can make Raj Bhavans and state universities (of which they are chancellors) green, why students should go to villages, and about the importance of literacy, immunisation and nutrition programmes.

Narendra Modi waxed at length over issues much similarhow guvs can goad banks to give loans to tribals, dalits and women; how they can serve the cause of swachhata, how they can make India open defecation-free, and so on and so forth. Heavens be thanked that there was no Prabhudas Patwari among the governors assembled. The old Gandhian is said to have insisted on crouching in a corner of the vast Raj Bhavan grounds for his morning ablutions when he was governor of Tamil Nadu in the late 1970s.

Illustration: Bhaskaran

Only Vice President Venkaiah Naidu raised a few points at the conference on the role and conduct of governors. While elected governments plan and implement programmes, a governor can be a wise counsel, a mentor, a friend, philosopher and guide, he said. Through your position, you can ensure that the policies and programmes are in consonance with the constitutional provisions. And, then the VeePee reminded their excellencies: Raj Bhavans are not parallel power centres.

Sadly, in the last few months, we have seen several Raj Bhavans being converted into political plotting rooms. To be fair, the rot didn't start with Modi. Nor with Indira or Nehru. It predates the Constitution, and even the Government of India Act, 1935. The Act, a refinement over Montague and Chelmsford's 1919 diarchy, established elected legislatures in the provinces, but gave the [British] governors powers to override them. The Constitution, built over the foundation of the 1935 Act, retained the governors but with ceremonial powers.

Over the years, several Raj Bhavan occupants have been harking back to the halcyon days of the Raj. Right after the first general elections, governor Sri Prakasa, otherwise a saintly soul, invited C. Rajagopalachari's Congress (152 seats in a house of 375) to form the government in Madras, ignoring the claims of the left-leaning United Democratic Front (166 seats). Since then, several governments have been made and unmade in Raj Bhavans, especially so in the 1970s and the early 1980s, when Indira Gandhi overlorded India's political landscape. So much so that THE WEEK ran a hard-hitting cover story in the 1980s, with a headline: On Her Majesty's Service.

The Bommai judgment of 1994 curbed the governors' powers in effecting mid-stream regime change, but did little to suggest how they should act when no one has majority in an election. There are several committee recommendations and judgments (Google 'Rajamannar', 'Sarkaria', 'Venkatachaliah', 'Punchhi', 'Bommai', 'Rameshwar Prasad', to learn more), but a resourceful governor can pick, choose, interpret and adopt the one that suits him.

Yet, there is hope. The Karnataka case is still in the court. Would the court consider forming a larger bench to give a consolidated set of directions, once and for all, after examining all the above?

Seize the day, m'lords! For the sake of democratic discipline.

prasannan@theweek.in
The Edmonton Oilers signed returning third-year pro Patrick Russell and rookie Nolan Vesey to contracts on Friday with both expected to be with the Condors in Bakersfield this fall.

Russell, 25, is coming off a two-year Entry Level contract and signed a one-year deal with the Oilers. He finished fifth in scoring for the Condors last season with 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 68 games. That was a 10-point improvement from his rookie campaign.

Vesey, 25, just completed four years at the University of Maine, finishing his collegiate career with his best numbers  25 points (11g, 14a) in 37 games. Vesey averaged. 557 points per game in four seasons at Main.

He was acquired from Toronto, which drafted him in the sixth round in 2014, for a conditional seventh round pick in 2020.
American television studio ABC apologised to Indian fans after widespread furore over its 'Hindu terror' plot in an episode of Quantico, starring Priyanka Chopra.

Priyanka Chopra was criticised on social media after an episode of Quantico, an American television series which she stars, portrayed 'Indian nationalists' bombing Manhattan and pinning the blame on Pakistan. The episode features an MIT professor, who comes into possession of Uranium, and plans to destabilise the upcoming India-Pakistan summit.

"This is how Priyanka Chopra repays us for making her top Bollywood star- by not protesting against Hindus being shown as terrorists in serial Quantico starring her in lead role. Shame on you #PriyankaChopra #BoycottSamsung until they remove her from brand ambassador post," wrote on Twitter user.

"Hey @priyankachopra , the love, adulation and fame that you got from us Indians is a significant reason that today you are on world stage. And you, the Desi Girl ,played along calmly portraying Indians as terrorists in your show Quantico #Respect ," wrote another.

The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Priyanka Chopra, who didnt create the show, nor does she write or direct it, said Walt Disney-owned ABC in its statement.

ABC network had earlier decided to drop Quantico. Quantico features Priyanka as FBI recruit framed for a bombing attack. Quantico's current season, which premiered last month, will continue to air through mid-July, reported Variety. Three episodes into its third season, Quantico was averaging a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demo and 2.3 million total viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers.
Close on the heels of developments in Karnataka, the Congress in Maharashtra too has made the first moves to unite like-minded opposition parties in the state to take on the BJP.

Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan on Saturday presided over a meeting of senior party leaders. "We discussed the prospects of unity among all like-minded parties in Maharashtra to fight with the BJP. Congress leaders here favour an alliance with parties like NCP, CPI(M), SP, BSP and RPI. Our leaders felt that if all of us come together ahead of the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections, the BJP can be easily defeated," Chavan said.

Chavan further informed that he will brief Congress president Rahul Gandhi about the discussions in Saturday's meeting." Rahulji is coming to Mumbai to attend a programme organised by the Mumbai Congress committee on June 12. We will meet him that day and convey the views and sentiments expressed by the party's Maharashtra unit leaders in today's meeting," stated Chavan.

Gandhi is going to Mumbai in connection with a defamation case filed in a Bhiwandi court by RSS activist Rajesh Kunte.

Chavan told journalists that he had made an attempt to bring CPI(M) together with Congress before the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll. "We had spoken to Sitaram Yechury about unity in the Palghar bypoll, but unfortunately our talks remained inconclusive." Congress candidate Damu Shingda was pushed to fifth position in the bypoll held on May 28. On the other hand, the CPI(M) candidate got fourth position in the bypoll, which saw BJP candidate Rajendra Gavit emerge as the winner.

"We have now given a call for unity of all like-minded opposition parties. The parties should come forward and respond now. Then, discussions can take place at national level before making any final decision," said Chavan.

He also stressed that Shiv Sena and MNS will have no place in this 'united' opposition as Congress is ideologically opposed to both the Sena and MNS.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday held talks on the sidelines of the SCO summit, covering various aspects of the bilateral cooperation, indicating efforts by both the countries to maintain the momentum in ties after their informal summit in Wuhan.

The meeting between the leaders of two Asian powers came nearly six weeks after they held an informal summit in Chinese city of Wuhan with an aim to solidify ties in various areas and ensuring better coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries after the Doklam standoff last year.

Modi arrived in Qingdao in the afternoon on a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Before their meeting, the two leaders had a warm handshake and posed for photographs.

In his opening remarks, Modi said that strong and stable relations between India and China can inspire a stable and peaceful world.

He also recalled his informal summit with Xi in Wuhan.

Officials had said in the bilateral meeting, Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of the implementation of the decisions taken at their informal summit in Wuhan on April 27-28.

After their talks in Wuhan, Modi and Xi had decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications to build trust and understanding as part of efforts to avoid a Doklam-like situation in the future.

The two leaders had also discussed ways to give impetus to their economic ties as well as people-to-people relations.

The ties between the two countries had nosedived following the Doklam standoff.

Troops of India and China were locked in the 73-day standoff in Doklam since June 16, 2017 after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army in the disputed area. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off had ended on August 28.

However, there have been concerted efforts by both sides to reset ties leaving behind the Doklam episode.

Relations between India and China had also witnessed a downturn owing to differences over a series of issues including China blocking India's move to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN, its opposition to India's bid for NSG membership and China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries.

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO Summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping, which has been increasingly seen as a counter to NATO.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Oath, the subsidiary of telecommunications giant Verizon that operates Yahoo, has announced the final wrap-up of Yahoo Messenger with its services coming to an end on July 17.

"Yahoo Messenger will no longer be supported after July 17, 2018. Until then, you can continue to use the service normally. After July 17, you'll no longer be able to access your chats and the service will no longer work," Yahoo said in a statement on Friday.

"There currently isn't a replacement product available for Yahoo Messenger," the company said, adding that it is constantly experimenting with new services and apps, one of which is an invite-only group messaging app called 'Yahoo Squirrel' which is currently in beta form.

"Squirrel" is a group messaging app Yahoo started testing last month.

Yahoo said that for the next six months, users would be able download their chat history to their personal computer or device.

"As the communications landscape continues to change over, we're focusing on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools that better fit consumer needs," Yahoo said, while avoiding to offer any specific reason behind its decision to shut down Messenger.

However, speculations are rife that competition with newer apps like Snapchat, WeChat, and Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger could be a major factor.

Yahoo Messenger first made its debut as "Yahoo Pager" way back in 1998 as an alternative to email and short message service (SMS) on basic mobile devices.
The Afghan Taliban on Saturday announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Muslim Eid holiday in the middle of June, their first offer of its kind, days after the government declared an unconditional ceasefire of its own.

The militants said foreign forces would be excluded from the ceasefire and that operations against them would continue. They also said they would defend themselves against any attack.

Members of the Taliban should not participate in public gatherings during the Eid festivities because the enemy could target us, they said in a statement.

The presidential palace welcomed the announcement and said it hoped it can lead to lasting peace. Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistans Ambassador to neighbouring Pakistan, described the announcement as an important step towards prospects for peace.

Hope the pleasure of shedding no Afghan blood in Eid becomes so overwhelming that rest of year is also declared as Afghan Eid, he said on Twitter.

The Taliban attacked security outposts in the Zawul district of western Herat province on Friday night, killing 17 troops and wounding several, Jelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

It was not clear exactly when the ceasefire would begin, as Eid starts when the moon is first sighted, but Afghan calendars mark Friday June 15 as the end of Ramadan.

Eid is the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar when families visit each others homes, enjoy feasting and in Afghanistan tend graves of fallen loved ones. The Taliban, seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster at the hands of U.S.-led troops, have launched attacks during Eid in the past.

In three days, maybe the unity of Taliban insurgents will be put to test, a European diplomat told Reuters. If different factions dont accept the ceasefire, then attacks will continue.

Political process

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban on Thursday, until June 20, but excluding other militant groups, such as Islamic State.

Ghanis decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics peace tent in Kabul.

The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban and Ghani endorsed the recommendation.

Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war.

Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory.

The Talibans announcement comes as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to sit down to a summit in Singapore on Tuesday, something few people would have predicted just months ago when threats between the two sides were at their most bellicose.
Austrias right-wing government plans to shut seven mosques and could expel dozens of imams in what it said was just the beginning of a push against radical Islam and foreign funding of religious groups that Turkey condemned as racist.

The coalition government, an alliance of conservatives and the far right, came to power soon after Europes migration crisis on promises to prevent another influx and restrict benefits for new immigrants and refugees.

The moves follow a law on Islam, passed in 2015, which banned foreign funding of religious groups and created a duty for Muslim organisations to have a positive fundamental view towards (Austrias) state and society.

Political Islams parallel societies and radicalising tendencies have no place in our country, said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who, in a previous job as minister in charge of integration, steered the Islam bill into law.

Standing next to him and two other cabinet members on Friday, far-right Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache told a news conference: This is just the beginning.

Austria, a country of 8.8 million people, has roughly 600,000 Muslim inhabitants, most of whom are Turkish or have families of Turkish origin.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogans spokesman said the new policy was part of an Islamophobic, racist and discriminatory wave in Austria.

The Austrian governments ideologically charged practices are in violation of universal legal principles, social integration policies, minority rights and the ethics of co-existence, Ibrahim Kalin tweeted.

The ministers at the news conference said up to 60 imams belonging to the Turkish-Islamic Union for Cultural and Social Cooperation in Austria (ATIB), a Muslim group close to the Turkish government, could be expelled from the country or have visas denied on the grounds of receiving foreign funding.

A government handout put the number at 40, of whom 11 were under review and two had already received a negative ruling.

ATIB spokesman Yasar Ersoy acknowledged that its imams were paid by Diyanet, the Turkish state religious authority, but it was trying to change that.

We are currently working on having imams be paid from funds within the country, he told ORF radio.

One organisation that runs a mosque in Vienna and is influenced by the Grey Wolves, a Turkish nationalist youth group, will be shut down for operating illegally, as will an Arab Muslim group that runs at least six mosques, the government said in a statement.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's cousin Noor Jehan is set to contest the upcoming general elections in Pakistan on July 25 from a constituency in Peshawar.

Jehan, who has already filed her nominations to fight in the polls, will be contesting from the PK-77 constituency of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly.

"I want to work for women's empowerment. I'd like to focus on the problems in my constituency," Jehan was quoted by The Express Tribune as saying.

Jehan and her family reside in Shah Wali Qataal area, adjacent to the fabled Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Being Shah Rukh's paternal cousin, Jehan visited the Bollywood superstar twice and the family maintains a close contact with their relatives across the border, the report said.

Her brother, Mansoor, who is leading her election campaign, told the Pakistani daily that her sister had previously served as a councillor.

Mansoor added that their family had been a part of the Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of Gods) movement during the pre-Independence days, which was led by freedom activist Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who was also known as Bacha Khan, as per the report.

"We have a political legacy attached to the family," he further said.

It is pertinent to know that the Khudai Khidmatgar movement was launched in 1929 and had advocated the use of civilian resistance against British rule and denounce violence. Thousands of people had participated in the massive agitation.

Pakistan's Awami National Party (ANP) had also approached Jehan with a ticket and wanted her to contest from a seat reserved for women.

However, she failed to make it, after which Mansoor said that Jehan would contest the elections as an independent candidate.
The United States (US) on Thursday said it is ready to participate in talks with the Taliban.

This comes after Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani announced a temporary ceasefire with the Taliban on June 7.

Deputy Assistant to US President Donald Trump and Senior Director for Central Asia at the National Security Council, Lisa Curtis, said US cannot talk on behalf of Kabul but is willing to be a part of talks.

"The United States is ready to participate in the discussion, but we cannot serve as a substitute for the Afghan government and the Afghan people. A political settlement must be negotiated through a process that is Afghan-lead and Afghan-owned," Tolo News quoted Curtis as saying.

The Afghan Taliban, including the Haqqani network, has sought refuge in Pakistan for over 16 years and now we have asked Pakistan to cooperate and assist in the peace process, she added.

Ghani announced the ceasefire which is effective from the 27th of Ramzan (June 12) to the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr (June 19).

Major allies of Afghanistan welcomed Ghani's move.

However, the Taliban spokesman said that the leaders of the group are still discussing the issue.
Help is at hand: At Hansraj College, students undergo a department-wise orientation, in addition to overall orientation | Aayush Goel

As many as 26,500 students committed suicide between 2014 and 2016. This number reflects the stress students undergo. To start with, there is always pressure to get into a good college. Moreover, when a student gets admission to a college, he enters a new environment, makes new friends and takes on a new curriculum. For many, this is also the first time away from parents.

Keeping all these points in mind, colleges are understanding the importance of guiding students. Campuses are seeing more counselling programmes, induction and orientation sessions, and values and ethics modules. Nowadays, most colleges also have an in-house counsellor.

Abhiram Jadhav, a second-year student at H.R. College in Mumbai, had a tough time in his first year. An introvert with a stammer, he found it difficult to cope with his new surroundings and interact with people. I used to miss my brother so much, says Jadhav. I would flunk classes because of my lack of confidence and felt like a stranger on the campus for eight months. That is when my brother took me to a psychologist in Pune.

Jadhav has now settled down and made friends not just in his class, but with some teachers as well. He laments the absence of a guidance mechanism, a mentor whom he could reach out to, and empathises with newcomers.

Many students go through similar trauma. And, in such a situation, it becomes imperative for colleges to have helplines and a guidance team. In 2016, after massive outrage over the suicide of a dalit research scholar at the University of Hyderabad, the UGC had asked all universities to institute a student counselling system.

Colleges, for their part, have promptly adhered to the directions and consider it key for their student-friendly image. Miranda House in Delhi is going to start an online counselling service for its students. The college has signed a memorandum of understanding with a mental health services provider. At nearby Hansraj College, apart from the overall orientation, students also undergo a department-wise orientation. The teacher-student relationship is one of the USPs of Hansraj College, says principal Rama Sharma. Students these days want to be heard, as they come from nuclear families with working parents. Our teachers give a lot of attention, especially to first-year students.

At St. Xaviers College, Mumbai, a group of students is assigned a teacher as a guide so that they have someone to fall back on. We feel that parents need to grow up with children, so we also have parents being counselled, says principal Agnelo Menezes.

Narsee Monjee College of Comme-rce and Economics in Mumbai has an entire module on stress management, assertiveness training and emotional intelligence.

Abhay Singhal, founder of the psychological therapy platform TickTalkTo, says that even though colleges have counsellors, they need to do a lot more. The problem is that, despite having a counsellor at college, many students hesitate in approaching them because they do not want to be seen as having mental issues. This is where an anonymous app like TickTalkTo helps.

The All India Council for Technical Education, in its revised curriculum, has incorporated the mental well-being of students. It has made induction programme mandatory for engineering colleges. According to AICTE guidelines, students will have to follow a daily routine of physical activity, including yoga. The programme will also be used to rectify some critical lacunae, like holding special English classes for those who are weak in it.
Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI Japan ETF 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 iShares MSCI Japan ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

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Smart & Final Stores, Inc. operates as a food retailer in the United States. It operates in two segments, Smart & Final and Smart Foodservice. The company's stores offer fresh perishables and everyday grocery items, such as produce, meat and deli, dairy and cheese, grocery, and beverage products, as well as paper and packaging, and restaurant equipment and janitorial supplies. It also provides various private label products under the First Street, Sun Harvest, Simply Value, La Romanella, Montecito, Iris, and Ambiance brands. The company sells its products to household and business customers; restaurants; caterers; and various other foodservice businesses, such as food trucks and coffee houses through vendors and suppliers. As of December 30, 2018, it operated 326 grocery and foodservice stores, including 59 Smart & Final stores, 201 Smart & Final Extra! stores, and 66 Smart Foodservice Warehouse stores located in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Utah, as well as 15 stores in Northwestern Mexico operated through a joint venture. Smart & Final Stores, Inc. was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in Commerce, California.

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Domtar Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes communication papers, specialty and packaging papers, and absorbent hygiene products in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Pulp and Paper, and Personal Care. The company provides business papers, including copy and electronic imaging papers used in inkjet and laser printers, photocopiers, and plain-paper fax machines, as well as computer papers, preprinted forms, and digital papers for office and home use. It also offers commercial printing and publishing papers, such as offset papers and opaques used in sheet and roll fed offset presses; publishing papers, which include tradebook and lightweight uncoated papers for publishing textbooks, dictionaries, catalogs, magazines, hard cover novels, and financial documents; and converting papers for envelopes, tablets, business forms, and data processing/computer forms. In addition, the company provides papers for thermal printing, flexible packaging, food packaging, medical packaging, medical gowns and drapes, sandpaper backing, carbonless printing, labels and other coating, and laminating applications; and papers for industrial and specialty applications, such as carrier papers, treated papers, security papers, and specialized printing and converting applications. Further, it offers absorbent hygiene products, including absorbent briefs, protective underwear, underpads, pads, washcloths, and body patches under the Attends, Indasec, IndasSlip, and Reassure brands; and baby diapers, training and youth pants, and bed mats under the Comfees, Chelino, Nene, and Bambino brand names. The company serves merchants, retail outlets, stationers, printers, publishers, converters, and end-users. Domtar Corporation was founded in 1848 and is based in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

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Targa Resources Corp. provides midstream natural gas and natural gas liquids services. It also provides gathering, storing, and terminaling crude oil and storing, terminaling, and selling refined petroleum products. It operates through the following business segments: Gathering and Processing, and Logistics and Transportation. The Gathering and Processing segment includes assets used in the gathering of natural gas produced from oil and gas wells and processing this raw natural gas into merchantable natural gas by extracting NGLs and removing impurities; and assets used for crude oil gathering and terminaling. The Logistics and Transportation segment includes all the activities necessary to convert mixed NGLs into NGL products and provides certain value added services such as storing, fractionating, terminaling, transporting and marketing of NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters; storing and terminaling of refined petroleum products and crude oil and certain natural gas supply and marketing activities in support of its other businesses. The company was founded on October 27, 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Moody's: Administracion de Calificadoras S.A. de C.V., BlackBox Logic, Bureau van Dijk EP DMCC, Bureau van Dijk Editions Electroniques S.A.S., Bureau van Dijk Editions Electroniques SRL, Bureau van Dijk Editions Electroniques Sarl, Bureau van Dijk Edizioni Elettroniche S.p.a, Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing AB, Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing ApS, Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing B.V., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing Beijing Co. Ltd., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing GmbH, Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing Hong Kong Limited, Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing Inc., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing K.K., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing LLC, Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing Ltd., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing Pte. Ltd., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing Pty. Ltd., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing S.A. de C.V., Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing Unipessoal Lda., Bureau van Dijk Electroniq Publishing S.A. (Pty) Ltd, Bureau van Dijk Publicaciones Electronicas S.A., Bureau van Dijk Publicacao Eletronica Ltda., DVBS Inc., Equilibrium (Chile) Holding SpA, Ethical Investment Research Services (EIRIS) Limited, Fermat International SA, Four Twenty Seven, Four Twenty Seven France SAS, Four Twenty Seven Inc., GGYAXIS Inc., Gilliland Gold Young Consulting Inc., ICRA Lanka Limited, ICRA Limited, ICRA Nepal Limited, ICRA Online Limited, KIS Pricing Inc., Korea Investors Service, Korea Investors Service Inc., Lewtan Technologies Inc., MIS Asset Holdings Inc., MIS Quality Management Corp., MIS Support Center Private Limited, MIS Support Services CR Sociedad de Responsabilidad Ltda., Midroog Ltd., Moody's (China) Limited, Moody's (Japan) K.K., Moody's (UK) Limited, Moody's America Latina Ltda., Moody's Analytics (DIFC) Limited, Moody's Analytics (India) Private Limited, Moody's Analytics (Malaysia) Sdn.Bhd., Moody's Analytics (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Moody's Analytics Australia Pty. 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Ltd., PT ICRA Indonesia, Pragati Development Consulting Services Limited, RBA International, Reis, Reis Inc., Reis Services LLC, Risk First (Holdings) Limited, Risk First (IP) Limited, Risk First Enterprise Limited, Risk First Group Limited, Risk First Inc., Risk First Limited, Risk First Management Services Limited, Skyval Holdings LLP, Skyval Limited, The Moodys Foundation, Vigeo, Vigeo Belgium NV, Vigeo Eiris, Vigeo Eiris Canada Inc., Vigeo Eiris Chile SpA, Vigeo Eiris Hong Kong Limited, Vigeo Eiris USA LLC, Vigeo Group, Vigeo Italia S.r.l, Yellow Maple Holding B.V., Yellow Maple I B.V., Yellow Maple II B.V., and Zephus Ltd..
Washington

A former employee of the Senate intelligence committee appeared before a federal court Friday on charges he lied about his contacts with reporters, a case that President Donald Trump said could be a "terrific thing" as his administration tries to crack down on classified leaks.

James A. Wolfe, the longtime director of security for the committee, was charged Thursday evening with three counts of lying to investigators. The committee is one of multiple congressional panels investigating potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Though Wolfe is not charged with actually disclosing classified information, prosecutors say he was in regular contact with multiple journalists who covered the committee, including meeting them at restaurants, in bars, private residences and in a Senate office building.

Wolfe, 57, made a brief appearance in federal court in Baltimore on Friday. U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson released him from custody and ordered him to appear at the federal courthouse in Washington next week. He did not enter a plea.

Wolfe, of Ellicott City, Md., did not answer questions from reporters.

On Friday morning, Trump said the Justice Department had caught "a very important leaker" and said it could be a "terrific thing." He said he was still getting details on the case.

"I'm a big, big believer in freedom of the press," Trump told reporters before departing for a trip to Canada. "But I'm also a believer in classified information. Has to remain classified."

Wolfe's indictment was announced soon after The New York Times revealed that the Justice Department had secretly seized the phone records and emails of one of its journalists, Ali Watkins, as part of the leak investigation involving Wolfe. The newspaper said Watkins was approached by the FBI about a three-year relationship she had had with Wolfe when she worked at other publications. The newspaper also said that Watkins said Wolfe was not a source of classified information for her during their relationship.

In a statement Thursday, Watkins' attorney, Mark MacDougall, said: "It's always disconcerting when a journalist's telephone records are obtained by the Justice Department  through a grand jury subpoena or other legal process. Whether it was really necessary here will depend on the nature of the investigation and the scope of any charges."

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Each false statement count is punishable by up to five years in prison, though if convicted, Wolfe would almost certainly face only a fraction of that time.

The criminal case arises from a December 2017 FBI interview with Wolfe in which he denied having official contacts with journalists or discussing committee business with them. Phone and text records showed otherwise.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner, said in a joint statement they were troubled by the charges. Wolfe worked for the committee for roughly 30 years, and his position as security director meant he was in charge of most of the classified information provided to the panel by the executive branch.

In addition to this week's indictments, electronic court records show Wolfe was charged with second-degree assault, a misdemeanor, in June 2004, but prosecutors later dismissed the charge. His wife was listed as the complainant.

A spokesperson for the intelligence panel confirmed Wolfe's charges were dropped in 2004 and said his security clearance was reissued in 2008. The clearances are reviewed every five years. A government employee's security clearance can be denied if they have a criminal record.

"We cannot speak for the committee's leadership at the time, but they likely would have been aware and the incident would have been looked at as part of the subsequent review by the FBI," said the spokesperson, who declined to be identified because personnel matters are confidential.
Bagotville, Quebec

President Donald Trump arrived in Canada on Friday with a defiant swagger for a day of meetings with the United States' closest allies, vowing before he left the United States that he will not capitulate on tariffs and taunting his counterparts with a surprise call to reinstate Russia in their Group of 7 nations.

The president made the suggestion about Russia to reporters at the White House before leaving for the annual G-7 gathering, which already promised to be crackling with tension over trade, Iran and Trump's sharp-edged approach to foreign policy.

In a series of tweets just before departing Washington, Trump railed against Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy products and promised to fight against "unfair Trade Deals" with other nations. The tweets added to the confrontation between Trump and the leaders of those nations, who have accused the president of imposing illegal and insulting tariffs on their steel and aluminum industries.

The Russia suggestion promised to heighten the animosities further, creating yet another schism between Trump and the six leaders he was meeting, largely in private, in a resort village several hours outside of Quebec City. The other leaders  from Britain, Germany, France, Canada, Japan and Italy  may conclude the summit Saturday with a forceful joint statement issued without Trump's signature.

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Russia joined the group in the 1990s after emerging from the wreckage of the Soviet Union, making it the G-8, but its armed intervention in neighboring Ukraine in 2014 and seizure of the Crimean peninsula angered other major powers. The remaining members, led by President Barack Obama, expelled it in a sign of global resolve not to let international borders be redrawn by force.

The notion of readmitting Russia to the world's most exclusive club reflected the unusually friendly approach that Trump has taken to Russia since becoming president.

Trump offered no specific reasoning for why Russia should be let back in.

The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, expressed indifference to the idea of Russia being readmitted to the G-7. "We are putting emphasis on different formats," Peskov said.
The summer finally arrived in Ireland and most cattle have been turned out for a few weeks now. But have you started to think about a worming strategy yet?

Summer grazing means cheap grass and good growth rates and - unfortunately - summer parasites. To get the most from grazed grass, it is important to minimise the effect of the parasites that the livestock are exposed to.

This includes to put a summer worming plan in place. When putting this plan together, its important to think long term as well as short. Over-using certain products can lead to the parasites becoming resistant to the product which is especially a problem for sheep wormers.

Traditionally, most farmers would treat on a 4-6 weeks basis when cattle are out on grass. This would have ensured an adequate coverage. The problem however with this approach is that you never know for certain if the treatment is either a) needed or b) effective. And improper use of the wormer can easily lead to worm resistance and unnecessary costs.

The only way to answer either of those questions with certainty is to test your livestock for worms and treat if necessary. The simplest way to test for worms or fluke problem is to do a faecal egg test. This is much more cost effective when compared with blanket treating a group of animals that do not require treatment.

Some cattle can tolerate small burdens of parasites depending on their age. So, its important to understand whether or not worming is necessary. Older suckler cows in particular are generally immune to both lung and gut worms if they have had exposure to it over their life time. The risk generally decreases with age, with calves and year-old cattle having the biggest potential negative effect from worm burdens.

There are a few simple methods which can be used to reduce younger cattles exposure to worms. The simplest and best-known method is the Leader-follower system, This involves having two grazing groups running side by side:

The younger cattle graze a paddock first. They eat the longer grass, and after they have grazed, they are moved to the next paddock. The older cattle then follow them, eating the remaining grass, which is shorter. The basic principle of this is that the worms tend to be closer to the ground, and by letting the younger cattle graze the tops of the grass, they will be exposed to less parasites.

We have put together a free worming plan that will allow you to manage your parasite control throughout the grazing season. Visit our website at www.herdwatch.ie for more information
A refurbishment project at University Maternity Hospital Limerick has transformed the hospitals Rose Room into a more appropriate space for mothers and families who have received bad news.

UMHL was granted funding to refurbish the Rose Room as part of the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) and the HSEs Design & Dignity Grants Scheme, which adapts hospital spaces for patients at end-of-life.

Approximately 7,200 has been provided  5,000 of which is a Design & Dignity Grant with the remainder coming from UMHL.

Marie Hunt, CMM2 bereavement counselling midwife, UMHL, said: On average there are 4,500 babies born in UMHL every year. Although the majority of women presenting at the antenatal clinic have a positive outcome, sadly there are women who experience fetal loss or fetal abnormalities."

The Rose Room is a quiet room for compassionate care where parents can receive difficult news in privacy. It is situated adjoining one of the main ultrasound rooms with an interconnecting door. When a doctor or ultrasonographer identifies a fetal abnormality on the ultrasound scan or when a woman or couple have been asked to return to the hospital for the results of diagnostic tests, there needs to be a private dignified comfortable space where they can be met with compassion and cared for.

Refurbishing the room included painting the door and walls, change of flooring, installing soft lighting, removing the wall cupboards, installing soft furniture, coffee-making facilities and adding an art feature to the walls.

Parents as well as clinical staff were involved in drawing up the plans from the beginning, and many of the ideas have come from midwives, doctors and ultrasonographers working at the front line.

The newly refurbished Rose Room will represent our commitment to providing sensitive and compassionate care to women and their families when receiving bad news while providing a private and dignified space for them to receive their care, she said.

Design and Dignity projects have now been completed in five of our six hospitals. This we believe is something that we can be proud of and represents our commitment to care and support for families who journey with us through end of life and perinatal bereavement care, said Ms Hunt.

The official opening of the refurbished space was attended by Louise and David Higgins from County Limerick, who lost their baby, Sarah, in 2017.

Louise said: The professionalism, sensitivity and understanding of the staff at UMHL is exemplary. The generosity and sensitivity of the ladies who knitted special basket beds, blankets and teddies for our beautiful daughter Sarah is overwhelming. All the kindness and warmth of the hospital staff is now mirrored in the Rose Room.

The Design & Dignity scheme previously funded a mortuary refurbishment in University Hospital Limerick as well as family rooms in St Johns Hospital and Nenagh Hospital and a bereavement suite in Ennis Hospital.

Mary Lovegrove, Design & Dignity Project Manager with the IHF said: "Our vision for the Design & Dignity project is for an end of life sanctuary in every public hospital in the country by 2021 with approximately 60 projects completed as well as a HSE National Mortuary Capitals Programme underway."

Design & Dignity is a partnership project of the IHF and HSE Estates and originated in the IHFs Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme. The HSE has adopted Design & Dignity Guidelines for all refurbishment and new builds.

Prof Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group, thanked the IHF for their support in improving the fabric of the hospital estate in the Mid-West for bereaved families.

We also know from our patients that the service can improve further," she said.
A visit to Tokyo is never complete without having one of Japan's most famous foods  ramen. With thousands of ramen shops all over the city, tourists feel confused about the best places to check out.

Travelers can find a hundred-year-old ramenya or ramen shop beside a modern noodle restaurant. Sometimes, a ramen cart is parked outside a Michelin-star restaurant. The options are endless, and so are the varieties of this comfort food.

Ramen is said to have originated from China, but Japan perfected the noodle and broth dish. For the uninitiated, ramen is a type of quick-cooking noodles and joins other varieties including soba or buckwheat and udon.

The top-of-mind varieties are Shoyu (soy sauce), Shio (Japanese sea salt), and Tonkotsu. Lately, Tsukemen or dipping noodles is gaining popularity because it departs from the traditional noodle-and-soup-in-one-bowl kind of ramen. Eating it is like eating Soba, there is a separate sauce for dipping the noodles before slurping.

Here is a modest list of ramen spots to check out when in Tokyo. Prepare for the long lines.

1. Shinohara

Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku

Store Hours: 11.30 a.m.-2.30 p.m. for lunch, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. for dinner.

Tucked in the middle of Ikebukuro, a famous tourist destination, Shinohara is just a couple of minutes away from Kanamecho station. Shinohara offers three ramen varieties: Shoyu, Dashi, and Red Sea Bream. Among the three, Bream hogs the spotlight because of the delectable combination of the broth made from soy sauce and red sea bream oil.

2. Mensho (Tokyo)

Bunkyo, Kasuga,

Store Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5 p.m.-11 p.m.

Mensho is one of the rising stars in the ramen arena run by young chef Tomoharu Shono, whose signature ramen comes in a clear broth packed with yellow karasumi (bottarga), negi (Welsh onion) powder, and scallops. The noodles in this ramen shop are stone-ground every day to ensure freshness. The flavorful broth doesn't contain any additives. Ramen toppings include chicken dipped in kombu, tuna, and chives wonton to achieve the umami taste. For vegans, the ramen shop also offers spicy Tantanmen.

3. Kagari

Ginza, Chou-ku

Store Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Kagari relies on its tasty ramen instead of a prime location to lure customers. It is in one of the inconspicuous alleys in the upscale district of Ginza. Tourists simply have to look for a long queue of customers to find this shop. Kagari is famous for two ramen varieties, one with black broth and the other with white. The white broth ramen, Tori-paitan, is served with a thick creamy soup flavored with chopped onions, to add a dash of sweetness to the salty broth. The dark soup, Niboshi-shoyu soba, gets its flavor from dried sardines seasoned with soy sauce. The noodles for both ramen varieties are thinner than the usual ramen noodles and instead of pork slices, the toppings for both is chicken and other Japanese ingredients. Kagari's famous ramen will not look and taste right without its final touch  daikon sprouts.

4. Homemade Ramen Muginae

Minamioi, Shinagawa, Tokyo

Store Hours: 11:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Weekends and Holidays

Akihiro Fukaya who runs the place departs from the idea of "fast food" ramen and takes food seriously. The noodles are made daily and the actual preparation of the ramen takes longer than usual. This ramen shop is best for people who have the time and patience.

Nibora, short for Niboshi Ramen, is a light but flavorful kind of ramen, while the Shoyu Ramen has a much deeper flavor. Diners have a choice of the basic ramen or a tokusei or special version packed with shrimp wonton and ajitama or soft-boiled egg.

5. Suzuran

Ebisu, Shibuya-ku

Store Hours: 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., 6 p.m.-11 p.m.

Suzuran is proud of its tasty Miso-kakuni Tsukesoba ramen which comes with flavorful pork belly toppings. In Suzuran, the meat chunks go on top of the noodles not dipped in the broth and for good reason.

The meat is slowly cooked for six hours until it achieves a mouthwatering state. Of course, the ramen broth has an equally irresistible taste from the combined flavors of sinful chicken skin, pork bones and the umami-enhancing Konbu Kelp and Katsuobushi fish flakes.

6. Shibata

Wakabacho, Chofu-shi, Tokyo,

Store Hours: 11 a.m.-2.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m.-8.30 p.m., Closed Saturdays and Sundays

Unlike other ramen shops, Shibata uses a soy sauce-based tare sauce combined with duck and seafood for it broth. This is a no-fuss ramen shop which takes pride in its simple dishes and basic toppings of chashu pork, bamboo shoots, and finely chopped green onions. The thin noodles look too delicate to eat but the flavors are sumptuous, and the noodles are firm and filling.

7. Gogyo

Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Store Hours: 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m.-3:30 a.m. Monday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m.-11:30 p.m. Sunday and holidays

A totally unusual find, Gogyo is famous for its kogashi or burned ramen. Kogashi is a miso ramen topped with burned lard that gives the broth its dark color. The black specks along with pork, fish cake, boiled eggs, and vegetable toppings, makes the thin flat noodles look unusually attractive and gives it a smoky taste. Gogyo also offers other ramen dishes including Shio, Tonkotsu, and Tsukemen.

During the cold months in Japan, popular ramen shops may be packed and the waiting time could take hours. It is best for travelers to have a list of options. Fortunately, in Tokyo, no one would ever be hungry. Just turn a corner and there'll be food in no time.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Good on you!! That sounds like us, we have intentions of broadening our horizons but the next thing you know we have sale tickets booked back to Vietnam. We are now planning our 9th trip for next year!!

I must admit I usually have a cheeky couple of million dong left over as a carrot for next time.

It was so sad for all Vietnam tragics to hear the sad news of Tony Bourdain, his shows inspired us enormously. So sad!

Have a great time

ColVal
We are traveling to Mt Fuji for a night from Tokyo, is there enough time to stop in Nihon Minkaen open air museum on the way? We are traveling from Mt Fuji to Kyoto the next day. I'm just wondering if we would be able to make a quick stop there? I'm thinking I will send our luggage ahead of us to get to the hotel in Gora if possible?

Where would you suggest to get a pocket wifi from.I here that it's a must while traveling around Japan. I can get it with my JR pass, but not sure that's the cheapest. I've seen some companies on line that will deliver to my hotel, not sure what's the best price.

I want decent service and don't want to be frustrated with waiting too long for info.

Thanks again!!
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- The Senator has in several occasions referred to himself as a pastor's son

- He narrated of how he had offered help to a hit and run victim

- The Senator also heaped praise on Kenyatta National Hospital

- The accident victim was an official of a political party according to Murkomen

- Kenyans challenged him to always do good and not blow his own trumpet

The Good Book says when you do good deeds do not try to show off because if you do so you will not get the reward from the creator.

This was exactly the message Kenyans reminded a vocal legislator who had in many occasions referred to himself as the son of a pastor but seemed to have not remembered this ordinance from the bible.

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On Friday, June 9, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen tweeted publicising how he had helped a man who had been hit by a car and left for dead along a highway in Nairobi.

READ ALSO: Kipchumba Murkomen chased away,almost beaten

Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen found himself in trouble for helping a hit and run victim and posting to social media. Photo: Kipchumba Murkomen/Facebook.

Murkomen who doubles up as the Senate leader of majority explained narrated of how he had picked the man who had been hit by a speeding car and took him to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

He went ahead to heap praises on how KNH staff had received the patient saying he was proud of the quality service provision at the public health facility that was recently on the limelight for not so good reasons.

"I have picked a victim of hit & run at Nyayo stadium roundabout. Rushed him to KNH for treatment. KNH are ably attending to him.proud of our public hospitals," read part of the tweet.

READ ALSO: We will not stop rallying behind Ruto - Central MPs

Senator Kipchumba Murkomen frequently makes comments on his social media accounts. Photo: Kipchumba Murkomen/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

To this point it all looked like a good gesture until the legislator wrapped in a political statement in his tweet attracting public rage.

"I am told the man is an official of popular political party in Nairobi. I pray he gets well soon.Will check on him Kesho," continued the tweet.

Many Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) could not hide their displeasure on how Murkomen had publicised the incident and this is what some of them had to say;

Some Kenyans even accused Murkomen not only for blowing his own trumpet but for attempting to divert attention from the challenges facing KNH.

Others questioned if what the Senator did was worth a tweet.

And questions of doctrine also came about.

Kenyans challenged Murkomen to learn how to do good without announcing it to the world.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Miguna Miguna's return: Chaos at Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport (JKIA) - On TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- Miguna termed it as barbaric for African leaders to go to Western countries to discuss African issues

- He urged Uhuru and his fellow African leaders to discuss African matters in Africa

- Uhuru had shared about his meeting with Senegal and Rwanda presidents

- The president is currently in Canada to attend the G7 Summit

Embattled lawyer Miguna Miguna lambasted President Uhuru Kenyatta following his recent visit in Canada to attend the G7 Summit.

Uhuru left the county for Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday, June 9, to join other African leaders in the G7 Summit, which brings together the most industrialised nations in the world.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

A disgruntled Miguna took to his Twitter on Saturday, June 9, to upbraid the Head of State and other African leaders for meeting in Western countries to discuss African issues, terming the move as barbaric.

READ ALSO: Nandi county leadership on spot for squandering public money on entertainment in Eldoret, Nairobi

Miguna termed the meeting by Afrian leaders to Canada as primitive. Photo: Miguna Miguna/ Facebook

Source: Facebook

"This is primitive. So-called African leaders meet, shake hands and hug in European and North American cities after invitations by Western governments looking for minerals and oil. Stop stealing our resources. Stop oppressing our people. Meet and discuss African issues in Africa,"read Miguna's tweet.

READ ALSO: KPA boss Catherine Mturi resigns days after being sent on compulsary leave

It all started when Uhuru announced innocently about the the meetings and talks he held with his fellow African leaders who also were in attendance for the G7 Summit in Quebec.

"Held talks with Presidents Mackay Sall of Senegal and Paul Kagame of Rwanda ahead of G7 "outreach segment" in Quebec, Canada," Uhuru posted.

The self styled National Resistance Movement (NRM) general didn't hesitate as he teared into the president with a tirade of scathing attacks claiming Uhuru misused public resources to attend the meeting.

In an interview with KTN, Government Spokesperson Manoa Esipisu divulged bilateral talks held between Uhuru Rwanda's and Senegal's presidents were fruitful and a Kenyan embassy would be opened in Dakar, Senegal soon.

READ ALSO: DP Ruto's office calls for handshake day after reconciliation with Raila and Kalonzo

The embittered lawyer who is vehemently opposed to the handshake between Uhuru and opposition leader Raila Odinga, is currently in Canada after he was deported for a second time by the Kenyan authorities.

His endless attempts to return to his motherland have been unsuccessful causing the beleagured lawyer to constantly attack Uhuru's administration and his friend turned foe, Raila, for what he terms as betrayal.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Miguna Miguna's return: Chaos at Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport (JKIA) - On TUKO TV

Source: Breaking News
- Amina said the new building model design will be set up in all schools in Kenya

- The CS said learners safety of learners would be top priority in the new building designs

- The new move comes in the wake of public outrage after rape saga in Moi Girls School

The government has announced plans to introduce model building layouts for all learning facilities in Kenya in a bid to reinforce safety in schools.

The new move comes in the wake of public outrage after three girls were raped at Moi Girls High School, Nairobi, on the dawn of Saturday, June 2.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

According to reports by Capital FM, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed said the government would roll out model building designs for schools across the country.

READ ALSO: Uganda MP who predicted own death shot dead alongside his bodyguard

The new move has come in the wake of public outrage after a student was raped in Moi Girls School. Photo: Parents Magazine

Amina, who was speaking during the launch of Brookside Diary Fresh Program at Moi Educational Centre in Nairobi, stated that construction of new educational institutions will strictly adhere to the new model that would be agreed upon by the government.

The CS, alluding to the rape incident at Moi Girls school, maintained her confidence that safety of learners would be top priority in the new building designs for schools.

Time has come to stop hurting our children, said Amina.

READ ALSO: I am heartbroken -Murkomen mourns a hit and run victim he helped

She further stated the model would be designed in a manner to ensure a healthy and stimulating environment in which children can learn comfortably.

The project will target 350 primary schools and reach over 200,000 pupils in Nairobi and its environs.

The new government move comes in the time wherue rape cases in schools have been on the upsurge in Kenya.

READ ALSO: Police expose fake KDF officer demanding bribes online for recruitment

Barely three days ago, a teacher at Moi Girls School Kamusinga allegedly defiled a Form Two student in his office just days after a student was raped at Moi Girls's school in Nairobi.

Amina dissolved Moi Girls's school board on Tuesday, June 5 as police intensified investigations into the saga where a student was confirmed to have been raped at night by unknown attackers.

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.

Awful day to die (Animated Joke) - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- Eliud Mwamunga died while receiving treatment at Mombasa hospital

- Uhuru eulogised him as an ingenious leader who contributed much to the country

- He urged other leaders to emulate the deceased leadership skills

President Uhuru Kenyatta mourned the death of former minister of commerce and industry Eliud Mwamunga following his death on Saturday, June 9.

Mwamunga passed on at Mombasa hospital where he was undergoing medical treatment.

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Uhuru took to Twitter to express his grief over the veteran politician's death eulogising him as an ingenious leader who has made great contribution to the country.

READ ALSO: Faces of fake Aga Khan hospital doctors conning Kenyans

"Deeply saddened by the death of former Minister Eliud Timothy Mwamunga, an astute politician who greatly contributed to the growth of a modern Kenya,"Uhuru's post read.

The Head of State noted further that the deceased, who served as Voi's MP for 20 consecutive years, was a committed and devoted leader.

READ ALSO: Tension after earth sunk in Nakuru county, several houses destroyed

According to the president, late Mwamunga played key roles in formulating some of most influential policies which contributed to making Kenya a pivotal economic hub in the East African region.

Uhuru divulged the deceased "commitment, loyalty and patriotism" saw him appointed to key ministries during the era of founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and President Daniel Moi.

He expressed his condolences to the family, relatives, friends and the larger Taita Taveta county.

Uhuru said the veteran politician would be greatly missed urging regional leaders to honour him by emulating his extraordinary leadership skills.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Miguna Miguna's return: Chaos at Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport (JKIA) - On TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
Militants launched 38 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past day.

This is reported by the press center of the JFO Headquarters as of 7:00, June 9.

Russian-occupation troops violated ceasefire regime 38 times, using weapons banned under the Minsk agreements nine times, the report reads.

The tensest situation was observed in Luhansk direction, where the active armed hostilities continued near Krymske (42.5km north-west of Luhansk) and Novotoshkivske (53km north-west of Luhansk). Militants used small arms, grenade launchers, 120mm and 82mm mortars to oust Ukrainian units from their firing positions. Three Ukrainian servicemen were wounded.

In Mariupol direction, the Russian-backed militants opened fire from 120mm mortars outside Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol) and Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk). One soldier of the joint forces was wounded in shelling.

The enemy sniper fire was recorded near Krasnohorivka (29 km west of Donetsk).

Two more Ukrainian servicemen were wounded during the armed hostilities in other directions in last day.

According to the intelligence, tree militants were killed and 16 more were wounded in last day.

ol
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is going to raise the issue of Ukraine's accession to the European Energy Union during the EU-Ukraine Summit on July 9.

"The EU-Ukraine Summit will be held on July 9. One of the issues we are currently preparing for this summit is that Ukraine should enter the Energy Union so that we would not be afraid of the Nord Stream 2 and would have a unified energy system with the entire Europe," Poroshenko said, speaking to students of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

He also recalled that Ukraine had been living without Russian gas for two and a half years already. "Nobody blackmails us now," the Head of State noted.

As reported, the goal of the European Energy Union is to create a unified EU energy market and diversify energy supplies which would make the European Union less dependent on Russian gas.

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Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze and Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova Andrian Candu have signed the statement on the creation of the Ukraine-Moldova-Georgia Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in Kyiv on June 9.

"Pursuant to the charters and regulations, this process [the creation of the Inter-parliamentary assembly] is not instantaneous. It should be further approved by the working groups elected from each parliament. However, the first step in proclaiming the inter-parliamentary assembly should be taken. I hope that our final meeting, started in Chisinau and continued in Ukraine, we will be able to hold in Tbilisi (Georgia), where the inter-parliamentary assembly will be officially created. I am convinced that this platform will give us many more new possibilities for cooperation and interaction," Andriy Parubiy said, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He also recalled that Ukraine had a similar experience of cooperation within the inter-parliamentary assembly with Poland and Lithuania, which had given rise to a lot of wonderful ideas, including the Marshall Plan for Ukraine.

ol
Ukraine will examine best practices in electoral system reforms of Georgia and Moldova as the Ukrainian parliament intends to start adopting a new electoral code in autumn.

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy said this during a joint briefing with the Speakers of Georgia and Moldova, answering the journalists' question about adapting the laws of the three countries to the European legislation, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Different directions of reform. For me, as the Verkhovna Rada chairman, it is the concept of the electoral code, which has been lately amended in Georgia and Moldova. In fact, each of the countries has taken its own path. This experience is very important as this issue [new electoral code] will be on the agenda at the beginning of autumn. I will organize a meeting of our working group with Georgian and Moldovan lawmakers so that we could examine their experience. Therefore, it is difficult to name just one direction. We face the same challenges and questions within the framework of the Eastern Partnership program," Parubiy said.

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The document mirrors the draft submitted to the Senate for consideration in March this year.

A draft resolution was submitted in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress to recognize the Holodomor of 1932-1933 a genocide of the Ukrainian people.

A bipartisan group of congressmen led by the co-chairs of the Group of Friendship with Ukraine in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, Sander Levin, Marcy Kaptur, Patrick Fitzpatrick and Andy Harrison presented the draft resolution timed to the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. reports.

The document mirrors the draft earlier submitted to the Senate in March this year. The document notes that the events of 1932-1933 in Ukraine were a plot by Stalin's totalitarian regime targeting the Ukrainian people, and was in its essence a genocide.

Read alsoUkraine expects Israel to recognize Holodomor as act of genocide

The draft recognizes the conclusions of the US Commission on Holodomor in Ukraine (of April 22, 1988) that Stalin and his entourage committed genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-1933, according to the Ukrainian Embassy.

The draft resolution also condemns systemic violations of human rights, including the right to self-determination and freedom of speech, committed by the Soviet government against the Ukrainian people.

The deepest condolences are expressed to the victims, Holodomor survivors and their families. The draft resolution also calls to raise awareness worldwide of the artificial nature of the Holodomor famine, the diplomats note.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Holodomor has already been recognized as genocide in 11 U.S. states: Washington, Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Missouri.

On February 7, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Valery Chaly urged the U.S. House of Representatives at the ongoing session of the Congress to recognize the Holodomor of 1932-33 an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people.
The platform should provide a wide range of new opportunities for cooperation and interaction between the three countries, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy said.

Speaker of Ukrainian Parliament Andriy Parubiy, his Georgian counterpart Irakli Kobahidze and that from Moldova, Andrian Candu, on Saturday signed off a statement on the establishment of the Interparliamentary Assembly.

The signing ceremony took place in Kyiv within the framework of the Second Inter-Parliamentary Conference "Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine: Strengthening the Interparliamentary Component of Regional and Security Cooperation, While Developing Interaction with the EU and NATO," according to an UNIAN correspondent.

Read alsoExpert deciphers Putin's latest threats to Ukraine

In a statement voiced before the signing, Parubiy said that today the heads of the parliaments declare their intention and proclaim the creation of the Interparliamentary Assembly. At the same time, he noted, the setting up of the Assembly is not a one-stage move, because this decision has yet to be approved by the working groups elected by each parliament.

"But the first step should be taken - the proclamation of the Interparliamentary Assembly  We started our meeting in Chisinau, continue it in Ukraine, and will be able to hold it in Tbilisi, Georgia, where there will already be an official, formal creation of this Interparliamentary Assembly," said the Rada Speaker.

He opined that the platform would provide a wide range of new opportunities for cooperation and interaction between the three countries.

"We have a wonderful experience of the Ukraine-Poland-Lithuania Interparliamentary Assembly, where many wonderful ideas have arisen, such as the idea of a [new] Marshall Plan, and I am convinced that the Ukraine-Georgia-Moldova Interparliamentary Assembly will become a wonderful platform," Parubiy said.

Read alsoMoldova identifies dozens of fighters in Donbas

According to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, he dreams that one day a joint meeting of the these two Assemblies will take place, which will demonstrate that "the Baltic-Black Sea belt is Europe's shield which today defends values and protects the entire civilized world."

In turn, Irakli Kobahidze and Andrian Candu, stressed the common security challenges their countries are facing together with Ukraine.

"There is a historic event today. We've just signed a declaration on the establishment of an interparliamentary assembly between Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine," Kobakhidze said, adding that the three countries have much in common.

According to Kobakhidze, the creation of the Assembly will promote deeper cooperation between the states in many areas.

"Our three countries have much in common in the historical plane, but today they face a common fight against the common aggressor, and today we are announcing serious intentions to deepen cooperation and continue cooperation in many areas," the head of the Georgian parliament said.

Read alsoNATO PA declaration urges Allies to back Ukraine's membership hopes

Moldova's Candu echoed his Georgian counterpart, stating that Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia were facing almost identical challenges.

"It is very important for our countries to exchange experience, knowledge, to seek solutions that would be useful not only for one country, but for all countries together," he said.

Candu also stressed that the three countries are facing a common threat.

"There are occupied territories in Donbas and the occupied territories in Georgia, and this threat comes from the Russian Federation. We have common challenges, common threats coming from the Russian Federation, in particular, we can talk about cyberattacks, information wars," he said.

The Chairman of the Moldovan Parliament expressed the opinion that coordinating efforts against common challenges and threats could help resolve a number of pressing issues.
In the near future, human rights commissioners from both countries will be visiting prisoners, according to the report.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue of exchanging detained persons.

The conversation was initiated by the Ukrainian side, the Kremlin press service told UNIAN.

"Particular attention was paid to humanitarian issues, including the exchange of detained persons. Vladimir Putin stressed the need for the immediate release of Russian journalists arrested in Ukraine," the report said.

Read alsoEU's Tusk calls on G7 to save Sentsov's life

It is noted that an agreement has been reached for ombudspersons of both countries to visit Russian nationals who are imprisoned in Ukraine and Ukrainian citizens  in Russia. In the near future, human rights commissioners of Ukraine and Russia Lyudmila Denisova and Tatyana Moskalkova will visit the respective prisoners both in Russia and Ukraine.

Poroshenko stressed the importance of releasing as soon as possible Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia and the occupied territories.

The head of the Ukrainian state drew attention to the hunger strike initiated by a number of Ukrainian prisoners held in Russia and expressed concern over their deteriorating condition.

In addition, the situation in the east of Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk agreements were discussed, including taking into account the upcoming June 11 meeting in Berlin of the Normandy Four foreign ministers.

Read alsoPoroshenko on Sushchenko's verdict: "Kremlin sentences itself"

As UNIAN reported earlier, a number of Ukrainians illegally convicted by Russian courts are currently on hunger strike.

On March 9, a Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Balukh went on a hunger strike to protest against the verdict handed down on a fabricated case near the temporarily occupied Crimea.

On May 14, "Kremlin prisoner," film director Oleh Sentsov announced an indefinite hunger strike demanding the release of all 64 Ukrainian political prisoners.

On May 31, activist Oleksander Kolchenko went on a hunger strike in support of Sentsov. On June 7 Kolchenko decided to stop his strike.

Also in May, the Ukrainian soldier Olelsander Shumkov, who was imprisoned in Russia, went on a hunger strike, as well as Stanislav Klykh, yet another Ukrainian national illegally convicted in Russia.
The Russian president is going on a counter-offensive in the international arena, trying to bring down the negative resonance surrounding the hunger strike of Oleh Sentsov and other Ukrainian political prisoners. Russia was on top agenda of the G7 summit. A new Italian government with Euroskeptic sentiments has begun its work. Sweden gave permission to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in its territorial waters. In Kyiv, the creation of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine was announced.

The Kremlin chief experienced some unpleasant moments during an interview with Austria's ORF journalist Armin Wolf, who turned out to be a tenacious interlocutor who did not fall for any of Putin's tricks. Putin has traditionally changed his testimony about what was happening in Crimea in 2014, the return of which to Ukraine he rules out completely. He also suggested that our country hold a referendum in Donbas and made it clear that Russia is against any strategic military facilities being set up on Ukrainian territory. One gets the impression, confirmed with a message about Putin's readiness to meet with Donald Trump in Austria, that the Russian president is starting his bargaining with the West on the next global redistribution of power between the strongest players.

However, there is one more nuance here: Russia is actively using the tactics of the crooked mirror, deploying across the world with the help of controlled media the new narrative in its own favor. Russia Today and Sputnik are engaged at a huge scale, with clearly calculated messages. As a matter of fact, Zahar Prilepin's question to Putin during a latest hotline included one of those messages, allowing the Russian leader to threaten Ukraine.

All of this did not hold back U.S. President Donald Trump from speaking out for Russia's return to G7, of course, under a plausible pretext of conducting a more intensive dialogue. However, the European participants of the G7 opposed the Kremlin's promotion, noting the need for real progress in the settlement of the Donbas conflict. I don't think that Trump forgot about the sanction law, which since August of last year has been for him a pointing figure towards Russia. Rather, he sought to demonstrate his own independence.

The new Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, who first supported the American president, preferred European solidarity to showing servility to Washington. However, the composition of the government and the coalition of the League and the 5-Star Movement in Italy that formed it don't allow us counting on the disappearance of Euroskepticism as one of the main components of the country's foreign policy.

There have been some developments around the Nord Stream 2. The consent of the Swedish authorities for its construction in the country's territorial waters was quite predictable, given high quality of Gazprom's legal team. At the same time, the statement by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, claiming that Nord Stream 2 is just a private business initiative, caused misunderstanding of his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda.

In Kyiv, the speakers of the parliaments of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine signed off the Declaration on the establishment of a Tripartite Interparliamentary Assembly and called, among other things, to ensure an agreed line of conduct of the three post-Soviet states. The ability to perform Euro-integration arias in unison by the three states is important both in the medium term, and as an alternative to the CIS, with which Georgia and Ukraine parted. Besides, the practice of the EU expansion suggests that there is more chance of success working as a team, rather than playing solo.

Yevgeny Magda of the Institute of World Policy

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Russian proxy forces violated the ceasefire regime 38 times, including nine times with the use of weapons banned by Minsk agreements.

Over the past day, on June 8, Joint Forces liquidated three terrorists in eastern Ukraine's zone of hostilities, as reported on Facebook by the JFO HQ press service Saturday.

It is noted that the militants violated the ceasefire regime 38 times, including nine times with the use of weapons proscribed by the Minsk agreements.

Intensive hostilities were recorded near the villages of Krymske and Novotoshkivske in Luhansk region.

Read alsoCanada to increase assistance to Ukraine  Canada's defense minister

"Using small arms and grenade launchers, the invaders, under cover of 120mm and 82mm mortars, tried to force our units out of their firing positions and improve their own tactical position. The units of the Joint Forces were firmly keeping ground, so all enemy attempts to advance through our defense lines remained unrealized," the report said.

At the same time, three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the battle of Krymske in Luhansk region, another one - near Shyrokyne in Donetsk region and two more in other locations, the HQ added.

According to Ukraine's military intelligence, on June 8, at least three invaders were exterminated and 16 more were wounded in action.
That brings the number of people Mueller has charged in his probe of election meddling to 20. Five have pleaded guilty.

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller strengthened his case against Donald Trumps former campaign chairman Paul Manafort with new charges filed Friday.

He also stoked intrigue by adding a new name to his indictment against Manafort -- a longtime Manafort associate who prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence, according to Bloomberg.

The superseding indictment Muellers team filed in Washington builds on their previous allegations that Manafort did illegal lobbying work for Ukraine and laundered millions of dollars in proceeds. The U.S. is now charging Manafort and the associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, with obstructing justice and conspiring to get potential witnesses to lie about lobbying work theyd done for Ukraine. Each of the two charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

That brings the number of people Mueller has charged in his probe of election meddling to 20. Five have pleaded guilty. The latest obstruction charges bolster Muellers case by laying out the argument that Manafort had corrupt intent to hide his activities, according to former prosecutors.

He may also signal that he has another card to play. Theres no indication that Kilimnik is in the U.S. or would travel to face charges there. So indicting such a person may be part of a larger strategy, said Michael Koenig, a former Justice Department prosecutor now at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder.

Read alsoReuters: Manafort attempted to tamper with potential witnesses: U.S. special counsel

The charge alone against a guy who isnt here and who they may never get doesnt seem to have much value, Koenig said. It suggests it may be a chess move -- the consequences of which are yet unknown to everybody except Bob Mueller.

Kilimnik, who was born in eastern Ukraine and took up Russian citizenship after the collapse of the Soviet Union, studied English and Swedish at the Military Institute of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow, which is a training ground for interpreters who work for Russias military intelligence agency. After working in Moscow as an interpreter for the International Republican Institute, a Washington-based organization, he helped Manafort lobby for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.

Before Kilimnik was identified by name in charges on Friday, he had made multiple appearances in Muellers filings as an unidentified intermediary for Manafort. In some of those earlier filings, Mueller made references to a Manafort associate in Ukraine with ties to Russian intelligence. In one, Mueller cited an FBI assessment that those ties continued into the 2016 election.
The Republican Senator noted that the U.S. president has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem" while the country's closest allies "are being treated with contempt."

U.S. Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement released Friday assailed President Trump in a harsh statement on the U.S. leader's suggestion that Russia be readmitted to the Group of Seven (G7) nations.

Vladimir Putin chose to make Russia unworthy of membership in the G-8 by invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea. Nothing he has done since then has changed that most obvious fact. Every day, Russian-led separatist forces are killing Ukrainians in the Donbass. Every day, Putin's forces are helping the Assad regime slaughter the Syrian people. And every day, through assassinations, cyber-attacks, and malign influence, Russia is assaulting democratic institutions all over the world.

Read alsoNATO tells Russia to stop meddling, in first talks since Skripal case - media

The Republican Senator also noted that the U.S. president has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem" while the country's closest allies "are being treated with contempt."

McCain called such attitude "the antithesis of so-called 'principled realism' and a sure path to diminishing Americas leadership in the world.

As UNIAN reported earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump called on G7 leaders to reinstate Russia in the Group. "We should have Russia at the negotiating table," he said. Trump's suggestion was backed by the newly-appointed pro-Russian Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, who had earlier already called for the review of Russia sanctions.
European leaders also say Russia's return to the G7 cannot happen unless substantial progress is made to resolve "problems" in Ukraine, thus rejecting Donald Trump's call to reinstate Russia to the group.

G7 countries have agreed to a "rapid and unified" response to hostile actions by Russia.

Leaders of the seven richest nations vowed to send a "strong message" that interference by Russia and other foreign states will "not be tolerated," British Prime Minister Theresa May said, according to SkyNews.

Under plans agreed by the UK, US, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan, there will be greater coordination to respond to threats including cyberattacks and other breaches of international rules.

May also pushed for action to tackle Russian "dirty money" and work to curtail the movement of Moscow's spies.

And the British PM urged other countries to support giving the chemical weapons watchdog the power to identify states responsible for attacks such as the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

May said: "There is no doubt that foreign interference in our democratic institutions and processes, and other forms of hostile activity, pose a strategic threat to our shared values and interests.

Read alsoMcCain slams Trump for calls to let Russia back in G7

"Calling out malicious activity helps to end hostile states' false sense of impunity, demonstrates our awareness of their activity, and underlines our unwavering willingness to defend ourselves."

The G7 countries have agreed to share information between themselves to thwart foreign meddling in elections in their countries.

They have also committed to working with internet service providers and social media companies to tackle the issue.

"Foreign actors seek to undermine our democratic societies and institutions, our electoral processes, our sovereignty and our security," the G7 leaders said in a statement.

European leaders also say Russia's return to the G7 cannot happen unless substantial progress is made to resolve "problems" in Ukraine, thus rejecting Donald Trump's call to reinstate Russia to the group.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "We are in agreement that a return of Russia to the G7 cannot happen unless substantial progress is made in terms of the problems with Ukraine."
The U.S. leader repeated his earlier call for the G7 to reinstate Russia to the organization.

U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Russia be allowed back into the global group despite their continued occupation of Crimea.

"I would say that the G8 is a more meaningful group than the G7, absolutely," Trump said during an impromptu press conference at the summit. He also blamed former U.S. President Barack Obama for Russia's move into that nation, according to CNN.

"You'll have to ask Obama, because he was the one that let Crimea get away" he said when asked about the annexation. "He allowed Russia to take Crimea. I may have had a much different attitude."

"I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in," Trump said. "I think it would be good for the world. I think it would be good for Russia. I think it would be good the United States. I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7. I think the G8 would be better."

Read alsoTrump wants Russia to be reinstated in G-7 talks

Russia was suspended from the group -- then known as the G8 -- in 2014 after the majority of member countries allied against its annexation of Crimea. It was the first violation of a European country's borders since World War II.

Trump's advocacy for Russia's readmittance to the powerful group of industrialized nations -- which he first voiced on Friday -- comes despite consistent opposition from European allies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference Friday that there was consensus that Russia should not return to the G7.

Read alsoG7 leaders vow rapid response to Russia's hostile interference

"We agree that a return by Russia to the G7 format cannot happen as long as there isn't any substantial progress in regard to the problems with Ukraine. That was the common view," she said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters on Friday that "there are no grounds whatsoever for bringing Russia, with its current behavior, back into the G7."

"We (have) always been clear we should engage with Russia where it is in our interests, but we need to remember why G8 became the G7, it was because Russia illegally annexed Crimea," a European diplomat said Friday. "Since then we have seen an increase in Russian misbehavior and attempts to undermine democracy in Europe. It is not appropriate for Russia to rejoin until we see it behaving responsibly. Putin should get nothing for free."

Read alsoMcCain slams Trump for calls to let Russia back in G7

This sentiment was echoed by a senior United Kingdom government source.

"The PM has always said we should engage with Russia but beware. We should remind ourselves why the G8 became the G7 -- it was after Russia illegally annexed Crimea," the source said. "Before any conversations can take place about Russia rejoining, it needs to change its approach."

Lawmakers in the United States have also condemned Trump's comments, which some have taken as the latest example of the U.S. President's failure to condemn Russia for its interference in the 2016 election.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab, Hasan Askari Rizvi has said that the basic responsibility of the interim government is to ensure the holding of fair, free and transparent elections.

Lahore, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jun, 2018) : Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab, Hasan Askari Rizvi has said that the basic responsibility of the interim government is to ensure the holding of fair, free and transparent elections.

He stated this while speaking during his visit to the mausoleum of national poet Allama Iqbal here on Saturday. Dr. Hasan Askari Rzvi laid a wreath on the grave and offered fateha. He also prayed for development, progress and solidarity of the country.

He paid glowing tributes to Allama Iqbal in the visitors' book. Talking to media persons on the occasion, the Interim CM said the basic responsibility of the interim government is to ensure the holding of fair, free and transparent elections.

The framework for this purpose will be given by the Election Commission and the interim government implements this framework and provides facilities for the elections. The interim government will provide equal opportunities to all political parties keeping in view the framework given by the Election Commission, he said adding that the second basic responsibility of the interim government is the maintaining of law and order and provision of peaceful environment for voters.

He said elections strengthen democracy and the interim government provides cooperation for the election process. He said the interim government has the limited time and scope, and in these limits we will avail if we got chance for the betterment of the people.

He said visiting the mausoleum of Allama Iqbal is the matter of pride for him and the government of Pakistan has set up Iqbal Chair in the Heidelberg University of Germany where he had discharged his duties for three years.

Answering a question by media person, Dr. Hasan Askari said he had a connection with media and his link with media will continue in future, and media persons should be happy that a person who connection with media and literature has been made the interim chief minister.

To yet another question, he said our performance will restore confidence of political parties in us and their doubts will be removed. We will work in neutral status within legal limits and will provide equal opportunities and facilities to all political parties.

To a question, he said our cabinet will be small and no political persons will be included in it. The interim cabinet will consist of professionals and experts. About reshuffle in bureaucracy, the caretaker chief minister said that administrative changes are made whenever a new government is installed.

Those before us made such changes and those who will come after us will also make such changes. I neither had any political agenda in past nor will have in future. Establishing balance in the job of the interim government and we will make every effort to maintain this balance.

To another question, he said the role of district administration is very vital in the conduct of elections and it is responsibility of the district administration to provide equal opportunities to all political parties.

In reply to a question about aliens, the interim chief minister said this is a political statement and political parties send their message to the people to get votes. Every political party has narrative and this is also part of this narrative.

To yet another question, he said he has not given any statements about delay in elections. One of my articles has been published which is quoted. I have authored many books and I have criticized every government and given my point of view from the time I have started writing.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

President Mamnoon Hussain who is on an official visit to China to attend the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states called on President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon on the sidelines of the Qingdao Summit on Saturday.

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jun, 2018) : President Mamnoon Hussain who is on an official visit to China to attend the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states called on President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon on the sidelines of the Qingdao Summit on Saturday.

During the meeting of President Mamnoon with his Tajik counterpart, both leaders held in-depth consultations on matters of mutual interest. They reviewed progress in bilateral relations, expressed satisfaction on close fraternal relations and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening ties between the two brotherly nations.

They noted the bilateral economic potential between Pakistan and Tajikistan and agreed to make joint efforts to substantially increase bilateral trade. The President of Pakistan and his Tajik counterpart also examined the prospects of cooperation in areas of trade and economy, investment, culture, education, science and technology, defence and people-to-people contacts.

Referring to Pakistan's energy requirements, President Hussain stressed early completion of CASA-1000 and expressed Pakistan's interest in promoting connectivity with Central Asia through Tajikistan.

He mentioned that Pakistan looks forward to participating in the next meeting of Council of Heads of Government of SCO member states which will be held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in October 2018. Tajik president expressed his desire to further strengthen brotherly relations to enhance economy, prosperity and wellbeing of the two nations.

The two leaders also discussed regional situation and reiterated their commitment for regional peace and stability.
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The deceased had come to Saudi Arabia for a living

Makkah (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News  9th June, 2018) A man committed suicide in Haram last night by jumping from the top floor of Mataf after Isha prayers.

The deceased was said to be around 35 years of age.

According to Saudi authorities, the man suddenly jumped down from the top floor of Mataf after Ishaa prayers were held on Friday.

His bones were broken as he fell down and was in a critical condition. The medical team present at the spot shifted him to a nearby hospital after giving him first aid treatment.

However, he succumbed to his injuries.

The authorities said that the deceased had come to Saudi Arabia for a living.

The man went on the top floor of Mataf and after crossing the barriers, jumped down. No other pilgrim was present at the spot where he fell in Haram.

The reason for suicide is unknown so far while the police officials are trying to gather more information about the man who committed suicide.
The embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan has refuted misinformation and false allegations by some sections of media about the rights of Qatari citizens to perform Umrah.

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jun, 2018) : The embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan has refuted misinformation and false allegations by some sections of media about the rights of Qatari citizens to perform Umrah.

In a statement issued here on Friday, the Saudi Embassy explained that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, since the first day decided to sever diplomatic and consular relations with Qatar, confirmed its consideration towards the Qatari brothers and facilitation of their performance of the rituals easily according to mechanisms organized by the competent authorities.

It said that the statement issued by the Qatari embassy in Islamabad on Thursday, June 7, 2018 is only one of the desperate and open attempts to make the Kingdom responsible of Qatari citizens not being able to enter the Kingdom for Umrah.

The Saudi embassy, through its statement to the Muslim community, clarified that some of the Pakistani newspapers are incorrect about the inability of the citizens and residents of Qatar to perform the Umrah rituals.

According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia, Kingdom welcomes Qatari citizens to visit and perform Umrah. "Since the issuance of the statement of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, Saudi Arabia has received a number of Qatari pilgrims who arrived at King Abdul Aziz International Airport and provided them with all services to facilitate their performances of the rituals, like other Muslims from all over the world", it explained.
Eritrea's Catholic religious men and women embrace the olive branch of peace from Ethiopia and urge their countrys leaders to accept the offer.

Agenzia Fides - Asmara

"The step taken by the Ethiopian government is positive and fills our hearts with happiness. Now it is up to (Eritrean President) Isayas Afeworki to act. He will decide if he really wants to make peace," These are some of the comments from the Catholic religious men and women in Eritrea.

Ethiopia is ready to cede disputed territories

In April, this year, Abiy Ahmed became Ethiopian prime minister. Africa's youngest head of government, 42-year-old Abiy has surprised many inside and outside Ethiopia with his fast-paced radical reform agenda since taking office. He has quickly lifted a state of emergency; vowed to end months of deadly protests and released thousands of political prisoners. On Tuesday, Abiy announced that Ethiopia would implement the Algiers peace agreement that requires it to cede the disputed territories with Eritrea, including the border town of Badme, which it has occupied for more than twenty years.

At the root of it all is a bitter and bloody two-year conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea that led to the loss of thousands of lives on both sides. The tensions and enmity have lingered on and provided the Eritrean government with a convenient excuse for repression of its people citing the importance of readiness for war with Ethiopia.

Eritreas religious urge reconciliation

This week, Eritreas religious commended Ethiopias willingness to cede the disputed territories to Eritrea and put an end to the twenty-year tensions.

"What we ask ourselves is if peace with Ethiopia is really convenient for Isayas Afeworki, the religious who cannot be named for security reasons told Agenzia Fides.

Eritrea is considered one of the most repressive countries in the world. The Eritrean government exercises absolute power over the country and has banned opposition parties in the country. The state does not have any independent media.The United Nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea in 2009 because the government was providing political, financial and logistical support to militant groups in Somalia. Eritrea has always denied the accusation.

Eritreans and Ethiopians are brothers and sisters

The religious in Eritrea say they dream of a country where there is peace.

"Ethiopians and Eritreans are brothers and sisters. They have the same origins. They speak languages which come from the same linguistic family (ge'ez). They have the same religious traditions; the same costumes and even the same cuisine. They are called to reconciliation and to living together," Agenzia Fides quotes Eritreanreligious men and women.

(Additional reporting AP)
Women who have lost their children in the recent political protests demand justice (AFP or licensors)

In a climate of political tension and violence in Nicaragua, the Jesuits of Central America are calling for a peaceful and negotiated resolution to the political crisis.

By Linda Bordoni

In a statement released on Saturday, the Society of Jesus in Nicaragua affirms that a peaceful outcome of the crisis is the unanimous wish of the population, which is claiming for democracy, freedom and justice.

The Jesuits point out that over 100 Nicaraguans have already been killed for supporting such a constitutional and ethical demand.

The Society of Jesus in Nicaragua says it is convinced the nation is still in time to try and avoid further radicalism, more bloodshed, and more pain.

And it urges those who want peace not to make war, and those who do not want violence not to assault, pursue, abuse or intimidate.

The Jesuits state that the physical integrity and life of Fr Jose Alberto Idiaquez SJ, the Rector of the Central American University of Nicaragua, is in great danger due to his involvement in a Round Table for the Dialogue convened by the Episcopal Conference, as well as for supporting the students, defending human rights and for his continuous claims to the Nicaraguan Government to give signs that the peace they claim to pursue is the fruit of justice and democratic engagement.

The statement concludes with an appeal - to national and international human rights organizations, to the United Nations, to the European Parliament, to all Jesuit universities in the world, to each and every Church, and to all people engaged in defending human dignity - to strongly support a peaceful and negotiated resolution to the tragic situation that the country is living.

It also demands respect for the physical integrity of all Nicaraguans, who are working for peace and justice.
The British Loreto nun has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in Queen Elizabeths Birthday Honours 2018 for her achievements and services to end modern slavery.

Sister Imelda Poole IBVM is President of RENATE (Religious in Europe Networking against Trafficking and Exploitation) and has played a leading role in the campaign to eradicating human trafficking and modern slavery for many decades.

Combatting human trafficking, modern slavery

On the announcement of the award, the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Sally Axworthy, said:

I am delighted to learn that Sr. Imelda Poole has been awarded this honour by Her Majesty The Queen. It is well-deserved recognition of Sr. Imeldas outstanding service in combatting human trafficking and modern slavery, through the European religious sisters anti-trafficking network RENATE which she leads, and through Talitha Kum, the religious sisters worldwide anti-trafficking network. Sister Imelda is a key ally in Her Majestys Governments campaign to eradicate modern slavery. It is wonderful to see such a distinguished friend of this Embassy honoured in this way.

Dedication

Sister Poole joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters) whilst still in her teens. She studied English and history at Manchester University and followed this with a PGCE in Theology and English.

After her studies, she worked with disadvantaged people in Glasgow, London and Manchester before going to Kenya where she experienced life with the Kipsigi tribe. On her return to England she worked with marginalized people near Middleborough before later becoming involved with the campaign to eradicate human trafficking and modern slavery. In this role, she helped set up an anti-trafficking NGO in Albania.


On Saturday, June 10, nearly 300 classic cars were on display at M Resort Spa Casino during the first annual Beers, Gears & Bikinis Car Show, hosted by KM Classics, Rock Your Body Yoga, Nostalgia Street Rods and Vegas Lugnut (Photo credit: Tom Donoghue).

Photo credit: Tom Donoghue.

More than 2,500 car enthusiasts took over M Pool and the hotel parking lot and enjoyed vintage vehicles of all types alongside vendors showcasing a wide range of parts and supplies.

Photo credit: Tom Donoghue.

After the event, 18 lucky winners from six voting categories walked away with trophies including Best of Show, Peoples Choice and M Resort Choice, as well as $2,000 in cash prizes.
Join moderator Michael Warren of the Weekly Standard for a round table discussion of the weeks top stories with Richard Latendresse of TVA Nouvelles and Oren Dorell of USA Today. Topping the headlines  President Trumps upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Listen Saturday and Sunday for this and other top stories on Issues in the News.
Once reliant on seasonal farming jobs to make ends meet, Aguti Rukia is now a successful entrepreneur in Arubela, eastern Uganda.

With the help of a $150 "micro-grant" last year, Rukia and two women from her village started a business buying petrol from fuel stations and selling it in smaller quantities to motorcycle taxis in the area.

"We buy three jerrycans of petrol per week and we make a profit of up to 15,000 Ugandan shillings ($4) from each," explained Rukia, adding that each business partner had personally invested 30,000 shillings ($8) to top up the grant.

Uganda is one of the 30 poorest countries in the world, with 2017 government figures showing over one quarter of the population lives in poverty.

Eastern Uganda is particularly affected, with only 6 percent of households with access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

To boost people's income, a project is helping rural Ugandans set up their own businesses by providing seed funding, training and mentoring.

The initiative, led by U.S. charity Village Enterprise, selects groups of three would-be entrepreneurs based on an assessment of their poverty level, and requires them to raise part of their business capital themselves.

"By giving people ownership of their enterprise we thought they would have a better chance of success," said Winnie Auma, the charity's director in Uganda.

Each venture is limited to three people as it reduces the risk of failure  compared to only two partners  while still being a number small enough to manage, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Weather and Poverty

Poverty in the East African country is exacerbated by increasingly erratic weather linked to climate change, experts say.

Absalom Ragira from the Tree is Life Trust, a Kenyan charity working to protect the environment, said rising temperatures help pests to breed, destroying farmers' crops and their main source of income.

"At the same time, flash floods can sweep away harvests and livestock," he said.

Before Rukia set up her business with partners Mary Atim and Mary Alinga, the women's income largely fluctuated with the weather.

"We used to rush to people's farms whenever they needed someone to till their land," recalled Rukia.

But those jobs are becoming increasingly scarce, she added.

Seasonal farming jobs are harder to come by in times of drought or floods, local people say, as there are fewer crops left to harvest.

Money - and Respect

After starting off reselling fuel, Rukia, Atim and Alinga have expanded their business by buying and selling groundnut oil for cooking.

Rukia now earns about 75,000 shillings ($20) per week selling petrol, cooking oil and beans  over five times more than when she took up seasonal jobs. The income comes on top of the 60,000 shillings ($16) her husband makes selling brooms.

She said the help starting her business has not only boosted her family's income  allowing them to buy a solar pay-as-you-go kit  but has also earned her her husband's respect.

Atim agrees. "They (men) look at us differently because we can even lend them money or pay our children's school fees," said the mother of four.

Their venture is one of 4,000 businesses created each year in Uganda and Kenya through the grants, said Auma, estimating they have benefited over 200,000 people since 2012.

Grants, Not Loans

Hannah McCandless, a program associate at Village Enterprise, said the micro-grant model works because budding entrepreneurs only receive the cash once they have been through nine months of training on business and financial skills  and they must spend it on their venture.

Each team also joins a savings group, which can act as a safety net for the women and allow them to take out loans as needed, she added.

"As a result only about 5 percent of businesses fail six months after having started," she said.

Hassan Mbaziira, a manager at the Ugandan Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, said micro-grants or cash transfers like the Village Enterprise model are an effective way of tackling poverty.

"Cash transfers allow people to spend money according to their needs, and help them regain a sense of control," he said.

While the government runs its own entrepreneurship and social protection programs, "it is unlikely that they will wipe out poverty on their own", he added, calling for more support from NGOs and civil society.
Australia's Commonwealth Bank has agreed to pay a $530 million fine for breaching anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws. The scandal relates to more than 53,000 suspect transactions that the bank did not immediately report to authorities.

If approved by the Federal Court, this will be the largest civil penalty in Australian corporate history.

At the heart of the case were so-called smart cash machines that allowed customers to anonymously deposit and transfer money. Thousands of suspect transactions of more than $7,600 each were not referred to the authorities as required by law.

An investigation by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC), the federal financial intelligence agency, along with state and federal police found the machines were being used to launder the proceeds of crime.

Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison says the bank must now rebuild its reputation.

"It is for them to rebuild that trust, it is for them to make these admissions, it is for them to incur these penalties and get on with the job of restoring trust in the conduct of the CBA and this, I think, is another important step toward doing that," Morrison said.

The Commonwealth Bank said its actions were not deliberate but it understood "the seriousness of the mistakes" it had made. It had reportedly been anticipating a fine of about $285 million.

"For AUSTRAC, it is able to demonstrate that there has been serious failings by Commonwealth Bank (CBA), one of our major financial institutions," said Ian Ramsey, a director at Melbourne University's Center for Corporate Law. "I am sure what the bank did not want was a very lengthy trial where every day more evidence is brought before the court and then promptly reported in the media of systemic, serious failings by CBA."

AUSTRAC said the penalty would send a strong message to Australia's financial industry. Since February it has been investigated by a Royal Commission, Australia's highest form of inquiry, which has unearthed widespread misconduct within the banking and financial services sector.
Drones guided by artificial intelligence to catch boats netting fish where they shouldn't were among the winners of a marine protection award on Friday and could soon be deployed to fight illegal fishing, organizers said.

The award-winning project aims to help authorities hunt down illegal fishing boats using drones fitted with cameras that can monitor large swaths of water autonomously.

Illegal fishing and overfishing deplete fish stocks worldwide, causing billions of dollars in losses a year and threatening the livelihoods of rural coastal communities, according to the United Nations.

The National Geographic Society awarded the project, co-developed by Morocco-based company ATLAN Space, and two other innovations $150,000 each to implement their plans as it marked World Oceans Day on Friday.

The aircraft can cover a range of up to 700 km (435 miles) and use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to drive them in search of fishing vessels, said ATLAN Space's founder, Badr Idrissi.

"Once (the drone) detects something, it goes there and identifies what it's seeing," Idrissi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

Idrissi said the technology, which is to be piloted in the Seychelles later this year, was more effective than traditional sea patrols and allowed coast guards to save money and time.

From satellites tracking trawlers on the high seas to computer algorithms identifying illegal behaviors, new technologies are increasingly coming to the aid of coast guards worldwide.

AI allows the drones to check a boat's identification number, establish whether it is fishing inside a protected area or without permit, verify whether it is known to authorities and count people on board, Idrissi said.

If something appears to be wrong, it can alert authorities.

Other winners were Marine Conservation Cambodia, which uses underwater concrete blocks to impede the use of bottom-dragged nets, and U.S.-based Pelagic Data Systems, which plans to combat illegal fishing in Thailand with tracking technologies.

"The innovations from the three winning teams have the potential to greatly increase sustainable fishing in coastal systems," National Geographic Society's chief scientist Jonathan Baillie said in a statement.

Much of the world's fish stocks are overfished or fully exploited, according the U.N. food agency, and fish consumption rose above 20 kilograms per person in 2016 for the first time.

Global marine catches have declined by 1.2 million tons a year since 1996, according to The Sea Around Us, a research initiative involving the University of British Columbia and the University of Western Australia.
A 'smart' bottle opener, weak and alcohol-free ales and lagers and cannabis brews - all visions of the future of beer offered at a brewing convention in Brussels this week.

More than 700 brewers and beer experts, from small microbrewers to megabrew executives, converged in Belgium, for many the home of beer, to debate hot topics in the $600 billion sector - including how to win drinkers back from wine and spirits.

Sessions on beer and food pairings sought to show how ales or lagers could challenge the dominance of wine during meals.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, has set increasing beer's share of the overall drinks market as a top priority this year. Carlos Brito, its chief executive, told fellow brewers the sector should target mealtimes and women as areas of future growth.

Consumers should expect an even wider variety of products, particular of higher priced "premium" beers.

"Premiumization has arrived in, for example, confectionery. Look at chocolate. We have a long path ahead of us," he said.

Cees't Hart, the head of Carlsberg, called wine and tea "the enemy" and said brewers had identified a gap between beer and soft drinks - with low and no-alcohol brands that promised to be healthier than soda alternatives.

"That's what we can own. This could be the future for the brewing industry," he said.

Brewers AB InBev, Heineken, Carlsberg and China's CR Snow sell about half of all beer drunk across the globe, but a growing number of smaller craft brewers, traditionally known for stronger ales, were also brewing low and no alcohol varieties.

Spiros Malandrakis, head of alcohol drinks research at Euromonitor International, said craft beers themselves appeared to have hit a plateau in the United States, with an estimated 6,000 breweries, but could expect to emerge in countries such as China and Vietnam.

Malandrakis also pointed to cannabis as a future growth segment, noting Constellation Brands' $191 million investment in Canada's Canopy Growth Corp, the first major drinks producer to invest in legal cannabis.

"The problem is that consumed in beer it would takes two to three hours to have an effect," he said, adding a lot of effort was being put into studies to reduce this delay.

Downstairs at the convention, exhibitors displayed everything from tanks to taps and marketing to bottling technology that any budding microbrewer could want.

Among them was a device billed as the world's first smart bottle opener, which connects to the Internet.

Although bottles must still be opened by hand, the device recognizes the bottle top and transmits that information by WiFi.

This allows brewers, large and small, to see how fast their beers are actually being consumed in bars, rather than just stocked, and also to offer promotions in real-time to push a particular brand.
Sipping California zinfandel, eating deviled eggs and fretting about President Donald Trump, the guests attending a political fundraiser at a Silicon Valley executives home were the usual assortment of tech entrepreneurs and investors.

But the congressional candidate they had come to meet that March evening in the hills north of San Francisco was anything but typical.

Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat and former defense official, is running for Congress in Michigans 8th District, a pocket of Detroit suburbs, college campuses and farmland more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) away. She is a gun owner, a supporter of constitutionally enshrined gun rights and a critic of single payer health care, hardly the kind of far-left candidate voters in the San Francisco Bay Area generally embrace.

But Slotkin, 41, and the party guests shared a goal: wresting control of the House of Representatives from Republicans in Novembers congressional elections.

Swing districts

With no Bay Area Democrats facing serious challenges from Republicans, the party host, Brian Monahan, and a group of fellow technology and marketing executives have decided to look farther afield for candidates in swing districts that need financial support.

To focus their efforts, Monahan, technology investor Chris Albinson, executive recruiter Jon Love and a handful of others have formed a loose-knit organization they call Purple Project.

So far, the group has raised at least $210,000 for Democratic candidates in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The sum is a pittance compared to the money being spent on key races by fundraising Political Action Committees (PACs), which represent corporations and political interest groups and contribute millions of dollars each election cycle.

But in moderate districts with close races like Slotkins, such grassroots efforts can make a difference.

Simply unacceptable

Purple Project is one of a number of informal groups in solidly blue states such as California, Vermont and Massachusetts that have mobilized this year to back candidates in distant swing districts. So far, it has endorsed six candidates and plans to endorse 14 more by the end of July.

Love, a longtime executive recruiter for technology companies, spearheads candidate vetting. Many in the group have made the maximum allowable individual donation of $2,700 to each candidate.

For its participants, Purple Project is a way to channel months of political frustrations since Trump took office.

Things are simply unacceptable and sitting on the sidelines just stewing on it isnt helping anyone, Monahan said. You feel like out here in California your vote is worthless.

Thats because House representatives from the San Francisco Bay Area are unwaveringly Democratic.

Bruising battle, outside money

To retake the House, Democrats would need to take 23 seats held by Republicans, as well as keep all the districts they now hold. That means races like Slotkins, in a competitive district with a mix of Republican and Democratic counties stretching from north of Detroit to the state capitol, Lansing, are pivotal.

She faces a bruising battle, however, trying to unseat two-term Congressman Mike Bishop, who won with 56 percent of the vote in 2016.

Out-of-state money has been the financial lifeblood of Slotkins campaign, putting her far ahead of her competitor for the Democratic nomination and nearly neck-and-neck with Bishop.

Slotkin had raised $1.5 million as of March 31, with just $304,000 coming from Michigan donors, approaching Bishops $317,000 in home-state contributions, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Slotkin raised more than $120,000 from individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area.

FEC filings generally do not include donations of $200 or less.

Our campaign finance laws are so broken that in order to compete you have to raise a significant amount of money, she told Reuters during a tour of her 400-acre farm in Holly, Michigan, when asked about Purple Projects donations to her campaign. If that means raising from outside the state Id rather have that than the influence of a corporate PAC.

At a house party in April in the small Michigan city of Brighton, about a dozen neighbors from a tidy middle-class neighborhood gathered to meet Slotkin and cheer her on, but not all were hopeful.

I dont give her much of a chance, but its good to have her there and maybe shell take a bite out of Bishops vote, said Blake Lancaster, 74.

Personal politics

Purple Project is a political organization with a deeply personal origin. Albinson, co-founder of San Francisco technology investment firm Founders Circle, said he was unnerved to learn his father-in-law in Michigan, Jerry Smith, voted for Trump. After 18 years as a registered Republican, Albinson, also a Michigan native, became an independent voter following Trumps nomination.

He set about finding moderate congressional candidates he and his friends in Silicon Valley could support, but who would also appeal to Smith.

After Albinson met Slotkin, he subjected her to a litmus test: she had to visit his father-in-law.

Smith, 72, describes himself as a common-sense Republican worried about his health care costs. A retired small business owner who lives on a 40-acre farm just outside the 8th District, Smith said he and his wife, Barb, fret about spending down their savings just for the regular monthly bills.

Slotkin won over Smith, who said he was impressed by her resume and decency, and her views on improving President Barack Obamas health care overhaul, the Affordable Care Act, to keep health care costs down. From there, Purple Project has grown, with members scattered across the country.

To win the groups backing, candidates must be able to appeal to Trump supporters and must have past service in the military, government or nonprofit sector. They also have to reject corporate PAC money and support affordable health care and infrastructure improvement, among other criteria.

The group offers more than money. Monahan, who was head of marketing at Walmart.com and an advertising executive at image-sharing and shopping website Pinterest, helps campaigns with digital marketing, for instance.

Last spring, Slotkin left Washington and a 15-year government career in defense and intelligence work to move back to the family farm in Holly. But some of her neighbors in this working-class town are not particularly interested in a newcomer Democrat.

Holly town supervisor George Kullis said he plans to vote for Bishop because the congressman helped him get federal funding for new signs for the national cemetery in town.

Bishop has been good; hes been Johnny on the spot, Kullis said. Besides, who is this Elissa Slotkin? Ive never heard of her.
Christian convert Loubna and her husband, Kamal, marry in a small ceremony in a meeting room of a human rights group in the Moroccan capital, ignoring threats from people in their conservative hometown in the north of the Muslim kingdom.

They are part of a tiny minority who have converted to Christianity and are demanding legal recognition of their marriage. Islam is the religion of state in predominantly Sunni Muslim Morocco where only Muslim and Jewish marriages are deemed legal.

From now on I have to wear niqab (face veil) if I want to walk in the streets of my hometown, Loubna said after the ceremony.

Jewish community

The centuries-old tiny Jewish community is recognized in the constitution as part of the Moroccan identity. The roughly 3,000 Jews have their courts governing personal status matters as well as inheritance and burial.

We want to be treated on an equal footing with Moroccan Jews, said Chouaib El Fatihi, coordinator of the Christian committee at the Moroccan association for religious rights and freedoms.

We want to be recognized as Moroccan Christian citizens and to enjoy the right to legal marriages and burial ceremonies according to our religion, he said.

By law, only foreign Christians are allowed to collectively worship in churches, many set up during the French colonial era, and proselytism is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Risking the law

Adam Rabati and his wife, Farah Tarneem, a Christian couple, refuse to get married according to the Moroccan family code based on sharia.

In a Rabat suburb, the couple live in an apartment-turned-church receiving converts.

We are running the risk of being accused of fornication punishable under the penal code, said Adam, who does not have a legal marriage certificate.

Farah, who embraced Christianity two years ago, said obtaining the certificate includes traditions that contradict her faith.

We suffer from discrimination by authorities which do not recognize us as Moroccan Christians coupled with social pressure and harassment because of our choice of faith, she said.

The native Christian community is estimated by local leaders at more than 50,000 but no official statistics exist.

Arab Spring promises

In the wake of 2011 Arab Spring protests, Morocco adopted a new constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression and belief. The country has also marketed itself as an oasis of religious tolerance, offering training to preachers from Africa and Europe on moderate Islam to counter extremism.

Authorities should not continue their double speak on religious rights, said Mohamed Nouhi, head of Moroccan rights organization IMDH.

The U.S. State Departments annual International Religious Freedom Report criticizes Morocco for restrictions on native Christians, Shiite Muslims and members of the Bahai faith.

Responding to a Reuters request for comment at a regular news briefing, government spokesperson Mustapha El Khalfi said Morocco is a country of religious tolerance and freedoms.

The U.S. State Department report contains erroneous allegations and judgments that are not based on scientific data, he said.
The International Criminal Court on Friday overturned the war crimes conviction of former Democratic Republic of Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a huge blow to prosecutors that could also dramatically shake up politics in his home country.

Bemba was one of only four people convicted by the permanent war crimes court in its 16 years of operation, and the highest ranking among them. He had been convicted of murder, rape and pillage for actions by fighters he sent to Central African Republic to back CAR's then-president Ange-Felix Patasse.

A crowd of hundreds of supporters cheered outside Bemba's party headquarters in the Congo capital Kinshasa, shouting "Our president is free!" and "Jean Pierre Bemba is our candidate!"

Judge Christine Van den Wijngaert said Bemba, once the leader of Congo's main opposition party, could not be held responsible for crimes carried out by troops under his control in CAR in 2002-2003.

Dismissing his 18-year-sentence, she said trial judges had failed to consider his efforts to stop crimes committed by his Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) once he became aware of them, and how difficult it would have been for him to control the troops' actions from a distance.

"Mr. Bemba cannot be held criminally responsible for the crimes committed by MLC troops during the Central African Republic operation," she said, reading the ruling of a 5-judge appeal panel. Bemba's efforts to stop the crimes "extinguished his responsibility in full."

"Our Candidate"

His acquittal could revive a moribund opposition in Congo, where President Joseph Kabila, still in power after his mandate ran out in Dec 2016, looks likely to seek a third term on a legal technicality or by changing the constitution.

Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende said on Friday that Bemba had the right to return home if released.

Bemba ran against Kabila in 2006 elections that went to a run-off between them before Kabila won.

According to a nationwide public opinion survey by New York University's Congo Research Group in March, despite being absent for a decade Bemba would finish third in a hypothetical presidential race behind two other opposition leaders ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called the appeal decision "regrettable and troubling". She noted that judges did not deny Bemba's troops had committed atrocities "which resulted in great suffering in the Central African Republic."

"The carnage and suffering caused by those crimes are very real and they are recognized," she told journalists.

Fiona McKay of the Open Society Justice Initiative said the decision was a "major blow" to Bensouda's office "given the vast resources that have been devoted to this case, which has lasted for more than 10 years."

"This was the first ICC case with a major focus on the use of rape as a weapon of war," she said.

Bemba's case had been seen as cementing the precedent that officials may be held liable for the actions of troops under their command.

He was not released immediately on Friday because he has also been convicted of witness tampering, and an appeals judgment in that case is still pending. The court called a status conference in his case for June 12, which Bemba's lawyer called "unacceptable" given that the maximum sentence on that charge is five years and Bemba has already been jailed for 10.

He said Bemba would probably go to Belgium to meet with his family there before returning to Congo after he is released.

Bemba, the son of a businessman, became rich during years of close association with former Congolese leader Mobutu Sese Seko.

He entered government with Kabila in 2003 as part of a power-sharing deal that ended years of civil war.

Karine Bonneau of the International Federation for Human Rights said the decision was devastating for an estimated 5,000 victims of troops under Bemba who were awaiting the ruling.

The message "to warlords seems to be: when you're not at the scene, let your troops commit the worst crimes and worst abominations, then say you had nothing to do with it, and we won't condemn you."
The Cambodian rosewood had stood for hundreds of years, but its value finally proved too hard to resist and the giant tree came crashing down  inside a protected forest.

It's unclear exactly who was behind the felling  nobody has been charged  but it set off a series of events, which culminated in hundreds of villagers rejecting their community forest in favor of cutting more trees.

The incident underscores the challenge of protecting the country's forests, which researchers say have been rapidly disappearing due to logging and agricultural land concessions granted to companies.

Cambodia has among the highest deforestation rates in the world, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances in 2017.

The Southeast Asian nation lost 1.6 million hectares between 2001 and 2014, including 38 percent of its "intact forest landscape", which the study defined as "a seamless mosaic of forest and naturally treeless ecosystems."

Conservationists have fought for years to convince the government and people in remote areas to check deforestation, and the community forest model has been a key strategy.

Local residents agree to preserve a community forest, although they are allowed to continue to farm areas already under cultivation, as well as harvest timber needed for construction  if they receive permission.

That model is broken, according to Ben Davis, who has worked in conservation in Cambodia since 1992 and set up the community forest near Ta Bos village in the province of Preah Vihear.

Davis has helped non-governmental organizations (NGOs) establish other community forests, which he said had ended up being logged as soon as no one was around to enforce protection.

"Unless there's an NGO that is living there in the forest," he said, trailing off. "The minute they're gone..." Davis, an American, and his Australian wife, Sharyn, live with their two children in the community forest where they have set up an ecotourism lodge, and he often accompanies Ministry of Environment forest rangers on patrol.

A year ago, rangers startled some men who had just cut down the ancient rosewood, which Davis said was the biggest in the forest.

Authorities decided to confiscate the tree, but the rainy season delayed them and it lay in the jungle until this past April, said Davis and Pov Samuth, the local commune chief.

After the rangers hauled the rosewood to the village common area, residents protested, demanding that it be turned over to them, Davis and Pov Samuth said.

Davis said villagers recently sold one section of the tree  1.7 meters long and more than a meter in diameter  for $10,000.

"It's no wonder this thing set off a firestorm," he said. "You can see why the villagers are hell bent on taking the forest over."

About 400 residents demonstrated outside Davis' house in April, and hundreds have applied their thumbprints to a petition demanding his eviction.

"We are not satisfied, because they said the area should be protected for the next generation, but villagers can't go into the forest to do our work," said Rorn Chhang, who added her thumbprint to the petition.

Her sister, Sorum Chhang, said she owned 20 hectares in the forest, which she began clearing in 2001.

"A few years ago, they came and said it belongs to the protected area, so they don't allow me to do anything on my land," said Sorum Chhang, who has no ownership documents.

Time to Talk

As the controversy continued, government officials in the capital, Phnom Penh, decided to meet with the villagers to explain the regulations around community forests.

About 300 people crowded into a wooden pagoda in the center of the village to speak to Lay Piden, deputy chief of law enforcement and governance at the Ministry of Agriculture.

"Nowadays, there are restrictions even to walk into the forest," one man said to nods and murmurs of agreement.

After a heated discussion, Lay Piden said the villagers seemed most interested in figuring out how to keep felling trees, as they had before the community forest was established.

"Now, the officials from the Ministry of Environment prohibit them," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "That's why they come here and get mad."

Meas Nhem, director of the Phnom Tnout Wildlife Sanctuary, where the community forest lies, denied that residents are prevented from entering the protected area.

"We are not strict with the villagers," he said by phone. "We allow them to take yields from the forest, but what we ban is deforesting for farming land and selling to dealers."

Debt and Deforestation

Davis said almost the every family in the village has taken out loans, putting up their land as collateral, and they struggle to service the debt.

Pov Samuth, the commune chief, concurred.

"Nearly all villagers take money from the banks," he said. "Some need to cut the trees to construct houses, and some also sell for paying the bank."

Debt-driven deforestation in the Phnom Tnout Wildlife Sanctuary has raised fears among conservation groups.

In April, eight organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, released a statement warning of "the rapid rate of destruction" and urged authorities to "enforce the rule of law."

Already this month, three villagers have been arrested for cutting down a massive padauk tree, an endangered, luxury hardwood that is carved into furniture and musical instruments.

Davis said the rosewood incident had emboldened residents, as some had gained from the illegal felling.

"They hope to get away with it again," he said.
Democratic lawmakers blasted the Trump administration on Friday for its decision to temporarily transfer hundreds of detained immigrants into five federal prisons, calling the practice inhumane and un-American.

Reuters reported Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has entered into a 120-day agreement with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the U.S. Marshals Service to house 1,600 people waiting for immigration hearings.

"The depth of this administration's heartlessness has no bottom," Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the top ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told Reuters in a statement Friday.

"After seeing the heartbreak and suffering that family separation has caused, and after hearing criticism from all sides," he said, "this administration has decided to double down on cruelty by using federal prisons to house asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution and torture."

ICE has struggled to find enough beds to house detainees amid the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal border crossings and efforts to clamp down on how many asylum applications are approved.

As part of that effort, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said earlier this year that he planned to prosecute everyone who crossed the border illegally, and also to separate women and children.

ICE did not say how many of the 1,600 people being moved into prisons might be seeking asylum.

One immigration advocacy group told Reuters on Friday that as of Thursday, it had met with five female detainees being held in SeaTac, a federal jail in Seattle, and all of them had been separated from their children and were seeking asylum.

"We do think that everyone who is currently being held [in Seattle] is seeking asylum," said Jorge Baron, the executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. "We don't know that for sure, but everyone we have talked to has been in that situation, and the five women we talked to each were separated from a child."

Baron added that two of the women interviewed had crossed the border with their children in southern Texas and surrendered to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The women were separated from their children, charged with misdemeanor illegal entry and given credit for the time they served in an immigration detention facility.

But after that, they were transported to SeaTac, he added.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson have since sent a letter to U.S. immigration and Justice Department officials demanding answers about the female detainees.

"We have serious concerns about the Trump administration's treatment of these asylum seekers," they wrote.
Environmentalists on Friday accused the Trump administration of political interference and retaliation in the ouster of Yellowstone National Park's chief after his disputes with U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke over the park's celebrated bison.

Dan Wenk, who has led one of the nation's premier parks since 2011, on Friday described as "punitive" the decision by Zinke that he should retire early or be reassigned to a post in Washington, D.C.

Wenk said in an interview he was not given specific reasons for the ultimatum, which came after he had announced his intention to retire in 2019. He said he had had disagreements with Zinke about the number of bison at the park but had believed those to be resolved.

Environmentalists were quick to accuse Zinke of selling out parks, public lands and wildlife in the West to oil and gas developers, sportsmen and ranchers, among others.

"His decision to force out the superintendent of the world's first national park should be seen for what it is: political interference and retaliation for a Park Service leader standing up for parks and wildlife rather than special interests," the Sierra Club's Bonnie Rice said in a statement on Friday.

The fracas over Wenk's ouster is the latest controversy surrounding an Interior secretary who has been reviled by conservationists but hailed by industry and conservatives in Western states, where local governments have chafed against restrictions imposed on federally protected areas.

Review of Monuments

Zinke, a former Montana congressman, sparked controversy last year after reviewing more than two dozen national parks and protected areas, indicating some could be scaled back to allow for more hunting and fishing, as economic development.

The review has cheered energy, mining, ranching and timber advocates but has drawn widespread criticism and threats of lawsuits from conservation groups and the outdoor recreation industry.

The National Parks Conservation Association said diverse sides should be represented when it comes to places like Yellowstone.

"Dan Wenk stood up for wildlife and united voices around solutions and we need to ensure that same approach will continue," Bart Melton, a regional director for the group, said on Friday.

Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift did not respond to a request for comment about criticism leveled at the secretary and declined to directly respond to Wenk's belief his removal from the park was a form of punishment.

Wenk said Yellowstone bison should be managed like wildlife rather than livestock and the herd's size should not be solely determined by ranchers who live outside the park in Montana. He added there was no basis to assertions that a segment of Yellowstone's rangelands had been adversely affected by grazing bison rather than natural processes.

A ranchers association said it was "steadfast" about keeping the bison population at 3,000. The bison population is now around 4,000.

"We feel that number is realistic and sustainable and not only meets the needs of the park in reducing migration of bison outside its boundaries but also reduces the threat of the possible transfer of disease to domestic cattle," said Jay Bodner, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.

Bring Science to Issue

If Zinke was concerned about overgrazing in the park, Wenk said he sought to answer it by suggesting science should be brought to the issue.

"It's okay to have differences of opinion and I thought we were working through those," he said.

Environmental groups and tribes have been critical of the park's years-long practice of sending bison to slaughter for wandering from Yellowstone into neighboring Montana in search of food in the winter as a method of controlling the population of the nation's last herd of wild, purebred bison.

The policy is a concession to ranchers who worry bison exposed to brucellosis, a disease that can cause cows to miscarry, might infect cattle that graze outside the park, though such a case has never been documented in the wild.

Millions of American and international visitors crowd the park each year to view wildlife like bison and natural wonders like the Old Faithful geyser.
Egyptian airport officials say an Eritrean detainee of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has died in a holding area, apparently having committed suicide.

The officials said Saturday that Zeresenay Ermias Testfatsion, 34, was being held by authorities at Cairo International Airport, awaiting his return to Asmara, Eritrea. They said he was found dead Wednesday in a shower area and that his remains were taken to nearby Heliopolis Hospital.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

A Saturday statement by ICE confirmed the death, adding that Testfatsion had been in ICE custody since Feb. 2, 2017, following his arrest at the Hidalgo, Texas Port of Entry after he attempted to unlawfully enter the United States.
In a surprise announcement, Ethiopia has promised to implement an international courts decision resolving a border dispute with Eritrea. The move could end an 18-year stalemate and change Eritreas internal policies.

Eritrea has long said the border issue justified restrictions on its citizens, including mandatory national service, a diversion of resources into the military, curtailed civil liberties and the uninterrupted rule of President Isaias Afwerki, the unelected leader of the country since 1993.

In a report submitted to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights last month, Eritrean officials said national elections were kept on hold as priorities changed and the country had to grapple, first and foremost, with existential issues of preserving its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Those actions set the stage for extensive human rights violations and an exodus of young people from the country, according to multiple reports by the U.N. and various human rights groups. Amnesty International calls the overall human rights situation in Eritrea deplorable.

Jamie Staley is an aide to U.S. Representative Randy Hultgren, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. In April, the commission held a hearing to address concerns about human trafficking and religious freedom in Eritrea.

Staley told VOA that Eritrea produces a large number of refugees and often denies religious freedoms.

We are following cases of Eritrean asylum seekers around the world, in the U.S., in Israel and elsewhere, and want to ensure that no one who has left seeking asylum from Eritrea would ever be returned back to a situation where they would be put back in circumstances that they had left or where they would be made vulnerable to human trafficking in any way, he said.

Press freedom

Press freedom groups such as Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House have also raised concerns about how Eritrea stifles dissent and targets journalists.

Abraham Zere is the executive director of PEN Eritrea, part of an international network of writers. Hes also a former columnist for Hadas Eritrea, a state-owned Eritrean newspaper. He testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that dozens of Eritrean journalists with whom he worked were held in military prison for up to six years.

Zere said that he was fortunate compared to his colleagues but still faced continuous struggles of not being able to speak and not being able to express your thoughts, even after he left the country.

Eritrea is one of the leading jailers of journalists around the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Based on data compiled by CPJ, 15 journalists were imprisoned in Eritrea in 2017, among the most jailed journalists per capita in the world.

Seeking asylum

About 3,000 unaccompanied minors from Eritrea sought asylum in 2015, said Phillip Connor, a senior researcher with Pew Research.

Eritreans have some of the highest success rates when it comes to their actual asylum applications being decided or approved to remain in Europe, Connor told VOA last August. About 92 percent of Eritreans receive positive decisions in some way, to be able to stay in Europe either temporarily or on a more permanent basis, he added.

Eritreans almost always receive asylum because of the threats they face if they return home, according to European officials and human rights groups. But the Eritrean government has seized on these trends to advance another possibility: Migrants from other countries, particularly in East Africa, claim to be Eritrean given the likelihood they will receive asylum.

Unfairly maligned?

Eritreas government says the country is the victim of a coordinated campaign to malign its reputation and punish its leaders. In his annual independence day address last month, Afwerki repeated concerns about an illicit sanctions regime against Eritrea.

Last November, a U.N. monitoring group determined that no conclusive evidence linked Eritrea to support of al-Shabab militants in Somalia since at least 2013, despite earlier claims to the contrary by a member state in the region. Concerns about links to the militant group led to sanctions in 2009.

Criticism of Eritreas human rights record has also come from within Africa. In April, the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa called for action in a statement to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights because of long-standing deficiencies in the rule of law and the severe nature of human rights violations in Eritrea.

Awaiting response

Eritrea has not yet officially responded to Ethiopias decision to adhere to the terms of the Algiers Agreement and implement the border defined by a U.N. boundary commission.

Following the announcement, Yemane Gebremeskel, Eritreas minister of information, said on Twitter that Eritreas position is crystal clear and has been so for 16 years in response to questions about why his government has not issued an official statement.

But Zere is doubtful that Ethiopias move will prompt action from Eritrea.

I dont think that the Eritrean government would make any big change, he told VOA. The government of Eritrea isnt interested in bilateral relations, and they dont believe in that. And therefore I would say that it is better if they (the international community) start focusing on those who are oppressed.
Aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say they believe he has made progress in persuading Western powers that they need to do more to counter Iranian influence in the Middle East and contain Tehrans military ambitions in the region. His trip to Western Europe comes amid some objections to the U.S. decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Netanyahus four-day European trip, meeting with national leaders in Berlin, Paris and London, was an important stage, the aides say, in trying to persuade European leaders to cooperate with Israel on the Iran-related issues of ballistic missile development and regional stability, despite markedly different views on the Iran nuclear deal and Israeli actions in Gaza. The aides see the trip as part of a long-term diplomatic campaign of attrition.

We didnt expect to change minds totally, said an Israeli diplomat. But we are chipping away and when it came to the issues of Irans ballistic missile development and Tehrans meddling in the region and military entrenchment in Syria and the threat to Israel, we got sympathetic hearings from Merkel, Macron and May, he added, referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Netanyahus trip came in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trumps decision last month to withdraw from the deal his predecessor, Barack Obama, agreed with on Iran to limit its nuclear program. European leaders have debated their response to reimpose U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Economic realities

Britain, France and Germany, which are co-signatories of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have said they will keep their end of the nuclear bargain by trying to keep the agreement alive with Tehran, and they are considering legal moves to try to shield their businesses from the sanctions.

Israeli diplomats with whom VOA has spoken say they sense European leaders are realizing that regardless of what they do, European companies and banks will be loath to trade with Iran and become enmeshed in another trans-Atlantic dispute. A growing number of European companies have announced they will discontinue business with Iran. They include Airbus, automakers Peugeot and Citroen, along with French oil giant Total and shipping and haulage firms.

At no point in the separate talks did we say the Europeans should also walk away from the Iran deal, we didnt have to as we think it will become increasingly a dead letter, said an Israeli diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu sought to sidestep disagreements between Israel and the Europeans over the deal. In his joint news conference with the German chancellor, he said, I have not changed my view of the JCPOA, but I think that right now that is becoming a secondary question, because the U.S. has left the deal, he said. I think the real question we have to confront is: What do we do about Irans aggression, what do we do about Irans remaining goal and pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In Paris, Netanyahu said he had not asked Macron to exit the deal, adding, I think that economic realities are going to decide this matter, so that is not what we focused on. What I focused on is to stop Iranian aggression in the region.

An Israeli diplomat predicted that for Europe, the priority will increasingly become the intensifying dispute with the U.S. over the metal tariffs imposed by Trump. Iran and sanctions will take second billing, he said.

Gaza protests

For Netanyahu, the greater challenge was over the issue of Gaza, Israeli and Western diplomats acknowledge.

On Thursday, during an event at a research institute in London, Netanyahu mounted a strong defense of Israels actions in recent weeks against protesters on the Israel-Gaza border. He said no country has a non-lethal alternative against protesters purposely seeking fatalities.

When I talk with European leaders, I always say, What would you do? he said.

Netanyahu said the goal of Hamas, the militant group organizing the protests, was to have many casualties.

In his meetings with European leaders, Netanyahu argued the Gaza protests were further proof of Irans destabilizing influence.

Midweek, there were reports that last month, the Palestinian Authority had warned the French government that Iran was financing and encouraging protests along the Gaza border, but had told Paris it had no choice but to support the demonstrations because many of the participants were ordinary Palestinians protesting their dire economic plight.

Netanyahus aides say he made the most headway during his whirlwind tour in Berlin. Netanyahu and Merkel have had rocky relations in the past, but the German chancellor appeared less frosty publicly with the Israeli leader and more conciliatory, announcing a planned visit to Jerusalem with her Cabinet in October for a government-to-government meeting.
Prosecutors in El Salvador have ordered the arrests of former President Mauricio Funes and 30 members of his inner circle on a range of corruption charges for allegedly siphoning $351 million from public coffers, the Attorney Generals Office announced Friday.

The 31 arrest orders include Funes private secretary, his long-time partner Ada Mitchelle Guzman Siguenza, his ex-wife Regina Canas and two of Funes sons.

In the government of Mauricio Funes there were serious and outrageous cases of corruption in which they extracted $351 million from public accounts, said Salvadoran Attorney General Douglas Menendez.

Defense on Twitter

Funes immediately mounted a defense via Twitter, taking on charges one by one and asking where was the crime? and what does that have to do with me?

It stands out that the (Attorney Generals Office) has only made incriminations without presenting a single piece of evidence against me, Funes wrote.

Melendez said that Funes stole $292 million from El Salvadors mortgage bank, including millions carried out as cash in plastic garbage bags.

Jorge Cortez, head of the Attorney Generals financial investigation unit, said that Funes partner, Guzman Siguenza used some of the diverted funds for cosmetic surgery in Beverly Hills.

Funes held office from 2009 to 2014 as president for the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, and has been living in exile in Nicaragua since 2016. He has alleged that the government of conservative party President Salvador Sanchez Ceren is trying to settle political scores in pursuing him.

Interpol alerted

Melendez said prosecutors had alerted Interpol that Funes was a person of interest and the government would seek his extradition from Nicaragua.

Melendez declined to respond to Funes assertions that the moves against him were a political vendetta.

Former president Funes is a suspect, accused of corruption crimes, a fugitive from justice, he said. Everything proven with technical, witness and other evidence.

Authorities said they captured Miguel Menendez, a coffee empresario and former president of the International Fairs and Conventions Center. Prosecutors allege he was one of the principle organizers of the diversion of funds.

It is a sophisticated structure that was created by Mr. Funes and Mr. Menendez, alias Mecafe, to extract public funds from the government and later distribute them to key people, front men and shell companies, Melendez said.
Emotions were on display when U.S. President Donald Trump met other G-7 leaders at their annual summit in Canada on Friday, but the discussions were civilized and diplomatic, according to sources.

Trump held firm on asserting the United States is disadvantaged when it comes to trade with its European allies.

The other leaders presented their numbers and Trump presented his, a G-7 official who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Reuters news agency. As expected he did not budge. This is probably not because he does not understand, but because of domestic reasons.

At a bilateral meeting later with the summit's host, Justin Trudeau, the U.S. president joked that the Canadian prime minister had agreed to cut all tariffs.

Despite the two leaders exchanging criticism of each others trade policies the previous day, Trump described the cross-border relationship as very good, stating were actually working on cutting tariffs and making it all very fair for both countries. And weve made a lot of progress today. Well see how it all works out.

In a subsequent sit-down meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said the United States has had a very big trade deficit for many years with the European Union and we are working it out. And Emmanuels been very helpful in that regard.

Macron responded that he had a very direct and open discussion with Trump and "there is a critical path that is a way to progress all together.

Canadas foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, confirms she met on Friday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to discuss the tariffs and the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). She said Canada, however, will not change its mind about the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs which she termed illegal.

Trump imposed the tariffs on the grounds that weak domestic industries could affect U.S. national security.

Retaliatory measures

Americas closest allies, Canada, Mexico and the European Union, are introducing retaliatory tariffs.

I think the only way this moves towards a deal is if the concern grows among the G-7 countries about the economic impact of this, that Trump begins to feel some pressure from farmers and small manufacturers and others that are harmed, that other countries are feeling the pressure from the decline in their steel and aluminum exports to the United States and it causes some reconsideration of the current positions, says Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

On the eve of the summit, Trump had lashed out on Twitter at Macron and Trudeau, who had criticized Trumps trade stance at a joint news conference on Thursday in Ottawa.The White House then announced Trump would skip some of the G-7 sessions and depart for Singapore on Saturday morning, several hours earlier than planned.

Trudeau, alongside Trump, was asked if he was disappointed the U.S. president was leaving early. He did not reply but Trump grinned broadly and said hes happy before appearing to stick out his tongue.

Some attending the summit are openly expressing strong concern about Trumps positions.

What worries me most is that the rules-based international order is being challenged, Donald Tusk, the chairman of European Union leaders, said at a news conference just prior to the start of the G-7 talks. Quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor  the United States. Naturally we cannot force the U.S. to change its mind.

Should Trump disassociate with the group, reducing it to a G-6, it would leave the collective virtually inconsequential, according to some analysts.

The United States accounts for more than half of the GDP of the total G-7. So, without the United States the G-7 really isnt anything, according to Sebastian Mallaby, a CFR senior fellow for international economics.

Russia invite?

Before departing the White House for Canada, the president told reporters that Russia should be invited back to the summits of leading advanced countries.

Trump, speaking on the South Lawn on Friday morning before boarding the Marine One helicopter, said that while I have been Russias worst nightmareRussia should be in this meeting.

One other G-7 leader, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said in a tweet he supports Trumps suggestion.

But other G-7 leaders said it was not going to happen at this time.

European Union leaders are in agreement that a return of Russia to the G-7 format summits cant happen until substantial progress has been made in connection with the problems with Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters.

A spokesman at the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, brushed it all off.

Russia is focused on other formats apart from the G-7, Peskov said, according to the Sputnik news agency.

Russia was added to the political forum in 1997, which became known as G-8 the following year. But Russia was suspended from the summit of the top industrialized nations in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea, a part of Ukraine. Russia announced its permanent withdrawal last year.
Newly crowned French Open champion Simona Halep said she was inspired to win her first Grand Slam title by her manager Virginia Ruzici's feats 40 years ago at Roland Garros.

Ruzici's 1978 Paris triumph over Mima Jausovec was the last time a Romanian, man or woman, had won a Grand Slam, but Halep ended that long wait Saturday in defeating American Sloane Stephens, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

In doing so, Halep equaled the feat of American seven-time French Open champion Chris Evert, who also suffered three Grand Slam final losses before capturing the 1974 French title.

"It's a motivation and inspiration," Halep, 26, who lifted the junior title 10 years ago, told reporters with Ruzici sitting alongside her.

"Forty years ago, she won here. It's a special moment. The fact that it's happened here, it's pretty special. So yeah, she's an inspiration."

Halep climbed to the top of the rankings last October and has been there more or less ever since.

The elephant in the room remained her lack of a Grand Slam trophy, having twice lost the title match in Paris, to Maria Sharapova in 2014 and Jelena Ostapenko last year, and at this year's Australian Open to Caroline Wozniacki.

By beating Spain's former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the semifinals she guaranteed that she extended her stay as the world's No. 1 player  a position she has held now for 32 weeks in total.

But it was the Suzanne Lenglen trophy she really desired and the tears flowed as she raised it skyward Saturday after showing huge character to battle back to victory.

"I'm really happy that I won this Grand Slam. Because being No. 1 without a Grand Slam, I always said, is not like everything, not 100 percent," she said.

"It's my favorite Grand Slam. I always said that if I'm going to win one, I want it to be here."

Halep said the memory of last year's defeat by Ostapenko when she led by a set and 3-0 actually helped her on Saturday when she trailed by a set and 2-0 to an inspired Stephens.

"When I started to win games, I said that last year it happened to me, the same thing," she said. "I was a set and a break up and I lost the match. So I said there is a chance to come back and win it.

"I believed in that and my game was more relaxed. I could make more things on court, and that's why I could win."

Halep's French title arrived in the 32nd Grand Slam of her career. Only seven players have taken more attempts to land one.

Her patience finally paid off as she used all her experience to weather the Stephens storm.

"I said that I have to calm down, just to try to open the court, try to put more balls in," she said. "And at one point I felt that she started to feel a little bit tired and to miss more. So I was patient."
Iran's security forces have shot and killed an Iranian Kurdish man in a mountainous border region where he was working as a porter to import goods from neighboring Iraq.

A family member of slain porter Asad Hassanzadeh told VOA Persian that the shooting happened Wednesday near the city of Piranshahr in northwestern Iran.

Another porter who said he was near Hassanzadeh at the time of the shooting shared a video of the aftermath with VOA Persian. He said Hassanzadeh was among a group of porters, known locally as kolbars, who were walking in the mountains along the Iran-Iraq border when Iranian security forces opened fire. The man said Hassanzadeh was killed and several other kolbars were wounded.

In the video, whose authenticity was confirmed by the family member, a group of men, some sobbing, carry Hassanzadeh's body up a mountain path to a jeep.

WATCH: This video was sent to VOA Persian by an Iranian Kurdish porter, showing the aftermath of the killing of another porter by Iranian security forces near Piranshahr.

The family member sent VOA Persian an image of a memorial flier containing a photo of Hassanzadeh, along with details of memorial events scheduled for Thursday and Friday in the area. Hassanzadeh, who was about 40, was married and had several children.

There was no immediate word on the shooting of Hassanzadeh and the other kolbars in Iranian state media and what motivated it.

Iranian security forces began in December to block footpaths kolbars use to carry goods into Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan. Much of the local economy in Iran's predominantly Kurdish region relies on such trade. Residents have said the border blockade deprives them of imported products to sell in local stores, which have suffered from a lack of customers because of widespread poverty in the region.

Local Iranian officials have said authorities blockaded the border crossings at the request of Iraq to bring order to border trade and preserve security in border areas. Many residents have rejected that explanation because of what they see as Tehran's deep influence over Iraqi affairs.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Persian service.
Retired U.S. General Jack Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff with close ties to the Trump administration, spoke with VOA's Korean service this week. Keane, 75, began his military career as a cadet in Fordham University's ROTC program. He retired from active duty in 2003 following a four-decade career that included command of the 101st Airborne Division. Now a Fox News analyst, Keane spoke with Youngnam Kim about the June 12 Singapore summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump. His answers have been edited for clarity and length.



VOA Korean service: What is President Donald Trump's goal for the summit, and is it a realistic goal?

Jack Keane: I totally agree with President Trump's goal, which is denuclearization. And by that definition, the United States is going to insist it be complete, involving all of nuclear weapons, the fuel sites, the storage sites and the research sites, and all of their ballistic missiles. We'll have to be able to verify that with the U.S. inspectors. We're not going to turn this over to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] because they have failed us in the past, so [we'll] welcome other countries' independent inspectors. But we'll have to verify that process indeed is complete. That's the U.S. objective for the summit. I don't believe that is the objective for the first meeting. But in terms of what the objectives of the summit are, that's where the U.S. is headed.

Q: What could be a possible timeline for denuclearization that would satisfy the U.S.?

A: The North Koreans will want to phase this out over many years and go beyond President Trump's first term of office, which is going to end in 2020, and sort of wait him out. That will be a mistake on the part of the Trump administration. I don't believe they will. I think [the Trump administration is] going to insist on trying to get this done at the latest by 2020 and insist on a process that moves more quickly. It certainly will be phased, but they're not going to endorse a program that will go on for many years. That's been the ploy of the North Koreans in the past. They set far-term objectives, a promise to do something. And they've been consistent  [on] reneg[ing] [on] their promise after concessions have been made to them. The Trump administration is very clear-eyed about this. I don't see them giving into that kind of manipulation in a way that previous administrations have.

Q: Is President Trump following the same path of the previous administration?

A: No, I don't believe so. Trump didn't need to have this summit. Kim Jong Un insisted on it.  Kim Jong Un started to talk about denuclearization not being his goal after he returned from his secret meeting with [China's] President Xi [Jinping], and his whole attitude changed. Once the Trump administration saw the substance of it, saw the tone of his remarks were off base, [they canceled the summit]. But I don't think they canceled the summit meeting based on the tone. They canceled it based on the substance of it because it appeared that Kim Jong Un's policy had changed from his commitment to denuclearization, and he was no longer committed after he spoke with President Xi. I think that's a clear evidence that this is not a previous administration. They're not following that path. I'm convinced President Trump will walk out of the summit and terminate it early if Kim Jong Un puts something on the table that is totally unacceptable to the United States. Or if the United States believes that Kim Jong Un really is not going to give up his nuclear weapons, that this is a ploy, then they'll walk away. That's the difference between this administration and the previous one.

Q: What would happen if the summit fails?

A: If the summit fails, and that's a possibility, I don't think the first meeting will fail. But if it does, President Trump will continue what [the administration was] doing with "maximum pressure." I think maximum pressure will increase economic sanctions. We have a number of sanctions  that we were getting ready to impose when Kim Jong Un seemed to have changed his policy and wanted to have a meeting with the South Korean president and also with President Trump. Those sanctions, we have not imposed, but we will. And those involve some sanctions with China. We will have to go back to very tough enforcement. And that's really the key.  What our State Department has done a very good job of is getting countries to enforce it. Make a decision  either you're going to go along with sanctions against North Korea, or we're going to stop trading with you. Make the choice. And that's been done behind the scenes. That's why these economic sanctions have been the toughest ever imposed on North Korea, largely because of the degree of the enforcement.

If the situation deteriorated, you would likely to see the United States stop assigning military families to South Korea and make that an unaccompanied military tour. You would also see the United States bring in more capacity into the theater to build up ammunition stock, to increase the number of air power  not necessarily in South Korea but into the region  building up military pressure to make certain the regime understands that President Trump is serious about the military option. The simplest expression of what the United States is saying to Kim Jong Un is that "you give us nuclear weapons in return for a guarantee of security and an opportunity to increase your country's economic prosperity. If you don't give us your weapons voluntarily, then we're going to take them." And that's the choice that Kim Jong Un really has.

Q: What is your response to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's comment saying the realistic goal is to limit North Korea's capability to attack the U.S.?

A: That would not be the policy of the United States. I don't know why he would be saying something like that. If [he said that], it's got to be some mistake, because I have spoken to Secretary Pompeo myself, and he is absolutely adamant about the total denuclearization of North Korea. And that's President Trump's policy. I don't see leaving North Korea as a nuclear power so they could proliferate nuclear weapons to the Iranians, to radical Islamic terrorists, and leaving ballistic missiles that would be capable of reaching our allies in the region with nuclear weapons or even with conventional ammunitions. That's just not acceptable. That's not the U.S. policy. And I've not heard that statement.

Q: Can we end the Korean War even though the North still has nuclear weapons?

A: Both issues, denuclearization and ending the war, can be worked simultaneously. I think ending the armistice and the Korean War and signing a peace treaty with the four principal nations  North Korea, South Korea, China and the United States  is a good thing. And I think it could be one of the things that's agreed upon in the first summit meeting. The next step, after the Korean War and the armistice [are] ended and the treaty is signed, would be to pull the two armies [of South Korea and North Korea] away from each other on the Demilitarized Zone. That would be a significant step in the right direction. South Korea is very aware of [the] significant conventional threat that the North Korean military represents to the South Korean people. For the armies to pull away from each other, we would need a peace treaty. And that's why it's an important step in the right direction. At the same time, we're removing nuclear weapons from the country. I don't think we have to remove all the nuclear weapons from the country to have a peace treaty. To move toward the peace treaty, to have an agreement that we're going to have one and that the war is over, is a necessary first step to assist with denuclearization but, most importantly, to reduce the conventional threat.

Q: Is U.S. troop withdrawal on the table for negotiation?

A: I don't see the United States pulling its forces out unless all the nuclear weapons are gone and the ballistic missiles are gone. And then, I do think it's a negotiable item. But I don't think it's something that would happen in the near term. And I don't think it's necessarily something that has to happen all at once. But if you remove the conventional threat as the result of a peace treaty, if the country is disarmed in terms of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, then having troops in the region is a good idea. We still have 40,000 U.S. troops in Japan. The justification for those troops in South Korea is considerably less. And I suspect that President Trump will use it as a negotiating tool only if denuclearization were complete and verified. It will only happen after [denuclearization] because you would lose the rationale [for] why they are there to begin with.

The United States has significant leverage because the troops are there and because of their commitment to the South Korean people. But reducing the conventional threat is very important. That would have to be reduced, because after all, that's why [the U.S. troops] are there. They're not there because of the nuclear threat. They're there because of the conventional threat. [North Korean and South Korean troops] would have to be dramatically reduced, pulled off the DMZ, no longer in a warlike configuration. They would go back to their bases from which they're trained, the way forces are in other countries. They're at their military bases and they go out to the field to be trained. They are not deployed, ready to fight, with all the mines on bridges and everything else that we put in place. That would all have to change. That would take time for all of that to happen. I do think it's not something the United States would put on the table right away. But it is something that I could see us using as a negotiating tool once denuclearization is achieved, and there is, in fact, a peace treaty.

Q: Is a military option still on the table?

A: I think the United States is fully committed to helping Kim Jong Un give up his nuclear weapons capabilities. And if [Kim] doesn't do that, then the United States will conduct military operations to take those weapons away from him. That's where we are. This administration is committed to it.



Christy Lee contributed to this report, which originated on the VOA Korean service.
Kenyan human rights groups demanded on Friday that the government halt police shootings of unarmed men in some of Nairobi's poorer areas, after 12 people were allegedly killed in the capital in one month.

Kenyan police face frequent allegations of brutality and extrajudicial killings from civilians and rights groups, but officers are rarely charged and almost never convicted.

Six human rights groups in the Social Justice Network coalition said the government should start investigations after the spate of killings in Dandora, a low income neighborhood in Nairobi's east. Police have said the shootings were directed at suspected criminals.

Our communities have suffered for so long in silence and life has become unbearable, said Javan Omondi of the Dandora Social Justice Center, one of the rights groups, at a news conference.

The groups said those found guilty of the killings after investigations within the police force should be tried for their crimes.

Police spokesman Charles Owino denied police personnel were killing people extrajudicially and blamed the deaths on a culture of violence widespread in the slums.

We would not want at any time to have any person dying. Our duty is to protect everyone, he said.

We have a challenge in the slum areas...there are so many youths who are gangsters in those slum areas, he added, and said police only use live fire as a last resort.

The government established the Independent Policing Oversight Authority in 2011 after police were blamed for the deaths of dozens of protesters in violent clashes following a disputed presidential election in 2007.

But the authority has only managed to secure a handful of convictions against accused policemen despite numerous complaints against the police from the public.
A Kremlin spokesman says Vienna could be a site for a possible summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.



Dmitry Peskov said Saturday the two leaders had talked in March about meeting and Vienna was mentioned as a possible location.



Peskov said, however, no decision has been made about the meeting or a venue.



Peskov, speaking in Qingdao, China, where Putin is attending a regional summit, said, "there have been no concrete agreements or understanding, and no specific discussions are being conducted now."



Trump is in Canada at the annual G-7 meeting.He leaves later Saturday for Singapore where he is scheduled to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.










Attacks on three churches last month in Indonesia have shaken many who live in the country with the largest Muslim population. Some worry about peaceful relations among various faiths. So in the holy month of Ramadan, special boarding schools bring young people from different faiths together. The goal is to teach tolerance and respect for religions and eradicate extremist views. Ahadian Utama went to one such boarding school in Jakarta and filed this report, narrated by Ariono Arifin.
Humanitarian agencies warn a possible attack by the Saudi-led coalition on Yemens port city of Hodeidah could put the lives of one-quarter of one million people at risk.

No attack against the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah is underway as yet. But, fears are growing of a Saudi-led military assault on this port, which acts as a vital lifeline for hundreds of thousands of Yemeni civilians.



Jens Laerke is spokesman for the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He says the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Lise Grande fears a military attack or siege on Hodeidah will impact hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

The UN and its partners estimate that as many as 600,000 civilians are currently living in and around Hodeidah," he said. "Humanitarian organizations have rushed to develop a contingency plan. In a prolonged worst case, we fear that as many as 250,000 people may lose everything  even their lives.

The United Nations calls Yemen the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Saudi Arabia began bombing Houthi rebels in support of the Yemeni Government in March 2015. Since then, the UN estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed, most due to airstrikes.

Last year, Yemen was gripped by the largest, fastest spreading outbreak of cholera in modern history. The number of suspected cases of the disease topped one million and caused more than 2,000 deaths.

Hodeidah is the single most important point of entry for food, medicine and other life-saving supplies. Nearly 70 percent of Yemens imports, including commercial and humanitarian goods enter through this port.

The UN estimates 22 million Yemenis are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance and protection. UN Coordinator Lise Grande warns cutting off imports through Hodeidah for any length of time will put Yemens population at extreme, unjustifiable risk.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called for a review of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, saying smaller economies like Malaysia were at a disadvantage under the current terms.

In an interview with Japans Nikkei published Saturday, Mahathir said the trade pact, which includes Japan and Canada, should take into consideration the level of development of various countries.

Small, weaker economies must be given a chance to protect their products, Mahathir told the Japanese financial daily. We have to review the TPP.

Mahathirs call to review the TPP agreement would be a blow for the 11-member trade pact, which was finalized after tough negotiations earlier this year following the withdrawal of one of the original signatories, the United States.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as it is now called following the U.S. withdrawal, will reduce tariffs in countries that together amount to more than 13 percent of the global economy, a total of $10 trillion in gross domestic product. With the United States, it would have represented 40 percent.

Mahathir did not reject the significance of agreements such as the TPP and he did not say whether he would consider leaving the trade pact altogether, Nikkei reported.

The 92-year-old took over as Malaysias prime minister last month after a stunning election victory over Najib Razak, promising to stamp out corruption and lower living costs.

He has immediately embarked on reviewing several projects and agreements signed by the Najib government. The premier has pulled out of a high-speed rail project with Singapore and is reviewing a $14 billion local rail line to be built by Chinese companies.

In the Nikkei interview, Mahathir said his government must review all agreements entered into by the previous administration, including infrastructure, trade and security pacts.

He said Malaysia will review the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea, which is being negotiated between Beijing and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Nikkei reported that Mahathir reiterated Malaysia did not want the presence of warships in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca.
Numbers of migrants trying to reach Western Europe via Albania have increased dramatically this year, with people smugglers opening a new Balkan route for those fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

Migrants gathered outside the Asylum Seekers Center in Tirana told Reuters how they wanted to find work in a variety of European Union countries, dodging police on the way.

The flow of migrants heading for EU member Croatia across Albania and its northern neighbor Montenegro remains modest compared with the hundreds of thousands who took a route further to the east when the European migration crisis peaked in 2015.

Rapid increase of migrants

But the rate of increase this year is rapid. Officials say Albanian authorities caught 2,311 migrants in the first five months, up from just 162 in January-May 2017 and more than double the figure of about 1,000 for the whole of last year.

During the 2015 crisis, migrants tried to travel from Greece through Macedonia and Serbia to EU member Hungary, until this route was sealed by border guards and fences.

With warmer weather encouraging travel from the overcrowded Greek camps, the government feels it has controlled the flow so far. However, impoverished Albania appealed last month to Austria, where the right-wing government is cracking down on migration, for help.

Forming a response

Security and police officials from the region met in Bosnia this week to discuss their response to growing traffic along the new route. More than 5,500 refugees and migrants have entered Bosnia this year.

Albanian police said they have arrested a handful of people smugglers this year ferrying migrants in taxis or vans. This included two Algerians near the Montenegrin border this week.

The government wants aid to increase patrols on the Greek border and has welcomed a decision by the European border agency Frontex to send officers to fight crime and curb migration.

Careful of Croatian police

While the route is new, the migrants experiences are familiar. Syrian Faisal Grdawe, from Homs city, said he had not seen his family for a year and reached Greece from Turkey, hoping to travel to Malta or Italy.

We have friends and family there and they said it is good. So we want to go to Malta, Grdawe, 18, told Reuters.

Grdawe and three friends had been part of a group of 30 that left Syria. One of his friends, who gave his name as Mahir, said their stay in the asylum seekers center was not the freedom they sought, adding that the food here is worse than in a jail in Syria.

Moroccan, Algerian and Pakistani migrants said they followed advice from friends who had crossed earlier: Go to Italy because you get ID papers there and Be careful of Croatian police, they beat you up badly.

Croatian police say they are acting within the law and protecting the borders. Interior minister Davor Boznovic said more than 144 people have been detained for people smuggling this year.

Difficult route north

I have come from Turkey, then from Greece and tried to go to Montenegro. Police caught me twice, Hichem Boussadia, 29, told Reuters at the Border Police Station in Shkoder near the Montenegrin frontier.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama agreed at the end of May that they should deal with the problem now before it grew bigger like it did in 2015 and 2017, with Kurz offering financial aid for Tirana.
Nine NATO nations on the alliance's eastern flank pledged Friday to cooperate more to increase their security in light of what they called an "aggressive" Russia that threatens their vision of a free, peaceful Europe.



Eight presidents and one parliament speaker held the third meeting of the Bucharest Nine, a group of nations once under the control of the Soviet Union. They created the forum after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and began supporting pro-Russia separatist rebels in Ukraine's east.



In a declaration, they cited Russia's buildup of conventional forces and hybrid warfare, which they said "threaten our long-standing vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace." They also mentioned "destabilizing actions and policies beyond NATO borders as well as on the Alliance territory," an apparent reference to the March nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury, England.



During a public discussion, Czech parliament speaker Radek Vondracek expressed relief that his country  unlike some of the others  does not share a border with Russia.



But Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said geographic distances no longer offer strategic security, referring to the Salisbury poisoning.



"Of course, the Czech Republic is geographically not right near the eastern flank, but is Salisbury? So we see all of a sudden geography doesn't really matter," Iohannis said during a discussion organized by two think thanks, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Polish Institute of International Affairs.



"We have to keep in mind what the old tactics used to be, but nowadays there are absolutely different approaches," he said.
Pope Francis has told the world's oil executives that a transition to less-polluting energy sources "is a challenge of epochal proportions."

On the last day of a two-day conference Saturday, the Roman Catholic leader urged the executives to provide electricity to the one billion people who are without it, but said that process must be done in a way that avoids "creating environmental imbalances resulting in deterioration and pollution gravely harmful to our human family, both now and in the future."

Reuters reports the unprecedented conference was held behind closed doors at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

The news agency says the oil executives, investors and Vatican experts who attended the summit, believe, like the pope does, that science supports the notion that climate change is caused by human activity and that global warming must be curbed.

Pope Francis told the conference, "Our desire to ensure energy for all must not lead to the undesired effect of a spiral of extreme climate changes due to a catastrophic rise in global temperatures, harsher environments and increased levels of poverty."
The prosecutor of Colmar in France's Alsace region says that writer and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain hanged himself in the bathroom of his French hotel room.

Prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny told The Associated Press on Saturday that the famed chef and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown used the belt of his hotel bath robe to commit suicide Friday.

Of the 61-year-old American's death, Rocquigny said "there is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment." He also said a medical expert had concluded there were no signs of violence on Bourdain's body.

The prosecutor said toxicology tests were being carried out, including urine tests, to see if Bourdain took any medications, to try to help his family understand if anything led him to kill himself.
Romania's top court postponed on Friday a verdict in the trial in which the leader of the ruling Social Democrats stands accused of inciting other public servants to commit abuse of office, saying it needed more time to process details.

A fresh criminal conviction for Liviu Dragnea, who is already barred from becoming prime minister because of a previous conviction for vote-rigging, could weaken his grip on the country's biggest party and the five-month old government.

Dragnea is accused of keeping two women on the payroll of a state agency in 2006-2013 even though they were employed by his party. He was a county council chief at the time.

Dragnea denies the charges.

The court said on Friday it will make a preliminary ruling on June 21. A final verdict may take months, analysts say.

Arguments about how to fight corruption in one of Europe's most graft-prone states have dominated Romania's politics since it joined the European Union just over a decade ago.

Adrian Basaraba, a political science professor at the University of Timisoara, said a second criminal conviction for Dragnea could prompt Social Democrat rivals to move against him.

"We may see some internal wars in the party ... a fresh conviction would be a wonderful opportunity for some to say the current PSD leader has eroded his legitimacy too much to govern the biggest party," he added.

Dragnea is also under investigation in Brazil on suspicion of money laundering, and in a separate case in Romania on suspicion of forming a "criminal group" to siphon off cash from state projects, some of them funded by the European Union.

But the former regional development minister, who created a funding program for local infrastructure projects that has disbursed billions of euros since 2013 with limited government oversight, has the support of powerful provincial leaders.

At the start of 2017, attempts by Dragnea's coalition government to weaken anti-corruption legislation triggered the country's biggest protests in decades.

Romania has been dogged by political instability since shedding Communist rule in 1989, but investors have largely shrugged off the corruption cases so far.
Scientists will resume testing the waters off Kenai beaches to see whether efforts aimed at reducing fecal bacteria have been working.

Fecal coliform and enterococci, which grow in the intestines of most animals, have been found to exceed the standards set by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for several summers in the area, the Peninsula Clarion reported this week.

The department has monitored the bacteria off Kenai annually from 2010 to 2014.

The conservation nonprofit Kenai Watershed Forum, which conducted previous testing on behalf of the department, found that gulls were the major contributor of the bacteria, which is often found alongside more harmful pathogens.

"[Gulls] are attracted to the beach because of a fairly unnatural food source,'' said Branden Bornemann, a forum environmental scientist. "All these salmon carcasses wouldn't normally be there. And the gulls are what we're seeing is the highest bacteria input into these samples.''

The city of Kenai began requiring dipnetters in 2013 to toss fish waste into the water or remove it from the beach.

The department had paused bacteria sampling to see the effects of the city action, said Jeanne Swartz, an environmental program specialist for the department.

"We've been focused on remediation effects, management practices and outreach the last couple of years  giving it time to get established, and then going back this year to see if we were successful in reducing the bacteria amounts,'' Swartz said.

The scientists intend to see with the new testing if the reduction of fish waste on the beaches has decreased the number of seagull visits, thus leading to a reduction in bacteria.
Efforts to fight suicide in the United States are desperate for additional funding, suicide-prevention experts said, following this weeks high profile deaths of celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, and new statistics showing a growing problem.

Federal funding for suicide trailed far behind other major public health issues, even though it is the 10th-leading cause of death among Americans, claiming one person every 12 minutes, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Our crisis centers across the country are chronically underfunded, said John Draper, executive director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which can be reached at 1-800-273-TALK and provides free support 24 hours a day.

Other funding levels

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided about $35 million in 2017 to fund research into suicide prevention, with another $68 million devoted to the category of suicide, according to the agencys statistics.

There were 45,000 U.S. suicides in 2016. In comparison, alcoholism, which killed an estimated 65,000 Americans in 2015, saw $500 million in funded research last year.

Private charities, which help sustain suicide prevention hotlines, also have a harder time raising funds than those that tackle some other health issues, experts said.

Look at breast cancer. More people will die by suicide than breast cancer this year, said Dan Reidenberg, executive director of the nonprofit Suicide Awareness Voices of Education.

Almost $690 million was spent on breast cancer research last year, according to NIH statistics. About 41,000 women will die from breast cancer this year, the American Cancer Society estimates.

High rate of suicide

The United States has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world, according to World Health Organization data. In 2015, the United States had a rate of 15.3 suicides per 100,000 people, well above the global average of 10.6 per 100,000, according to WHO.

Bourdain, a chef and host of CNNs Parts Unknown food-and-travel show, died of an apparent suicide Friday in a French hotel. Spade, a fashion designer known for her popular handbags, was found dead in her apartment Tuesday after what her husband described as a long battle with depression.

Scientists are making progress in identifying ways of predicting suicide risk more precisely, including biomarkers that could indicate whether someone is more likely to attempt it, said Jane Pearson, chairwoman of the National Institute of Mental Healths suicide research consortium.

Undiagnosed mental health problems, stresses such as loss of a job or a loved one, relationship problems, financial difficulties and physical problems can contribute to suicide, experts said.

'Confluence of factors'

Its usually a confluence of factors, said Jerry Reed, a member of the executive committee of the Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. We have to be mindful of the whole spectrum.

Research has shown that direct intervention, much like the use of suicide hotlines, can help people contemplating suicide to change their minds, National Suicide Prevention Lifelines Draper said.

The key is to think of suicide as a public health issue, much like diseases such as AIDS or cancer, said Christine Moutier, the chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

While tragic, the deaths of Spade and Bourdain could help spread the message that suicides can be prevented, experts said.

It definitely is a teachable moment, Pearson said.
Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan have killed as many as 65 government soldiers and police officers in three attacks.

Afghan officials said Saturday the overnight violence in the southern Kandahar, northern Kunduz and western Herat provinces also injured more than 17 security personnel.

Taliban rebels stormed an Afghan National Army (ANA) base in Kandahars Shah Walikot district, local media quoted a regional military spokesman as confirming. Major Khwaja Yehya Alawi told the Afghan news agency, Pajhwok, the assault killed 25 soldiers while several others were missing.

A Taliban spokesman claimed its fighters killed 35 soldiers and captured six others besides seizing military vehicles and weapons. Insurgent casualty tolls are often inflated.



Provincial authorities in Kunduz said the Taliban ambushed police posts in the Qala-e-Zal district late Friday, killing 24 personnel stationed there.



The rest of the fatalities occurred when about 150 Taliban fighters stormed ANA posts in the newly created Zawal district and killed 17 soldiers, a government spokesman told VOA.



The Taliban claimed responsibility for carrying out both the attacks, saying it also overran several security posts and seized military equipment, including weapons.



The Islamist insurgency has inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan forces since launching its spring offensive in April and reportedly killed around 500 personnel last month. The fighting also killed more than 180 Afghan civilians in May.
The Taliban announced Saturday it will halt offensive operations against government security forces across Afghanistan during three days of Eid al-Fitr festivities, which mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.



The cease-fire coincides with the unilateral, weeklong stoppage of anti-Taliban operations by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani starting Tuesday (June 12).



An insurgent statement said the Taliban leadership has also ordered his fighters not to hold meetings in civilian areas during the holiday period to enable their countrymen to peacefully celebrate the festival. But it vowed to continue attacks on U.S.-led foreign troops in the country.



This will be the first time since 2002 that the Islamist insurgency will cease hostilities in Afghanistan, where it currently controls or contests nearly half of 407 Afghan districts.

A presidential spokesman addressing a news conference in Kabul, said the government would welcome any Taliban steps that would lead to reduce bloodshed in the country.

We hope that they [Taliban] will be committed to implement their announcement and the cease-fire. And the government of Afghanistan is hopeful that this process [temporary cease-fire] will become a long term process and will result in a sustainable peace in Afghanistan, said Mohammad Haroon Chakhansoori.



The Taliban, in its announcement from its chief Mullah Hibatullah Akhunzada, has also said it will release some prisoners after seeking commitments from them that they will not rejoin Afghan forces.



Ghani announced on Thursday that Afghan forces will halt offensive operations against the Taliban from June 12 until June 20 to encourage insurgents to come to the table for talks to seek a resolution to the 17-year-old conflict.



Earlier, the Afghan president praised the Taliban's move in remarks posted on his official Twitter account.



We welcome the three days cease-fire announced by the Taliban starting on the first day of Eid. This comes following the bold decision by the Islamic republic of #Afghanistan to cease the fight for a period of time.

Afghanistans ambassador to neighboring Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, also welcomed the insurgent gesture.



It is an encouraging and important step towards prospects for peace. Hope the pleasure of shedding no Afghan blood in Eid becomes so overwhelming that rest of the year is also declared as Afghan Eid, tweeted Zakhilwal.

Renowned American expert on Afghanistan, Barnet Rubin, urged all parties to seize the moment to help bring an end to decades of Afghan conflict.



May all parties, far and near, involved in this 40-year war over Afghanistan work to transform the truce of Eid into a prelude to peace, so that Eid of 2018 is remembered for all time as truly Mubarak [blessed], Rubin tweeted. He served in the previous U.S. administration and was part of diplomatic efforts to promote a negotiated end to the Afghan war. Ghani's cease-fire initiative has been widely welcomed at home and internationally.

The U.S. has promised its troops in Afghanistan will honor the truce but will not cease operations against Islamic State and other terrorist organizations.

Pakistan's role

Neighboring Pakistan has said it supports recent peace Afghan peace initiatives in Afghanistan. "We particularly support all Afghan-owned and Afghan-led efforts aimed at bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan," said a Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement issued Saturday.

Washington confirmed Thursday that it had asked Pakistan to help in facilitating an Afghan peace and reconciliation process by persuading the Taliban to engage in talks with Kabul.

Lisa Curtis, a deputy assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump and senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, explained to a seminar the U.S. is pursuing "multiple lines of effort" to promote Afghan peace. She said an important component of the effort is to ensure that Pakistan plays "a constructive role" in it.



We have asked for Pakistan's assistance in facilitating a peace process and we have sought to understand Pakistan's own core security concerns and ensure that its interests are taken into account in any peace process," Curtis said.

The renewed engagement between the two countries comes after months of diplomatic tensions and allegations Islamabad was not doing enough to prevent insurgents from using Pakistani soil for attacks on the other side of the border.

The Pakistan military says its forces have cleared their territory of all terrorism infrastructure and no insurgent safe havens are left in the country.



Officials however acknowledge families of some Taliban leaders and fighters might still be residing along with nearly 2.7 million Afghan refugees the country hosts and they do not rule out the presence of residual insurgent fighters hiding in the refugee population.



But Islamabad says its forces are closely monitoring and making sure any Afghan living on Pakistani soil as a refugee is not participating in the violence in Afghanistan.

"Whatever leverage Pakistan has [over the Taliban], although it is receding with the passage of time, we will try to use it to help find an amicable solution for Afghanistan," army spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor vowed earlier this week.

But Ghafoor emphasized that the Afghan government will have to play the lead role in any such effort, together with America who he said is "by all means" the main stakeholder in the war-shattered country.

"No one desires more than Pakistan to see peace in Afghanistan," the Pakistani military spokesman said. "We want the U.S. to go back from Afghanistan with a notion of victory, a notion of success. We don't want them to leave behind a chaotic Afghanistan like they did before," Ghafoor said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he had instructed his representatives not to sign a communique by all seven leaders attending the G-7 summit in Canada, citing statements by Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made after he left.

"Very dishonest and & weak," Trump tweeted in response to Trudeau's remark that the new U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel were "insulting."

"Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers, and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!" Trump added.

"International cooperation cannot be dictated by fits of anger and throwaway remarks," French President Emmanuel Macron's office said in a statement about Trump's withdrawal from signing the communique. The statement also said Trump's action is a display of "incoherence and inconsistency."

"Germany stands by the jointly agreed communique," Germany spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

Retaliatory measures

Trudeau closed the summit Saturday by refusing to budge on positions that place him at odds with Trump, particularly new tariffs on steel and aluminum that have irritated Canada and the European Union.

He said in closing remarks that Canada would proceed with retaliatory measures on U.S. goods as early as July 1.

"I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs," Trudeau said in the news conference following the two-day summit. "Canadians, we're polite, we're reasonable, but we will also not be pushed around."

British Prime Minister Theresa May echoed Trudeau, pledging to retaliate for tariffs on EU goods. "The loss of trade through tariffs undermines competition, reduces productivity, removes the incentive to innovate and ultimately makes everyone poorer," she said. "And in response, the EU will impose countermeasures."

Trudeau and May also bucked Trump on another high-profile issue: Russia. Trump wants to have Russia  which was pushed out in 2014 over its aggression in eastern Ukraine  rejoin the group. Trudeau said he was "not remotely interested" in having Russia return to the group, made up of the world's seven most advanced economies.

May added that she also welcomed the G-7's recognition of the need to continue sanctions on Russia, given "Russia's failure to fully implement the Minsk agreements" of 2014 that were meant to end the war in Ukraine. "We have agreed to stand ready to take further restrictive measures against Russia if necessary," she said.

'Fair and reciprocal' trade

Before leaving the summit Saturday, Trump said there must be "fair and reciprocal" trade between the U.S. and other countries.

"The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades and we can't do that anymore," he told reporters shortly before leaving the summit for Singapore, where he will meet next week with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

WATCH: President Trump on Trade

Trump said many "unfair foreign trading practices" are getting "straightened out slowly but surely."

He blamed past U.S. leaders for the current global trade landscape and congratulated other world leaders for "so crazily being able to make these trade deals that were so good for countries and so bad for the United States."

Trump declared "those days are over" and said that talks this weekend with G-7 leaders convinced him they are "committed to a much more fair-trade situation for the United States."

At a bilateral meeting Friday with Trudeau, the U.S. president joked that the Canadian prime minister had agreed to "cut all tariffs."

Despite the two leaders exchanging criticism of each other's trade policies the previous day, Trump described the cross-border relationship as very good, stating "we're actually working on cutting tariffs and making it all very fair for both countries. And we've made a lot of progress today. We'll see how it all works out."

In a subsequent sit-down meeting with Emmanuel Macron, Trump said the French president had been "very helpful" in efforts to address trade deficits with the European Union.

Macron responded that he had a "very direct and open discussion" with Trump, and "there is a critical path that is a way to progress all together."

Canada's foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, confirmed she met Friday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to discuss the tariffs and the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). She said Canada, however, would not change its mind about the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, which she termed "illegal."

Trump imposed the tariffs on the ground that weak domestic industries could affect U.S. national security. Canada, Mexico and the European Union are introducing retaliatory tariffs.

"I think the only way this moves toward a deal is if the concern grows among the G-7 countries about the economic impact of this, that Trump begins to feel some pressure from farmers and small manufacturers and others that are harmed, that other countries are feeling the pressure from the decline in their steel and aluminum exports to the United States and it causes some reconsideration of the current positions," said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

On the eve of the summit, Trump had lashed out on Twitter at Macron and Trudeau, who had criticized Trump's trade stance at a joint news conference Thursday in Ottawa. The White House then announced Trump would skip some of the G-7 sessions and depart for Singapore on Saturday morning, several hours earlier than planned.

Trudeau, alongside Trump, was asked if he was disappointed the U.S. president was leaving early. He did not reply, but Trump grinned broadly and said "he's happy" before appearing to stick out his tongue.

Some attending the summit were openly expressing strong concern about Trump's positions.

"What worries me most is that the rules-based international order is being challenged," Donald Tusk, the chairman of European Union leaders, said at a news conference just prior to the start of the G-7 talks. "Quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor  the United States. Naturally, we cannot force the U.S. to change its mind."

Should Trump disassociate with the group, reducing it to a G-6, it would leave the collective virtually inconsequential, according to some analysts.

"The United States accounts for more than half of the GDP of the total G-7. So, without the United States, the G-7 really isn't anything," according to Sebastian Mallaby, a CFR senior fellow for international economics.

Russia invitation?

Before departing the White House for Canada, the president told reporters that Russia should be invited back to the summits of leading advanced countries.

When asked about Russia on Saturday in Quebec, Trump said, "I think it would be good for the world. We're looking for peace in the world. We're not looking to play games."

WATCH: President Trump on Russia

One other G-7 leader, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said Friday in a tweet that he supported Trump's suggestion.

But other G-7 leaders said it was not going to happen at this time.

European Union leaders are in agreement "that a return of Russia to the G-7 format summits can't happen until substantial progress has been made in connection with the problems with Ukraine," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters.

A spokesman at the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, brushed it all off.

"Russia is focused on other formats apart from the G-7," Peskov said, according to the Sputnik news agency.
A federal judge said U.S. President Donald Trump should publicly file his objections to findings of a court-appointed special master reviewing documents seized in a probe of the business dealings of his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

In an order issued on Friday, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan rejected efforts by Trump, the Trump Organization and Cohen to file their objections entirely under seal.

She agreed with the government that the filings should be public except as to portions that divulge the substance of the contested documents.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller

Wood said she would decide later which portions could be sealed.

Joanna Hendon, a lawyer for Trump, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Todd Harrison, a lawyer for Cohen, did not immediately respond to similar requests.

The criminal probe into Cohens business dealings stems in part from a referral by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether Trumps 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to influence that years U.S. presidential election.

Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion, and Russia has denied interference. Cohen has not been criminally charged.

Former judge reviews seized materials

The special master, former federal judge Barbara Jones, is reviewing materials seized in April raids of Cohens home, office and hotel room, to determine which are subject to attorney-client privilege.

On Monday, she said in a report that 162 files, out of more than 292,000 reviewed so far, were privileged or partially privileged, and seven were highly personal.

Roughly 3.7 million files were seized, Cohen's lawyers have said. Jones is reviewing only those that lawyers for Trump, the Trump Organization and Cohen believe might be privileged.

The case is Cohen v U.S., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 18-mj-03161.
A long-anticipated assault on Yemen's port city of Hodeidah by the Saudi-led coalition could cost up to 250,000 lives, a senior U.N. humanitarian official said Friday.

A coalition spokesman said Tuesday that allied forces were 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Houthi-held Hodeidah, but he did not specify whether there were plans for an assault to seize the port, the chief entry point for food and supplies needed to ease a famine and cholera epidemic.

Humanitarian agencies working in Yemen are deeply worried about the likely impact of an assault. As many as 600,000 civilians live in and around Hodeidah, which lies on Yemen's Red Sea coast, the United Nations said.

"A military attack or siege on Hodeidah will impact hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians," the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in the country, Lise Grande, said in a statement. "In a prolonged worst case, we fear that as many as 250,000 people may lose everything  even their lives."

Coalition officials could not immediately be reached for further comment.

Push for new talks

Senior aid officials have urged the United States and other Western powers providing arms and intelligence to the coalition to push the mostly Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab allies to reconvene U.N. talks with the Iran-allied Houthi movement to avoid a bloodbath and end the three-year-old war.

The United Nations says Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis and 22.2 million Yemenis are in need of humanitarian aid, with 8.4 million at risk of starvation  a number that will rise to 18 million this year if conditions do not improve.

Yemeni political sources have said the U.N. Yemen mediator, Martin Griffiths, is in talks with the Houthis to hand over control of the port to the United Nations in an attempt to avert a possible assault.

The broader U.N. peace plan calls on the Houthi movement to give up its ballistic missiles in return for an end to the bombing campaign against it by the Saudi-led coalition and a transitional governance agreement, according to a draft document and sources.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had pulled 71 international staff out of Yemen because of security incidents and threats, moving them to Djibouti.
If you havn't done it yet,to get one of the fastest volcano news online:

Satellite image of Langila volcano (image by Google Earth View)

Langila volcano stratovolcano 1330 m / 4,363 ft

New Britain, Papua New Guinea, -5.53S / 148.42E

Current status: minor activity or eruption warning (3 out of 5) Langila volcano eruptions:

2009-2013, 2002-08, 1973-2000, 1971-72, 1970, 1969, 1967-68, 1964-66, 1962-63, 1960-61, 1958, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1942 (?), 1907, 1900, 1890, 1884, 1878

Typical eruption style:

explosive

Last nearby quakes Latest satellite images stratovolcano 1330 m / 4,363 ftNew Britain, Papua New Guinea, -5.53S / 148.42E(3 out of 5)2009-2013, 2002-08, 1973-2000, 1971-72, 1970, 1969, 1967-68, 1964-66, 1962-63, 1960-61, 1958, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1942 (?), 1907, 1900, 1890, 1884, 1878explosive

Background

Langila volcano, whose activity record goes back to the 19th century only, is one of the most active volcanoes of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Langila's frequent activity consists typically of mild-to-moderate explosive eruptions, that are sometimes accompanied by lava flows.

The volcano consists of four small overlapping cones on the lower eastern flank of the extinct Talawe volcano,- the highest volcano in NW New Britain. The rectangular, 2.5-km-long crater of Talawe has a large gap to the SE; the younger Langila volcano formed NE of Talawe's breached crater.

Extensive lava flows have reached the sea from the N and NE flanks of the volcano. Since observations have begun, 3 summit craters have been active. The youngest and smallest of these, with a diameter of 150 m, was formed in 1960.

NASA Earth Observatory

Explosion of Langila volcano 1985
Stratovolcano 3562 m (11,686 ft)Ecuador, -0.08S / -77.66W(4 out of 5)1541, 1590, 1691, 1748, 1797, 1802, 1843, 1843, 1844, 1856, 1871, 1894, 1898-1906, 1912, 1926, 1929, 1936, 1944, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1972, 1973-74, 1976, 2002 (large eruption), 2004 (Nov) - 2005 (Jan), 2005 (June) - 2006 (March), 2008 (July) - ongoingExplosive and effusive.(5 days expedition to Ecuador to observe volcanic activity from close)

If you havn't done it yet,to get one of the fastest volcano news online:

A relaxed walking and study tour to one of Greece's hidden treasures and also one of the least known volcanically active areas in Europe.

Look up any earthquake anywhere from 2010

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We have traveled all over Greece, in particular on its active volcanic areas such as Santorini, Nisyros, Milos, Methana.

We're proud to present our new volcano calendar 2016: 13 different and attractive images of volcanoes, volcanic landscapes and phenomena taken during volcano tours over the past few years.

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What if you see one during the day? Its usually no cause for alarm. The animal probably is just looking for food, especially if she has babies -- and nocturnal animals prey on animals that are diurnal, or active during the day.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement: Government surveillance of a reporters communications would be concerning under any circumstances, but it is especially so here. It is unclear whether the government exhausted other options before seizing Watkins phone and email records. Its also not apparent why it was necessary to collect years worth of sensitive information. Finally, there is a question whether Watkins was notified in a timely way of the surveillance. It is thus unclear whether the search complied even with the Justice Departments own guidelines relating to surveillance of the media.
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As a trial court judge, however, Alston had a reputation for sometimes crafting unusual sentences that he felt best fit a crime. A former Virginia state trooper who dropped drunken driving charges against a woman in exchange for sex had to perform 3,500 hours of community service and spend two days in jail every January for seven years, as well as write a public apology and get sex-addiction treatment. A father of 13 who inadvertently let his youngest daughter die in the familys van had to spend one day in jail for seven years, volunteer for two hours each week and sponsor an annual blood drive in the girls name.
Butlers sister Pamela Butler disappeared before Valentines Day in 2009. Police made an arrest in her killing eight years later, but her remains have not been found. The ex-boyfriend convicted of her murder said he buried her body somewhere in Virginia, but when police were able to start searching for her, they found the area had mostly been covered over by an interstate highway.
In the early 20th century, we not only had organized strikes in industrial factories, but they started showing up in apartment buildings where people felt they were paying too much money for too little quality, she said. In the 60s and 70s, cities like D.C. were really, for quite a number of years, subject to disinvestment. So the buildings were deteriorating and there was this rising consciousness of poverty and race. . . . That period saw this kind of tenant organizing as well, as a means to draw attention to habitability and intense economic insecurity.
He also assailed Comstock, referring to her as a Never Trumper because she called Trumps remarks vile and disgusting in the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which he bragged about grabbing women. The tape was made public a month before the presidential election in 2016, prompting Comstock to call on Trump to step aside and allow the Republican Party to select another candidate.
The appeals chamber, in a 3-2 ruling, said the trial chamber erred in its evaluation of Mr. Bembas motivation and the measures that he could have taken. It also said he was wrongly convicted for crimes that were not even included in the charges against him.
So, in this moment, here in the land of legislatively legitimated toxic masculinity, is it really so illogical to hate men? For all the power of #MeToo and #TimesUp and the womens marches, only a relatively few men have been called to task, and Ive yet to see a mass wave of prosecutions or even serious recognition of wrongdoing. On the contrary, cries of witch hunt and the plotted resurrection of celebrity offenders came quick on the heels of the outcry over endemic sexual harassment and violence. But were not supposed to hate them because . . . #NotAllMen. I love Michelle Obama as much as the next woman, but when they have gone low for all of human history, maybe its time for us to go all Thelma and Louise and Foxy Brown on their collective butts.
Many see Williams, 57, as the underdog again in the general election, where she will face incumbent Republican Greg Gianforte for the at-large seat. Last year, the successful businessman filled the seat vacated by Ryan Zinke when President Trump tapped him to become interior secretary. Gianfortes election was notable for what came just before it: The candidate body-slammed a reporter, leading to a guilty plea on an assault charge. A judge later sentenced him to community service and anger-management classes.
His favored presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, lost to President Trump, whose America First platform runs counter to the globalism Soros embraces. Trump, he said, is willing to destroy the world. The European Union, which Soros once hoped would be so successful that he could end his charitable work in the region, is contending with the impending loss of Britain and a rise of anti-immigrant sentiment. And Soros himself has emerged as a political target in elections from Hungary to California, where his donations have been used as a cudgel against the causes he supports.
He didnt believe he would actually get elected. And the fact that he has succeeded has really changed him, and he now kind of considers himself all-powerful. He was kept under control by his minders, the generals, but he got rid of most of them, theres only one that is left, and he has now got people who are his servants, so it is a very dangerous situation, and Im very happy that he chose North Korea as the only country that he wants to get closer to. . . . Im greatly relieved because I really believe there is a danger to the end of our civilization.
Tuesdays summit could be the kind of event the president loves, with a worldwide audience, ratings through the roof and the focus of everything and everyone on him (and the North Korean dictator). It will be a far different environment than what Trump has spent the weekend doing, which is meeting with other leaders of the Group of Seven nations, as one of equals and, in this case, as someone whose trade policies have created rifts in relations and sore feelings. On Tuesday, he will happily command the entire stage.
Trumps remarks came two days after he said he didnt need to do a lot of preparation ahead of the historic summit because the interpersonal relationship between the two leaders would be the more important factor. Foreign policy analysts have said that Kim is likely to attempt to get Trump to agree on mostly symbolic steps, including a peace deal to formally end the Korean War, while biding time on significant commitments toward denuclearization.
McConnell casts himself as a defender of the Senate as a unifying institution, determined to join its ranks from his days as a Capitol Hill intern. Yet Democrats deride him as the man who set fire to the Senate and wants credit for calling the fire department, only to now serve as an enabler of President Trump.
His father, Kim Jong Il, was 53 when he took control of North Korea, so all he really had to do was to hold on for 20 or so years (he lasted 17.) He didnt need to change anything, said Andrei Lankov, a Russian historian who studied at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang and periodically visits North Korea.
The death of Marco Antonio Munoz, 39, has not been publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security, and it did not appear in any local news accounts. But according to a copy of a sheriffs department report obtained by The Washington Post, Munoz was found on the floor of his cell May 13 in a pool of blood with an item of clothing twisted around his neck.
If President Trump is reelected, and it will be very close, then during his second term, we have to worry about the end of the liberal world order, Kupchan said. A second term would allow him enough time to do irreparable damage to liberal institutions, to the WTO [World Trade Organization] and Bretton Woods, the 1944 conference where the current international financial system was created, which was quickly followed by the establishment of the United Nations.
You cant end 40 years of war in a few days, but this is definitely the best chance for a peace process at least since the U.S. surge of troops under President Barack Obama in 2010-2011, said Vikram Singh, a former Pentagon and State Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
The emergency department of Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, familiar to many parents and children across the state, will close at 7am Sunday morning, heralding the end of an era for Perth families and health workers.

About 80 sick kids will make the journey from PMH to the new Perth Children's Hospital tomorrow. Credit:Stefan Gosatti

At exactly the same time, the doors will open on the new emergency department of the Perth Children's Hospital.

As the doors close on PMH, patients and staff will then take part in the biggest medical transfer of children in WA history.

The plan to move about 80 sick children to the new hospital involved complicated, clinical-based scheduling and the use of a convoy of ambulances, which will leave PMH every five minutes, until every patient has been transferred.
The company behind WA electrical goods retailer Kambo's has called in the administrators, with the jobs of about 100 employees at risk.

Perth electrical retailer Kambo's, which is run by businessman Peter Kambouris is in administration.

The retail chain, which was established by the Kambouris family in the 1960s, pulled down its website on Friday and closed its doors to customers on Saturday morning.

The holding company, Kamb Investments Pty Ltd, is controlled by prominent Perth retailer Peter Kambouris, who took over the business founded by his father Alan.

Kambo's operated a number of stores in Perth along with the premium appliance retail brand Liebe + Haus.
After arriving in Darwan, Ali Jan had dinner and settled in for the night at a relatives home, a bare mud house brightened with carpets and the chatter of children. He planned to return home the next morning.

The day before, hed travelled by donkey to Darwan to get flour. Hed left his pregnant wife, Bibi, and seven young children behind, telling them hed be back soon.

The handcuffed detainee was Ali Jan, a shepherd in his late 30s from a village three hours walk from Darwan where his wifes family owned a plot of land.

It was September 11, 2012  11 years to the day after planes piloted by al-Qaeda ploughed into the World Trade Centre, causing Australia to enter what would become the nations longest war.

The prisoners fate lay in the hands of the man leading him to the edge. His own hands were bound.

The Australian special forces soldier led his prisoner towards a ridge above a dry creek bed near the Afghan village of Darwan.

Since then, speculation about what happened in that village in the rugged hills of Afghanistans central Oruzgan province has only intensified, travelling across continents and time zones. In the Perth barracks of Australias most elite fighting unit, the Special Air Services Regiment, the incident is discussed in hushed tones. In southern Afghanistan it evokes grief.

Most of the men were later released, but Ali Jan never arrived home. Soon, word reached his wife that something terrible had happened at Darwan.

By the time the Australian special forces soldiers arrived in Darwan, the wanted man had vanished. Hoping to find any trace of his whereabouts, they began arresting dozens of local men for questioning. At some point, Ali Jan was also detained.

They were searching for a rogue Afghan National Army sergeant called Hekmatullah who, days earlier, shot dead three unarmed and unsuspecting diggers and injured two others as they played cards inside a coalition patrol base.

But when the sun rose on what was to be the last day of Ali Jans life, it revealed a group of heavily armed Australian soldiers sweeping through Darwan on a manhunt.

It had been 18 months since the Special Operations Task Group, comprised principally of the SAS Regiment and its younger special forces siblings, the Sydney-headquartered Commandos, had withdrawn from Australias longest war. During 13 years on the battleground in Afghanistan, the SASR had sent 23 rotations involving thousands of men and hundreds of missions. Many of the 41 Australians killed in Afghanistan served with these two elite forces.

Behind closed doors, the words war crimes are being used. Not only specific incidents, but the entire culture and command structure of Australias most renowned and trusted fighting force is now under scrutiny in a manner unprecedented in Australian military history.

Among the special forces soldiers risking their careers to brief Fairfax reporters are those who have also been summoned to give evidence to a special inquiry now being held into the actions of Australians in Afghanistan. This inquiry is run by a Supreme Court judge with the backing of top military officials.

Now, five years after Ali Jan was walked towards the cliff edge, rumour has hardened into allegations, and then into evidence. Fairfax Media has spent months looking into Ali Jans fate as part of broader investigation into the behaviour of SASR forces in Afghanistan. The investigation involved interviews with dozens of current and former soldiers and senior officials, and unearthed highly confidential documents and briefings. Fairfax Media also hired an Afghan journalist to track down Darwan villagers and Ali Jan'ss family to tell their story.

As the SASR has adapted to modern conflict, hunting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and leading spy missions in Africa, its historical penchant for secrecy has remain unchanged. Everything is classified until it is not.

Tracing its beginnings back to the top-secret Australian Z Special Unit that fought during World War II and operating under the motto "Who Dares Wins", those in the regiment receive intensive training to carry out the nation's most sensitive and dangerous military missions.

Sengelman urged SASR members to write to him personally about their concerns. It was a bold move.

Then he switched to plainer language. He was worried, he said, that the nations most revered group of soldiers was no longer holding itself to account.

These incidents, wrote the new commander, were symptoms of something deeper and more worrying: a gradual erosion of leadership and accountability across the full span of command responsibilities.

Major General Jeff Sengelman, an intense and cerebral officer known for speaking his mind, began his report by describing three concerning incidents: an SASR member had been caught stealing explosives, another had been arrested for armed robbery, and a third had lost weapons. Sources say a fourth incident, which involved a SASR soldier drawing a pistol on an Australian spy in Afghanistan, had also deeply troubled Sengelman.

But in spite of this fierce pride and the taboo about breaking ranks, members began writing to Sengelman. Over time, serving and former regiment members have also briefed reporters working on this story. They speak of an untold story from Afghanistan involving a small number of regiment members who began to confuse secrecy with impunity; men whose actions exist in the shadowy margins of what constitutes proper behaviour in combat.

The SASRs character and place in Australia is shaped by its own stories. Most recently, certain battles in Afghanistan have helped define the regiment: the courageous fight at Tizak in 2010, which involved many SASR soldiers displaying extraordinary heroism under fire; and the bravery displayed during a fierce firefight with the Taliban in 2008 at Khas Oruzgan. Both battles led to multiple awards being presented to SASR members, including two Victoria Crosses, the Commonwealths highest honour.

Im all for dropping the hammer when the time comes. But that doesnt mean killing civilians or getting up your kill count.

It wasnt just this culture that Sengelman was challenging, but also a bond of brotherhood, forged at its deepest in blood and bravery. Historian Charles Bean describes Australias big discovery in WWI  the character of men  as forged by the ANZACs who rushed the hills at Gallipoli and held out there during the long afternoon and night.

"They love the mystique, is how one special forces insider described it in a leaked defence report charting the special forces culture, and the government loves it. And everybody loves it.

They are men used to anonymity, and who tend to resent anyone, including one of their own, breaking ranks.

The 700-odd members  half of whom are active operators who must pass a gruelling selection course testing their physical and mental capacity  cannot be photographed or discuss their work, ostensibly for operational and national security reasons.

As one highly decorated Afghanistan SASR veteran puts it: Im all for dropping the hammer [shooting people] when the time comes. But that doesnt mean killing civilians or getting up your kill count when you can take a prisoner instead.

Says another who fought at Tizak: Ive got no problem with taking out bad fellas. But what happened at Darwan and elsewhere isnt right.

As the letter count grew, Sengelman called his boss, then Chief of Army Angus Campbell, himself a former SASR officer. Together, they commissioned a defence consultant, Dr Samantha Crompvoets, to dig further.

Army chief Angus Campbell. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Crompvoets was given free rein. She spoke to people from the Chief of Defence Force downwards in preparing her highly confidential 2016 report, which Fairfax Media has seen. Crompvoets wrote of SASR insiders initially disclosing information "sotto voce" or in the quiet voice. Over time, she wrote, these insiders got much louder  and difficult to ignore as they spoke of extremely serious breaches of accountability and trust.

At their most serious, Crompvoets wrote, their accounts concerned the unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations, disregard for human life and dignity, and the perception of a complete lack of accountability.

Crompvoets report reinforced a fear held by some in Perth that the SASRs character had been compromised by a small group inside the regiment.

Crompvoets, Sengelman and Campbell all declined to be interviewed. But by the end of 2016, all three were acutely aware that one SASR soldier was being whispered about more than most. He had deployed repeatedly to Afghanistan and formed impeccable connections up the chain of command.

One SASR officer, to himself, called this man "Leonidas", after a fearsome warrior of ancient Sparta. Leonidas was part of the sweep through Darwan on September 11, 2012. And it was Leonidas who had allegedly led Ali Jan to the edge.

Defence consultant Dr Samantha Crompvoets. Credit:Fairfax and theroadhome.com.au

Sparta and Hollywood

Questions inside the regiment about Leonidas, who Fairfax Media unsuccessfully sought to interview and who cannot be named for legal reasons, began to be asked in 2009. At the time, he was part of an SASR patrol that was increasingly dividing the regiment. A warrior culture was being embraced by some special forces troops but loathed by others. It involved tattoos and a devotion to the Hollywood movie 300, which glorifies the fighting prowess of the ancient Spartans, and whose climactic moment involves an enemy soldier being kicked off a precipice.

Several former SASR officers say this rock-star ethos emboldened certain soldiers to test the elasticity of the rules of engagement  rules that govern when a soldier can take a life.

The Regiment over time prided itself on being an organisation that broke the rules but not the law, explains one former officer. What happened, though, was during the Afghan campaign, there was a group of individuals who believed they were immune from the law.

A specialist embedded with the SASR noted two distinct personalities emerging as one four-month rotation blurred into the next and the regiment honed its ability to kill or capture militants, men placed on the coalitions Joint Priority Effects List, the modern version of a wanted poster.

The specialist says some soldiers sought redeployment in Afghanistan because they loved the hunt. Others came to feel uneasy as an escalating enemy body count was not matched by progress in achieving the US-led NATO mission.

Former SASR captain Andrew Hastie, who served in Afghanistan in 2013 and is now a Liberal MP, recalls the latter group of soldiers grasping for operational clarity in a fog of strategic ambiguity.

The patrol Leonidas belonged to appeared unburdened by such introspection. In this group, sources say, junior members were pushed to kill rather than detain.

In time, members of this patrol tacked a kill board to the wall of their patrol room. Members of another patrol heard Leonidas urging his fellow patrol members on  only two more to go, boys  a suspected reference to reaching a desired kill count to record on the board.

Sources say the patrol fused a warrior ethos with the regiments secretive culture. Its aggressive approach drew some admirers, including officers who believed it was needed on Afghanistan's asymmetrical battlefield. Leonidas, too, had his fierce backers, including regiment members who believed his assertive soldiering was setting an example for others in the regiment. Those bagging Leonidas, they said, were jealous of his courage and resolve.

Less aggressive patrols risked unofficial sidelining. One patrol commander was regarded by his peers as overly cautious after he told his soldiers they had to be comfortable with everything they did in battle.

He told us we needed to be able to get to sleep at night when we were grandparents, says a patrol member. Subsequently, this member says the patrol started being overlooked for missions.

Former SASR captain, MP Andrew Hastie. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Rumblings and discontent

By 2010, there were disparate rumblings about incidents involving Leonidas patrol on the battlefield. A prisoner of war was found dead in suspicious circumstances by a member of another patrol; an SASR soldier discovered the bodies of two farmers in a field without weapons; one of Leonidas patrol colleagues was quietly complaining about another shooting on patrol.

In each case, Leonidas patrol had failed to conduct a proper site sensitive exploration, according to sources at the scenes.

This is supposed to involve scouring for any items that can be exploited for intelligence, such as radios, but it also helps document the circumstances of a killing, such as whether a person was armed.

But it was not until two years later, in 2012, that witnesses began emerging with vivid, first-hand testimony about what Samantha Crompvoets later described as unsanctioned and illegal application of violence.

Journalist Chris Masters on "kill counts"

By the second-last year of Australias deployment, the coalitions Afghanistan strategy was on life support. Soldiers and diplomats viewed Afghanistans criminal justice system as a revolving door for militants. According to a former SASR officer, small, combat-fatigued cliques inside the regiment were embracing special warrior rules of combat. They were enabled, he says, by wilfully blind colleagues and an embattled command system.

Then, on August 29, 2012, Afghan sergeant Hekmatullah shot dead three Australian soldiers.

The murdered trio were meant to be Hekmatullahs comrades, but he killed them in cold blood and fled. One defence insider embedded with the SASR, as it began the hunt for Hekmatullah, describes a change of attitude, a change of eyes. Some soldiers, he says, were out for blood.

When satellites intercepting phone calls gathered intelligence that placed Hekmatullah in the vicinity of Darwan, the Australians moved fast. For them, he was the most wanted man in Afghanistan.

A special forces soldier kicks an Afghan prisoner. Credit:Illustration by Matt Davidson based on eyewitness account.

'One spotter K-I-A'

The radio message crackled into the earpieces of the special forces soldiers: Three minutes til wheels up. The Darwan mission was ending. The helicopters were about to take the Australians and a small number of villagers selected for additional questioning back to the district capital, Tarin Kowt.

Soon after, the 50 or so detainees crammed into a compound at Darwan received their own blunt warning. If you come outside before the helicopters are gone, youll be shot, an SASR patrol commander barked.

The Afghans waited, some with heads bowed, listening for the whir of rotor blades that would signal the end of their ordeal.

Then the radio crackled again, this time relaying a message from Leonidas: One spotter K-I-A [killed in action], he said.

One of the SASR members on the ground, a respected and experienced operator, describes feeling a distinct pang of suspicion. I thought to myself, somethings not right.

The SASR had already spent hours searching compounds and rounding up dozens of men, designated PUCs (Persons Under Confinement) so they could be interrogated.

The soldier who felt something was awry was a member of a six-man patrol with a clear line of sight up the dry creek bed, but at a distance of about 50 metres from detainees being guarded by a patrol that included Leonidas. If a spotter  an enemy surveillance operative who reports coalition soldiers movements to militants  had emerged, the soldier reckoned he would have seen him. It also made little sense, the soldier thought, for an active spotter to approach the Australians so late into their Darwan mission.

We didnt require any spotting  we had come in like an elephant and made our presence well known, the SASR soldier recalls.

As his helicopter lifted off, he remembers glancing down from a helicopter, seeing what looked like a body at the bottom of a cliff and asking himself a question: if it wasnt a spotter who was K-I-A, who was it?

Some time later, an SASR soldier responsible for securing the Darwan detainees separately approached two senior regiment members with an answer. The junior soldier described a scene hed witnessed which was playing on an endless loop in his head, haunting his dreams. It involved an irate and frustrated Leonidas grabbing one of the handcuffed PUCs and walking him to the edge of a rocky cliff perhaps 10 metres high.

Leonidas gave himself a short run-up then kicked the detainee off the edge. As he plunged, his face smashed into rocks. Then the injured man was executed, the junior soldier told his two superiors.

A second witness serving with the SASR during the Darwan mission has corroborated that story. He says he saw Leonidas kicking the hell out of an Afghan detainee, causing him to tumble down the rocky incline. This witness says this incident mirrored the climactic kick scene from the Sparta movie, 300.

As the PUC lay injured, hands still bound, this second witness says Leonidas conferred with a small number of soldiers, explaining the injured prisoner was acting suspicious. Then the man, says this witness, was summarily executed in some scrub out of the view of the other detainees and most of the other soldiers.

Stories differ about the precise sequence of events leading to the fatal bullet being fired, although both witnesses say Leonidas was party to the decision to get him [the PUC] out of his misery.

Darwan and the place where the prisoner was attacked. Credit:Fairfax, Google Maps

Villagers tracked down by an Afghan journalist working with Fairfax Media provide further corroboration. Darwan's village elders claim that several innocent residents were slain when the SASR swept through the village on September 11, 2012. Among their tally of the dead were two men killed in a compound filled with almonds. These two deaths match reports filed by SASR members save for a critical difference: the soldiers say the two men were armed, the villagers say they were not.

The villagers also describe a detainee who was forced over a cliff by an Australian soldier and then executed.

When the soldiers had flown away, the villagers recognised the dead man as Ali Jan, a shepherd from a nearby village. They dispatched a young boy to run to a village three hours away with the news. Expecting her husband to return home to the hills with flour and gossip from the village, Ali Jans pregnant wife, Bibi, instead received word that he was dead.

Ali Jan's brother, Abdul Ahmad, was with her. He recalls reeling in disbelief that "a person who went to get flour" could somehow end up dead. When the news sunk in, it brought utter despair.

"Then the screams started," Ahmad says.

"Ali Jan's mother was crying day and night for a week. His two elder daughters were screaming and running after their grandmother'' in a state of bewilderment, pleading to be told their father was alive.

A body was seen from a helicopter near the village of Darwan. Illustration by Matt Davidson based on witness account.

A secret hearing

In late 2017, a SASR soldier who had been at Darwan received an unexpected call from a defence investigator working for NSW Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton. Justice Brereton, the investigator explained, wanted the soldier to attend a secret hearing.

Several weeks later, another SASR member was summoned for questioning. This year, many more have been grilled.

In 2016, and partly as a result of the Crompvoets inquiry, Justice Brereton was commissioned by the then Chief of Army, Angus Campbell, to investigate what the defence department described as rumours of special forces misconduct in Afghanistan.

Brereton refuses to be interviewed by the media, but those who know the 60-year-old judge describe him as determined and fiercely independent. He also has military credibility, having enjoyed a decorated career as an army reservist, including as a commander of the fifth brigade. His father, NSW judge Russell Brereton, prosecuted Japanese soldiers for war crimes after WWII.

Two soldiers who have been interviewed by Brereton say many of his questions were directed to events at Darwan.

I was blown away by the detail he had, says one interviewee.

Yet both soldiers, and several others whove been interviewed, say they are unsure if Brereton has the power and backing not only to breach the SASR code of silence but expose all that he finds.

Some senior defence officials insist Breretons inquiry, which operates under the aegis of the secretive watchdog, the Inspector General of Defence, is limited to a scoping exercise and that any credible evidence of war crimes will need to be referred to the Australian Federal Police for a subsequent inquiry.

In a statement, the defence force said the Brereton inquiry would make "recommendations" about how to deal with any substantiated allegations of war crimes.

"The IGADF Afghanistan Inquiry has, for some time, been aware of allegations of significant issues involving the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan, which are within the scope of the Inquiry," the statement said.

Senior federal police privately say they are wary of inheriting from Brereton a politically sensitive probe involving a cold evidence trail on a foreign battlefield.

And yet evidence is mounting. During research for this story, two first-hand witnesses provided detailed, corroboratory accounts of Leonidas directing an Afghan partner-force soldier to execute a prisoner of war in October 2012.

Evidence also extends beyond Leonidas and his collaborators, to a small number of other SASR members. This evidence points to other summary executions or attempts to cover up civilian deaths. While the allegations involve a tiny minority of the regiment, they also raise questions about the blindness and competency of some of their commanders.

The commandos  the other major component of Australian special forces  do not appear to be facing as serious allegations as those in SASR.

In her confidential report, Samantha Crompvoets warned the issues she had uncovered should not be dismissed as soldiers blowing off steam. Rather, she wrote, they involved problems deeply embedded in the culture of the special forces, which would resist simple or cosmetic solutions.

Crompvoets also warned of a deep impediment to change because of the extent to which leaders with SOF [special operation forces] backgrounds, highly placed throughout the ADO [defence] and beyond, were compromised by their own participation or complicity in problematic behaviours of the past.

Yet it is also clear that some of those who are fighting behind the scenes for transparency are serving or former SASR members. Angus Campbell, who in April was selected to become the next Chief of the Defence Force, appears to be among them.

One of his last moves as Chief of Army has been to restrict soldiers from wearing clothing adorned with controversial symbols, such as death heads and Spartan warrior iconography. It was met with howls of resistance from many in Defence and some in the media.

Those inside the SASR pushing for greater accountability say the public must be told how a small group of soldiers could act with apparent impunity even as those up the chain of command were ostensibly overseeing them.

Such a public reckoning, they say, could also consider the damage wreaked by those few soldiers who allegedly cared more for adding to their tally of dead than the Afghans theyd been sent overseas to protect.

By many accounts, the coalitions mission in Afghanistan failed. The Taliban now controls more than 10 of Afghanistans 407 districts, including the village of Darwan, and, according to US government figures, it is building its influence in many more.

The freelance reporter who recently tracked down Ali Jans family for Fairfax Media worked under the constant threat that the Taliban might uncover his activities. Using a network of tribal elders, the freelancer arranged for Ali Jans brother, Abdul Ahmad, to travel to a safe house to tell the family's story.

Ahmad said Ali Jan's death had left his wife, Bibi, struggling to put food on the table. They can no longer afford meat or to send the children to school.

But the family, he said, had also been blessed. Three months after Ali Jan was allegedly kicked off a cliff by an Australian soldier, Bibi gave birth to a baby girl. Ali Jan's youngest daughter, Razia, is now five.

Reporting in Afghanistan by Sharif Khoram. Got a tip? Contact the reporters on this encrypted, secure and anonymous online platform
Counter says she would be paid $5 per prescription she signs. Nicovape is yet to get underway, but it has a website that optimistically boasts of saving 1 million Australian lives by 2021. Its founder Ryan Boulton concedes the scheme is in a "grey legal area", but says he is playing by the rules. He hopes to build an evidence base that e-cigarettes can actually help people quit. Proponents of e-cigarettes point to recent and substantial research from Public Health England, a British government agency, that found vaping was 95 per cent less harmful than smoking and there were "substantial health benefits" from making the switch. "No one is saying that theres any doubt any more about the lower harm profile of these products," Boulton tells Fairfax Media. "Their concerns are about the efficacy." But that's not strictly true. The new president of the Australian Medical Association, Tony Bartone, has struck a defiant note about e-cigarettes in his first two weeks on the job. He says the jury is still out on every aspect of vaping, including the health impacts compared to traditional smoking, and warns of "unintended consequences" down the track. "It may be less harmful on the basis of current evidence - but it may also be worse," Bartone says. "Theres no irrefutable and reliable evidence that they are safe, that they dont pose a future risk to the users. If the evidence changes, well be the first people to say we need to re-evaluate things."

Those words, alongside similar testimony from the National Health and Medical Research Council, have ultimately convinced Hunt and his Labor counterpart, Catherine King, to oppose legalisation. A majority of MPs in a recent parliamentary inquiry also recommended against change. In a curious twist, inquiry chair Trent Zimmerman and fellow Liberal MP Tim Wilson dissented from the majority and called for immediate legalisation with safeguards. The existing evidence is clear enough, they argued, and the "black market" is thriving regardless. Liberal MP Andrew Laming also dissented, writing succintly: "Life is short and shorter for smokers. Just legalise vaping." Liberal MPs Tim Wilson and Trent Zimmerman are pro-legalisation. Credit:Andrew Meares Zimmerman and Wilson, who were key agitators for marriage equality, are not about to go kamikaze for vaping. But they do intend to push the cause and believe Hunt is in the minority among Liberals. "It is an important issue," says Zimmerman. "Its a matter that I will continue to pursue with the minister and my colleagues in the party room. I havent spoken to all of [them] but those that I have spoken to are receptive to a change - or at least hearing the debate."

If the AMA has won the lobbying war for now, it is not for their opponents' lack of trying. Vaping marks a rare market opportunity for tobacco firms in a country where smoking has been in decline. Global giant British American Tobacco serves about a third of Australia's 3 million smokers and is gunning to start selling e-cigarettes. Disposing of the shadowy image of Big Tobacco, its Sydney-based corporate affairs manager Josh Fett is happy to talk on the phone, but is steadily on-message. E-cigarettes are about "providing Australian smokers with a choice", he says. They are "significantly less harmful than tobacco products". And Australia is "lagging behind" similar countries while as many as 250,000 people already vape nicotine in an uncontrolled, unregulated fashion. Loading Three years ago, British American hired hot-shot lobbyist Michael Kauter - a former Liberal staffer and deputy campaign director for the National Party - to do its bidding in Canberra (it also retains lobbyist Greg Holland on the Labor side). Their efforts are focused on legalising e-cigarettes. "Its good policy," says Kauter. "I understand very well that people have concerns about smoking in the community - but this is not smoking, this is an e-cigarette. Actually, it feels really good to be lobbying for something that I really do think - and theres evidence for this - will save lives."

The lobbying effort is intense on the opposing side, too. Fairfax Media had only made a few phone calls for this story when unsolicited emails began arriving from spinners at the Pharmacy Guild and the Cancer Council, who had "gathered" a story was in the works and wanted to state their position. Loading Minor changes in language are seized upon. When outgoing AMA boss Michael Gannon admitted to having run the company line while president and conceded "not even I agree with everything I say", it was taken by e-cigarette proponents as evidence the fix had been in all along. Gannon denies that. On radio he said he was "interested in the potential benefits" of vaping but stressed he was "very, very suspicious of the extent to which Big Tobacco owns e-cigarettes, owns vaping and uses their wicked campaigns to try and muddy the evidence". One thing seems clear: if there is going to be any movement at the station, politicians will need permission from the AMA and the primary research unit, the NHMRC. Its current position is that the evidence is insufficient. But some researchers are starting to disagree with that assessment. Billie Bonevski, a NHMRC fellow and a behavioural science professor at Newcastle University, is convinced e-cigarettes are "much safer than combustible cigarettes".
In any case, Trump told reporters as he left the White House for Canada, eventually "we'll all be in love again." Maybe. "We don't know" if the confrontations will have any lasting effect, said Stephen Hadley, who served as President George W. Bush's national security adviser. "That's the right question." "First, does the accumulation of these incidents over time begin to erode trust and confidence?" Hadley said in an interview. "Secondly, what is it doing to public opinion and public views of the United States. That's the thing the Trump people don't sufficiently take into account."

Trumps attitude is often as irritating to allied leaders. Credit:AP Hadley, whose government service in national security began in the Ford administration, recalled previous US-European crises, from the deployment of intermediate-range nuclear-armed missiles by President Ronald Reagan that brought thousands of protesters into the streets of European capitals to strong opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "There have been crises before," he said. Trump's attitude is often as irritating to allied leaders as are his policies, according to numerous European officials, who consistently address such issues only on the condition of anonymity to avoid making the situation worse. Loading

Two administration officials acknowledged that Trump simply does not see allies and adversaries in the traditional way, nor any reason to couch his views in diplomatic niceties. He often describes countries that have been historically aligned with the United States, including Germany, France and Canada, as "so-called allies" who take advantage of the nation. Trump cares very little about the traditional world order, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about what the president has said in private. For some, there is still time for a resolution phase in a first Trump term. But "where I'm wringing my hands is the 2020 presidential election," said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, which advises investors about the impact of politics on risks and opportunities in foreign markets. "If President Trump is reelected, and it will be very close, then during his second term, we have to worry about the end of the liberal world order," Kupchan said. "A second term would allow him enough time to do irreparable damage to liberal institutions, to the WTO [World Trade Organisation] and Bretton Woods," the 1944 conference where the current international financial system was created, which was quickly followed by the establishment of the United Nations. Loading

"With the petrification of a new normal involving tariffs and protectionism," he said, "that's the definition of the end of the world order." In the realm of international relations, Hadley and others said, Trump often creates crises as a way of gaining leverage over others. Senior administration officials have cited North Korea as an example: Trump's insults and disdain for Kim Jong Un, and a willingness to walk away, ultimately led to next week's historic summit with the North Korean leader. Trump's insistence that his harangues over paltry defence spendings by NATO's European members have already paid off has some justification. Several alliance members have increased their defence budgets more, or more quickly, than they had pledged to do before he was elected. Although there is no known evidence of it, Trump has also claimed that his withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal last month, strongly opposed by all three European signatories to the agreement, has changed Tehran's calculus in ways favorable to the United States. "Since I signed that out," he repeated Friday morning, "Iran is a much different country."

Americans have long had a love-hate relationship with Europe and foreigners in general, along with a strong current of belief that others have taken advantage of US beneficence, sentiments that Trump has been more than willing to exploit. To the extent that his supporters see a lean toward isolationism as advancing their own lives and pocketbooks, Trump has reason to think he is doing something right. But the promised benefits from tariffs and cancelled trade and climate deals have yet to arrive, and many of the supposed beneficiaries, including farmers and leaders of industry and business, have expressed concern that Trump's policies will end up hurting them. Just as Trump's tough talk is often directed toward his political base, US allies have to answer to their own parliaments and publics, where Trump is highly unpopular. Although they have come to the realisation that they can do little to protect the Iran nuclear deal from falling apart without US support, the Europeans say they are determined to fight back on trade. "The American President may not mind being isolated," Macron tweeted on Thursday from Quebec, "but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be." The other G-7 members, he said pointedly, "represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force."

In his news conference with Trudeau - who has issued his own sharp ripostes to Trump, despite laughing and joking for the cameras in a bilateral session between them Friday - Macron offered no apology for earlier efforts to forge a friendly relationship with the American president, including a state visit in March where they hugged and held hands. "Big deal," Macron said of those who criticised his efforts. "I welcome the friendship between our peoples. Whatever the context, he said, he would "try to maintain these links." Macron said he had "constantly tried to convince President Trump about climate, about Iran or about trade. But I am not President Trump. I can't substitute for these decisions." He would only have deserved criticism, he said, if he had not tried. Hadley said the media and political posturing were responsible for much of the hand-wringing about the imminent collapse of the Western system, fears that he described as "overblown." But "is there a risk?" he said. "Probably." "Presidencies have a rhythm to them, particularly more transformational presidencies," he said. "Trump supporters wanted a 'disrupter in chief' who would challenge or even overturn the system. Because of that - and who he is - you are going to see a lot of disruption for the first couple of years of this presidency, as President Trump tries to reset the table on a range of issues."
ANSONIA-The city claims it won round one of its legal battle with the Board of Education when a state court judge instructed the school board to turn over financial documents.

This was a good victory for us, Mayor David Cassetti said following Superior Court Judge Barry K. Stevens instructions late Friday. It just proves my pointthat the Board of Education was withholding information from us.

But Fred Dorsey, the school boards lawyer, believes its a shallow victory if one at all.

He said the school system has turned over 570 pages of documents that have nothing to do with our claim that they illegally took $600,000 from our (2017-18) budget...All this shows is that the city is trying to police how the Board of Education spends its appropriated money which is against the city charter and state statute.

Still Vincent Marino, who with Ari Hoffman of Cohen and Wolf represent the city said the flow of information which at one point the school administration wanted to charge the city for copying  has already begun.

We went in with a demand for specific information so we can properly assess the true deficiency of the Board of Education, Marino said. We will do our best to work with the Board of Education based on the information they provide. I remain optimistic that working together we can bring this to a meaningful resolution without lengthy litigation.

The city specifically requested how much money the school board had as of June 1, the actual expenses incurred since then and their projected expenses to the end of June. Earlier this week Dorsey claimed the school board is headed towards a $570,000 deficit.

All this comes as both sides are preparing not only for a mediation session before Superior Court Judge Theodore Tyma Monday afternoon but also a hearing Tuesday before Stevens to determine if the city must return the $600,000 it pulled from the school boards 2017-18 budget in January as well as add that amount to the 2018-19 education budget.

Any settlement proposed would have to approved or rejected by both the Board of Education and the Board of Aldermen Monday. If one board rejects then Tuesdays hearing goes forward..

Prior to Stevens recommended both sides issued contrasting statements late Thursday setting out their position in attempting to cull residents support.

I did not go looking for this fight, Superintendent of Schools Carol Merlone said in her statement. However I will never stop fighting for our kids and I will always protect the rights of our students.

Cassetti fired back, taking issue with Merlone and the Board of Education.

Ive got 18,800 men, women and children whose best interests I have to represent, the mayor said. ...Instead of being honest with community she has threatened to close the schools and not pay the teachers  none of which has happened or will happen. Instead of having an intellectually honest discussion with my administration, the Superintendent and her Board have chosen to bring this issue to the Courts at the taxpayers expense and sensationalize this matter by spreading misinformation throughout our community.

Cassetti said all this stems from last years state budget crisis.

My administration stepped up to assist the school district by adding $600,000 to offset the anticipated grant cuts from the state, he said.

Eventually the state sent $1.8 million in aid to the citys schools which Cassetti said was $800,000 over that which was anticipated.

During the crisis the state passed special legislation to allow communities to take a second look at their municipal budgets to account for the unanticipated state aid, he said.

Cassetti said the city based their action on that legislation.

But Dorsey has two opinions from the State Board of Educations legal department, claiming the citys action is prohibited.

If the city restored the full funding of $600,000, the school district would take the appropriate measures to return the estimated balance of $100,000 after the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2018, Merlone said. That offer still stands.
Kind and caring Breda was always thinking of others
Just as Stephanie Bilyjs career got started, tuberculosis stalled it with a three-year stay in the Ninette Sanatorium.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/6/2018 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Just as Stephanie Bilyjs career got started, tuberculosis stalled it with a three-year stay in the Ninette Sanatorium.

When she got better, she married, had two children, but then her husband was killed in a car crash.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Stephanie Bilyj was a pillar of Ukrainian Catholic church in Winnipeg.

Neither illness nor sorrow set the tone for Bilyjs life; instead, they filled her with compassion for people, a desire for order and hope for tomorrow.

"I never would have made it, but there was always a voice saying, Tomorrow might be better, so hang on," her children and adult grandson recall her saying.

The pragmatic Bilyj knew she had children to raise, a job to do running a new special education department and a Ukrainian Catholic church that needed her as much as she needed it.

On March 3, the 91-year-old died in Winnipeg, where she was born Stephanie Antoshkiw to Ukrainian immigrant parents. She spent her life in Winnipeg  except for the three-plus years she battled tuberculosis in the sanatorium, which was 213 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

Bilyj never complained to her family about the TB hospital. She said the staff was kind and her parents visited her almost every weekend. While she made friends and learned petit point, being sidelined and surrounded by sickness left its mark.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Stephanie Bilyj at the Ninette TB sanitorium.

She got to know girls who coughed so hard they turned red. Some didnt survive. Believing that they were helping the TB patients, staff would open the windows in the winter so that patients with infected lungs could breathe in the bracing cold air. There, Bilyj underwent two surgeries  "one to fix the problem and one to fix the solution," she told family.

In 1963, a year after she and her husband Wasyl Bilyj bought a cottage in Falcon Lake, he was killed driving there on the Thanksgiving long weekend. The head-on collision killed him and three others. His young widow was left with two girls, ages three and six. She later told them that she heard a crash in their house on William Avenue at the same time the fatal head-on near Richer took the love of her life more than 60 kilometres away.

After his death, there was little time for mourning. The business college graduate, whose first job was for a stockbroker downtown, went to work. She often walked several kilometres and "dressed to the nines" to get there, her eldest daughter Diane Bilyj recalled. Her moms next job was at the Winnipeg School Division, where she was the special education departments administrative assistant almost from its inception.

"For many people in the school division, Stephanie was the special education department," her former boss John VanWalleghem said in a tribute to Bilyj.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Stephanie Bilyj on a horse as a young girl.

"She knew how the department worked, how the school division worked, who the important people were, how to get things done, and, most importantly, what had already been tried unsuccessfully," VanWalleghem wrote in response to her passing.

She also "despaired" over how informal professional dress and behaviour had become, he said. The administrative assistant who knew practically everything about her department or where to find something lamented that computers were replacing memories and paper files.

Bilyj, who was raised by Ukrainian newcomers but never visited Ukraine, valued its culture and traditions. She made sure her kids didnt lose their mother tongue or culture. "Every Saturday, we attended Ukrainian school," said Diane. Her mom wanted Ukrainian-Canadians to be able to hang onto their identity and their faith.

She organized language and Ukrainian embroidery classes through her Ukrainian Catholic Womens League. The sight of a properly completed Ukrainian Easter basket made her heart sing, her grandson Michael Bilyj said at her funeral.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A selection of photos of Stephanie Bilyj sit alongside some of her favourite Ukrainian Catholic icons.

Bilyj taught catechism at her Blessed Virgin Mary Church and sang in the choir for 70 years. The high point of her singing was in 1988, when she was a member of the Millennium Choir that sang for Pope John II in Rome.

When she retired in 1997, Bilyj had more time to devote more of her administrative experience  including computer skills  to work for her Blessed Virgin Mary Church. She wasnt a stereotypical "church lady." She shook up the way things had been done at her parish when she became its first female president in 2002. Bilyj served as the womens league president at the branch and archeparchial levels and on the national executive. At a time when Ukrainian Catholics and Roman Catholics kept their distance, Bilyj and the womens league reached out to their counterparts in the Catholic Womens League and supported charities such as LArche Winnipeg and Holy Names House of Peace.

She campaigned for palliative care and the underdog  both here and abroad. Shed regularly load up the trunk of her car at church with food donations that shed deliver to Winnipeg Harvest. Ten years ago, her womens league helped gather medical supplies and packed a shipping container full of them for a hospital in the Borschiv region of Ukraine.

As a social activist, Bilyj wasnt afraid to express her strongly held beliefs. They were rooted as much in wanting people to reach their potential as they were in church dogma.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Stephanie Bilyj's well-worn Bible, which she read daily. She taught catechism at Blessed Virgin Mary Church and served on the Ukrainian Catholic Women's League.

At her funeral, her grandson Michael said she was strongly anti-abortion because she believed in the potential of lives in utero. She advocated for palliative care and was anti-euthanasia because she believed in the potential of another valuable day with someone, he said.

In her later years, when Bilyjs younger daughter Adrienne Nicholson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer that advanced to Stage 3, she helped take care of her, prayed for her and lived to see her have a full recovery.

When Bilyj wanted to relax, shed head for the family cottage at Falcon Lake. It was her haven but she kept busy there, too, judging from one family photo. It shows her well into her 70s up on the roof cleaning an air vent. Bilyj was all about appreciating what life offered and caring for it.

"She cherished and loved everything she did," said daughter Diane. "She knew it was a gift and wanted to pass it on."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
ROSEISLE, Man.  It's a small meadow, really not much more, with tall green grass and trees at its edge. Somewhere behind the trees a small creek runs. It's at the bottom of a hill where downhill skiers ended their runs during winters almost three decades ago.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/6/2018 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROSEISLE, Man.  It's a small meadow, really not much more, with tall green grass and trees at its edge. Somewhere behind the trees a small creek runs. It's at the bottom of a hill where downhill skiers ended their runs during winters almost three decades ago.

It's just two weeks shy of that weekend 28 years ago. It was the setting for a local music festival. Where Brigitte Grenier, a 16 year old from nearby Miami, was beaten, sexually assaulted, mutilated and strangled in what police said was one of the most horrifying slayings in Manitoba history.

It is also the place where Kyle Unger lost a huge chunk of his life.

And he is seeing it for the first time since he was last here in 1991, unaware that he was part of an elaborate police sting. The only other time was a year earlier, during the first  and last  Woodstick Music Festival weekend.

It's a place where Unger doesn't want to linger.

He reached out to the Free Press in March and travelled back to Manitoba this week from his home in British Columbia to speak with the newspaper about his nearly three-decades-long odyssey through the justice system and his $14.5-million lawsuit seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction from the province, federal government and the RCMP.

He's willing to talk about Grenier's death, his first-degree murder trial, his 14-plus years behind bars, his release after the federal government said his conviction was "likely a miscarriage of justice," his acquittal a few months later and now, the lawsuit.

But not here.

"I don't feel comfortable getting out here," he says when the car slows near the meadow... the last time I was here was a year after it happened. Looking at it, there's an incredible emotion of regret.

"This is one of the chains of where my life changed. I feel a little sickening, wishing I never went to that party. Anger that I went to it. We got there when the sun was almost completely down. We were only there for a short time.

"I wish I'd left just a few more hours earlier," he adds as the car pulls away.

Unger has aged but, for the most part, the 2018 version doesn't look much different than the one splashed on front pages and TV newscasts in 1990. He still has long hair parted in the middle. He still has a moustache and beard. He still favours T-shirts and jeans.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kyle Unger at the Stephenfield Park spillway near where he grew up just outside of Roseisle, Man.

After 23 years of holding money-losing tractor pulls, the agricultural society in Roseisle, a tiny hamlet about 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, broke with tradition, gambling on a weekend rock music festival in late June, 1990.

And it paid off; after the first day, organizers said Woodstick was a financial success.

But the next day, two cyclists found Grenier's nude and battered body in the Roseisle Creek that runs through the Ski Birch facility and the surrounding area.

Almost immediately, RCMP officers arrested and charged two local teens, Unger, then 19, and Timothy Lawrence Houlahan, 17, with first-degree murder.

But later in the year  after a preliminary hearing, the Crown is forced to drop the charge against Unger because of the lack of evidence. There were no eyewitnesses, and people called to testify said Unger showed no signs he had been in a struggle and there didn't appear to be any mud or dirt on him, even though Grenier was found in a muddy creek. Unger hadn't made any incriminating statements to investigators, and police hadn't found any physical evidence tying him to the slaying. A dental expert wasn't able to link bite marks on Grenier's body to Unger.

He walked out of court a free man. Houlahan, however, remained under charge.

It wasn't long before the RCMP set up Operation Drifter, a "Mr. Big" undercover sting operation as they later became known; it was the first time the tactic was used in Manitoba and only the second in the country.

The details, of course, are different in each case, but the basic structure of a Mr. Big sting involves a large team of undercover officers who befriend the suspect, convince the suspect they are part of a large criminal organization that is interested in recruiting the suspect. At some point, it's made clear to the suspect that the way to earn the group's trust is with a confession to a crime.

Unger took the bait. He not only confessing to the slaying, but also offered graphic details about what happened. RCMP had hours of secretly recorded conversations between Unger and undercover cops.

Open-and-shut, it seemed.

The problem, however, was that Unger had heard many of the slaying's shocking details during the four-day preliminary hearing. He was financially, psychologically and socially vulnerable. His confession contained several incorrect details and he also told the undercover officers if he joined their organization, he was not going to commit any violent acts.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kyle Unger: 'When the jury foreman said 'guilty,' all you feel instantly is a long, hot flash through your body.'

The inconsistencies weren't enough to prevent an eight-man, four-woman Court of Queen's Bench jury from finding Unger and Houlahan guilty on Feb. 28, 1992 after 15 hours of deliberations.

Unger was working at a hobby farm when he first had contact with some of the Operation Drifter undercover officers.

One of the farm's owners advised him to turn down an invitation from the cops to go for drinks. He says he shouldn't have gone with them. And years later, he can't believe many of the things he told them.

"(In court) I just put my head down in shame," he says. "I was disgusted with stuff I said.

"But I still thought I was going to be found not guilty. I certainly believed (the jury) would come back and say 'innocent'... (Jurors) took so long, I thought they are looking at it seriously.

"I knew they would convict (Houlahan) because they had all kinds of forensic evidence on him. They had more than they needed on him."

He says he was stunned by the verdict.

"When the jury foreman said 'guilty,' all you feel instantly is a long, hot flash through your body. And then I thought, 'how do I tell my parents this?'"

The Supreme Court has warned judges across the county that while police can use Mr. Big operations to obtain confessions, the process has to meet a high standard in order to be admitted as evidence. Trial judges have to determine whether there's any chance of misconduct during the investigation. If the evidence passes that test, judges have been instructed to determine whether the prosecution can successfully argue that the confession is more reliable than prejudicial to the accused.

Unger, unexpectedly, says there's a place for the kind of operation that stung him.

"There was one where the person showed police where the body was," he says. "How do you falsely confess to that? But if you don't get valid evidence that could be corroborated, don't enter it (in court)."

WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Former Crown George Dangerfield was a renowned prosecutor.

Unger says he never had the chance to ask Houlahan why he pointed the finger at him. The rare times they were together, he followed his lawyers' advice to not speak with his co-accused.

Inmates in remand believed he was innocent and made sure at least once that Houlahan knew that, sending a message delivered with their fists, resulting in a black eye.

"I know in my mind Houlahan is the main player of this," Unger says. "In my mind, I believe there could have been two (killers), another with Houlahan, but not me."

Unger's current lawyers also note in documents filed in his lawsuit, that his trial lawyers were never told that the RCMP officer who conducted Houlahan's polygraph test, reported that at one point Houlahan asked, 'What if it's not Unger?'

Former Manitoba Crown attorney George Dangerfield, who led the prosecution against Unger, "is the author of all of this," Unger says.

Dangerfield, retired and living in B.C. now, was the renowned prosecutor who had a sterling record when it came to winning high-profile murder cases and putting killers behind bars. That is, until Unger's case was overturned, along with the convictions of two other notorious "killers"  Thomas Sophonow and James Driskell  leading to troubling questions about Dangerfield's conduct, along with that of investigators and others working in the Justice Department.

Frank Ostrowski, a fourth Dangerfield conquest, is about to join the others; he's waiting for the Manitoba Court of Appeal to decide whether he will be formally acquitted or whether his 30-year-old murder charge should be stayed. The Crown and defence have agreed that his conviction for ordering a drug dealer's death cannot stand.

"When you look at wrongful convictions and Dangerfield and you look at them all  wrongful convictions are not common," Unger says. It happens once in a blue moon. But you don't see any other prosecutors' names behind it.

"I think he prosecutes cases not for justice, not for the victims, I think he acts the way he does in the courtroom, withholding evidence... just to get another feather in his hat. It's a trophy for convictions. It's not solving the case, but a trophy for that fellow.

"He's a dangerous prosecutor."

WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES George Dangerfield

After his conviction, Unger spent the next 14 1/2 years in various Western Canada prisons: Stony Mountain, Edmonton, Drumheller, Agassiz, B.C. His parents sold their house near Roseisle and moved close to each of the places where he was incarcerated.

He says the one and only positive experience behind bars was learning how to carve totem poles from a fellow inmate. His work is now sold in galleries in Vancouver and Victoria.

Houlahan, who was awaiting a Supreme Court decision after the Crown appealed a Manitoba Court of Appeal decision to grant him a new trial, committed suicide in 1994.

Unger, who says the suicide tells him he was correct about Houlahan's guilt, shed no tears.

"He's where he deserves to be right now, six feet under," he says. "What's the expression? An eye for an eye."

Unger was released on bail in 2005, and in 2009 then federal justice Minister Rob Nicholson issued a statement saying, "A miscarriage of justice likely occurred in Mr. Unger's 1992 conviction" and ordered a new trial. A few months later, the Crown chose not to call any evidence and he was formally acquitted.

He celebrated with a Slurpee.

"I think it was Lime Rickey, he says with a chuckle. "It was November, freezing cold, and I walked down the road in freezing rain to get a Slurpee.

When the RCMP arrested Unger was living with his parents in the house he and his father built a few kilometres north of Roseisle, from the foundation on up. They even dug the well outside. The shed  where he kept the horse his parents gave him on his 16th birthday  is still there.

Everything changed when the RCMP put the cuffs on him.

"This is the first part of what I want back," Unger says. "This was the biggest loss of my life... this is where it all began, here. But with compensation, what does it give back? It doesn't give you back what it took. It doesn't change what you went through."

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kyle Unger outside the old grocery store in Roseisle.

Unger notes that at the time of his arrest he was working as a trucker with a local greenhouse, "a career that could have lasted decades."

The lawsuit claims that because of the wrongful conviction "he was deprived of his youth, his education and a normal working life."

Unger's health has taken a beating through the years. He has had two frightening heart episodes and he is on medication to counter his high blood pressure. He broke his back while riding a dirt bike. He has jaw and nerve pain in his mouth, the lasting reminder of the emergency surgery he underwent after he was assaulted in prison.

A Manitoba Justice Department spokeswoman said "the provinces ability to comment is limited as this matter is still before the courts."

In a statement of defence, filed in September 2014, the attorney general says Unger's claim for "aggravated, punitive and exemplary damages are without foundation at law and are unsupported by the evidence in this case."

The document also says the investigation into Grenier's death was done in a "thorough, fair and careful manner" and no part of the prosecution was "undertaken maliciously... for an ulterior motive or with any animus towards the plaintiff or any other person.

"(The) charges were laid against the plaintiff based primarily on his own confessions to undercover police officers."

Greg Rodin, Unger's lawyer, says a trial date should be scheduled sometime later this year.

"These types of cases are notoriously slow," Rodin says. "There's the questioning of various parties... It takes a long time to go through thousands of documents."

But Rodin says he is confident about the ultimate result of the civil suit because of what he sees were several intentional breaches of Unger's charter rights. He said both the RCMP and the prosecutors failed to disclose several bits of information to Unger's trial lawyers, including Houlahan's question to the RCMP officer conducting the lie-detector test.

"How could you say that's not relevant?" Rodin says.

"The constitutional rights of Kyle Unger to have a fair trial were breached... it was a clearly oppressive Mr. Big operation. There were a number of inducements for a vulnerable person.

"Can you imagine if Sheldon Pinx (Unger's trial lawyer) knew at the time what Houlahan said  'What if it's not Unger?' It's mind-boggling he was denied that.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Kyle Unger and his mother Treva Unger outside the courthouse in 2009.

"He's so clearly innocent."

Rodin, who was a partner in the Winnipeg law firm that represented Unger after his arrest and now practises in Calgary, has been providing his client with $1,000 every week since his October 2009 acquittal; he expects to recoup that money  an amount in the neighbourhood of $500,000 now  from the compensation he believes Unger will receive after prevailing in the lawsuit.

Unger says it's not just what he lost through the years he spent in prison that he has lost.

"I have these memories of what places looked like and I've had them for years," he says. "But now I find, the more you go back, the more things have changed. It's better not to go back. It doesn't look the same way, so now your memory has changed."

Likely a result of his years in jail cells, his life has been filled with instability since he walked out of that courtroom in 2009. He admits he has problems maintaining long-term relationships and is uncomfortable signing an apartment lease that would keep him in one place for a year.

"My friends call me a bit of a rolling stone," he says. "I want to move when I want to. I think I need that."

Unger looks wistful when he thinks of the life he could have had.

"The ripple effect in life of things you do... one small little decision and how it changes peoples' lives," he says.

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"I don't feel like I'm a victim. The RCMP were simply doing their job, but they were overzealous. I got into a few school fights in my day, so the RCMP didn't like me. They had Houlahan, but they didn't think only one (person) could have done it.

"They threw my name at him before he even said it and then he said, 'Yes, Kyle was there.'"

Given the opportunity, what would 47-year-old Unger tell his 19-year-old self?

"If I could say something to him today, I would tell him to listen to his parents a little more and take their advice a lot more," he says. "So many times Mom and Dad bailed me out of trouble. Helped me. Gave me a head start in things.

"I just kept wasting those opportunities. So I would tell that kid to stop pissing your life away and wasting opportunities."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
For the past five weeks, more than 120 Royal Canadian Air Force service members drilled hard in the hot sun on the parade square at 17 Wing Winnipeg.

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For the past five weeks, more than 120 Royal Canadian Air Force service members drilled hard in the hot sun on the parade square at 17 Wing Winnipeg.

Its for good reason  theyre about to protect the Queen and the royal family.

From June 25 to July 15, the contingent will parade from their barracks in London to Buckingham Palace or other royal residences to stand watch, armed with their rifles, bayonets afixed. The airmen and airwomen need to be in top form and top shape  boots shined, hats positioned just right, each step calculated.

Its the first time in its 94-year history the Canadian Armed Forces are sending a non-infantry unit to perform ceremonial duties in England.

The Queens Guard, as the group will be called when performing its duties, come from all over Canada. But they trained together in Winnipeg.

Maj. Veronique Gagne, the task force commander for the contingent, carried a sword as she led the contingent, which includes an RCAF band, as they paraded through the square Friday morning. The contingents heavy boots clapped hard against the pavement as Gagne shouted her commands.

Maj. David Meister, the public affairs officer, said commanders like Gagne get voice training from the Air Force band so they dont strain their vocal cords.

Training to be the Queens Guard was hard work  the Air Force doesnt drill nearly as often as the Army does, said Brig.-Gen. Sean Boyle, the deputy commander of 1 Canadian Air Force Division.

"For the Air Force to get to this level is very impressive  day-to-day, were doing operations around the world," he said.

Boyle went to military college, where drilling was a part of everyday life.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Brigadier-General Sean Boyle inspects every detail as he reviews the contingent.

"So, Im pretty picky when it comes to looking at how people are dressed-off and in-step," he said.

Before Friday mornings parade, Boyle took the time to inspect each airman and airwoman for two reasons.

"A real inspection does take a lot of time," he said. Often, he said, inspections are more of a formality. But not so with the Queens Guard.

"Theyll look at alignment and buttons  I wanted to simulate that time."

"I was also wanting to get a sense for the morale of the folks  if they felt ready, training-wise, and put them at ease," he said.

Overall, they are all motivated and ready to do their duties, Boyle said, which wasnt the case five weeks ago when they started their training.

"There was a lot of deer-in-the-headlights looks of people who just met each other," he said. "What are we getting ourselves into?"

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Gagne said she knew the contingent would be ready for action.

"I knew for sure that we would get there, but that we would have to work very hard," she said.

"I saw on day one that everyone was very dedicated."

She and her contingent are proud to represent the Air Force and Canada on the international stage, she said.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force and the 94-year anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The contingent will help celebrate the RAFs anniversary on July 10 in London.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @erik_pindera
Anthony Bourdain, the chef, television host and culinary raconteur, travelled all over the world, including Winnipeg, before his death Friday at the age of 61.

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This article was published 9/6/2018 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anthony Bourdain, the chef, television host and culinary raconteur, travelled all over the world, including Winnipeg, before his death Friday at the age of 61.

Though none of Bourdains hit shows, which put food and culture under the microscope for a global audience, ever set up cameras in Winnipeg, the chef-turned-bestselling author made a pit stop here in 2006 to promote his latest book. He left an indelible mark on some of the citys chefs, industry professionals and foodies.

At that point, Kelly Cattani, 36, now a seasoned chef in her own right, was in her mid-20s and standing in line at McNally Robinson to meet Bourdain, one of her biggest inspirations at the time. Cattani had read Bourdains first book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, when she was just 19 and getting set to begin her career in Winnipeg. The book, which gave non-foodies an inside look at the machinations of a New York City kitchen, made Bourdain a star, and it made Cattani see food in a new light.

"The industry seemed to be depicted as a haven for miscreants and socially awkward people could find like-minded people," Cattani said. "That was the industry I walked into."

To Cattani, the book was less a gastronomic tome than an historical document or a time capsule. For many chefs, cooks and connoisseurs who came of age during Bourdains rise, he represented a changing culinary arts world, Cattani said; chefs no longer needed tall hats and impeccable uniforms, and they didnt have to hide their tattoos, either.

"He showed you could be open-minded and unafraid," said Kevin Castro, 25, a Winnipeg kitchen veteran who now cooks for Actionmarguerite, an assisted-living facility. "And he knew the grind of being a cook."

So, when Bourdain rolled into town to promote Nasty Bits, his third non-fiction book, Cattani bought a copy and stood in a long, winding line to get the authors autograph. They exchanged quick greetings, and Cattani left with a souvenir.

"I havent reread it since," she said. "But I should probably pick it up again."

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The next day, outside Osborne Villages Bistro 71/4, Brandon Boone, then working as a food columnist for a local radio station, was feeling nervous. Inside sat Bourdain, waiting for his interviewer to arrive.

"Hey, Im Anthony. Lets chat," Boone, who now works in communications for the University of Manitoba, recalls him saying.

Boones anxiety dissipated, and soon, the two were in the kitchen toiling over steak frites, making sure the meat was cooked perfectly.

Boone later worked as an editor for a food magazine, Flavours, which folded a few years ago. But he says meeting Bourdain pushed him toward following his passion. Bourdain gave him his email address and Boone occasionally sent questions about food: "I cant remember what I asked him. I think it was about roasting beets."

Before Bourdain left for his next stop, Boone snapped a picture with him. It now hangs above his desk, and he thinks about it often.

bwaldman@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @benjwaldman
As the search for Eduardo Balaquit stretched into its fourth day Friday, news of his disappearance pulled at the heartstrings of others who have lived through the nightmare of having a loved one vanish.

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This article was published 9/6/2018 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the search for Eduardo Balaquit stretched into its fourth day Friday, news of his disappearance pulled at the heartstrings of others who have lived through the nightmare of having a loved one vanish.

Balaquit, 59, went missing Monday evening, shortly after heading to work at a business on the 300 block of Keewatin Street. The following morning, his vehicle was found abandoned in a nearby parking lot, with one of the windows smashed and his cellphone inside.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Wilma Derksen

On Wednesday, the Winnipeg Police Service announced its homicide unit had taken over the investigation.

'Finding Candace, as horrific as that was, it was such a huge relief, and when something so horrific is such a huge relief, that tells you how bad the not knowing was'  Wilma Derksen

Having a case handed off from the missing persons unit is an experience Wilma Derksen knows intimately.

"To move from missing persons to the homicide unit was a relief in a way. Missing persons was worse. Homicide, well thats a new level of horror, but the not knowing is just so horrific. It was hell, pure hell," Derksen told the Free Press.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Family and friends release balloons at a vigil for Thelma Krull at Civic Park Monday, July 11, 2016.

In November 1984, Derksens daughter, Candace, disappeared on her way home from school. Weeks later, Candaces body was discovered in a Winnipeg lumber yard shed. The 13-year-old had been tied up and left to freeze to death.

"Finding Candace, as horrific as that was, it was such a huge relief, and when something so horrific is such a huge relief, that tells you how bad the not knowing was," Derksen said Friday.

As horrible as the partial-closure Derksen received that day, there are others in Winnipeg whove been robbed even of that, including the families of Thelma Krull, Kevin Dilk and Scott Hadath, among others.

Dilk, 50, and Hadath, 39, went missing in November 2016 and June 2017, respectively. Neither man has been seen since. Winnipeg police said Friday investigations into their disappearances are ongoing.

Meanwhile, next month will mark the third anniversary of the disappearance of Krull, a 57-year-old grandmother who vanished on a morning walk July 11, 2015. Each anniversary of her disappearance has been marked by an WPS news conference.

One tip received in the wake of the first anniversary news conference led to police announcing a potential suspect in Krulls disappearance. A composite sketch was later released to the public, but no arrests have been made.

SCOTT HADATH

Krull was declared legally dead in September 2017, but the WPS case remains open and active.

Wanda Bretecher, Krulls niece, told the Free Press her heart breaks thinking of what Eduardo Balaquits family has gone through this week.

"My heart goes out to the Balaquit family... There is not a day that goes by that I dont wake up and wish that today will bring my family answers that will lead to an end to our continuing nightmare. I wish I could say that with time the pain becomes more manageable. It doesnt," she wrote Friday in a text message.

On Friday, Edward Balaquit, one of Eduardos two sons, announced on social media the family was holding two separate search parties  at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Since their fathers disappearance, the brothers have been searching nearly around the clock, keeping faith by keeping busy.

Derksen said she remembers the rush of adrenaline and panic that fuelled her own searches in the days following Candaces disappearance.

"We just went into overdrive. Nothing else mattered. Its kind of like a bottomless pit, a crazy, wild panic. It was pure desperation. We did anything we could think of," she said.

On Thursday night, the WPS asked for the publics assistance in tracking down Sean Perkins, 36, who went missing Tuesday. The following morning, city police reported hed been safely located.

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Derksen said she hopes for a similar ending to the saga unfolding for the Balaquit family. Short of that, she said she hopes they get answers  whatever they may be.

A police spokeswoman said there were no new updates in Balaquits case Friday, adding she was unable to say whether investigators were still out actively searching for him.

Whatever comes, and no matter the outcome, getting an answer is better than the suspended limbo and uncertainty other families have been left in, Derksen said.

"I know the horror theyre in, and I just ache for them. Grief, sorrow, disappointment, pain, in the end, all of that is manageable. Its just the unknown, when theres that piece thats missing and youre left floating not knowing what happened."

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe
Its the No. 1 question I get asked; it doesnt matter where, what topic or what forum.

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This article was published 8/6/2018 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Its the No. 1 question I get asked; it doesnt matter where, what topic or what forum.

"Niigaan, I know there are big issues such as the Indian Act and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but I dont work in government. What can I do in my life, right now, to produce change?"

Its easy, I say: face reality.

Reality tells us that Indigenous peoples make up around 20 per cent of Winnipeg, and thats just in legally and self-recognized identities.

If I shook family trees in our city, an Indigenous person would probably fall out of each one. An ancestor doesnt make a person Indigenous, of course. Being an Indigenous person is about how you act and your relationships  not about blood.

The rest of you are married to, live beside, or have identities fostered by Indigenous peoples. Just look on your drivers licence and count the Indigenous names you have been given: Kanata, Manitowapow, Winnipec.

Every single person in our community has been given gifts by Indigenous peoples. The reality is that Indigenous peoples built our home.

Look around: Pembina Highway, Portage Avenue, and Main Street are Indigenous trading routes, Metis followed the bison in St. James and Indigenous stories and laws were spread on Manitobas first internet: the Red River.

Indigenous peoples made this place, and others are now a part of it.

Today our fastest-growing and youngest community is Indigenous peoples, and they are shaping Winnipeg. At the University of Manitoba, we have 2,400 self-declared Indigenous peoples. Approximately 12 per cent of students at the University of Winnipeg are self-declared First Nations, Inuit or Metis peoples. Red River College has about 1,500.

Thats around 5,000-plus nurses, lawyers, dentists, social workers, teachers, and hundreds of other professions across the public and private sector. And it will keep growing.

There are about 5,000 post-secondary students in Manitoba who identify as Indigenous. (TREVOR HAGAN/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES)

Who do you think will be taking care of all of us, paying the taxes, and leading the political parties in the future?

Its like we will be returning to the 18th century, when Indigenous peoples such as Chief Peguis and Black Robe mentored and cared for this entire community.

We must invest in Indigenous youth, the most critical and crucial segment of our economy, because ultimately it is an investment in everyone.

But we have other huge, and unnecessary, obstacles. Dozens of exploitative and divisive policies, legacies, and practices, built mostly on ignorance, come quickly to mind.

Ignorance is the most expensive obstacle Canada faces. It costs billions of dollars every year in court battles, violence, and "awareness training."

So, reality is really the easy part, while change is much tougher.

It comes in four steps: listen, learn, commit and act.

Listen to Indigenous peoples when they bravely articulate their own and their familys experiences about the last 150 years.

Listen to the human sides of these stories. The first time I saw this happen on a wide scale was in August 2014, when thousands of Winnipeggers mourned the death of slain 15-year-old Tina Fontaine at The Forks.

Listen to the silence when Indigenous peoples are shut out of rooms when decisions are made about their lives.

Listen to the possibilities when this doesnt happen.

We all need to listen more. Really listen. Indigenous peoples, too.

Canadians need to refuse to accept when attempts are made to renege on promises to Indigenous peoples. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

Next comes learning. Learn how Indigenous peoples are not the "problems" or the "stains" or the "burden" of this country. Learn how violence, poverty, and racism are outcomes of Canadas legislative attempts to control Indigenous lives.

Learn from the incredible voices of Indigenous writers. I used to be able to list all of the books Indigenous peoples had published. Now I hear of a new book nearly every day.

Learn about privilege. Learn what it looks like for genders, sexualities, and classes. Learn how privilege creates imbalances and opportunities one is not even aware of.

Learn that all voices matter. Learn how to step aside or, better yet, stand beside, those who simply want an opportunity to live, love, and thrive.

Now comes the really tough part: commitment.

Commit to moral, social, cultural, legal, and economic change. Justice. Commit to standing up to ignorance every time you encounter it.

Commit to voting for leaders who can actually articulate what reconciliation looks like and  most important of all  have a plan to do it. Then, refuse to accept when attempts are made to renege on promises for things such as pipelines and payoffs.

Commit to talking about relationships with Indigenous peoples in the community, the home, and the workplace. I know a group of seniors who do this during every visit to Tim Hortons.

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Read the treaties. Realize they are about the future, not the past. Recognize that they are not just words, but a way of life.

Then you take the bravest step of all. You act.

Fulfil this vision.

Dont just be an ally, but live as one.

Thats how you produce change.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
Canadian jazz-broadcasting icon Ross Porter, who for a decade hosted a national CBC radio show out of Winnipeg, has stepped down as president and chief executive officer of a Toronto radio station in the wake of sexual-harassment allegations.

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This article was published 8/6/2018 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian jazz-broadcasting icon Ross Porter, who for a decade hosted a national CBC radio show out of Winnipeg, has stepped down as president and chief executive officer of a Toronto radio station in the wake of sexual-harassment allegations.

Porter hosted After Hours on CBC Radio 2 for 11 years before leaving to become vice-president of programming for Winnipeg jazz radio station Cool FM in 2003, and moving on to JAZZ.FM91 a year later.

The Globe and Mail is reporting Porter left JAZZ.FM91 last week following a workplace investigation that began after more than a dozen current and former employees complained he had sexually harassed staff and created a toxic workplace.

"We're not aware of any complaints regarding Ross Porter during his time at CBC," Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs for the CBC, told the Free Press Friday.

Roxane Gagne, who worked with Porter at Cool FM 99.1, said she never saw anything untoward happen at the Winnipeg station.

Ross Porter hosted After Hours on CBC for 11 years in Winnipeg before leaving to become vice-president of programming for defunct jazz radio station Cool FM in 2003, and moving on to JAZZ.FM91 in Toronto a year later. (Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press Files)

"When I was working with him, he was very professional and he was a very good guy. He was very professional and very focused on the jazz scene," Gagne said.

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"I'm sorry to hear this."

According to the Globe, Porter had been accused of unwanted touching at JAZZ.FM91, made jokes employees should sleep with the not-for-profit station's supporters, and would tell staff they should come up with ideas that would "make me horny."

The station hired an employment lawyer to conduct an investigation into the allegations. The lawyer, Jennifer MacKenzie, interviewed 27 people, according to the station's board of directors.

"Many of the complaints were unsubstantiated, while others warranted further consideration and action. Where the findings substantiated aspects of the complaint, the board has taken corrective action," the board stated in a letter to the Globe and Mail about the findings of the investigation.

The music station has allowed Porter to receive the title of president emeritus and keep broadcasting his Saturday morning show Music to Listen to Jazz By. It posted a note on its website stating Porter has stepped down to spend more time with his wife, who is ill.

"I consider many of these accusations to be isolated, distorted and manipulated out of context," Porter said in a statement to the Globe.
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This article was published 9/6/2018 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Wherever you have Pride, youre going to have politics.

This years Winnipeg Pride Day parade  the citys largest celebration of LGBTTQ* culture and advocacy  was no exception.

A week of Pride events culminated on June 3 with the traditional parade through downtown Winnipeg, where you could witness city councillors, MPs and lots of MLAs marching downtown to support equal rights for the LGBTTQ* community.

Mayor Brian Bowman was there handing out rainbow flags adorned with the citys logo, walking side-by-side with former mayor Glen Murray, the citys first openly gay politician. Not surprising, when you consider that Bowman is running for re-election this fall and Murray remains an enduringly popular character in this town.

Premier Brian Pallister also was there. He didnt march in the parade, mind you, but he did address the throng at the legislature, the second time in the three years he has been in power. And by all accounts, the Progressive Conservatives were making a bit more of an effort to get into the Pride spirit this year.

A small contingent of elected officials marched in the parade, including one other cabinet minister, Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires, along with a handful of MLAs and Tory staffers. There was social media  videos and tweets showcasing the Tory caucus presence at the parade  and T-shirts featuring the partys logo festooned with the now-familiar rainbow of colours.

Given how few elected Tories showed up  they have 39 MLAs in their caucus  it could hardly be called a "show of force." However, given the situation in other provinces, its a solid performance by the Tory government.

In fact, Manitobans sympathetic to the Pride movement will take comfort in knowing that ours is one of the provinces in which the leaders of all three major political parties show up to support Pride.

That sets us apart from Alberta, where United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney, the man who likely will be the next premier, has avoided Pride for the past two years. Or Saskatchewan, where current Premier Scott Moe bowed out yet again. No Saskatchewan first minister has ever taken part in Pride events.

Moe was joined by federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer in passing on Pride. He stands in stark contrast to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who makes a point of attending multiple Pride events across the country and just last month received an award for promoting LGBTTQ* issues.

Incoming Ontario premier Doug Ford  a concept that seemed rather remote just six months ago  hasnt said whether hell attend this months Pride festivities in Toronto. His brother Rob, the late and infamous former mayor of Toronto, made a strident point of avoiding pro-Pride events.

All of this jockeying by politicians come Pride month makes you wonder, what are the countrys LGBTTQ* people getting from all the posing and posturing by politicians?

Jonathan Niemczak, president of Pride Winnipeg, said the presence of politicians in the event opens a dialogue that can, at times, be important if an issue of law or public policy affecting the LGBTTQ* community arises. Participation signals an openness to hear new ideas and to address issues of equality and safety. Having said that, Pride officials realize that for some politicians, marching in Pride is just a way of trying to hedge their bets come election time.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Mayor Brian Bowman (left) and former mayor Glen Murray walk in the Winnipeg Pride parade on June 3.

In the LGBTTQ* community, its called "pink washing," a phenomenon that sees straight politicians using Pride to paint themselves as progressive and supportive when, in actual fact, they might not be allies in the fight for safety and equality. "Obviously, were hoping that politicians dont just show up for a photo op, but are actually supporting what were doing," Niemczak said. "Unfortunately, its hard to test for sincerity. At the very least, if the politicians are in government, we can get a sense of where they stand based on how they participate."

As for the current Tory government in Manitoba, Niemczak said he isnt all that concerned about the sheer numbers that showed up, although he would have liked to see Pallister actually march in the parade. (Marching is one of those gestures by which LGBTTQ* activists assess the true commitment of a politician.) He also noted that there are other members of the Tory caucus  including Justice Minister Heather Stefanson  who, despite their absence last weekend, support Pride.

Niemczak said when you come right down to it, its clear that speaking at the Pride rally is a politically tenuous activity for a right-of-centre political leader.

Its certainly true that the Tory support base in Manitoba, much of it located outside the city, does not look favourably on Winnipegs principal LGBTTQ* celebration or the issues it raises.

"There is no doubt that the premier is spending some political capital by showing up and speaking," Niemczak said. "I think were quite fortunate that were in a province where the party that is the most right-leaning can still come out and support us. I could see in the comments on his Facebook page that some of his supporters were not happy that he went to Pride."

In fact, Pallisters commitment to Pride events is nothing short of courageous when you consider the difficulties he has had in the past with such issues as same-sex marriage.

In the mid-2000s, Pallister was a federal Conservative MP, and like many of his fellow caucus members, opposed same-sex marriage. In a 2005 interview with the Free Press, and later in a parliamentary debate, Pallister offered a tortured logic to argue that allowing same-sex marriage would be contrary to the best principles of diversity.

Pallister said subsequently that his position on same-sex marriage has "evolved," and now that it is legal, he is fine with the whole issue. Still, the impression remains that he is philosophically opposed to some of the core tenets of the LGBTTQ* movement.

This makes Pallisters appearance at this years Pride festivities all the more impressive, Niemczak said.

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"I remember being at Pride in 2016, which was the first one (Pallister) appeared at, and I was genuinely worried for him. I thought he might get booed right off the stage, especially considering we were just coming off an election where we were told he was an enemy. But it went really well. He got some applause and cheers, just like he did this year."

As for pro-LGBTTQ* policies or laws, Niemczak said the Pallister government hasnt offered much, but then again, the community hasnt asked for much. Perhaps more importantly, the Tories havent tried to deconstruct some of the important legislative gains made by LGBTTQ* lobbying during the years the NDP were in power  laws such as the Safe Schools Act, which forced all publicly funded schools in Manitoba to allow students to organize gay-straight alliance support groups.

Unravelling such legislation would be considered a very provocative act, Niemczak said. "So far, the current government does not seem interested in revisiting laws like that, which is a good thing."

The quiet and modest support from the current government is acceptable for now, Niemczak said, but there will likely come a time in the future when the Tories may have to put their legislation where their mouths are. That will be an important test of the sincerity of the Tory commitment to Pride.

"At the end of the day, its important for our community to see political leaders come out and support diversity and equality," he said. "Whether the Tories are really sincere or not is a question. But for now, it certainly helps that theyre showing up."

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
On Friday, the Manitoba Museum revealed the first phase of its Bringing Our Stories Forward project, a $17.5-million capital campaign with the aim of revitalizing and updating the museum's galleries.

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On Friday, the Manitoba Museum revealed the first phase of its Bringing Our Stories Forward project, a $17.5-million capital campaign with the aim of revitalizing and updating the museum's galleries.

After three years of planning and work, the improved Nonsuch gallery was unveiled, providing a new perspective on the replica 17th-century fur-trading ship that has been a favourite with visitors since it was installed in 1974.

Museums, especially venerable ones, are faced with multiple challenges when it comes time to update.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The improved Nonsuch gallery was unveiled Friday, providing a new perspective on the replica 17th-century fur-trading ship that has been a favourite with visitors since 1974.

First, there's the fickleness of the public. On one hand, people tend to assume attractions that have existed for decades have nothing new to offer, that they're a been-there, done-that proposition. On the other, curators who make changes hear the howls of outrage when beloved exhibits are altered or removed.

Balancing nostalgia with progress is a delicate process.

In comparison with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights  a shiny new toy, outfitted with the bells and whistles of cutting-edge technology  the Manitoba Museum, with its endearing old-school dioramas, might seem like a half-forgotten old teddy bear, but it is an important and evolving record of the history of this province.

Its collections, only five per cent of which are on display, contain tangible links to the people, species and ecosystems that have made us who we are.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The new Nonsuch gallery brings Manitoba's story forward.

The original Nonsuch never actually visited Manitoba, but her voyage and the subsequent formation of the Hudson's Bay Company set into motion the wheels of colonization in Western Canada.

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The replica was intended as a celebration of HBC's legacy; that legacy's influence is widespread and undeniable, but not without its issues. As historian Ira Berlin, who died on Tuesday at age 77, said, "One does not get over history, one just has to come to terms with it."

Part of that "coming to terms" can be achieved by shifting the narrative. Museum artifacts and specimens don't exist in a vacuum; the context in which they're displayed tells a story. In many cases, that story has been a one-sided account that largely discounts the contributions of Indigenous people, whose lives and belongings are often presented as curiosities set apart from the settler experience.

"Now theres a lot more collaboration and thinking about how we write about people and their things," says Amelia Fay, curator of the Hudson's Bay Co. Museum Collection.

The words we use make a difference  remember that when the Nonsuch was originally ensconced into its wing, the building was known as the Museum of Man and Nature. To that end, the new exhibit includes a Cree oral history that recalls First Nations' initial encounters with Europeans, and an audio soundtrack, written by Metis playwright Ian Ross, that highlights the interactions British sailors had with Indigenous hunters.

Incorporating multiple voices into the historical narrative is part of the work museums the world over are striving to achieve.

The Bringing Our Stories Forward campaign is valuable, not just because it makes the Manitoba Musuem a more up-to-date and appealing tourist attraction. How we present and interpret Manitoba's history isn't only about the way we explain ourselves to others. It's about how we understand our past and move our own story forward.
UBS Group AG is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial management solutions. It operates through the following segments: Global Wealth Management;; Personal and Corporate Banking; Asset Management; Investment Bank, and Corporate Center. The Global Wealth Management segment advises and offers financial services to wealthy private clients except those served by Wealth Management Americas which include banking and lending, wealth planning, and investment management. The Personal and Corporate segment offers financial products and services to private, corporate, and institutional clients in Switzerland. The Asset Management segment consists of investment management products and services; platform solutions and advisory support to institutions; wholesale intermediaries, and wealth management clients. The Investment Bank segment comprises investment advice, financial solutions, and capital markets access among corporate, institutional, and wealth management clients. The Corporate Center segment is involved in the services, group asset and liability management and non-core and legacy portfolio. The company was founded on June 29, 1998 and is headquartered in Zurich

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Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of New Jersey. The fund invests in undervalued municipal securities and other related investments that are, exempt from regular federal and New Jersey income taxes that are rated Baa or BBB or better. It employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Standard & Poor's (S&P) New Jersey Municipal Bond Index. The fund was formerly known as Nuveen New Jersey Dividend Advantage Municipal Fund. Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund was formed on June 1, 1999 and is domiciled in the United States.

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MasTec, Inc. engages in the provision of infrastructure construction services. It operates through the following segments: Communications; Oil and Gas; Electrical Transmissions; Clean Energy and Infrastructure; and Other. The Communications segment performs engineering, construction, maintenance and customer fulfillment activities related to communications infrastructure, primarily for wireless and wireline/fiber communications, and install-to-the-home customers. The Oil and Gas segment offers services on oil and natural gas pipelines and processing facilities for the energy, and utilities industries. The Electrical Transmission segment deals with the energy and utility industries. The Clean Energy and Infrastructure segment serves energy, utility and other end-markets through the installation and construction of power generation facilities, including from clean energy and renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass, as well as various types of heavy civil and industrial infrastructure. The Other segment comprises of equity investees, other small business units that perform construction, and other services for a variety of international end-markets. The company was founded by

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7 hours ago

3 Stocks Cowen Thinks Are Going Higher

Earlier this week, the folks over at Cowen released their findings from a consumer survey of millennials and Generation Z. In a published note, they said "our proprietary survey of 18-34-year-old consumers suggests the themes of sustainability, social commerce and shifts to digital will have profound effects on growth and risk across retail, e-commerce, restaurants/food, cannabis, and payments sectors.

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UniFirst Corp. engages in the design, manufacture, personalization, rental, cleaning, delivery, and sale of a range of uniforms and protective clothing. It operates through following segments: U.S. Rental and Cleaning, Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing, Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning, First Aid, and Corporate. The U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning segment purchases, rents, cleans, delivers and sells uniforms and protective clothing and non-garment items in the United States and Canada. The Manufacturing segment designs and manufactures uniforms and non-garment items primarily for the purpose of providing these goods to the U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning reporting segment. The Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning segment sells specialty garments and non-garment items primarily for nuclear and cleanroom applications and provides cleanroom cleaning services at limited customer locations. The First Aid segment provides first aid cabinet services and other safety supplies as well as maintains wholesale distribution and pill packaging operations. The Corporate segment consists of costs associated with its distribution center, sales and marketing, informatio

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Internationally acclaimed journalist, author, lecturer and former New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges has issued the following statement endorsing the June 17 demonstration at Sydneys Town Hall Square to demand that the Australian government immediately act to secure Julian Assanges unconditional freedom and return to Australia.

Chris Hedges

Julian Assanges life is in danger. In violation of his fundamental human rights, the Ecuadorean government has transformed his asylum in its London embassy into a form of brutal incarceration. It has cut off his access to the Internet, thus depriving Julian of the ability to communicate with his supporters or even follow world events. The transparent aim of this inhuman treatment is to force Julian to leave the Ecuadorean embassy, so that he can be seized by London police, thrown into a British jail, and endure deportation proceedings which will be rigged to ensure a predetermined outcome. Julian Assange will be turned over to the United States and delivered into the hands of Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton and the CIA's expert torturer-in-chief Gina Haspel.

Julian Assange is a courageous journalist. He has been victimized because he exposed the real crimes of imperialism. The conspiracy against Julian must be stopped. His defense is the cutting edge of the fight against government suppression of the most fundamental democratic rights. I therefore support the June 17 demonstration in Sydney, called by the Australian Socialist Equality Party, which is demanding that the Australian government afford Julian the protection to which he is entitled as a citizen of Australia. The Turnbull government must take action to stop Julian's illegal persecution by the British, American and Ecuadorean governments, and secure his safe return to Australia.
Republican Governor Bruce Rauner issued an amendatory veto last month to Illinois state gun control legislation that establishes a 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases. It would reinstate the death penalty at the state level for murders of two or more people or of police and create a new category of criminal offense called death penalty murder.

The state of Illinois banned the death penalty in 2011, following an eleven-year moratorium after multiple reports of wrongful convictions emerged. The death penalty remains widely opposed by the states residents.

The Democratic-controlled Illinois General Assembly can either accept the changes by a simple majority vote in each of the chambers or override the Governors veto by a three-fifths vote in each chamber. A third option is that the veto is not acted on and the bill, with its amendatory veto, dies.

Rauners amendatory veto is an attempt to force the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to approve even more draconian law-and-order measures in order to get the bills gun control measures.

The original bill passed by the state legislature called for a 72 hour cooling-off period on the sale of assault rifles. In addition to reinstating the death penalty, Rauners amendment would expand the waiting period to cover all firearms, ban the sale of firearm enhancements that turn semi-automatic guns into fully automatic guns, and establish a legal path for the courts to seize firearms possessed by people identified by their family members or police as a danger to themselves or others.

At a May 14 conference, Rauner said: There are plenty of cases where theres no doubt whos guilty, and they deserve to give up their life when they take the life of a police officer, who are our heroes, or they take the life of many people.

Rauner acknowledged the long history of wrongful convictions in death penalty cases in absurd fashion, declaring in his amendment: [T]he only morally justifiable standard of proof in a death penalty case is beyond all doubt. The evidentiary standard for criminal conviction in the United States is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Rauners appeal to beyond all doubt has no status in US law.

Rauners effort to reinstate the death penalty in cases where two or more people are murdered and in cases where a police officer is killed echoes various Blue Lives Matter laws, proposed in 14 states over the past year, which increase the penalty if the victim is a law enforcement officer. One such bill at the federal level, The Protect and Serve Act of 2018, passed the US House of Representatives 382-35 with the support of 162 of 193 Democrats. The bill calls for a maximum 10-year sentence for anyone who assaults or attempts to assault a law enforcement officer and life imprisonment for murder of a law enforcement officer. Having passed the House, the bill is currently before the US Senate.

What is clear is that the billionaire Rauner was using his veto to make a public appeal to the most reactionary elements in the state to vote for him in the upcoming November election. Rauner is seeking re-election against the Democratic Partys own billionaire candidate, J.B. Pritzker.

In the Illinois Republican primary, Rauner narrowly defeated a far-right challenger Jeanne Ives. Ives, who was financed by the far-right activist Uihlein family, appealed to the most reactionary elements within the Republican Party and the financial aristocracy who are angered by Rauners inability to deliver on his promises of further deregulating the state, lowering wages and destroying workers collective bargaining rights.

The Democrats are in no fundamental way opposed to the terms of Rauners amendment, as they have elected to open the floor to debate the proposal to bring back the death penalty.

Citing their concerns with the lack of time to evaluate the legislation, the Illinois States Attorneys Association, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, stated, We believe that any process by which the government would end a human life should be deliberate and thoughtful, with appropriate safeguards in place, and that the death penalty should be reserved for the most serious offenses and offenders.

When Democratic Governor Pat Quinn signed into law the abolition of the death penalty in 2011, he did so largely as an effort to stem the growing outrage over wrongful convictions and claimed ending the death penalty would improve the fiscal health of the state. From the reinstatement of capital punishment in Illinois in 1977 through 2000, when the moratorium began, the state carried out 12 executions. Over that same period, 20 condemned inmates were taken off death row. Some of these men were exonerated after DNA evidence proved their innocence and other cases collapsed after new trials were ordered by appellate courts.

The continued barbaric practice of capital punishment across the US and the effort to revive its use in Illinois in the face popular opposition speaks volumes about the decay of class rule in America.

Rauner, and his reactionary call to bring back the death penalty, represents a capitalist class that is openly turning to repressive and authoritarian forms of rule. The few crumbs of progress afforded to the working class, including the abolition of the death penalty, are being clawed back.
Japans ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last month called for a doubling of the nations military spending from its traditional post-World War II cap of 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). If achieved, this would sharply accelerate the acquisition of offensive hardware and the overall drive toward remilitarization, risking the danger of war abroad and the suppression of democratic rights at home.

Japan already ranks eighth in global military spending, with its budget reaching record-highs for six straight years heading into 2018. The latest budget of 5.2 trillion yen ($45.9 billion) is currently 0.9 percent of GDP. Doubling this would make Japan the third largest military spender in the world, behind only the United States and China.

While presenting this spending as defensive, in order to comply with Japans post-war constitution, the LDP and Prime Minister Shinzo Abes government are finalizing plans to give Tokyo the ability to launch attacks on targets in foreign countries. On May 25, an LDP panel submitted a proposal to Abe that includes acquiring F-35B stealth fighter jets and other means of projecting its military power abroad.

Last December, Tokyo already said it planned to purchase cruise missiles, from both the US and Norway, with ranges between 500 and 1,000 kilometres. Japan is examining purchasing Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSMs) from Lockheed Martin, the same used by the United States in its attack on Syria in April. These would be fitted on Japans military aircraft.

To deploy the F-35Bs, the panel also proposed refitting Japans Izumo helicopter carrier into a full-fledged aircraft carrier, the countrys first since World War II. The LDP suggested calling it a mother ship to provide a thin veil over the true nature of such a vessel. The government will review these proposals as part of its National Defense Program Guidelines and the Midterm Defense Program at the end of this year.

In addition, the proposal calls for the countrys military to target cruise missile bases, a clear reference to China and potentially Russia and their armaments of long-range missiles. This reflects the integration of Japans military into US war plans in the Asia-Pacific, directed chiefly against Beijing, in line with the recent US National Defense Strategy, which accused China of seeking to displace the US as the hegemonic power in the Indo-Pacific region.

The panel called the current situation in Asia the most critical since World War II. In that war, the imperialist ambitions of Japan, the United States, and Europe clashed to determine which would control the region. Once again, these conflicts have re-emerged.

In the current defense budget beginning April 1, ballistic missile systems comprise the single largest category of spending, at 136.5 billion yen ($1.25 billion). Last December, Japan announced it would purchase two Aegis Ashore ballistic missile systems (at $1 billion each) from the United States.

Coupled with the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea, these armaments have drastically raised tensions in the region with China and Russia, which fear the accompanying X-band radar systems will be used to spy on their territory or be converted into offensive weaponry.

The scale of Japans military expansion belies the governments claim to be simply responding to the supposed North Korean ballistic missile threat. Japans military budget is clearly disproportionate to the size of the impoverished North Korean economy, with an approximate GDP of $20 billion.

Japanese imperialism has used North Korea as the rationale for remilitarization and its war drive against China. For this reason, it has concerns about any rapprochement between Washington and Pyongyang, which would cut across this campaign in the eyes of the Japanese public.

Seeking to placate concerns over the obvious offensive nature of these proposals, the LDP said the capability to strike foreign missile bases was based on the concept that clearly separates action from a pre-emptive attack that is not allowed under the constitution and international law.

Not a word of this should be taken at face value. High-ranking LDP officials, including Prime Minister Abe, have previously insisted Japan has the legal ability to launch pre-emptive attacks in self-defense. Lawmaker Hiroshi Imazu said last year during discussion over acquiring cruise missiles: Its legally possible for Japan to strike an enemy base thats launching a missile at us, but we dont have the equipment or the capability.

The Abe cabinets third Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, approved in May, called for stepped-up radar coverage, surveillance, and military operations around the uninhabited Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which are disputed with China, and other islands claimed by Tokyo, including the Northern Territories/Kuril Islands currently in Russias possession.

Despite strong popular anti-war sentiment, Abe and the far-right nationalists in Japan are attempting to rewrite Japans constitution, in particular the so-called pacifist clause Article 9 which states land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained and [t]he right of belligerency of the state will not be recognised.

The proposed revisions are not limited to Article 9. In the LDPs 2012 draft constitution, the party called for the government to be permitted to mobilise the military to put down domestic protests or unrest. Any military buildup will contribute to this end.

The placement of Japans military on an increasingly offensive footing can only further inflame tensions with China and Russia, further heightening the danger of a major arms race and war in the region.
Last month, the Oakland Education Association (OEA) declared an impasse in contract negotiations and told teachers to prepare for a strike when school resumes in August. The district is demanding an increase in special education class sizes and the hours all teachers work, without a commensurate rise in teacher pay.

Oakland teachers are increasingly outraged over the districts poor pay, immense turnover, large class sizes and dilapidated facilities. They are inspired by the wave of teachers struggles that broke out in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and elsewhere against chronic underfunding of education, and are looking for a way to fight.

Teachers should not assume that just because the OEA has told them to prepare for a strike, that the union will actually call one. Once an impasse is declared the Public Employee Relations Board assigns a mediator. If mediation fails, a fact-finding panel is appointed, and after its results are made public the union can legally strike and the district can legally impose its last contract offer.

The OEA has consistently done everything in its power to prevent a struggle. Despite the major concessions demanded by the district, the union has dragged out negotiations for 18 months, leaving Oakland teachers to work the entire 2017-18 school year without a contract. The OEA has enforced decades of concessions, including $9 million in budget cuts in the middle of this school year. Far from fighting these cuts, OEA President Trish Gorham said, They do have to cut in order to make the $1.2 million reserve, thats a legal requirementBut thats $5 or $6 million, not $9 million.

Any organization that accepts budget cuts as necessary while the government spends trillions on wars and corporate tax cuts is incapable of defending public education. Public education in California and across the country is under bipartisan attack. Any serious struggle immediately involves a political fight against both Democrats and Republicans and the powerful corporate interests they both defend.

The union bureaucracy, however, is entirely integrated into the Democratic Party machine. Both the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are major cogs in this corporate-controlled party, with AFT President Randi Weingarten serving as a member of the Democratic National Committee.

To prevent teachers from waging a political fight against the Democrats, who have attacked public education just as savagely as the Republicans, the NEA and AFT have isolated educators and worn down their resistance against decades of budget cutting by both parties.

To defend public education and win gains for teachers and students, Oakland teachers must take the conduct of this struggle out of the hands of the unions by forming their own, independent rank-and-file committees. These committees should establish direct connections with educators in Los Angeles, San Diego and nearby Fremont whose contracts are also expired or expiring and prepare joint strike action.

In an effort to paint themselves in militant colors, OEA officials are holding a meeting Saturday, titled, Lessons from The Red State Teacher Rebellion: What Can California Learn? In the description of the meeting, the OEA officials present the strikes, which were initiated by rank-and-file educators independently of the unions, as great victories for the teacher unions, which supposedly won unprecedented gains.

It is no accident these struggles erupted in states where the NEA, AFT and their state affiliates had the weakest hold over teachers. Educators used social media to circumvent the unions, which were more than willing to accept rotten deals with Republican governors and state legislators.

In West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona, teachers essentially launched wildcat strikes and then initially defied back-to-work orders by the unions. However, without any genuinely independent rank-and-file committees, the unions were able to reestablish control, end the strikes and sign sellout deals that ignored teachers main demands. The insulting pay and spending increases they got will be funded through regressive taxes, cuts in other essential services and increases in health care and pension contributions.

Speakers at todays event include Rebecca Garelli, a leader of Arizona Educators United (AEU), which played a key role in the betrayal of the Arizona strike. The AEU, which functioned as a front group for the Arizona Education Association, called off the strike and presented Republican Governor Doug Duceys funding plan as a great victory, despite teachers explicitly rejecting this plan from the beginning.

Throughout the strike, the AEU and AEA did everything to prevent Arizona teachers from linking up with striking teachers in Colorado (controlled by the Democratic Party) and other states. Instead they limited teachers to impotent appeals to Republican legislators for increased funding. When the legislature predictably rejected the teachers demands, the AEU insisted the strike be called off, saying the Governors plan was the best we could get. When this provoked rank-and-file opposition, the AEU deleted critical comments by Arizona teachers on their Facebook page.

By demobilizing the teachers, the unions have given the Trump administration a free hand to escalate its assault on public education, with threats by the presidents billionaire education secretary, Betsy DeVos, to push school vouchers for private and parochial schools and back Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in schools.

Nothing has been resolved in any of these states and after the summer break a new wave of struggles will reemerge. That is why the real lessons of this years teachers strikes must be absorbed. What are they?

1. Teachers must break the stranglehold of the corporatist trade unions, which do not unite educators but divide them. Oakland teachers should use the summer months to build new organizations of struggle, rank-and-file committees based in every school and neighborhood, to prepare strike action when schools reopen. The isolation of this struggle by the OEA must be broken by reaching out to other California districts and throughout the US to prepare a statewide and nationwide strike to defend public education.

2. Teachers must reject the subordination of their struggle to the unions maneuvers with the Democratic Party. Democrats like Governor Jerry Brown who run states like California, Colorado and New York, just like President Obama before them, back corporate-driven school reform schemes. Instead of bowing before the two big business parties and what they claim is affordable, teachers must fight to mobilize every section of the working class in common struggle for the social right to living wages and high quality public education.

3. Teachers must reject the lie that there is no money for raises and funding education. Both parties squander trillions of dollars on corporate tax cuts, criminal wars and other measures that benefit the rich. While public education is starved, just three billionairesJeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gateshave more wealth than the bottom 160 million Americans. It is not possible to fund education or any other essential need without a frontal assault on the personal fortunes of the corporate and financial oligarchy.

4. The fight for high quality education and other social rights is above all a political fight. If the needs of society are to take precedence, then the working class, the vast majority of the population, must fight to take political power in its own hands and put and to the dictatorship of the banks and big business. This means uniting every struggleagainst inequality, attacks on immigrants, war and the threat of dictatorshipinto a single political struggle for a workers government and the socialist reorganization of society. This includes the transformation of Wall Street banks and major corporations into public enterprises, collective owned and democratically controlled by working people.

There is growing support among workers and young people for a socialist alternative. In the recent midterm elections, the Socialist Equality Partys state legislature candidatesDavid Moore and Kevin Mitchellwon over 15,000 votes. This takes place amid a rising tide of working class struggles, particularly by educators, in the US, Mexico and around the world.

The SEP will do everything to help Oakland teachers set up rank-and-file committees and link up with teachers and other workers throughout the country to build a powerful political movement to defend public education. We urge teachers to contact the SEP to begin this fight.
Overdose deaths caused by the synthetic opioid Fentanyl in the Cincinnati area increased by one thousand percent over the course of the last five years, according to a new report in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Fatalities attributed to fentanyl use in Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati and its immediate suburbs, climbed from 24 in 2013, the first year area law enforcement began noticing its spread, to 324 in 2017. The narcotic, which is often mixed with methamphetamine, cocaine, or heroin, was found to be present in 90 percent of all drugs analyzed by the county crime lab through May of this year.

The Hamilton County coroner, Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco, told the Enquirer that the drug was responsible for 85 percent of all overdoses by opioids that her office handled in the last year.

Originally developed in the 1960s as a general anesthetic, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which does not require the cultivation of poppies to manufacture. In subsequent decades the drug was further developed into a medication to treat severe pain in cancer patients, particularly those who had developed a high tolerance to other opioids. Said to be approximately 75 times as potent as the same amount of morphine, fentanyl was the most widely used synthetic opioid as of 2017.

Due to its widespread availability, potency, and the ability of illicit chemists to create analogs many times more powerful than the original drugsome are said to be 10,000 times as strong as morphineuse of Fentanyl in the US has skyrocketed. Initially used to lace other drugs, such as cocaine, or passed off as more popular narcotics, like heroin, fentanyl quickly became popular on its own among drug addicts who had become immune to the euphoric effects of less powerful opioids.

In 2016, approximately 20,000 overdose deaths were attributed to fentanyl or half of the total opioid-related fatalities in that year. In spite of this grim statistic, use of the narcotic continues to grow. Derek List, a recovering opioid user in the Cincinnati area explained the psychology of the desperate addict to the Enquirer, I know people who think, If it kills me, it kills me. But my mission today is to get as close to the borderline of consciousness and death as possible.

The lethality of fentanyl has been so widely acknowledged that two states, Nevada and Nebraska, have sought to use the drug to execute prisoners.

According to the Enquirer report, most fentanyl found on the black market today is created illegally, supposedly in China and other countries. Regardless of its immediate country of origin, the responsibility for the recent surge in deaths attributed to the drug, and with the opioid epidemic as a whole, lies squarely with the pharmaceutical companies.

Those companies have spent decades developing and marketing powerful narcotics such as OxyContin and fentanyl as safe to treat a wide variety of ailments, including millions spent bribing doctors around the country to prescribe the drugs.

An article that appeared on May 29 in the New York Times detailed the efforts of one of the largest drug manufacturers, Purdue Pharma, to market the powerful opioid OxyContin in spite of a report that the narcotic was being widely used as a street drug.

Company officials had received reports that the pills were being crushed and snorted; stolen from pharmacies; and that some doctors were being charged with selling prescriptions, according to dozens of previously undisclosed documents that offer a detailed look inside Purdue Pharma. But the drug maker continued in the face of this knowledge to market OxyContin as less prone to abuse and addiction than other prescription opioids, prosecutors wrote in 2006.

Documents produced by federal prosecutors who were investigating the company in the early 2000s, obtained by the Times, indicate that not only were Purdue officials aware of the popularity of the drug on the streets but that they actually used that fact as a selling point when pitching the drug to doctors.

The article states: Prosecutors found that the companys sales representatives used the words street value, crush, or snort in 117 internal notes recording their visits to doctors or other medical professionals from 1997 through 1999.

These reports, and others detailing the street prices of both OxyContin and MS Contin, another opioid manufactured by Purdue, were seen by top company officials, including members of the Sackler family, who own Purdue.

Prosecutors at that time recommended bringing up three top Purdue executives on felony fraud charges. George W. Bush administration Justice Department officials declined to bring felony charges. Ultimately, three company executives pled guilty to misdemeanor misbranding charges and received no prison time. The company paid a $634 million fine, a fraction of the billions in revenues generated by the company.

The fact that Purdue knew of the devastation it was causing but continued marketing its drugs as safe regardless of the consequences should come as a surprise to no one. Deaths from opioid overdoses quadrupled between 1999 and 2015. Studies published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse have established that the uninsured are twice as likely to engage in opiate abuse. Further studies have noted that patients who suffer from anxiety or depression account for 60 million of the 115 million opiate prescriptions written each year, or 51.4 percent.

The pharmaceutical companies are well aware of the prime market for their narcotics: workers whose living standards have been eroded by decades of declining wages, perpetual war, and a complete lack of political representation within the capitalist two-party system. It is in communities like Cincinnati, which has suffered the effects of years of deindustrialization and the social misery that accompanies it that these companies find their most lucrative markets.
A case provisionally due to reach the UK Supreme Court on July 24 marks an unprecedented escalation of tensions between the Conservative central government and the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Edinburgh. It is the first time a disagreement between Westminster and Holyrood has reached the Supreme Court.

At issue are powers due to be handed back to Britain from the European Union (EU), when the UK quits the bloc, over matters such as food labelling, agriculture, fishery management and public procurement. Authority over these lucrative sectors of the economy, although currently in the hands of the EU, legally resides with the Scottish parliament and the Cardiff-based Welsh Assembly, under the terms of the UKs devolution settlement of 1999.

The British government of Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May wants the powers to be repatriated to London, leading to complaints of a power grab. In March this year, Edinburgh and Cardiff passed emergency continuity legislation to ensure that, post Brexit, control over the contested sectors lapsed to the devolved administrations rather than Westminster. The legislation gave Scottish and Welsh ministers authority to maintain regulatory regimes in line with the EU.

In the event of a hard Brexit, followed by a growing customs and trade divergence between Britain and the EU, the result of Scotland or Wales using these powers would be to create differing regulatory environments within the UK. This would effectively break up the UK internal market.

The British government referred both the Scottish and Welsh bills to the Supreme Court, in the hope that the legislation would be struck down as outside the competence of the devolved administrations. For the moment, all three governments agree that regulatory alignment within the UK should be retained.

At issue is the question of where the powers reside.

The Welsh government led by Labours Carwyn Jones accepted an offer from London that the repatriated powers could be transferred to London for a period of seven years. Any subsequent changes, however, would need the agreement of the Welsh Assembly. The Supreme Court action on the Welsh dispute was dropped.

Brexit tensions coming to a head

However, the Scottish government, led by the SNPs Nicola Sturgeon, rejected the same terms, tweeting Scottish Parliamentary powers on vital matters could be restricted for up to seven years without our consent.

The stand-off is only the latest expression of the escalating tensions in the aftermath of the UK vote to leave the EU. It risks becoming a conflict not only between England, Scotland and Wales, but between London and Brussels as Edinburgh and Cardiff seek to maintain their own trading relations with the EU.

If Scotlands Continuity Bill is upheld by the Supreme Court, the powers transferred from Brussels will go to Edinburgh, thereby handing Scotland powers over the British internal market. If not, Westminster will be able to legislate for the whole of the UK without Scottish agreement, which will call the entire consensus basis of devolution into question.

The row coincides with the launch of a series of campaigns seeking a second referendum in Britain, either on the terms of any final Brexit deal, or on the decision to leave.

The Tory government is in the grip of a faction of the British ruling class intent on leaving the EU to pursue a low-tax, low-regulation, cut-throat investment-oriented economy at the expense of the working class. Other factions, including those around former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair and sections of all the major parties, no less committed to low taxes and attracting investment and likely numerically-dominant, see British interests as best met through membership of the EU.

In Scotland, all parties besides the Tories support the EU. In addition, 40 civil society figures, including academics, business figures and politicians recently signed a declaration to work with and support people and organisations of all political views and of none to maintain our European Union membership.

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, former British diplomat, former director of Rio Tinto and currently a director of the 581 million [$US 778 million] Scottish American Investment Trust warned, I think we are very close to a constitutional crisis, I have no idea how it is going to play out, it just feels to me very serious.

Nationalist divisions

While most of the Scottish ruling elite and its government back continued British EU membership, the SNP and its allies are deeply divided over how best to exploit the Brexit crisis to push for greater independence from Britain.

Tensions have been building since the 2016 Brexit vote. Scotland voted by 62 to 38 percent to remain in the EU, while across Britain 52 percent voted to leave.

The SNP pointed to the claim made by the victorious No camp during the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, that opposing independence would mean that Scotland remained in the EU. The Brexit vote, the nationalists claimed, turned this inside out, with Scotland facing being forced out of the EU despite having voted, in 2014, to maintain the union with England.

Brexit, therefore, gave a boost to nationalist aspirations for a second independence poll. Immediately after the Brexit result, Sturgeon announced that another such vote was indeed on the table. In 2017, just before May triggered Article 50, Sturgeon announced plans for a new referendum sometime in 2018 or 2019. This followed the British governments rejection of the SNPs proposals to ensure, on behalf of Scottish-based business, continued access to the European Single Market.

Ever since, the SNP have been rowing back on the timing of another independence vote, and the party and its allies are increasingly divided.

The SNP and the broader nationalist milieu have long based their perspective for Scottish independence on EU membership, but the EU has never reciprocated by encouraging Scottish separatism. After the Brexit vote, Sturgeons journeys around European capitals seeking sympathy met with little interest as EU states sought to avoid encouraging separatist movements across the continent. Last year, the EU looked the other way while the Spanish government brutally suppressed the Catalan governments declaration of independence. Catalan ministers remain international exiles.

As a result, the SNP leadership aims to postpone another independence vote at least until after the terms of a Brexit deal are revealed. Essentially, the party leadership views the threat of a new poll as a bargaining chip with Westminster.

In addition, the economic case for independence is weaker even than in 2014. A recent report from the SNPs Sustainable Growth Commission by Andrew Wilson outlined a perspective for post-independence Scotland based on deep spending cuts and a squeeze in public finance. The report noted that some 13.5 billion more was spent on public spending in Scotland than was raised in tax. Public spending, the report admits, is 1,437 higher per person in Scotland than across the UK thanks to subventions from Westminster under the Barnett formula.

To offset this, the Wilson report focused on productivity, population and participationall of which should be increased to allow Scotland to emulate Denmark, Finland or New Zealand in the struggle for global investment and international sales.

The SNP is now acknowledging that, to be viable in todays global market conditions, independence must be based on a sharp increase in the exploitation of the working class through lower wages and further social cuts. The report also noted that an independent Scottish government would have to be prepared to bail out its own banks at government expense, requiring yet more transfers from workers and public spending to a newly formed central bank.

John Kay, one of Sturgeons advisers, told the Financial Times that the report belies the leftist image of Scottish politics...

The SNP is a right-wing, tax-cutting party of austerity, which has only been able to masquerade as a left formation because of the political cover provided by the various pseudo-left groups that orbit around it.

The same report has therefore caused a crisis within those groups who have for years marketed Scottish separatism as the basis for a left-reformist agenda. The Scottish Socialist Party recently complained in an Open Letter to the Yes Movement that the report has been written to reassure bankers and businessmen that little will change with independence; that we will keep the pound, keep the neo-liberal economic dogma that has failed our people, keep the austerity imposed upon us by corrupt and reckless banking practices, continue with the privatisation of our public services and industries.

The SNPs support is being challenged, particularly among young people and in the local authority areas it controls. Seeking to cash in on the left credentials of Jeremy Corbyn, Labours new leader in Scotland, Richard Leonard, has worked to rhetorically position the party somewhat to the left of the SNP.

Labour is seeking to take advantage of a broad, international, leftward shift in the working class, which it can in no sense satisfy. As in England, there have recently been a series of strikes and strike votes against low wages and poor pension provision.

Sensing that their window of opportunity is closing, a section of the nationalists, backed by the pseudo-left, are seeking to pressure the SNP into calling a new independence referendum as soon as possible.

The largest demonstration yet seen supporting Scottish independence took place May 5 in Glasgow, with estimates of 35,000 attendingaround double that of a similar march last year.

Speaking at Glasgow Green, nationalist demagogue Tommy Sheridan insisted that its previous electoral successes meant the SNP had a mandate for a new referendum. He demanded the SNPs conference later this month announce that we dont need a 12-month campaign, all we need is a short three-month campaign. Lets go, Sheridan continued, for September 2018.

Sheridan and the SSP speak for all the former lefts who view the prospect of independence as an opportunity for self-enrichment and advancement. Seeking a position for themselves in an expanded state apparatus directedas the Wilson report makes cleartoward ensuring intensified exploitation, they speak for a wealthy middle class layer seeking a share of the spoils from the destruction of workers living standards.

Record of the Socialist Equality Party

These developments vindicate the position taken by the Socialist Equality Party during the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence.

Calling for a No vote in 2014, we wrote All claims that independence is a democratic demand, offering an alternative to cuts and austerity, are lies.

The move for separation from the UK is being led by right-wing forces espousing nationalism, whether or not they attempt to dress this up in fake left language. The aim is to transform Scotland into a low tax, cheap labour platform for the benefit of the banks and transnational corporations.

The victims of this will be workers on both sides of the border, who will see a deepening of the ongoing offensive against jobs, wages and conditions that has been waged by all the major parties in both Westminster and Holyrood.

The unity and independence of the working class is the criterion against which every political party and every political initiative must be judged. This is essential under conditions in which the planet is being befouled with nationalist poison.

The author recommends:

Vote no in the Scottish referendumFight for a socialist Britain

[21 June 2014]
Suicide rates increased by 25 percent across the United States over the two decades ending in 2016. According to research published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 25 states experienced a rise in suicides of more than 30 percent.

The report follows the release the previous week by the CDC of a study showing a rise in deaths between 2013 and 2016 among US children and teens aged 10-19. While deaths in this age group declined between 1999 and 2013, from 2013 to 2016 the death rate, as well as the total number of deaths, increased by a shocking 12 percent.

Taken together, these two reports paint a picture of an immense social crisis confronting the American population. Increasing numbers of people, both young and old, are choosing to take their own lives in the face of personal crises, mental health issues, substance abuse and economic despair.

Using data from the National Vital Statistics System for 50 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC researchers analyzed suicide rates for people 10 years and older from 1999 through 2016. The circumstances surrounding suicides were also compared for 2015 in the 27 states with complete data participating in the CDCs National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS).

The CDC studied six consecutive three-year periods from 1999 to 2016 to calculate the number of suicides per 100,000 persons per year. While overall the US experienced a 25 percent rise in the suicide rate, individual state increases ranged from a 6 percent increase in Delaware to a nearly 58 percent increase in North Dakota. An estimated 45,000 American lives were lost to suicide in 2016 alone.

This dramatic increase over almost two decades shows that, despite government claims of the end of the Great Recession in mid-2009, increasing numbers of people are facing personal and financial hardships that are driving them to take their own lives.

More than half of those who died by suicide had not been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Of the top 10 causes of death in the US, suicide is one of three that have increased recently, the other two being Alzheimers disease and drug overdoses.

According to NVDRS data for 2015, the top three methods of suicide were firearms (48.5 percent), hanging/strangulation/suffocation (28.9 percent), and poisoningdrugs, alcohol and other substances (14.7 percent). Of substances causing death, opioids accounted for 31.4 percent; antidepressants, 26.6 percent; benzodiazepines, 20.8 percent; and antipsychotics, 7.3 percent. Of the 53.6 percent of people who were tested for alcohol after their suicides, 40.6 percent tested positive.

The age group showing the largest number of suicides in 2015 were those aged 45 to 64. Men accounted for more than three-quarters of suicide deaths, and whites accounted for 83.6 percent. These figures reinforce the findings of research by Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton in 2017 that found that the rising death rate for white, middle-aged, working-class Americans, predominantly males, was being driven by deaths of despair, those due to drug overdoses, complications from alcohol use, and suicide.

Of those who committed suicide in 2015 and had a current diagnosed mental health condition, 75.2 percent suffered from depression. This was following by anxiety disorder, 16.8 percent; bipolar disorder, 15.2 percent; schizophrenia, 5.4 percent; and post-traumatic stress disorder, 4.5 percent.

The CDC studied relationship problems and losses leading to suicide. While such problems are considered personal, the causes are invariably social and economic. Two-fifths of those committing suicide in 2015 had suffered from some type of relationship problem or loss. These included problems with an intimate partner, being the perpetrator or victim of interpersonal violence, arguments, family problems, and death or suicide of a family member or friend.

Other precursors of suicide include life stresses faced by millions of working-class Americans on a daily basis. This included legal problems, physical health problems, job-related stress, financial problems, eviction or loss of home, school problems, incarceration, or recent release from a hospital, mental health or substance abuse treatment facility.

Those succumbing to desperation and committing suicide are the victims of a society that devalues life and sees workers and youth as a source of profit, no matter the personal suffering and loss. Their tragic stories appear frequently in the news.

* Since the beginning of the year, five taxi or livery drivers in New York City have committed suicide due to income losses caused by competition from ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft. The latest apparent suicide was Mein Chow, 56, a Yellow Cab driver whose body was found floating the East River near the Brooklyn bridge May 30.

* In late March, Carlos Borroto, 26, became the fourth prisoner at Hudson Country Corrections and Rehabilitation Center in Kearny, New Jersey, to commit suicide since June 2017. He had been housed at the jail for less than 48 hours and told police who arrested him on open warrants that he wanted to jump off a bridge and reported having mental health issues.

* On July 28, 2017, Glenn Scarapelli, 53, and his wife, Patricia Colant, 50, jumped to their deaths from a building in mid-town Manhattan. The couple explained in their suicide notes that they cannot live with their financial reality. The night before they were seen removing their belongings from their home and putting them on the curb, a sign they may have been evicted.

* In May 2017, there were two reported suicides of people in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Jean Jimenez-Joseph, 27, a Panamanian national, held in detention center in Stewart County, Georgia, was found unresponsive with a bedsheet around his neck. He had been isolated in solitary confinement for 19 days.

* Osmar Epifanio Gonzalez-Gadba, 32, from Nicaragua, was rushed to the hospital from Adelanto Detention Facility in California last May after being found hanging from a bedsheet around his neck in his cell. He died from heart failure caused by asphyxiation six days later. He had been detained for over five months.

* In November 2016, a distraught Amazon worker leaped off the rooftop of Amazons Seattle headquarters in a suicide attempt. The unidentified worker was hospitalized in critical condition after amazingly surviving the 12-story fall. Before trying to take his own life, the worker reportedly sent an email to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos criticizing the way the company handled his request to transfer to a different department.

The CDCs proposed solutions for what can only be described as a suicide crisis are predictable and limited. They point to the necessity of identifying those who are suicidal and urging them to seek treatment. They also advocate the need for broader access to treatment for mental health services. And they call for reducing access to lethal means, especially firearms, among persons at risk for suicide.

While it is clear that access to affordable mental health care is woefully inadequate in the US, mental health and rehabilitation beds are being cut in state after state. At the same time, despite the opioid catastrophe, pharmaceutical companies continue to pump addictive drugs into neighborhoods, particularly those in the poorest regions ravaged by poverty and unemployment.

Growing social inequality and poverty are reflected in working-class households across America, creating conditions where household budgets are strained, inevitably fueling family crises and straining relationships, leading to arguments, violence and despair, leading potentially to suicide.

As with the report on teenage suicide, there has been no outcry from the Democratic Party over the recent CDC report. The Democrats are complicit with the Trump administration in its war on Medicaid, food stamps, and other social programs, as well as the attacks on immigrants. They put up no serious opposition to Trumps multitrillion-dollar tax cut for corporations and the rich.

As they have recommended with school shootings, they will issue the inevitable calls for gun control and limiting access to firearms for those who are suicidal. But the Democrats have provided the key votes to fund the Pentagons record $700 billion budget and secured the confirmation of black-site torture administrator Gina Haspel to head the CIA. It is the ruling elite and its political representatives that serve as the ultimate role models for violence, whether through war or self-inflicted.
An episode of ABCs Quantico featuring a terror plot involving Indian nationalists has resulted in backlash against the drama series star Priyanka Chopra, a Bollywood star in India. The network today apologized to Indian fans of the show, which is wrapping up airing episodes for its third and final season.

ABC Studios and the executive producers of Quantico would like to extend an apology to our audience who were offended by the most recent episode, The Blood of Romeo,  the network said in a statement. The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Priyanka Chopra, who didnt create the show, nor does she write or direct it. She has no involvement in the casting of the show or the storylines depicted in the series.



Quantico is a work of fiction. The show has featured antagonists of many different ethnicities and backgrounds, but in this case we inadvertently and regrettably stepped into a complex political issue. It was certainly not our intention to offend anyone.

The episodes plot centered on a physics professor at a U.S. university who steals weaponized uranium in a plot detonate a bomb in New York. When the plotter is caught, Chopras character Alex Parrish discovers he has Hindu prayer beads, confirmation that he is an Indian nationalist, and the bombing was meant to frame Pakistan.

ABC said it pulled the episode before it could air in India (it aired in the U.S. on June 1). But Chopra, among the rare Bollywood-Hollywood crossover successes, has been the subject of online attacks, with calls to boycott her work and the brands she endorses in the territory like Samsung.

The myth of Hindu terror, by a fake story, enters American television with the help of Priyanka Chopra. Would any Pakistani actress betray Pakistan or Islam the way she betrays India and Hinduism? https://t.co/BbVJuClO0C  Dr David Frawley (@davidfrawleyved) June 6, 2018

Request @Ra_THORe ji to immediately get this scene removed from Quanticos latest episode & samsung to remove Priyanka Chopra as brand ambassador or else we pledge to #BoycottSamsung nation-wide. RT if you agree & tweet if you Support this. pic.twitter.com/PUI5K5QO3S  Bhaiyyaji (@bhaiyyajispeaks) June 6, 2018

Josh Safran, Quantico's showrunner, said that Major rule of Quantico is that it never features a Muslim terrorist. So, Is that why they featured Hindu Terrorist?

I think Priyanka Chopra could asked for script changes because She'd already changed some dialogues in Quantico before  Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) June 8, 2018

According to ABC, Chopra, born in Mumbai, a is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has been a National Goodwill Ambassador to India for more than a decade. She is the first Indian actor to star as the lead of a TV drama series.

Story continues

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George and Amal Clooney put their love on full display at the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award Gala in LA on Thursday night. The couple, who tied the knot in Italy back in 2014 and has since welcomed twins Alexander and Ella, walked the red carpet looking like they just stepped out of Old Hollywood. The adorable duo couldn't stop giggling in between exchanging loving looks at one another, but it was the touching words Amal shared about her husband, the recipient of this years esteemed award, that truly has us starry-eyed.

In a heartfelt speech which moved the 57-year-old actor to tears, Amal outlined "a few things you may not know about George." The 40-year-old told the crowd inside that her husband "is a gentleman in every sense of the word and in a way that seems so rare these days and perhaps even outdated." Amal recalled the time George "refused to wear a warm winter jacket" on the set of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind "unless every actor got the same one even though it was 40 degrees below zero," as one example.

"He is generous with his time. He finds out about people who have suffered the same health issues as him and he writes to give them advice. He helps young people pursue their passion for film. He'll visit an elderly lady at our local nursing home as he thinks it will make her day," she said.

"He must surely be the only person in the world to invite his 13 closest friends to dinner one night and give them a suitcase filled with $1 million in cash. But it must be said, the 14th closest friend is still upset about it."

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In between praising George's commitment to "good fights," citing his work in Sudan, work as the United Nation's "messenger of peace," and recent support of the survivors of the Parkland school shooting, Amal also brought up George's "moral conscience," as one of the many reasons she knew she "would never want to be with anyone else."

Toward the end of her tribute, Amal gushed that the proud dad "is the person who has my complete admiration and also the person whose smile makes me melt every time." Speaking to George directly, she stated, "My love, what I have found with you is the great love I always hoped existed. And seeing you with our children, Ella and Alexander, is the greatest joy in my life."

Amal closed out her speech reassuring George that "when our children find out not only what you have done, but who you are, they will be so proud of you too." Yeah, we'll be over here wiping away our tears, too.
Asia Argento broke down in tears when talking about the death of her boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, in first interview since his suicide.

Asia Argento is mourning the loss of her boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain.

Hours after news broke that the famed food critic was found dead on Friday at the age of 61, Argento took to Twitter to release a statement.

"Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did," the 42-year-old Italian actress and filmmaker wrote. "His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds."

"He was my love, my rock, my protector," she continued. "I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine."

Argento and Bourdain first started dating in 2016, and have praised each other in various interviews. Just last month, Bourdain applauded Argento for the speech she gave at Cannes, discussing her personal experience with the #MeToo movement, as she's one of many women who have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment.

"From the second she said she'd been invited to present an award, I knew it would be a nuclear bomb," Bourdain said in an interview with IndieWire at the time. "I was so proud of her. It was absolutely fearless to walk right into the lions den and say what she said, the way she said it. It was an incredibly powerful moment, I thought. I am honored to know someone who has the strength and fearlessness to do something like that."

The two also weren't shy about expressing their love for one another via social media. Argento and Bourdain's Instagram feeds are currently filled with pics of each other, as seen in the snaps below:

#Firenze @asiaargento La Primavera A post shared by anthonybourdain (@anthonybourdain) on May 24, 2018 at 10:08am PDT

Shelter from the Storm A post shared by anthonybourdain (@anthonybourdain) on Feb 3, 2018 at 1:24pm PST

This Love Kills Fascists @anthonybourdain A post shared by asiaargento (@asiaargento) on Apr 27, 2018 at 4:24am PDT

CNN confirmed that Bourdain was found dead of apparent suicide in a French hotel room Friday morning by his friend and fellow chef, Eric Ripert.

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"It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain," the network -- which aired his Parts Unknown series -- said in a statement to ET. "His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time."

In addition to Argento, Bourdain is survived by his 11-year-old daughter, Ariane. Hear more in the video below.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

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"The world would not be better off without you," McGowan said Friday.

Tears streamed down Rose McGowan's face as she opened up about the shocking suicide of celebrity chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain.

The world would not be better off without you," she said in a now-deleted video posted to social media. "Oh Anthony, why?"

McGowan also tweeted concern to others who may be contemplating killing themselves, saying, "Please call a hotline. Please reach out."

The suicide of the 61-year-old host of CNNs Parts Unknown comes just three days after designer Kate Spade died by suicide.

Bourdain's girlfriend was Italian actress Asia Argento, who, like McGowan, is an outspoken Harvey Weinstein accuser.

"Asia [Argento] needed you, Anthony," McGowan said in her tweet. "We needed you. Please come back."

Argento also paid tribute to her boyfriend Friday, saying, He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated.

The couple was photographed in Rome last week and there are reports their relationship was in trouble after she was spotted in the Eternal City in a romantic embrace with a French journalist.

Two hours before the celebrity chefs death was reported, she posted an Instagram selfie in which she was wearing a T-shirt with the words f*** everyone written on it with the cryptic message, "You know who you are."

Bourdain was found dead by one of his closest friends, celebrity chef Eric Ripert, in a hotel outside Strasbourg, France.

According to reports, Bourdain hanged himself.

CNN's Kate Bolduan teared up as she reported on her colleague's death.

Every time he would walk on set I would always shout at him, 'In my next life Im coming back as Anthony Bourdain!'" she said. "I wonder, is that why it's so hard to process this today?"

Bourdain lived in Manhattan, not far from CNNs studio. Before he became a TV star he was a successful chef and rose to fame as the author of New York Times bestseller "Kitchen Confidential." He was known as the original rock star of the culinary world.

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President Trump discussed Bourdain's death with reporters as he left for the G7 summit.

"Anthony Bourdain is dead! I enjoyed his show," he said. "He was quite a character I will say. I just want to extend my condolences and also to the family of Kate Spade."

President Obama, who made a guest appearance on "Parts Unknown" in 2016, tweeted a touching photo and memory of Bourdain.

Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer. This is how Ill remember Tony. He taught us about food  but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. Well miss him. pic.twitter.com/orEXIaEMZM

 Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 8, 2018

Bourdain leaves behind a daughter, 11-year-old Ariane.

Video: Eric Ripert on His Friendship with Anthony Bourdain

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Anthony Bourdain, who has died at the age of 61 of apparent suicide, was a fiercely outspoken supporter of the #MeToo movement.

The chefs girlfriend, Italian actress Asia Argento is one of the dozens of women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and harassment (Weinstein has unequivocally denied any allegations of non-consensual sex).

Since going public with her story, Bourdain showed unwavering support for his girlfriend, and even held a dinner in November for Argento and fellow Weinstein accusers Rose McGowan and Annabella Sciorra.

It was an honor to cook for this meeting of the minds, he said on Twitter, tweeting out a picture of the meal.

You are my sister and I love you, Argento wrote alongside a photo of her and McGowan together at the time. May all your dreams come true. I want this for you. Theyre gonna come true @AnnabellSciorra and @Rosemcgowan, she added.

McGowan shared the same photo on her Instagram account, writing: Magical moments with @asiaargento & @iamannabellasciorra #WomenRise #Survivors #ROSEARMY. She also tagged Ronan Farrow in the photo, who has written numerous exposes on Weinstein for The New Yorker.

You are my sister

And I love you

May all of your dreams come true

I want this for you

They're gonna come true @AnnabellSciorra @rosemcgowan pic.twitter.com/WtvW1KLWJc  Asia Argento (@AsiaArgento) November 25, 2017

RELATED VIDEO: Asia Argento Tells Uma Thurman We Need Your Voice After Her Response to Weinstein Goes Viral

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In October, Argento accused Weinstein  in a story for The New Yorker written by Farrow  of forcibly performing oral sex on her during the late 90s. In a separate New Yorker expose  which was also written by Farrow  Sciorra accused Weinstein of allegedly raping her and then claims he tried to perform oral sex on her. McGowan has also accused the movie mogul of rape.

Bourdain immediately expressed his pride for Argento after the story was published in October, tweeting, I am proud and honored to know you.

.@AsiaArgento I am proud and honored to know you. You just did the hardest thing in the world. https://t.co/i2Lsb6h5vU  Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 10, 2017

And when Argento recently spoke out at the Cannes Film Festival, calling out Weinsteins enablers in a fiery speech during the closing awards ceremony, Bourdain marveled at her courage to IndieWire.

It was absolutely fearless to walk right into the lions den and say what she said, the way she said it, he said. It was an incredibly powerful moment, I thought. I am honored to know someone who has the strength and fearlessness to do something like that.

On May 25, when New York police arrested Weinstein, Bourdain tweeted to Argento: When you went on record, @AsiaArgento you were sure this day would never come, that you would be crushed, that you were alone. And yet you did it anyway.

When you went on record, @AsiaArgento you were sure this day would never come, that you would be crushed, that you were alone. And yet you did it anyway. #perpwalk pic.twitter.com/sGzI1qUjx7  Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) May 25, 2018

Asia Argento and Anthony Bourdain

Bourdain was found unresponsive in his hotel room in France on Friday morning by close friend and French chef, Eric Ripert  who was in the country with the 61-year-old to film an episode of his award-winning CNN show, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

CNN confirmed Bourdains death PEOPLE. It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain, the network said in a statement. His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.

A Strasbourg police spokesperson also confirmed Bourdains death to PEOPLE, but would not confirm the cause of death. The manner of death has been classified as a suicide.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text help to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
In a moving statement, Asia Argento, actress and girlfriend of the late Anthony Bourdain, says the host of CNNs Parts Unknown was my love, my rock, my protector.

Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine.

Bourdain, 61, whose Parts Unknown series launched its 11th season on CNN last month, was found dead in his hotel room in Strasbourg, France, by friend and fellow chef Eric Ripert. Bourdain was in France working on the show. He death has been reported as a suicide.

Argento is among the actresses who have accused disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein of rape, and Bourdain was a vocal supporter of the woman and scathing antagonist of Weinstein. Argento and Bourdain began dating last year.

Yesterday, according to press reports, Argento posted on social media apparently from Rome. In an Instagram post about three hours before Bourdains death was reported  since deleted  Argento posted a photo of herself wearing a t-shirt reading F*ck Everyone, with a caption You know who you are. There is no indication that the post was referring in any way to Bourdains suicide.

Argentos friends, including Rose McGowan and Olivia Munn, tweeted their support of Argento and condolences for Bourdain today, including this one:

Through space and time, Anthony. Your love will find you again. pic.twitter.com/XBod1vDZ8k  rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) June 8, 2018

Read them, and other celebrity tweets, here.

Story continues

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At the time of his death by apparent suicide on Friday, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was most recently linked to Italian actress and director Asia Argento. The two started dating in 2016 after meeting on season 8 of his CNN travel show Parts Unknown.

[Asia] has spent a lifetime in film since she was 9 years old, Bourdain told PEOPLE in an 2017 interview. She comes from generations of filmmakers on both sides of the family. Shes a really accomplished director and writer along with being a longtime actress and a real sponge for culture, music, literature. So shes enormously helpful and inspiring.

Argento, 42, is the daughter of actress Daria Nicolodi and director and producer Dario Argento. At age 9, Argento made her acting debut with a small part in Sergio Cittis Italian miniseries Sogni E Bisogni and went on to work steadily, including appearances in horror films directed and written by her dad. In those films, a young Argento would get raped, undress and traumatized onscreen.

I wasnt upset by the things he did to me in his films, she admitted to The Guardian in 2005. I never thought of it like it was me doing it, because he would say, Its only a movie, and I thought the same.

By the time Argento turned 21, shed won the Italian equivalent of two Oscars and broke big in the U.S. with 2002s xXx, also starring Vin Diesel. The mother of two children with her ex-husband Michele Civetta continued to work steadily in both markets, but it was a 1997 incident that has made news most recently.

In an October New Yorker piece by Ronan Farrow, Argento accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her after his then-company Miramax distributed her crime romance B. Monkey (released in Germany in 1999). (Weinstein has unequivocally denied any allegations of non-consensual sex). She recounted being invited by a producer to a party in his room at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in France, only to arrive and find herself along in a room with Weinstein. He asked Argento for a massage, and once she reluctantly obliged, the movie mogul allegedly pulled her skirt up, forced her legs apart, and performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop.

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Argento referred to that evening as a nightmare and even wrote a movie about the incident. After my rape, I started developing PTSD, she told Rolling Stone of her 2000 drama Scarlet Diva. I couldnt leave the house, and thats why I had to start writing.

RELATED VIDEO: Asia Argento Tells Uma Thurman We Need Your Voice After Her Response to Weinstein Goes Viral

The filmmaker alleges that Weinstein  now 66 and indicted last week on charges of rape in the first and third degree as well as criminal sexual act in the first degree  continued to contact her around the time of xXxs release, hoping she wouldnt say anything about their time together. But ever since deciding to use her name in Farrows expose, Argento has continued to advocate for ending the gender inequality in Hollywood  and Bourdain had stood by her side.

I am proud and honored to know you, he tweeted after the article was published. You just did the hardest thing in the world.

Though Argento feels she did the right thing by coming forward, she lives in fear.

Im afraid to leave my apartment, she continued to Rolling Stone. I am still afraid. I am more afraid now that I know everything that they had on me Rose [McGowan], Rosanna [Arquette], Annabella [Sciorra], all the women he had hurt. He knew who they were. But most importantly, now we know who they are.

Argento with McGowan.

Nonetheless, Argento pushed forward with Bourdains support. She spoke last month at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival  the same place where she first encountered Weinstein on that night in 1997  and called out her alleged abuser. This festival was his hunting ground, she told the audience at the festivals closing ceremony on May 19. Even tonight, sitting among you, there are those who still have to be held accountable for their conduct against women.

Bourdain praised her speech, telling IndieWire, It was absolutely fearless to walk right into the lions den and say what she said, the way she said it. It was an incredibly powerful moment, I thought. I am honored to know someone who has the strength and fearlessness to do something like that.

While its not confirmed whether they were still together when Bourdain was found dead at 61 at the Le Chambard hotel in France  Argento was seen with another man just three days prior  shed liked his penultimate Instagram post on Tuesday and posted an ominous, since-deleted Instagram story on Thursday wearing a t-shirt that said, F EVERYONE.

A post shared by asiaargento (@asiaargento) on Jun 8, 2018 at 8:58am PDT

Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did, she wrote in a statement posted to social media on Friday. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands sister was found dead of an apparent suicide at her apartment in Buenos Aires on Wednesday night, according to reports, including the BBC. She was 33.

It is presumed that it was a suicide, a spokesman of the Dutch government told the Argentinian newspaper, La Nacion.

Ines Zorreguieta, the younger sister of Queen Maxima, a native Argentinian, worked for the government in Argentina as an official in the Ministry of Social Development.

In a statement to Dutch newspaper, De Volkskrant, the Dutch government said that Queen Maxima is shocked and devastated by the news of her sisters death. According to reports, Ines suffered from depression and mental health issues.

Ines Zorreguieta with Queen Maxima in October 2016

Ines Zorreguieta and her father, Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, in October 2016

Maxima has canceled all of her upcoming scheduled appearances and is believed to be making plans to travel to Buenos Aires.

Ines was the godmother to Queen Maximas youngest daughter, Princess Ariane, 11.

Queen Maxima, 47, married then Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander in 2002 after meeting in Seville, Spain, in 1999 during the Seville Spring Fair. They have three daughters.

Maxima has said that she didnt know her future husband was a royal when they met, and that he introduced himself as Alexander. Their relationship initially resulted in controversy due to the fact that Maximas father, Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, was a controversial figure, who at one point even threatened Maximas marriage to Willem-Alexander.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands

King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and their children, Princess Ariane, Princess Alexia and Princess Catharina-Amalia

Zorreguieta served as the Secretary of Agriculture the during the dictatorship of President Jorge Rafael Videla (who is now not recognized as a legitimate president by the Argentinian government), as well as the beginnings of the Dirty War, a military regime that saw the disappearance and murder of thousands of Argentinians, according to the New York Times.

Zorreguieta resigned before the end of Videlas presidency argued that he wasnt aware of the Dirty War, as he was a civilian during the majority of it. However, public outcry was so strong in the Netherlands that the Dutch Parliament asked an outside expert, Professor Michael Baud to look into the matter. Baud announced that Zorreguietas ignorance of the crimes would have been unlikely. The marriage was still approved by Parliament, because Maxima herself was not involved, but Zorreguieta was not permitted to attend their wedding, according to Dutch News. Her mother also did not attend the nuptials, out of respect for her husband.

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Though he wasnt able to attend his daughters wedding, as it was seen as a state occasion, Zorreguieta did attend the christenings of all three of his granddaughters, which were considered private, family events.

Last summer, Maxima traveled with her husband and their daughters to attend the funeral of her father, who died in August at the age 89 following a battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
The stepmom of a long-missing 5-year-old Kansas boy was found dead from an apparent suicide on Friday, 15 days after she led an investigator to her stepsons body, PEOPLE confirms.

Emily Glass, 27, was initially arrested on suspicion of obstructing justice and interfering with a law enforcement officer after authorities recovered the remains of Lucas Hernandez, who had been reported missing on Feb. 17. Days after her arrest, however, Glass was released.

Wichita police said at a Friday news conference that the investigation into Lucas disappearance and death is continuing. A coroner has not yet ruled on how he died.

Authorities would not say how Glass dying affects their investigation or whether they are considering other possible suspects in the case.

Lucas father, 34-year-old Jonathan Hernandez, called 911 at 1:40 a.m. Friday to report that hed come home and found Glass body, according to police.

Authorities who responded to the address found a rifle at her feet and three suicide notes at the residence, police said.

 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.

Lucas Hernandez

While declining to say whether there was anything revealed about the case in those notes, police spokesman Charley Davidson said, It was reported to us as a suicide and would be investigated as such.

Glass had been questioned about the boys disappearance and death and was arrested on May 24 after leading a private investigator to Lucas body under a bridge in rural Harvey County, according to police. On May 30, she was freed.

No charges are being filed today while investigators continue to follow up on newly developed leads and await the results of the forensic examination, the district attorney said then.

On the day Lucas was reported missing, Glass told authorities that she last saw him in his bedroom about 3 p.m. before she took a shower and fell asleep, police said at the time. She said that when she woke up, he was gone.

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 It was the scandal that rocked Americas most storied political family and changed the course of presidential history. PEOPLEs first-ever podcast, Cover-Up, dives into the Chappaquiddick scandal and attempts to piece together what happened in the hours after Ted Kennedys car went over a narrow wooden bridge, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or wherever podcasts are available.

After Lucas was declared missing, the FBI and local authorities spent weeks searching for him.

Following news of Glass death on Friday, the Hernandez family issued a statement saying they still want justice, according to local TV station KWCH.

Today Emily Glass chose to end her own life. We are deeply shocked and saddened by this turn of events, the family said.

Another mother and father have lost a child, their statement continued. Children have lost their mother, and a family will have to grieve someone they loved. We know from experience how heartbreaking and tragic this will be for them.

Emily Glass

Hernandezs family said Glass death was not the ending we would have chosen for Emily.

She was the only person on this earth who could tell us what the last moments of our childs life were like, the family said. We wanted answers and we still want justice. Our hope is that the truth will still come out, that there will be answers to the many questions we have.

Please keep Emilys family in your thoughts and prayers, along with ours. None of us wanted or expected all this loss and devastation that has come to pass. Give both of our families time to process this unexpected death.

The statement was signed by Jonathan Hernandez and Jamie Taylor-Orr, Lucas mom.
When Lulabel Seitz stood at the podium in front of her graduating class on June 2, she was set to give a speech that summed up her time at Petaluma High School. But four minutes into her speech, the mic cut out. According to the Press Democrat, the mic was cut after Lulabel strayed from the text of the speech she had submitted to her high school prior to the ceremony. After her peers chanted to "let her speak," Lulabel later delivered her full speech in a YouTube video, touching on a teachers's strike in May, 2017, alluding to budget cuts, and referencing alleged sexual assault on campus. Below is the full text of Lulabel's speech.

In a statement to Teen Vogue, Deborah Richardson, an assistant principal for Petaluma High School, said, "Administrators and staff in Petaluma City Schools care deeply about the safety and well being of our students. Due to student privacy issues, we cannot and should not respond with specific information. We can say that when issues of sexual assault come to our attention, local law enforcement has initial jurisdiction and determines the course of action. If an alleged event happens off campus or on, we work to support our students with appropriate discipline, extensive counseling, and whatever measures we can take to protect our students while they are in our learning environment."

I couldnt be more pleased to be here today. I remember our first day here as freshmen. The hallways  which inevitably smelled bad  were somehow special. P.E. uniforms were a nuisance, but somehow significant. Shopping for school supplies was boring, but somehow a source of pride. We cant deny that it was with an air of importance that we all walked in here, formerly scared junior high students, and now high schoolers. So grown up.

We all walked in here with big dreams  whether those were going to a certain college or going to a certain party. The possibilities here seemed endless. Standing before you as I am right now was my dream, which was by all means an unlikely dream. As the daughter of two parents who left high school early and didnt get to go to college, and the granddaughter of two immigrants from the Philippines and one single mom, I never thought Id get to stand here as your valedictorian. The reason I share my story with you, however, is not because I think its unique  quite the opposite. We have all had unlikely dreams and had to overcome obstacles to achieve them.

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Adversity isnt the rare, monumental idea we made it out to be in our freshman year English essays. Rather, its something incredibly common. During high school, weve all at some point been hurt, excluded, or  worst of all  ignored. But it is not the fact that weve had these experiences that is the reason why we are here today. Rather, it is the fact that weve overcome them. And even though we may not have all achieved our unlikely dreams to the extent we had hoped, were graduating. For many of us, that itself was the unlikely dream. This is something we all deserve to be proud of.

And the best part of graduation is that now we can go onto the rest of our lives unrestricted, and achieve even more. For our class, theres no such thing as peaked in high school. If theres one thing we can promise ourselves for the future, its that the best is yet to come.

It is always difficult to say goodbye, especially knowing that we wont all remember each other. But I can guarantee that each one of us has made an impact on another one of us, and that as a whole, our class will not be forgotten.

Furthermore, it is truly the journey we took to get here that makes the Class of 2018 unlike its predecessors. The fires that put our daily lives on hold and took some of our homes  we didnt let that drag us down. When our teachers had to go on strike because they didnt receive the respect they deserve  we didnt let that drag us down. It helps that we had the support of compassionate and dedicated teachers, friends, parents, counselors, custodians, and librarians throughout the years. Learning on a campus in which some people defend perpetrators of sexual assault and silence their victims  we didnt let that drag us down. Even after four years of working our hardest and becoming the best class Petaluma High has ever seen, just to be told be those same some people that our love of learning, art, drama, music  anything - wasnt valuable enough to be funded, well we didnt let that drag us down either. Time and time again, the Class of 2018 has demonstrated that although we may be a new generation, we are not too young to speak up, to dream, and to create tangible, positive change. As such, we will never be forgotten. How could we be?

Related: Valedictorian Stuns Crowd After Revealing Trump Quote in His Speech Was Actually Said by Obama

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Everyone wants to be happy, dont they? Thats a silly question even to ask. If you had to choose between being happy and being unhappy, who wouldnt choose happiness? Happiness is so important to us that its enshrined in our nations founding document, stating that Americans are given the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (notice the Declaration of Independence never promised us happiness, just the pursuit of it).

And that is what our lives are: the pursuit of happiness. But too many of us believe a myth about happiness, namely that happiness is determined by outward circumstances. If our spouse is acting right, if our parents love us, if our kids behave, if the government leaves us alone, if our boss is pleasant, if weve got money in the bank and food on the table, then well be happy. Yet the biggest problem with this approach to happiness is that it takes our happiness out of our hands and puts it in the hands of people and forces outside of our control. Very rarely do the stars line up in our favor, everything conspiring to make our life easy and pleasant. Life in reality is dysfunctional and broken relationships, consequences of bad decisions and other people trying to get ahead at our expense. And thus, we are unhappy. But we dont have to be. There is a better way.

If you want to start being happier today, here are six ancient steps from the pages of Scripture.
For Sweden's National Day, the royal family released a new portrait of Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar.

To celebrate Nationaldagen, or National Day, the Swedish royals gave the world a wonderful surprise: an adorable picture of Princess Estelle and Oscar, the children of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel.

Two-year-old Prince Oscar donned navy blue shorts and a white button-down, a classic combination. His six-year-old sister wore traditional Swedish folk dress in yellow and blue, a nod to the countrys flag colors. They embraced each other and smiled for the camera.

It got royalists all over the world swooning, and even some newspapers: in a headline, The Daily Mail wondered: So why don't Britain's royals have a national costume?

They also joined their parents and grandparents, King Carl XVI and Queen Silvia, for a multi-generational portrait in front of Stockholms Royal Palace. The men all wore navy suits, whereas Silvia, Victoria, and Estelle, all donned their patriotic garb. (Crown Princess Victoria and Queen Silvia's costumes also included Sverigedrakten, or white head coverings, traditionally worn by married women.)

Candid shots show the siblings having fun and goofing off, Estelle running around the courtyard and Prince Oscar delighted by the nearby fountains.

Their outfits werent just for the camera, however: the family went on a carriage ride throughout Stockholm, waving to the crowds that came out for the national holiday.

Its a big week for royal celebrations: on Saturday, the whole Windsor family (including, hopefully, Prince Louis) will come out for Trooping the Color, the military parade that doubles as Queen Elizabeths birthday. And although theres no traditional garb for George to dress up in (although father Prince William will don a uniform at some point), perhaps he will be wearing his own sartorial signature: shorts.
Alice Johnson, whose life sentence for drug offenses was just commuted by President Trump, said reuniting with her family upon being freed from prison was a moment of shock.

Just to see my family there  my heart was leaping, the 63-year-old grandmother said on the TODAY show Thursday morning.

Johnson had served 21 years of her life sentence after she was convicted on multiple criminal counts related to cocaine possession in 1996. Trump commuted her sentence Wednesday after a recent meeting with Kim Kardashian West, who recently visited the White house to discuss Johnsons case and a possible pardon.

So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.  Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018

Video footage of Johnson leaving prison shows her running across the street and jumping into her familys arms. Her daughter, Catina Scales, said on TODAY it was unbelievable Johnson was sitting there right next to her.

My heart was leaping, Alice Johnson tells @hodakotb and @savannahguthrie about reuniting with her family after two decades in prison pic.twitter.com/4V9C5ud8UV  TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 7, 2018

I keep pointing out stuff like, Theres the sunrise in Memphis, ma,' Scales said. Its just been amazing.

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After Johnson was released from prison, Trump tweeted that he hopes she has a wonderful life.

Good luck to Alice Johnson. Have a wonderful life!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018

Johnsons commutation comes amid a series of pardons issued by Trump, including one for the conservative commentator Dinesh DSouza, who was convicted for campaign finance violation, and the late boxer Jack Johnson, over a century after he was convicted on a racist charge.
After being welcomed home by family and friends, Alice Marie Johnson headed out to a restaurant for the first time in more than 20 years.

The great-grandmother and her many loved ones  including her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren  gathered around a table at The Hub in Memphis, Tenn., for a family dinner 25 years in the making.

Just basking in the love of my loved ones," Johnson told Inside Edition. This moment would not be happening if it had not been for what Kim Kardashian did and Donald Trump did."

Johnson was arrested for the first time in 1993 for a non-violent drug offense.

Though she had never before committed a crime before, Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Her case caught the attention of Kim Kardashian West, who last week lobbied for President Trump to commute Johnsons sentence. Trump signed a commutation one week later.

Good luck Alice Johnson, the president wrote on Twitter.

Kardashian West got to deliver the news to Johnson personally that she would be going home.

"Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget," she wrote on Twitter.

The reality TV star and business mogul was photographed arriving at a New York City hotel Thursday. She is planning to meet with Johnson in the coming days.

But immediately after her release, Johnson was savoring her freedom and all the perks that came with it.

Ive been waiting for these shrimp, she said of her first meal outside prison.

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President Donald Trump arrived in Quebec, Canada Friday for what is likely to be an incredibly tense meeting of the economic superpowers known as the Group of 7 (G7)  Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and the U.S.

The meeting is expected to be tense, and this is largely Trumps fault. Some experts have even dubbed the meeting the G6+1 to mark how isolated Trump has become from the other world leaders.

In recent weeks, he has imposed a number of punitive tariffs on the European Union and Canada, which only served to heighten the tension between the U.S. and its allies that has been brewing since Trump announced he was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement.

On Friday, Trump suggested that Russia should be reinstated in the group, despite its expulsion in 2014 for President Vladimir Putins annexation of Crimea.

Trump faces a tough crowd of his own making. In the days leading up to the summit, hes fumed about his fellow G7 leaders, and in some cases theyve bitten back. Here are some choice quotes in the war of words.

We dont mind being six, if needs be

Tensions continued to mount as Trump headed to Canada on Friday morning. Hours before, French President Emmanuel Macron offered a veiled warning to his U.S. counterpart, who had continued to mouth off against his G7 peers.

Maybe the American president doesnt care about being isolated today, but we dont mind being six, if needs be, Macron said, per Reuters.

The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be. Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force https://t.co/UA86fcjozs  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 7, 2018

Trudeau is being so indignant

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In a Twitter rant on Thursday, Trump lashed out at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, venting about Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy products.

Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things...but he doesnt bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy  hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018

Didnt you guys burn down the White House?

In a tense phone call with Trudeau on Wednesday over the recent tariffs, Trump reportedly jabbed at Canada by accusing the country of burning down the executive residence in Washington. It was apparently a reference to the War of 1812, in which case it was erroneous  it was the British who did it.

If we explained to people how sausages were made, its unlikely theyd keep eating them

This was Macron after a phone call with Trump that White House aides described as terrible. Macron declined to share his own sentiments on the phone call, invoking the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck in a conversation with reporters. So I like it when people see the finished meal, but Im not convinced the kitchen commentary helps with delivering the meal or eating it.

Unjustified and deeply disappointing

This is how British Prime Minister Theresa May described Trumps latest tariffs on steel and aluminum coming out of Europe. The comment underscored the awkward tensions rising between the U.S. and one of its oldest allies.

There will be difficult discussions

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed cynicism earlier this week about her prospects for the G7 summit, slyly faulting the Trump administration for its abandoning of old allegiances. We have a serious problem with multilateral agreements, and thats why there will be contentious discussions, she said, per AFP.
Andrew Taffer

Security, Asia

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he welcomes South Korea's President Moon Jae-In in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Using U.S. troop levels in the South as a bargaining chip with the North would impair fundamental and overriding American strategic interests.

America Shouldn't Remove Troops from South Korea

The Trump administration has indicated that it may use U.S. forces in South Korea as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the North Korea over the latters nuclear program. Doing so might, at first blush, appear to be a sensible course of action. Washington will, after all, need to offer Pyongyang incentives for it to abandon its nuclear program. And, given the gravity of the threat posed by the Norths nuclear capabilities, particularly meaningful inducements such as a drawdown of American forces may be warranted. In an article appearing recently in The National Interest, Lyle Goldstein eloquently called on the United States to do just that, arguing that Washington must put sufficiently weighty and shiny carrots onto the table. Goldstein also highlighted the many upsides of a moderate U.S. troop withdrawal from South Korea.

If Korean geopolitics could be neatly disaggregated from the rest of East Asia, opening U.S. force levels to negotiation with the North might be advisable. The Korean Peninsula, however, cannot, of course, be disassociated from the regional environment as the United States bitterly learned in October 1950. In this broader context, using U.S. troop levels in the South as a bargaining chip with the North would impair fundamental and overriding American strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific and would thus be a significant error.

The Trump administration has declared that great power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of U.S. national security. It was right to do so. In its 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS), the administration also correctly characterized China, along with Russia, as "revisionist" powers, arguing that Beijing "seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific . . . and reorder the region in its favor." Because the American alliance system serves as the foundation of the U.S. position in East Asia and is the region's principal ordering feature, a primary Chinese objective is to weaken and eventually facilitate the collapse of U.S. regional alliances. If the United States is to prevail in its strategic competition with China, it will thus need to focus an extraordinary deal of time and energy on combating Chinese wedging efforts. Also, America will have to carefully usher its alliances through a range of other challenges. This means using troop levels as a bargaining chip with the North would have precisely the kind of negative consequences on alliance health that should be avoided.

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Alliances are formed and must be managed under the condition of uncertainty inherent in the international system. Along with the fear of being entrapped in a conflict against a states wishes, a pervasive aspect of alliances is the constant worry about being deserted by ones ally. Allies are thus highly sensitive to signs concerning one anothers intentions and the credibility of their commitments, scrutinizing not only their interactions with each other but all aspects of their foreign relations and domestic politics. And although these concerns are present in every alliance relationship, they tend to be particularly pronounced for junior allies that are disproportionately dependent on a patron for their security. If the fear of either abandonment or entrapment grows significant and mistrust festers, the alliance will be weakened and, if not remedied, can collapse.

Goldstein argues that Washington is unreasonably concerned with the perceived credibility of its commitments. He notes that efforts to assuage an allys fear of abandonment can lead to a dangerously single-minded focus on credibility that can end up entrapping a state in an unwanted conflict. He is, of course, correct, and the example of World War I is more than apt. However, because, as Glenn Snyder observed, the risk of abandonment and entrapment vary inversely, efforts to avoid entrapment can lead to equally undesirable outcomes. Such a state might reduce its commitment to its ally or withhold or scale back support for it, devaluing the alliance for the ally and causing its defection. For this dynamic, too, there are major historical examples such as the Sino-Soviet split and Sadats Egypt. If too much and too little emphasis on credibility can both be problematic, this hardly means that credibility is itself unimportant. Goldstein is right to note that alliances sometimes cause instability, but this should be a reason to pay particularly close attention to alliance management, not to dismiss concerns associated with it.

The principal challenge facing U.S. alliance management in East Asia today is not a surfeit of attention paid to American credibility but a deficit of it. American unwillingness to meaningfully counter Chinese coercion in the South and East China Seas; the Trump administrations transactional approach to alliance relationships; and the decline in the size of the U.S. Navy at a time when Beijings anti-access/area denial capabilities have grown dramatically, have all served to aggravate allied fears of American abandonment. It was, for example, the anemic U.S. response to Chinas conduct in the South China Sea that in part contributed to Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes decision to pivot away from Washington and toward Beijing.

While there is a need for the United States to assure its allies of its commitment to their security, using troop levels as a bargaining chip with the North would do the opposite. It would exacerbate U.S. allies' existing fears about American reliability and could well encourage them, much as Manila has done, to increasingly hedge against the possibility of abandonment by accommodating Chinese interests. For this reason, there can be little doubt that in their meetings over the past couple of months, Chinese President Xi Jinping has impressed on Kim the importance of negotiating down U.S. force levels in the South.

Why would using U.S. troop levels as a bargaining chip erode allied assurance? Negotiating the terms of a bilateral alliance trilaterally cannot but result in suboptimal allied arrangements. Thus, a willingness to allow a third party to negotiate among the most significant aspects of a bilateral alliancei.e., the number of troops deployed in a partners country - demonstrates a more tenuous commitment to an allys defense. While conducting such talks with any unaligned state would set a distressing precedent that would increase allied concerns about their partners commitments, a willingness to do so with a shared adversary would be particularly alarming. Indeed, one can think of few ways worse to inspire faith among a states allies than to negotiate the terms of an alliance with a common enemy.

A willingness to negotiate U.S. force levels in South Korea with the North would demonstrate to American allies across the region that the most sensitive aspects of their alliance with Washington can be negotiated with their adversaries to satisfy the immediate exigencies of the security environment. This would heighten precisely the kind of allied uncertainty and suspicion that the United States ought to be working to minimize. U.S. allies will wonder, if Washington is willing to offer such concessions to North Korea, what will it be willing to give up when it faces a similar or more difficult challenge from a far more capable China?

Negotiating U.S. force levels with Pyongyang would also weaken deterrence vis-a-vis Beijing. It would incentivize China, and other revisionist powers, to follow the Norths example of menacing the United States and its allies and then, at the negotiating table, offering to curb its hostility in exchange for an American military withdrawal. The NSS accurately states, the willingness of rivals to abandon or forgo aggression depends on their perception of U.S. strength and the vitality of our alliances. It is difficult to see how a willingness to use U.S. troop levels as a bargaining chip accords with this proposition. Doing so would result in a weakened U.S. military presence in the heart of Northeast Asia, make American alliances look flimsy, and would more generally telegraph a waning interest in sustaining forward deployments.

The Trump administration likely views the financial savings associated with a negotiated drawdown as a significant upside. Goldstein is apparently sympathetic to this view, writing, "With soaring national budget deficits, the expenses for major peace-time deployments abroad are simply no longer sustainable. It strains the imagination, however, to see how the potential savings a fraction of 1 percent of the Presidents proposed defense budget for 2019 could be worth the political and strategic costs that would accompany such a reduction. Hal Brands has even suggested that, given South Koreas substantial financial contributions, it is arguably cheaper to station American forces there than stateside.

In negotiations, the United States will have to offer the North carrots, but reduced U.S. troop levels in the South should not be one of them. The long-term strategic costs will far outweigh the (highly uncertain) benefits of doing so. Washington can and should, however, make clear that if the security situation on the Korean peninsula improves, the allies may well decide that fewer U.S. troops are required. The critical point is that it would be an allied decision, not the product of negotiations with Pyongyang.

Using American force levels as a bargaining chip with the North would weaken the U.S. position in the region and give succor to Beijings aims. It would help to facilitate  not resist  Chinese revisionism. Washington should therefore not put the issue on the table.

Andrew Taffer is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Belfer Center, Harvard University.

Image: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he welcomes South Korea's President Moon Jae-In in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

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Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in France from an apparent suicide. He was 61.

Bourdains death was confirmed by CNN, which noted he was filming an episode of his show Parts Unknown.

His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller, the statement added. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.

Bourdain was found by his friend Eric Ripert, the owner of the world-famous restaurant Le Bernardin who was a common companion on Bourdains show, according to CNN.

The New York City-born chef is survived by his daughter, 11-year-old Ariane. Bourdain separated from her mother, Ottavia Bourdain, in 2016 after nine years of marriage. We love each other. We respect the decisions the other has made. And well always consider ourselves a family, she said in a statement.

Bourdain had been in a relationship with Italian actress and director Asia Argento, who was one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. He had actively been supporting Argento and the #MeToo movement. After Argento made a scathing speech about Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Bourdain told IndieWire he was so proud of her. I am honored to know someone who has the strength and fearlessness to do something like that, he added.

Bourdain visited roughly 120 countries over the years, exploring various cultures and cuisines. His CNN show, Parts Unknown, received five Emmy Awards as well as a 2013 Peabody Award.

He also wrote about his travels and culinary adventures in his 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which was a New York Times bestseller.

In an interview with TIME in 2015, Bourdain revealed he had been surprised by the books success. A lot of people offered me things in the wake of that, and I was careful about what I said yes to. I live by something called a no-ahole rule: Whatever it is Im considering, I ask myself, whoever I have to deal with in this project, if they call me at 11 oclock at night, will it be O.K.? I dont want to have to pick up thinking, Oh, that aholes on the phone, he said.

The announcement of Bourdains death comes three days after fashion designer Kate Spade committed suicide in her Manhattan apartment. Federal data shows that suicide rates have increased steadily across nearly every demographic over the past two decades, rising by 28% from 1999 to 2016.

If you or someone you know may be contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Chef and CNN host Anthony Bourdain was best known for his food and travel chronicles, but in recent months he had also become an advocate for the Me Too movement, offering candid reflections on sexual harassment and bro culture in the restaurant industry.

As remembrances from friends, colleagues and fans poured in following the announcement of Bourdains death Friday morning, some noted his role in championing the Me Too movement.

Anthony was a major MeToo supporter. He strongly defended our rights; he spoke up publicly for us. He was that vital male partner. I am humbled and forever grateful that one of his last major projects was believing in and becoming EP of my recent CNN series on the lives of women.  Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) June 8, 2018

anthony bourdain welcomed the complicated work of being an ally and engaging with #metoo. he asked questions that were hard to ask and encouraged other men to as well. he wasn't perfect at it, but he did the work. more men need to do the work



heres what he told me in january: pic.twitter.com/7xhWtUP4l8  maria yagoda (@mariayagoda) June 8, 2018

Anthony was devoted not only to @AsiaArgento but to the justice she and other Weinstein survivors were denied for so long. His righteous anger and his small, random acts of kindness and sincerity is what I will remember most about him. https://t.co/3XrQHJGklv  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 8, 2018

Bourdain was in a relationship with the Italian actress and director Asia Argento, one of the first women to go public with accusations of serial sexual misconduct against mega-producer Harvey Weinstein. Argento has said that in 1997, Weinstein raped her at that years Cannes Film Festival. She is one of scores of actresses and former employees who have accused Weinstein of sexual violence, harassment and exploitation in a period spanning several decades.

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Bourdain credited Argento with helping him better understand the difficulties that women face in reporting sexual harassment and assault, and helping him reflect on his own personal failings.

He praised Argentos bravery, like after her powerful speech at Cannes last month, when she warned other sexual predators: You know who you are. But more importantly, we know who you are, and we wont allow you to get away with any longer.

It was absolutely fearless to walk right into the lions den and say what she said, the way she said it, Bourdain said in an interview with Indiewire last week. It was an incredibly powerful moment, I thought. I am honored to know someone who has the strength and fearlessness to do something like that.

On May 25, when New York police arrested Weinstein, a watershed moment for the Me Too movement, Bourdain tweeted to Argento: You were sure this day would never come, that you would be crushed, that you were alone. And yet you did it anyway.

When you went on record, @AsiaArgento you were sure this day would never come, that you would be crushed, that you were alone. And yet you did it anyway. #perpwalk pic.twitter.com/sGzI1qUjx7  Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) May 25, 2018

Bourdain had also spoken candidly about his own reflections, grappling with the way his bad boy persona may have contributed to toxic masculinity and sexual harassment in the restaurant industry.

In an extensive interview in October, he told Slate how his best-selling book Kitchen Confidential depicted and perhaps endorsed bro culture.

Ive had to ask myself, and I have been for some time, To what extent in that book did I provide validation to meatheads? he recalled. If you read the book, theres a lot of bad language. Theres a lot of sexualization of food. I dont recall any leeringly or particularly, whats the word, prurient interest in the book, other than the first scene as a young man watching my chef very happily [have a] consensual encounter with a client. But still, thats bro culture, thats meathead culture.

He also said hed started to scrutinize his own conduct, calling it a personal failing that female colleagues may not have felt comfortable confiding in him, and noting how the restaurant industry perpetuated a militaristic, male system and that he was a guy in a guys world:

I had to ask myself, particularly given some things that Im hearing, and the people Im hearing them about: Why was I not the sort of person, or why was I not seen as the sort of person, that these women could feel comfortable confiding in? I see this as a personal failing. Ive been hearing a lot of really bad shit, frankly, and in many cases its like, wow, Ive known some of these women and Ive known women whove had stories like this for years and theyve said nothing to me. What is wrong with me? What have I, how have I presented myself in such a way as to not give confidence, or why was I not the sort of person people would see as a natural ally here? So I started looking at that.

In December, he condemned his friend Mario Batali, the chef and restaurateur who has faced sexual misconduct allegations from at least 18 women. Bourdain expressed real remorse for a culture that allowed the kind of grotesque behaviors were hearing about all too frequently.

Ive been sitting on stories that were not mine to tell, he tweeted. And feeling sick and guilty as fuck I hadnt heard them before.

That month, he wrote on Medium that his support of the movement doesnt make me any more enlightened than any other man who has begun listening and paying attention. It does makes me, I hope, slightly less stupid.

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

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After President Donald Trump said on Friday he may pardon Muhammad Ali, the late boxers attorney responded that the pardon would be unnecessary.

We appreciate President Trumps sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary, the statement from Ron Tweel said. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unanimous decision in 1971. There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed.

Trump had said earlier Friday morning that he was very seriously considering pardoning Ali amid a string of recent pardons and commutations from the President, including the late boxer Jack Johnson, who received a rare posthumous pardon in May.

Ali was arrested in 1967 when he refused to be drafted into the U.S. military during the Vietnam conflict. The boxer refused three times to step forward when his name was called at his draft induction in April of that year, for which he faced a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

My conscience wont let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America, Ali said at the time. Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.

Ali was eventually convicted of violating Selective Service laws and sentenced to five years in prison.

However, as Alis lawyer pointed out in the statement, during the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court case Clay v. U.S., Ali was cleared of all charges. The court unanimously decided he was in fact a true contentious objector and not just a draft dodger.

In this Court the Government has now fully conceded that the petitioners beliefs are based upon religious training and belief, the courts opinion said. For the record shows that the petitioners beliefs are founded on tenets of the Muslim religion as he understands them.
Shopping for an outdoor furniture set is one of the biggest buzzkills ever. First, you're extremely hopeful: It's spring, I can finally sit outside, let's whip the patio into shape, etc. But that fades fast, as you realize quality outdoor furniture is pricey. Shockingly so! Jay Dillon felt precisely this way when he and his wife went to furnish a friend's patio one summer (yes, a friend'sthe deal was that they got to use their beach house for a spell if they found and purchased a perfect outdoor furniture set before leaving) and couldn't justify buying any nice ones due to the price. That's when the idea for a new company was born, but it would be years before Jay (and his entrepreneur dad, Bob) launched the product: Yardbird, a direct-to-consumer outdoor furniture line that uses recycled ocean plastic to build affordable, high-quality pieces for your patio.

The idea of Yardbird began when we... realized the price disparity in the outdoor furniture industry, says Jay. Cue the Warby Parker solution: Cut out the middleman and cut down the prices. But before any manufacturing deals were signed, Jay had to do his research. So in 2015, he quit his New York City job and moved to Hong Kong, hotbed of the weaving industry, to "study in the factories, build relationships with suppliers, and truly understand quality control." Over time, two things stood out: the incredible amount of virgin plastics being used to manufacture outdoor furniture, and the incredible amount of plastic debris on the local beaches. At a swimming beach Hong Kong Island, Jay noticed a giant net in place in the water to keep trash out of the swimming area, and remembers taking weekend trips with his wife to beaches in the Phillipines and Indonesia without nets, where plastic was everywhere.

"After researching the issue, I learned that five Asian countries (Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and China) contribute more than 60 percent of the garbage to the oceans," he says. "The opportunity to support conservation efforts with Yardbirds mission was obvious." A facility in Manila helped him purchase large amounts of intercepted ocean plastics from collectors and then process them for use, which involves label-stripping, chopping, washing, pelletizing, and then dyeing the pieces so they're ready to be turned into furniture. (They heat the plastic as little as possible during this process, in order to minimize the pollutants put off, and then cool them immediately in a water bath.) "As a result, Yardbird has collected and incorporated over 30,000 pounds of intercepted ocean plastic in its 2018 collection," says Jay, "with 50 percent of every handmade resin wicker set made of this recycled material." Using these recycled materials doesn't negatively effect quality or durability, Jay says, and the cost of all this collecting/processing is about the same as what they'd spend on virgin plastic. So it's a win for the consumer, primarily.

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Before formally launching this spring, Jay and his dad gave it all a test drive by opening a pop-up in Minneapolistheir hometown. (They self-financed for the first year and worked with factories to extend payment terms to make the pop-up possible.) Within four weeks, they sold out of $1 million of inventory. From there they raised capital and started making more furniture, not just of plastic resin wicker but also rust-proof aluminum, some even finished to look like lightly weathered teak. Plus, every Yardbird furnishing is 100% recyclable.
Eric Ripert called Anthony Bourdin his best friend in a heartfelt post about his longtime TV companion Friday.

Ripert, the co-owner and executive chef of Le Bernardin in New York City, found Bourdain dead in his hotel room in France just hours earlier, CNN reported.

Authorities said the beloved chef, author and TV presenter committed suicide. He was 61.

Ripert was in France to film an episode of Bourdains CNN show Parts Unknown.

Anthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love & prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones. Ripert wrote.

Anthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love & prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/LbIeZK14ia  Eric Ripert (@ericripert) June 8, 2018

Ripert met Bourdain more than 20 years ago while they were working in New York City restaurants.

The two collaborated frequently on screen, with Ripert usually playing the straight man  whom Bourdain gleefully tormented with spicy food and wild adventures.

Italian actress Asia Argento, who had been dating Bourdain since last year, released a statement earlier Friday, calling Bourdain, my love, my rock, my protector.
Lima (AFP) - A group of archaeologists has discovered the remains of more than 50 children who were ritually sacrificed by the pre-Columbian Chimu culture on the northern coast of what is now Peru.

The site is located a close to another where evidence of the biggest-ever sacrifice of children was found, with more than 140 youngsters were slain. But the most recent discovery may be even bigger.

"So far we have found the remains of 56 children who were sacrificed by the Chimu culture," archaeologist Gabriel Prieto told AFP.

"At this new site, we can easily double the number of remains we found in Huanchaquito," he said, referring to the nearby location where over 140 dead were found.

The new sacrifice site was discovered in the Pamapa La Cruz area in Huanchaco, a coastal district of Trujillo, Peru's third-largest city.

Prieto said that the remains of the children, who were aged between six and 14, were found in early May wrapped in cotton shrouds facing the sea, a kilometer (less than a mile) north of Huanchaquito.

"The interesting thing is that they were sacrificed with a cut in the sternum and display opened ribs like in Huanchaquito," which reinforces the idea that "Huanchaco was a place where massive sacrifices of children were made during the Chimu culture," he said.

In Huanchaquito, the remains of over 140 children and 200 llamas slain some 550 years ago were discovered, National Geographic reported in late April.

Those excavations date back to 2011, when the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas were discovered in a 3,500-year-old temple, according to the report.

Related Video: Ancient Drawings Discovered in Peru Desert

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In the hours before news broke of Anthony Bourdains apparent suicide, his girlfriend Asia Argento was active on social media.

The 42-year-old Italian actress shared videos and photos on her Instagram story throughout the day on Thursday, including one with the Rome geotag, seemingly indicating she was not in the same country as Bourdain at the time of his death. The host of CNNs Anthony Bourdain: PartsUnknown, who was 61, was found unresponsive in his hotel room in France on Friday morning by close friend and French chef, Eric Ripert, according to CNN. Both were filming an upcoming episode of Bourdains award-winning show.

Argentos recent Instagram story, posted around three hours before Bourdains death was first reported, was a photo of herself wearing a ripped t-shirt that read: F EVERYONE.

You know who you are, she captioned the post.

Argentos Instagram story has since been deleted.

RELATED: Rose McGowan Mourns the Loss of Friend Anthony Bourdain in Teary Video: Im So Mad at You

Argento has since released a statement regarding Bourdain on Twitter. Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did, she said. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine.

A Strasbourg police spokesperson confirmed Bourdains death to PEOPLE. Colmar, France, public prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny du Fayel told PEOPLE that Bourdain died by hanging at a luxury hotel in Kaysersberg called Le Chambard, noting at this stage, nothing suggests the intervention of a third party.

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It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain, CNN said in a statement. His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.

Argento and Bourdain met when the two collaborated on the Rome episode of Parts Unknown in 2016, and Argento became heavily involved in his creative process. She recently directed an upcoming episode set in Hong Kong, and Bourdain would often consult her for her rich knowledge of music and film when putting together the series.

RELATED VIDEO: Anthony Bourdain, Celebrated American Chef, Dead at 61 from Apparent Suicide

Speaking to PEOPLE earlier this year, Bourdain opened up about how he made long-distance work with the Rome-based actress amid his hectic travel schedule.

I want to spend as much time with her as I can, he said, explaining that he reserved about five days a month to spend with Ariane, his 11-year-old daughter with his ex-wife Ottavia Busia in New York, followed by trips to visit Argento in Italy.

RELATED: Anthony Bourdain Joked He Wanted to Die in the Saddle in PEOPLE Interview Months Before Death

Asked if her presence has made him softer on and off set, Bourdain said, Im happier for sure. Its nice to be with somebody who I see as a peer.

Shes been in this circus since she was nine, he said. She knows so much more about so many of the things that are important to me  music, books, film, the technical aspects of film, and just the weird state of celebrity, being somebody that people come up to. Thats something shes dealt with a lot longer than me. I was 44 before that started happening. Whereas, its been like that for her since she was a kid.

This woman likes to work, he continued. She is strong, independent, creative, and needs to have an obsession, needs to make things. I think were both relieved by the fact that we both respect each others work. Nobodys ever going to say, Oh, but you promised we were going to go to the beach. No, you get a gig, thats it. Work first.

Argentos most recent photo with Bourdain was posted on May 27.

Its a wrap! she captioned a black and white photo of the two. #Firenze @partsunknowncnn @anthonybourdain #makearteveryday.

Bourdain also liked a photo Argento posted to Instagram four days before his death.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Related Video: Remembering Anthony Bourdains Life and Career
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A flood of illegal small arms has swamped Nigeria, bringing with it a surge of violence that has left hundreds dead.

Boko Haram Islamists, whose insurgency has killed at least 20,000 in the northeast since 2009, have long been reputed to have received weapons smuggled from North Africa.

But a recent influx of small arms is also fuelling violence in other arenas, including clashes between cattle herders and farmers in central states.

It is also adding to the plague of kidnapping and cattle-rustling by gangs in the north of the country, and of armed robbery and attacks on oil installations in the south.

"Without the firearms... we would not have the kind of violence of the magnitude we have today," Interior Minister Abdurrahman Dambazau said in January.

In April, Kano state police commissioner Rabiu Yusuf said the solution to illegal weapons was clear: "We need to put them out of circulation."

Doing that is a tall order, however.

The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament (UNREC) has said more than 350 million small arms and light weapons are circulating in Nigeria -- nearly two for every member of its population.

Nigeria accounts for some 70 percent of the 500 million or so weapons thought to be in West Africa, UNREC director Anselme Yabouri told a conference in Abuja in December last year.

Periodic seizures are made: on May 31, soldiers on patrol in the southwest intercepted three trucks carrying boxes of ammunition from Benin.

But with some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) of borders -- most of them porous -- Nigeria has struggled to stem the tide.

- Chad, Libya -

In Nigeria, there is no legal right to gun ownership and regulation is by the president. Civilians are banned from owning handguns, military rifles or machine guns.

Licences can be obtained from the police for double-barrel shotguns and hunting guns, but permission for this has been suspended because of the security situation.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed the 2011 fall of Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and its chaotic aftermath for the rise in the smuggling of prohibited arms.

"Sophisticated weapons" have found their way into the country, ending up in the hands of nomadic herders who previously carried only sticks and machetes, he said in April.

But security analyst Babaji Katagum said blaming the influx on lawlessness in Libya was a "restrictive explanation".

"Chad has for long been an important source of illegal weapons to Nigerian criminals, including Boko Haram," the former Nigerian Army captain told AFP.

Civil conflict has hit Nigeria's military partner in the regional fight-back against Boko Haram several times in the last 30 years.

Weapons from rebel groups have then ended up in Nigeria, said Katagum.

In 1998, troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad operated as a joint force against arms and drug smuggling in the Lake Chad area where their borders meet.

But it became clear that it was too small to police the vast northern frontier effectively, particularly after its mandate was later expanded to tackle Boko Haram.

An aerial surveillance unit -- the Air Border Guards -- was set up in 2007 comprising Nigerian immigration, customs and air force personnel.

But it was grounded just five years later by mismanagement and internal rivalry.

- Repeated seizures -

As well as overland routes, Nigeria's sea ports have been used by cartels to import weapons, by declaring containers as household goods or construction material to evade detection.

In September 2017, customs officers in the commercial capital, Lagos, seized 470 pump-action shotguns labelled as plumbing supplies in a container from Turkey.

That brought the number of weapons seized in the first nine months of last year to nearly 2,700, said the comptroller-general of customs, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali.

Last month, the head of Nigeria's federal police, Ibrahim Idris, said some 4,000 illegal firearms were recovered across the country in just three months.

Officials also publicly destroyed nearly 6,000 guns surrendered by about 3,000 kidnappers and cattle thieves as part of an amnesty in northern Zamfara state.

But Katagum said such discoveries were an "insignificant number" compared to the huge numbers of weapons in circulation.

"All these seizures are only an insignificant fraction of the huge flow of illegal weapons that pass through our ports into the country," a customs officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We don't have the capacity to check the contents of all cargo container imports -- we rely on intelligence and our instincts."
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Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

People with pre-existing health conditions, women, and older consumers could lose critical access to health insurance or pay significantly more for coverage if a legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) succeeds.

Late Thursday, the Justice Department said it would support an existing lawsuit brought by a coalition of 20 states led by conservatives that claims key provisions of the ACA are unconstitutional.

Its rare for the Justice Department to side with states against a federal law, and some consider that development a setback for those who are most vulnerable and in need of the access to healthcare promised by the ACA.

The Justice Department, in support of the lawsuit, said Thursday that it believes several ACA requirements are unconstitutional and should be struck down. Those include the requirement for people to have health insurance and another that prohibits insurers from denying coverage or charging people higher premiums based on health status and other factors.

This is a significant threat that could affect a wide group of people, says Timothy Jost, a health policy expert and professor emeritus at the Washington and Lee School of Law.

If states prevail and win the lawsuit, it means people with a record of even minor health problems could be denied coverage or charged more for health insurance. Women and older people that insurers perceive as more costly to cover could pay more too, says Jost.

Sixteen states with Democratic attorneys general have been fighting the lawsuit, which was first filed in February.

Even the insurance industry doesn't support the lawsuit, which, if successful, could prompt healthy people to withdraw from the individual insurance market and raise costs for insurers to provide coverage to people who buy their own policies.

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The group of states that filed the lawsuit argue that because the ACA's "individual mandate"which requires most to have health insurance or pay a fineis invalid, starting next year, the entire healthcare law is invalid.

The provision that did away with penalties for not having health insuranceessentially doing away with the individual mandatewas signed into law by President Trump in December as part of the tax cut legislation.

The Justice Department on Thursday did not say it supported totally killing the Obama-era healthcare law, which also created the existing health insurance marketplaces for people to buy individual insurance, provides income-based subsidies to reduce premiums, and allows states to expand Medicaid coverage to a larger group of people with support from federal funds. The legal challenge doesn't affect any of those provisions or Medicare.

About 30 percent of people with pre-existing health problems were denied coverage pre-ACA and many more were charged higher rates, according to Larry Levitt at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Jost says if the lawsuit prevails it would also affect the more than 50 percent of Americans who have employer insurance, not just those who buy it on the individual markets. Thats because insurers would no longer be required by federal law to provide whats known as guaranteed coverage and would be allowed to charge higher rates for people they think would be more costly.

Consumer groups and patient advocates are worried. "Actions like this only destabilize the markets and stir more uncertainty for insurers, resulting in higher premiums and costs for consumers, says Betsy Imholz, special projects director for Consumers Union, the advocacy division of Consumer Reports.

The ACA Fight Continues

The prospect that protections for people with health issues would disappear was the most controversial aspect of efforts by Congressional Republicans to repeal the ACA in a months-long fight last year.

But this legal challenge could have a more serious impact than even what was proposed by Congress, says Jost. And it comes at a critical time. Insurers are now in the process of determining the rates they want to charge consumers who buy their own insurance in 2019.

Some states who have asked insurance regulators to review their proposed premium increases for 2019 are already asking for hikes that top 30 percent. That comes on top of stiff hikes for 2018.

The insurance industry spoke out against the lawsuit and the Justice Department move on Friday.

Removing those provisions tied to the individual mandate will result in renewed uncertainty in the individual market, create a patchwork of requirements in the states, cause rates to go even higher for older Americans and sicker patients, and make it challenging to introduce products and rates for 2019, says Kristine Grow from insurance industry trade group Americas Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).

What It Means for Consumers

Still, insurers downplayed the size of the impact of the litigation, saying uncertainty from the repeal of the individual mandate penalties last December and other recent changes that loosen regulations in the health insurance market have already been factored into prices. Insurers say the individual health insurance market is more stable than people might think.

Initial filings for 2019 plans have shown that, while rates are higher due to the zeroing out of the individual mandate penalty, the market is more steady for most consumers than in previous years, with insurance providers stepping in to serve more consumers in more states, says Grow.

How much you might feel the impact will also depend on where you live and whether you qualify for tax subsidies that significantly lower the cost of health insurance and, in some cases, make it free for lower-income people.

Currently, proposed rate increases range from 7 to 36 percent higher than 2018 but are only up 2 percent on Silver plans for people who get tax credits to subsidize their premiums, according to a new premium tracker launched this month by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In addition, some states have long made it illegal to rate insurance based on health status, gender, and age and would likely continue to do so. Legal experts are also skeptical that the case will prevail and say it will take many months for a decision, and the lawsuit could play out for years because of appeals.

"So far as I can make out, the Trump administration will continue to enforce the ACA while the litigation progresses," Nicholas Bagley, an assistant professor who specializes in health law at the University of Michigan Law School, wrote Friday in a posting on the Incidental Economist site.

The takeaway for consumers: This shouldnt deter people from seeking health insurance. It's important for consumers to know that the Affordable Care Act and the protections it ensures for their coverage are still the law, and they should continue to see their health providers and plan to shop for coverage this fall as they have any other year," says Imholz.





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Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2018, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Chinese government hackers breached the files of a U.S. Navy contractor to steal submarine warfare secrets earlier this year, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The news comes a day after the Trump administration announced it was dropping sanctions against Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, despite concerns in Congress that the companys cellphones and renewed business connections in America could pose a national security threat.

The hackers stole massive amounts of secret data from the Navy contractor  including plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for U.S. subs, American intelligence officials told the Post.

The unidentified contractor works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a military organization headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island. The highly sensitive information was stolen in January and February, the Post reported.

Much of the stolen material was linked to a secret project called Sea Dragon and included signals and sensor data, and submarine radio room information relating to cryptographic systems, according to the newspaper.

The highly sensitive data was held by the contractor in a network of unclassified information, triggering concerns about possibly lax policing of contractor security protections, according to the Post.

The White House announced Thursday that President Donald Trump, concerned about saving lost jobs in China, had agreed to drop sanctions against ZTE. The sanctions were imposed because ZTE breached a U.S. embargo on trade with Iran and other countries for six years and lied about it. The company will now be allowed to again buy components for its smartphones in the U.S. after paying a $1 billion fine and installing a U.S. oversight team.

Given Chinas history of hacking and spying, however, Congress is concerned about a national security threat from the company through its inexpensive smartphones. U.S. officials have long been worried that ZTE equipment could be used by the Chinese government for espionage or sabotage.

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Early last month, the Department of Defense banned the sale of ZTE phones, routers and other hardware on military bases at home and abroad, citing security risks.

These devices may pose an unacceptable risk to the departments personnel and mission, Pentagon spokesperson Major Dave Eastburn told Reuters.

I assure you with 100% confidence that #ZTE is a much greater national security threat than steel from Argentina or Europe. #VeryBadDeal  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 7, 2018

This idea of embedding a compliance team at ZTE is a nice talking point, but unless the Trump Administration plans to open an FBI counter-intel field office inside the company, Beijing is about to get one heck of a deal on a backdoor into US telecom networks. https://t.co/nlsTnnDci1  Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) June 7, 2018

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will open late Saturday a two-day regional security summit attended by Russia, Iran and other allies confronting rising tensions with the US over trade and Washington's withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

Armoured vans lined the streets of the coastal city of Qingdao as world leaders arrived Friday for the 18th annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc led by China and Russia.

Its member states also include four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, Pakistan and India. Iran is an observer member.

Authorities emptied an entire oceanside swathe of the city -- clearing out shopkeepers, residents and day-trippers to make way for Xi, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also attend the meeting.

The leaders will be addressed by Xi this evening at an opening banquet from 7.45pm (1145 GMT), according to the official schedule, before taking in a fireworks display.

The SCO meeting comes after President Donald Trump controversially pulled Washington out of the 2015 international pact with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions.

Though not officially on the agenda, analysts say that one key topic of discussion this year may focus on whether Iran will be allowed to ascend from its position as an SCO observer to become a full member state -- a development it has sought since 2008 but has been unable to achieve while subject to UN sanctions.

The 2015 nuclear deal lifted that barrier.

Now in the wake of the US withdrawal from the pact, "SCO members may use granting full membership to Iran as a way to demonstrate support for (Tehran) and the nuclear agreement," said Dawn Murphy, professor of international security studies at the US Air War College.

Speaking Saturday to AFP in Lithuania's capital Vilnius, senior Iranian official Massoumeh Ebtekar said Iran hoped European powers, Russia and China would confirm their willingness to uphold the deal "as soon as possible because Iran cannot wait forever."

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"We have been a faithful player to this commitment, we've done our best, we've shown our good intentions. We are facing a very volatile region," she said.

The tensions over Iran come as another nuclear issue dominates headlines, with Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un preparing for an unprecedented summit in Singapore.

- Trade and security -

Trade, investment and development cooperation issues will also feature prominently at the SCO, Murphy said, given the climate of "rising anti-globalisation and strains on global multilateral economic institutions", stoked by Trump's nationalist "America First" policy.

SCO nations may discuss the potential of a joint free trade area, she said, as China also pushes for participation in its Belt and Road global infrastructure project.

"Member states of the SCO are key to the success of the Belt and Road initiative and China's growing influence as a Eurasian power," said Murphy.

China may, however, be hindered from gaining robust support for its project at this summit due to India, the only SCO member that does not endorse it, she noted.

Regional security issues will also feature, because terrorism is the most severe security challenge facing the SCO, according to Liao Jinrong, head of the Chinese ministry of public security's international cooperation department.

"No matter what country has terrorists, we must strengthen our regional cooperation and not allow them to affect regional security," he told a press conference Friday, adding that the SCO bloc had stopped "hundreds" of terrorist acts.

The summit will boost cooperation on combating terrorism, drug trafficking, organised cross-border crimes and cybersecurity, he said.
Naomi Washington-Leapheart, the faith work director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, addresses activists in front of the Supreme Court on Monday. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The Supreme Court ruled narrowly last week in the case of the Colorado bakery that refused to make a cake for a gay wedding, handing down a 7-2 decision in favor of baker Jack Phillips that mostly skirted the larger issues of discrimination at stake. The ruling was closely watched by gay rights advocates (who were disappointed by the outcome), by Christian fundamentalists (who would have preferred a more sweeping opinion affirming Phillipss religious freedom claims)  and by the small but vocal segment of the American public that calls itself libertarian.

For libertarians, the issue was neither marriage equality nor the prerogatives of religion, but (as in most disputes, in the libertarian view) the free market.

The perspective of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, is that the government should have no oversight over discrimination in private business transactions, such as the sale of a wedding cake or almost anything else. It is a private business owners right to choose whom to sell to; free markets will regulate discrimination.

Bob Levy, chairman of the board of directors at the Cato Institute, said the Supreme Court ruling was really a nonverdict.

Im pleased that they held for the baker, he said. Im disappointed in the opinion because it has no precedent-setting effect So the same issues that were posed in the case when it started are still pending.

Levy said that the true libertarian view was not before the court. Rather, the baker was arguing for freedom of religion and that he be allowed to express himself according to his beliefs.

The rights involved are not about free speech or free exercise of religion, Levy said. The rights are property rights, privacy rights and, most importantly, freedom of association, the right to associate with whoever you please.

Levy said libertarians support same-sex marriage, but that its not the issue at hand with the case of the Colorado baker.

The general rule is that free markets tend toward promoting nondiscrimination whereas free markets will penalize bigots and will reward nondiscrimination, will reward tolerance, Levy said.

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Levys view is consistent with the platform of the Libertarian Party, which won nearly 4.5 million votes in 2016 for its presidential ticket of former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld. In the section on Economic Liberty, the party platform says in part: For voluntary dealings among private entities, parties should be free to choose with whom they trade and set whatever trade terms are mutually agreeable. (Party officials did not respond to a request for comment on the Colorado case.)

The decision also inspired some controversial interpretations.

A hardware store owner in Tennessee put a sign in his window that said No Gays Allowed to celebrate the verdict. It wasnt the first time he put the sign up; he had previously displayed it in 2015.

Robert Tuttle, a law professor at George Washington University Law School, said the owner of the store had a right to put up the sign because there are no anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community in the state. In Colorado, he could have been charged for it.

A South Dakota Republican state representative, Michael Clark, posted on Facebook that in light of the case, business owners should be allowed to refuse service to people of color. He seemed unaware that discrimination by race or color has been illegal everywhere in the United States since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Clark ultimately apologized for the comments and the Facebook post was taken down.

Rose Saxe, a senior attorney at ACLU who worked on the Supreme Court case, said that theres a risk the decision could be misinterpreted and that the headlines immediately following the verdict might have been confusing to some readers.

I think one of the most important things is that the court did not accept [that] theres a constitutional right for businesses open to the public to refuse people just because theyre part of a same-sex couple or gay or lesbian, Saxe said.

Tuttle said the Supreme Court chose not to address the hard question of the case. In the verdict, the court found that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed hostility to the bakers religion.

The problem is, by taking that approach what theyre essentially doing is conceding the field to those who want more exceptions, Tuttle said.

Tuttle said people who are in business to serve have a duty to do so  no matter their religious beliefs.

All of this is about providing a very specific product to a specific person The six justices, apart from Thomas, in the majority clearly believe that people who are in business have a general obligation to serve all people who are protected in that particular jurisdictions interpretation of the Civil Rights Act, he said.

Tuttle said he doesnt see the verdict as a good sign for those who support legal protections for the LGBTQ community. The opinion left many open questions, but in his view the decision tilted toward those who feel discriminated against because of their religious beliefs.

The Supreme Court will have to decide whether it wants to take another case on LGBTQ rights and religious freedom. One possibility is Arlenes Flowers Inc. v. Washington, where a florist in the city of Richland, Wash., refused to arrange flowers for a long-time clients same-sex wedding.

Read more from Yahoo News:
Pristina (AFP) - As an EU judicial mission prepares to leave Kosovo, the assessments of its decade-long mandate are mixed -- hailed by officials but criticised by the public.

The EU's rule of law mission (EULEX) that will cease its judicial operations on June 14 was set up in December 2008, 10 months after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.

Spending several hundred million euros over the decade, hundreds of judges and police officers served with EULEX, the political bloc's largest civilian mission ever.

They were dealing with some of the most serious crimes committed during and after Kosovo's 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian guerillas and Serb forces, the fight against corruption and organised crime as well as boosting citizen confidence in the judiciary.

"I have every reason to be dissatisfied with EULEX," said 46-year-old Silvana Marinkovic, an ethnic Serb.

Her husband Goran was abducted in the aftermath of the war and his fate, like those of about 1,600 other people, still remains unknown.

"They did not even try to solve my problem," she told AFP.

- 'Visible legacy' -

Alexandra Papadopoulou, a Greek diplomat tasked with winding up EULEX's mandate, defended what she described as a "visible legacy in Kosovo with many achievements that are evident".

European judges delivered over 648 verdicts, including for corruption, organised crime, money laundering, war crimes and human trafficking, she said.

The authorities share her assessment of EULEX's achievements.

"It has been a worthy decade for Kosovo," President Hashim Thaci said. "Kosovo institutions have benefited greatly from cooperation with EULEX."

Even so, Kosovo is ranked only 85th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption perception index, above Albania and below Serbia, albeit up from 110 in 2014.

In its latest report the European Commission said "corruption is widespread and remains an issue of concern" for the country of 1.8 million people.

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The Zeri newspaper referred sarcastically to EULEX's initial pledge to tackle "big fish", saying the mission eventually remained a "mission of small fishes".

Of three key ethnic Albanian rebel leaders who were put on trial, Sami Lushtaku and Fatmir Limaj were acquitted of war crimes charges, while Sylejman Selimi was sentenced to eight years in jail for torturing prisoners.

Among unsolved cases is the assassination of prominent journalist Xhemail Mustafa, who was shot dead at his home in 2000.

In his columns, the former advisor to late president Ibrahim Rugova had denounced violence committed by Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas against opponents.

For his daughter Beriane Mustafa, EULEX is "completely a failed mission".

"It is not clear to me how it is possible that an EU mission with all those resources has failed to solve any of these murders," Mustafa, 36, told AFP, referring to a series of post-war political assassinations.

- No wartime rape punished -

Kosovo's war claimed 13,000 lives.

But EULEX eventually solved only 25 war crimes cases, according to the Humanitarian Law Centre rights watchdog.

"Despite systematic rape numbering thousands of victims committed by the Serbian security forces, there was no one single case solved and perpetrator punished," it said in a statement to AFP.

"EULEX is a failure... a very good idea, but it was very badly implemented," said Andrea Capussela.

Capussela, a former top official of the International Civilian Office (ICO), an international body charged with helping Kosovo function in its first independence years, wrote a book on the issue -- "State-building in Kosovo: Democracy, Corruption and the EU in the Balkans."

"All available indicators suggest that over the 10 years of EULEX mandate the rule of law has not strengthened in Kosovo but even seems to have weakened."

He blamed "managerial incompetence and opportunism, and a political preference for not upsetting the status quo".

Although they have not been proven, several corruption allegations targeting EULEX judges did not improve the mission's image among local population.

"It would have been better if Europe had invested this enormous amount money in the creation of jobs," said Jonuz Muftiu, a retired lawyer.

However, Papadopoulou argued that her mission was "never to solve with a magic wand all Kosovo problems on the rule of law in just a few years".

Ariana Qosja, a researcher at local think-tank KIPRED, said shee was pessimistic about the outcome of unfinished EULEX investigations now being transferred to the local judiciary.

In Kosovo, she said, the "judiciary continues to be under political directives".
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency meeting next Wednesday at 3:00 pm (19:00 GMT) to vote on an Arab-backed resolution on Gaza, the body's president Miroslav Lajcak announced Friday.

The resolution will condemn Israel, and will be similar to one vetoed by the United States in the Security Council last week, which called for protecting Palestinians from Israeli aggression, according to diplomats.

It comes as four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border on Friday, as weeks of deadly clashes with protesters continued.

Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly have no binding value, unlike those passed by the Security Council.

"We will work next week to get the maximum number of votes," a diplomat from a country that supported the measure told AFP.

Arab countries turned to the General Assembly in December after the US vetoed a Security Council vote on a resolution to condemn its decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Fourteen members of the Security Council backed the December resolution, though the US as well as the council's four other permanent members retain a right to veto.

The measure then received 128 votes out of 193 in the General Assembly.

A diplomatic source said the emergency meeting had been pushed by the Organization of Islamic States and the Arab League.

Several European countries have tried to dissuade Palestinians and Arab countries from demanding a vote in the General Assembly after last week's US veto.

- At least 129 Palestinians killed -

"Everyone told them not to do it," said a diplomat on condition of anonymity, arguing the resolution could be counterproductive if it doesn't receive at least as many votes as the one obtained in December on Jerusalem.

Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, condemned the planned resolution.

"It is unfortunate that instead of condemning the terrorists of Hamas, some countries are looking to satisfy their domestic political needs by bashing Israel at the United Nations," Danon said in a statement.

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It is not entirely clear what form of protection the Palestinians of Gaza are seeking, from observers to a full blown peacekeeping force.

Arab states have recently turned to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make proposals on this matter.

But according to a diplomat who asked for anonymity, he said he needed a mandate from the Security Council to look further into the issue.

On Friday, four Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers near the border fence during new clash-ridden protests in the blockaded enclave.

At least 129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests broke out along the Gaza border on March 30. There have been no Israeli casualties.

Protests peaked on May 14 when at least 61 Palestinians were killed in protests to coincide with the controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem

The Jewish state maintains a crippling blockade of Gaza it says is necessary to isolate Hamas.

Critics say it amount to collective punishment of the territory's two million residents.
MALBAIE, Quebec (Reuters) - The chairman of European Union leaders Donald Tusk appealed at a G7 summit on Friday for support for Ukrainian film maker Oleg Sentsov, sentenced by Russia to 20 years in a prison camp in Siberia for opposing Russia's annexation of Crimea.

The Crimea-born Sentsov pleaded not guilty and denounced the trial as politically driven, amid high tension between Russia and the West over Moscow's role in the crisis in Ukraine.

"Today is the 24th day of his indefinite hunger strike, which he is planning to follow through if his demands of the release of 64 political prisoners are not met," Tusk told a news conference.

"This is why I asked the leaders to show their support for Oleg Sentsov. Our solidarity can save his life," he said before the talks of the G7 leaders of the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, Germany, France and Italy.

Russia was suspended from what was then called the G8 in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by Grant McCool)
By Mica Rosenberg WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 1,800 immigrant families were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border from October 2016 through February of this year, according to a senior government official, as President Donald Trump implemented stricter border enforcement policies. The numbers are the first comprehensive disclosure by the administration of how many families have been affected by the policies. Previously, the only numbers provided by federal officials on family separations covered a single two-week period in May. The government official, who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, said he could not provide up-to-date statistics, but acknowledged the number of separations had risen sharply in recent weeks, largely because of new administration policies. In May, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a 'zero tolerance' policy in which all those apprehended entering the United States illegally would be criminally charged, which generally leads to children being separated from their parents. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official testified last month to Congress that between May 6 and May 19, 658 children were separated from 638 parents because of the stepped-up prosecutions. That brings the total of officially acknowledged separations to more than 2,400, though that does not include recent weeks or the period from March 1 to May 6. Immigration and child advocates, Democratic lawmakers and the United Nations have all condemned the practice of separating families at the border, but the administration has defended its actions saying it is protecting children and making clear that illegal border crossers will be prosecuted regardless of their family circumstances. In most of the 1,768 cases of families separated by border agents between October 2016 and February, children were removed from parents for medical reasons or because of security concerns, the official said, citing examples such as parents needing hospitalization or officials discovering the parent had a criminal record either in the United States or in their home country. In 237 cases, the official said, children were removed because border agents suspected adults were falsely posing as the parents of minors in their charge. The period for which statistics were provided included the final three months of the Obama administration in 2016, but the official could not say whether any of the separations occurred then. 'PUBLIC INTEREST' The practice of separating families has not been systematically tracked until now, the official said, and the figures given to Reuters had to be compiled manually. "Why weren't we pulling these statistics before? Because it wasn't a big enough phenomenon that had public interest," the official said. "Now it's increasing and it's of public interest." The bulk of the separations involved Central Americans, who make up the majority of families crossing the southwest border. Some were apprehended trying to cross the border illegally, while others crossed illegally and then presented themselves to border patrol agents asking for asylum because they feared returning home. Immigrants can also go to an official port of entry to request asylum before crossing the border. The official said separations in such circumstances are rare, but that the numbers are not tracked separately. The official noted that the number of separations from October 2016 to February this year represented less than 2 percent of the 106,700 family units arrested along the southwest border during that same period. 'THE MOST DRACONIAN THING' The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the government on behalf of a Congolese asylum seeker who turned herself in to border guards in California only to have her 7-year-old daughter taken from her and housed in government custody more than 2,000 miles away in Chicago for months. The government said in legal papers that it took the child into custody because it could not corroborate the two were related. The ACLU argued the question could have been quickly resolved by a DNA test, which was only done much later. Lee Gelernt, the ACLU attorney representing the woman and other parents in similar situations, said the Trump administration is using allegations of fraud and security concerns to justify a policy that is actually aimed not at protecting children but at deterring future border crossers. "Taking a child away from their parent and interfering with the basic constitutional right to family unity, that's about the most draconian thing you can do and it needs the most compelling reason possible," Gelernt said. "Deterrence is a policy measure that uses these children as pawns and violates the basic fundamental notion of what's in the child's best interest." The official said some families were separated because human smugglers had tried to game the system by placing children with unrelated adults, hoping the adults would fare better if caught. Only a few immigration detention centers have the capacity to house parents and children together, so families caught at the border have often been freed to await court hearings while living in the United States. On Friday, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with 26 other Democrats and two independents introduced a bill that would put new limits on federal law enforcement's ability to separate immigrant children from their families unless a court decides that would be best for the child. The bill specifically states that a minor cannot be removed from a parent or legal guardian "solely for the policy goal of deterring individuals from migrating to the United States." (Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in Washington; Additional reporting Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Sue Horton and James Dalgleish)
Masaya (Nicaragua) (AFP) - "No smoking" signs dot a forested enclave outside Nicaragua's flashpoint city Masaya, but tobacco is not the concern: the area harbors explosive material used to fashion homemade mortar rounds.

Demand for the makeshift shells has jumped in recent weeks as anti-government protesters seek to fend off President Daniel Ortega's riot police, who are accused of unleashing deadly violence as the Central American country faces a sociopolitical crisis.

In the clandestine outpost, a man sporting sunglasses and an azure-blue face protector hand-mixes the mortar bombs, a concoction of potassium chlorate with carbon, sulfur, aluminum and a bit of sand for weight.

"We're living in a critical moment," he says, refusing to give his name for security reasons. That same day a Nicaraguan rights group announced that a 19-year-old student had been shot and killed, the 135th death linked to the unrest that has gripped the country since April 18.

Speaking from the makeshift workshop he dubs "Monimbo Makers" -- named after the Masaya neighborhood that championed the rebellion that brought Ortega to power, but where residents are now turning on the leftist ruler -- he says mortars are a form of protest and self-defense that "don't leave mortal wounds."

"This is a way to protect ourselves during this struggle," he says.

- 'Resist the massacre' -

Opponents of the Ortega government deploy the mortar rounds by slipping them into light muzzleloader-style launchers, which are also generally handmade, and setting them alight.

Masaya mechanic Alvaro Torres and his neighbors craft the launchers using tubes and soldering equipment. Their collaborative effort was "organized on the block to help resist the massacre of these people," he says.

The mortars help "repel the enemy," the 47-year-old says. Making mortars -- each one requires about an hour to produce, he says -- is vital "to being prepared."

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The devices are mostly used as a scare tactic; when lit, mortar rounds explode almost immediately, emitting smoke and an impressive, concussive blast.

Getting hit with mortar shells could hurt, concedes a 20-year-old known simply as "El Fox." But they are meant not to be lethal, intended rather to push government forces back from the street barricades manned by protesters.

Mortar wounds consist "of a burn, or a cut, but it's not deadly," El Fox said.

The Masaya resident said protesters are ultimately fighting an asymmetric battle, anyway: "Police carry AKs; they carry shotguns."

"They are the only ones who have access to weapons," he says. "The people have been able to repel them with stones, Molotov cocktails and mortars -- with the only things we can use to fight."

- Peace, not war -

Twelve mortar rounds normally go for 400 to 450 cordobas ($12 to $14), but prices have been rising since the government clamped down on gunpowder sales -- causing the homemade market to burgeon.

What's more, the craftsman at "Monimbo Makers" says, the companies selling chemicals needed for the homemade rounds have been closed, making it hard to procure ingredients.

But he will keep trying, he says, because the mortars are a way to drive security forces back and help the protesters in their pursuit of "peace in Nicaragua -- not war."

Similarly, Torres says, "the nature of the movement" will determine how long he keeps crafting mortar launchers.

"In the end, I believe that each person will have to carry one," he says, to achieve a simple objective: "defending ourselves until this is over."
Baghdad (AFP) - An Iraq-flagged tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil has set sail for the US, the first such trip in nearly three decades, the oil ministry said Saturday.

Iraq, which has been ravaged by a series of wars since the 1980s, is the oil cartel OPEC's second biggest producer with 153 billion barrels of proven crude reserves.

"The Baghdad left Basra on Friday night headed for the United States. It is the first time since 1991 that Iraq is running its own oil tankers," oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Basra, in southern Iraq, is an oil-rich province.

Under late dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq went to war with Iran between 1980 and 1988 and invaded Kuwait in 1990, before being expelled by a US-led coalition.

Since an American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country has been blighted by long periods of chaos, culminating in a three-year battle against Islamic State group insurgents.

Infrastructure in Iraq, which depends on oil for 99 percent of revenues, was devastated but authorities have been looking to boost oil and gas output.

The country has leased four tankers and is expected to obtain three others at a later date.

In May, Iraq exported 3.49 million barrels of oil per day, according to the oil ministry.
For over a year, Florida allowed citizens to obtain concealed weapon permits without a background check because an employee couldnt log in to a national database that tracked people deemed unfit to own weapons in other states, a previously unreported government investigation has revealed.

The 2017 document, which was first reported on Friday by the Tampa Bay Times, revealed that starting in February 2016, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stopped using an FBI crime database because an employee in charge of background checks could not log in to the system.

The database, called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, is used by state officials to keep track of applicants who want to carry guns and who may also have a criminal history or documented mental health issues in other states.

The issue was not corrected until March 2017, according to the investigation, which was conducted by the state agriculture departments Office of Inspector General.

Record requests by the Tampa Bay Times revealed the negligence, with the final state investigation revealing that it was employee Lisa Wilde who had a login issue with the database but never followed up to get it fixed.

Wilde told investigators that she neglected to do it for almost a year. It was ultimately more than a year.

I dropped the ball  I know I did that, I should have been doing it and I didnt, Wilde said.

As the Times points out, tens of thousands of applications went unchecked during that period, in a state that saw a surge of requests to get weapon permits following the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting that left 50 people dead. The state saw horror again in February of this year when 17 people were gunned down at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

When questioned by investigators, Wilde looked bewildered, and stated: I had a login issue and never followed up, the investigative report says.

State Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a Republican now running for governor, bragged in 2012 that under his leadership, the process of getting a concealed permit application fell from 12 weeks to 35 days.

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Wilde is now out of a job, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The integrity of our departments licensing program is our highest priority, Aaron Keller, a department spokesman, told the paper. As soon as we learned that one employee failed to review applicants non-criminal disqualifying information, we immediately terminated the employee, thoroughly reviewed every application potentially impacted, and implemented safeguards to prevent this from happening again.

Reached for comment, Putnam told HuffPost that 365 applications were flagged for additional scrutiny after Wildes conduct was discovered. Nearly 300 of those applicants had their permits revoked.

To be clear, a criminal background investigation was completed on every single application, Putnam said. Upon discovery of this former employees negligence in not conducting the further review required on 365 applications, we immediately completed full background checks on those 365 applications, which resulted in 291 revocations. The former employee was both deceitful and negligent, and we immediately launched an investigation and implemented safeguards to ensure this never happens again.

Keller did not immediately respond to a question about why Putnam mentioned 365 applications when the Tampa Bay Times cited tens of thousands.

Read the full report from the Tampa Bay Times here.

This story has been updated with comment from Putnam.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
A sample of today's Front Bench morning politics email is below. If you like what you see, sign up here. Don't forget to vote in the poll and leave your reasoning in the comments below. The best responses will feature in this afternoon's Brexit Briefing

Front Bench

Theresa May is in rural Quebec for the G7 summit where its everyone against Donald Trump. The American president imposed swingeing metal tariffs on five of the other six members just over a week ago and to call things tense would be an understatement.

Trump would also reportedly rather be preparing for his summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore in four days. In fact, the president will leave early on Sunday for that reason.

Schoolmistress May 

Not that that will make much difference to May  she's been unable to secure a one-to-one meeting with Trump, and allies of the president have told our US editor, Ben Riley-Smith, that the Trump has grown tired of the PM's "schoolmistress" tone and her droning on about policy. Still, the Donald has at least one fan in the British government; Boris Johnson.

In-flight entertainment by Boris 

May was still in mid-air when the contents of a surreptitious recording of the Foreign Secretary at a donors' dinner on Wednesday night were reported by Buzzfeed. The recording contained candid remarks by Johnson on Russia, Trump and, most explosively, Brexit. Making clear his admiration for Trump, Johnson said there was "method in his madness" and said it was a "very, very good thought" to have the US president in charge of Brexit.

There are dozens of great lines from the Foreign Secretary (eg, "no bloody panic. Its going to be all right in the end) and it's worth reading in full, but most papers are focusing on the fact that Johnson called the Treasury "the heart of Remain" and his claim that Brexit will happen but the risk is that it will not be the one we want.

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For once, it looks like this was not a calculated rebellion by Johnson; friends of the Foreign Secretary have pointed out that the event was intended to be Chatham House rules.

You're doing it all wrong

Accidental or not, the timing will be less than helpful for May. The comments were made before yesterday's backstop debacle, but they leave no doubt which side Johnson would have been on.

At the dinner, he accused Northern Ireland of being a "tail wagging the dog". He also said that Remainers in the Government were "sacrificing all the medium and long-term gains out of fear of short-term disruption" and had become "quivering wrecks".

Thursday's compromise which allowed David Davis to step back from the brink will not have pleased Johnson at all. Although a date of December 2021 was added to the document, it is effectively meaningless and the PM spent most of her flight to Canada refusing to guarantee to journalists that the backstop wouldn't extend beyond that date.

Desperation in Brussels

In fact, the backstop actually includes phrasing that suggests the EU will have a veto over whether the backstop can come to an end. That's a major blow to Brexiteers and explains Johnson's comments that the UK could end up locked in orbit around the EU, in the customs union and to a large extent still in the single market". The single market element is the big question.

As our brilliant Europe editor, Peter Foster, explains, the agreement is still woefully vague on regulatory alignment and the single market, which will be the real sticking point. How can Britain stay aligned with the EU without cherry-picking the benefits?

Still, despite the fact that Brussels isn't likely to be happy about any of the UK's backstop proposal, eurocrats have chosen to welcome it out of sheer desperation at the state of negotiations. The EU has gone "from rage to resignation" at Britain. When asked what happens next, Europeans can apparently only offer "the diplomatic equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders".

At least the weather is nice.

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French President Emmanuel Macron has said that no leader lasts forever ahead of Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada as attendees look to take up more confrontational stance against US President Donald Trump in the wake of a trade spat that has left Washington isolated.

Mr Macron spoke alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday just a day before the summit in Charlevoix, Canada is to open up, saying that they will push back against Mr Trumps "America First" policies to keep the international order intact.

You say the US President doesn't care at all. Maybe, but nobody is forever, Mr Macron said. The six countries of the G7 without the United States, are a bigger market taken together than the American market.

There will be no world hegemony if we know how to organise ourselves. And we don't want there to be one, he continued.

This years G7 summit  which consists of the US, France, the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Canada  is expected to be dominated by Mr Trumps approach to international diplomacy, which diverts markedly from past American presidents, and appears less concerned with international consensus than it is with wielding US power like a blunt instrument to appeal to the presidents supporters back home and to try and bend other countries to his will.

Mr Trumps willingness to project his comfort with breaking international norms and upsetting allies has already had a notable impact: While the diplomats in charge of negotiating a joint statement from the countries at the end of the summit usually have the general language of the thing put together, it is not currently known whether the countries will be able to find enough common ground for a joint statement at all this year.

The US president tweeted that he was "looking forward to seeing" other international leaders at Friday's summit to discuss trade, singling out his French and Canadian counterparts in particular for what he said were "massive tariffs" imposed by their respective countries on American imports.

Story continues

A central concern for the bloc of countries  which together represent some 62 per cent of the worlds net worth, 46 per cent of the worlds GDP, and 32 per cent of the worlds purchasing power  is Mr Trumps imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, which have aggravated relationships between the US and its international partners.

Concerned countries have scrambled to negotiate with the United States, and avoid those sorts of measures  and the ripple effect that those tariffs could have for the broader market.

Mr Trudeau, whose government has been negotiating with the US over those tariffs and over the North American Free Trade Agreement, has called the idea of tariffs insulting.

American jobs are on the line because of his actions and because of his administration, Mr Trudeau said at the joint news conference on Parliament Hill. When we can underscore this, and we see that there's a lot of pressure within the US, perhaps he will revise his position.

But protests from leaders in the G7 appear unlikely to sway Mr Trumps opinion, a fact highlighted by reports of a recent phone call between Mr Trudeau and the American leader in which the president tried to justify his argument that tariffs are necessary for American national security by referencing the 1814 burning of the White House  even though the British, not the Canadians, had started those flames.

We know there will certainly be frank and at times difficult conversations around the G7 table, Mr Macron told reporters Wednesday. Particularly with the American president on trade, on tariffs.

Both Mr Macron and Mr Trudeau spoke about remaining polite during the frank discussions that will be coming at the G7 summit, but is clear that Washington's allies are not looking to be a pushover.

Since the beginning, I have done what Canadians expect of their prime minister. I have been polite and respectful. But I've always been very firm on Canada's interests and our values as well. This approach will continue, Mr Trudeau said.

The summit will mark Mr Trumps first visit to Canada since becoming president, though it is not clear that he will stay for the duration of the meetings as he is set to fly to Singapore next week historic bilateral negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over that countrys nuclear program.

The last major rift at a G7 summit came during the presidency of George W Bush, when the United States was freshly at war in Iraq. But, unlike those disagreements, the UK is not even coming to the defence of the US  Mr Trumps America First policies have put the country in an America-only position among its peers.
Bucharest (AFP) - Tens of thousands of supporters of Romania's left-wing government took to the streets of Bucharest on Saturday in an unprecedented protest against the "abuses" of the country's own judiciary, several members of which are embroiled in corruption cases.

Bussed in from around the country by the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) the protesters -- put at 150,000 by the national news agency Agerpres -- assembled in Victory Square in front of the government building.

Ruling party leader Liviu Dragnea, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and other government members also turned up at the protest.

"Each one of you can be reached by the long arm of the parallel state," Dragnea told the crowd, taking aim at "corrupt prosecutors, the head of the Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi and magistrates linked to the secret services".

"Tyranny won't win in a fight against the people. Sooner or later the day of freedom will arrive," he added.

According to Romanian media, numerous local officials, as well as hospital managers and headteachers, had been urging their employees to join the demonstration.

As well as laying on special trains and buses, the PSD also handed out instructions to make sure the demonstrations are as effective as possible.

According to a leaked party document, one Romanian flag for every 10 participants and a placard for every 40 would be made available.

Even residents across Bucharest -- not traditionally a PSD stronghold -- have been receiving flyers for the event in the post.

"Come out and say: 'Stop!' to the deep state that wants to control Romania with made-up cases, made-up evidence and fake witnesses," read one flyer.

Centre-right President Klaus Iohannis, who has frequently clashed with the government, had called Saturday's demonstration "strange and a bit farcical", adding that it was reminiscent of the communist era.

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In 2016 Dragnea was handed a two-year suspended sentence for electoral fraud and faces another verdict in a second case.

The controversial figure, who was unable to become prime minister because of his criminal record, has ceaselessly targeted the magistrates since his party returned to power in 2016.

Romania is one of the most corrupt countries in the EU and the bloc has placed tight oversight mechanisms on its judicial system.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah will remain in Syria as long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants it there, the group's leader said on Friday, defying renewed U.S. and Israeli pressure to force Tehran and its allies to quit the country. "I will tell you that if the whole world comes together to force us to leave Syria, they will not be able to evict us," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that only the Syrian leadership could ask them to leave. Israel has repeatedly struck Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria, saying they must leave the country, with which it shares a border. Washington has also demanded that Iran and forces it back quit. Alongside Russia, Iran-backed forces in Syria have helped Assad drive rebels from the country's biggest cities and reclaim swathes of the eastern deserts from Islamic State. Russia has recently called for all non-Syrian forces to leave southern Syria, a statement seen as partly aimed at Iran, as well as at U.S. forces in a base near the Iraqi border. Senior Syrian officials have said they want to recapture the rebel-held areas in the southwest near the border with Israel. Israeli strikes in Syria are partly aimed at keeping Hezbollah and other Iran-backed forces from its border. This week, a Russian troop deployment near the border with Lebanon caused friction with Iran-backed forces there including Hezbollah, a rare case of Assads' allies acting out of sync with each other, though it was soon resolved. In his speech Nasrallah mocked the idea that U.S., Israeli or Gulf pressure was forcing a wedge between Russia and Iran on Syria. (Reporting By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall, Editing by William Maclean)
US India Modi Mania

In 2014, Gaurang Poddar landed a job at Ernst & Young (EY) in New York after graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering and business administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

Then the H-1B visa ground him down. The uncertainty in the timeline of securing the much sought-after visa and the procedural delays eventually forced him to return to India in mid-2015, although he had another 17 months left under his existing visa.

I was afraid Id get too comfortable earning a good salary, so it was better to quit while I still could get out, said Poddar, now 25.

After working at a few startups, Poddar teamed up with Mihir Modi, another H-1B reject, when setting up his own cryptocurrency startup in Mumbai. A 2016 graduate from New York Universitys Stern School of Business, Modi, too, had a job at EY in New York, but also headed back because of visa troubles.

The H-1B visa application process had a direct correlation to the jobs one would look for, and whether or not the company would sponsor, 23-year-old Modi explained. (At) NYUs career fairmore than half the companies were not open to speaking to international students, as they were not able to provide sponsorship.

Gaurang Poddar, Mihir Modi

Cryptokart founder Gaurang Poddar and business head Mihir Modi at their office.

Poddar and Modi are among a clutch of highly qualified young talent from India steadily abandoning the great American dream, thanks to president Donald Trumps restrictive immigration policy. The decision is made easier by the rising entrepreneurial wave in India.

The number of US-based Indians seeking jobs back home grew more than 10-fold between December 2016 and March 2017, according to data from consulting firm Deloitte.

And it is not just the US. Countries including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and even Singapore are slowly shutting their doors to immigrant talent.

Story continues

But the scenario is bleak in the US as the Trump administration also plans to dump the International Entrepreneur Rule, which enables foreign-born entrepreneurs to build US-based businesses.

The bottom line is: If we turn away immigrant entrepreneurs, we lose out on US innovation, job creation, and competitive advantage longer term, said Kate Mitchell, co-founder and partner at Scale Venture Partners and former chair of the National Venture Capital Association.

After all, first-generation immigrants create about 25% of new firms in the US, with the share exceeding 40% in states like California and New York, according to William Kerr of Harvard Business School (pdf). Most foreign-born entrepreneurs in the US have roots in India and even rank among the biggest job creators in that country.

The notable ones include Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle), Excelans Kanwal Rekhi, and Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia. Jyoti Bansals company AppDynamics, which was bought by Cisco for $3.7 billion in 2017, employs an 1,800-strong workforce of mostly Americans. Not to forget that two of the biggest tech firms, Google and Microsoft, are helmed by Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella respectively.

It is now highly unlikely that the likes of Poddar and Modi would join this list anytime soon. Instead, they might end up following the career trajectory of Kunal Bahl, co-founder of Amazon-rival Snapdeal, who gave up his job at Microsoft and returned home, unable to get an H-1B visa in 2008.

Riding the startup wave

Back home, Modi was sure about one thing: not working with a big-name brand. He wanted to dive into Indias booming entrepreneurial scene. A startup allows one to really put ones own thinking into practice, he argued.

So Modi joined cryptocurrency startup Cryptokart, which was founded by Poddar and his father in 2017, as its business head. And despite the recent chaos following the crackdown by the Reserve Bank of India against such exchanges, their firm is optimistic and will continue with crypto-to-crypto dealings. In fact, they even have plans to expand outside India.

And it was well established that no startup would sponsor an H-1B application. Others have also come back and prospered. Parag Agrawal, another Stern graduate, returned to India in late 2015 and ended up as vice president of marketing at Pune-based e-commerce startup RainCan, which sells fresh products such as milk, tender coconut, chaas (buttermilk), and dahi (yoghurt).

Agrawal didnt even apply for the H-1B; he always wanted to be part of the startup community. And it was well established that no startup would sponsor an H-1B application, he told Quartz.

Indias startup ecosystem is currently the worlds third largest (pdf) in terms of the number of firms, employing around 100,000 people (pdf). Slated to remain one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies for the next few years, the country is adding thousands of startups (pdf) each year, and foreign investing majors like Tiger Global, Softbank, and Alibaba are pumping millions of dollars into the ecosystem.

Poddar, Modi, or Agrawal may well return to the US for their graduate degrees someday, but settling down in America is no longer the plan.

The opportunity and success we were all seeking in 2012 (when we started college) no longer lies in the West, Agrawal said. I look at India as the new land of opportunity.

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Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) may gain more politically by showing independence from GOP leaders on immigration. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  Days before a self-imposed Tuesday deadline, House Republicans are scrambling to reach an immigration deal to dissuade moderate GOP members and Democrats from forcing a number of immigration votes using a discharge petition, a little-used procedural move that bypasses GOP leaders to allow votes on the competing measures.

More than a dozen members representing Republican leadership, moderates, and conservatives met Friday afternoon to review a proposal meant to split the difference between what moderates want  in essence a renewal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that would allow young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to stay permanently  and what conservatives want: stiff border security measures, such as a wall, an end to the diversity visa lottery program, a reduction in family migration and no special pathway to legal status.

Each side has met somewhat in the middle, with conservatives floating the idea of a merit-based point system for green cards that DACA recipients could participate in and moderates willing to give in on most of the other conservative priorities.

But there are still a number of sticking points in any tentative agreement, including enforcement, the size of the population eligible for visas and green cards, and just how the pathway to legal permanent status would work. And without an agreement on all of the items, conservatives and moderates dont see an agreement on any of the proposals.

As Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), an immigration proponent, told HuffPost on Friday afternoon, There isnt a deal until theres a deal.

Part of the problem for Republicans at this point is that, beyond their policy disagreements, members have different political motivations. If this immigration debate is just an exercise in messaging, with the Senate looking somewhat intractable, then moderates may be better off using the discharge petition to work with Democrats and demonstrate to their voters that theyre willing to compromise on immigration.

Story continues

For leaders of the discharge petition, like Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Will Hurd (R-Texas), there may be more political gain in showing their independence from GOP leaders on immigration. And for conservatives, not having to support a bill with a special pathway to legal permanent residence for undocumented immigrants means they arent open to attack from the right.

Even if every lawmaker at the negotiating table were acting in good faith, a deal might still be doubtful just based on the policy differences  at least before Tuesday, when moderates are expected to gather the final three signatures they need to reach 218 supporters of a discharge petition.

(Discharge petition backers want to have the signatures by Tuesday so they could force a vote by June 25, one of the few days that a vote is possible because of rules that only allow a vote on the second or fourth Monday of a month, and there arent many days in the congressional calendar where the House would be in session on one of those days.)

Republicans acknowledge that conservatives and moderates could keep working on a compromise past Tuesday even if there are 218 signatures on the discharge petition. The new deadline may become June 25  when moderates are expected to force a vote on four immigration proposals, including one favored by Democrats  but even then, Republicans could keep negotiating if there is no movement in the Senate.

Backers of the discharge petition argue that immediate action is necessary to protect young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, a group often referred to as Dreamers. Nearly 700,000 of them are at risk of losing deportation protections and work authorization they received under DACA. President Donald Trump rescinded the program last year but it is still operating under court order, putting Dreamers in a precarious situation.

Lawmakers have struggled for years to find a workable immigration bill, and the issues that killed past efforts remain now. One of the thorniest issues is whether undocumented immigrants should receive a path to citizenship, something Trump said he would approve if he gets other concessions but that restrictionists strongly oppose as amnesty.

Even if House Republicans strike a deal, its future would be shaky. It would be unlikely to get substantial Democratic support, given widespread opposition to many of the measures Trump has said are necessary for his signature. And without Democratic support in the Senate, itd be impossible to get the proposal to Trumps desk.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Thursday that immigration wasnt on the agenda for the remainder of the year, after the Senate voted on multiple immigration proposals  including one supported by Trump  in February, and none garnered enough votes to pass.

Still, moderates seem to think McConnells calculus could change if the House passed a bill. And with Trump stating his desire to address DACA and to get border wall funding, any deal that leads to those two objectives could feasibly win his support, potentially backing McConnell into a corner.

With those dynamics in mind, moderates may not be wrong that their best bet is to force the House GOPs hand with the discharge petition, both for their own political interests and potentially for policy results.

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By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - Iraq has extradited a 20-year-old Iraqi suspected of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl in Germany last month, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Saturday. "I'm glad that the alleged perpetrator wanted by German authorities is back in Germany," Seehofer said in a statement, adding that the investigation of the case could now be accelerated. "For the girl's family, that is only a small consolation, and my thoughts are with them during these difficult hours," Seehofer said. "But for the state and our society, it is important that crimes are cleared up and suspects are brought to justice." Police in the Kurdistan region of Iraq said on Saturday the Iraqi suspect had admitted to the murder of 14-year-old Susanna Feldman in Germany, where the case has stoked the immigration debate. The Jewish teenager from Mainz near Frankfurt was found dead on Wednesday in a wooded area in Wiesbaden, near a refugee center where the alleged attacker had lived, German police said. An autopsy showed she had been the victim of a violent and sexual attack. Police said there was no evidence her religion had been a factor and the Central Council of Jews in Germany cautioned against attributing any anti-Semitic motive. Kurdish security forces had taken the suspect, identified by German authorities as Ali Bashar, into custody on Friday after he fled from Germany last week. "Officers in Zakho (in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region) called me and said they had located the suspect and would arrest him as soon as he comes to the city," Dohuk city police chief Tariq Ahmed told Reuters. "He had been staying at a hotel in Dohuk and after realizing the police were after him left for Zakho to stay at a relative's house. He was asleep there at night and was arrested in that house at 5:30 (a.m.)," Ahmed said. He said the suspect had confessed to killing the German teenager during interrogation by Kurdish security authorities. INCREDIBLE SUFFERING German media reported earlier that Bashar was expected to be extradited to Germany on Saturday evening and questioned by German investigators on Sunday. German federal police declined to comment on the details emerging from the suspect's arrest or on the report on the timing of extradition. Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her dismay at the crime and said it should be a reminder to Germans of the need to do whatever possible for the integration of immigrants. "The incredible suffering experienced by the family, the victim, affects everyone, including me," she said on the sidelines of a G7 summit meeting in Canada. "The cooperation in this regard between German and Kurdish security authorities worked well here ... It is good that the alleged perpetrator was caught, that he probably also will be returning to Germany," Merkel said. She added, "This is a reminder to all of us, first, to take the task of integration very seriously, to make our common values very clear, again and again. But also to punish any crime. We can only live together if we all stick to our laws." Merkel's decision to take in large numbers of asylum seekers during Europe's 2015 migrant crisis has stirred a political backlash, with many politicians calling for new rules to make it easier to deport immigrants. Bashar had been living in Germany as a refugee since 2015, German media have reported. German police set up a special call center for tips from the public and issued releases in Arabic and Turkish. They said on Thursday that Bashar had likely fled to Erbil in the KRG. (Reporting by Reuters Television in Dohuk, Iraq and Michael Nienaber in Berlin with additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Baghdad; editing by Mark Heinrich and Louise Heavens)
An Israeli drone flies near a Palestinian fire kite on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on May 14, 2018 as the army struggles to tackle the low-tech tactic (AFP Photo/)

Jerusalem (AFP) - An Israeli aircraft fired a warning shot Saturday to deter a group of Gazans preparing to fly a balloon fitted with explosives over the border, in the first such case, the army said.

"The Israeli army spotted a group of Palestinians preparing balloons equipped with explosive devices to cause fires and serious damage on Israeli territory," it said in a statement.

"In response, an Israeli aircraft fired a warning shot near the group," it said, without elaborating.

The military said it was its first use of aircraft opening fire to deter Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip from launching fire kites and balloons over the border into southern Israel.

The kites have become a potent symbol of a wave of Palestinian protests that broke out on March 30 against Israel's crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza.

At least 129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since then, the majority as they approached the border fence where troops have orders to use lethal force to prevent any infiltration attempts.

The kites offer a safer way for Gazans to protest, inflicting economic losses on Israel while remaining far enough from the border to avoid being shot.

The Israeli army has been launching drones to damage or cut down the kites,

According to Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, of the more than 600 kites launched from Gaza so far, around 400 kites have been intercepted.
By Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Italy wants NATO to help defend its southern shores from an influx of migrants, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Friday, signalling the new government would take a much tougher line on immigration controls.

Salvini, who heads the far-right League, said neighbouring Malta had to do more to help deal with would-be asylum seekers from Africa and warned that human rights groups looking to save migrants at sea would come under much greater scrutiny.

Salvini's anti-immigrant stance has resonated with Italians and the League emerged as the second largest force in parliament at elections in March. The party has since hooked up with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement to form a government.

"I am in favour of NATO, but we are under attack. We will ask NATO to defend us. There are many concerns about terrorist infiltrations," Salvini told reporters after meeting two bus drivers in the northern town of Como who say they were beaten by four asylum-seekers this week after asking to see their tickets.

"Italy is under attack from the south, not from the east," Salvini added, referring to NATO's traditional focus on Russia.

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is due to visit Rome next week and it was not immediately clear if the government planned to present a formal request for help.

More than 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by boat from Africa in the past five years, but numbers have dropped sharply in recent months. New arrivals are down 85 percent so far this year thanks to deals struck by the previous government to keep foreigners from leaving the shores of Libya -- a main departure point for migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

CHARITIES

Italy coordinates rescue missions in the Mediterranean, while the European Union border agency Frontex runs an anti-smuggling operation at some distance from the Libyan coast.

Charities operating boats in the area have played an increasingly important role in rescuing migrants who often travel in flimsy inflatable boats not designed for the open sea.

Story continues

The United Nations estimates that at least 500 people have died in 2018 trying to cross the central Mediterranean, following some 2,853 fatalities last year.

Salvini said the charity boats were "acting like taxis", adding: "We are working on this NGO front. Some are doing volunteer work, others are doing business."

A number of humanitarian groups suspended operations in the Mediterranean last year, accusing the previous centre-left government of hampering their operations.

On Friday, Sea Watch, one of the few groups still sailing off Libya, said there was an "acute shortage" of rescue boats in the area. It said this meant it had to stay at sea for three days with 232 refugees aboard because there was no-one else on hand to prevent further migrant tragedies.

In a statement, the group also said Malta had refused to take in the migrants and that as a result, the boat had to make the much longer journey to Italy to bring the people to land.

Even though the tiny island state of Malta is closer to Africa than Italy, it has largely left to Rome the job of coordinating sea rescues. Salvini said this had to end.

"It is not possible for Malta to say 'no' to every request for help. The Good Lord put Malta closer than Sicily to Africa," Salvini said.

Malta said it adhered to all its obligations regarding immigration and rejected the Sea Watch criticism.

"Malta will continue to respect these conventions with respect to the safety of life at sea, as happened in this latest case and indeed in each case," the government said in a statement.

Earlier this week Salvini angered Tunisia by accusing the North African nation of sending its "convicts" to Italy under the guise of migrants.

(Additionl reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Catherine Evans and Gareth Jones)
Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State group had lost ground Saturday in a town on the Syrian-Iraqi border after pro-regime forces repelled a major attack the day before, a Britain-based monitor said.

Violent clashes were ongoing in Albu Kamal, which lies in the Euphrates Valley in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

"IS has retreated from inside the town to its western and northwestern parts" after pro-regime forces pushed back the jihadists, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Pro-government reinforcements had arrived, he said.

On Friday, IS used at least 10 suicide bombers in its offensive on Albu Kamal, swiftly taking several of its neighbourhoods, the monitor said.

It was the biggest attack on the town since the jihadist group lost it in November 2017, and the latest in a string of attacks by IS across Syria.

Neither Syrian state media nor the army reported Friday's attack on Albu Kamal.

The fighting in the town over the past 24 hours has killed 30 pro-regime fighters, the Observatory said.

These include 16 regime troops among them a general, as well as 14 non-Syrian combattants, notably Iranians and Lebanese Hezbollah movement fighters, the monitor said.

Twenty-one IS jihadists were also killed in that same period, including the 10 suicide bombers, according to the same source.

IS has ramped up its attacks against pro-regime forces since its fighters in May left their last bastion near Damascus under an evacuation deal with the regime.

IS in 2014 proclaimed a cross-border "caliphate" in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, but has since lost most of its territory to various military offensives.

Its presence is mostly confined to pockets of eastern Syria in the vast desert stretching from the country's centre to the border with Iraq.

Earlier this week, IS assaults in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor killed 45 pro-regime fighters.

On Thursday, IS jihadists also killed 22 pro-regime fighters in surprise attacks in the southern province of Sweida, a monitor said.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recent defense of the governments practice of separating children from their undocumented parents at the border just landed him in Jim Carreys new political painting.

In an artwork he posted to Twitter on Thursday, The Mask actor depicted Sessions locking up children in a Walmart repurposed as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.

Carey, spotlighting the dumb and dumber aspects of President Donald Trumps policy, twisted the huddled masses poetry verse at the base of the Statue of Liberty into a less-welcoming message.

Give us your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...and we will lock their children in cages with tin-foil blankets. And scar them for life! You know: The American Dream! pic.twitter.com/32624NB7VO  Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 7, 2018

Children of migrants who illegally entered the U.S. were being held in a former Walmart with blacked-out windows in Brownsville, Texas, which may have inspired Carreys reference to the retailer.

Also on HuffPost

Francisco de Goya's "The Nude Maja"

This circa 1800 painting will go down in history as "the first totally profane life-size female nude in Western art -- thought to be at least one of the first explicit depictions of female pubic hair. At the time of its creation, the Catholic Church banned the display of artistic nudes, so Goya's nude woman and its more modest counterpart, "The Clothed Maja," were never exhibited publicly during the artist's lifetime.

Katsushika Hokusai's "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife"

There's almost no ambiguity regarding the erotic nature of this painting. The print -- a perfect example of Japanese shunga art -- depicts a fisherman's wife deriving pleasure from a rather unique encounter with an octopus. But do you recognize the artist's name? Yes, the man behind "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" had more than landscape likenesses up his sleeve.

Hieronymus Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights"

Ok, so you may associate "The Garden of Earthly Delights" with its array of terrifying, otherworldly creatures, but the painting has its fair share of sensual details. Dating from between 1490 and 1510, the work plays host to a whole carnival of sins, including the acts in the image above, in which nude men and women are seen frolicking with each other, horses, birds, mermaids, plants... you name it. Writer Laurinda S. Dixon described it as teeming with "a certain adolescent sexual curiosity."

Paul Cezanne's "Seven Bathers"

Cezanne is well known for his various images of nude bathers, many of whom were women. "Seven bathers," however, portrays the figures of nude men -- though some are rather androgynously rendered. This scene of beautifully crafted male bodies is surely not the most erotic of subject matter, but the ways in which the artist toyed with classical representations of the body and the relationship between the viewer's gaze and nakedness makes for a borderline erotic aesthetic. It is assumed that Cezanne, due to a lack of available models, painted this from memory or imagination.

Titian's "Venus of Urbino"

Mark Twain once called Titian's Venus "the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses." With her unabashed nudity and strong gaze into the viewers' eyes, the nude female in this 1538 work of art is undeniably erotic.

Gustav Klimt's "Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung"

Klimt, the Austrian symbolist painter with a penchant for gilded canvases, brought you uber-famous works like "The Kiss" and his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. While those images, not to mention the many nude figures that populate his other paintings, exude sensuality, there's nothing quite as erotic as "Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung."

Peter Paul Rubens's copy of Michelangelo's "Leda and the Swan"

For early 17th century audiences, it was likely more acceptable for a woman to be shown engaging in explicit acts with a bird than with an actual human being. Hence, "Leda and the Swan," based on the Greek myth in which Zeus takes the form of a swan and "seduces" a woman named Leda. Artists like Cesare da Sesto and Paul Cezanna also chose the crude story as inspiration for paintings.

Miyagawa Issho's "Spring Pastimes"

Created in 1750, this shunga scroll depicts a tryst between two men, one likely a samurai and the other a kabuki actor taking on a sexualized female role.

Jean-Honore Fragonard's "The Swing"

This Rococo masterpiece from 1767 is full of symbolism, all of which centers on a young woman's extramarital affair. See that man hidden in the bushes on the left side of the canvas? He's not only on the receiving end of that kicked-off shoe, he's also getting quite a peek up the woman's dress. Erotic? Maybe. We'd settle for 18th century creepy.

Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon)"

Picasso's famous Primitivist painting portrays five nude prostitutes allegedly from a brothel in Barcelona. With their unconventional female forms and relentless gazes, the image is a proto-Cubist version of erotica.

Egon Schiele's "Friendship"

Despite the title, there's a underlying sense of sexuality in Schiele's depiction of two naked individuals, embracing in a twist of line and form reminiscent of the great Austrian painter's intense figurative works.

Diego Velazquez's "Rokeby Venus"

Call it "The Toilet of Venus," "Venus at her Mirror," "Venus and Cupid," or "La Venus del Espejo," Velazquez's nude painting shows a woman deriving pleasure from the sight of her own naked self. For a painting made between 1647 and 1651 -- a time period marked by the Spanish public's disdain for naked bodies in art -- the work was on the salacious side. (In case you were wondering, Titian and Rubens also made their own versions of Venus at a mirror.)

Gustave Courbet's "L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World)"

Need we say more?

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The Florida woman who pleaded guilty to kidnapping a newborn and raising the child as her own has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Gloria Williams stared at the floor as fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Marianne Aho announced her punishment.

"There are no winners and no losers in this case," Aho told the courtroom. "It's a very sad case and many people have suffered, including Ms. Williams."

The sentence is yet another painful development in a saga that unfolded over nearly two decades. Williams, 52, has admitted she posed as a nurse in a Jacksonville hospital to steal tiny Kamiyah Mobley in 1998, just hours after she was born.

The child's mother told police a woman had entered her room and left with the baby. Shanara Mobley thought the woman was a hospital caregiver.

Williams fled with the infant to South Carolina, where she lived with the baby under assumed names. Kamiyah became Alexis Manigo.

On the witness stand, Williams said she was reeling from depression and being in an abusive relationship.

"I know I wronged you and I'm so sorry," she said, apologizing to Kamiyah and her biological mother. "And so many days  so many days  I just wanted to pick that child up and say, 'Get in the car. Let's go.' I just couldn't."

Now a young woman, the kidnap victim asked the court for leniency in sentencing Williams, who could have received life behind bars for her crime. Kamiyah has expressed confusing emotions about the woman she thought was her mother, and the biological mom she never knew.

Detectives acting on a tip to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children interviewed a witness in 2016 who said the daughter claimed she was kidnapped from a Jacksonville hospital as a newborn, according to court documents.

Authorities have said that Kamiyah may have learned about her past in the months before Williams was arrested. She was extradited to Florida in January 2017.

Story continues

Kamiyah has met her biological parents, but says she still love loves Williams. "My feelings toward my mother will never change," she told HLN last year.

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Hundreds are still missing after the Fuego volcano spewed torrents of hot ash and gas over towns and villages - REUTERS

Explosions boomed from Guatemala's fearsome Fuego volcano Wednesday, unleashing fresh torrents of mud and ash down slopes, as the death toll from a previous eruption rose to at least 99.

Fears of a new blowup of the 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) volcano have stalked rescue workers since Sunday's eruption buried entire villages on its southern flank.

The National Forensic Sciences Agency said in a report Wednesday that morgues had received the remains of 99 people killed as a result of the eruption.

Only 28 have been identified so far, it said.

"We already have data with names and locations where there are missing persons and that number is 192," Sergio Cabanas, head of Guatemala's disaster management agency, told reporters earlier in the day.

Steaming volcanic rocks are seen around destroyed houses after the eruption of the Fuego volcano Credit: CARLOS JASSO/ REUTERS

Experts warned Wednesday that heavy rains in the area could provoke avalanches due to the large flows of volcanic mud, known as lahars, since the eruption on Sunday.

Volcanologists recorded the volcano exploding several times an hour Wednesday, which generated a fresh 4,700 meter (15,500 feet) high column of gray ash.

"The explosions are generating moderate avalanches that have an approximate distance of 800 to 1,000 meters," the Volcanology Institute said.

It said the lahars could sweep down the mountain laden with concrete, rocks up to a meter (yard) in diameter and tree trunks.

"The activity continues and the possibility of new pyroclastic flows in the next hours or days cannot be ruled out, so it is recommended not to remain near the affected area," it said.

Emergency workers had to temporarily suspend their search late Tuesday after a new eruption triggered a landslide.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from seven communities in the Escuintla area near the summit, as panicked locals rushed to their cars to escape, causing chaotic traffic.

An AFP photographer saw a large plume of ash rise into the sky, prompting an evacuation of everyone authorities could find before the police, the military and rescuers were ordered to stand down.

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Ongoing search

Hundreds of rescue workers, including firefighters, police and the military, were battling adverse conditions to search for remains in the tangled morass of rubble, dust and earth left behind by the landslides.

General Walter Sanchez, in charge of operations around the epicenter of the destruction near the village of El Rodeo, said the heat from the ash and hot sediment made rescue work difficult.

Firefighters hosed down their smoking boots, which had sunk into molten volcanic material just below the ash surface.

Guatemala's El Fuego volcano eruption, in pictures

Everything in the search area was covered in a thick blanket of dust. In the murk created by the dust, police were using red ink to mark homes that had already been searched for bodies.

More than 12,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, the disaster management agency said, with over 3,000 of them housed in temporary shelters.

On the slopes Wednesday, local volunteers distributed food to rescue workers, and columns of cars handed out food, water, toilet paper, diapers and other necessities to residents.

Some residents said they had organized themselves to prevent looting that they claimed occurred on the first night of the disaster.

Strongest in decades

The killer eruption was the Central American country's strongest in four decades.

It sent huge clouds of ash barreling over the surrounding area, blanketing roads, cars and people in thick gray dust as a river of molten mud carved a path down the mountain, sweeping away entire villages.

Officials said the speed and ferocity of the eruption took mountain communities by surprise, with many of the dead found in or around their homes.

Volcano Fuego eruption in Guatemala

Despite offers of international help from the United States, Mexico and several Latin American neighbors, Guatemalan authorities have not made a request for foreign aid.

The foreign ministry said disaster management agency CONRED would help determine any such request.

"We are ready when CONRED, as the governing body of emergency management, authorize us to make an appeal," the ministry said in a statement.

President Jimmy Morales has been criticized on social media for passively waiting to react to offers of international aid.

The head of the International Red Cross Francesco Rocca is due to visit the country on Thursday, the Geneva-based agency said.

Meanwhile, the US Air Force was to "transport six Guatemalan children injured by the recent eruption" for treatment in Texas on Wednesday, the American military said.
US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada on 8 June 2018: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron said that things were moving forward after he held talks with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Montreal, Canada.

Much of the discussion has been focused on Mr Trumps threats to place tariffs on allies in the G7 like Canada.

"I think we had a very open and direct discussion this afternoon, we've always had this kind of discussion. And I think on trade, there is a critical path, there is a way to progress altogether," Mr Macron said.

He added that he saw the willingness on all the sides to find agreement and have a win-win approach for our people, our workers and our middle classes. Mr Trump has been touting low unemployment rates in the US as a sign of success for his 'America First' doctrine and approach to re-negotiating many of the unfair multilateral agreements of which the US is part.

Mr Trump said his relationship with the French leader is very special, despite what looked like a rocky start at the beginning last year as the pair shared a white-knuckle handshake and tense glances.

There seemed to be a genuine bonhomie between the men who seem to be opposites in personality when Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte were hosted by Mr Trump and first lady Melania in Washington.

However, in the intervening six weeks Mr Trump - much to the chagrin of Mr Macron and every other G7 country - announced that the US would violate the Iran nuclear deal.

The historic six-party agreement offered concessions on sanctions to Tehran in exchange for Iran stopping development of its nuclear weapons programme. Instead, the US has renewed sanctions.

Mr Trump also slapped large tariffs on European aluminium and steel as an effort to boost those domestic sectors. He had proposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent import duty on aluminium, and tweeted ahead of the formal announcement that trade wars are good and easy to win.

In the wake of the initial announcement, Brussels trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said certain goods like cranberries, Florida orange juice, Levis jeans, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, peanut butter, Kentucky bourbon and whiskey are on a provisional list of goods that could see high tariffs as a retaliation.

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European Council President Donald Tusk has said Mr Trumps stance on tariffs is dangerous and Canada called the tariffs illegal as the countries and Mexico are still renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) at the behest of Mr Trump.

The US president also caused waves when he unexpectedly called for the G7 to allow Russia back in, stating: whether you like it or not - and it may not be politically correct - but we have a world to run.

Mr Trump will remain in La Malbaie, Quebec for the rest of the summit and travels on to Singapore for the 12 June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Group of Seven (G7) summit is more divided than at any time in its history amid Donald Trumps attacks on the European Union and Canada ahead of the meeting in Canada on Friday.

The US president imposed heavy tariffs on steel and aluminium imports in a bid to rebuild Americas industry, targeting nations from key G7 allies such as Canada, Japan and the EU.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president who has attempted to establish a warm personal relationship with Mr Trump, said the other G7 nations should remain polite and productive, but warned no leader is forever.

In comments to reporters, Mr Macron signalled Europe would not surrender meekly to the US president and suggested the G7 could function as six nations instead of seven.

Maybe the American president doesnt care about being isolated today, but we dont mind being six, if needs be, Mr Macron said.

Because these six represent values, represent an economic market, and more than anything, represent a real force at the international level today.

Justin Trudeau, Canadas prime minister, predicted robust discussions on trade. The Canadian leader is also embroiled in a row with Washington over negotiations to revamp the almost 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Other issues which are likely to be raised include Mr Trumps decision to take the US out of the Iran nuclear accord and pull out of the Paris climate agreement.

However, Mr Trump fired back at the two leaders over Twitter, accusing the EU and Canada of imposing massive trade tariffs on non-monetary trade Barriers against the US, and he threatened to take retaliatory action against the bloc and country unless the measures were removed.

He said: Why isnt the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the US.

Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies. Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!

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He added: I look forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Before flying to Canada for the summit on Friday morning, Mr Trump injected fresh controversy by suggesting Russia should be let back into the G7. Moscow had been part of what was formally the G8, but was suspended over the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Why are we having a meeting without Russia in the meeting? Mr Trump asked outside the White House. They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.

Whether intentional or not, Mr Trump's remarks pushed talk of trade into the background at least for a few hours, with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeting his support for the idea, while both Mr Trudeau and UK Prime Minister Theresa May suggesting that countries should remember why Russia was ousted in the first place.

Other G7 members appeared less likely to want to challenge the US president, with Japan being expected to take a less confrontational approach while quietly pressing its case on trade, and Ms May urging the EU to stick to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and to ensure any response to the tariffs was proportionate.

The British prime minister will hold formal meetings with the leaders of all G7 countries except Mr Trump. But she is expected to have informal talks with the US president.

On the plane to the summit in Quebec, Ms May told reporters: I made my views clear on the steel and aluminium tariffs that President Trump has announced, I have done that directly to him.

She added: As the UK, we want to be a great champion of free trade around the world and thats what we will continue to be.

I will continue to put the argument for the importance of those trade relationships around the world and Ill be doing that here at the G7 as I have done elsewhere and will continue to do elsewhere.

Mr Trumps approach to the G7 summit represents an abandonment of Americas traditional role.

Previous presidents have lobbied for freer global trade and championed a trading system which required countries to follow WTO rules.

By contrast, Mr Trumps policies are unapologetically protectionist and confrontational.

The US president is expected to leave the summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, early to fly to Singapore for his historic meeting with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by agencies
Caracas (AFP) - Polio has been reported in Venezuela, a crisis-wracked country where the disease had been eradicated decades ago, the Pan-American Health Organization reports.

The organization said the child had no history of vaccination and lives in an under-immunized extremely impoverished Delta Amacuro state.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling childhood disease caused by the poliovirus, and preventable through immunization.

Doctor Jose Felix Oletta, a former Minister of Health, told AFP that the last case of acute poliomyelitis in Venezuela was reported in 1989.

"The virus especially affects people in conditions of malnutrition and unvaccinated, as this case," Oletta added.

Oletta slammed health authorities in President Nicolas Maduro's government for taking more than a month to notify the PAHO that it had identified the virus. International health regulations require it to do so within 24 hours.

Venezuela, devastated by economic and political crises, also accounted for 85 percent of cases of measles reported across Latin America and the Caribbean over the past year, the PAHO said.

Of the 11 countries that reported cases, Venezuela had the overwhelming majority of cases, but also 35 deaths since mid-2017, the international organization said.

More specifically, "there were eleven countries that reported 1,685 confirmed measles cases across the region," of which 1,427 were in Venezuela, a PAHO report released Saturday found.

The disease is on the rise in the South American nation led by leftist Maduro; the trend has continued this year where cases have been reported in 17 out of 23 states, and in the capital.

In neighboring countries, where Venezuelans have migrated due to grim economic conditions, many of the reported cases have been among Venezuelan immigrants, the report said.

Venezuela says it does not have 85 percent of the basic medical supplies it needs even including vaccines. Maduro's government blames US sanctions for the woes.

The government on April 6 launched a new vaccine campaign against 14 diseases including measles and TB.
Was the first lady's medical crisis more serious than Americans have been led to believe?

President Trump revealed Friday that Melania is still recovering from the kidney procedure she underwent three weeks ago.

"Can't fly for one month, the doctors say," he said as he left for the G7 summit in Canada. "She had a big operation that was close to a four-hour operation and she's doing great."

But Dr. Nancy Simpkins told Inside Edition she didn't know what to make of the Trump's explanation.

"We don't know if it was a complication of the original procedure  whether they had to actually go in for a surgical procedure  but it does seem to be more serious than originally told to us."

On May 15, the White House announced Melania had minor surgery for a "benign kidney condition," which is usually an outpatient procedure.

But Dr. Simpkins said the first lady may have suffered complications, including severe pain, bleeding, blood clots or an infection.

Melania finally reemerged publicly Wednesday, but has been absent since.

The first lady of Japan was in Washington D.C., Thursday but Melania didn't spend any time with her, according to reports.

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(PARK CITY, Utah)  He once called Donald Trump a con man, but Mitt Romney now predicts that Trump would easily win his partys presidential nomination in 2020 and solidly win a second term.

Romney, the GOPs failed 2012 presidential nominee from Massachusetts, now a Republican Senate candidate in Utah, made the prediction Thursday as he welcomed dozens of high-profile business and political leaders to a mountainside retreat in Utah Thursday night. As he has every year since 2012, Romney played host to an invitation-only summit focused on the future of American leadership at home and abroad.

The future, he predicted, would feature Trump as Americas leader at least for another six years.

I think that not just because of the strong economy and the fact that people are going to see increasingly rising wages, Romney said, but I think its also true because I think our Democrat friends are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of American thought and will make it easier for a president whos presiding over a growing economy.

The remarks from Romney marked a sharp reversal from his original impression of Trump. Romney briefly served as the face of the so-called Never Trump movement before the 2016 election. He delivered a scathing speech in Utah before the 2016 election, calling Trump a con man and a fake.

Yet Romneys criticism has softened since then. And now, in the midst of a Republican Senate primary campaign, the former Massachusetts governor appears to be embracing Trump and his leadership role in the modern-day Republican Party.

He delivered the remarks on the first day of a three-day, closed-door summit in Utahs mountains. The Associated Press was allowed to listen to Romneys remarks during the events opening reception.

Dignitaries on the guest list feature included House Speaker Paul Ryan, billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner in addition to actor Seth Rogin, former Starbuck CEO Howard Schultz and former Dominos Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle.

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While there were many Trump skeptics in the crowd, a handful of Trump loyalists were in attendance as well, including short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and Blackrock CEO Stephen Schwarzman.

It wont be all business.

Guests will have an opportunity to go skeet shooting with Ryan or hiking with Romney.

Im looking forward to an unusual and packed couple of days here, Romney said, suggesting he would have little more to say about politics. Campaigns are off limits.
Washington (AFP) - Russia collusion investigator Robert Mueller socked former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort with new obstruction of justice charges Friday, and also charged for the first time Manafort's Russian fixer Konstantin Kilimnik.

Kilimnik, a former army-trained linguist with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, was included in an updated, lengthened indictment of Manafort that accused both of witness tampering.

The new indictment came four days after prosecutors said Manafort had tried to contact two witnesses in his money laundering and bank fraud case via Kilimnik to persuade them to make certain representations to investigators.

Manafort and Kilimnik "knowingly and intentionally conspired to corruptly persuade another person... with intent to influence, delay and prevent the testimony" of people involved in the investigation.

The indictment took the number of people indicted by the 13-month-old investigation by independent counsel Robert Mueller to 20, with three companies also indicted.

Mueller has a broad mandate to investigate any possible collusion between Trump's 2016 election campaign team and Russia, including possible obstruction of the investigation by President Donald Trump and any others.

Trump has repeatedly branded the investigation a political "witch hunt" and unconstitutional, and said he had the power both to end the probe and to pardon himself if he wants, although he has not been charged with anything.

- Manafort's Ukraine business -

The Manafort case though focuses on his work between 2004 and 2014 in Ukraine for pro-Russia politicians including former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych.

Manafort, who was chairman of Trump's campaign for several months in 2016, has been charged with multiple counts of tax evasion, money laundering and bank fraud.

Kilimnik worked with Manafort in Ukraine during that time, and during the 2016 election they were reportedly in regular contact.

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In previous court filings Mueller's team has referred to Kilimnik as "Person A", someone "who is currently based in Russia and assessed to have ties to a Russian intelligence service."

According to a Washington court filing earlier this week, Manafort contacted Kilimnik recently to get his help to influence two unnamed people -- said to be European-based public relations consultants -- in their testimony to Mueller on the so-called Hapsburg Group.

The Hapsburg Group were onetime European politicians Manafort allegedly secretly paid more than two million euros ($2.5 million) to lobby for Yanukovych in 2012-2013. The group included one unidentified former European chancellor.
The President is to have the laws executed, wrote the Chief Executive. He may order an offence then to be prosecuted, but if he sees a prosecution put into a train which is not lawful, he may order it to be discontinued.

Thats not a tweet from Donald Trump. Its a letter from Thomas Jefferson, in 1801, explaining the Presidents broad authority to supervise and control federal criminal prosecutions.

As special counsel Robert Muellers investigation heats up, Jefferson is a better guide to presidential prerogatives than the Trump critics who decry his Executive power claims as reminiscent of King George. For better and worse, the Constitution gives the President extraordinarily broad authority over investigations, pardons and firings.

The Presidents pardon power is practically absolute for federal offenses. It cannot be modified, abridged, or diminished by the Congress, the Supreme Court has ruled. The President can issue a pardon before prosecution, and to a broad class of people. Its unclear whether Trump can pardon himself. But he could, if he wanted, pardon everyone else Mueller is investigating, just as George H.W. Bush in 1992 pardoned six people under investigation by an independent counsel.

Trump could also order Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Muellers supervisor, to dismiss Mueller or limit his investigation. If Rosenstein refuses, as he certainly would, Trump could fire him and keep firing his successors until he found someone who would carry out his will.

The Justice Department has twice determinedduring the Nixon and Clinton Administrationsthat a President cannot be indicted or prosecuted while in office. It reached this conclusion based on the Constitutions impeachment remedy and the special demands on the presidency. Mueller is bound by this and cannot indict Trump.

In the wrong hands, the prodigious powers of the presidency become worrisome. [I]n every political institution, a power to advance the public happiness involves a discretion which may be misapplied and abused, said James Madison. Trump has been threatening misapplication and abuse.

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But another important constitutional principle is that hard presidential power doesnt necessarily translate into effective presidential power. Trump should have learned this lesson when he fired former FBI director Jim Comey last year. The dismissal sparked a political firestorm and led Trumps own nominee, Rosenstein, to appoint Mueller, who ramped up the investigation.

This political dynamic is the ultimate check on the presidency. It is why Trumpwho has rained down ferocious tweet-threats toward the Justice Departmenthas not yet wielded his pardon pen or fired anyone else related to the Russia matter.

Trumps threats without follow-through are a sign of presidential weakness. In the face of his howling disapproval, Mueller has been quietly building a comprehensive picture of any relationship among Trump, his associates and Russia during the 2016 election as well as any evidence of other crimes, including obstruction of justice.

Now That Mueller has had a year to gather this information, it is practically impossible for Trump to kill the investigation. In light of Mueller indicting 19 people and the many suggestive leaks, which are likely the tip of the iceberg, the political costs of firings or pardons are greater than ever.

Trump may nonetheless try to burn down the Justice Department. But even if he pardons everyone or finds someone willing to fire Mueller, which I doubt he can, the investigation will not end.

Muellers probe began as and at bottom remains a counterintelligence investigation designed to learn about and thwart Russian interference in U.S. elections. That task would continue even if there were no defendants to prosecute. Trump would be especially hard-pressed to shut it down, since so many people in his Administration have acknowledged the reality of the Russia threat.

More significant, any damning information Mueller has amassed is sure to come outin a report, or by leaks or congressional subpoena.

This is the vital consideration. Mueller was never going to indict Trump. He is not allowed to, and if he tried, he would face a steep and lengthy uphill battle in court. His main goal was always to find out what happened and disclose it publicly so that Congress, by follow-up investigation and possibly impeachment, and the American people, through pressure on Congress and elections, can, if the evidence warrants, decide Trumps fate.

This might seem like a weak and uncertain reed on which to ensure presidential accountability. But at the end of the day, it is the foundation of all constitutional constraints on the presidency.
(QUEBEC CITY)  Solidifying his solo status on the world stage, President Donald Trump is lashing out at longtime allies over their critiques of his trade policies and plans an early exit from the annual Group of Seven meeting of industrialized nations.

Trump will descend Friday on the annual gathering, held this year at a Quebec resort, but will leave Saturday morning before the event is over, heading out to Singapore for his highly-anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The White House announced his travel plans after French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signaled they will use the event to take a stance against new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

At a joint press conference, Macron stressed: A trade war doesnt spare anyone. It will start first of all to hurt U.S. workers. Trudeau said: We are going to defend our industries and our workers.

Trudeau, for his part, said Trumps action would hurt American workers as well as Canadians.

If I can get the president to actually realize that what hes doing is counterproductive for his own goals as well, perhaps we can move forward in a smarter way, Trudeau said.

As tempers frayed, Trump had a ready retort, via tweet: Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers. The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Later Thursday, Trump tweeted: Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other thingsbut he doesnt bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy  hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!

A few hours later, he added, Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!

With a cool reception all but assured, Trump has complained to aides about even having to attend the meeting, especially since his summit with Kim is just days away. Late Thursday, the White House announced that Trump would be leaving the G-7 late Saturday morning to head to Singapore ahead of his summit with Kim, though the G-7 meeting was scheduled to last until later that day.

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This marks Trumps second summit of the G-7, an informal gathering that meets every year under a rotating chairmanship. The member countries are Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United States and Britain. The European Union also attends. Trump is set to hold a series of group and one-on-one meetings, including with Trudeau and Macron.

Under Trump, the United States has abandoned its traditional role in the G-7. His predecessors pressed for freer global trade and championed a trading system that required countries to follow World Trade Organization rules. Trumps policies have been more protectionist and confrontational, driven by a perception that the U.S. has been the victim of poorly conceived trade deals.

Relations have hit such a low that a key question now is whether the seven countries can agree on a joint statement of priorities at the conclusion of the meeting. A gathering of G-7 finance ministers days earlier concluded last week with a message of concern and disappointment for Trump from the other six countries. Frances finance minister described the group as far more a G-6 plus one than a G-7.

Macron made clear Thursday that the other six countries wouldnt hesitate to go it alone. On Twitter, he said: The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be.

Trumps top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, was vague Wednesday on the outcome of the summit, saying: For these kind of decisions, let them meet first. Let them meet; let them discuss. And then well see what happens.

Tension has been building over a year of policymaking that has distanced the U.S. from traditional allies, including by Trumps decisions to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear agreement. The new tariffs 25 percent on imported steel, 10 percent on aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union  threaten to drive up prices for American consumers and companies and heighten uncertainty for businesses and investors around the globe.

Canada and other U.S. allies are retaliating with tariffs on U.S. exports. Canada is waiting until the end of the month to apply them with the hope the Trump administration will reconsider.

Meanwhile, talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement that eliminated most tariffs and duties between the U.S., Canada and Mexico appear to have ground to a halt. Trump injected further uncertainty recently when he floated the idea of replacing NAFTA with two separate trade deals, one with each country.

Critics argue that the growing U.S. isolation is risky at a time when Trump is making diplomatic overtures with North Korea and in the Middle East and could use the support of allies.

Sebastian Mallaby, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, described the relationships between the U.S. and the rest of the G-7 as at a new level of crisis, saying that it was not just about trade but a general U.S. attitude toward the system.

Despite the conflict, Mallaby predicted that the countries would still seek to work with the U.S., calling it the indispensable country.

Likewise, Macron described the moment as a period of great challenges, but also defended his efforts to befriend the American president, saying the U.S. is a historical ally and we need them.
Ines Zorreguieta: EPA

The Queen of Hollands youngest sister has been found dead in Argentina.

Ines Zorreguieta, the 33-year-old sister of Queen Maxima was found dead in her apartment in Buenos Aires in what is believed to have been a suicide.

The death was confirmed by the Royal House's communications department and no further details were provided.

Investigating prosecutors in Argentina said that Ms Zorreguieta was found dead on Wednesday evening by her mother and a friend, who called 911.

They also said that there are no signs of foul play, and that they are waiting for the results of an autopsy.

Ms Zorreguieta was a psychologist who once worked for an office on social policies at the president's office.

She had also worked for the social development ministry in Buenos Aires province and at a United Nations office in Panama.

Queen Maxima had a close relationship with her youngest sister, who was a bridesmaid at her wedding to Willem-Alexander, and a godmother to Ariane, the third child of the Dutch royals.

Her father, Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, died last year in Buenos Aires at age 89.

If you have been affected by this story, you can contact the following organisations for support:

https://www.mind.org.uk/

https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/

http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

For confidential support call Samaritans on 116 123.
Bucharest (AFP) - Thousands of people took to the streets to support LGBT rights in cities across Europe on Saturday, with marchers waving rainbow flags and condemning discrimination in all its forms.

Peaceful parades took place across European cities including the capitals of Italy, Greece, Latvia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.

In Bucharest, some 3,000 people marched through the city centre with many celebrating a ruling made by the EU's top court earlier this week.

The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of Romanian gay man Relu Coman's right to have his US husband Robert "Clai" Hamilton live with him in Romania.

"Clai and I are two people who did not accept discrimination. If more of us did the same, the world would be better," Coman told AFP at the march.

Romania does not recognise same-sex marriage and had argued that Hamilton was not entitled to EU residency rights awarded to spouses.

The European court ruling means that same-sex partners of EU citizens have the right to live in any member state whatever their nationality, even in countries that do not recognise gay marriage.

In Warsaw, tens of thousands marched for the annual "Equality Parade" to protest discrimination not just against LGBT people but also women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

Organisers said 45,000 people took part, while the town hall gave a lower estimate of 23,000.

- 'Love knows no boundaries' -

"I come from a small town and first marched for equality 10 years ago, without telling my parents," Dominika Wroblewska said at the Warsaw parade.

"It's very moving for me, especially since I came out a year ago," she said.

Her partner Alicja Nauman said she was marching "because I want to live in a place where all love is accepted, because love knows no boundaries".

"The situation in Poland is bad because same-sex couples cannot marry or adopt children."

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Thousands, including members of a LGBT police association, also turned out for the 14th edition of Gay Pride in Athens.

The Athens events had previously been largely shunned by institutions and notably harassed by far-right groups, but this year's edition was attended by a delegation from the liberal-conservative New Democracy party.

Not to be outdone, the facade of parliament, overlooking Syntagma square at the heart of the festivities, was symbolically lit up in all colours of the rainbow in a government initiative.

Since the leftist government took office in 2015, Greece has extended civil partnerships to same-sex couples, authorised sex changes from the age of 15 and legislated for children to be adopted by same-sex partners -- though New Democracy voted against the reforms which the powerful Orthodox Church also opposes.

The "Baltic Pride" parade in Latvia's capital Riga included members of the gay community from fellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania.

One of the organisers, Kaspars Zalitis, told AFP that about eight thousand people marched.

"Latvia is in last place in the European Union when it comes to the rights of LGBT people," Zalitis said.

"There is no protection against hate crimes, no respect for trans people, that's why we think this issue is greatly urgent."

About 30 people protested before the start of the parade in Riga, following a call by a rightwing group for a demonstration against "the promotion of homosexuality".

In Rome, thousands also marched Saturday just days after Italy's new families minister from the far-right League party caused a storm, saying homosexual families do not legally exist.

"It's very important that we're here, because we need to respond and show that it's not true that we don't exist," said Andrea, 27.
Special Counsel Robert Muellers office has indicted a 20th person in its probe into Russian meddling and collusion in the 2016 presidential election.

Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political operative, was indicted for conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also received a new charge of obstruction of justice related to alleged witness tampering, his sixth charge.

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia has returned a third superseding indictment today against Paul J. Manafort, Jr., 69, of Alexandria, Va., which adds Konstantin Kilimnik, 48, of Moscow, Russia, as a defendant and charges both defendants with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, the Special Counsel said in a statement.

Muellers office has already charged Manafort with conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, and false statements. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is expected to begin in July. Earlier this week, Muellers office accused Manafort of witness tampering, alleging that he and an associate  only identified as Person A  tried to get two witnesses to lie about lobbying work for Ukraine. Muellers office has referred to Person A in previous court filings; the New York Times has confirmed it is Kilimnik.

Kilimnik, once described as Manaforts Manafort, worked for his political consulting firm, Davis Manafort Partners International in Kiev, Ukraine. Prosecutors believe he has ties to Russian intelligence. The indictment alleges that in 2012, Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, who Muellers office also indicted last October for money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent, worked with Kilimnik to lobby on behalf of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to retain a group of lobbyists to act as independent assessors of the Ukrainian government, even though that government was actually paying them.

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The obstruction of justice charges filed Friday allege that Kilimnik and Manafort attempted to influence two people between February and April of 2018.

Renato Marriotti, a former federal prosecutor, said this indictment has potential to be politically significant, because it is the first one where a Russian and an American have been indicted together, the strongest evidence yet for potential cooperation between the two parties. We have an indictment of a Russian and an American working together for the first time, he said. This is an indictment of the former chair of the Trump campaign for conspiring with a suspected Russian intelligence operative. I think theres been a narrative for a while that theyre waiting to find collusion  conspiracy seems very similar to collusion to me. Thats about as close of an analogue as youre going to find in the law.

Manafort is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump  he has a condo in Trump Tower  but was only officially with the campaign for less than six months before he was ousted. However, during his tenure he was given the monumental task of trying to prevent an insurgency against Trump at the 2016 Republican convention, when Trump was the presumptive nominee but certain factions in the Republican party were trying to figure out a way to replace him with another candidate.
Sebastien Roblin

Security, Eurasia

We found out why.

Russias Deadly T-90A Tanks are Blowing Up (Like Everyone Elses) In Syria

The interconnected conflicts raging across the Middle East today have amounted to a dreadful human catastrophe with spiraling global consequence. One of their lesser effects has been to deflate the reputations of Western main battle tanks mistakenly thought to be night-invulnerable in the popular imagination.

Iraqi M1 Abrams tanks not only failed to prevent he capture of Mosul in 2014, but they were captured and turned against their owners. In Yemen, numerous Saudi M1s were knocked out by Houthi rebels. Turkey, which had lost a number of M60 Pattons and upgrade M60T Sabra tanks to Kurdish and ISIS fighters eventually deployed its fearsome German-built Leopard 2A4 tanks. ISIS destroyed eight to ten in a matter of days.

While these tanks could have benefited from specific defensive upgrades in some cases, the real lesson to be drawn was less about technical deficiencies and more about crew training, competent morale, and sound tactical employment matter more even than invulnerable armor. After all, even the most heavily armored main battle tanks are significantly less well protected from hits to the side, rear or top armorand rebels with years of combat experience have learned how to ambush imprudently deployed main battle tanks, particularly using long-range anti-tank missiles from miles away.

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One exception to the general tarnishing of reputations has been Russias T-90A tank, 550 of which serve as Russias top main battle tank until the T-14 Armatas fully enters service. The T-90 was conceived in the 1990s as a modernized mash-up the hull of the earlier mass-production optimized T-72, and the turret from the higher-quality (but operationally unsuccessful) T-80. Retaining a low profile and a three-man crew, (the tanks 2A46M auto-loading cannon takes the place of a human loader), the fifty-ton T-90A is significantly lighter than the seventy-ton-ish M1A2 and Leopard 2.

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When Moscow intervened in Syria in 2015 on behalf the beleaguered regime of Bashar al-Assad, it also transferred around thirty T-90As to the Syrian Arab Army, as well as upgraded T-62Ms and T-72s. The Syrian military could desperately use this armored infusion, as it had lost over two thousand armored vehicles in the preceding yearsespecially after Syrian rebels began receiving American TOW-2A missiles in 2014. The T-90s were spread out between the 4th Armored Division, the Desert Hawks Brigade (composed of retired SAA veterans led by pro-Assad warlords) and Tiger Force, an elite battalion-sized SAA unit specialized in offensive operations.

In February 2016, Syrian rebels filmed a video of a TOW missile streaking towards a T-90 tank in northeast Aleppo. In a blinding flash, the missile detonates. However, as the smoke cleared it became evident that the tanks Kontakt-5 explosive-reactive armor had discharged the TOW missiles shaped-charge warhead prior to impact, minimizing the damage. (This fact was perhaps not appreciated by the tanks gunner, who in the full version of the video clambered out of an already open hatch and fled on foot.) Nonetheless, the video went viral.

While the T-90A is still outgunned by Western main battle tanks, it does sport number of defensive systems particularly effective verses anti-tank missiles that (all but a few) Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks lackand anti-tank missiles have destroyed far more armored vehicles in recent decades than tank main guns have.

If you look head on at a T-90A you may notice the creepy eyes on the turreta reliable method of distinguishing it from similar-looking modernized T-72s. These are actually infrared dazzlers designed to jam laser-targeting systems on missiles, and glow a terrifying red color when active. The dazzlers are just a component of the T-90s Shtora-1 active protection system, which can also discharge smoke grenades that release an infrared-obscuring aerosol cloud. Shtora is integrated with a 360-degree laser-warning receiver which automatically triggers the countermeasures if the tank is painted by an enemy laserand can even point the tanks gun towards the origin of the attack. The T-90As second line of defense comes in the form of plates of Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor, which was designed to detonate prior to a missile impact in order to disrupt the molten jet of its shaped-charge warhead and feed additional metal in its path.

So did the T-90s reactive armor and Shtora active protection system prove a sure-fire countermeasure verses long-range anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs)?

In a word, nobut you would only know that if you followed the many less well publicized videos depicting the destruction or capture of T-90s by rebel and government forces.

Jakub Janovsky has dedicated himself to documenting and preserving recorded armor losses in the Syrian Civil War for several years, and recently released a vast archive of over 143 gigabytes of combat footage from the conflict ranging from atrocities perpetrated by various groups to hundreds of ATGM attacks.

According to Janovsky, of the thirty transferred to the Syrian Arab Army, he is aware of five or six T-90As being knocked out in in 2016 and 2017, mostly by wire-guided TOW-2A missiles. (Some of the knocked out tanks, to clarify, may be recoverable with heavy repairs.) Another four may have been hit, but their status after the attack as not possible to determine. Of course, there may be additional losses that were not documented, and there are cases where the type of tank involved could not be visually confirmed.

Furthermore, HTS rebels captured two T-90s and used them in action, while a third was captured by ISIS November 2017. On June 2016, Sham Front rebels knocked out a T-90 with a TOW-2. Drone footage taken afterwards shows smoke rising from the turret hatch, and reveals the T-90s tell-tale Shtora dazzlers. Another video recorded on June 14, 2016, at Aleppo shows a T-90 pulling a sharp turn and racing for cover behind a buildingpossibly aware of an incoming TOW missile. However, the T-90 is struck in its side or rear armor. The tank explodes, scattering debris high into the air, but stills continues to roll behind cover.

Another T-90A was either hit by a Russian-built Konkurs (similar to the TOW) or the more powerful laser-guided AT-14 Kornet missile near Khanassar, Syria, wounding the gunner. The crew eventually abandoned the vehicle as a fire spread from the machine gun mount into the vehicle, where it began to cook off the 125-millimeter shells on the carousel-style autoloader. The placement of ammunition in middle of the tank alongside the crew, rather than a separate stowage compartment as in the M1, has long been a vulnerability of Russian tank designs.

Rebels, meanwhile, maintained two T-90s in an abandoned brick factory in Idlib province. In April 2017, of the rebel T-90As, reinforced with sandbags on its armor, apparently went on a rampage assisting rebel forces in recapturing the town of Maarden, according to Russian media. Later, one of the T-90As was recaptured by the government, and the other was knocked outreportedly, by a T-72 tank using a kinetic sabot round in the side armor.

In October, ISIS captured a 4th Armored Division T-90A near al-Mayadeen in eastern Syria when it ventured alone into a sand storm. Then on November 16, 2017, ISIS ambushed a Tiger Force armored column and apparently blasted a T-90As turret clean off its hull and left to rot upside down in the desert. The crew was reportedly killed. However, pro-Assad media claims this was the T-90 captured earlier by ISIS, found to be inoperable, and then destroyed for propaganda purposes.

This not to say the T-90s defensive systems never worked. In one remarkable incident recorded on July 28, 2016, a T-90 tank near the Mallah farms of Aleppo was struck by a TOW missile, but emerged apparently unscathed from the dust cloud thanks to its reactive armor. As the vehicle frantically scuttled away, the TOW crew smacked it with a second missilewhich it apparently survived despite sustaining damage.

Janovsky says he is not aware of T-90s being lost to shorter-range weapons, since the regime rarely used T-90s in close combat, especially after two were captured. The T-90 has in fact been relatively successful in Janovskys opinion, despite losses due to overconfidence and poor coordination with infantry, which has been a long term problem of the SAA.

According to Janovsky, the T-90s most useful feature has actually proven to be its superior optics and fire control computer compared to earlier Russian tanks. T-90s performed well when they had an opportunity to shoot at rebels from long distance or at night, when modern optics and fire-control computer proved to be a major advantage. Indeed, the T-90A model began receiving French-built Catherine FC thermal imagers in the mid-2000s.

Of course a small number of T-90s was not going to have a great impact on a sprawling civil war that had been raging for years. However, Janovsky still see lessons to be drawn from the situation. The regime was also lucky that rebels never got any modern ATGM that has top attack modewhich would reliable kill T-90. Examples such of top-attack weapons include the Javelin missile, and the TOW-2B.

In my opinion, the major issue with T-90 (and most other modern tanks) is a complete lack of hard-kill Active Protection System [one that shoots missiles down], ideally with 360 degrees coverage, but 270 degrees should be minimum. This not only means that it is vulnerable to being disabled by cheap rocket propelled grenades in urban combat but also from Anti-Tank Guided Missiles fired from unexpected angle. When you consider the range of current ATGMs [typically two to five miles], it will be fairly regular occurrence that you get a side shot opportunity against attacking enemy tank from positions across from the of attacked location.

Indeed, Russia is reportedly planning to upgrade its T-90Aswhich are currently less advanced than the T-90MSs in service with the Indian Armyto a T-90M variant with new hard-kill active protection systems, upgraded reactive armor, and a more powerful 2A82 main gun. Ultimately, the losses in Syria show that any tankwhether T-90, M-1 or Leopard 2is vulnerable on a battlefield in which long-range ATGMs have proliferated. Active protection systems and missile warning systems are vital to mitigate that dangerbut so are careful tactical employment, competently trained crews, and improved cooperation with infantry to minimize exposure to long-range attacks, ward off ambushers, and provide extra eyes on possible threats.

Sebastien Roblin holds a Masters Degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt faced yet another revelation about unethical behavior on Thursday, when The Washington Post reported that the embattled official asked his staff to run personal errands for him.

One of the stranger requests involved driving Pruitt to several places during his quest to find a specific lotion provided by Ritz-Carlton hotels, the Post reported. Other tasks included picking up Pruitts dry cleaning without him.

Public officials are prohibited from receiving unpaid services from employees or for using their office for private gain.

The EPA chief has racked up at least 10 other scandals in the past month.

Millan Hupp, a top Pruitt aide who resigned yesterday, told the House oversight committee that the administrator had asked her to look into obtaining a used mattress from a Trump International Hotel, book his personal travel and help him search for condos.

Congress members on both sides of the aisle have expressed concern over Pruitts actions, which included illegally purchasing a $43,000 soundproof phone booth and asking an aide to help Pruitts wife find a job.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) called on Pruitt to resign immediately.

This is corruption and mismanagement, plain and simple. Scott Pruitt should immediately resign or be fired. https://t.co/rumfJz9SvE  Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) June 7, 2018

Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) criticized Pruitts apparent impropriety.

The waste of taxpayer money matters, Kennedy said. If you cant use good judgment and put taxpayers first its time to find another line of work.

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Aberdeen (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Scotland's nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon on Saturday urged impatient separatists to quell their desire for a swift new referendum on independence from the rest of Britain.

In a speech to her Scottish National Party's conference in Aberdeen, Sturgeon urged activists instead to focus on convincing others of the case for breaking away.

She said the British government was "paralysed" over Brexit, which the SNP strongly opposes, "and the sooner it holds no sway over Scotland, the better".

However, polls have consistently shown no significant change in the proportion of Scots that back independence since the 2014 referendum, when 55 percent voted against leaving the UK.

"My sense as I travel this country is that people have had enough of the despair and the despondency of Brexit," Sturgeon told a packed conference hall.

"They want to be inspired by the hope of a better future instead. Friends, our task is to persuade them that this better future is an independent one."

She added: "Confidence in the independence case is growing. So as we wait for the fog of Brexit to clear, our opportunity -- indeed, our responsibility -- is this.

"Not just to focus on the 'when' of independence. But to use our energy and our passion to persuade those who still ask 'why?' Right now, that is the more important task."

Scotland voted by 62 percent to remain in the European Union in a 2016 referendum, generating a rift because the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave.

Sturgeon immediately made plans for a second independence vote, but momentum stalled when polls showed little change in Scottish attitudes and even less appetite for another vote.
Glencoe (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Fancy joining the ranks of Scottish nobility? An industry has grown up in Scotland allowing ordinary people to do just that -- some with more legal justification than others.

One company, Highland Titles, has ennobled -- at least on paper -- around a quarter of a million people in countries as far afield as Australia, Canada and Russia.

For just A29.99 (34 euros, $40) anyone can buy a certificate which proclaims them the "lord" of a square foot of land in the majestic hills of the Scottish Highlands.

Peter Bevis, managing director of the Channel Islands-based firm, said the revenues were being used to maintain nature reserves. He also insisted his customers were under no illusions that they had really become aristocrats overnight.

"Everybody here enjoys the fact that they are 'little lairds' of a square foot," he told AFP.

"They're not trying to pretend that they have become great landowners or the rivals of the great clan chiefs of Scotland."

However, some critics have raised doubts about the transactions and say the actual land still belongs to Highland Titles.

Scottish lawmaker Andy Wightman, a land reform expert, told AFP: "You cannot in law, in Scotland, own a square foot of land."

- 'We do it for the fun' -

Some of the 100 "lords and ladies" with Highland Titles who convened in the western village of Glencoe this month said it was well worth the money.

"We do it for the fun. It's a pleasure to be part of the community with nice people who try to make a better world," Steven Scholte, 73, from the Netherlands, told AFP.

Victoria Zohner, 31, from Alberta in Canada, said: "This definitely is not a waste of money. Coming out just to do the tour has been incredible, you get to see the work that's actually going on here."

Local business owners said they were also more than happy with the influx of tourists inspecting "their" land.

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"They are bringing a significant amount of business to the area. People come to visit, they come to see the bits of land that they have bought," said David Cooper, owner of Crafts & Things in Glencoe.

"If they want to call themselves a lord or a lady -- that's up to them."

Elizabeth Roads, keeper of the records of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the main heraldic authority in Scotland, told AFP that some souvenir plot-holders have come away with the impression that they have been genuinely ennobled.

"We have had people that have assumed from what they have been told that they are in some way entitled to call themselves 'lord' and seek a coat of arms -- that is not the case," she told AFP.

"You cannot buy a lordship... There is no legal status to a souvenir title," she said.

"Or you can buy what was once upon a time known as a feudal barony, which is now a floating entity divorced from the land."

- Baronies for sale -

Baronies were originally bestowed by Scottish kings and came with vast tracts of land -- but in 2004 the Scottish Parliament uncoupled the baronies in its drive to reform land ownership in a country where half the land is owned by fewer than 500 people.

Brian Hamilton, a partner at Scottish Barony Titles, currently has two baronies for sale near Aberdeen and Dundee for A85,000 apiece -- but some baronies change hands much more.

"The barony of McDonald was sold in the late 1990s and that reached a very high price," he told AFP.

"I'm not going to say what we actually sold it for but the asking price was A1m.

He is currently negotiating a sale with a buyer in China.

"Why does one buy a Ferrari? Some people just want to feel good about themselves.

"Some want to cement their relationship with Scotland, others just think it will be a cute idea.

"Some have suggested that it might help them in business -- although I am not convinced of this, but who am I to dissuade them?" he said.
Former 1st Congressional District for Ohio candidate Samuel Ronan was arrested by Springboro, Ohio, police in the early morning hours of June 9, according to police and local media.

Ronan ran as a Democrat for the Ohio House of Representatives in 2016 and then as a Republican for the 1st Congressional District of Ohio in 2018, but lost both elections.

The former candidate was charged with failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, obstructing official business and obstructing justice and is being held at the Warren County Jail, according to local media, citing police and jail records.

Ronan livestreamed the confrontation with police outside his home in to Facebook, capturing officers drawing their tasers on the man and telling him to get on the ground. Credit: Samuel Ronan via Storyful
Stephen Strasburg is still struggling to stay healthy.

The Washington Nationals placed their No. 2 starter on the disabled list following Saturdays 7-5 win against the San Francisco Giants with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Strasburg says hes been dealing with the issue for a few weeks. He was removed after laboring through two challenging innings in Fridays loss to San Francisco.

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An MRI Saturday revealed no structural damage to Strasburgs shoulder. Thats obviously good news. Still, the team couldnt provide a timeline for Strasburgs return.

Many of the Nationals beat writers noticed that the former No. 1 draft pick didnt look comfortable during Fridays outing, particularly while warming up for the second inning. Those concerns only grew as the Giants offense continually squared up Strasburg.

Lingering health concerns

Nationals fans and beat writers have been expressing concerns about Strasburgs health as far back as May 12.

This is not an "I-told-you-so," but rather context: I was paranoid he was hurt as early as last month in Arizona. Just hasn't looked right. Maybe this is a new thing. But he hasn't been himself in awhile.  Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) June 8, 2018

The outing Washington Post reporter Chelsea Janes is referencing took place on May 12. Strasburg was pretty good that day, striking out nine batters while allowing just one walk. He surrendered five hits and allowed one run over 6.2 innings. The concerns then stemmed from Strasburg struggling to get loose in the early innings, much the same way he seemed to struggle Friday.

In his most recent outing against the Atlanta Braves on June 1, Strasburg was removed in the seventh inning with what the team termed a forearm cramp in his non-throwing arm. The report wasnt exactly ominous, but the circumstances surrounding the exit still raised a few red flags. Strasburg had thrown 107 pitches on the night, and was nearly untouchable until allowing four runs in his final frame.

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Beyond that, Washington gave Strasburg a couple extra days of rest before making his start on Friday. Thats not necessarily unusual, but it understandably didnt ease concerns either.

Despite the health issues, Strasburg entered Fridays game with a 3.20 ERA in 78.2 innings.

Stephen Strasburg left his start after two innings on Friday. (Associated Press)

Strasburgs extensive injury history

Given Strasburgs lengthy injury history, one cant really blame Nationals fans for being worried.

One month after his memorable 14-strikeout MLB debut in 2010, Strasburg landed on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. One month after that, he was diagnosed with a torn UCL that required Tommy John surgery. Strasburg returned to make five starts in 2011. He started 28 games during the 2012 season before the Nationals made the controversial decision to shut him down before the postseason.

Whether that decision ultimately worked is still open to debate. What we know is that other ailments have developed and cost Strasburg extensive time.

In 2013, Strasburg landed on the disabled list in June with a mild lat strain.

In 2015, Strasburg was sidelined for one month by an upper back pain that he believed stemmed from overcompensating for a spring training ankle injury. One month after returning, he missed another month with an oblique strain. Over the last two seasons, Strasburg has been limited to 52 starts after battling back issues and right elbow soreness.

Needless to say, its been a constant battle to keep Strasburg on the field. When hes been healthy, hes been the dominant pitcher we all envisioned during his rise at San Diego State. But his lack of durability has limited his true potential.

Heres hoping Strasburgs latest ailment is one he can quickly overcome.



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Los Angeles (AFP) - Stormy Daniels has filed a new lawsuit accusing her former lawyer of being a "puppet" for President Donald Trump and of betraying her by working closely with Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

The lawsuit against Keith Davidson and Cohen claims that the two attorneys colluded to discredit the adult film actress and manipulate her over her alleged affair with Trump in 2006.

It says the pair started working together in January after becoming aware of an article by In Touch magazine concerning Trump and Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford.

"Believing this story to be detrimental to his own interests or those of his client, Mr Cohen immediately colluded with Mr Davidson in an attempt to use and manipulate Ms Clifford in a manner designed to benefit Mr Cohen and Mr Trump," according to the suit.

Specifically, the suit alleges that the two lawyers "hatched a plan" to have Daniels appear on Sean Hannity's program on Fox News in order to falsely deny her alleged affair with Trump. She ended up not appearing on the show.

The complaint, filed by Daniels' new firebrand attorney Michael Avenatti, includes copies of alleged text messages between Davidson and Cohen over a three-month period ending in March.

Cohen in one message in January refers to Davidson as "pal" and instructs him in another message to oversee any interviews or statements by Daniels.

The lawsuit also claims that Trump was aware the two lawyers were working together on his behalf.

A spokesman for Davidson, who is based in Los Angeles, dismissed the lawsuit as "outrageously frivolous."

"That said, attorney Davidson is very happy that he (Avenatti) has filed this lawsuit because he strongly believes that the filing constitutes a full and complete waiver of the attorney-client privilege," he added in a statement.

Brent Blakely, Cohen's attorney, also denounced the suit as having no merit.

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"It appears to be yet another publicity stunt, and nothing more," he was quoted as saying by CNN. "We look forward to defeating the lawsuit in court."

Trump in May admitted that he had reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 in hush money paid to Daniels to stop her from going public.

Daniels is suing to be released from the hush agreement reached with Cohen, claiming it is invalid because Trump never signed it.
Ontario premier-elect Doug Ford speaks to the media after winning the Ontario Provincial election in Toronto, on June 8, 2018.

The only certainty about the Ontario provincial elections was that it was going to be the end of 15 years of Liberal Party rule over the province. And while the Progressive Conservatives had their voters better spread throughout the province, there was a chance that the NDP could win enough seats to prevent the PCs from a majority. However, that didnt happen on election day.

The PCs have 76 seats in Queens Park, a majority of 14, while the NDP won 40 seats, the Liberals 7 and the Greens broke through with a single seat. But across the province, and particularly in the GTHA, strategic voting in specific ridings could have led to a minority PC government. According to the final tally, there were 20 ridings where the new government won by single digit percentages. The gap between the winning PC candidate and the runner up could have been closed if the progressive vote had been consolidated if voters voted strategically.

It appears that while there was a consolidation of the anti-Ford vote in certain ridings, there were enough splits in the vote between the NDP and Liberals to allow the PCs to beat them both. The phenomenon was particularly prominent in the GTHA, where the PCs won seven ridings by single digit margins.

One of the closest races was in Brampton West, where the PCs Amarjot Sandhu beat the NDPs Jagroop Singh by 490 votes, a margin of just 1.3 per cent. If even a small percentage of the 7,013 votes for the Liberals Vic Dhillon had gone to Singh, it could have resulted in an NDP victory. The other ridings in the GTHA where vote splits let to a PC victory were:

Mississauga-Malton (PCs beat the NDP by 2,362 votes, a margin of 6.2 per cent. The Liberals got 7,812 votes)

Brampton South (PCs beat the NDP by 2,733 votes, a margin of 7.2 per cent. The Liberals got 7,212 votes)

Mississauga-Lakeshore (PCs beat the Liberals by 3,884 votes, a margin of 7.3 per cent. The NDP got 9,765 votes)

Oakville (PCs beat the Liberals by 4,476 votes, a margin of 7.9 per cent. The NDP got 9,277 votes)

Ajax (PCs beat the NDP by 3,948 votes, a margin of 8 per cent. The Liberals got 12,607 votes)

Flamborough-Glanbrook (PCs beat the NDP by 4,824 votes, a margin of 9.3 per cent. The Liberals got 7,967 votes)

In Mississauga, where the combined anti-PC vote was greater than the PCs vote share. The NDP and Liberals earned a combined 51.5 per cent of the vote in Mississauga-Streetsville, 52.9 per cent in Misssissauga-Erin Mills, 52.9 per cent in Mississauga East-Cooksville and 53 per cent in Mississauga Centre.

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The PC victories in Mississauga-Lakeshore and Oakville were particularly embarrassing for the Liberals, ridings that were previously represented by Liberal cabinet ministers Charles Sousa and Kevin Flynn, respectively.

The split in the progressive vote repeated itself in Toronto proper, where four ridings were lost by margins fewer than 10 per cent of the vote. These ridings were:

Eglinton-Lawrence (PCs beat the Liberals by 752 votes, a margin of 1.5 per cent. The NDP got 9,153 votes)

Scarborough-Rouge Park (PCs beat the NDP by 963 votes, a margin of 2.3 per cent. The Liberals got 8,785 votes)

Scarborough Centre (PCs beat the NDP by 1,990 votes, a margin of 5.1 per cent. The Liberals got 8,684 votes)

Etobicoke-Lakeshore (PCs beat the NDP 3,201 votes, a margin of 5.6 per cent. The Liberals got 14,046 votes)

Etobicoke Centre (PCs beat the Liberals by 4,724 votes, a margin of 8.3 per cent. The NDP got 10,311 votes)

Vote splits led to close PC victories in four ridings in southwestern Ontario, all at the expense of the NDP.

Brantford-Brant (PCs beat the NDP by 621 votes, a margin of 1.1 per cent. The Liberals got 5,439 votes)

Kitchener-Conestoga (PCs beat the NDP by 686 votes, a margin of 1.6 per cent. The Liberals got 6,035 votes)

Kitchener South-Hespeler (PCs beat the NDP by 769 votes, a margin of 1.8 per cent. The Liberals got 6,335 votes)

Cambridge (PCs beat the NDP by 2,154 votes, a margin of 4.5 per cent. The Liberals got 11,191 votes)

In Eastern Ontario, there were three ridings that the PCs won despite receiving strong performances by the NDP and Liberal candidates. The PCs beat the NDP in Peterborough-Kawartha by a margin of 2,194 votes. In Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, the party beat the Liberals by 4,523 votes. And in Ottawa West-Nepean, the PCs beat the NDP by a mere 176 votes. In all three ridings, the vote share for the third place party was more than enough to overtake the PC candidate.

Sault Ste. Marie was probably one of the biggest disappointments for the NDP on election night. The party lost to the PCs by 414 votes while the Liberals peeled away 3,199 votes that could have gone to the NDP.

There were, however, numerous ridings where low levels of support for the Liberal candidate indicated a consolidation of the anti-PC vote under the NDP banner. In Essex, Taras Natyshak won 48.5 per cent of the vote compared to the PCs Chris Lewis, who won 42.3 per cent of the vote. The Liberal candidate, Kate Festeryga, won just 5.7 per cent of the vote. The same took place in London West, where the NDP candidate got 55.3 per cent of the vote compared to 29 per cent for the PC candidate, Andrew Lawton, who had made controversial remarks in the past about Islam, women, race and the LGBT community. The Liberal candidate got just 9.9 per cent of the vote. A more even vote split between NDP and Liberal voters could have resulted in more seat gains for the PCs.

There are other similar instances of overwhelming support for the NDP over the Liberals, particularly in the GTHA proper, with Brampton East, Brampton Centre, Parkdale-High Park, Davenport, Toronto-Danforth, Scarborough Southwest and Oshawa.

Had strategic voting been more effective, the PCs would probably have still formed government, albeit a minority government. The PCs would have been reduced to 56 seats. The NDP would have picked up 15 seats, giving them at 55 seats. And the Liberals wouldnt have to fight to maintain official party status, as they would have won 12 seats. But, either due to the lack of coordination or the refusal of progressive voters to swallow the bitter pill of voting for the other left party, splits in the anti-PC vote allowed the PCs to pick up nearly two dozen additional seats.
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Revelers toting rainbow flags flooded Tel Aviv on Friday for an annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parade that Israel played up as evidence of its liberal values amid international censure at its lethal response to Palestinian protests in Gaza. The beachfront procession drew some 250,000 locals and tourists, the municipality said. The British embassy donated a London-themed float. The U.S. envoy, David Friedman, said on Twitter that he was "proud of everyone who is marching". Israel's LGBT rights are unusual for the deeply conservative Middle East. Secular Tel Aviv has long billed itself as a gay tourism hub, although in Jerusalem, an hour's drive away, pious Jews, Muslims and Christians set a more straightlaced public tone. Friday's parade coincided with a new round of anti-Israel protests that were launched in the Islamist Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on March 30. Israeli troops have killed at least 120 Palestinians during the protests, triggering condemnation abroad. Gazans say the protests are an expression of rage that they are kept away from homes most families fled at Israel's founding 70 years ago. Israel says its army is preventing Palestinian gunmen from using the demonstrations as cover for infiltrations from Gaza. Israel often points to its social liberalism as a contrast with its regional enemies. "As #Israel wakes up to #Pride2018, where tolerance and acceptance are thought & celebrated yearly - #Iranian sponsored #Gaza #Terrorists of #Hamas wake to kill maim & burn us all, using women and children as human shields in their riot attempts to breach the border," Ohad Nakash Kaynar, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said on Twitter. (Writing by Dan Williams)
Bucharest, Romania A girl smiles under a large rainbow flag during the gay pride parade in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, June 9, 2018. People taking part in the gay pride parade in the Romanian capital demanded more rights and acceptance for same-sex couples. (Photo: Vadim Ghirda/AP)

Thousands of people took to the streets to support LGBT rights in cities across Europe on Saturday, with marchers waving rainbow flags and condemning discrimination in all its forms.

Peaceful parades took place in the capitals of Italy, Latvia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, England and Greece.

In Warsaw, several thousand marched for the annual Equality Parade to protest discrimination not just against LGBT people but also women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. (AFP)

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended as the Queen celebrated

The youngest members of the Royal family stole the show on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as they giggled, gasped and waved through a Trooping the Colour flypast.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte joined Savannah and Isla Phillips at the front of the balcony, watched indulgently by the Queen as they larked about in front of the crowds.

Savannah, seven, appeared unimpressed by her cousin Prince George's noises during the national anthem, clamping her hand firmly over his mouth to keep him quiet.

Trooping the colour: Royal birthday celebrations, in pictures

Princess Charlotte, three, beat time with the familiar song on the balcony, while older members of the family stood in silence.

The Duchess of Sussex, making her first appearance for Trooping the Colour, appeared to be listening carefully to her husband of three weeks, as he talked her through what to expect from the dramatic RAF flypast.

The Queen beamed at the sight of the Red Arrows, which turned the London sky red, white and blue for the cheering crowds.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended as the Queen celebrated

Celebrating her official 92nd birthday, she was joined by four generations of her family while the Duke of Edinburgh, who has retired from public duties and turns 97 tomorrow, remained out of sight.

The "balcony moment" at Buckingham Palace marked the biggest public gathering of the Royal family this year, with some of those appearing unable to attend the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle three weeks ago due to capacity restrictions at St George's Chapel.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Isla and Savannah, all clearly excited for their big moment in front of the watching world, were given books explaining the different aircraft flying over their heads, studying them carefully before the noise of the flypast distracted them.

Trooping the Colour: the most stylish royal looks from 2018's ceremony

Then, they concentrated on waving wildly to the pilots, and clapping each new arrival.

Paramedics had to arrive at the celebrations however after Field Marshal Lord Guthrie, the former Chief of the General Staff, was injured after falling from his horse.

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Lord Guthrie, 79, was treated on The Mall by paramedics after appearing to collapse and slip from his steed.

He was taken to hospital, where aides said he was "being well looked after".

Police officers at the scene Credit: PA Wire

Lord Guthrie, who was taking part as Colonel of the Life Guards, was Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the British Army, from 1994 to 1997, and Chief of the Defence Staff from 1997 until his retirement in 2001.

Earlier the Duchess of Sussex had arrived for her first Trooping the Colour ceremony, returning from honeymoon to travel in a carriage with her husband.

Meghan experienced the pomp and pageantry of the event for the first time when she arrived on Horse Guards Parade with Harry in a carriage, along with the Queen's cousin the Duke of Kent.

Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Andrew in ceremonial dress Credit: John Rainford/WENN

The couple were greeted by the sight of hundreds of Guardsmen in their scarlet tunics and bearskins lined up on the parade ground - Henry VIII's former jousting yard - as the event began.

The Duke and Duchess, who married exactly three weeks today, travelled from Buckingham Palace along the Mall to cheers from royal fans gathered in the famous London thoroughfare.

The Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge were in another carriage while a third carried Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the Countess of Wessex and her daughter Lady Louise.

The Duchess of Sussex wore a dress by Carolina Herrera and a hat by Philip Treacy, while Kate wore a dress by Alexander McQueen and a hat by Juliette Botterill.

Camilla wore a pale blue silk dress and coat by Bruce Oldfield and a hat by Philip Treacy.

The Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge travel to the parade ground Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

The Queen soon made her entrance onto Horse Guards in an Ascot Landau after making her journey from her famous London home Buckingham Palace.

The 7,500 guests seated in stands lining the parade ground stood as a mark of respect as the monarch arrived and began inspecting the massed ranks of the troops.

Queen Elizabeth II in her carriage. The parade celebrates her official 92nd birthday Credit: Yui Mok/PA

The Duke of Edinburgh, who celebrates his 97th birthday on Sunday, has retired from official public duties and did not attend.

But the Queen was accompanied by the royal colonels, all on horseback: Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards.

Duke and Duchees of Cambridge arrive at Buckingham Palace Credit: Andrew Parsons / i-Images

Also riding in the ceremony for the first time was the Duke of York in his new role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

Among the guests was Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, the Prime Minister Theresa May normally attends but is at a G7 meeting of world leaders in Canada.

The most glorious Trooping the Colour looks from over the years

The massed bands of the Household Division and the Mounted Band of the Household Calvary provided the musical backing for the ceremony.

While also taking part was the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, who will fire a 41-gun salute in Green Park to mark the Queen's official birthday.

The colour was first trooped through the ranks of soldiers before the Guardsmen marched past the Queen, first in slow then in quick time.

As the ceremony came to an end, the thousands in the stands were treated to the sight of the Blues and Royals and Life Guards from the Household Cavalry Regiment.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, right, and Princess Beatrice Credit: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press

The mounted soldiers and officers in their gleaming breast plates and plumed helmets rode past the Queen with the horses throwing up dust.

From the vantage point of the Duke of Wellington's old office, which overlooks Horse Guards Parade, Camilla, Harry, Meghan and Kate and the other members of the Royal Family watched the finale of the event.

After the ceremony the royal family will head back to Buckingham Palace and gather on the balcony to watch the RAF flypast.

Among the 23 aircraft taking part are modern jets and historic aircraft, while the Red Arrows will be the finale.

In numbers | Trooping the Colour

The Queen's actual birthday was on April 21 when she turned 92.

Coldstream Guards march down The Mall Credit: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Drum major to mark end of 40-year career

A drum major is poised to parade in his final Trooping the Colour on a day which will also mark the end of his four-decade career in the British Army.

The centuries-old military spectacle of might, splendour and precision marching will take place on Horse Guards Parade this Saturday to mark the Queen's official birthday.

It is an important day in the armed forces' calendar and for the monarchy, where the families and friends of those on parade proudly watch the ceremony.

For Drum Major Steve Staite, who has taken part in Trooping the Colour at least 26 times - 17 as drum major, something the Army claim is a world record - this year's Queen's birthday parade carries extra significance.

"I am very excited to be doing my final Queen's birthday parade, it is a culmination of my career over the four decades," he said. "And what better day to go out on than the Queen's birthday?"

The mace of Drum Major Staite at Wellington Barracks Credit: Kirsty O'Connor /PA

The 55-year-old who is originally from Preston, Lancashire, joined the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards at the age of 16 on June 19 1979 and was appointed drum major to the Queen in 1995.

"We are personal drummers to her majesty, we get a royal warrant signed to that effect, and it is the greatest honour in the world, you can't beat it," he said.

As one of five drum majors wearing the elaborate gold-thread state clothing, during Trooping the Colour he marches one of the divisions up to Horse Guards to get them on to parade.

Drum Major Staite also leads one of the massed bands during the parade in slow and quick time - something the father-of-two agreed very few people get to do.

"A lot of people tell you it is great to march behind a band, but you can't beat marching in front of it," he said.

Drum Major Staite during the Queen's Birthday Parade in 2012 Credit: PA

During his career Drum Major Staite said he has visited 40 of the 50 states in America, and has worked in Kenya, Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.

It was during a posting to West Berlin on his first deployment that he also patrolled the Berlin Wall and guarded Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, when he was held at Spandau prison.

Quizzed on what that experience was like, Drum Major Staite who plans on retiring to Middlesbrough with his wife Fee, said: "You just sat in a sanger at Spandau prison.

"You weren't really allowed to look into the yard, it was just a normal prison with one person in it. But driving around the Berlin wall in those days was something very, very different."

Posted to Household Division headquarters in 2000, he was involved in the funeral of the Queen Mother and Lady Margaret Thatcher, the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games and the royal weddings of Prince Charles and Prince William.

Guardsman hopes turban marks 'historic change'

A Coldstream Guards soldier who will wear a turban as he parades during Trooping the Colour has said he hopes it is looked upon as a "new change in history".

More than 1,000 soldiers will take part in the ceremony which marks the Queen's official birthday on Saturday as the nation honours the monarch.

For Guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall the event is not only his first Trooping the Colour, but also marks the first time a member of the Coldstream Guards has taken part wearing a turban.

The 22-year-old from Leicester said: "I hope that people watching, that they will just acknowledge it and that they will look at it as a new change in history.

"I hope that more people like me, not just Sikhs but from other religions and different backgrounds, that they will be encouraged to join the Army."

Coldstream Guards soldier Charanpreet Singh Lall wearing a turban during a rehearsal for Trooping the Colour Credit: Stefan Rousseau /PA

A member of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, the turban he will be wearing during Trooping the Colour will be black, featuring the ceremonial cap star to match the bearskin hats.

Gdsm Lall who joined the British Army in January 2016, was born in Punjab, India, and moved to the UK as a baby, said he is feeling "quite excited" ahead of the event.

"I'm quite proud and I know that a lot of other people are proud of me as well," he said. "It is a good feeling... there's going to be a lot of eyes and I am going to have an influence on other people."

Trooping the Colour originated from traditional preparations for battle.

Colours, or flags, were carried, or "trooped", down the ranks so they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.

Charanpreet Singh Lall said he hopes the event is looked upon as a 'new change in history' Credit: Stefan Rousseau /PA

In the 18th century, guards from the Royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to "troop the colours", and in 1748 it was announced the parade would also mark the Sovereign's official birthday.

This year the ceremony, which is staged every June in London's historic Horse Guards Parade, will see the Colour of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards being trooped.

With weeks of rigorous training under his belt, on the day he and many other soldiers will wear immaculate uniforms and march with precision up the Mall and onto parade.

Gdsm Lall added: "For myself, being the first turban-wearing sikh to troop the colour and to be part of the escort it is a really high honour for myself, and hopefully for everyone else as well."

He revealed his family including his mother, father and sister, who are "really, really proud" of him, will be coming to watch him take part.

"My mum was crying on the day I passed out so I wonder what is going to happen to her when she sees me in this," Gdsm Lall added.

Jay Singh-Sohal, chairman of the WW1 Sikh Memorial, said: This is a tremendous achievement for a young Guardsman dedicated to his duty, but also an inspiration for our community.

"Its wonderful to see young Sikhs upholding our warrior traditions, keeping their turban and beard identity as per Khalsa traditions and wearing the Queens uniform. I hope many more will serve in this way.
Donald Trump has called for Russia to be let back into the Group of Seven (G7)  having been suspended over the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The group, which involves many of the richest economies in the world, were known as the G8 until Moscow was expelled.

Upping the drama as he set off for the 47th meeting of the group in Canada, Mr Trump told reporters as he left the White House it would be better if Moscow was also at the annual summit. Why are we having a meeting without Russia in the meeting, he said. They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.

He added: I have been Russias worst nightmare, but they should have been invited.

Mr Trumps suggestion received mixed early reactions from other members of the worlds top economies. Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said he supported Russias readmission to the group, while Canada said its opposition to the idea had not changed.

I agree with President (Trump). Russia should be re-admitted into the G8. It is in the interests of everyone, said Mr Conte said in a tweet from Canada, where he is due to make his international debut as Italian leader at a summit of world power leaders.

Reuters quoted a French presidential source as saying Mr Trumps opinion did not seem coherent in view of the latest sanctions imposed by the US on Moscow.

And the Russian government itself appeared to snub Mr Trump's idea.

"Russia is focused on other formats, apart from the G7," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a brief statement reported by the government-controlled Sputnik news agency.

As a reminder, the latest country to have imposed individual economic sanctions is the United States, so this proposal doesnt seem coherent, the Elysee source added.

President Emmanuel Macrons aim is to present a united European front at the G7, the source said, adding that he aimed to get references to international trade rules, WTO reform, the Paris climate agreement in the final statement, as well as to reach consensus on Iran and Libya.

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Sono daccordo con il Presidente @realDonaldTrump: la Russia dovrebbe rientrare nel G8. E nellinteresse di tutti. pic.twitter.com/grqQ12ZuFJ  GiuseppeConte (@GiuseppeConteIT) June 8, 2018

The Italian government, backed by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and far-right League, has already signalled it is likely to adopt a pro-Russian line in its foreign policy and has called for an end to economic sanctions on Moscow.

Mr Trumps injection of drama as he set off for La Malbaie, in Quebec, came he prepared for difficult meeting with allies such as Britain and Canada, who are furious over his decision impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium. Both countries  along with Mexico and the EU  had lobbied hard for an exception to the tariffs.

Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for President Vladimir Putins annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

In the US, special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trumps campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election in his favour.

The Associated Press said Mr Trump will arrive Friday at the annual gathering, held this year at a Quebec resort, but will leave Saturday morning before the event is over, heading to Singapore for his much anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The White House announced his travel plans after French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signalled they would use the G7 event to take a stance against new US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Indeed, it seems likely that he may personally miss those negotiations as he will have left for south east Asia.

Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G-7 countries, Mr Trump tweeted early on Friday. If it doesnt happen, we come out even better.

Mr Trump also singled out tariffs on US. dairy products in yet another scathing tweet directed at Canada just before the G7.

At a joint press conference on Thursday, Mr Macron said: A trade war doesnt spare anyone. It will start first of all to hurt US workers. In turn, Mr Trudeau said: We are going to defend our industries and our workers.
The worlds most powerful friendship might finally be on the rocks. Enraged by President Donald Trumps decision not to exempt Americas close allies in the E.U., Canada and Japan from his steel and aluminum tariffs, French President Emmanuel Macron has broken his year-long warm embrace of his U.S. counterpartand threatened to isolate the worlds biggest economy by forming a united bloc against Trump with other allies. In a Trump-like tweet-storm overnight on Thursday, Macron lashed out at Trump from Quebec, where the worlds seven more powerful leaders are meeting at the G-7 summit. Maybe the U.S. President doesnt mind being isolated, but we also dont mind signing a six-country agreement if need be, Macron tweeted in a rare and sharp warning to Trump. Read more: U.S. Allies are ready to turn their backs on Trump at the G-7 summit Those words could spell the downfall of one of the most curious political odd couples in recent timesa friendship in which Trump has called Macron fantastic, and Macron has addressed Trump as dear Donald. In many ways, Macron and Trump were polar opposites in style and policy, pitting a young global-minded intellectual against an aging nationalist. Even so, ever since Macron shot to power in May last year as Frances youthful, come-from-nowhere president, he made it clear that he intended to be Donald Trumps frienda decision he said was based on a centuries-old alliance between the U.S. and France. The two exchanged mobile numbers shortly after Macrons election, and have spoken frequently since. Macrons warmth has been a marked contrast to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has barely concealed her distaste for Trumps views, and to British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose relationship with Trump has been strained. That quickly made Macrona first-time elected politicianthe preeminent global figure among the E.U.s 28 leaders. Im not here to judge or say Im the opponent to anybody, Macron told TIME in an interview last November at the Elysee Palace. I do believe we have a very good personal relationship. Read more: French President Emmanuel Macron won a shocking victory. But hes just getting started In turn, Trump was receptive to Macrons advances. In July last year, he gushed in Paris after Macron hosted him at the Bastille Day military parade and at a fine dinner with their wives atop the Eiffel Tower. In late April Trump hosted Macron at the first White House state dinner of his presidency. There was a kind of reciprocal fascination between the two men because they had both won in the most unexpected manner, Dominique Moisi, senior advisor to the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, or IFRI, tells TIME. Macron was very sure of himself, and his charm, believing that if he could seduce his teacher at 16 [Brigitte Macron, now the French presidents wife] and seduce France at less than 40, he could do the same with Trump. But as the relationship takes a bumpy turn, Macron potentially has much to lose. Some see his assuredness that he could persuade Trump to reverse course as a miscalculationleaving Macron open to criticism that he has been far too acquiescent until now to Trump, who is deeply disliked in Europe. You wonder why Macron went to all that effort, dining with the Trumps at the Eiffel Tower, the whole masquerade in Washington, all that hugging and holding hands, says Laurence Nardon, head of IFRIs program on U.S. relations. It looks ridiculous. One moment during Macrons Washington visit in late April hinted at the trouble to come. In what seemed to be a power play, Trump, in full view of cameras, appeared to flick dandruff off the French leaders jacket, telling him he was trying to make him perfect. It was a cringing moment, Nardon says. In fact, Macrons anger over Trumps tariffs marks just the latest rift between the two leaders. The relationship officially turned sour in early May, when Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was signed in 2015 with the E.U., U.N. and Iran. Trump gave no forewarning of his decision to Macron, despite their Oval Office meeting in late April, during which the French leader pleaded with Trump to stick to the Iran deal. The schisms began well before then, however, dating to Trumps decision in June 2017 to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which was signed in 2015 in the French capital; the U.S. is now the only country in the world not to commit itself to the deal, which aims to drastically reduce carbon emissions in order to rein in global warming. Macron slammed the decision, telling Trump in a speech that there is no Plan B. And on Tuesday, Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Trumps decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem increased violence. If this leads to people dying it is not a celebration, he said. There has been an accumulation of differences, one senior aide at the French Foreign Ministry, speaking anonyously, told TIME last month after Trumps withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. Moisi calls the current chill between Washington and Europe the worst trans-Atlantic crisis ever, leaving Europeans wondering who they can turn to if a far deeper crisissay, a waroccurs. If American is no longer the life insurance of Europe, well, where are we going to turn? he says. I have no idea. For that very reason, Macron has thought it essential to maintain a warm relationship with Trump. Now, that seems too difficult to pull off. Where this will leave MacronEuropes most globally ambitious leaderis not yet clear. A canny, highly calculating politician, Macron may have chosen his tough words for Trump with careful deliberation, attempting a new strategy to win him over. Nardon says that having read Trumps book The Art of the Deal, she believes Trump might be persuaded to make concessions if the rest of the G-7 leaders stick together and refuse to compromise. That could be in Macrons mind too, she says. Macron tried to be friends, and it didnt work, she says. Both positions are tactics. Now, Macron thinks, Im going to try the tough guy method, and see if it works better.' It just might, she says. If you read Trumps book you see if someone wont give concessions, he will run after them.
President Donald Trump said Russia should be allowed back into the G-8 bloc, adding another potential friction point to an-already fraught summit starting Friday with allies in Canada.

Russia should be in this meeting, Trump told reporters in Washington as he left the White House. Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?

Whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run, and in the G-7 which used to be the G-8, they threw Russia out, he said. They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.

Trumps comments came ahead of the Group of Seven gathering in Canada, where he will miss at least some of the summits second day. Thered been speculation Trump would cancel his appearance at the meeting entirely amid public criticism from allies over steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the U.S. in recent weeks. Instead, he appears ready to fire back with his America First mantra.

Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G-7 countries. If it doesnt happen, we come out even better! the president wrote on Twitter, hours before hes due to arrive in Quebec. I am heading for Canada and the G-7 for talks that will mostly center on the long time unfair trade practiced against the United States.

Trumps Russia comment won a quick endorsement from Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who said on Twitter that Russias re-admission would be in everybodys interest. The new government in Rome has previously said that sanctions on Russia damaged Italys agriculture industry and its design and handicraft sectors.

Still, the gambit may further inflame tensions with other leaders, including British Prime Minister Theresa May. Britains relations with Russia are at their worst since the Cold War, following the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury this year. After years in which Russias wealthy were invited to base themselves in London without questions being asked about how they made their money, the Home Office is reviewing visas.

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Canadas position has not changed, Chantal Gagnon, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said in an email.

Russia joined the G-7 in 1998. After its annexation of Crimea, the other seven members shrunk the bloc and effectively kicked Russia out until further notice, starting with a summit in 2014.

Trump has had a volatile relationship with Russia over that nations efforts to disrupt the American presidential election in 2016. Under Trump, the U.S. has sanctioned several Russians close to President Vladimir Putin and his circle. Election meddling has also been the focus of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has been looking into whether any Trump associates colluded in Russian efforts.

The Austrian government has offered to host a summit between Trump and Putin, potentially echoing a historic Cold War meeting there between a newly-elected President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, according to a White House official who was granted anonymity to discuss the matter.

Despite the Russia development, the issue of tariffs may loom largest over Fridays talks. Frances Emmanuel Macron has warned he wont sign a joint statement unless Trump makes concessions on trade. The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be, he tweeted.

The G-7 summit is shaping up to be the most acrimonious in years, putting pressure on Trudeau as host to bridge a divide between Trump and Europe, with Japans Shinzo Abe poised to fall somewhere in the middle. Trump will leave the summit early to attend a summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday.
(LA MALBAIE, Quebec)  President Donald Trump injected fresh drama into an already tense meeting of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations Friday, calling for Russia, ousted for its the annexation of Crimea, to be reinstated.

Trump made the comment at the White House Friday after hours of further escalating his rhetoric against longtime allies over U.S. trade practices.

Why are we having a meeting without Russia in the meeting? Trump said. They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.

Solidifying his solo status on the world stage, Trump also lashed out at longtime allies over their criticism of his trade policies and plans an early exit from the G-7 meeting.

Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for President Vladimir Putins annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. In the U.S., special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trumps campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election in his favor.

Trump will arrive Friday at the annual gathering, held this year at a Quebec resort, but will leave Saturday morning before the event is over, heading to Singapore for his highly anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The White House announced his travel plans after French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signaled they would use the G7 event to take a stance against new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G-7 countries, Trump tweeted early Friday. If it doesnt happen, we come out even better.

Trump also singled out tariffs on U.S. dairy products in yet another scathing tweet directed at Canada just before the G-7.

At a joint press conference on Thursday, Macron said: A trade war doesnt spare anyone. It will start first of all to hurt U.S. workers. Trudeau said: We are going to defend our industries and our workers.

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Trudeau, for his part, said Trumps action would hurt American workers as well as Canadians.

If I can get the president to actually realize that what hes doing is counterproductive for his own goals as well, perhaps we can move forward in a smarter way, Trudeau said.

As tempers frayed, Trump had a ready retort, via tweet: Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers. The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Later Thursday, Trump tweeted: Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other thingsbut he doesnt bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy  hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!

A few hours later, he added, Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!

With a cool reception all but assured, Trump has complained to aides about even having to attend the meeting, especially since his summit with Kim is just days away. Late Thursday, the White House announced that Trump would be leaving the G-7 late Saturday morning to head to Singapore ahead of his summit with Kim, though the G-7 meeting was scheduled to last until later that day.

Trump will skip out on G-7 meetings about climate change, clean energy and ocean protection.

This marks Trumps second summit of the G-7, an informal gathering that meets every year under a rotating chairmanship. The member countries are Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United States and Britain. The European Union also attends. Trump is set to hold a series of group and one-on-one meetings, including with Trudeau and Macron.

Under Trump, the United States has abandoned its traditional role in the G-7. His predecessors pressed for freer global trade and championed a trading system that required countries to follow World Trade Organization rules. Trumps policies have been more protectionist and confrontational, driven by a perception that the U.S. has been the victim of poorly conceived trade deals.

Relations have hit such a low that a key question now is whether the seven countries can agree on a joint statement of priorities at the conclusion of the meeting. A gathering of G-7 finance ministers days earlier concluded last week with a message of concern and disappointment for Trump from the other six countries. Frances finance minister described the group as far more a G-6 plus one than a G-7.

Macron made clear Thursday that the other six countries wouldnt hesitate to go it alone. On Twitter, he said: The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be.

Trumps top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, was vague Wednesday on the outcome of the summit, saying: For these kind of decisions, let them meet first. Let them meet; let them discuss. And then well see what happens.

Tension has been building over a year of policymaking that has distanced the U.S. from traditional allies, including by Trumps decisions to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear agreement. The new tariffs  25 percent on imported steel, 10 percent on aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union  threaten to drive up prices for American consumers and companies and heighten uncertainty for businesses and investors around the globe.

Canada and other U.S. allies are retaliating with tariffs on U.S. exports. Canada is waiting until the end of the month to apply them with the hope the Trump administration will reconsider.

Meanwhile, talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement that eliminated most tariffs and duties between the U.S., Canada and Mexico appear to have ground to a halt. Trump injected further uncertainty recently when he floated the idea of replacing NAFTA with two separate trade deals, one with each country.

Critics argue that the growing U.S. isolation is risky at a time when Trump is making diplomatic overtures with North Korea and in the Middle East and could use the support of allies.

Sebastian Mallaby, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, described the relationships between the U.S. and the rest of the G-7 as at a new level of crisis, saying that it was not just about trade but a general U.S. attitude toward the system.

Despite the conflict, Mallaby predicted that the countries would still seek to work with the U.S., calling it the indispensable country.

Likewise, Macron described the moment as a period of great challenges, but also defended his efforts to befriend the American president, saying the U.S. is a historical ally and we need them.
By Roberta Rampton LA MALBAIE, Quebec (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday any agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at next week's summit would be "spur of the moment," underscoring the uncertain outcome of what he called a "mission of peace." "I have a clear objective, but I have to say - it's going to be something that will always be spur of the moment," Trump told reporters at a news conference at the G7 summit in Quebec. "You don't know. This has not been done before at this level." The main issue for the June 12 summit in Singapore, which he departed for before the end of the G7 meeting, is the U.S. demand for North Korea to abandon a nuclear weapons program that now threatens the United States. Trump said it would probably take time to reach an agreement with Kim on denuclearization, but at a minimum he believed the summit could produce a "relationship" between the United States and North Korea, which do not have diplomatic ties. At a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, Trump said he might extend an invitation to Kim to visit Washington. Pyongyang has rejected giving up its arsenal unilaterally and defends its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against what it sees as U.S. aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. Trump has held out the possibility of striking an accord with Kim that would formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which was concluded with a truce, and not a peace treaty. Trump on Saturday said he would know within a minute whether something good would come out of the summit. "I think within the first minute I'll know. Just my touch, my feel. That's what I do," Trump said. "And if I think it won't happen - I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time." Trump frequently has boasted of his negotiating prowess as a real estate developer, and his ability to read people, even though his businesses have declared multiple bankruptcies. The U.S. leader was overall optimistic about the summit with Kim. A rare direct flight from Pyongyang landed in Singapore on Saturday ahead of the expected arrival of Kim. The Air China Airbus 330 flight at Changi airport raised speculation that a delegation of North Korean officials joined an advance team headed by Kim's close aide, Kim Chang Son, who was in Singapore to prepare for the talks. Kim is expected to arrive at Changi airport on Sunday, a source involved in the planning of the trip told Reuters on Friday. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; writing by Lucia Mutikani and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Susan Thomas)
The president's stated position on marijuana policy puts him at odds with Jeff Sessions. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

President Donald Trump said Friday that he probably will support a new congressional bill that would prevent the federal government from interfering with states that legalize marijuana.

Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Thursday introduced the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Entrusting States (STATES) Act. The bold bill would allow businesses and individuals working in the burgeoning legal marijuana industry in states around the nation to operate without fear of U.S. Department of Justice prosecution. The bill would also protect banks that work with state-legal marijuana businesses.

When reporters asked about his support for the legislation, Trump said I really do, just before he boarded a helicopter on his way to the G7 summit in Canada. I support Sen. Gardner. I know exactly what hes doing. Were looking at it, but I probably will end up supporting that, yes.

Marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act, despite states efforts to scale back on criminalizing the plant over the past few years. Legal recreational marijuana has been approved in nine states and Washington, D.C., which continues to ban sales, unlike the state programs. A total of 29 states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes.

If Trump signs the bill into law, the legislation would resolve that conflict between the state and federal marijuana laws.

But before Trump can sign anything, the bill, of course, must make it through Congress. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has said recently that he opposes federal marijuana legalization. And his office echoed that today when HuffPost reached out for comment. Stephanie Penn, press secretary for McConnell said, As the senator said on numerous occasions, including a recent media stakeout: I do not have any plans to endorse the legalization of marijuana.

The supportive remarks put Trump, who repeatedly said he would respect states rights on marijuana during his campaign for the presidency, in direct conflict with the views of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The former Alabama senator has long held draconian views on marijuana and has advocated for the disastrous war on drugs.

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In January, Sessions rescinded Obama-era guidance that urged federal prosecutors to refrain from targeting state-legal marijuana operations. This move has possibly paved the way for a federal crackdown on legal marijuana. Gardner and Warren, both supporters of marijuana legalization by states, developed the bill in response to Sessions action.

At a Thursday press conference regarding the new bill, Gardner said he had spoken to the president about the legislation. In previous conversations, he talked about the need to solve this conflict, Gardner said. He talked about his support for a states rights approach during the campaign. Not putting words in the mouth of the White House, but I think this will be an opportunity for us to fulfill what is that federalism approach.

Sessions said during an interview with Colorado Public Radio on Friday that he didnt attend the Gardner and Trump meetings on the proposed change to federal marijuana policy.

Advocates who support the end of federal marijuana prohibition were hopeful that Trumps remarks could lead to meaningful policy change.

The president has a rare opportunity to get behind a truly historic policy change that has bipartisan backing and significant public support, said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a drug policy reform group.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States, and the trend of states bucking prohibition in favor of legal regulation of the plant reflects a broad cultural shift toward greater acceptance of marijuana. National support for the legalization of the drug has risen dramatically in recent years, recently reaching historic highs in multiple polls. And states like Colorado, the first to establish a regulated adult-use marijuana marketplace, have seen successes that have debunked some lawmakers and law enforcers predictions that such policies would result in disaster.

President Trumps statement of likely support for the STATES Act shows how truly mainstream federal marijuana reform has become, said Michael Liszewski, policy advisor at Drug Policy Alliance. To have a bill introduced by two prominent members of both political parties that would allow states to set their own marijuana laws and less than 24 hours later have the president say hes more than open to the proposal means that we are closer than ever to passing meaningful marijuana reform at the federal level.

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By David Ljunggren and Roberta Rampton

LA MALBAIE, Quebec (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were all jokes and smiles for the media as they met at the Group of Seven leaders summit in Quebec on Friday, but neither budged on the serious trade dispute between them.

In the brief photo opportunity that started their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the fractious G7 summit, Trump followed Trudeau's diplomatic introduction by joking that Trudeau had backed down on retaliatory tariffs.

"Justin has agreed to cut all tariffs, all trade barriers between Canada and the United States, so I'm very happy," Trump told reporters.

Trudeau was quick with his riposte: "So I'd say NAFTA is in good shape."

Canada last week announced retaliatory tariffs on C$16.6 billion ($12.8 billion) worth of U.S. exports and said it will challenge U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.

The tit-for-tat dispute over U.S. metals tariffs followed more than a year of tense and so far unsuccessful negotiations to renew NAFTA and a long and failed charm offensive by Trudeau and top Canadian officials to avoid Trump's trade ire.

Trump repeatedly attacked Canada on Twitter in the days leading up to the two-day summit in La Malbaie, Quebec with Trudeau and the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Japan and Italy.

"Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things ... but he doesn't bring up the fact that they charge up to 300 percent on dairy -- hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!" Trump tweeted Thursday.

Trump is scheduled to leave the contentious G7 summit four hours earlier than originally planned on Saturday to fly to Singapore for his June 12 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

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"Are you disappointed the President is leaving early?" a reporter asked Trudeau.

"He's happy," said Trump, to laughter.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Roberta Rampton; Writing by Andrea Hopkins; editing by Grant McCool)
President Donald Trump said Friday he thinks Russia should be reinstated into the Group of Seven, the industrialized countries whose leaders are meeting in Canada this weekend.

Trump, acknowledging his view may not be politically correct, told reporters before leaving for the summit: We have a world to run and the G-7, which used to be the G-8  they threw Russia out. Russia should be in this meeting. They should let Russia come back in, because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.

Russia was expelled from what had been the G-8 in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.

Trumps comment was in line with his unusually friendly stance toward Russia, despite evidence that it interfered in the 2016 election to help his campaign.

The prospects of Russia being readmitted to the G-7 are dim. Just two months ago, G-7 foreign ministers pledged to set up a working group to call out Russian maligned behavior.

Even before his Russia comment, Trump was at odds with fellow G-7 leaders on trade and other issues. He imposed a series of steel and aluminum tariffs on several G-7 countries to redress what he said in a tweet Friday was a long time unfair trade practiced against the United States.

I am heading for Canada and the G-7 for talks that will mostly center on the long time unfair trade practiced against the United States. From there I go to Singapore and talks with North Korea on Denuclearization. Wont be talking about the Russian Witch Hunt Hoax for a while!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2018

Other leaders of G-7 nations, which include Americas closest allies, have denounced Trumps moves. French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to forge a trade agreement that excludes the U.S.

The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be, Macron tweeted Thursday. Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force.

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Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement backing strong, responsible, transparent multilateralism to face the global challenges.

Canadian Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne gave a more dramatic assessment of Trumps trade moves, saying the world economic order is ... under attack.

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Mitt Romney, right, who is running for U.S. Senate in Utah, predicted Thursday night that President Donald Trump would win a second term in office. (Photo: DREW ANGERER via Getty Images)

Mitt Romney, who has called Donald Trump a con man and who was at the forefront of the Never Trump movement in 2016, predicted on Thursday night that the president will be re-elected in 2020, according to news reports.

I think President Trump will be re-nominated by my party easily, and I think hell be reelected solidly, Politico quoted Romney as saying.

Romney, the Republican candidate for president in 2012, made the comment at an invitation-only three-day gathering of business and political leaders he is hosting in Park City, Utah.

I think that not just because of the strong economy and the fact that people are going to see increasingly rising wages, he said, according to The Associated Press, but I think its also true because I think our Democrat friends are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of American thought and will make it easier for a president whos presiding over a growing economy.

He also said he thought Republicans would keep control of the House and the Senate in the midterm elections.

Just last month, Romney, who is running for U.S. Senate from Utah, revealed that he did not vote for Trump in 2016. Instead, he said, he wrote in his wifes name on the ballot.

In an interview with NBC News, Romney said he wouldnt point to the president as a role model for my grandkids on the basis of his personal style. He has departed in some cases from the truth, and has attacked in a way that I think is not entirely appropriate.

But Romney has also been somewhat supportive of the Trump administration. He said recently that Trumps first year in office had been very similar to things Id have done my first year, Newsweek reported.

Also on HuffPost

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PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela said on Friday that the U.S. State Department had approved his request to extradite his predecessor, former president Ricardo Martinelli, who is jailed in Miami on spying charges.

"The foreign ministry ... has received a diplomatic letter on behalf of the State Department informing of approval of extradition," Varela told journalists at an event.

Martinelli was jailed in the United States last year after Panama requested his extradition on charges that he used public money to spy on more than 150 political rivals during his 2009-2014 term.

Martinelli has maintained his innocence and claims to be a victim of a political attack by Varela.

"The former president Martinelli was mentally prepared for whichever of the two decisions the State Department could take," Luis Eduardo Camacho, a spokesman for Martinelli, wrote in a post on Twitter. "The fight will now be in Panama."

Camacho did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Roniel Ortiz, a lawyer for Martinelli in Panama, did not immediately respond to a request for comment either.

A U.S. court authorized the extradition last year, and Martinelli in May said he would stop fighting the proceedings for judgement in Panama.

In a letter released in May, Martinelli said he had expected the United States to protect him in exchange for his assistance with U.S. issues, such as curbing cross-border crime.

(Reporting by Elida Moreno; Additional reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Writing by Julia Love; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Scott Malone (Reuters) - U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, host of CNN's food-and-travel-focused "Parts Unknown" television series, killed himself in a French hotel room, officials said on Friday, in the second high-profile suicide of a U.S. celebrity this week. He was 61. Bourdain, whose career catapulted him from washing dishes at New York restaurants to dining in Vietnam with President Barack Obama, hanged himself in a hotel room near Strasbourg, France, where he had been working on an upcoming episode of his program, CNN said. Investigators were treating the death in Kaysersberg, France, as a suicide, local prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny said in a telephone interview. His death comes three days after American designer Kate Spade, who built a fashion empire on her signature handbags, was found dead of suicide in her New York apartment on Tuesday. Suicide rates rose in nearly every U.S. state from 1999 to 2016, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. Nearly 45,000 people committed suicide in 2016, making it one of three leading causes of death that are on the rise, along with Alzheimer's disease and drug overdoses. Suicide rates surged among people aged 45 to 64, according to the CDC report. The center recommended a broad approach to prevention, including boosting economic support by states, supporting family and friends after a suicide, and identifying and supporting those at risk. 'CULINARY UNDERBELLY' Bourdain climbed the culinary career ladder to become executive chef at New York's former Brasserie Les Halles restaurant. His fame began to grow exponentially in 1999 when the New Yorker magazine published his article "Don't Eat Before Reading This," which he developed into the 2000 book, "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly." Brash and opinionated, he also spoke openly about his use of drugs and addiction to heroin earlier in his life. He went on to host television programs, first on the Food Network and the Travel Channel, before joining CNN in 2013. "His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller," the network said in a statement. "His talents never ceased to amaze us." Bourdain told the New Yorker in 2017 that his idea for "Parts Unknown," which was in its 11th season, was traveling, eating and doing whatever he wanted. The show roamed from out-of-the-way restaurants to the homes of locals, providing what the magazine called "communion with a foreign culture so unmitigated that it feels practically intravenous." When Obama went to Hanoi, Vietnam in May 2016, he met Bourdain at a casual restaurant for a $6 meal of noodles and grilled pork. "He taught us about food  but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together," Obama tweeted on Friday, along with a picture showing the two drinking beer in Hanoi. "To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him." President Donald Trump called Bourdain's death "very shocking." "I enjoyed his show, he was quite a character," Trump told reporters at the White House. Bourdain last year canceled plans to build a 155,000-square-foot (14,400 square meter) international food hall on a pier on the Hudson River in New York, local media reported. "Tony's restless spirit will roam the earth in search of justice, truth and a great bowl of noodles," award-winning chef Tom Colicchio said of Bourdain on Twitter. The National Suicide Lifeline, which provides services for people experiencing suicidal thoughts, tweeted: "Please know you are never alone, no matter how dark or lonely things may seem. If you're struggling, reach out." (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York, Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg, France, and Bill Trott and James Oliphant in Washington; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
The U.S. Department of Energy says the Summit supercomputer, built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with hardware from IBM and NVIDIA, is capable of doing 200 quadrillion calculations per second. (ORNL Photo)

The U.S. Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory staked its claim to retake the lead from China in the worlds supercomputer race with a machine capable of performing 200 quadrillion calculations a second.

That 200-petaflop speed is roughly eight times as fast as the current top-rated U.S. supercomputer, built by Seattle-based Cray and known as Titan. Its twice as fast as the record currently held by Chinas Sunway TaihuLight, which is listed at 93.01 petaflops on last Novembers authoritative TOP500 list.

Chinese supercomputers have held the No. 1 spot on the TOP500 list since 2013. The next edition of the list is due to come out later this month.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry hailed the unveiling of the IBM-built Summit supercomputer today during a ceremony at the Oak Ridge lab in Tennessee.

Todays launch of the Summit supercomputer demonstrates the strength of American leadership in scientific innovation and technology development. Its going to have a profound impact in energy research, scientific discovery, economic competitiveness and national security, Perry said in a news release.

Get ready for some geekspeak here: Oak Ridge says Summits IBM AC922 system brings together 4,608 computer servers, each containing two 22-core IBM Power9 processors and six NVIDIA Tesla V100 graphics processing unit accelerators, interconnected with dual-rail Mellanox EDR 100Gb/s InfiniBand.

Summit boasts more than 10 petabytes of memory, paired with fast, high-bandwidth pathways for efficient data movement.

There are things that this computer does that I cant explain  but what we can explain is, theres peoples lives out there. It may be a loved one, with a malady, with a disease, Perry said. And because of what we do right here at Oak Ridge, we find the cure for Alzheimers, for that cancer, for that medical condition. Thats what were really all about. Its about making peoples lives better.

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For some applications, Summit could reach into the exascale realm  that is, quintillions of computer operations per second, or exaops.

A team of scientists led by Oak Ridges Dan Jacobson and Wayne Joubert has leveraged the intelligence of the machine to run a 1.88-exaop comparative genomics calculation thats relevant to research in bioenergy and human health.

Perry said the Trump administration is intent on keeping the Energy Departments supercomputer initiative in the lead going forward. Weve begun work on appropriations for the next cycle already, he said. We are anticipating further funding increases. Thats a good thing.

More from GeekWire:
By Rodrigo Campos UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to elect Germany, Belgium, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia for a two-year term in the Security Council starting on Jan. 1, 2019. The council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions and has the power to impose sanctions and authorize the use of force. Indonesia drew more votes than the Maldives in the contested election for one Asia-Pacific seat by 144 to 46, while the other four candidates ran unopposed. Uncontested candidates still need to win more than two-thirds of the overall General Assembly vote to be elected. There were 190 ballots in Friday's vote. Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority country, will pursue a global comprehensive approach to combat terrorism, radicalism and extremism during its term, the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement. Indonesia suffered its worst bombing attacks since 2005 last month that left around 30 people dead, including 13 suspected perpetrators. "Palestinian issues will also be Indonesia's concern during its non-permanent membership," the ministry said. Germany received 184 votes, Belgium had 181, South Africa got 183, and the Dominican Republic had 184 after one round of voting. Regional groups generally agree upon the candidates to put forward and competitive races are increasingly rare. In a typical year the General Assembly elects five new members, which join the five elected the previous year and the five permanent, veto-power seats: the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia. The five members giving up their seat at the end of this year are the Netherlands, Sweden, Ethiopia, Bolivia and Kazakhstan. The five seats not up for election this year are currently held by Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor in JAKARTA; Editing by James Dalgleish and Michael Perry)
(GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE)  A new dining hall for guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention center has a shimmering view of the Caribbean and a lifespan of 20 years. Barracks scheduled to start getting built next year are meant to last five decades. And the Pentagon has asked Congress to approve money for a new super-max prison unit to be designed with the understanding that prisoners will likely grow old and frail in custody  some perhaps still without being convicted of a crime.

President Donald Trumps order in January to keep the Guantanamo jail open, and allow the Pentagon to bring new prisoners there, is prompting military officials to consider a future for the controversial facility that the Obama administration sought to close. Officials talked about the plans in an unusually frank manner as a small group of journalists toured the isolated base where 40 men are still held behind tall fences and coils of razor wire on the southeastern coast of Cuba.

Weve got to plan for the long term, Army Col. Stephen Gabavics, commander of the guard force, told reporters this week. We ultimately have to plan for whether or not they are going to be here for the rest of their lives.

The Pentagon was investing in upgrades at the Navy base under President Barack Obama, whose push to shutter the detention center couldnt overcome opposition in Congress. But those projects, including the $150 million barracks, were funded with the understanding that they could be used by the personnel of the Navy base that hosts the detention center. Now they are viewed as part of a broader effort to be able to operate the prison for many years to come.

Now my mission is enduring, said Adm. John Ring, commander of the task force that runs the jail. So I have all sorts of structures that I have been neglecting or just getting by with that now Ive got to replace.

The Pentagon wants at least $69 million to replace Camp 7, the super-max unit that holds 15 men designated as high-value detainees who were previously in CIA custody. They include five men facing trial by military commission at Guantanamo for planning and aiding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S. The men could get the death penalty if convicted, but the proceedings have been bogged down in pre-trial proceedings for years and any conviction would likely bring years of appeals.

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Officials say Camp 7 is in need of major repairs, with cracking walls and a sinking foundation, and it is not suitable to hold men who will likely be in custody for many years to come. The new unit, which would be known as Camp 8, would have cell doors wide enough for wheelchairs and hospice beds and communal areas so elderly prisoners could help each other as they grow old.

The White House has endorsed the proposal but it is not known whether Congress will approve it.

We have the responsibility for the detainees that we have here, regardless of what the political flavor is outside there, Gabavics said. We have the responsibility to provide for their safety, care and custody so all that we ask is that we get the resources we need to be able do that.

The 40 detainees left at Guantanamo include five who were deemed eligible for transfer under Obama but couldnt clear the bureaucratic and diplomatic hurdles before he left office. Of the remainder, nine have been charged in the military commission system and are in proceedings at various stages. The remaining 26 have neither been charged nor deemed eligible for transfer. They are being held in indefinite detention under what the U.S. asserts are the international laws of war.

The military allowed journalists a brief visit this week inside Camp 6, where most of the prisoners are held, as the men milled about and conducted late-afternoon prayers.

Attorney David Remes, who represents four prisoners, said they are bored and frustrated. Limbo has never been more limbo-like, Remes said. They are just waiting, waiting, waiting.

The detention center opened in January 2002 under President George W. Bush as a makeshift place to hold and interrogate people suspected of involvement with al-Qaida and the Taliban. Global outrage erupted over the treatment of prisoners and the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that anyone held there was entitled to challenge their detention in American courts, eliminating one of the main rationales for using Guantanamo in the first place.

Bush eventually said the jail should close and released more than 500 prisoners. Obama said the facility was damaging U.S. relations around the world and was a waste of money, costing more than $400 million a year to operate, and ordered it closed shortly upon taking office. But Congress blocked closure and passed legislation that barred any of the men held there from being transferred to U.S. soil, even for criminal trials. His administration transferred 242 prisoners out of Guantanamo.

Trump has so far allowed only one prisoner to leave: a Saudi who was transferred to his homeland to serve out the rest of his sentence as part of a plea deal.

Officials at the detention center said they could take in about 40 more male detainees without any changes to staff levels and about 200 if additional guards are brought in. No such request has come from the administration, Ring said, but he added that he has been asked some hypothetical questions about capacity.

We are not imminently expecting any new guests if you will, he said.
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A document for a meeting of Catholic bishops from the Amazon, expected to evaluate ordaining elderly married men as priests for the vast region, says the Church should make "daring proposals". A preparatory document released on Friday also says the meeting, known as a synod, taking place in October 2019, should consider conferring on women in the area some "type of official ministry". The synod will include bishops and other representatives from the nine countries of the Amazon basin, including indigenous peoples. The document re-states Pope Francis' calls to protect the Amazon from business and consumer greed, saying its natural habitat is vital for the planet. It calls for a solution to the lack of priests to say Mass for people in the area of more than seven and a half million sq km (more than three million square miles). "One of the main points to be heard is the cry of thousands of communities deprived of the Sunday Eucharist for long periods of time," the document says. Only priests can say Mass. The document calls for a "process of discernment" within the Church to respond to the "concrete realities of the Amazonian people". It says the Church presence in the Amazon basin "has been spread precariously thin" because of the vast territory and its cultural diversity. The synod is expected to discuss the possibility of ordaining "viri probati" - Latin for men of proven character - to deal with the shortage of priests. Such men would be elderly, outstanding members of the local Catholic community and with grown-up families. Pope Francis, in an interview with a German newspaper last year, said he was willing to consider ordaining older married men as priests in isolated communities. But he ruled out opening the priesthood to all married men or watering down the Catholic Churchs commitment to celibacy, seen as a virtue that frees priests to devote their lives fully to serve God. Pressed by reporters at a news conference about 'viri probati,' Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri said: "The Church is not static ... there is possibility of movement." But he urged patience and caution. "Let's leave the time necessary for reflection about everything that is in here." Some Catholic scholars have said the approval of 'viri probati' in the Amazon may eventually pave the way for their use elsewhere in the world as a response to the shortage of priests. The preparatory document also says that, given the size of the region: "It is necessary to identify the type of official ministry that can be conferred on women, taking into account the central role which women play today in the Amazonian Church." The document did not elaborate. It ended with a 30-point questionnaire in which members of the Church in the Amazon were invited to give their opinion of the main challenges facing the area. (Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Bill Clinton has been disappointing women who believe in him for decades now. And this week, while on a press tour for the novel he co-wrote with James Patterson, he didnt fail to fail them again.

This was the first time Clinton has been in the spotlight since the #MeToo movement changed how we think about sex and work and power. Of course we all wanted to know whether this man whod been accused of sexual harassment would be asked whether the outpouring of hurt and rage from innumerable women over the last eight months has changed how he sees his past and the way hes treated women. And yet when journalists asked him that very question, we saw that, somehow, this former president with his formidable intellect  and many formidable female influences  still does not understand that the #MeToo men include him, too.

During a now infamous Today interview on June 4, when asked whether hed apologized to Monica Lewinsky in the aftermath of the national scandal that followed their affair, Clinton said that he had, but then moved immediately on to the price he paid, literally: Nobody believes I got out of that for free. I left the White House $16 million in debt. And in a very Trumpian way, he pointed to his sky-high job approval numbers upon leaving office, referring to them as evidence that two-thirds of Americans were on his side in the Lewinsky matter. And maybe they were then, but not so much after #MeToo and even less after that interview.

When asked by the New York Times whether in the wake of #MeToo he believes his affair as president with a 22-year-old intern, Monica Lewinsky, was sexual harassment or an abuse of power  as she now believes it is  he said: Im the last person in the world who ought to be weighing in on it.

But heres the thing: Bill Clinton is the first person in the world who should have weighed in on workplace sexual harassment when the issue blew up last year. Not just to quell his own demons, but for all of us.

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As Stephen Colbert pointed out to Clinton himself, Your behavior was the most famous example of a powerful man sexually misbehaving in the workplace of my lifetime. As the poster boss for a particularly ugly abuse of power, he had a unique chance this week to become a transformative figure, to carve a path past the defensive denials and limp apologies of his fellow accused and toward some sort of real empathy. And he blew it. He acted like most of the rest of them  including the current president.

Imagine if, when asked what hed say to Monica Lewinsky now, Clinton had understood that by taking that opportunity to say something authentic and empathetic, hed not only be speaking to Lewinsky, but also to all the other women in his life whom he hurt and then dismissed as the world called them mercenary, predatory or bimbos.

If hed shown that he has evolved, that he now understands the emotional damage he caused, it would have been a step toward giving all the women of #MeToo the essential dignity of being acknowledged. A real apology might even help his party. The Republicans have effectively used Clintons behavior to excuse Donald Trumps boundlessly awful treatment women, and might still be able to do it in the next Presidential election even without Hillary Clinton on the ballot.

Most importantly, actual signs of repentance would be a modicum of justice for Lewinsky, whose young life was ruined not by a cruel press and the so-called right-wing conspiracy, but by the cascade of events that Clinton unleashed by denying that they had a relationship effectively accusing her of lying. And because he did that under oath, the hounds of politics turned it into a global scandal that hurt her far more than him. If only hed said yes, I was unfaithful with a decent young woman who deserved better. The unique cruelty of a transgression compounded by being labeled a liar is a lifelong wound for those who accused powerful men and were not believed.

That is the injustice that Bill Clinton had a chance to address this week. He could have moved #MeToo forward and promoted reconciliation in the way that activists like Ashley Judd have been calling for: We still wait for an accused who can and will embody what the #metoo movement and our society needs and wants: someone who can address their abuse of power with culpability and integrity.

But Bill Clinton seems to have skipped the public culpability and accountability phase and moved directly to the reformed sinner preaching phase. He told the New York Times that he wanted to tell a new generation that the journey [hed] been on the last 20 years is one the country has to take and that #MeToo is demanding we take it and the sooner the better.

Maybe it doesnt matter. There isnt a great demand for him to campaign for Democratic candidates these days; hes got more baggage than influence. And even if he hasnt taken a real journey on this issue, most of us are on the way. And a new zero-tolerance generation is already there. To them, Monica Lewinsky is the one whos got something to teach them, not Bill Clinton.

Recently, Lewinsky wrote about being stranded in the wilderness of shame for many years after her name became synonymous with scandal in Vanity Fair. She described how she had been abandoned most of all by the key figure in the crisis. And now she says, shes no longer alone. Just ask Town & Country magazine, which a few months ago had the audacity to disinvite Lewinsky from a charity event after Bill Clinton decided to attend. When that insult became public, the magazine heard loud and clear from outraged women (and men). They apologized.

The shame may finally have been transferred where it should have been all along, to the former president himself. Now Bill Clinton is the one looking alone and outdated as he talks about faxing comments to his writing partner. And there are few people defending him other than 71-year-old Patterson, who jumped in during one interview to argue that the statute of limitations had run out on the Lewinsky questions: Its been its been 20 years. Stop it.

True, 20 years is a long time  to wait for a real apology.
The new Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has shown leaders around the world something simple, but striking: you can have more women than men in your cabinet without the country falling apart.

What is even more remarkable is that so many of the biggest jobs in the Spanish cabinet, including economy, defense, finance and education, went to women. As a member of parliament (MP) in the U.K., a country where we are yet to have a woman serve as head of the treasury or defense secretary, I applaud Mr Sanchez.

As a seasoned campaigner for gender-balanced representation in both the U.K. and Scottish Parliaments, I am delighted with this newsas I was also in 2014 when Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands First Minister, appointed a gender-balanced Cabinet, three years ago when Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his gender-balanced top team (because its 2015) and last year when President Emmanuel Macron of France did the same.

We need more leaders to follow their example. It will show to the rest that women can fit comfortably into any environment, that all the good women havent been snapped up, that women can handle the pressure. (These were just some of the pathetic excuses given by FTSE 350 businesses to a government-backed review to explain why they didnt have more women on their boards).

But, part of me also wishes that we lived in a world where appointing as many or more women to a government was the norm, not the news. The sad truth is that it simply isnt.

Lets take the U.K. as an example. It wasnt until 2017 that the total number of women MPs ever elected to the House of Commons finally overtook the number of men currently serving as MPs. In local government, just a third of councillors in England are women, with even fewer in Wales (28%) and Scotland (24%). In the U.S., Donald Trumps current cabinet women hold six of the 23 positions.

So whats stopping there being more women at the top? The most commonly cited barriers are known as the four Cs: cash, caring, confidence and culture. I like to add a fifththe closed club.

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Politics is pricey. A decade ago, estimates put the cost of a winning candidacy, including lost earnings, at over 40,000. This affects men as well as women, but when men earn 19% more than women on average in the U.K., the financial barrier to politics is even higher for women.

There is also the question of family commitments, and balancing care with the demands of politics. Across society, the lions share of caring responsibilitywhether for children or elderly relativesstill falls on women. The pattern among colleagues in my party is that women were typically either elected young, like myself, with no children, or when their children were teenagers or had left home. This was not the case for men, many of whom were first elected when their children were very young.

In the current political system, in the U.K. and U.S., you have to put your head above the parapet and be prepared to make your point forcefully. You need the confidence to say Im the best person for this. But we often tell women and girls it is not OK to blow their own trumpet in that way. As a society we still tell girls how to be feminine and ladylike. But these traits do not help you get to the top jobs in the current environment.

Male-dominated workplaces, including the top levels of politics in much of the Western world, makes women feel uncomfortable in other ways too. This is something the #MeToo movement highlighted, including in the U.K. parliament and among lawmakers in the U.S. While my party was in government, one ministerial colleague told me she would always ensure she was seated on the opposite side of the table when having a meeting with a particularly tactile minister.

Much of political decision-making concentrates power in the hands of those already inside the circle, who tend to be men. Excluding women may not be the intention, but when they are not invited into the room where decisions are made, you can see how it happens. That is why it is so important that men who have the opportunity to open these doors to more women take it.

Even in places where female representation is more balanced, there are still parts of power closed to women. One example I heard was from Finland, where the current cabinet is 41% women (in 2015 the split stood at 62% women). Former Finnish parliamentarian Johanna Sumuvuori told me the Finnish Parliament has separate saunas for male and female MPs and staff. Johanna explained how her male colleagues on the Finance Committee would joke that theyd already made all the decisions in the mens sauna before they arrived to the meeting, dubbed the Sauna Committee.

Getting more women into positions of power will change this, and make governments more representative of the populations they serve. But if, like me, you want us to move faster toward gender-balanced governments and parliaments, here are three simple things you can do.

First, count! Notice the number of men and women standing as candidates, becoming elected representatives, speaking at events, the split of journalist bylines in newspapersand challenge parties, organizers or media outlets when they are not representative.

Second, talent-spot our next women politicians. There are campaigns across the globe to help more women get into politics. In the U.K., theres the #AskHerToStand campaign, and in the U.S. theres She Should Run; both offer advice to potential candidates and how you can encourage women you knowfriends, family and colleaguesto consider standing for election.

And third, write to or go to see your elected representative. Ask them what they are doing to make politics more representative. When politicians get even just a dozen letters about an issue, trust me, they notice.

We certainly need more politicians like Sanchez leading by example. But unless we see more systemic change, I worry that in a decades time well still have news reports on the gender makeup of a new government.
As the shocking news of Anthony Bourdain's death reverberated around the world, the world took to social media to remember the chef and TV personality, sharing memories and thoughts on the man who made such a large impact on his industry and beyond.

Bourdain rocketed to fame thanks to his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, an early excerpt of which appeared in a 1999 issue of The New Yorker. He later wrote several more books  and even a graphic novel  and his writing continued to appear in places like the New Yorker and the New York Times.

SEE ALSO: Anthony Bourdain has anointed this Filipino street food dish as 'the one'

Television was also a welcome home for Bourdain, who hosted several travel food shows, most notably No Reservations and Parts Unknown, and was a frequent guest on food-related shows like Top Chef.

Through all of these works, Bourdain was, at times, brash and outspoken, the originator of the new wave of "celebrity chefs" that have dominated pop culture over the last decade-plus. But he was also authentic and vibrant, using his platform to bring a broadened sense of culinary and cultural experiences to the masses.

It was an amazing, expansive career, one that left a large imprint on millions, and the sadness of his death was felt by a wide swath of people who shared their feelings on his passing.

His girlfriend Asia Argento posted a statement on Thursday afternoon.

His partner on-screen, Eric Ripert, also shared a statement later on Friday afternoon.

Anthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love & prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/LbIeZK14ia  Eric Ripert (@ericripert) June 8, 2018

And many big names were quick to share how he'd touched their lives  and them was former president Barack Obama, who shared a dinner with Bourdain in Vietnam while he was still president in 2016.

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Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer. This is how Ill remember Tony. He taught us about food  but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. Well miss him. pic.twitter.com/orEXIaEMZM  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 8, 2018

In case youve never seen it, here is the original Anthony Bourdain piece that started everything. https://t.co/WpVqWoJBk6  Doug Heye (@DougHeye) June 8, 2018

A piece of my heart is truly broken this morning. And the irony, the sad cruel irony is that the last year hed never been happier. The rest of my heart aches for the 3 amazing women he left behind.

Tony was a symphony. I wish everyone could have seen all of him. A true friend.  Andrew Zimmern (@andrewzimmern) June 8, 2018

Bourdain's exceptional writing made this one formerly picky, fearful eater very brave and want to try everything and I'll always be grateful for him and the worlds he opened   Lin-Manuel Miranda  (@Lin_Manuel) June 8, 2018

Stunned and saddened by the loss of Anthony Bourdain. He brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food. Remember that help is a phone call away US:1-800-273-TALK UK: 116 123  Gordon Ramsay (@GordonRamsay) June 8, 2018

Tragic news about Anthony Bourdain. Such energy being in his presence. Hanoi, Vietnam 2015 pic.twitter.com/sRKAzvPLds  Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) June 8, 2018

I am gutted and saddened upon hearing the news of @Bourdain, a beloved presence in the culinary community. You will be missed. pic.twitter.com/GIAijn3jIL  Carla Hall (@carlahall) June 8, 2018

I have to say Im in total shock to hear that the amazing @Bourdain has just died  he really broke the mould, pushed the culinary conversation, Rest in peace chef   thoughts and love to all his family and close friends xxxxxxxxxxx pic.twitter.com/HB7sV7CeRH  Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) June 8, 2018

Maybe we all wanted to hang out with him. He was that cool, fun, frank, insightful. He introduced us to distant lands and to people with different traditions. And without ever preaching, he reminded us that we humans are far more alike than different. Thank you Anthony Bourdain pic.twitter.com/QMznx4JMhS  Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) June 8, 2018

Just saw the sad news that Anthony Bourdain has died. I watched his show when I was in space. It made me feel more connected to the planet, its people and cultures and made my time there more palatable. He inspired me to see the world up close. #RIPAnthonyBourdain pic.twitter.com/Cb6IfmzylN  Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) June 8, 2018

This is who Anthony was. Asked to donate something for an auction for @HomesForOurTrps, he handed over his beloved  and pricey  watch. Hed give you the shirt off his back. https://t.co/BVvzTxPkPF  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 8, 2018

Anthony. One of my idols. Unapologetic, passionate and one of the best storytellers on the planet. Thank you for making food so exciting. And always standing up for everything right. Horrible. Why why why. Be at peace now :(  christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) June 8, 2018

Heartbroken to hear about Tony Bourdains death. Unbearable for his family and girlfriend. Am going off twitter for a while  Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) June 8, 2018

Anthony Bourdain was a champion of cooking without borders; he made all of us more curious cooks. We're struck dumb by this loss. We miss him already. pic.twitter.com/2ZkFfkOS3z  epicurious (@epicurious) June 8, 2018

As @NASA searches for life on Mars, we lose the life of beloved Anthony Bourdain on Earth. Implicit and explicit reminders of how precious life is, anywhere in the universe.  Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 8, 2018

Finally, this thread from artist Shivana Sookdeo explains why Bourdain meant so much to so many. Be sure to click through to read the entire thing.

I met Anthony Bourdain only once, while waiting in line at a food festival. Instead of hello he said "hey kid, you hungry?" and it was like I'd bumped into an old friend.  shivana (to scale) (@toastasaurus) June 8, 2018

If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Here is a list of international resources.
Kobane (Syria) (AFP) - After giving up on getting help from Syrian Kurdish authorities, Ahmed Saleh relied on relatives abroad to repair his home in Kobane after it was heavily damaged in a battle against jihadists.

Much of the border town along Syria's northern frontier with Turkey was left in ruins after US-backed Kurdish forces ousted the Islamic State group from it in early 2015.

Saleh fled to Turkey in the battle's early stages and came back a year later to find two of his home's three rooms destroyed.

"We returned to Kobane after the battles had stopped and were shocked by the huge destruction in the town," Saleh said.

The one-time shoe repairman hoped authorities would step in, but said he eventually "lost hope".

"We had to live in these homes and we weren't going to wait for these empty promises," said the 45-year-old.

Instead, he turned to family members abroad, who sent remittances.

"My son in Germany and my brother in Iraqi Kurdistan helped me so my children and I could return home," he said.

So far Saleh has spent the equivalent of $1,150 fixing up his house, little by little. All it needs now is a final coat of paint.

Other homes in his eastern neighbourhood of Butan have also been roughly restored. Bullet holes are still visible, but many walls have been re-erected and painted.

- 'No one helped us' -

Mohammad Naesan, who lives in the nearby Martyr Kawa district, repaired his one-storey house by hand and with his own savings.

"Our home was completely destroyed by IS," the 76-year-old Naesan told AFP, clutching a Koran and sitting on his front stoop with his wife and children.

"The municipality came and recorded all the damage to the buildings. But then they didn't do a thing," he said.

"No one helped us. Rebuilding was so expensive, and it cost me a lot."

Central government forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas in northern Syria in 2012, leaving local authorities to set up semi-autonomous institutions.

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As IS began grabbing swathes of northern Syria it attacked Kobane in late 2014.

The four months of fighting it took to push the jihadists out pulverised about half the city, mostly in its north and east, said Anwar Muslim, the town's top official.

"Five thousand homes were destroyed in Kobane, about 70 percent of which have been rebuilt," Muslim told AFP.

He said remittances were crucial for rebuilding individual homes as authorities did not have the budget to help.

They focused instead on rehabilitating the gutted infrastructure, bringing water and electricity to residents, and rebuilding a dozen schools.

But power cuts and water shortages remain rampant and Muslim said he felt disappointed by the lack of support from the US-led coalition, the Kurds' key partner in the anti-IS fight.

"So far, the coalition hasn't provided any support despite us speaking dozens of times about the fact that, as we beat IS together, we should rebuild together," he said.

The coalition has provided funds to several areas recaptured from IS after Kobane to demine and rehabilitate infrastructure like bridges and water networks.

- 'Can't afford' it -

Today, Kobane's population stands at 250,000, down from 400,000 before the start of Syria's seven-year war, Muslim said.

"We're trying to create jobs, increase services, and open universities so people come back," he said.

While some have scrapped together the cash to revamp their homes, others say it is prohibitively expensive.

"We can't afford to rebuild," said Muslim Nabu, 32, a Kurdish language teacher who instead is renting a house.

Not only have authorities not helped, he said, but "the municipality collected money from people under the pretext it was for a building licence".

In one section of Kobane, the most heavily damaged, officials are intentionally refraining from rebuilding.

Authorities want to leave the northern sector as an open-air museum, a testament to their hard-fought battle against IS.

A row of scorched cars practically sizzle beneath the sun against a backdrop of gutted homes, which officials want to keep empty.

Muslim said compensation has been handed out for 258 of 500 affected homes.

But residents say those plans are out of touch with their own painstaking efforts to clear rubble by hand and rebuild on their own dime.

Faydan Khaleel, who lives there with her husband and mother-in-law, said she had only just finished restoring their home.

"My husband worked for daily wages until we were able to rebuild and return to live here," said the 45-year-old, sitting cross-legged in the shade, a purple scarf pulling her hair back.

"But now they're saying they're turning it into a museum and we have to leave."

"They said they'd give us land as compensation, but we don't have the cash to build a home a third time."
The graduation ceremony of the Department of Hebrew Language at Baghdad University is considered one of the best on campus. In 2010, at the height of the evening, a female graduate interpreted the songs of Sarit Hadad , thrilling the audience which included students from across the university. This courageous act and the way it was received attests to a fascinating change in the way Israel is perceived in Iraq.

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Since then, the number of Iraqis making contact with Israelis has grown tremendously, mainly through social networks. Among other things, Iraqi surfers recently set up a Facebook page called "The Virtual Embassy of Iraq in Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry reports that about one-third of the followers of the Ministrys Arabic-language site (about half a million) are Iraqis, and their attitude toward Israel is generally positive and friendly.

The knowledge of young Iraqis about Israel is sometimes surprising, as demonstrated through the popularity of Sarit Hadad (Photo: Herzliya Studios, Shutterstock)

In their honor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently inaugurated a unique Facebook page called "Israel in the Iraqi Discourse, which received very positive comments and raised much interest in Iraq. In addition, other interested Israelis (for the sake of full disclosure, the author of this article is among them) maintain daily contact with many friends throughout Iraq.

A segmentation of Iraqi participants in the discussions conducted on the Foreign Ministry's Arabic-language page shows that most of the participants are educated young people between the ages of 18 and 35, an age group that accounts for about 70 percent of Iraq's population, with about a third of them living in Baghdad. They are not afraid to disclose their real names and photographs, and they represent various Iraqi population groups: Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, and others.

These young people are usually politically and socially active and constitute the backbone of Iraq's educated class. They came to deal with Israel and Israelis out of interest in the Jewish past in Iraq or out of a certain attraction to the democratic and liberal model presented by Israel. Recently, their support for Israel has grown in the face of their hostility to Iran. Their positions on the Israeli issue are distinctly different from those prevailing in the Arab world.

A mosque in Baghdad. Preparing the ground within wide and influential circles before the formal diplomatic rapprochement begins (Photo: AP)

Unlike other Arab countries, the interest in Israel among Iraqis is not confined to politics; it extends to the cultural and religious spheres and the daily aspects of life in Israel. Many Iraqis openly express their desire to visit Israel, but when they try to carry it out they encounter the arbitrariness of the Israeli establishment and are generally refused.

The two pages of the Foreign Ministry in Arabic frequently publish non-political articles that shed light on different aspects of the Israeli way of being which raise great interest among Iraqi users. The knowledge of young Iraqis about Israel is sometimes surprising, as demonstrated through the popularity of Sarit Hadad.

It is difficult to determine whether the phenomenon is limited to social networks or whether it will also have political ramifications in future. The educated Iraqi youth in question influence the political and cultural agenda and shape public opinion. Yet in recent elections in Iraq, many of them supported the boycott movement, and others voted mainly for the parties of al-Sadr and al-Abadi, or for smaller parties on the fringe of the Iraqi national and anti-Iranian camp.

For some reason, official Israel has not yet discovered Iraq, the largest Arab state on the East. Iraq is the second largest exporter of oil in the world, after Saudi Arabia, and is a significant potential trading partner. Iraq, which is being rebuilt, is desperate for assistance with infrastructure construction, banking, irrigation, agriculture, communications, and more. It also needs indirect assistance with improving its credit rating and with encouraging foreign investments. Iraq would also welcome the assistance of Intelligence services in its fight against terrorism, in which Iraq has acquired great skill in recent years.

Policeman at a checkpoint in Baghdad. Iraq would welcome the assistance of Intelligence services in its fight against terrorism (Photo: AFP)

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is of secondary importance in shaping Iraq's official position vis-a-vis Israel. The Iraqi public is quite indifferent to Palestinian suffering, and Iraq supports the Arab peace initiative, which calls for Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, whose capital is east Jerusalem. It does not recognize the Hamas rule in Gaza.

As Iraq enters the period of establishing a coalition that will paralyze the political system for a while, it is worth thinking about how Israel should approach this important country. While the Iraqi political echelon is preoccupied with its own affairs, the educated and the young people discuss the matter openly and boldly.

In its attempts to establish relations with the Arab states, Israel tends to focus on forging contacts with the political elite, and sometimes only with one specific leader. This is how peace agreements were reached with Egypt and Jordan, and to a great extent this is also the story of the Oslo process with the Palestinians.

The educated middle class in the Arab countries was neglected and, as a result, became alienated from the process and hostile to Israel. Iraq offers the opportunity for a different process which may begin with the educated class and will prepare the ground within wide and influential circles before the formal diplomatic rapprochement between the two countries begins. This different process will lay a firm foundation for future relationships.
Its Friday. The sun is setting and Shabbat is about to start. At a time when traditional and religious Jews light candles and welcome Shabbat in synagogue, then say the kiddush and share a family meal, these Jews and non-Jews gather for a special ceremony at a remote farm in Manchester, Vermont.

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Oliver Levis, a Jewish farmer on the isolated Earth Sky Time Farm, hosts the weekly reception that manages to attract not only the few Jews who live in the area, but also non-Jewish families and visitors, exposing them to a unique event that includes original music based on Shabbat prayers. The Levis family fosters an original type of communal Jewish life, open to different Jewish lifestyles and beliefs.

A bar mitzvah in the middle of nowhere. Oliver Levis with his son Guv

How can one live a Jewish life in the middle of nowhere?

I grew up in Vermont, and we were never an isolated family, says Oliver Levis. My family always tried to celebrate Jewish holidays in an unconventional way, including, for example, when one of my sisters had a bat mitzvah. My parents organized a journey around the farm that spanned the biblical history of civilization and family.

My mother came up with Jewish dances and we wrote plays with a Jewish background. There was no traditional Jewish community around us, so my family invented its own way to realize our Judaism."

Bar mitzvah on a remote farm (Video: 70 Faces Media) (: 70 Faces Media)

X

What does your special Kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming the Sabbath) look like?

We sit together in front of a wood stove in the winter, drink wine and play music, tell jokes about the week, and try to raise our spirits in any way. Sometimes it becomes a dance party. We dont have a set program and we adapt. We take time out of our busy schedules to dedicate to just being togehter, without any defined goal.

We also light Shabbat candles, sing Shalom Aleichem and play musical instruments, and weve been having traditional Shabbat meals for 12 years  and everyone is invited.

Trying to do what feels right

Levis is one of seven Jews from across the United States whose unique story was recorded as part of a special campaign for Israels 70th anniversary. As part pf the project, 70 Faces Media, together with UJA-Federation of New York, produced short videos that reflect a wide range of Jewish identities, both in Israel and the United States.

Oliver Levis on his farm (Photo: Oliver Levis)

These documentaries are an opportunity for both American and Israeli audiences to learn from our often different experiences as Jews, and to come together over our common experiences and triumphs, said UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric S. Goldstein.

About his relationship with Israel, Levis says, My family and I have been to Israel several times. My wifes aunt has a vegetarian restaurant in Safed, and we may bring our children to Israel next year. At the farm we have a baker named Ziv, who arrived in Vermont from Israel a few years ago. He came to help out on the farm, but quickly realized that his real talent is baking, and he prepares challah with chocolate, cinnamon, honey, oranges, and raisins every week. Its stickybut its the best challah in the world.

Bonnie Levis working on the farm (Photo: Oliver Levis)

For me, Israel is the best example of Jewish life today, and it is undoubtedly the center of world Jewish life, Levis said. We visited Greece once and saw only remnants of a Jewish community. It emphasized how well off Israel is, and how important it is to strengthen and preserve it.

How do you see Judaism as a certain value? As a way of life?

I would not consider myself part of any specific Jewish streamIm just trying to do what I feel is right. I am definitely in a more liberal-progressive region of the religious spectrum, and happy to do anything that brings people closer to being Jewish.

Eliza Levis. I don't impose anything on my children (Photo: Oliver Levis)

Our father was originally from the Greek Jewish community, and we were able to meet with distant relatives and visit the towns and villages where my family and Jewish communities lived for hundreds of years. I have tremendous respect for Jewish traditions, but I also feel comfortable with different interpretations of Jewish tradition and religion.

I hope that I am giving my children enough intellectual openness to encourage them to enjoy the contrast in life and the different aspects of Judaism, not to dwell too much on the detailsunless they want to. My children are still young and they live with me. I want them to be part of the Jewish world, but, in the same breath, I also take care not to impose anything on them.
A Kenyan airline has submitted a formal request to fly its commercial planes over Sudanese airspace for flights from Kenya to Israel.

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The request, submitted by Kenya Airways, comes weeks after Saudi Arabia granted permission for the first time to Air India to use its airspace for a commercial flight route to Israel. The first Air India Boeing 787 touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport on March 22.

Kenya Airways is planning to begin operating weekly flights between Ben-Gurion Airport and Nairobi in 2019.

Kenya Airways (Photo: Shutterstock)

Last month, representatives from the airline visited Israel, where they held a series of meetings with officials in the Civil Aviation Authority and the Airports Authority to discuss the implications of launching the new flight route.

On Thursday, Minister of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz met with the CEO of the east African airline, Sebastian Mikosz, to discuss moving forward with the plan.

Katz expressed his support for the move. There is a great deal of political and tourist importance in the African market. The Open Skies agreement has a broad impact on the development on flight routes to Europe and to east Africa, he said.

Opening the skies is a growth engine for the Israeli aviation market. The increase in the supply of flights to Israel continues, as do the number of direct flight routes to Israel operated by airlines, Katz continued.

The competition (in the market) has been maintained and has even grown, together with the growth in passengers' movement to and from Israel. We are continuing to develop the aviation routes to Israel. The competition increases the supply, while lowering the prices of airline tickets.

Israel and Sudan have no diplomatic ties, and the two nations share mutual hostility. However, the Sudanese government has recently began distancing itself from the Shite Islamic axis led by Iran and forging closer ties with the more moderate Sunnis.

With relations souring as a result, Sudan severed its diplomatic links with Tehran two years ago in what was likely a bid to curry favor with the United States and with Saudi Arabia.

In a telegram leaked to WikiLeaks, an advisor to the Sudanese president said to a senior US official: If things were going well with the US, you might be able to help us with Israel, as they are your closest ally in the region.

In the past, Sudanese and foreign media have accused the Israel Air Force of carrying out an attack in Sudan intended to thwart an attempt to transfer weapons to the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians and their supporters asked the UN General Assembly on Friday to hold an emergency meeting to adopt a resolution that would deplore Israel's "excessive use of force," particularly in Gaza, and seek recommendations to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians.

The move follows the US veto of a Kuwait-sponsored resolution in the Security Council on June 1 which US Ambassador Nikki Haley called "grossly one-sided" for deploring the use of force by Israel while not mentioning Hamas which rules Gaza.

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters Friday that the Kuwaiti resolution was "extremely balanced," and he said almost the same text will be put to a vote in the General Assembly.
The Afghan Taliban on Saturday announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Eid holiday in the middle of June, their first offer of its kind, following a ceasefire announced by the government on Thursday.

The militants said foreign forces would be excluded from the ceasefire and that operations against them would continue. They also said they would defend themselves against any attack.

"Members of the Taliban should not participate in public gatherings during the Eid festivities because the enemy could target us," they said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear exactly when the ceasefire would begin, as Eid starts when the moon is first sighted, but Afghan calendars mark Friday June 15 as the end of Ramadan.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday he wanted more talks with Russia about what he called the "illegal" US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump said last month Washington was withdrawing from what he called "a horrible one-sided deal" and would reimpose US economic sanctions on Iran.

Rouhani, speaking at a summit of the Chinese and Russian-led security bloc the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the port city of Qingdao, said that Russia's role in implementing the nuclear deal had been "important and constructive."
Hezbollah and Iranian militia fighters have reportedly returned to southern Syria dressed in Syrian army uniforms and under Syrian flags, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, quoting senior Syrian rebel officials.

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Iranian and Hezbollah forces have apparently withdrawn from the Daraa and Quneitra areas.

But Syria's rebel group commander Ahmad Azam, whose base is in Quneitra, told the Journal they had returned in disguise in an effort to avoid Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

Iranian militias holding Hezbollah's flag

Azam said the returning convoys were armed with rockets and missiles.

"They are leavingin their Hezbollah uniform and they are returning in regime vehicles and dressed in regular (Syrian) army uniforms," Azam told the Journal.

The fighters were speaking the Lebanese dialect of Arabic and Farsi, rebel commanders reported.

In addition to wearing Syrian army uniforms and flying the Syrian flag, Azam said the militiamen were given Syrian IDs, which another commander said belonged to Syrian soldiers who died in battle in recent years.

Diaa al-Hariri, an anti-government activist from Daraa said Hezbollah and Iran have been working tirelessly for years to entrench in south Syria, including establishing new militias of Syrian fighters whose loyalty is to Iran.

"I dont think Iran is willing to leave without a war after all its efforts," he told the Journal.

On Friday, Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah vowed that "if the whole world comes together to force us to leave Syria, they will not be able to evict us."

Speaking via a televised link at an "Quds Day" event in Lebanon, Nasrallah stressed Hezbollah's forces would remain in Syria "until Syria's leadership will tell us otherwise."

"Israel wants to change the campaign against Syria. Now it's interested in getting Iran and Hezbollah out of Syria," he went on to say.

Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah

"Zionists, admit you failed in the campaign and in the attempt to hurt the axis of resistance in Syria," Nasrallah stated.

He claimed Hezbollah went to Syria "for two reasons: The first - the belief that what's happening in Syria is a big plot against the axis of resistance, which is aimed at having Syria fall into the hands of its enemies. The second - the Syrian leadership asked us to come."

"Hezbollah has no private plans concerning Syria. It's not interested in interfering in the internal affairs of Syria, and it doesn't want a cut of the Syrian economy," he insisted.

He concluded his speech by threatening Israel, saying, "I tell the occupying and invading Zionists - board your planes and ships and go back to where you came from," the Hezbollah leader said, adding that "if they insist on occupying Palestine, a great war will erupt and liberate all the occupied Palestinian territories."

"The day of the great battle" in the Middle East is coming, he said, as is the day "when we will all go and pray in Jerusalem."

This week, a Russian troop deployment near the border with Lebanon caused friction with Iran-backed forces there including Hezbollah, a rare case of Assads' allies acting out of sync with each other, though it was soon resolved.

One of the elements said matters have been resolved by Tuesday. Syria's army soldiers took over three posts to which Russian soldiers had been sent near al-Qusayr in the Homs District.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said last month that Iranian forces and Hezbollah are papering to withdraw from southern Syria, and that Iranian advisors, as well as Hezbollah troops, will leave Quneitra and Daraa Districts, which are adjacent to Syria's border with Israel.

Russia's Putin (L) and Syria's Assad (Photo: Reuters)

However, a Syrian official close to the Iranian forces denied the Observatory's report calling it "false." The official, who chose to remain anonymous, did not give any more details on the matter.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has rebuffed claims of an Iranian military presence in his country, while accusing Israel of launching attacks on his territory and of propagating lies about its massive aerial offensive launched earlier in May.

Israel is attacking us, but we are only becoming stronger and improving our defenses even more, he said in an interview with Russia Today. That is the only way to stop the Israeli attacks, and we are doing that.

Assad said Iran's presence in Syria was limited to officers who were assisting the Syrian army. Apparently referring to the May 10 attack by Israel, the Syrian president said "we had tens of Syrian martyrs and wounded soldiers, not a single Iranian" casualty.

However, Iran-backed militias, including Lebanon's Hezbollah terror group, have played a big role in support of Assad during the conflict. Iran's Revolutionary Guards have also deployed in the country.

Israel, which is deeply alarmed by Tehran's influence in Syria, earlier this month said it destroyed dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria, after Iranian forces fired rockets at Israeli territory for the first time.

Iran helps us, but there are no Iranian forces among us. There never have been. That cant be hidden. We wouldnt be ashamed to say if they were. Just as we invited the Russians, we could have invited the Iranians, he continued.

The Syrian leader also referred to what he described as the Israeli lie on the Iranian issue.

In the attack a few weeks ago, they said they had attacked Iranian bases  How can they say this? Its a lie.
Hamas is trying to establish a base in Lebanon with Hezbollah's help, which greatly concerns Israel, the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria reported on Saturday.

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According to the paper, over the past few weeks Israel has been trying to persuade the United Nations to address the matter, presenting the UN with evidence of Hamas and Hezbollah's military-logistic ties under the patronage of Iran.

Hamas and Hezbollah are reportedly working together to establish a Hamas military force in Lebanon, including thousands of Palestinian fighters as well as facilities to manufacture rockets and missiles.

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah; Hamas leader Sinwar (Photos: AP)

Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry, according to the paper, presented the UN and the UN Security Council with "intelligence information" establishing these claims.

In addition, the paper said Israel was basing its claims on comments made by the leadership of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Israel says prove that Tehran intends to use Lebanon as a gathering site to rally the troops before it launches a war against Israel with fighters from all over the world.

The intelligence Israel reportedly presented to the UN indicates Hezbollah has built training camps in Lebanon for Hamas. The construction of the training camps was reportedly overseen by a senior Hezbollah official dubbed M.H., who is also on Israel's wanted terrorists list.

According to the paper, Israel has also made two demands to the UN, with the first being that the UN investigates Hamas-Hezbollah ties as a violation of resolution 701, and takes the matter under advisement in a few months when discussing the renewal of the UNIFIL mission in southern Lebanon.

Israel also demanded that the international call on Hezbollah to stop its activities outside Lebanon (including in Syria, Iraq and Yemen) includes its ties with Hamas as well.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a response to the Arab report, something it rarely does. "The topic is on Israel's agenda at the UN and is brought up regularly in meetings, official missives and speeches, both in front of the UN Secretariat and the Security Council," it said.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon noted that "We're witnesses the implications of the Hamas terror regime in Gaza. Now Hamas is strengthening its ties with Hezbollah, with the approval and support of Iran, and working to establish its capabilities on Lebanese territory as well. We won't sit idly by when faced with these threats."
A rare direct flight from Pyongyang landed in Singapore on Saturday ahead of the expected arrival of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un for a summit with US President Donald Trump to discuss ending the North's isolation and its nuclear programme.

The arrival of the Air China Airbus 330 flight at Changi airport raised speculation that a delegation of North Korean officials joined an advance team headed by Kim's close aide, Kim Chang Son, who was in Singapore to prepare for the talks.

North Korean leader Kim is expected to arrive at Changi airport on Sunday, a source involved in the planning of the trip told Reuters on Friday.

There was heightened security at the St. Regis hotel in central Singapore, one of the hotels where the leaders were expected to stay.
A failed Iraqi asylum seeker has admitted murdering a Jewish teenage girl in Germany after being arrested back in his homeland , authorities in Iraq's Kurdistan region said on Saturday.

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Ali Bashar, 20, is believed to have strangled 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman after raping her in the German city of Wiesbaden.

He was detained early Friday in northern Iraq following an outcry in Germany after police hunting the fugitive admitted he had fled with his family.





"During interrogation following his arrest, the young man originally from Kurdistan confessed to killing the German girl," said Tariq Ahmad, police chief for the Dohuk area of Iraqi Kurdistan.

"He said that the two of them were friends but that they had a dispute, and that he killed her when the girl threatened to call the police," Ahmad said.

On Friday a senior official in the autonomous Kurdistan region told AFP that authorities were working to transfer Bashar quickly back to Germany to face trial.

That process could prove tricky as there is no official extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany.

The case has put renewed pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government over the decision to open Germany's borders at the height of Europe's refugee crisis in 2015, resulting in the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers.

Bashar arrived in Germany in 2015 along with his parents and five siblings.

He should have been deported after his request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

During this time, he got into trouble with the police on several occasions, including for fights, alleged robbery and possession of an illegal switchblade.

He was also among the suspects for the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl living in the same refugee shelter.
Ten different fires broke out on Saturday in Israeli communities on the Gaza bordermostly in the Be'eri and Kissufim areaas a result of incendiary kites flown from the Gaza Strip.

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Two of the fires broke out in the Kibbutz Nir Am area. As a result of these blazes, police briefly closed route 34 between Sderot and the Yad Mordechai Junction.

Fire near Kibbutz Nir Am (:  )

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Firefighting forces, security coordinators and farmers were able to gain control of all of the fires, and no one was hurt. However, damage was caused to crops and wooded areas.

Fire near Nir Am (Photo: Israel Police)

Friday saw a new record with 45 fires breaking out out across the border area. Some 60 firefighters and 20 fire trucks worked to put out the flames.

Battling a fire in Nahal Oz on Friday (Photo: Avi Rokach)

Meanwhile, Gaza media reported that an Israeli aircraft, apparently a drone, attacked a group of Palestinians flying the kites in the Beit Hanoun area in the northern Gaza Strip. There were no reports of casualties.

The IDF said its aircraft fired warning shots at a group working on preparing explosive balloons. "The IDF views the use of explosive balloons and incendiary kites gravely and will act to prevent use of them," the army said.

On Saturday evening, an IDF force arrested a Palestinian suspect who was trying to cross the border fence in northern Gaza. He was caught with a slingshot in his possession.

'They're burning, and we're planting'

Residents from Gaza border communities gathered this week in Kibbutz Or HaNer for a tree-planting ceremonytheir answer to the incendiary kites from the strip, which cause fires in the area, destroying tens of thousands of dunams of agricultural fields and woodlands.

The residents, in conjunction with the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL), planted dozens of trees in the kibbutz.

(Photo: Avi Rokach)

"The kites phenomenon completely destroyed a lot of forests and groves in our area, and we decided, as a community activity, to give back to nature what has been taken from it," said Ofir Libenstein, a member of Kibbutz Kfar Aza who is leading the initiative.

(Photo: Avi Rokach)

"Beyond the financial damage, there's also damage to the Gaza border residents' morale, and we have decided to come together as a community and change this reality. The residents are coming togetherfamilies and childrento plant the trees," he continued.

"This is the first of the activities, and in the coming days we will continue planting trees. We're motivated by the slogan: 'They're burning, and we're planting.'"

(Photo: Avi Rokach)

The residents were also joined by soldiers from the Gaza Division's Northern Brigade, led by their commander, Col. Avi Rosenfeld.

"We need to provide a response, and we will provide a response. We will continue defending the Gaza border communities. We won't grow tire and won't lose sight of our values," Col. Rosenfeld vowed.
Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon confirmed Saturday that Israel is working to put the close ties between Hamas and Hezbollah on the United Nations' agenda.

"We're witnesses the implications of the Hamas terror regime in Gaza. Now Hamas is strengthening its ties with Hezbollah, with the approval and support of Iran, and working to establish its capabilities on Lebanese territory as well," he said.

"We won't sit idly by when faced with these threats."
LONDON - Gena Turgel, a Holocaust survivor who comforted Anne Frank at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp before the young diarist's death and the camp's liberation a month later, has died. She was 95.

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Turgel died Thursday, Britain's chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said on Twitter. The news triggered tributes from some of the people the Polish native touched in the decades she shared her World War II experiences, including witnessing the horrors of the Nazi camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen.

After World War II, Turgel married one of Bergen-Belsen's British liberators, Norman Turgel, earning the nickname "The Bride of Belsen." Her wedding dress, made from parachute silk, is part of the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London.

Gena Turgel (Photo taken from Twitter)

"My story is the story of one survivor, but it is also the story of 6 million who perished," she said at the event in London's Hyde Park. "Maybe that's why I was sparedso my testimony would serve as a memorial like that candle that I light, for the men, women and children who have no voice."

Born in Krakow, Poland as Gena Goldfinger on Feb. 1, 1923, Turgel and her family were forced to move into a Jewish ghetto with only a sack of potatoes, some flour and a few belongings in late 1941. One brother was shot by SS police and another disappeared after trying to escape, according to the Holocaust Educational Trust in London.

A sister of hers was shot while trying to smuggle food into a labor camp. In January 1945, Turgel and her mother were forced onto a death march from Auschwitz to Buchenwald, leaving her remaining sister behind. In February 1945, they arrived at Bergen-Belsen in Germany.

It was in a hospital at Bergen-Belsen, where Turgel arrived in February 1945, that the 22-year-old Turgel cared for 15-year-old Anne Frank as she was dying from typhus.

"I washed her face, gave her water to drink, and I can still see that face, her hair and how she looked," Turgel once told the BBC.

Anne Frank

Turgel published a memoir, "I Light a Candle," in 1987 and kept retelling her story in schools across Britain until the end of her life.

"Gena dedicated her life to sharing her testimony to hundreds of thousands in schools across the country. Her story was difficult to hearand difficult for her to tellbut no one who heard her speak will ever forget," Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he met Turgel at the Hyde Park event in April and was "inspired by her lifelong commitment to educating people about the horrors of the Holocaust."

"Let us hope for a better future where anti-Semitism and all hatred should be demolished, shouldn't be tolerated," Turgel said at the time. "And I do beg you, don't forget those who are less fortunate than yourselves."

She is survived by her three children, as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren.
BERLIN - Iraq has extradited a 20-year-old Iraqi suspected of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl in Germany last month, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Saturday.

"I'm glad that the alleged perpetrator wanted by German authorities is back in Germany," Seehofer said in a statement, adding that the investigation of the case could now be accelerated.

"For the girl's family, that is only a small consolation, and my thoughts are with them during these difficult hours," Seehofer said. "But for the state and our society, it is important that crimes are cleared up and suspects are brought to justice."

German media reported earlier the suspect, Ali Bashar was expected to be questioned by German investigators on Sunday.
News

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada on June 9 to join President Donald Trump as the President and leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union, convene for Group of Seven (G7) meetings.

Secretary Pompeo will then accompany President Trump on his travel to Singapore. The Secretary will make additional stops in the Republic of Korea and China. The Secretarys trip demonstrates the Administrations focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and commitment to our alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific Region.

The Secretary will travel to Singapore, June 1013, where he will participate in the Presidents summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and bilateral events with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Secretary Pompeo will then travel to Seoul, Republic of Korea, June 1314. He will meet with senior Korean and Japanese officials to discuss the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance, the U.S.-Japan alliance, our shared priorities, and next steps in our shared approach to North Korea.

On June 14, the Secretary will visit Beijing, China. Secretary Pompeo will have discussions with Chinese officials on bilateral, regional, and global issues that affect both countries.
News

Yuma, Arizona - Each year more than 40,000 educators gather at one of 12 AVID Summer Institutes to learn how to successfully implement AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) in their schools.

One of the featured speakers at this years 2018 AVID Summer Institute in Denver will be Melanny Navarro, a former Arizona Western College student and current fifth-grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School. The professional learning event will take place from June 12-14.

Navarro applied and was selected to be this years AVID for Higher Education speaker which will give her an opportunity to share her experiences with colleagues from other schools as they plan their campus implementation strategies for the coming school year.

AVID for Higher Education is designed specifically to meet the needs of students attending a college or university. It partners with institutions of higher education to systemically address the goals of increased learning, persistence, completion and success in and beyond college.

During her time as a student at AWC, Navarro worked as an AVID tutor for AWCs Student Success Center. Her position was funded by the PACTO (Partners Advancing Completion through Transfer Opportunities) grant. She later went on to tutor for the grant through Northern Arizona University - Yuma as well.

PACTO is a collaboration between AWC and NAU-Yuma to create a seamless transfer pathway and improve academic success at both institutions. PACTOs three objectives are to close access gaps to underserved populations, optimize program partnerships leading to college readiness, and to increase student success by implementing instructional support grounded in AVID for Higher Education strategies.

For more information contact Julia Howe at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at (928) 317-6371.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Yesterday, just after 10:15 am a fire was reported in the kitchen of a home located at 2136 South 8th Avenue. While on the way, additional information was given that the house was now on fire. Yuma Fire Department personnel arriving on the scene found smoke coming from the home. Firefighters found fire in the kitchen that had extended into the ceiling area above. The fire was quickly contained and extinguished.

The fire originated on the stove top where a pan of grease had been heating. When the fire was discovered, water was used in an attempt to extinguish the burning pan of grease. The application of the water caused a near explosive reaction that rapidly spread the fire. The house was safely evacuated and 9-1-1 was called to report the fire. There were no injuries. Fire damage was contained to the kitchen area, cabinets and ceiling areas above the kitchen.

Although most other rooms were not damaged by the fire, the home was not able to be reoccupied until repairs were done. The American Red Cross was called to the scene to assist those affected by the fire.

The most common place in the home for a fire to start is in the kitchen, on the stove top. Many of Yumas kitchen fires have involved the heating of grease or oil. Throwing water onto a grease fire causes the water to instantly vaporize and spread the burning oil. An approved fire extinguisher or, if the fire just is involving the pan, simply putting a lid on the pan and turning off the heat are two effective ways of dealing with stove top grease fires. If the fire has grown beyond the pan, evacuate the home and call 9-1-1.
Islamabad: A parliamentary panel has decided to clarify the details regarding a liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract with Qatar, according to news sources. The Ministry of energy was directed to share all the details of the agreement.

The panel which asked for the details of this USD 15 billion contract was the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and was chaired by Senator Mohsin Aziz. The contract was signed on February 10, 2016 and the price set under the agreement was 13.37% of Brent crude oil price. LNG contributes to 6 % of Pakistans energy mix.
Travelling and seeing interesting, beautiful places even if it is just the next region is a relaxing and fun adventure, and no one does it better than our favorite Ghanaian celebrities.

From the actors to musicians to TV hosts, Ghanaian celebrities know how to live it up and these are our favorite celebrities whose adventure lives are such goals:

1. John Dumelo. John Dumelo has described himself as a travel junkie and since last year, he has made quite the impressive world trip. The actor who recently got married to Gifty Mawunya may add globetrotting to his list of fun moments with the Mrs.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale finally opens up about his love for Shatta Michy's replacement

2. Jackie Appiah. The stunning actress is always seen jetting off from one point to the other and never without her stylish travel bags.

3. Zynnell Zuh. The Zylofon Media-signed actress who is still new on the movie scene in Ghana, is already making waves and turning heads at the international film festivals. We have no doubt she will soon tour the world and take us with her...virtually.

4. Ameyaw Debrah. Celebrity lifestyle blogger Ameyaw always makes us green with envy as he dazzles us with how well-traveled and well-cultured he is.

5 .Yvonne Nelson. The stunning new mother may have to put off globetrotting for a while but she will no doubt bounce back soon with her zest for seeing beautiful places.

6. Sandra Ankobiah. Lawyer and fashion expert, Sandra Ankobiah, may not enjoy the spotlight but she does enjoy some free breeze time when she can.

READ ALSO: Asamoah Gyan visits late mother's grave; prays for her in latest video

Ghana trends: Anas Aremeyaw Anas causes stir with latest investigative piece:

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- A prophet, Reindolph Oduro Gyebi, has revealed that President Akufo-Addo will only serve one term

- He added that there will be consequences if the president attempts to contest again

- According to him, Ghana will experience prosperity in the last two years of the current government

The Founder and Leader of Gods Crown Chapel, Prophet Reindolph Oduro Gyebi, has stated that President Akufo-Addo will only serve one term as president.

According to a report by 3news.com, Prophet Gyebi, better known as the Eagle Prophet, explained that it has been revealed to him that Ghana will be in trouble if Akufo-Addo seeks reelection.

The Eagle Prophet allegedly stated that should the president seek re-election, he will destroy Ghana, and what happened to the late President Atta Mills will happen to him.

President Akufo-Addo

READ ALSO: Kennedy Agyapong premiers 'Who Watches The Watchman'

He also cautioned the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to consider seniority in selecting a flagbearer for the next election, since that could potentially affect them.

His recent comments follow an earlier prophecy that Ghana will experience prosperity in two years.

He however added that for the vision to materialize, President Akufo-Addo needs to allow God to use him.

READ ALSO: Saani Daara reacts to allegations of bribery in Number 12

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With Just a day more left for the first ever Twellium National Quran Recitation competition, young Muslims across the country are excited and eagerly awaiting for Saturday 9th June 2018, to roll with the main competition.

Today we are looking at two contestants from Central Region and Brong Ahafo Region.

Ismail Sualih will be representing the Brong Ahafo Region whiles Abdur Rahma From Kasoa will be representing the Central Region.

Both contestants are keen on showing their Islamic prowess towards winning the competition. You can show your support for your favourite contestant by sharing their videos on social media and tagging your friends to also support.

READ ALSO: Twellium Quran quiz - Eastern Region Contestant gears up

The final TWELLIUM National Quran recitation is set to roll on Saturday June 9th, at the AhlussunaWal-Jamaa national Office (Behind GCB, Nima -Alaska), 10:00am prompt. The Annual Quran Competition is an educational competition which aims to enhance todays generation by strengthening their connection to the Holy Quran

As we all know the month of Ramadan is the holy month that God blesses with a magnificent hospitality, immeasurable rewards, and provides the greatest opportunity and environment for gaining better knowledge and spirituality. It is also the most blessed month for reciting the Quran.

In addition to the limitless blessings of this sacred month, competition participants will have the chance to win one of 3 Grand Prizes.

The educational event dubbed Twellium National Quran Recitation Competition within the 10 regions of Ghana and will include Quran Recitation, Dawah and Motivational Speeches, Presentations and closing ceremony.

The competition is under Twellium Foundationwhich turns to support the society in numerous ways(Verna Changing Lives, Breast Cancer Awareness, Campaigning against drug Abuse ) in-collaboration with office of His Eminence the National Chief Imam of Ghana (Sheihk Osman Nuhu Shaributu) and the National Imam of ASWAJ (Sheihk Umar Ibrahim).

Twellium wish to honor the National Chief Imam of Ghana and his noble office for maintaining peace within the Muslim Community in Ghana and amongst Christians.

Twellium the organizers of thecompetition wants to take advantage of this Holy Month of Ramadan to Host a National Quran Competition amongst all the 10 regions of Ghana in Accra to seek for Allahs blessings, guidance and protection to our dear Nation and to all Muslims. Special Awards will be giving to contestants and an ultimate price to winners.

Follow this event on all our social media platforms @Twelium Ghana to rally behind your favourite Region.

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- Ghana and Nigeria have the highest online search interest in abortion pills

- In Ghana, abortions are only allowed in the event of rape, incest, or serious medical complications

It has been revealed that Ghana and Nigeria top every other country in the world when it comes to online search interest in abortion pills.

This is according to a comprehensive report, which was analysed by the BBC.

It was found that aside online searches, women use apps like WhatsApp and other technology platforms to buy pills and share medical advice.

Approximately 25 million unsafe abortions occur annually, the United Nations cautions.

READ ALSO: 'GH25 million is peanuts' - Kennedy Agyapong to Anas' suit

The report also revealed that since 2008, global online searches on abortion pills have more than doubled.

The figure, the report says, is much higher in countries where abortion is branded as an illegal act.

In Ghana, for instance, abortions are illegal, unless it came about as a result of rape, or serious medical complications.

The laws in Nigeria equally frown on abortions, as termination of pregnancy is only allowed under life-threatening situations.

Defaulters of this are punishable by law, and could serve up to 14 years in prison.

READ ALSO: Ex-Man Utd forward visits Ghana for holidays

The report indicates that such stringent laws could be a reason why most women around the globe prefer to perform the abortions themselves, hence the term DIY (do it yourself) abortion.

The DIY procedure is two-pronged: surgical and medical and the medical method involves taking multiple pills: Misoprostol and Mifeprostone, the report says.

Among the top terms searched online were "How to use Misoprostol", "Misoprostol price", "buy Misoprostol", and "Misoprostol dosage.

Lady In a Groceries Shop (Animated Joke From Ghana:

READ ALSO: Nii Lante reveals Black Stars players begged him to pay referees during WC qualification

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- Bishop Obinim is happy a member of his church has followed his direction to win 3billion lottery

- The self-acclaimed 'angel' on Sunday rolled on the floor in present of his congregation to celebrate the winner

The founder and leader of International Gods Way Church (IGWC), Bishop Daniel Obinim appears to be promoting lotteries in his church apart from his religious practices.

The self-styled Bishop who has been caught up in many dirty scandals over the years has once again made another headline for the wrong reasons.

Bishop Daniel Obinim

READ ALSO: Kennedy Agyapong drops another $150,000million allegations against Anas

The controversial 'man of God' has been spotted in yet another video rolling on the floor during church service after a member of his church won Gh300,000 lottery.

The church leader who has now resorted to distributing lotto numbers for his church members on Sunday service called on some members to testify in present of the congregation how he [Obinim], is changing their lives through lotto staking.

The Bishop was blown away and started rolling on the floor in jubilant mood, after a member of the church told him, he has won a whopping 3 billion cedis in a lotto draw after following his orders.

Many others who were lined up during the church service also gave out their figures during the testimony time amid cheers and clapping from the congregation.

READ ALSO: Video of Asamoah Gyan praying for his late mom at her graveyard is making everyone sad

The church video which is gaining huge attention on various social media platforms is raising many eye-brows on the conduct and practices of Bishop Obinim.

Bishop Daniel Obinim, the self-acclaimed angel on earth has court many controversies due to how he conducts his church services and the magnitude of miracles he claims to perform.

READ ALSO: GFA's Saani Daara breaks silence after Anas expose and Ghanaians are shocked

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Nigerian-based Ghanaian actress, Juliet Ibrahim has been in the news after some unconfirmed media reports suggested that she has been dumped by her boyfriend, Iceberg Slim.

The beautiful actress's relationship is said to have hit the rock after months of flaunting her new found Nigerian boyfriend in the face of the public.

Although Juliet has not come out to deny media speculations hanging on her relationship, the actress has also not yet confirmed rumors.

Bthe actress has allegedly deleted all photos of both enjoying the good times shared together with Iceberg Slim.

Actress Juliet Ibrahim

READ ALSO: 50-year-old man expresses his 'love' to Nana Ama Mcbrown

With this, many of her social media critics have interpreted that, the actress has now resorted to stereotyping and denigrating men after experiencing the bitter part of the pill with Iceberg.

Juliet Ibrahim in a recent Instagram post labeled that men are liars from creation.

The way men lie, Im beginning to think poor Eve didnt eat the forbidden fruit first, she posted.

The talented actress, and the mother of one relocated to Nigeria after his failed marriage with Chief Executive of Kantanka Automobiles, Kwadwo Safo Kantanka.

READ ALSO: Obinim celebrates church member by rolling on the floor after he won 3billion lotto

READ ALSO: Kennedy Agyapong drops another $150,000million allegations against Anas

The actress years later took to various media platforms to flaunt the young Nigerian musician as her new boyfriend.

However, from all indications the Juliet appears to be experiencing tough times with her new relationship.

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Prof. Messanga Nyamding Screen capture

Since Sunday June 3, 2018 after his declaration son a debate program over STV, a private Television Channel in Douala, reactions have poured in from all over Cameroon and the world, decrying hate speech detected when he said Anglophones are ungrateful set of people.

During the program Carte Sur Table , anchored by Dipita Tongo, with Panelists like Celestine Djamen, the learned Professor reacting to a question on the current Anglophone crisis said, that based on entrance examinations into schools like IRIC, ENAM, EMIA and others, Anglophones are unable to make it because they are not intellectually sound like other regions.

He said it is based on the magnanimity of President Paul Biya that some Anglophones are taken into these schools due to regional balance.

But this has not been diluted well by English speaking Cameroonians who saw this as a slap on their faces especially the fact that he said they were ungrateful.

An anonymous source reacts that, Stupidity can be expressed in so many ways, how this man obtained his professor title? Okrika professor. Any garri boy without a published book can become a professor. These are the idiots controlling this country. No wonder everything is in total shambles.

Ernesto Atem adds that, I just went through that video anxiously thinking I will hear him say excluding Yang, Musonge, Atanga Nji Chief Mukete, Muna, Osih etc. He did not exclude them. I asked myself why this professor said such of Anglophones. Then I realized he is correct because all the top Anglophones in the country are same. In My Opinion Professor Nyamding is correct. The Anglophones he knows, those in Government behave like him.

Barrister Agbor Balla, has also condemned the outing of Professor Nyamding calling it an insult to intellectualism of Anglophones.
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Saturday, June 9, 2018 at 4:00AM

Undoubtedly the biggest news out of Computex 2018 was the ASUS ROG Phone. Accompanying the new gaming-centric device is three new accessories to get the most out of the powerful phone. Were here to do a quick rundown of the three ASUS-made accessories.

One of them is the new Mobile Desktop Dock. This allows you to have a desktop-like gaming experience. The dock will let you connect the ROG Phone to a monitor or TV and keyboard and mouse so you can mirror what youre doing on the smartphone onto the bigger display.

Another accessory is the Nintendo Joystick-like WiGig Dock. ASUS worked with Gamevice to develop this controller. It gives you console controls and the ability to connect the phone wirelessly to a display so you can let others watch as you game or even have them play with you.

The last one is the TwinView Dock. It gives you a second screen for games that will support it (ASUS says they are working with game publishers for this). And it will even let you live stream while you play. The possibilities seem limitless for this one. And it certainly gives a console-like feel in hand.
Here we go again.

Another week of lotteries rolling over.

Isn't everyone getting tired of buying losing tickets? You can't tell me that me the government doesn't have the draws fixed.

When it's a computer-generated number, they can decide if they want a winner or not.

We never had this many carry-overs when they drew the numbers out of a ball machine on TV, where everyone could see it.

I wish people would stand up and back away from the lotteries until they make them honest again.

I know I'm done wasting my money.

Randy Shkrabuik
Photo: Contributed

The province is urging backcountry enthusiasts to be vigilant if they're planning a trip to areas in the Cariboo that were ravaged by wildfires last summer.

Particularly, the province is advising caution in zones on Crown land where fireguards were set up  strips of land where vegetation is cleared to slow down a fire's growth, usually 15 to 30 feet wide.

"These environmentally sensitive areas are not intended for vehicle traffic, including off-road vehicles," the province said in a news release.

They added they have "been working diligently to rehabilitate fireguards," which entails treatment to natural drainage patterns, erosion and fuel hazards caused by heavy equipment while fighting fires.

The province said risks with fireguards include the potential of trails being impassable due to "pullback" treatment of soil and wood debris, or washouts from the spring freshet, among other reasons.

Heavy machinery could also be operating in last year's fireguard zones, and the public is urged to keep clear of those. Trees could also be unstable in fire zones and could fall at any time in some areas, the province said.

Off-road vehicles are also now required to have spark arrestors on Crown land.

In last year's record wildfire season, the Cariboo Regional District said more than one million hectares burned and more than 200 structures were destroyed.
Photo: iso.500px.com

My very first encounter with an aurora was in England, before I came to Canada, at the house of a radio amateur.

He was communicating by sending shortwave signals northward, where they reflected off an aurora.

The Morse code bouncing back from the aurora was really strange. The whistle notes making up the dots and dashes had a strange warbling tone and sounded as though they were echoing in some vast, celestial cathedral.

It was much more fascinating than the only sighting I had of an aurora from Southern England, an elusive green glow in the northern sky that went away after a couple of hours.

Then, I saw the Canadian version.

In Canada, particularly in the North, the aurora can be truly spectacular: flickering curtains, blobs and rays of green and red, and sometimes bright enough to read by.

It's not surprising that most northern communities around the world have incorporated the Northern Lights into their mythology and folk lore.

There is far too much to summarize here, but two contrasting myths are:

don't look at the aurora while giving birth or your child will be cross-eyed

alternately, children conceived under the aurora will be exceptional.

Scientists have been trying to work out what an aurora is and how it works for well over a hundred years.

We now know roughly what is going on, but there are still lots of fundamental things we do not understand. We know for sure that auroras are caused by interactions between the sun, the Earth's magnetic field, and the atmosphere.



The story starts with the solar wind, a blast of atomic particles and magnetic fields flowing out from the sun.

It is always there, but varies in speed and density, becoming a solar gale on occasion. Most of the time it is flowing at a few hundred kilometres a second, but sometimes comes at us at thousands of kilometres a second.



The Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field. In the absence of the solar wind, it would appear like a huge doughnut, with the holes centred over the North and South Magnetic Poles. However, the solar wind blows it out into a long, teardrop shape.

Particles from the solar wind are constantly penetrating the Earth's magnetic field and getting trapped there. The rubbing of the solar wind over the surface of the Earth's magnetic field makes waves.

These run along the magnetic field, down to the ground at northern latitudes. These can be picked up and converted to sound.

They sound like feeding time at a cosmic zoo.



When the solar wind blows extra hard, more of the Earth's magnetic field is pushed back into the tail of the teardrop. This drives the stresses higher in in a place that is already highly unstable.

The magnetic fields snap, releasing their stored energy. The energy pulses propagate back toward the Earth, where they accelerate particles down into the atmosphere around the magnetic poles. They collide with atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the air, making them glow green and red.

The sheer variety in auroral displays is due to the range of processes involved, because each may manifest itself in different ways. Space missions have shown that other planets with magnetic fields have auroral displays too.

The beautiful light show is only a tiny part of what is going in the upper reaches of our atmosphere.

Huge electric currents are flowing, a menagerie of plasma waves are growing and spreading out, and magnetic fields are doing amazing things.

It is intriguing to think that some of the most challenging physics in the universe is going on a few hundred kilometres above our heads.
Photo: Contributed

Residents and vacationers of the Barona Beach Lakefront Resort in West Kelowna are frustrated with the lack of power, water, and answers.

A resident, who does not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals, says some residents received notice Tuesday evening power would be off from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.

It's Friday, and she says the power is still out.

She says park management have not been forthcoming with answers as to why the power has been out for so long, or when it will be restored.

That means no running water, no toilets no showers and no means of cooking, or keeping food from going bad.

"They're being very evasive," she said.

"I just want them to make this right. People are here vacationing, and they're having to pack up and go elsewhere."

She said management need to reimburse those of us who have lost everything in our fridge, and those people who have had their vacations ruined.
Photo: CTV A taped-off area outside a Costco in downtown Vancouver where a senior was allegedly attacked in December.

A suspect has been charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of a senior who was allegedly attacked in downtown Vancouver late last year.

Vancouver resident Orlando Ocampo, 86, died in January due to head injuries he suffered on Dec. 20. He was allegedly punched outside of Costco on Expo Boulevard in broad daylight, and subsequently fell and hit his head.

Thomas Stephen Toth, 58, now faces one charge of manslaughter. He is out of custody and will appear in court on June 14.

Vancouver Police Const. Jason Doucette said Toth was identified as a suspect early in the investigation.

The incident is one of nine homicides this year in Vancouver.
Photo: Oliver Daily News Inside the Okanagan Correctional Centre near Oliver.

The Crown is aiming to tack another three years onto the prison sentence of a Vernon man who attacked a guard at the Okanagan Correctional Centre earlier this year.

Jeffery Polanski, 37, pleaded guilty Friday in Penticton court to one count of assault causing bodily harm in relation to a February 13 incident that the BCGEU publicized at the time as a violent and vicious assault.

Crown prosecutor Nashina Devji told the courtroom Polanski punched the corrections officer from behind and unprovoked in the side of the head, sending him to the ground.

Mr. Polanski then stood over [the officer] and proceeded to punch him directly in the face area with a closed fist approximately six times, she said.

The guard received ten stitches to stop severe facial bleeding and his eye was blackened and swollen shut. Bruising also made it difficult for him to chew for some time after the attack.

The entire assault was caught in detail on surveillance footage; a video that lawyers and the judge viewed Friday in the courtroom, but out of view of reporters in the gallery.

The victim has not returned to work since the attack and has been formally diagnosed with PTSD.

The flashbacks and anxiety that he experiences on a daily basis have had a significant impact on his home life, Kent Drover, assistant deputy warden of operations said, speaking on behalf of the prison staff.

Although the physical injuries have healed, he has been left with emotional injuries that could have a lasting impact throughout his life and impede his ability to ever return to the career goal he worked so hard to achieve, Drover added.

Devji asked for a three-year prison term, arguing that the system needs to denounce assault on jail guards to keep them safe, reiterating this was an incident that was entirely unprovoked.

Polanski was at OCC serving an 18 month sentence for property crime imposed on him just two weeks before the assault. After the attack, he was moved to Kamloops where hes been under 23 hour lockdown ever since.

Defence lawyer Robert Dick argued for 18-24 months, noting 18 months would be the lowest hed like to see the judge go so his client can be transferred to the federal system where he can get a fresh start with better programming.

Id just like to really apologize to [the officer] and his family. I lost control and I need to get a handle on it. I need to get to some courses or something and they dont have them in here, Polanski said when given the chance to speak.

Dick spoke about tensions at OCC between prisoners and staff, and said it wasnt entirely true that the attack happened in a vacuum like the Crown was portraying.

I dont know where those tensions arise from, Im confident that the staff are doing their best, but the level of tension there between the inmates and staff is clearly higher than other various institutions that I go to visit, he said, adding he's confident things will be worked out over time.

Judge Meg Shaw reserved her judgement for June 20.
Photo: angusreid.org/

At last weeks Oyama Days, I was approached by constituents about pipelines and carbon taxes, which, in addition to NAFTA negotiations, are issues foremost on constituents minds.

I am sensitive to, and understand, constituents who reject the pipeline on the principle that it contributes to climate change and presents risks to the environment.

But I am also aware that many constituents believe the pipeline is necessary for Canadas economic growth, for the employment of thousands of British Columbians, and to ensure support for the programs and services that ensure a fair and equitable society.

That is why our governments commitment to balancing the economy and the environment and transitioning to a low-carbon, knowledge-based economy, includes resource projects like the TMX expansion, while others like the Northern Gateway pipeline will not proceed.

As we make the transition, we have also put in place a rigorous regulatory process, an Oceans Protection Plan, a tanker moratorium on B.C.s north coast, and made major investments in science, innovation and research resulting in the very technologies that are moving us away from our reliance on carbon.

In addition, the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change will ensure all provinces follow the lead of British Columbia and establish provincial carbon pricing, the revenues of which can be returned to the taxpayer in a manner that is determined by each province.

But there is something greater being tested here:

it is our resolve to recognize that the strength of the Confederation is the sum of its parts, that necessity rather than ideology, and our ability to take a long view while making the changes in the short-term will help us reach our goal.

Our goal to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, must work in tandem with our responsibility to address ongoing priorities, including affordability, especially housing, income equality and healthcare.

More important, we have a responsibility to maintain economic and political stability and it is a responsibility that falls not only on governments, but also citizens.

To have simply walked away from Kinder Morgan would have hurt more than just those who rely on jobs; it would have affected the revenues that support essential programs and services.

NAFTA negotiations, tariff retaliation and the unpredictability of our largest trading partner; provincial tensions and the divide over the pipeline  these events are challenging us to consider what it means to stand together and act in the best interest of the nation.

But challenging times also provide us with the opportunity to reflect on the country we have built, and to recognize why Canada continues to represent democracy at its best.

Despite our differences, I am reminded every day how lucky we are to live in a welcoming country of opportunity, of diversity and inclusion, where it is still possible to work hard and make a better life for our families.

This vision of a stronger, fairer Canada drives my work every day as I serve the constituents in our community and it is what guides the actions of our federal government.

It is more important than ever that we do not allow our disagreements to negatively impact our demonstrated ability to work together. At the end of the day,

it is a balanced approach that will deliver a fair and equitable society that works for all Canadians.
Photo: UBC

The University of British Columbia must pay novelist Steven Galloway $167,000 in damages for making statements that violated his privacy rights and harmed his reputation when it suspended and later fired him as its creative writing chairman.

The faculty association that represented Galloway says the amount is well above the typical award of $500 to $10,000 in similar cases.

A labour arbitration decision released by the university on Friday also says the association withdrew its claim for Galloway's reinstatement, as well as claims for his lost income and benefits, in February.

"Consequently, the issue of whether the university had cause to dismiss the (Galloway) was no longer contested as part of the arbitration," says the decision written by arbitrator John B. Hall.

The university fired Galloway, the award-winning author of "The Cellist of Sarajevo," in June 2016 without severance, citing "a record of misconduct that resulted in an irreparable breach of the trust placed in faculty members." The firing followed a months-long investigation into his conduct by a retired judge, whose report has never been made public.

Galloway has confirmed he was accused of sexual assault, but has said the only complaint substantiated by the report was that he had a two-year affair with a student. The student said her complaint was not about a consensual affair, but about sexual harassment and sexual assault. The Canadian Press does not name sexual assault complainants unless they choose to be identified.

Galloway filed two grievances: one after he was suspended in November 2015 and another after he was fired in June 2016. The arbitration decision does not specifically say which communications infringed his privacy.

The first grievance asserted, among other things, that the university erred when it sent a memo to faculty, staff and students that announced Galloway had been suspended pending an investigation into "serious allegations."

The university's actions violated his privacy rights and caused him irreparable reputational damage and loss, Galloway alleged.

The second grievance claimed the university's communications regarding the termination had been misleading and caused both serious damage to his reputation and ongoing personal suffering.

"I find that certain communications by the university contravened (Galloway's) privacy rights and caused harm to his reputation," Hall wrote. "He should accordingly be compensated with an award of damages."

The university said in a statement that it accepts the decision.

Galloway could not immediately be reached for comment and a lawyer who has represented him in the past did not immediately respond.

The arbitrator wrote that all other elements of the case, other than the decision released Friday, will remain confidential. As a result, the faculty association said it cannot discuss its decision to drop its claim for Galloway's reinstatement, lost wages and benefits.
Photo: Oliver Daily News Sportsmens Bowl Road on June 7.

Just under seven weeks after being forced out by flooding, most residents of Sportsmens Bowl Road near Oliver are allowed to return home.

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen lifted an evacuation order on Friday afternoon for 14 homes.

The order, which was implemented on April 21, remains partially in place for two of those 14 homes and is still fully in place for three other properties, including the Southern Okanagan Sportsmen's Association which has been closed since April 2.

Sportsmens Bowl Road had been a river for nearly two months until crews ramped up work recently to get the road partially open  as water flows had receded to a safer level.

The RDOS said the road will be open to single-lane alternating traffic until further notice, beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday.

A list of the updated evacuation order for the area can be found here.
Photo: Twitter

Victoria police say they believe a recent obituary led scam artists to target a widow.

The department's financial crimes unit is investigating the case and warning the public about the latest attempt to get a victim's money.

Police say patrol officers were called to a Victoria woman's home when she received an email from a person claiming to be an officer and warning her there was an investigation into the death of her husband.

The note said the investigation could result in charges against the woman.

Police say they believe that the email sender may have been trying to get personal information to use fraudulently and contacted the widow using information from an obituary.
Photo: CTV Vancouver

A student in Victoria is working on the ultimate brewing technique.

Hannah Charnock is part of a group of three looking to brew better java by examining chemical processes that happen during roasting.

"Traditional roasting methods involve trial and error in terms of how you roast the beans and how hot and what sort of roast profile you build," the co-founder of Victoria's Smoke and Mirrors Coffee Company said.

When the group finds a roast they like, they go back and track the chemical changes in the beans.

Local coffee blogger Colin Newell said he isn't shocked the top of the line coffee research is happening in B.C.'s capital.

"There's probably more great coffee per capita in Victoria than anywhere else in Canada," the CoffeeCrew.com creator said.

"We've got a lot of different people doing a lot of different things. We share intel in a way unlike any other community probably in North America."

-With files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Associated Press

A scammer upped the ante on Vancouver Island Friday, showing up at a women's home with handcuffs.

The Canada Revenue Agency scam, where the scammer calls a person claiming to be from the CRA, has been making the rounds across B.C. for some time now.

Earlier this week, a Victoria resident received an email from someone claiming to be a Victoria Police Department officer, stating charges would be laid if the person didn't provide personal information.

Police believed the scammer had obtained the person's information through a recent obituary.

The woman continued to receive telephone calls through the week, with the scammer threatening her arrest.

Then, Friday morning, a man showed up at her house with handcuffs, claiming to be a CRA investigator, demanding she hand over cash. Instead, the woman called 911.

"She did the right thing," said Jason Laidman, Victoria Police inspector. "This is the first that I've actually heard of a CRA scammer actually going from door to door."

While the man fled the scene before police arrived, he is described as a tall, slim Caucasian man in his 30s with short, dark hair. He was wearing a blue suit at the time.

"If this man, or someone else making similar demands, attends your residence please close the door and call 911 immediately," VicPD said in a statement.

 with files from CTV Vancouver Island
Photo: File photo

Vancouver police have arrested a teenage girl after an alleged hit and run and "reckless tour" of downtown.

Police say two people received minor injuries in a hit and run involving a white van around 3:20 a.m. Saturday morning.

About 15 minutes later, investigators say, officers working in the Downtown Eastside spotted the same van driving erratically through the area.

Police say when they put their sirens on and tried to pull the vehicle over, the driver allegedly sped up and refused to pull over for several blocks.

They say the same vehicle was found parked not far away at 4 a.m. and the lone driver was arrested as she walked away.

Police say they are recommending charges of dangerous driving against the 16-year-old girl from Mission and note that the vehicle has been seized.
Photo: David Ogilvie Two vehicles were damaged in a collision on West Kelowna's Main Street Saturday.

A two-vehicle crash has backed up the southbound lanes of West Kelowna's Main Street Saturday afternoon.

The collision between a minivan and an SUV occurred just after 2 p.m. at Main Street and Hebert Road, closing one lane of traffic.

A witness at the scene said no one involved appeared to be significantly injured, but both vehicles were heavily damaged.

Southbound traffic on Highway 97 is backed up to Butt Road as of 3 p.m., despite one lane of southbound traffic being open.
Sweet Rebranding

The State St. Stucchi's is now Michigan Creamery.

by Sabine Bickford

From the June, 2018 issue

As we head into ice cream season, those looking to cool down on State St. may notice that Stucchi's ice cream has become the Michigan Creamery. Owner Jim Seta, who took over the shop with his family in 2012, says that he decided to break off from the Ann Arbor-founded franchise last July.



"The majority of our product wasn't coming from Stucchi's anymore," he says--in fact, he estimates only about 10 percent. The new name better reflects Michigan Creamery's collection of in-state suppliers. It currently sells Guernsey Farms ice cream (from Northville), Bearclaw coffee (Chelsea), and candy from Alpine Chocolat Haus (Gaylord).



Now that his branding is his own, Seta says he is emphasizing the local, family-owned aspects of the shop, which he sees as tied to great service. "We tell our staff all the time we're one of the few family-owned businesses left on State St.," he says. Another tip for staff: "People should walk in happy and walk out happier."



Seta repainted the interior with light blue and navy accents last summer, but he's kept the mural of State St. he commissioned when he first bought the shop. It still shows a depiction of the creamery under a sign that says "Stucchi's." Seta says he's not sure if he'll have it updated.



Michigan Creamery, 302 S. State.



662-1700. Sun.-Thurs. noon-10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. noon-11 p.m. michigancreamery.com



[Originally published in June, 2018.]








Israels specialty and combat vehicle producer Carmor unveils the Mantis at Eurosatory2018.The vehicle to be displayed at the defense exhibition in Paris next week is the first variant of a new family of vehiclesdesigned to perform combat and combat support missions. (Source Defense Update Tamir Eshel)



The Carmor Mantis 4x4 light protected vehicle include a versatile double cabin troop carrierthat carries five soldiers, and a full cabin version that accommodates eight. (Picture source Defense Update)

To meet higher levels of protection required by the users the company optimized the design to provide both ballistic and blast protection while maintaining high agilityand retain adequate payload capacity at a gross vehicle weight below eight tons.The vehicles size and weight enable tactical air mobility in C-130 Hercules and A-400M transport aircraft.With such characteristics Carmor positions the Mantis to offer JLTV class performance at an affordable cost.

Unlike the heavier vehicle models developed by Carmor and its predecessor Hatehof, the Mantis,based on a clean sheet design is lighter, more agile and modular. Eitan Zait, Carmor CEO explained, We have designed, developed and built thousands of vehicles, in dozens of configurations, all were designed to meet specific requirements set by the customer. Zait explained, Mantis comes from a clean sheet design, that reflects the best Carmors designers could offer.



The family consists of a common monocoque capsule that provides the chassis and protected cab for the different variants. The chassis eliminates the need for a traditional frame and enables the flexibility to extend the vehicle by up to 150 cm, to meet specific configurations.

All variants use common subsystems and parts. The powerpack consists of a 6.8 litre 360 horsepower Cummins turbo-diesel coupled to a 6-gear Allison automatic transmission is centrally located, adding to the vehicles stability. The cooling system is also located at the rear, fed by airducts on both sides and on the roof. The engine accelerates the eight-ton Mantis to a maximum road speed of 120 km/h. Using automotive systems and parts certified for commercial and racing, the 4x4 wheel is designed for off-road mobility and versatility.



The vehicles includea versatile double cabin troop carrierthat carries five soldiers, and a full cabin version that accommodates eight. Some of the designs incorporatean elevatedplatformthat mounts payloads up to 150 kg weight, such as remotely controlled weapon stations shown on the prototype displayed at the Eurosatory. A single cabin pickup variant that seats three soldiers has a larger flatbed while a variant of the full cab is configured as an ambulance, accommodating a small crew and ample space for stretchers and medics. Carmor also considers an openbuggy style fast and light assault vehicle variant that will utilize the same structure and offer underbelly protection.

These variants can support a wide variety of applications carrying different weapons such as mortars, missiles, machine guns and remote weapon stations, along with scout and reconnaissance equipment, including payloads telescopic masts, ground and aerial robotics, tactical radars and counter-UAV equipment



Front view of the new Carmor Mantis wheeled light protected vehicle (Picture source Israel Defense)

Carmor designers achieved high level of protection at relatively low height, by using an advanced belly design that maintains low center of gravity with excellent blast protection, results in an overall vehicle height below 2.20 meters. Superior off-road mobility is achieved by a short wheel base, ground clearance of 0.65 meters, and approach and departure angles exceeding 50 degrees, all critical factors for good off-road mobility. The powerful engine and transmissions sustain movement over 70% gradient, 40% side slope, up to 0.5-meter obstacle climb and trench crossing and fording through water one meter deep.



According to the vehicle designer Amos Boaz, Mantis maintains an optimal balance of agility, protection and comfort. Placing the engine at the center, between the cab and the flatbed, clearedsix cubic meters of protected cabin, comfortably seating five soldiers in individual seats. These blastsprotected seats,made by Mobius-PS,are specially designed to attenuate the blast effects of underbelly explosions, as they act with the floating floor and specially designed belly shape to minimize the effect of IED and mine blasts.



Despite its low signature and relatively light weight, Mantis offers high baseline protection meeting ballistic, IED and mine protection. At a gross vehicle weight of six tons Mantis provides ballistic protection at a STANAG 4569 Level 3, with minimal mine protection (Level 1);adding modular armor replacement plates, Mantis can face much heavier threats with ballistic protection upgraded to Level 4, and blast protection to Level 2A/3B. Using relatively small transparent armor modules the cabin provides excellent viewing to the front and sides, Boaz told Defense-Update.



The Mantis protection is not addressing only ballistics and blast but also the vehicles mobility. Using Runflat inserts, Mantis maintains mobility even after suffering multiple hits in the tires; 105 litres of fuel are stored in dual,independent fuel tanks to support mission autonomy of 700 km with internal fuel.



The centrally located driver cockpit is unique design feature of the Mantis family. (Picture source Defense Update)

Each of the crew members have a multi-functional display while other positions have individual communications consoles and electrical charging sockets to support electronic devices.



The three seats at the front accommodate the gunner, driver and commander. The centrally located driver cockpit is unique design feature of the Mantis family. Locating the driver in the center offers many advantages  less obstructions for better situational awareness, market adaptability and more flexible seating arrangement and dashboard utilization. Boaz said. Seating the driver close to the windshield (in the absence of the hood in front) the windshield area can be reduced, while maintaining a wide field of view for the driver while the trapezoidal side windows provide peripheral viewing angles for the crew.Improved situational awareness is maintained by high power LED lights illuminating in visible and infrared light all around the vehicle, in addition, the crew monitors the vehicles surrounding using panoramic cameras covering the sides and the back.The side doors provide quick access and dismount on both sides. Two crew hatches located at the ceiling provide alternative egress when necessary.



Spall liners are used inside the capsule to minimize behind-armor effect, in case of penetration. The prototype on display also uses VATEC multispectral concealment material to reduce radio-frequency leaks. The same material can be used externally, acting as a mobile, multispectral camouflage (MCS), minimizing the vehicles visual, infrared and radar signature. In addition to the high level of protection the prototype displayed at Eurosatoryis also equipped with an acoustic gunshot detection system, air condition and CBRN filtration system form Bethel.



As a modern combat vehicle Mantis comes with ample electrical power, to feed multiple electronic systems. Generating up to 300Amp of electrical power the vehicle supports independent 12/24 Volt power systems.
Eight international organizations will observe Turkey's early presidential and general elections on June 24, Turkish election watchdog announced on Friday, Daily Sabah reports.

June 9, 2018, 12:38 Turkeys elections to be monitored by 8 international bodies, election watchdog YSK says

STEPANAKERT, JUNE 9, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Turkish Supreme Board of Election (YSK) has provided accreditation to observers from eight international institutions for the upcoming elections, an official from the top election body told Anadolu Agency.

The YSK provided accreditations to all the organizations that applied to have short and long-term observers stationed in Turkey, said the official who spoke on conditions of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The organizations that will monitor whether the elections are conducted in fair, free and transparent environment are the following: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA), Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries (TURKPA), Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council), and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

During Election Day, the observers will mainly monitor voting procedures such as counting, casting and recording votes without interrupting polling boards.

The observers will prepare a report by monitoring campaigning process, election participation and whether international election standards are upheld.
Tony Cates of Gestamp has been selected as the ACT College and Career Readiness Workforce Champion of Tennessee  the states sole recipient. Workforce champions are individuals who are honored for making a difference in preparing individuals for college and career success. ACT is known for its mission of education and workplace success, said officials.

Tony was nominated for his strong commitment to the development of the workforce through education," said Dr. Jim Barrott, executive vice president for TN College of Applied Technology. "His latest commitment, in conjunction with Hamilton County Schools, was the development of a high school that allows at-risk juniors and seniors the opportunity to attend high school four hours a day and work four hours a day. Classes and work take place at one of three Gestamp locations in Chattanooga.

To be named an ACT Workforce Champion, nominees must have created or led a program that positively impacts their company and community through improved hiring practices,apprenticeships/internships, or community leadership. The individual must be a full-time employee at a for-profit or not-for-profit company or organization in any role, and the individuals program or initiative must have included community partnerships (education institutions, chambers of commerce, Work Ready Community, etc.). Applicants include examples of their programs return on investment and its ability to be replicated as a best practice.

Mr. Cates, an employee of Gestamp Chattanooga, LLC since 2009, is a human resources manager. He began his association with Chattanooga State Community College in 1995. He has been in HR in the local area for the past 24 years.

I am excited to be recognized as a workforce champion for the state and thankful for Chattanooga States recommendation, but this is an everyday part of any HR managers role," said Mr. Cates. "Making sure that your company has the best, most educated, and most skilled colleagues is crucial. Ensuring that young people know about the different pathways in advanced manufacturing and other careers is something we owe to them because they are the future. Corey Jahn, Gestamp plant director, has made it easy to get involved with our community because we both believe in developing students and partnering with our local schools and parents to ensure students are ready to work and will be successful. Companies, schools, and parents are all in this together and must invest in developing our next generations."
The traveling safety school includes equal parts classroom study and road testing in the parking lot outside the track where hot rods race on other weekends. Parents can sit in on the two hours of classroom training, with instruction ranging from the dangers of texting to how to check your tire pressure; at the end of the day parents can ride along in the back seat as their teens demonstrate what they learned from testing the anti-lock braking system, emergency lane changes and, the teen favorite, a wet skid pad made of an open fire hydrant and lots of Dawn dish soap.
When Anthony Bourdain first emailed me in 2004, I wasnt quite sure what he wanted. I was apprenticing at a restaurant in Paris. He was coming to town to meet with some people. We had chatted on an online food forum, when that world was so much smaller. His first book, Kitchen Confidential, was already a best-seller. His first television show, A Cooks Tour, was already a hit. Then I realized that he just wanted to connect and that he was surprisingly vulnerable.
"The higher, the better," Rosenbach said. "He didn't have a fear of heights, and when John got an idea to do something, it was done. Of course, every ironworker always wants to be on the biggest jobs. But John was never afraid to climb up on top of the building or to climb up on top of the tower."
The robbers were described to police as black, between 17 to 20 years of age and about 6 feet tall. One robber was described as weighing about 160 pounds and the other about 210 pounds.
The story under scrutiny in the Wolfe indictment was written while Watkins worked at BuzzFeed in early 2017. "A former campaign adviser for Donald Trump met with and passed documents to a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013," the story began. The indictment of Wolfe noted that the investigation sought to learn how Watkins had learned that Russian spies had tried to recruit the former adviser, Carter Page.
Perhaps Id just tapped into the paranoia about refugees and people who dont look like us that our conservative governments have been carefully cultivating since the Howard years.

That didnt make a lot of sense, however, they werent the sort of people who read PNG Attitude.

TUMBY BAY - My first reaction to the unusual interest shown in my article about Australia being swamped by Papua New Guineans (which had reached 984 likes this mornng) was that I had inadvertently alerted Australias hard-right nationalists to another group of innocent people to whom they could direct their hubris.

If the answer lies within the community of PNG Attitude readers then, what would pique their interest about this story so much? What distinguishes them that they would find so fascinating something I wrote as an essentially speculative piece?

Im guessing that most of the Australian readers of the blog are people who have had some sort of personal exposure to Papua New Guinea, either in the past or currently.

They would, therefore, be very much aware that the years of the ONeill government have brought unprecedented levels of suffering to the people of Papua New Guinea.

The idea that the situation has got so bad that people in PNG might be contemplating fleeing their country would indicate that a crisis point has been reached. That would create great concern.

The same idea might also be in play on the PNG side. Most of the Papua New Guinean readers of PNG Attitude, I would assume, are people with a relatively high level of education.

Maybe they are thinking about the options available to them should things not improve or, heaven forbid, get worse.

If they were already thinking along these lines then the article might have given them pause for thought.

Maybe some of them have been reading the alarmist nonsense circulating in the Australian media and parliament about Chinese expansionism in the South Pacific.

Perhaps they can imagine a PNG under communist control in a kind of modern version of the Yellow Peril, the theory that still influences Australia today that they need to be careful of an Asian takeover.

That Papua New Guineans would be joining in that alarm, of course, is not just speculative, but wildly so.

I was thinking about these possibilities when I ran into Ben, who comes from Daru and is the chef at the Tumby Bay Hotel. I was walking our dogs along the esplanade and Ben was pushing his youngest daughter along in a pusher.

Hes been in Australia since he was a lad but, as he explained, when the urge takes him he goes back home to visit his relatives and sink his toes into the Fly River mud.

Thats the difference, I thought. Papua New Guineans might come to live in Australia and even take Australian citizenship but most of them make a point of keeping in touch with their roots.

They are not people who are inclined to break all their ties and pack up and move here, even if the opportunity presents itself. They would, as most of the Papua New Guinean diaspora do, live in both countries.

Someone on Twitter expressed surprise that there werent more Papua New Guineans living in Australia. The figures, although climbing, are still very low. There are more Nepalese from up in the Himalayas living in Australia, as Peter Kranz has pointed out.

So maybe thats the answer to the question I asked in the article  we are not in any danger of being swamped by Papua New Guineans any time soon, no matter how bad it gets in PNG.

Unfortunately, if thats the answer to my original question, it still doesnt explain why the article generated so much interest.

Maybe I just sparked a fear among Papua New Guineans living in Australia that they were about to be overrun by wantoks?

Then again, maybe it was just the absurdity of the proposition I made in the first place  that Ausralia might be swamped by Papua New Guineans.

I've been caught like that before.
"You can't end 40 years of war in a few days, but this is definitely the best chance for a peace process since at least since the U.S. surge" of troops under President Barack Obama in 2010-2011, said Vikram Singh, a former Pentagon and State Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
"The population in the region had historically supported the government, and the Somali forces had prepared for this mission by coordinating heavily with and securing the support of local authorities ahead of time," U.S. Africa Command said. "The overarching goal in Somalia for the Department of Defense is to help the [government] provide a safe and secure environment for the Somali population."
Trump cited progress on reaching an agreement on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, saying the final outcome would lead either to an improved trade deal or separate pacts with the two U.S. neighbors. Trump said he was discussing two types of sunset provisions in which any of the countries could leave the deal. A Canadian official said the leaders discussed accelerating the pace of the talks.
Students walk through the University of Texas at Austin campus near the school's iconic tower in Austin, Texas. Work by a team at UT-Austin has improved the graduation rate for the entire campus. (Eric Gay / Associated Press)
"I've been warning reporters to take care as this administration rattled it would go after sources like the previous one," wrote New York Times reporter Adam Goldman on Twitter shortly after the news broke Thursday that a former staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee was indicted on charges of making false statements to the FBI during a leak investigation.
Persky exemplifies that insufficiency, yes, but he did not create it. One suspects California voters are feeling rather righteous at having given him the boot. Well, though it might flatter self-image to consider Persky a bizarre outlier, alien to our values, the painful truth is that he is our values as reflected in hundreds of thousands of rape kits gathering dust. Yes, it goes without saying that the judge should be ashamed of himself.
Heres a quote: The governor sleeps in a lot. I don't think he works that hard. I think that partly explains why he hasn't addressed some of (the clemency requests). He likes the easy, popular stuff  doesn't want to have to make decisions and make somebody angry, because when you go through those pardons, you've got to do the just thing. ... But he doesn't want to get his hands dirty."
Hail is likely to occur in most thunderstorms, but it never reaches the ground. Hail requires intense upward air motions within thunderstorms and consequently occurs most often in severe thunderstorms, especially those in the continental interiors of the mid-latitudes. Hailstones will keep growing until their mass can no longer be supported by the updrafts of the thunderstorm, at which time they begin to fall. The plains of Colorado, Wyoming and western Kansas and Nebraska experience the greatest number of hailstorms in the United States. Cheyenne, Wyo., with an average of nine days of hail per year, is the country's "hail capital."
Via The Middle East Forum, The Jerusalem Post, by SETH FRANTZMAN

QATAR IS DEFIANT ONE YEAR AFTER ITS NEIGHBORS CUT RELATIONS.

Qatar is defiant one year after its neighbors cut relations. It has tried to compensate for the loss of business and connections with its former Gulf allies by reaching out to Turkey and Iran.

It has also spent huge sums on lobbying in Washington to curry favor with the US administration. But if it had gotten what it wanted, the sanctions from Saudi Arabia and its allies would have ended long ago. Instead, Qatar has had to shift from its previous policy of supporting groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, to concerning itself with problems at home. This has generally been welcomed by Israel.

On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia  followed by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt  cut ties with Qatar. In the first 48 hours, rumors abounded that the unprecedented decision could be the prelude to a coup in Qatar or military action. In 2011, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council allies carried out joint operations to stymie protests in Bahrain and to confront Houthi rebels in Yemen. They had also pressured Qatar over earlier reporting by its Al Jazeera.

Absent military action or an internal decision to remove Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Gulf states had to rely on pressure. They sent a list of 13 demands in late June 2017. Qatar didnt blink. Instead, Doha reached out to then-US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, according to people familiar with the crisis. Riyadhs actions had taken the Pentagon and State Department by surprise. The US maintains a large base at Al Udeid in Qatar. Tillerson rushed to the region to try to patch things up. He was still trying when Trump fired him in March 2018.



According to Ghanem Nuseibeh, a London-based risk consultant with Cornerstone Global Associates, Qatar has suffered significantly as a result of the sanctions. Its economy has had major hits. Politically, its global reputation has suffered as Qatars name has become associated with terrorism on a wide global level. He says the crisis will continue and that Qatars alliance with Turkey and Iran will put it at odds with the global community and its neighbors.



The economic pressure the sanctions have put on Qatar have undoubtedly dented its ability to influence things globally, despite significant spending on lobbying in the West. Al Jazeera, for example, is facing severe financial constraints, he says.

Qatar in November 2017. Photo credit: Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.

THAT QATAR takes the crisis seriously is clear from Al Jazeeras reporting on June 5. The network is funded by the government and toes the monarchys line. On June 5, its homepage splashed a quote from the foreign minister claiming, Saudi threat violates international law. An accompanying article claimed the emirate has demonstrated an impressive ability to turn the crises into an opportunity in terms of improving food security, social cohesion and economic sustainability. Al Jazeeras news coverage has shifted during the crisis. Reporting on Dohas allies has shifted. Turkey is described as widely considered as the beacon of democracy and pluralism in the Muslim world.

For its part, Saudi Arabias Al-Arabiya has ignored the one-year anniversary in its reporting. This could indicate that Riyadh feel confident in its eventual victory over Doha, or that it hopes to ignore the continuing crisis.



One of the bizarre outcomes of the Qatar crisis has been the way it affected relations between the Gulf, the US Jewish community and Israel. In the fall of 2017, Doha began major outreach to pro-Israel Jewish Americans. Several of them went to Doha, including the Zionist Organization of Americas Mort Klein and Alan Dershowitz. Qatar focused on the pro-Israel community. Its logic in doing so was unclear. Doha had been accused by its adversaries, including Riyadh, of support for terrorism, including Hamas and Hezbollah. Qatar may have thought that pro-Israel Jewish Americans were close to Trump and this would help them get an in.

But they already had connections to Trump through Tillerson and others. In January 2018, the foreign minister and defense minister of the emirate went to Washington and signed agreements as well as meeting Mattis and Tillerson as part of a US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue event.



Qatar also spent heavily in Washington on lobbying. This included advertising campaigns and millions on fees for consultants. According to public filings under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, one the people it approached earliest was former US attorney-general John Ashcroft.



Dohas diplomatic and lobbying efforts appear to have staved off the crisis from growing. But it has affected the emirates ability to play the role it did prior to 2017. In the years of the Arab Spring, the former emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, used the countrys wealth to support revolutions such as the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.



The Qatari support for Islamists throughout the Middle East as a strategy to establish itself as a regional power broker now looks increasingly threadbare, wrote the BBC in 2013 when Morsi was pushed from power by the military. While Doha sunk $10 billion in Egypt, according to the BBC, it also sent hundreds of millions to Gaza to build infrastructure. For Israel, this was a Janus-faced approach. Qatar hosted Hamas leaders, but propping up Gazas economy probably meant less of a chance for a crisis on Israels border. Qatar said the money was going to the people, not Hamas, and Israel played a key role in monitoring the transfers.



Now, a year into the crisis, the result has been positive for Jerusalem. Qatar has reached out to pro-Israel voices. That also means it wants to please those voices by pretending to change its ways. That means cold water for Hamas. It also means that Israel, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi increasingly share concerns over the Iranian threat in the Gulf and elsewhere. If anything, the Qatar crisis has showed the stark differences between the choices of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to publicly condemn extremism, while Qatar and its friends continue to work with flirt, quietly or openly, with groups like Hamas.
Since the president decided the United States would not live up to the obligations we made in the Paris climate accord in terms to our commitments to emissions reductions, nationally, cities and states have to step up to the plate to fill the gap, Gade added, but the most effective way to do it is through national legislation that is applied fairly and uniformly across the United States.
But if a person is truly bent on having it happen, it is very difficult to stop them. You know the difference between a cry for help and a determination to do it. You can learn to notice the symptoms, when they start giving things away, when they have a definite plan, thats when theyve made the decision. And once that decision is made, its really hard. You can delay it but you cant always stop it.
We very much want to tie this location to Naperville; the name of the label and distillery is up in the air, said Krauss, a Naperville native and Naperville North High School graduate. Now that Naperville said yes, thats the momentum we want to carry forward. We want Napervilles heritage to work into that. If we end up with the library, it makes sense to tie the name to the location.
The two agreed to meet in the parking lot of a Hooters restaurant in Lansing Thursday morning, according to the complaint. The informant and the two undercover ATF agents followed the Dolton man and arrived at the house on Kentucky Avenue shortly before noon, the complaint states. Truitt, Graham and King were waiting out front, according to the complaint.
The federal nutrition program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the Indiana Department of Education and local school districts. It's designed to meet the needs of low-income children in areas where children may have limited access to good nutrition.
Petrites also filed for an order of protection against the man, three times. He was denied all three times. According to Lake Superior Court documents, The Petitioner has not shown, by a preponderance of the evidence, that domestic or family violence, stalking or a sex offense has occurred sufficient to justify the issuance of an Order for Protection.
Duane Nava ready to take on new role as chamber president

business
BLACK REPUBLICAN BLOG - The Republican Party is the party of civil rights and the four Fs: faith, family, freedom and fairness. The Democratic Party is the party of the four Ss: slavery, secession, segregation and socialism (Quote By Author Michael Scheuer).
By Dezan Shira & Associates

Following meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing last Friday, the two countries issued a joint statement that announced an agreement to raise the share of national currencies in trade payments and further develop bilateral trade.

The statement discussed the further strengthening of the Russian-Chinese cooperation in the financial sector, promoting increase of the share of national currencies in trade payments, investments and financing, expanding collaboration in such fields as payment systems and insurance, among the tasks faced by the two countries.

Xi and Putin also agreed to set the trend for rising China-Russia trade turnover, and further improve its structure to look for new growth areas and collaboration in trade and economic cooperation. The two countries specifically plan to boost efforts aimed at harmonizing strategies, programs, and measures to develop national economies and particular sectors; create favorable environment for Russian and Chinese enterprises; jointly promote big projects in accordance with subjectivity principles of companies, the market-oriented approach, commercial-based work, and observance of global practices; and sustainably expand the scope and raise the level of Russian-Chinese investment collaboration, as well as to create favorable conditions for trans-border bond issuance.

The issues of deepening cooperation in the oil and gas, coal, electricity areas, as well as in the fields of renewable energy resources, energy equipment, and energy efficiency were also mentioned in the statement.

Putin stated that China and Russia can reach a bilateral trade turnover of US$100 billion by the end of this year, stating that in January-March 2018, the volume of Russian-Chinese trade grew by 31 percent. If this rate is maintained, by the end of the year we will be able to reach a record figure  the level that we spoke about over several years  US$100 billion.

Putin recalled that last year trade turnover between Russia and China amounted to US$87 billion, further stating, the supply of products with a high processing degree  machines, equipment, vehicles, increased. More than 70 priority projects worth over US$20 billion are being implemented through the intergovernmental commission for investment cooperation.

The China-Russia trade space has previously been made up of energy deals, said Dezan Shira & Associates Founder and Chairman Chris Devonshire-Ellis. However, he noted, we are seeing an expansion of this into other commercial markets such as finance, IT, automotive, and machinery. China has also just signed a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union. This creates further business opportunities for companies in these sectors in both markets and is a welcome and overdue development. It is time for Russian companies to be looking at China and vice-versa.
You are here: Business

Xiaomi, China's smartphone maker, submitted the country's first application on Thursday to issue a CDR (Chinese Depositary Receipt), according to Chinese securities regulator's website.

The Beijing-based company filed a prospectus for an IPO in Hong Kong last month with as much as 10 billion US dollars expected to be raised.

The IPO is set to be the largest listing globally in four years and one of the first in the city under new rules designed to attract tech listings, according to Reuters.

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) launched rules on issuing CDRs late Wednesday, allowing domestic flotation of overseas-listed innovators and also encouraging fast-growing companies to list at home.

If Xiaomi becomes the first one to dual-list through CDR, its CDR portion would be likely to account for up 30 percent of its total fundraising size, Reuters reported.

Ambition in globalization

The market's high expectation is backed by Xiaomi's strong sales.

In the first quarter of 2018, Xiaomi is again the world's fourth largest smartphone brand in terms of shipments, with a year-on-year growth rate of 87.8 percent, according to the latest report from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

It has been working on expanding its market across the world.

After China and India, Xiaomi is trying to get a foothold in Europe, starting with opening a store in Madrid last November.

Xiaomi also plans to enter Britain, Germany and the Netherlands although faced with fierce competition from Apple, Samsung, Chinese brands Huawei and ZTE.
China became the world's second-largest recipient of foreign direct investment in 2017, moving up from third place in 2016, a new United Nations report said.

Ranked just behind the United States, China garnered FDI worth US$136 billion in 2017, up 2 percent year-on-year. The rise was driven by a 28 percent increase in the number of foreign entities, to over 35,650 in 2017, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's 2018 World Investment Report.

"FDI in the country's free trade zones increased, and government efforts to achieve a better geographical spread of investment led to inflows to Central China growing faster than other regions," the report said.

China was ranked third in outbound investment with deals worth US$125 billion, a 36 percent year-on-year decline, mainly due to the readjusted policies since 2015. Affected by such major decline in China, outward flows from developing economies fell by 6 percent to US$381 billion in 2017.

The report predicted FDI to China will continue to grow due to the government's recently announced liberalization plans.

Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of commerce, expressed confidence in the country's ability to attract investment in the remaining six months of 2018.

"The global FDI has slumped by 23 percent in 2017 and the FDI performance for the first quarter of the year from the major countries was also not ideal," said Wang at a news conference on Friday. "Despite a tough global environment, China's FDI from January to April increased 0.1 percent. It is a hard earned performance."

"Recently the American Chamber of Commerce released a report saying a third of the US companies will increase their investment in China by at least 10 percent," he added. "It reflected the foreign investors' confidence in China's plan to liberalize, facilitate, promote and protect investment."

According to the report by the UN, global flows of foreign direct investment dropped by 23 percent in 2017.

"The negative trend is a long-term concern for policymakers worldwide, especially for developing countries where international investment is indispensable for sustainable industrial development," Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, said.
You are here: China

The typhoon Ewiniar has brought torrential downpours into south China's Guangdong Province, local meteorological department said Friday.

As of 4 p.m., nearly 73,000 residents had been moved to safe places, according to the local civil affairs department.

The storms also led to flight delays in Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong. Seventy-three outbound flights and 71 inbound flights had been canceled as of 5:30 p.m.

In a high school in Zhaoqing City, fire fighters and armed police have transported students and teachers to attend gaokao, the national college entrance exam, because of flooding.

In the city of Yunfu, houses collapsed and landslides killed five residents.

More than 3,000 emergency shelters have been opened and over 8,000 residents have been resettled. A total of 290,000 yuan (45,000 U.S. dollars) in disaster relief funds have been allocated, and tents, folding beds, towels, bottled water and food have been distributed.

Ewiniar, which formed in the northwestern Pacific, made landfall in Hainan and Guangdong Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to many areas in southern China.
There is much to lament over the Republic of Irelands repeal of the Eighth Amendment, including the death of reason among some who have commented on it. This last was lamentably displayed in an essay written by First Things senior editor Matthew Schmitz and published in the Catholic Herald on Thursday. Schmitz improbably blames last months Irish referendum outcome on the twin evils of capitalism and democracy.

Schmitz, who describes himself as a socialist Roman Catholic, writes that the referendum succeeded because voters had been dazzled by economic success and warped by its rhythms. Further, he contends that Pope John Paul II prophesied the threat posed by democratic capitalism, which the pontiff allegedly castigated as excessively concerned with efficiency. Schmitz writes:

By valorising efficiency, capitalism tempts us to view certain lives as useless. By elevating procedure, democracy encourages indifference to ultimate ends. When a cult of superficial procedural legality arises without reference to the fundamental moral law, the stage is set for a war of the powerful against the weak.

Yet Schmitz appears to believe these two forces, by nature, inexorably corrupt a Christian societys values. Capitalism and democracy, for all their advantages, tempt us to make idols of efficiency and procedure, thus leading to contempt for the unproductive and indifference to ultimate ends, he writes.

In a sentence intended to malign the memory of Michael Novak, Schmitz concludes, When this occurs, the spirit of democratic capitalism turns out to be satanic.

This is that latest of a series of regrettable transformations at First Things since the death of its pro-market, pro-democracy founder, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. Previous provocations culminated in two debates between Acton Institute founder Fr. Robert Sirico and First Things editor Rusty Reno. (You may watch both debates in their entirety here and here.) However, this op-ed demands the discussion be reopened.

As neither capitalism nor democracy are new to Ireland, Schmitz fails to explain why it is only now that they have gained sufficient strength to repeal the inalienable right to life. Further, he contradicts his thesis in his very first sentence when he correctly notes, Ireland has become the first nation to use the popular vote to strip the unborn of the right to life. In such advanced capitalist democracies as the United States and Canada, unrestricted abortion-on-demand was not legalized by national referendum but imposed by unelected courts.

Thus, one may safely seek the locus of the repeal vote elsewhere. John Zmirak of The Stream identifies its genesis with decades of clericalism and the Culture of Death prominent in neighboring, statist EU. He may have also included the Irish medias unflagging bias in favor of legalized abortion activists. Over a two-year period, The Irish Times favored the abortion activists viewpoint 91 percent of the time, one analysis found.

Pivotal to the nations flagging view of life is its rapidly growing secularism, a fact that becomes clear by using church attendance as a proxy for fervent belief. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of those who attend Mass weekly voted against repeal, while only 17 percent of those who attend less frequently did so. The number of Irish nones, those who identify with no religion, increased 74 percent between 2011 and 2016  and the rate is more than twice as high among young Irish. These facts underline Schmitzs greatest analytical error.

Servant of the servants of God

Schmitz confuses the processes of the free market and capitalism for the culture in which they operate. Since they are, as he accurately notes, procedures, they serve as empty vessels of their citizens values and beliefs. Both capitalism and democracy allow the individual to purchase any good or support any politician of his or her choice. So, too, do their statist alternatives: They merely circumscribe the number of individuals making those choices. Collectivism and its political corollary, authoritarianism, impose the private preferences of the few upon the voiceless many.

By conjoining his criticism of democracy to that of capitalism, Schmitz gives the distinct impression that he prefers disenfranchisement to empowerment. But if capitalism and democracy have failed, it is far from clear that Schmitz offers better alternatives.

At the risk of departing the realm of pure theory, one might point out that the socialisms record of creating a culture of life has by any standard beenmuted. If capitalism instills contempt for the unproductive, socialism expresses equality by demeaning both the productive and unproductive alike. The most productive social element, if raised with a bourgeoisie class consciousness, must be liquidated with ruthless efficiency. No less than Friedrich Engels rejoiced that [t]he next world war will result in the disappearance from the face of the earth, not only of reactionary classes and dynasties, but also of entire reactionary peoples.

Nor is socialisms regard for unproductive or unborn life any better. The Soviet Union became the first nation in the world to legalize abortion-on-demand. Moreover, Western socialists were so excessively concerned with efficiency that they formed the vanguard of the eugenics movement. As Jonathan Freedland recounted at The Guardian:

[T]he great Liberal titan and mastermind of the welfare state, William Beveridge  argued that those with general defects should be denied not only the vote, but civil freedom and fatherhood.  Harold Laski, stellar LSE professor, co-founder of the Left Book Club and one-time chairman of the Labour party, cautioned that: The time is surely coming  when society will look upon the production of a weakling as a crime against itself. Meanwhile, JBS Haldane, admired scientist and socialist, warned that: Civilisation stands in real danger from over-production of undermen. Thats Untermenschen in German.

In the United States, too, eugenics leaders included progressives like Madison Grant and Lothrop Stoddard.

When it came to the elderly and infirm, Sarah Phillips of Indiana University notes that the USSR privileged work capacity as the primary criterion for citizenship, some persons with disabilities were deemed less useful for society (disabled children, and the intellectually and mentally disabled, for example), and thus were offered fewer entitlements.

Such oppression is possible only because socialism collectivizes what the free market and democracy diffuse: money and power. Private property allows each individual to accumulate the necessary resources to act with autonomy. Individual ownership gives the individual the means to defend himself (or herself) from the States deadly designs.

If one dislikes the trajectory of the modern West, and one should, the proper course is to engage its culture that steers these processes, not to scapegoat the systems themselves and exchange them for demonstrably worse political and economic alternatives.

The Acton Institutes mission

In noting the mutually reinforcing roles of liberty and virtue, the Acton Institute fulfills its unique ministry and charism. We tell our libertarian friends that respect for private property requires a respect for the human person. A limited government and free economy only produce human flourishing within a strong culture that affirms personal responsibility, private philanthropy, and the inherent value of every human life. And we tell our fellow Christians that the economic fiction of socialism, which contradicts human nature, inevitably leads to the devaluing and destruction of all they hold dear.

(Photo credit: Katenolan1979. CC BY-SA 4.0.)








The 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit will soon bring together leaders of eight member countries for its annual top-level meeting to discuss a myriad of regional and global issues and seek remedies based on consensus. Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the meeting being held from June 9 to 10 in Qingdao, a coastal city in eastern China's Shandong province.

The occasion is truly historic, being the first summit after India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO last year. It shows that the group has come a long way since its launch 17 years ago.

The full members today include China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. Four others  Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia  have the status of observers.

China has been the moving spirit behind the idea of the SCO and has kept it well on track since its inception. The size as well as the influence of the SCO has increased manifold, but they have not lost focus on the long-term aim of peace and prosperity for all.

After making solid gains, now is the time for the SCO to work with full concentration on achieving their key objectives while steering through the problems faced by the member countries.

As the group has become bigger in size, so has its challenges. One of the key issues now is how to integrate into its fold rivals India and Pakistan, which have clashed in three full-scale wars and several border skirmishes. Even as the leaders of the two nuclear-armed rivals prepare to rub shoulders with other leaders in China, their armies are firing on each other in the divided region of Kashmir.

An effort was made by the two countries ahead of the summit to restore a 2003 ceasefire agreement which has been left in tatters due to scores of violations, for which each side blames the other. There have been reports of violations even after last months decision to restore it, but their ferocity and intensity has decreased considerably.

A big question is whether the SCO will be able to exercise a sobering influence on Pakistan and India and prod them to sit together and address all outstanding differences, including the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir.

There is no easy answer, as normally multilateral groupings avoid dragging bilateral differences into their formal discussions. But the systems of the SCO provide several opportunities and platforms to have bilateral interactions.

For example, leaders from Pakistan and India met on the sidelines of the 2015 SCO summit in Ufa, Russia and decided to hold talks on different issues. But unfortunately, the process was halted due to differences on procedural matters.

The SCO also brought together officials of its member states in Islamabad last month, where they discussed the issue of terrorism. The members exchanged ideas and agreed to combine efforts to tackle the threat.

Another unique opportunity for resolution being offered by the SCO is a joint military drill later this year. It will be the first time that troops from Pakistan and India will come together in such a setting and take part in the joint military maneuvers.

The Qingdao summit presents an occasion to all members to forget about bilateral differences and forge a closer bond, promote cooperation and set an example of a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, cooperation, fairness and justice.

The agenda of the summit also seeks to reinforce the Shanghai Spirit and make a mutual pledge to fight against the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, as well as issues like drug trafficking and cybercrime.

The members are also expected to ratify a five-year outline for the implementation of the Treaty on Long-term Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, as well as to approve more than 10 deals covering areas including security, economy, and people-to-people exchanges.

All this, if followed with honesty, will ultimately result in bringing all members closer, including India and Pakistan. The South Asian rivals will have to address their bilateral differences; otherwise they will not be able to move along the SCO and serve the roles expected from each member.

Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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Huge potential exists for the tourism cooperation among member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Chinese official said Friday.

SCO member countries are close neighbors with highly complementary tourism resources, Xue Yaping, director of the marketing and international cooperation department under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, told a press conference ahead of the 18th SCO summit scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Qingdao.

"At present, tourism cooperation has become an important part of economic cooperation among SCO member states, and will be conducive to consolidating and developing good neighborliness among them," Xue said.

In 2017, tourists from the other SCO members made 3.62 million trips to China, up 11.75 percent year on year.

At the upcoming summit, an action plan for implementing the SCO tourism cooperation guideline in 2019-2020 is expected to be signed as guidance for deepening pragmatic tourism cooperation in the coming years, Xue said.


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The Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation donated 10 million yuan (US$1.56 million) to the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation for preserving and protecting the Great Wall yesterday.



The money will be used to repair a 1,255-meter-long section of the Great Wall including restoring No. 67, 68 and 69 lookout towers and reinforcing the side walls near these towers.











"I felt worried when I first saw the state of the wild Great Wall (the secluded and less-visited part of the Great Wall), said Daryl Ng, deputy chairman of Sino Group and Ng Teng Fong Foundation, at the fund launching ceremony held in Yanqing, northwestern Beijing on June 8. Ng recalled the experience several years ago when he inspected Beijing, as a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Peoples Consultative Conference.



"As a national icon and worlds largest natural and cultural heritage, the Great Wall should be given more support in its restoration, said Ng.



Besides donating, Ng revealed Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation will organize for Hong Kong youths to regularly visit the Great Wall. Ng said he would serve as a bridge between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong to foster the sense of belonging to the motherland by encouraging greater Hong Kong youth participation in conservation work and understanding Chinese culture and history.









Li Xiaojie, chairman of China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, hailed this donation as a great endeavor to conserve cultural heritage at the ceremony. Through pooling more public contributions and bolstering conservation efforts, Li wishes to restore the original historical appearance of this world heritage site, which stretches more than 2000 kilometers across 404 counties in 15 provinces and regions in China.



This is the second donation that the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation has received from the private sector so far since it launched online public funding program to raise money for the Great Wall restorations in 2016.









At the ceremony, Yanqing district also announced the establishment of the Great Wall Protection Volunteer Alliance aiming to get more volunteers involved in the restoration of the Great Wall.



Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation, established in memory of the founder of Sino Group, Ng Teng Fong, in 2010, is dedicated to supporting Chinas social undertakings in education, medical care, culture and sports.












The Group of Seven (G7) summit, which kicked off on Friday, is expected to be a tough meeting between the United States and its allies amid raising concerns over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The leaders of the G7, the world's most powerful industrialized countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Japan and the United States, meet every year to discuss collaboration on issues like world economy, climate change, security and peace.

Upon his arrival in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, U.S. President Donald Trump had a brief discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron on issues concerning trade and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to media reports.

The official themes for this year's summit include increasing investments and creating jobs to boost growth and advancing gender equality.

However, the confrontation over Washington's unilateral decision to impose metal tariffs on imports from the European Union (EU) and Canada might dominate the summit.

Trump's rejection of the global climate accord and Iran nuclear deal have also divided the G7.

"It appears to be one against six since none of the other countries took aggressive action against the U.S. and it is the U.S. attacking its own allies," said Perrin Beatty, president and chief executive officer of the 200,000-member Canadian Chamber of Commerce, in an interview.

The head of Canada's largest business association is at a nearby media center looking for signs as to whether Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan -- and the European Union (EU) as a participant -- can convince the United States to rethink its anti-trade strategy.

"What we have is a president who has undermined the trust of the other six leaders around the table, and that will make it much more difficult to have a common front on other issues as well," said Beatty, a former senior Canadian cabinet minister.

In response to the U.S. import tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, Canada followed the EU's lead and threatened to impose its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

Canada has announced import duties against U.S. steel and aluminum as well as 71 categories of consumer and industrial goods that target the home states of prominent Republican members of Congress, such as fruit jams from Wisconsin -- the home state of House Speaker Paul Ryan -- and whiskies from Kentucky, -- the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"We are hurt and we're insulted," said Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland in a recent CNN interview on the U.S. tariffs against Canada.

Beatty credited the Canadian government with crafting the tariffs -- which would come into effect on July 1 if the Trump administration didn't withdraw its import taxes -- to "maximize the impact within certain regions of the U.S. while minimizing the impact on Canada, and trying to find, wherever possible, a Canadian or other supplier to provide the products."

However, he said Canada's business community has a "real concern" with how Trump is attacking what should be the goal of having "free and open" trade.

"We've seen a succession of measures taken by the president directed at close allies and friends of the U.S. that are destructive, and that will inflict serious and direct damage on the U.S. economy as well as its partners' economies," said Beatty. "Yet he seems oblivious to the consequences."

A tariff the U.S. Commerce Department imposed earlier this year on Canadian newsprint has increased costs for newspaper publishers and now imperils the fate of local papers across the United States, Beatty said.

The Trump administration has also slapped tougher tariffs on Canada's softwood lumber industry, but that has resulted in driving up the cost of housing and furniture in the United States and making American furniture manufacturers less competitive, Beatty said.

The trade war could heat up further if Trump next targets Canada's auto industry, which exports about 80 percent of the vehicles it manufactures to the United States, or Canada's dairy industry, based on the president's recent tweet that "Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time."

All of these actions further erode any hope that the North American Free Trade Agreement, currently under renegotiation by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will survive, according to Beatty.

"President Trump has made it clear that he is less interested in having an agreement when the United States wins than in having one where everyone loses," he said.

"It is a great irony that he casts himself as a businessman. In business, whether you are a customer or a supplier, you want to ensure that both have a fair deal that is mutually beneficial and you never want a situation where someone feels victimized."

"Yet this seems to be President Trump's strategy. He sees trade as a zero-sum game in which the United States can advance only if others lose," he said.

Beatty said he has never before witnessed such rancor directed from a U.S. government to its Canadian counterpart since coming to Ottawa in 1972 when he was elected to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament for the then-Progressive Conservative Party at the age of 22.

"I have never seen an instance like this where doing trade with each other is a bad thing - particularly when Canada is a close trading partner with the U.S., and has the closest relationship with the U.S. militarily, diplomatically, culturally and economically than with any other country in the world," he said.

The White House said that Trump will miss the G7 meeting on climate change as he will leave the two-day meeting earlier than originally planned.

Trump on Friday fired off tough tweets directed at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Macron and the EU on trade issues, saying he is looking forward to "straightening out unfair Trade Deals" with the G7 countries.

At the end of the summit, the leaders hope to sign a joint statement detailing the policy positions and initiatives they agree on.

France and Germany have warned that they will not sign the final agreement unless Washington makes some major policy concession.

The summit took place against a backdrop of Trump creating the highest level of tension between the United States and its allies in decades, from trade to the Iran deal to NAFTA, according to an article published on the latest issue of the New Yorker.

On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that he was "getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade." But other G7 leaders were preparing for an America more alone than ever before, and now Trump faces the very real risk of allies teaming up against him, the article said.

"The American president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted later on Thursday.

"Under Trump, 'America first' really is turning out to be America Alone," the New Yorker's article said. Before departing to Canada for this year's G7 summit, Trump told media that Russia should be invited back into the G7 meeting. His claim was unanimously opposed by the European members of the G7, the French president's office said Friday.


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Security cooperation between the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has yielded practical results, helping to ensure regional stability amid a complex global security environment, a senior official with the Ministry of Public Security said on Friday.



Fighting against the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism has been a priority target for the SCO since its establishment in 2001, and the organization has carried out an array of actions aimed at effectively deterring the spread of the "three evil forces" in the region, said Liao Jinrong, director of the Ministry of Public Security's International Cooperation Bureau, at a press conference held ahead of the 18th SCO Summit which will be held between June 9 and 10.



He noted that the SCO members, through enhanced cooperation, have deterred hundreds of terrorist attacks and arrested a large number of people belonging to international terrorist organizations. Many training bases of armed terrorists have been destroyed.



Despite remarkable achievements, there are still challenges that lie ahead for the SCO. Liao pointed out that terrorism, drugs, organized cross-border crime and information security are the four major challenges facing the SCO. "Terrorism is the most outstanding problem in front of us," he said, adding that combating terrorism is the most important task for SCO members and the whole region. Moreover, he revealed that the SCO is currently working on necessary measures to better safeguard regional security and stability.



India and Pakistan will attend the 18th SCO Summit as full members for the first time after they officially joined the organization last year. "India and Pakistan have extensive experience in combating crimes and maintaining security, so the attendance of the two countries will bring more development potential to the SCO," he said. He also stressed that the expansion of the SCO will provide more opportunities for building a regional community with a shared future and new type of international cooperation relations.



Regarding China's role in promoting regional security cooperation, Liao said that China, following the "Shanghai Spirit", featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity, and the pursuit of common development, has promoted SCO members to enhance mutual trust and reach win-win cooperation.



China has broken new ground for the SCO in security cooperation after it took up the rotating chair in June last year, Liao said, adding that the country has worked together with other SCO members to improve their capability to maintain security.



Liao revealed that regional security remains one of the key topics of the Qingdao summit. Leaders of the SCO members will analyze the international and regional security situation in a bid to produce clear strategies to deal with challenges; discuss how to improve cooperation and explore new security cooperation areas.



Liao expressed his confidence about the Qingdao summit, saying that the consensus of the summit will help the SCO to maintain its regional security and stability and guarantee continued economic development.
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China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Friday held the third trilateral high-level dialogue on the Arctic in Shanghai, agreeing on research as priority for cooperation.

The three countries pledged to enhance information exchange, encourage the sharing of data and work on collaborative surveys.

The dialogue was attended by Gao Feng, special representative for Arctic Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Kang Jeong-sik, ambassador for Arctic Affairs of the ROK Foreign Ministry, and Eiji Yamamoto, ambassador in charge of Arctic Affairs of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

They welcomed the first white paper on China's Arctic Policy published in January, and stressed the importance of policy dialogue in mutual understanding and cooperation.

They also welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on the draft agreement to prevent unregulated fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean and pledged to follow up the agreement.

The three Asian countries held their first trilateral talks on the Arctic issues in April in 2016, following the Sixth China-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Summit in 2015.

The ROK will host the fourth dialogue in 2019.


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Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said lately that the two nations shall work to strengthen their communication and cooperation to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation.

Cui made the remarks while meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan on Thursday. The two senior diplomats exchanged views on bilateral relations and other topics of mutual interest.

Cui noted that the China-U.S. relationship is at a critical moment, and the two sides should strengthen communication and cooperation, increase mutual confidence, and properly handle differences so as to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation.

He also stressed that both China and the United States have the responsibility and obligation to ensure the safety and security and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the diplomatic and consular officials residing in the respective countries.

Cui said that as the situation on the Korean Peninsula is further relaxing, all the parties concerned should work together for a political solution to the nuclear issue on the Peninsula.

China and the United States should enhance communication and coordination to this end, he said.


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Canada opposed U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion to reinstate Russia in the Group of Seven (G7), four years after it was expelled from the group for the Crimea issue.

"Our position has not changed (on Russia)," said Adam Austen, spokesman for Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Russia should never be allowed back in G7 as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin is in power.

Trump attended the 44th G7 summit which kicked off in Charlevoir, Canada on Friday.

He made the comment at the White House on Friday after hours of further escalating his rhetoric against longtime allies over U.S. trade practices.

"Why are we having a meeting without Russia in the meeting?" Trump asked. "They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table."

Trump also lashed out at longtime allies over their criticism of his trade policies. He arrived behind schedule and planned an early leave from the G7 meeting Saturday morning for Singapore for his highly anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The White House announced an early exit from the summit Thursday night after French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signalled they would use the G7 event to take a stance against new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.


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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has given interviews to three foreign media outlets over the Korean Peninsula issue, saying that China "certainly" has a role to play over the issue.

CHINA "CERTAINLY" HAS ROLE TO PLAY

According to the transcripts provided by the State Department on Friday, Pompeo said in the interviews that "China will certainly have a part" on relative issues, including the ultimate ending of the state of war on the Korean Peninsula.

"I'm very confident that China will play a role. Indeed, they have already to date," said Pompeo.

China has already been part of it, as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), have met for discussions, said Pompeo.

Pompeo will head to China on June 14 after the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim. This will be Pompeo's first trip to China as U.S. secretary of state.

"I'm very much looking forward to my trip to Beijing. I've been to Beijing many times in my life before, before I entered government, so I'm looking forward to returning," he said.

"I'm looking forward to meeting with China's senior leaders to talk about exactly the relationship between our two countries," he said.

"They are two big economies, two important places in the world, and we have lots of connectivity, and there are places we have challenges," the top U.S. diplomat noted.

"There are many places where China and the United States will do great things together. There are other places where the two countries are competing," he said.

"Our job as diplomats -- mine as the Secretary of State and my Chinese counterparts -- is to work so that it's not a zero-sum game between our two countries, where we can succeed together," he added.

Pompeo said that he will also share with China how the Trump-Kim meetings go.

HOPING FOR "FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT" IN U.S.-DPRK TIES

Pompeo said in the interviews that the exact timing and modalities of the denuclearization of the peninsula have not been agreed to yet, but the U.S. side has expected "a fundamental shift" in the relationship with the DPRK.

"Our objective for the summit is very clear: We want to achieve a fundamentally different strategic relationship between our two countries," he said.

"President Trump has been very clear all along that he is prepared to provide North Korea (the DPRK) with the security assurances, the warm political relationships that they want and are demanding in exchange for actions by North Korea, the denuclearization of the peninsula."

"We're hoping to make just as much progress on that as we can during the summit," he said. "And then along with our partners -- China, Japan, South Korea -- we can all move forward together."

As for the timeline of the denuclearization, Pompeo only said that Trump and Kim will discuss it during the meeting.

"Chairman Kim told me directly that he was prepared to sit with President Trump and talk about how that denuclearization would take place. The two of them will have a chance to have an extensive conversation surrounding that," he said.

"When you think about complete denuclearization, it would certainly be all of their sites, not just those that have been declared," he said.

"I would hope that there would be a statement that they would put out that each could agree to. But we'll have to see," he added. "The ultimate resolution of the problem will take lots of willing partners."

SECURITY ASSURANCES AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE LINKED

Pompeo noted that Trump and Kim will "begin to flesh out what both the security assurances will look like, what we can do together politically to provide better relations between our two countries, and then talk about denuclearization."

He also said that foreign economic assistance and security assurances to Pyongyang "are incredibly linked."

"For North Korea to have the security assurances it needs, it needs to know that it has an economic -- economically viable path forward ... it's difficult to separate them out," he said, adding that he imagines many nations, besides the DPRK's neighbors, will want to participate in its economic development "if we are successful in Singapore."

"It would be our expectation that the countries in the region would provide the initial financial support for just that; but over time, we would hope that, much like the other countries in the region, it would be able to achieve exactly what I described -- a connected, safe, secure North Korea without outside assistance," he added.

"It would be the opening up of the country, it would be their connectedness, it would be their ability to prosper on their own feet," he explained.

However, the foreign assistance, "much like the economic opening that will take place, it will only take place at such time as we have completed the denuclearization," he said.

He also reiterated that U.S. sanctions on the DPRK will not be lifted "until such time as the denuclearization itself has been completed."

"The economic relief, the sanctions relief ... can't take place until we see real action, real change, on the part of North Korea," he said.


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This spring has been full of labor unrest among educators , with unions playing a supporting role in the protests. But the latest strike threat is directed at the largest national teachers union itself.

More than 80 percent of members of the National Education Association Staff Organization the union for employees of the National Education Associationvoted Wednesday to authorize the NEASO bargaining team and board of directors to call for a strike starting June 12. The staffs contract expired May 31, and the two sides have yet to come to an agreement over a new contract. The NEA, which is the nations largest teachers union, employs about 500 people at its headquarters in Washington.

While neither side would speak about the specifics of the contract negotiations, the NEASO is asking for salary raises for employees.

We do not want to strike, but we will call for one if necessary because this fight is about valuesNEAs values as a union and as a champion of progressive causes, said NEASO President Susan Nogan in a statement. We simply are asking NEA to live up to its values as the largest labor union in the country.

After the strike vote, Nogan said, NEA agreed to return to the bargaining table to continue discussions. Meanwhile, NEA officials say they have never left.

Were committed to the collective-bargaining process, not just for our members but also for our staff, said Chaka Donaldson, NEAs interim director of human resources. We want to make sure we craft a solution for our staff that enables us to keep promises that we made in the past. ... Were fully committed to [the staffs] right to organize.

The contract negotiations are happening as the NEA is bracing for a blow from the U.S. Supreme Court . The justices are expected to hand down a decision in the coming weeks that could strip unions right to collect agency or fair-share fees. Workers who choose not to join the union but are still represented in collective bargaining currently pay such fees in 22 states. The NEA is planning to cut its two-year budget by $50 million (or 13 percent) in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision.



NEA staff (NEASO) has set a strike vote date due to NEAs attempt to impose a contract on them. You cant make this stuff up. At a time when we should all be focused on retaining membership, NEA is creating a potential labor war with its own staff. -- Mike Boyer NSO VP for Defense (@NSOMiBoyer) June 7, 2018

Everyone on both sides of the table knows that Janus is looming, Donaldson said. Its been in our minds for months now. These are difficult and uncertain times for us. ... Our negotiations reflect the prudent approach, reflect the practical approach.

The National Staff Organization, which represents all staff unions of the NEA and its state affiliates, has been worried about the negative effects of an adverse Janus ruling on staff for months now. In January, Mike Antonucci, the director of the Education Intelligence Agency and a union watchdog, reported that the NSO said staff unions will be under assault as NEA and state affiliates attempt to cut back and restructure in the face of the Janus threat.

This year, the NEA has eliminated 41 employee positions through buyouts, early retirements, and attrition, including some management positions. NEA has been working to right-size the organization for years now, Donaldson said, adding that she isnt sure if the organization will eliminate more positions in the next few years.

It really depends on what happens with the Janus case, and it depends on what happens in our membership, she said.

NEAs staff contract is renewed every three years. Back in 2012, the staff also considered going on strike , although that was narrowly averted. My colleague Stephen Sawchuk reported then that the NEA had wanted more flexibility to reassign and dismiss staffers, among other controversial proposalsalthough the NEA wouldnt comment on the final negotiations.

This year, in a pointed gesture, NEA staff members have been wearing red shirts during the bargaining process. Redas in, #RedforEd has been the color of the teacher labor movement this spring.
As educators across the country have launched protests over teacher pay , national attention has focused on states where teacher salaries fall below the countrys average.

But some teachers in states with the highest teacher pay are struggling as well, as the rising cost of living in these areas often outpaces their salaries.

This kind of financial stress is linked to higher rates of teacher absenteeismand even teachers leaving the profession altogether, according to a new study .

Researchers at the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis asked public school teachers in San Franciscoone of the most expensive places to live in the United Statesthree questions about their financial stress: how often their financial situation made them anxious, how hard or easy it was to pay their rent each month, and how challenging it would be to pay for an unexpected $1,000 expense.

The studys authors also asked about respondents attitudes toward their jobs and collected data on teacher absences from the San Francisco Unified School District. Researchers surveyed 2,226 teachers in total.

In general, these teachers had higher household incomes than the average U.S. worker: most said their household income was between $50,000 and $74,999, while most American households fall under $50,000.

They also make more than most teachers. The average salary in the San Francisco district is $68,000, according to the California Department of Education, while the average teacher salary nationwide is $59,660, the National Education Association reports .

See also: See How Your States Average Teacher Salary Compares

Despite their higher pay, 85 percent of San Francisco teachers said they felt anxious about their financial situation frequently or sometimes. One-fifth of the teachers surveyed have a second job to help cover their expenses.

San Francisco is one of the most unaffordable cities for teachers in the country: A fifth-year teacher in San Francisco would have to set aside almost 70 percent of their income to rent a one-bedroom apartment in the city, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle . (Financial experts generally recommend putting no more than one-third of your income toward housing.) Among SFUSD teachers who rent their homes, 66 percent said they find it very difficult or somewhat difficult to cover their monthly housing costs. In a national survey, 30 percent of employed Americans said the same.

The study also found that younger teachers have more financial stress. The researchers speculated that this may be because they make less money than their more-experienced peers, and are less likely to be part of two-income households.

See also: Most Teachers Report High Levels of Stress, Study Finds

Teachers who were renting their homes, not living with a spouse or partner, paying off student loans, or eligible for reduced-price lunch as children were also more likely to report feeling anxious about their financial situation.

This stress was correlated with missing days of school and planning to leave the profession. The rate of chronic absenteeismbeing absent 10 days or more in a yearwas 9 percentage points higher for teachers who say that covering housing costs is very difficult and 12 percentage points higher for teachers who are frequently anxious about their financial situation.

Teachers who said they experienced financial stress missed 1.6 more days of school on average than their peers, and they were less likely to say they wanted to be a teacher again the next year.

See also: How Teachers Stress Affects Students: A Research Roundup

While these results dont show that financial anxiety causes teachers to quit, the researchers say, reducing teachers economic anxiety might help SFUSD retain educators.

The most direct route to reducing financial stress is to raise teacher salaries, the researchers say. This week, San Francisco voted to do just that: Proposition G, a ballot initiative that directed an additional $50 million annually to teacher pay, passed on Tuesday .

Some of the other solutions they proposeoffering low-cost housing to teachers, locating affordable housing closer to schools, and making financial-assistance programs availableare already being tested in some cities. Last year, San Franciscos mayor committed $44 million to build up to 150 rental units reserved for teachers.

Even as cities, districts, and private companies take on these efforts, theres little evidence to show that housing incentives actually work to retain teachers . Almost 55 percent of former teachers who would consider returning to the profession say that housing perks would be not at all important to their decision, according to a 2012-2013 survey from the U.S. Department of Education.

Education Week looked at some of these efforts in expensive metro areas including San Francisco, Denver, and Miami earlier this year. While public-assistance programs and privately funded grants and loans solve the housing problem for some teachers, one leader from a Denver teachers union questioned whether districts could provide such solutions at scale.

Image: Getty
Posted Saturday, June 9, 2018 5:00 am

The Dementia Caregivers Support Group will meet at 5 p.m. Monday, June 11, at the Bolivar Memory Center in the Citizens Memorial Hospital Neurology Clinic at 1245 N. Butterfield Road, Suite C1, Bolivar.

For more information about the group or meetings, contact Billie Baldwin at 327-3530 or 298-0354.
Posted Saturday, June 9, 2018 3:15 am

The Bolivar R-1 school board returned from the Missouri School Boards Association Leadership Summit June 2 with a host of honors, including recognition as a 2018 Missouri Outstanding Board of Education in the category of climate, culture and organizational efficacy.

The R-1 board was among 20 education boards across the state to receive the recognition in one of six categories.

Winners were selected by a committee made up of school board members from districts throughout the state.

Coleman honored

Former R-1 board president Mona Coleman received MSBAs Distinguished Certification recognition at the summit.

In order to achieve MSBAs highest certification, a board member must have earned 60 credits, read a book on a topic related to school board service, attended two board meetings in other districts, attended two MSBA core meetings and participated in a variety of leadership, advocacy and presentation activities, an MSBA news release said.

Hubbert receives advanced certification

Current R-1 board president Paula Hubbert was also recognized at the summit for achieving Advanced Certification.

MSBAs certification program helps local school board members develop the knowledge and skills they need to function as effective educational leaders in their communities, the release said.

While state law requires all newly elected school board members to complete basic 16-hour training, advanced certification requires members receive an additional 12 hours of training, read two books related to school board service, attend at least two MSBA regional or statewide events and write a brief reflection paper relating their study to board service, the release said.
The coastal city of Yantai in East China's Shandong province is enhancing its cooperation with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in line with the central government's policy of opening-up.

As an important port city along the Silk Road, Yantai's cross-border trade with SCO countries encompasses timber, oil, chemicals and biomedicine.

Last month, six sets of advanced facilities from Yantai-based Jereh Group were exported to Uzbekistan to support the exploitation of oil and gas resources in that country.

The 30 million yuan ($4.69 million) project features devices that provide a high level of accuracy, automation and greater efficiency. Their real-time data collection and remote control functions will help to establish a sustainable data management system.

Jereh has also sent engineers to Uzbekistan to train local technicians. Wang Feng, vice-president of Jereh, said the deal allows the Central Asian country to optimize its energy exploitation and the company to expand its global business.

Jereh said it would, via the ongoing SCO Summit, continue to offer SCO members different oil and gas field smart equipment solutions and help global oil gas exploitation to become more efficient and safer.

In 2017 and so far in 2018, Yantai has conducted many cooperative projects with SCO member countries.

In August, Yantai Tongxiang Food Co invested $4.5 million in Russia as part of an aquaculture project involving cultivation, processing and sales of seafood.

Yanjian Group from Yantai won the bidding to build a steam heating system for a Sino-Tajikistan mining company in February this year. Yanjian also constructed a kindergarten near where the company operates to provide care and education to the children of employees.

Aowei Refrigeration Equipment Co, a local refrigeration engineering and installation accessories producer, established an office in India in May 2017.

Liu Sen, director of the Yantai bureau of commerce, said the city would continue to emphasize on the construction of overseas projects and cooperative zones to help build an open economy in keeping with the country's Belt and Road Initiative.

The Sino-Russia Tomsk Wood Trading Cooperation Zone, constructed by AVIC Forestry, a Yantai-based timber processing company, was one of the first two national-level overseas economic and trade cooperation zones.

From Tomsk in Russia, to Harbin, Dalian, Shanghai and Qingdao, cross-border trains have transported timber processed at the zone. As much as 400,000 cubic meters of timber has been transported from Russia to China since 2014, to be used in furniture and paper manufacturing.

Liu added that the government will provide consultancy, training and investment services to back local companies on their way to going global.

The bureau has established an information base for up to 60 enterprises that are involved in the manufacturing of machinery, petrifaction, metallurgy, textiles, auto parts and food industries, and are interested in overseas investment.

It will organize meetings to expand understanding of overseas investment and provide financial support to meet companies' demands for outbound business, such as building marketing networks, processing plants, research platforms and construction projects.

He added the industrial parks are good platforms to help many industries go global. Major Yantai-based companies specializing in mining, food processing, oil equipment and trade services can expand their business and influence worldwide, Liu said.

The coast of Yantai is a popular destination for tourists. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 06/09/2018 page14)
Economic and trade cooperation with member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has become a major part of Qingdao's opening-up efforts.

Located in eastern Shandong province, Qingdao is a major port city that boasts convenient transportation for its international trade business.

There are 65 major shipping routes from Qingdao Port to regions including Southeast Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean, playing an important role in trade cooperation between the city and the world.

Over the past three years, Qingdao has signed port cooperation agreements with cities including St Petersburg in Russia and Gwadar in Pakistan, to facilitate its trade links with SCO members.

In the first quarter of this year, Qingdao's total imports from SCO member countries reached 4.55 billion yuan ($711.9 million), up 49.5 percent year-on-year, according to the Qingdao customs house.

Haier, the local home appliance giant, has taken a leading role in Qingdao's business expansion into SCO member countries.

In 2016, Haier invested $50 million to build a new factory in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, creating nearly 2,000 new jobs for the local people, according to the company.

Last year, Haier sold $220 million worth of products in Russia, an increase of 55 percent from 2016, according to Wang Ting, the operation manager at the Russian branch of Haier.

He said Haier's advanced multidoor refrigerators have 48 percent of the Russian market share, making the brand a segment leader in the country.

In addition, Qingdao's power companies such as Qingdao New Energy Solutions and Sepco III Electric Power Construction have built power stations in Pakistan, contributing to creating new jobs and boosting local power supply.

Official statistics show that by the end of 2017, Qingdao's enterprises had inked 284 mutual investment projects with companies from SCO members. Of these, Qingdao's companies set up 122 projects in SCO member countries, and 162 projects funded by companies from SCO members were established in Qingdao.

Intergovernmental cooperation has continued to flourish between the two sides in recent years.

In 2015, the Qingdao city government and the Business Council of the SCO signed an agreement establishing the Eurasian Economic and Trade Industrial Park, aimed at guiding Qingdao's companies to launch investment cooperation with SCO members and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. The agreement has led to projects with total investment of $1.5 billion in 13 countries to date.

In April, Qingdao and Moscow announced their intention to build economic cooperation zones in both the Qingdao West Coast New Area and the central area of Moscow.

In addition, events such as the first SCO film festival and the SCO import exhibition will be held in Qingdao this year.

SCO member countries have reached a consensus to deepen cooperation by facilitating regional trade and connectivity, which will give new opportunities to Qingdao, said Liu Shuguang, a professor at the Ocean University of China.

"Qingdao should take significant responsibility for mutually beneficial development among SCO members," he said.

liangkaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn

Qingdao is a hub for both the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road, as it is linked to the world with one of the largest seaports in China and the overland Eurasian Continental Bridge. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 06/09/2018 page18)
APB Tour: Arica, Chile 8th June, 2018 - Alan Munoz is softly spoken and clearly prefers actions over words. He is the points leader after two rounds of the Arica Cultura Bodyboard Grand Slam and it looks like he has a new ending to the story that started last year.

Alan was the guy who took to the skies in the dying seconds of the Arica competition last year, earning himself the Move of the Year, a viral social media post, and the respect of the worlds best bodyboarders. This year it looks increasingly like he wants it all.

If he keeps up his current performance level, he may well have it all too.

The conditions for todays Round 2 of the Main Event saw riders competing in larger swell that was still inconsistent from heat-to-heat. With larger conditions, Head Judge Chico Garritano decided to adjust the scale and demand more from the riders if they wanted an excellent score. This meant that riders either lifted their game or remained stuck with low scores from the previous days round.

Alan Munoz was one rider rose to the challenge, threading a large barrel on a set wave and finishing off with a lofty flip on the left-hander at El Flopos. The local crowd always loves seeing Alan perform and they were vocal about it. The next highest score of the day came from Australias grom reborn Joshua Burguete-Kirkman who, after waiting patiently for much of the heat, tucked into the tube at the peak and rode through three sections of the wave before exiting in the channel wash. Pierre Louis Costes managed to launch one of his trademark air forwards on a smaller wave on the left-hander to round out the top three scores of the round.

The remainder of the filed either incrementally built on their 3 wave totals with average scoring rides, many obviously hoping for better chances tomorrow to perform. Jacob Romero showed some of his classy air game by launching a huge air reverse on the right hander at El Flopos that he was unable to hold. Tanner McDaniel also managed to blast a beautiful invert on the left-hander to build his tally, while Eder Luciano of Brazil was able to find a draining barrel on the right-hander and finish with one of his trademark ARS to build his total.

Last years world champion Iain Campbell, who has 5 stitches in his head after hitting the reef yesterday managed to launch an exceptional air forward that he was forced to hit the eject button on, while the other battle-weary rider from yesterday Alex Uranga was able to ride a few waves, but in obvious pain. The crowd appreciated them showing up after what was a painful day for them both in Round 1.

Conditions are expected to remain relatively the same, if not slightly larger for tomorrows expected completion of Round 3 and decider of the top 16 to continue in man-on-man heats for the finals.

Tune in to the live stream tomorrow at: https://apbtour.com/live/ & APB TOUR Facebook.
On June 9th Frank Rojas of Venezuela and Jose Benavidez of the United States will meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with the winner having the direct path to fight for the WBA welterweight title.This elimination bout will be held over twelve rounds in support of the stellar clash of the night between the American Terence Crawford and the Australian Jeff Horn.Rojas, 31, was born in the same city of Edwin El Inca Valero, known as Merida, and even honors him through a tattoo on his chest, which reflects the idea that he is interested in following in his footsteps.So far, Rojas has a perfect record of 21 knockouts in 22 matches, but one of his weaknesses is that he has fought rather unknown boxers and proof of this is that his last ten rivals only have a combined 15 victories.On the other hand, Benavidez has equal perfection in his record, with 17 knockouts in 26 bouts, but the level of opposition he has faced has undoubtedly been much higher. Moreover, in 2014, he won the interim title of the WBAs 140 pounds.The opportunity will be there for both fighters when they are together in the ring. Rojas is number five in the WBA rankings and Benavidez is the sixth in a stacked deck that is headed by Filipino Manny Pacquiao, who will fight the regular champion, Argentine Lucas Matthysse, on June 15th in Malaysia.The event will be held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas with an estimated capacity of 16,800 people and will be promoted by the legendary promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions.Benavidez: 146.5 lbs.Rojas: 147 lbs.
LONDON, June 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Caroline Neville, President of Cosmetic Executive Women, the leading industry organisation and voice of British beauty, has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. The award is in recognition for her work in promoting UK Beauty, her mentoring of female entrepreneurs and young executives and charitable work within the sector. A A

A A A A (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/703458/CEW_Logo.jpg )

A A A A (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/703459/CEW_UK_Caroline_Neville_President.jpg )



In 1992 Caroline Neville was a founder member of CEW UK and became President in 1995, a position she has held for over 20 years. Cosmetic Executive Women is a not-for-profit organisation who promote the contributions of women in the beauty industry through the three pillars of education, philanthropy and recognition. Current membership stands at in excess of 1,000 members drawn from leading brands, retailers, manufacturers, media and support services for the beauty industry. A A



Today the UK Beauty industry is worth A25 billion and employs a million people. It is a key contributor to the domestic economy and a global leader in innovation and creativity. A Beauty is a great British export story and CEW has nurtured the leaders who contribute to that success. At home, the beauty industry is an important employer of women in the UK and CEW invests heavily in training, mentoring and nurturing talent across the entire sector, from the salon or shop counter to the boardroom. A A



CEW is also dedicated to supporting and improving the health of all women in the UK. The organisation works closely with The Eve Appeal, the only UK national charity building awareness and funding research into the five gynaecological cancers. The partnership has raised in excess of A250,000 and culminating in this year's Get Lippy Campaign to encourage women and men to speak up about the signs and the symptoms of gynaecological cancer A https://eveappeal.org.uk/supporting-us/take-part-in-an-event/get-lippy/ A A



Born in Peckham, South East London in 1942, Caroline left school at 16 to pursue a career as a journalist on then influential fashion title Honey Magazine, before setting up her own PR consultancy, at the age of 20 in 1962. She started her business at a time when the industry was a male dominated environment and there were few if any female entrepreneurs. She ran her consultancy from 1962 until 2000 when she passed over the day to day management to her children. A Caroline has been married for over 50 years and has two children.



"To receive such an MBE from Her Majesty is just a tremendous honour. I have had the privilege to work with some exceptional women over my 56-year career and I think we have managed to not only promote the interests of a key UK industry, but also provide the nurturing and support for young women in business that was simply not there when I started in 1962," Caroline said. "In addition, through CEW's charitable work we have been able to raise in excess of A250,000 towards tackling the five five gynaecological cancers that women face today. This allows us to make a personal as well as professional impact on womens' wellbeing, careers and lives." About CEW (UK): A

Founded in 1992, Cosmetic Executive Women is a not-for-profit professional organisation with more than 1,000 members in the United Kingdom, from the beauty industry and related fields. The organisation brings the beauty community together, at every stage of their careers, from every facet of the industry. A A



In the UK, CEW has grown to become the most influential organisation, promoting and defining the British Beauty Industry, and has for the last quarter of a century worked to reach a pre-eminent position as the only voice of the UK beauty industry. A A



For further information please contact Dominic McCarthy at dmccarthy@anmcomms.com or on +447949254762
This was not a regular zoo animal. The Indominous Rex was raised in captivity inside of his corral. There was never a reason for it to leave. If it ever needed medical treatment or something, just sedate it and treat it where it's safely secured. Everyone on the island is surprised when the dinosaur escapes, but that's like being shocked when your dog bolts out the doggy door. It's ridiculous that at no point an engineer said, "Maybe this door should be human-sized, since only humans will ever use it. R-right, guys?"

2 The Murder "Plan" In The Fugitive Was The Stupidest One Possible



Say you want to murder someone as part of a conspiracy to suppress knowledge of the nasty side effects of a drug. Again. This happens to you with surprising frequency, doesn't it? Anyway, this time you need it to be completely untraceable, like when you ran someone off the road. You know your target's happily married and reasonably fit, so how about sending a one-armed dude to enter the victim's house while his wife is home? Freaking nailed it.

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Virtually every facet of the plan to kill Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive is moronic. First, the assassin they send, Sykes, objectively sucks. Which makes sense, because he only has one arm. Sykes can only baaarely murder Dr. Kimble's wife after a protracted struggle.

Warner Bros. Pictures The only way this plan could have been dumber is if they insisted on Sykes strangling her.

It was quick thinking to frame Kimble for his wife's murder, but why was Sykes surprised she was there in the first place? The whole plan seemed based on the belief that Kimble's wife wouldn't be in, despite her being a normal human who likely returns home at the end of most days. And yet Sykes is shocked to find Mrs. Kimble in her own house at, like, 10 p.m.
08 Haziran 2018 Cuma, 14:36

With a fortnight left until the 24 June elections, a highly controversial development affecting ballot box committees has taken place. Deletions were made on the list sent to the Sub-Province Election Board from schools for ballot box committees in Istanbul Bagclar. With Education and Science Workers' Union-member teachers excluded from the list, the hundreds of ballot box chairs in unit 113 consist entirely of teachers who are members of the Educators Trade Union, known for its closeness to the government. It has been learnt that a similar state of affairs prevails in many cities, especially Ankara and Diyarbakr. The CHP has brought the scandal that ensued in Bagclar before the Sub-Province Election Board and called on ballot box committees to be reappointed. Education and Science Workers' Union Istanbul No 1 Branch Secretary Ismail Demir, saying that he has worked at the same place for 26 years, expressed his reaction saying, What needed to happen by rights was for the list that school heads sent to Bagclar Sub-Province Election Board to be implemented. With Education and Science Workers' Union-member teachers being blackballed, Educators Trade Union members have been appointed. There is a way of going about things that suggests they are spiriting the ballot boxes away from certain people. Ankara No 1 Branch Organisation Secretary Levent Abbas Varol, in turn, commented on the lists saying, Other teachers who do not live in places close to our schools are being appointed from distant areas.

Summoned from maternity leave

In Istanbul Bagclar, Education and Science Workers' Union-member teachers applied to school heads to serve in the 24 June elections. The lists they compiled for Bagclar Sub-Province Directorate of National Education were sent to Bagclar Sub-Province Election Board. With Education and Science Workers' Union-member teachers on the list being deleted, Educators Trade Union members were entered in their place. With the proclamation on 5 June of the Bagclar Sub-Province Election Boards list of ballot box chairs, the ensuing scandal became plain for all to see. It has emerged that in unit 113 affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, not a single Education and Science Workers' Union-member teacher had been appointed ballot box chair. It was notable that teachers who were on maternity leave, on military service, had been transferred to another city or had even been dismissed from the profession were appointed as ballot box chairs on the Sub-Province Election Boards list.

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